Author: LoveWorld UK

France will continue to take a tough line on defending the rights of French fishermen in Brexit talks but a deal with the United Kingdom is still possible, France’s new European affairs minister Clement Beaune said on Wednesday. “We will not accept a deal at any price,” he told France Inter radio in his first public comments on Brexit since his appointment on Sunday. “Better no deal at all than a bad deal,” he said while adding that a deal was nevertheless the best outcome for all concerned. Britain and the European Union clashed last week over the chances of…

The chief executives of four of the world’s largest tech companies, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O), Apple (AAPL.O) and Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), plan to argue in a congressional hearing on antitrust on Wednesday that they face intense competition from each other and from other rivals. The testimony from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple’s Tim Cook, which was released Tuesday, portrays four chief executives who are looking over their shoulders at competitors who could render them obsolete. Pichai argued that search – which Google dominates by most metrics – was broader than just typing…

British property website Rightmove said a mini housing market boom was gathering pace after a tax cut by finance minister Rishi Sunak. The number of sales agreed in England — which eased coronavirus restrictions on the market before other countries in the United Kingdom — jumped by an annual 35% in the five days after Sunak’s announcement on July 8, Rightmove said. A recovery had already been underway with agreed sales in England up by 15% in June, it said on Monday. Hoping to give a boost to the economy, Sunak raised the threshold for paying tax on property purchases…

British retailers discounted their goods less in July than the month before, after consumer demand picked up in many sectors as coronavirus lockdown restrictions eased, data from the British Retail Consortium showed on Wednesday. Average shop prices in July were 1.3% lower than a year before, compared with 1.6% lower in June and a record 2.4% fall in May. July’s reading was driven by a smaller price fall of 2.9% for non-food prices in July, down from a 3.4% drop in June. “Sectors which saw a release of pent-up demand, such as electricals and furniture, saw fewer promotions,” BRC chief…

The Bank of England will assess whether to extend a suspension on payouts such as dividends and share buybacks by banks beyond the end of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it said on Tuesday. Under pressure from the central bank, Britain’s lenders agreed in March to suspend payouts this year in order to preserve capital to help companies and households hit by COVID-19 lockdowns. Bonuses to senior staff were also scrapped. The Bank of England (BoE) said on Tuesday its Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) would undertake in the fourth quarter an assessment of distribution plans at banks beyond…

Sales at Greggs (GRG.L) have almost recovered to breakeven levels following the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown, the British snack foods retailer said on Tuesday after it reported a plunge to first-half losses. The company, known for its sausage rolls, bakes and sandwiches, said sales at company-managed stores stood at 72% of the 2019 level in the most recent week. It added it could breakeven when sales reach about 80% of last year’s level. CEO Roger Whiteside said Greggs had made a great start to 2020 before the pandemic hit, causing it to close its more than 2,000 stores for…

Peugeot maker PSA Group (PEUP.PA) delivered a profit in the first half of the year even as the COVID-19 pandemic hit revenue and said a strong sales rebound in June had extended into July. The French carmaker, which suffered like rivals as dealerships closed and which halted production as the outbreak spread from China to Europe and the United States, also said on Tuesday it was sticking with its mid-term profit margin target. “June has been a very strong rebound in sales and July is seeing a similar trend,” Financial Chief Philippe de Rovira told reporters. Chief Executive Carlos Tavares…

Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said Liverpool’s Juergen Klopp thoroughly deserved his success this season and was even willing to forgive the German for waking him up in the early hours of the morning to announce his league triumph. Klopp was presented with the Alex Ferguson Trophy on Monday after being named League Managers’ Association (LMA) manager of the year for guiding the Merseyside club to their first top-flight title in 30 years. The title was sealed when Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-1 on a Thursday night in late June, but Klopp clearly waited a few hours before getting…

A Chinese government-backed website took aim at HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.L) on Tuesday, accusing the Asia-focussed lender of “maliciously” playing a role in the arrest of Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s is fighting against extradition from Canada to the United States, where she is accused of bank fraud for misleading HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with a company operating in Iran, putting HSBC at risk of fines and penalties for breaking U.S. sanctions on Tehran. Anger in China over the treatment of Meng and Huawei, the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker, has led to criticism of London-headquartered…

China took over the premises of the U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Monday, after ordering the facility to be vacated in retaliation for China’s ouster last week from its consulate in Houston, Texas. The seizure capped a dramatic escalation in tensions between the world’s two biggest economies that began when employees at China’s Houston consulate were seen burning documents in a courtyard last Tuesday, hours before Beijing announced that it had been ordered to leave the facility. The U.S. consulate in Chengdu, in Sichuan province, was closed as of 10 a.m (0200) on Monday, and Chinese…