It's A Doddle: Retail Firm Creates 3,000 Jobs

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The founder of Travelex will announce plans this week to create 3,000 jobs through a new joint venture targeting Britons' fast-growing demand for click-and-collect retail services.

Sky News understands that Lloyd Dorfman and Network Rail are investing tens of millions of pounds in a project to open stores under the name Doddle at 300 railway stations over the next three years.

Mr Dorfman and Network Rail, who will be equal shareholders in Doddle, believe it has the potential to become a dominant player in the fast-growing market for the delivery of goods bought through digital channels.

The two investors are committing £24m in funding to facilitate Doddle's nationwide roll-out.

Network Rail operates 2,500 stations around the UK, roughly 20% of which are expected to be suitable for Doddle's service.

Doddle has signed up retailers including Asos, New Look and TM Lewin, as some of its founding partners, enabling consumers to collect and return goods bought from them through its network of sites.

The Doddle service is a rival to establised click & collect operators

Some of the Doddle shops, which will include high footfall locations such as London Waterloo and Brighton stations, will have changing facilities for consumers who have bought clothing online.

The shops will also be staffed, which Doddle expects will give it an advantage over rivals. Some recent start-ups offer convenience of location but do not have employees to address potential problems or supervise the return of unwanted goods.

Crucially, Doddle will be available to every merchant on the high street and online, as well as parcel carriers and shippers, which over time is expected to create hubs for the collection, return and sending of parcels.

The new service effectively pits Doddle against Royal Mail as well as new click-and-collect operators, which have waded into an increasingly intense battle to attract shoppers.

Transport for London, which is responsible for the London Underground network, struck deals earlier this year with Tesco and Waitrose to expand its range of retail services, part of reforms which sparked staff anger.

Other retailers are turning to similar partnership models which aim to maintain customer traffic in their store networks.

Home Retail Group announced last year an agreement with eBay, the online auctioneer, which allows consumers to buy goods from the site and collect them from Argos shops.

Research by Doddle is understood to show that 30 million British consumers now use click-and-collect services, a rise of roughly one-third on a year ago.

Many consumers also say they would be more likely to do so if the method for organising returns was simpler.

Mr Dorfman is one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs, turning Travelex into the world's largest retail foreign exchange provider before selling it last month to a Middle East-based consortium.

The new business is to be run by Tim Robinson, who was drafted in from Network Rail and has been overseeing its development for several months.

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Zoopla Valued At £919m As Flotation Starts

Property website Zoopla had a market value of £919m following its share sale.

The firm - majority owned by Daily Mail And General Trust - said ahead of conditional trading that shares would be priced at 220p each in the Initial Public Offering (IPO).

That offer was in the lower half of the range it had previously announced of between 200 and 250p and represented 38.3% of the company's issued share capital.

No new shares were being issued and the offer was only open to financial institutions, such as banks and pension funds, alongside estate agents and developers.

Zoopla was founded by Alex Chesterman

Conditional trading began on the London Stock Exchange at 0800 BST and shares rose 5% in early dealing.

Alex Chesterman - the founder and chief executive of Zoopla - said: "We are delighted with our successful listing."

"We have received a significant level of institutional investor support in our business which once again underlines the growth potential of Zoopla Property Group."

It had initially been predicted that the sale could have valued the company at more than £1bn - a mark that attracted plenty of attention - though the decision to go for a price in the lower half of the range was seen as a cautionary nod towards rocky rides for other recent IPOs.

Zoopla, which is the UK's second-largest property website with 40 million monthly users, launched in 2008 and the bulk of its revenues come from estate agency fees.

Analysts have pointed to a potential for earnings growth at Zoopla as it currently rakes in less cash per transaction that its bigger rival, Rightmove.

But both websites are facing a potential threat from a new rival - backed by estate agencies.

More than 500 estate agents joined forces in February, planning to combat what they said was an "anti-competitive duopoly".

Agents' Mutual claim Rightmove and Zoopla keep putting their prices up and reaping huge profits against those made by small estate agents.

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Morrisons Plans 2,600 Job Cuts In Shake-Up

Morrisons has confirmed plans for 2,600 job cuts as the loss-making supermarket chain battles falling sales and market share.

A statement detailing the changes said the losses, representing 2% of its workforce, would result from cutting tiers of in-store management.

But the company insisted it could improve customer service at the same time as more staff would be focused on serving shoppers.

The announcement was made as the supermarket combats a flight to discounters with a series of price cuts that will cost it £1bn over three years.

Earlier this month, Morrisons reported a 7.1% slump in quarterly sales on the back of annual losses of £176m - a performance which prompted chief executive Dalton Philips to waive his bonus.

Morrisons now has 117 convenience stores

Morrisons has been the worst performer among the big four chains in terms of sales amid tough competition from the discounters, including Aldi and Lidl, though major rivals including Tesco have also endured falling market share.

The chain was slow to launch an online food offering and also lagged behind its biggest competitors on convenience store numbers.

Former chairman Sir Ken Morrison used the supermarket's annual general meeting to publicly criticise the current management's strategy just a week ago - reportedly describing it as "bull****".

Morrisons said that while the changes would be painful for its workforce, trials of its planned new management structures had proved a hit with customers.

The statement suggested that some stores currently had seven tiers between the shop floor and the store manager and it hoped to relocate some of those managers who will lose their jobs to new store and convenience operations.

Mr Philips said: "This is the right time to modernise the way our stores are managed.

"These changes will improve our focus on customers and lead to simpler, smarter ways of working.

"We know that moving to the new management structure will mean uncertainty for our colleagues and we will be supporting them through the process."

The company's share price - which has lost more than a quarter of its value over the past year - rose 3% in the moments after the announcement was made.

The union Usdaw took a different approach to that of investors.

National officer Joanne McGuinness said: "The next few weeks will be a worrying time for our members in Morrisons and we will do everything possible to support them.

"Today marks the start of a 45-day consultation period, where we will look in detail at the company's business case.

"Our priority will be to safeguard as many  jobs as possible, maximise employment within the business and get the best possible outcome for our members affected by this restructuring."

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'Supermarket Price War' Helps Inflation Ease

The first annual fall in food prices since 2006 has helped the rate of inflation tumble to a four-and-a-half year low of 1.5%.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which also published figures highlighting further gains for UK house prices, said the dramatic easing in the annual rate of price growth in May could be largely explained by a supermarket price war.

The ONS had measured CPI inflation at 1.8% the previous month.

The major "big four" supermarket chains of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are scrapping for market share in a bitterly contested fight for business that has seen heavy discounters like Aldi and Lidl gaining ground.

The ONS charted an annual 0.6% fall in food prices in May.

It said a broad range of goods including drinks and clothing fell in value.

Air fares, which were lower due to the timing of Easter, had a significant downward effect though petrol pulled in the other direction as pump prices crept up.

The figures were announced days after Bank of England governor Mark Carney signalled that the first hike in the base rate of interest could come sooner than thought - with speculation pointing to this autumn.

While continued low inflation - below the Bank's 2% target - appears to ease any pressures on the Bank to lift rates, Mr Carney has highlighted stronger economic growth and falling unemployment as factors to consider in raising the rate from its historic low of 0.5% - a level that has not changed since March 2009.

An area of concern for Mr Carney and the bank's Financial Policy Committee, which monitors risks to financial stability, is UK house price inflation which soared ahead at an annual rate of 9.9% in April.

The ONS measured year-on-year growth of 18.7% in London though more recent reports from the likes of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Rightmove have charted an easing in price growth in the months since - citing new controls on mortgage lending as a factor.

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Amazon To Reveal '3D Smartphone' Today

Smile! Hundreds Of New Emojis To Be Released

Updated: 10:23am UK, Tuesday 17 June 2014

They say a picture paints a thousand words - now there are going to be 250 more to choose from when you send a text.

A major release of new Emojis - the symbols and images you can include in texts and emails - is due in July.

The characters are part of an update of Unicode, the standards that regulate how text appears across different platforms.

The 250 new additions will include a hand with a middle finger raised, a sure-fire way to bring some text conversations to a close.

But the release does not just include insults - there are a series of weird and wonderful Emojis to choose from too.

They include a squirrel, a spider web, fax icon, oil drum, ballot box, rolled-up newspaper, a chipmunk, bullhorn and a weightlifter.

The last major Unicode update - which is agreed between Microsoft, Apple and Google - was in 2010.

Other than the middle-finger Emoji, images of the new symbols have not yet been released.

However, a text description of each one can be found on the emoji website.

Emojis are found on Apple and Android products, and Windows 8 PCs and tablets, such as the Surface, among others.

They are also available on applications such as Facebook and Whatsapp.

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MPs Warn Of 'Taxpayer Risks' From Help To Buy

The Government has dismissed a study by MPs which found the first part of its Help to Buy scheme poses a long-term risk to the taxpayer.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the policy - under which Government equity loans finance as much as 20% of the purchase price of homes worth up to £600,000 - risks creating a £10bn portfolio that will impose a "heavy administrative burden" for decades.

While the spending watchdog said the scheme was introduced smoothly and had helped 13,000 home buyers within nine months of its creation, it accused the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) of violating Treasury guidelines by failing to carry out any assessment of alternative options.

Committee chair, Labour's Margaret Hodge said: "This means it has committed to spending up to £10bn on supporting Help to Buy without establishing whether it represents the most effective way of using taxpayers' money to achieve its objectives.

Thousands of people have used Help to Buy to get on the property ladder

"The department will not carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the scheme until 2015, by which time billions of pounds will already have been spent.

"That evaluation needs to ask three things: whether more people purchased properties than would have done without the scheme; whether builders built more houses than they would have built otherwise; and what effect the scheme could be having on house prices."

The PAC urged DCLG to assess the scheme's effectiveness in regional and local markets - finding that while it had proved popular in northern England and parts of the Midlands it had little impact in the South East and London where demand for property was at its highest.

Responding to the findings, housing minister Kris Hopkins insisted it was supporting the economy.

He said: "The Government completely rejects this report which sacrifices thorough analysis of Help to Buy in favour of a grandstanding headline.

"The Help to Buy equity loan scheme is building more homes and supporting the economy - in fact we estimate the wider economic benefits could be as much as £1.8bn.

"It is also offering excellent value for money for taxpayers' and to suggest otherwise and try and use the scheme to score cheap political points is absurd.

"Since the scheme's launch, house building is up a third and now at its highest level since 2007. And over 27,000 people across the country have used Help to Buy to get on the property ladder with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require, with cities including Leeds, Durham and Manchester seeing some of the biggest numbers of sales."

Labour housing spokeswoman Emma Reynolds said: "The report from the Public Accounts Committee raises concerns that the Government has not fully assessed value for money or how many new homes will be built as a result of this scheme.

"For such a significant investment, it is shocking that so little assessment has been made of the impact.

"With the number of homes being built at the lowest level in peacetime since the 1920s, it's clear that this Government isn't up to the job of tackling the housing shortage."

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Energy Firms Feel Heat On Customer Complaints

Complaints against the so-called 'Big Six' energy providers have reached their highest quarterly level on record, as they face separate demands to cut bills.

Which? reported a 15% spike in gripes between January and March on the same period last year - reaching a total of 1.7 million.

There were 5.5 million complaints during 2013 and the consumer group said the rising tide showed the industry was ridden with poor service.

Npower still tops the complaint league

Npower continued to lead the way in the first quarter, with 83 complaints per 1,000 customers, as the company remained under pressure over a new billing infrastructure.

The firm said today: "While we have seen issues with our billing system, which have affected some customers, we're now beginning to make progress.

"We're billing 95% of our customers on time and in the past three weeks we have reduced our total complaints by 32% as well as resolving 88% of complaints within 24 hours".

Which? said Scottish Power received the fewest complaints at 13 for every 1,000 customers while SSE, British Gas and E.On all received around 30 complaints per 1,000 though SSE's figure doubled.

EDF's complaints dropped from 77 per 1,000 customers this time last year to 46.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "Yet again millions of customers are being let down by poor service from the 'Big Six' energy companies. This has to change.

"If they want to improve the low level of consumer trust in the energy market, suppliers must up their game now, rather than wait for the results of a competition review."

It emerged earlier this month that the energy regulator, Ofgem, had written to the firms demanding to know why they had failed to pass on falling wholesale energy costs to consumers in the form of lower bills.

Firms are coming under mounting pressure to cut bills

It also acted this week to cut switching times by half.

Labour said today that it wants Ofgem to be given the powers to force companies to cut their bills amid accusations the firms are quick to raise them when their costs rise but slow to react when wholesale costs tumble.

The companies have argued they need fair profits to pay for crucial investment in the country's energy infrastructure and they must buy early to secure future supplies - meaning current market prices are not always relevant.

Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said Labour planned to undertake the "biggest overhaul of our energy market since privatisation".

She said: "Our plans will break up the big energy companies, put an end to their secret deals and create a tough new regulator with the power to force companies to cut their prices when wholesale costs fall.

"And until these reforms kick in, we will put a stop to unfair price rises by freezing energy bills until 2017, saving the average household £120".

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: "Energy companies need to up their game - people are switching suppliers in unprecedented numbers, particularly to small suppliers, whose numbers have nearly trebled since 2010".

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F1 Board Shake-Up As Fund Manager Quits

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The parent company of Formula One (F1) motor racing is poised to conduct a boardroom reshuffle involving the exit of one of Wall Street's most respected fund managers.

Sky News understands that Ryan Caldwell, a top executive at Waddell & Reed, is likely to sever ties with the US-based firm after failing to reach agreement on a planned two-year consultancy deal.

Mr Caldwell was instrumental in the acquisition in 2012 of a 20.9% stake in F1's parent in a deal which valued the group at around $9bn (£5.3bn) including its debts.

Under the terms of its investment in F1, which saw it become the sport's second-biggest investor, Waddell & Reed has the right to nominate a director to the board of the sport's holding company.

Sources said on Wednesday that Mr Caldwell was likely to step down from the board and be replaced by Michael Avery, Waddell & Reed's president.

The investment in 2012 was intended to serve as a precursor to a stock market listing in Singapore, which was subsequently scuppered by the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone.

Blackrock and Norges Bank, Norway's sovereign wealth fund, ploughed hundreds of millions of dollars each into F1 alongside Waddell & Reed.

Their money was not allied to significant governance rights, a fact that Norges Bank has subsequently said it regrets given that an initial public offering of the company is unlikely in the short term.

Bernie Ecclestone, F1's chief executive, is currently standing trial on bribery and corruption charges in Germany.

The US media groups Liberty Global and Discovery Communications are now in discussions with CVC and the estate of Lehman Brothers about acquiring as much as 49% of F1's parent for about $4bn.

Such a deal could be problematic for Blackrock, Norges Bank and Waddell & Reed because it would crystallise a lower valuation for the business than that placed on it in the 2012 deal.

Lawrence Stroll, a Canadian billionaire, is also understood to have held talks in recent months about participating in an offer.

Sky News understands that CVC Capital Partners, which remains F1's largest shareholder, has engaged Goldman Sachs to field contact from potential buyers of its remaining 35% stake.

Mr Caldwell's resignation as a full-time executive was announced last month in a statement which said that he would become a consultant to Waddell & Reed for two years.

"He will be missed on a day-to-day basis, but we are very pleased to be retaining him in a consulting role, where his expertise will remain available to me and to the Asset Strategy portfolios," Mr Avery said in May.

Sources indicated on Wednesday that Mr Caldwell would no longer take up the consulting role although the reasons for the decision were not immediately clear.

A Waddell & Reed spokesman did not return calls seeking comment on Mr Caldwell's departure, while CVC was unavailable for comment.

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Nokia 'Blackmailed For Millions Of Euros'

Nokia paid several million euros to criminals who threatened to sabotage its smartphone operating system, it has been reported.

It was claimed in a local TV report that the Finnish phone giant left the cash in a car park for the blackmailers to collect – as police looked on.

But the crooks managed to slip the police tail after picking up the money, and are still at large.

Detective Chief Inspector Tero Haapala, from Finland's police service, confirmed the force was investigating a case of alleged blackmail.

The Nokia N97 running the Symbian software in 2008

He said: "We are investigating felony blackmail, with Nokia the injured party."

The TV report claimed that hackers managed to get hold of the security encryption key for a key part of Nokia's Symbian software, and threatened to make it public.

If the hackers had done so, anyone could have written additional code for Symbian, including possible malware.

Nokia contacted police before agreeing to deliver the cash to a car park in Tampere, central Finland.

After the money was picked up, police lost track of the culprits.

The blackmail attempt happened in 2008, but has only just been revealed.

Nokia later moved to Microsoft's Windows software in its smartphones, and its phone arm has since been sold to the software giant.

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Bank Of England 'Closer To Rate Rise Move'

The Bank of England's interest rate-setters were surprised that the financial markets had not priced in a rise this year, it has emerged.

Minutes of the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) showed that while there was no support on the nine-member panel for an increase in bank rate this month, such a move was nearing.

The document said the members found it "somewhat surprising" that markets attached only a relatively low probability to a hike by the end of the year.

The view echoes remarks by Bank governor Mark Carney in his Mansion House speech last week that the first hike in interest rates could come sooner than expected.

Martin Weale has been on the MPC since 2010

The minutes recorded: "For some members the policy decision had become more balanced in the past couple of months than earlier in the year."

The MPC cited the rapidly improving picture for employment and the wider economy.

Fuel was added to the speculation around a rise this year when an external member of the MPC, Martin Weale, used a speech in Belfast on Wednesday to argue the case for an increase from the record low of 0.5%, adopted in March 2009.

He said the Bank could afford to tighten monetary policy slightly, even if slack in the economy was greater than employment figures suggest.

While acknowledging that wage growth was still unusually weak, he said monetary policy would still provide a great deal of support for the economy even after bank rate had started to rise gradually.

In the three months through April, total pay including bonuses rose a yearly 0.7%, slowing from 1.9% in the three months to March.

In the month of April alone, total pay fell by 1.7% compared with the same month last year.

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