Nike Ends Manchester United Sponsorship Deal

Sportswear giant Nike has decided not to renew the kit deal for Manchester United after next season.

The American company has supplied the Old Trafford club since 2002 when it replaced Umbro in a lucrative deal which has cost Nike around £24m a season.

Although some reports at the weekend suggested a new record-breaking deal was set to be concluded, Nike revealed on Tuesday that it had opted to walk away from negotiations, claiming United were demanding too much money.

A Nike statement read: "Manchester United is a great club with passionate fans. We are proud to have partnered with them for the last 12 years and will continue to sponsor the club until the end of the 2014/15 season.

"Any partnership with a club or federation has to be mutually beneficial, and the terms that were on offer for a renewed contract did not represent good value for Nike's shareholders.

"We look forward to a successful final season with the club."

Some reports have suggested Adidas is now in pole position to step in and clinch a deal which could see the club earn £60m a year from 2015.

Nike's original deal was worth £303m, with extra income from a profit share agreement from merchandise sold worldwide.

On Monday, United unveiled their new home kit for the 2014-15 season - which will be the last designed by Nike and the first to bear the logo of new sponsor Chevrolet.

United announced they would be entering a seven-year agreement - worth a reported £53m per season - with the US car giant from this summer back in 2012.

Incoming manager Louis van Gaal will head to the United States after the World Cup to pick up the reins for the first time as United begin their overseas tour on July 18.

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Celebrities Among Hundreds Who 'Avoided Tax'

Several names from the world of showbiz have been accused of hiding their money in an aggressive tax avoidance scheme.

George Michael, Sir Michael Caine and Katie Melua all invested in the Liberty tax strategy, according to a report in The Times newspaper.

Some 1,600 people, including QCs, doctors, top businessmen, celebrities, criminals and a judge, are said to have invested in the scheme.

Sir Michael Caine has made 'no comment'

They are accused of trying to shelter a total of £1.2bn in Liberty, which ran between 2005 and 2009.

The scheme worked by making huge artificial "losses" offshore, which members could then use to avoid paying tax on other income.

It meant that for every £1 earned, investors could reduce the amount they paid to 7p in tax instead of 40p, while higher rate taxpayers could earn £1m each year tax free.

To do the latter, they had to pay £70,000 in fees to Mercury Tax Group, the company which ran the scheme.

Katie Melua says she has paid the tax to HMRC she would have owed

According to a document leaked to The Times, Michael is said to have paid £443,000 seeking to shelter £6.2m he earned from record and tour sales.

The newspaper said the singer told the Big Issue in 1996 he would be happy paying 50% to 60% tax under a Labour government.

The singer's spokesman told the paper his "busy schedule" meant he could not answer questions at present.

Singer Melua tried to shelter £850,000. Her lawyers said it was her accountants who did so and that when she found out, she paid the money back.

All four members of the Arctic Monkeys declined to comment

Sir Michael, who is accused of sheltering £600,000, made "no comment", while four members of the Arctic Monkeys, who are each said to have sheltered between £557,000 and £1.1m, also declined to speak.

Sky's political correspondent Anushka Asthana said: "All of these celebrities are going to be targeted by a change of rule.

"HMRC is going to take this tax scheme to court next March but in the meantime the new rules mean they have to pay the money back.

"If they don't, the Government can go directly into their bank accounts and take it."

David Cameron has called tax avoidance schemes "morally wrong"

A number of other celebrities have been identified as having used tax avoidance schemes in the past including Take That star Gary Barlow, who used another scheme set up by Icebreaker Management, and Jimmy Carr, who was said to have channelled cash through Jersey-based K2.

Tax avoidance is legal although David Cameron has described it as "morally wrong".

Asthana added: "The Prime Minister stuck the boot in when The Times first outed comedian Jimmy Carr as a tax avoider.

"He was a little less willing to do so when it was Conservative-supporting Gary Barlow, who had also invested in the scheme we are talking about today."

A HMRC spokesman said it did not comment on individual cases but added: "We are always happy to help the increasing numbers who want to disentangle themselves from the increasingly fruitless practice of tax avoidance."

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Moulton In Talks Over Unipart Rescue Deal

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The City financier Jon Moulton is in talks to rescue Unipart Automotive, Britain's biggest independent car parts supplier, in a deal that could save more than 1,500 jobs.

Sky News can reveal Better Capital, the investment firm headed by Mr Moulton, is competing against Euro Car Parts, another major company in the sector, about a transaction which could take place this week.

A third bidder is also understood to be in talks about a deal, without which Unipart Automotive faces the prospect of administration.

Sky News disclosed earlier on Tuesday that Unipart Automotive's owners had lined up KPMG by filing a notice of intention to appoint the professional services firm as administrator after a period of poor trading.

Unipart Automotive employs roughly 1,600 people, the vast majority of whose jobs would be saved if, as expected, KPMG reaches a deal to sell the company to one of the three interested parties.

KPMG has been tipped as administators if necessary

Mr Moulton's interest follows his attempt to take control of MG Rover when the British car maker was put up for sale by BMW nearly 15 years ago.

Unipart Automotive, which is part-owned by Unipart Group and controlled by H2 Equity Partners, a Dutch private equity firm, has a network of 200 branches across the UK. Unipart Group sold a majority stake in 2011.

Mark Dixon, Unipart Automotive chief executive, said in response to Sky News' earlier report: "In response to current press speculation I can confirm that Unipart Automotive Limited are currently in detailed discussions with three parties in respect of the sale of the business.

"We are very hopeful of concluding this transaction in the next 36 hours.

"A notice of intention to appoint administrators has been filed, but merely with the intention of protecting Unipart Automotive while we complete this sale process."

According to the company's website, it is the largest independent supplier of car parts, workshop consumables and garage equipment to the after-market.

Unipart Automotive completed a refinancing in May which included new injections of capital from its shareholders in an attempt to buy the company breathing space.

KPMG declined to comment.

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

House Price Growth 'Begins To Stabilise'

Further evidence has emerged that the housing market is beginning to stabilise amid tougher mortgage affordability rules and warnings of looming rate rises.

The latest house price study, conducted by Halifax, reported a 0.6% fall in average costs month-on-month in June though. However, in the three months to June, price growth accelerated to 8.8% on an annual basis.

The Halifax said this marked the strongest year-on-year uplift since October 2007 and took the average cost of a property to £183,462.

Stephen Noakes, mortgages director at Halifax, said: "Housing demand continues to be supported by an economic recovery that is gathering pace, with employment levels growing and rising consumer confidence, although real earnings growth remains sluggish."

The findings on annual price growth largely mirrored those of rival Nationwide, which last week reported average year-on-year growth of 11.8%, taking values past their 2007 peak to stand at a new all-time average high of £188,903.

But in a paper on the state of the UK housing market, the chief UK economist at Berenberg Rob Wood, wrote that while the latest Halifax figures showed the pace of price increases was not slowing, the calculations showed housing costs had stabilised.

He pointed to quarterly figures reported by Halifax as being more reliable, measuring growth of around 2% consistently since June 2013.

"Tighter regulations and the real chance of an interest rate hike this year have stabilised leading indicators and actual price inflation at current strong rates.

"We look for house prices to gain 10% in 2014 and 10% in 2015", he said.

A key factor supporting price growth has been a shortage of new homes as builders struggle to return to pre-financial crisis levels of construction while costs in London have soared well above national averages.

But there have been signs that the worst of the heat is easing.

The introduction of toughened lending rules at the end of April, which force lenders to conduct financial stress tests on buyers and those looking to remortgage, have been reported as putting many people off potential purchases though the impact may be temporary.

The Bank of England also recently announced new curbs on riskier lending, with loans of 4.5 times a borrower's income or higher accounting for no more than 15% of new mortgages issued by lenders.

The Bank also said that lenders should ensure that borrowers can keep up their mortgage repayments in the event of a rise of up to 3% in interest rates over the first five years of the loan.

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

RAC Owner Carlyle Holds Talks About £2bn Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The owners of the RAC roadside recovery service have been holding secret talks about a £2bn sale in the wake of a modest stock market debut by the AA, its main rival.

Sky News has learnt that Carlyle, the private equity firm which has owned the RAC since 2011, is in preliminary discussions with competitors including Apax Partners and BC Partners about an outright takeover of the business.

Blackstone has also been sounded out about its appetite for a deal but is not thought to be interested.

It was unclear on Wednesday whether any of the talks with other buyout firms would lead to a deal, with several sources close to the RAC saying that they still expected it to become a publicly-listed company.

A flotation could take place as soon as this year, although some people close to the business are said to have become more serious about exploring a sale following last month's listing by the AA, Britain's biggest motoring organisation.

The AA struck a so-called management buy-in deal which involved selling hundreds of millions of pounds of shares to City investors and installing a new management team.

The shares had slipped from their original listing price of 250p but have since recovered and on Wednesday were trading at 252p.

People close to the RAC said it had substantially lower debt than the AA and argued that it had stronger growth prospects.

Sky News revealed in May that Carlyle had appointed Lazard, the investment bank, to advise it on options to exit its investment, on which it hopes to have doubled the value of the RAC.

Since then, banks including Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have been hired to act as bookrunners for an initial public offering (IPO).

The RAC, founded by the Royal Automobile Club in 1897, has more than seven million members, and has about 2,000 patrols which attend 2.5 million breakdowns every year.

The RAC, which is owned by the same private equity group as Addison Lee, the London-based taxi company, is chaired by Rob Templeman, who is expected to step down ahead of a flotation.

Its chief executive is Chris Woodhouse, with whom Mr Templeman worked at Debenhams, the department store chain.

Aviva sold the RAC in 2011 to focus on its core insurance operations but was widely regarded to have undervalued the RAC by offloading it for £1bn.

Last November, the RAC paid its owners a £163m dividend as it emerged that the company was on track to make £145m in pre-tax profit last year, almost double its 2010 earnings.

It recently announced the launch of its first mobile electric vehicle charging unit and has begun selling telematic tracking devices, a growing trend among motor insurers.

The RAC and the private equity firms declined to comment.

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shop Prices Fall At Steepest Rate Since 2006

The prices of goods in UK stores fell for a 14th consecutive month in June and at their steepest level since December 2006.

The calculation - in the latest British Retail Consortium/Nielsen shop price index - showed deflation hit 1.8% in the month from a year ago, accelerating from a figure of 1.4% in May.

The report stated that the tumbling cost of clothing and electrical goods - attributed mainly to discounting - led the charge and while food prices rose, the pace of price growth was also at an eight-year low at 0.6%.

Clothing deflation soared to 13.7% from 11.4% while electrical goods fell 4% in June compared to 3.1% in May.

The report said a price war among supermarkets - as major chains battle the challenge from hard discounters - was a major factor in keeping food cost increases in check.

But it also highlighted the effect of a strong pound on import costs and cheaper commodity costs.

British Retail Consortium director general Helen Dickinson said: "This is the deepest level of deflation in non-food and the lowest rate of inflation for food since 2006 when our records began.

"The backdrop was equally promising with stable commodity markets and the continued strength of sterling suggesting inflation is set to remain low in the medium term."

Nielsen's head of retail and business insight Mike Watkins said: "Food inflation is still low, many supermarkets are price cutting and non-food prices remain deflationary, so the high street continues to generate little inflationary pressure."

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

BlackBerry Unveils Bizarre Square Smartphone

Muscled out of the smartphone market by iPhone, Android and Samsung, BlackBerry has rolled the dice on its latest product and come up with a square phone.

The Canadian firm has unveiled more details about the unusual device called the Passport, which it first previewed in June, including a 4.5-inch square HD screen.

A post on the official BlackBerry blog said: "Many have thought that creativity around the design of smartphones was dead.

"Device companies have been emulating the same, entertainment-driven look for so long that there's been a homogenisation of the visual cues in smartphone design."

BlackBerry was once the phone model of choice for businesspeople

The screen width fits 60 characters rather than the 40 seen on a rectangular five-inch device.

Under the heading "it's hip to be square", the post said the width is ideal for reading ebooks, viewing documents and browsing the web.

Comparing it to a giant cinema screen, the post added: "The Passport is like the IMAX of productivity and you don't have to sacrifice screen real estate, vertically or horizontally."

The post said the device was aimed at professionals such as architects, writers and medical staff.

The BlackBerry Passport fits more characters across the screen

Earlier this year, BlackBerry announced a quarterly loss of $423m (£254m) after suffering a revenue drop of more than 60%.

The company said its revenue for the last quarter of 2013 was $976m (£587m), down from $2.7bn (£1.6bn) in the previous year.

It was the first time the Canadian company had reported quarterly revenue of below $1bn (£600m).

The figure was more than a tenth lower than what analysts had forecast.

Early last year, the company released BlackBerry 10, which failed to spark a turnaround in its fortunes.

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

Syria 'Likely' Used UK Chemicals To Make Sarin

Chemicals exported by British firms to Syria in the 1980s are likely to have been used to make the nerve agent sarin, the Foreign Secretary has said.

In a written statement to MPs, William Hague said a review of records showed a number of companies exported substances to the country between 1983 and 1986.

These substances had legitimate uses in producing plastics and pharmaceuticals and were not restricted under international or UK law.

"However, they can also be used in the production of sarin," Mr Hague said.

"DMP (chemical dimethyl phosphite) and TMP (trimethyl phosphite) can also be used for the production of the nerve agent VX.

UN chemical weapons experts in Damascus in August last year

"That is why the export of such goods is strictly prohibited under the UK export regime introduced since the 1980s and progressively strengthened.

"From the information we hold, we judge it likely that these chemical exports by UK companies were subsequently used by Syria in their programmes to produce nerve agents, including sarin."

Mr Hague said some of the firms involved no longer existed, while some of the chemicals supplied may have been sourced by a UK chemical trader, rather than produced in the UK.

In addition, he said an export of ventilation fans by a UK firm to Syria in 2003 appeared to have been diverted for use in a chemical weapons facility.

Syrian chemical weapons being transferred this July for their destruction

"However, knowledge of these exports, and growing concerns that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was developing a chemical weapons capability, helped prompt the introduction of tighter controls, both in the UK and internationally," the Cabinet minister said.

Mr Hague said there had been "a complete overhaul" of export control legislation, policy and practice since the 1980s and that the UK now operated "a robust export control regime".

He said the UK was playing its full part in the international effort to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons programme and had accepted the responsibility to destroy around 200 tonnes of its stockpile in specialised commercial facilities in the UK.

A report by UN chemical weapons inspectors found "clear and convincing" evidence that chemical weapons were used in attacks that killed hundreds of people, including children, in Damascus on August 21 last year.

Britain and the US accused Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime of deploying chemical weapons against rebel forces.

However, the Syrian government dismissed the allegations and claimed opposition fighters were behind the deaths.

00.12 | 0 komentar | Read More

MPs To Fuel Royal Mail Sale Row In New Report

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The controversy over the £3.3bn privatisation of Royal Mail will be reignited this week when MPs criticise Vince Cable and the body responsible for state-owned assets over their handling of the sale.

Sky News has learnt the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee has agreed a hard-hitting report which endorses a finding by the National Audit Office (NAO) that taxpayers were left short-changed by Royal Mail's flotation.

The Committee intends to publish its report on the sell-off on Friday, according to insiders.

Its recommendations will include a ban on independent City advisers to the Government being allowed to buy shares during future asset sales, as well as the way future flotations are marketed to investors.

Lazard acted as the independent adviser to the Government, receiving a fee of £1.5m for its work.

Mr Cable faced criticism in April when it emerged that the investment bank's asset management unit had been among a group of so-called priority investors which were given outsized allocations of shares when they were sold for 330p last October.

The fund management arm, which is segregated from Lazard's advisory business, then sold its entire holding within days of the flotation, banking a substantial profit for clients.

The post-flotation surge in Royal Mail's share price, which included a rise of more than 35% on the first day of trading, sparked criticism that the stock had been undervalued at a cost to taxpayers of at least £750m.

Other major shareholders at the time of the initial public offering (IPO) included sovereign wealth funds owned by the Kuwait and Singapore governments as well as leading City institutions.

Sources said that the MPs' report would be critical of Mr Cable's remarks in the wake of the flotation that the increase was "froth" which would subside within six months.

Although the shares have retreated from their post-privatisation peak, they were trading on Wednesday at around 473p, roughly 45% higher than the price at which they were sold by the Government.

Mr Cable appeared before MPs on several occasions during the course of their inquiry, defending the Government against their assertion that the privatisation was botched.

A source familiar with the report said that it would also be critical of the Shareholder Executive, the body responsible for managing state-owned businesses such as the Land Registry and Urenco, the uranium processor.

MPs are said to have concluded that the Shareholder Executive "shirked its responsibility" by not providing clearer guidance about its expectations of the value of Royal Mail ahead of the sale.

The report will also say that taxpayers will miss out on prospective increases in the value of Royal Mail-owned property assets, such as the former mail centre site at Nine Elms in Vauxhall, central London.

Committee members are understood to be critical of the fact that there is no provision for taxpayers to benefit from future disposals of those sites.

The report does not include a formal recommendation about whether the banks which worked on the privatisation should receive several million pounds of discretionary fees, although Mr Cable is considered unlikely to provoke further anger by handing over the money.

A Whitehall source said on Wednesday that the MPs' report was unexpectedly critical given the number of Conservative and Liberal Democrat committee members.

Since last autumn's sale, Royal Mail has become embroiled in a public row with Ofcom, the industry regulator, over the ability of rivals to cherry-pick the postal services they offer.

Moya Greene, the company's chief executive, has argued that its ability to deliver its Universal Service Obligation, which guarantees delivery to every UK address for the price of a stamp, could be jeopardised by the regulatory regime and has called for an urgent review.

The Government still owns 30% of Royal Mail and could decide to sell its remaining stake ahead of next year's General Election.

The row over Royal Mail's sell-off is unlikely to diminish in the wake of this week's report.

The Public Accounts Committee is also drafting a report on the privatisation, which is expected to be published soon.

A BIS Committee spokesman declined to comment.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bomb Fears: 'Charge All Gadgets' For UK Flights

Airlines To Scrutinise Smartphones Amid Threat

Updated: 8:12am UK, Friday 04 July 2014

Airlines with direct flights to the US have been told to tighten their screening of mobile phones amid fears terrorists could use them in bomb attacks.

US officials singled out Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy handsets for extra security checks.

They will apply to US-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the officials said.

The new precautions come in response to requests from US authorities, who fear attacks on planes flying to America.

US security officials said they fear bomb makers from the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have worked out how to turn the phones into explosive devices which can avoid detection.

They also are concerned that hard-to-detect bombs could be built into shoes.

A US official said that other electronic devices carried by passengers also are likely to receive more intense scrutiny.

Airlines or airport operators that fail to strengthen security could face bans on flights entering the US.

On Thursday, the US Homeland Security Department announced on plans to step up general security checks, but offered few details on how airlines and airports will implement them.

An official familiar with the issues said the US believes that while it is possible there may be some additional delays at security checkpoints, at most major airports passengers will not be seriously inconvenienced.

The official said most passengers taking long-distance flights arrive well in advance of scheduled departures, leaving time for extra screening.

But he said the US could not rule out disruptions in countries where airport infrastructure and security procedures are less sophisticated.

In the UK, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the additional security was not expected to cause "significant" disruption to flights.

He told Sky News: "There will be extra security checks but they will be made in the course of events people already go through and I hope there will not be significant delays."

But British aviation security expert Philip Baum said heightened security will inevitably mean longer queues and increased waiting times to board flights at UK airports.

"It will mean (more) random searches, secondary searches and an increase in the number of passengers asked to remove shoes and possibly all passengers being asked to remove shoes if they're going on certain flights," he said.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More