HMS Audacious: New Super Submarine For Navy

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

A £1.2bn contract has been agreed to build a new submarine for the Royal Navy.

The deal, awarded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to BAE Systems, will safeguard 3,000 jobs at the company's Barrow shipyard in Cumbria.

The submarine, to be called HMS Audacious, will be the fourth of seven Astute Class boats being built for the Navy. It will join Astute, Ambush and Artful in the growing fleet.

The first two submarines, Astute and Ambush, are currently undergoing sea trials to test their systems ahead of full service. These trials assess their ability to dive to deep depths and fire missiles.

A further £1.5bn has also been committed to three submarines yet to be built, which will complete the fleet. It will allow vital preliminary work to start.

Commenting on the announcement, Rear Admiral Simon Lister, the MoD's director of submarines, said: "The Astute Class will become the jewel in the crown of the Royal Navy's Submarine Service and boasts much greater firepower and more advanced sonar and communications than ever before.

Audacious is the fourth of seven Astute submarines being built for the Navy

"These submarines represent a huge leap forward in technology and will operate all over the world with the Royal Navy.

"These boats provide the optimum capability a submarine can offer in land strike, strategic intelligence gathering, anti-submarine and surface ship warfare, and protection of the strategic deterrent."

The Astute class submarines are powered by nuclear energy which means they never need to refuel. In theory they can stay underwater forever, only re-surfacing to take on supplies for the crew.

They are fitted with the most advanced sonar systems available and are quieter than older submarines. The sonar system has the processing power of 2,000 laptops and can spot and track ships 3,000 miles away.

At around 320ft (97m) from bow to stern they are about 50% bigger than the Royal Navy's current Trafalgar Class submarines. They carry on board a mix of Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk land-attack missiles.

The submarines will also make their own oxygen from seawater. 

The money is coming from a pre-allocated budget. In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor said the MoD could have more time to spend about £1bn that it has yet to use from this year's budget.

It was thought that the Treasury might request the money be returned, but George Osborne has allowed the department a period of flexibility.

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Unemployed To Get Free Bus Rides To Find Jobs

Bus companies have come together to offer free travel to the unemployed as part of a Government-backed scheme to help people find work.

Some 800,000 people across Britain who have been without a job for between three months to a year will be eligible to claim for a card, giving them free bus rides in January.

The JobCentre Plus Travel Discount Card already entitles them to half-price journeys.

Arriva, First, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach are among the operators signed up to the deal, which covers 70% of routes in England, Wales and Scotland.

Transport minister Norman Baker said: "Good bus services play a huge role in boosting economic growth by helping people to access employment and training opportunities.

"I have been encouraging bus operators to look at the fare deals they can offer to young people looking for work, so I congratulate the operators that are doing so in January and look forward to seeing other offers in the future."

The initiative was co-ordinated by Greener Journeys, a campaign group involving leading bus companies and supporters including Transport for London and the RAC Foundation.

Chief executive Claire Haigh said: "In difficult economic times, this new scheme will provide a helpful start to the New Year, enabling job hunters to travel around more easily in search of employment, to job interviews with prospective employers, and to training courses which will help them find work."

The latest official unemployment figures are released on Wednesday this week.

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Tax Row 'Helping John Lewis Online Sales'

Tax Row: Convenience Still Priority

Updated: 7:27pm UK, Sunday 09 December 2012

By Tadhg Enright, Business reporter

Recession? What recession?

So has been the mantra at John Lewis throughout the financial crisis during which sales growth consistently outperformed its high street rivals.

The recession is over but consumers are still expected to buy less, not more, this Christmas.

So could it be a bit of a stretch to suggest that stellar growth in John Lewis sales this past week has anything to do with Amazon's recent exposure as an avoider of UK corporation tax?

Speaking to Sky News, the retailer's boss Andy Street acknowledged "I can't prove it" and that it could all just be a coincidence.

While sales rose 15% over the past week compared to the same time last year, he pointed in particular to even higher (but undisclosed) growth in online sales.

But with internet shopping becoming more normal with each passing year, most online retailers are enjoying double digit growth.

And John Lewis has not been left wanting with its approach to so called "clicks and mortar" retailing.  It has been a trend leader rather than a follower so will naturally enjoy better growth than others.

Also bear in mind that John Lewis and Amazon are very different retailers and the overlap between their customer bases is thin.

Ask any business journalist and they'll tell you that John Lewis will take any chance to get a bit of free, positive publicity. Amazon has been more of a shrinking violet during the controversy over its taxes.

Business reporters who have been canvassing shoppers outside branches of Starbucks will also know that a majority of the people they speak to are oblivious to the scandal over its tax affairs.

Of those who know all about it, only a fraction are likely to avoid the tax-avoiders.

But Starbucks' u-turn shows just how serious some are taking the tax debate.

It has decided to pay £20m in corporation tax over the next two years, which, it maintains, it does not have to pay.

That wasn't enough though to prevent protesters occupying some of its cafes this weekend.

But it will be enough to convince the more nonchalant among us that it's ok to get your latte at Starbucks again.

In fact, consumer experts will also tell you that when a company puts right what once was wrong it can often enjoy a boost rather than a simple bounce-back in sales.

With 15 days to Christmas, the rush is on and many consumers simply don't have the time, energy or patience to change their habits.

Amid the chaos, shoppers are more likely than ever to put convenience before conscience.

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Twitter Fined Over UK Business Accounts Delay

By Pete Norman, Sky News Online

Social media giant Twitter has been fined after failing to file its UK corporate accounts, Sky News has learned.

The company was due to lodge its annual accounts no later than September but has still not done so, according to Companies House.

As a result Twitter UK Ltd and its secondary company, TweetDeck Ltd, have been hit with automatic penalty charges by the Cardiff-based authority.

The penalties are set to climb if the companies continue to delay filing the accounts.

The returns are used as a basis for tax filings with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). There is no suggestion the companies have avoided any tax liability.

A spokesman for Companies House told Sky News: "They are both currently in default on the submission of accounts to us on their respective due dates.

The website for Companies House, based in Cardiff

"Companies House records show Twitter's accounts should have been delivered by September 30 but there is no indication this has been done.

"There is no indication at this stage when the accounts will be available but as a matter of routine we will already be in correspondence with the companies to request that they file as soon as possible."

Twitter UK and TweetDeck are wholly-owned subsidiaries of California-based Twitter Inc.

Twitter has yet to reply to Sky News with an explanation for why it has failed to lodge the accounts.

TweetDeck was started by Sheffield-educated computer programmer Iain Dodsworth in 2008 and sold to Twitter last year for an estimated £25m.

Twitter UK has three American directors, Ali Rowghani, Richard Costolo and Alexander Macgillivray, who list their address as a San Francisco office.

Mr Macgillivray is company secretary for both Twitter UK and TweetDeck. He is also general counsel for the parent firm and head of its public policy and trust department.

According to the Institute of Directors, one of the formal duties of a company secretary is to take responsibility for filing annual returns to the registrar in Cardiff.

Alexander Macgillivray, the US-based company secretary of Twitter UK Ltd

The spokesman for Companies House added: "At this time they will have already attracted a late filing penalty in accordance with the tariff published on our website.

"Failure to provide accounts for the public record can, ultimately result in company strike off, however, we are some way from that at this stage.

"Our objective remains, as always, to get the companies concerned to file their account so that these can be made available for public access, which we hope will be a positive conclusion to our continuing correspondence."

Mr Macgillivray, who also holds Canadian citizenship, became TweetDeck's company secretary after services of the British incumbent - Complete Secretarial Solutions Ltd - were terminated in May, 2011.

TweetDeck's founder, Mr Dodsworth, had his role as a director terminated in July, 2011.

The social media giant's British operation was originally named Twitter Information Network Ltd. It was incorporated on June 1, last year but given a name change to Twitter UK four months later.

The management team of Twitter has recently prepared for an expansion of staff in its London and Dublin offices as it builds a multinational sales team for Europe.

Plans include increasing advertising revenue and a system to automatically translate tweet feeds into more than 28 languages.

It is also appointing a "media partnerships manager" to cultivate wider use of Twitter by celebrities including "athletes, actors, comedians, musicians etc".

Google, Amazon and Starbucks have all come under fire

The revelation about Twitter's filing status with Companies House comes amid increasing public furore over the tax arrangements of other US multinationals with HMRC.

MPs investigating corporate tax structures of multinational firms recently slammed Starbucks, Amazon and Google.

Last week Starbucks said it would give some £20m over two years to HMRC, even though it was not required to by law.

The move was slammed as a "gift" by critics and HMRC said: "Corporation tax is not a voluntary tax and Parliament sets out the rules and rates for businesses to follow.

"The public expects businesses to pay their fair share and HMRC will challenge, through the courts if necessary, any structures or tax payments that do not comply with the UK tax law."

Starbucks' decision followed a public outcry over its accounting procedures, whereby it paid just £8.6m in UK corporation tax despite receiving billions in revenue from more than 750 stores.

In an interview with Sky's Jeff Randall, Starbucks CEO Kris Engskov said the US coffee giant had not been profitable in the UK since it brought its brand to Britain 14 years ago.

But he admitted their 2011 US report and accounts may be wrong when they referred to the fact that the UK was making a "significant portion of the net revenue and earnings of our international operations".

It was revealed Google paid £6m in UK tax in 2011 on sales of £395m, while Amazon paid no corporation tax in the same period, despite sales of £3.3bn.

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Pizza Hut Hunts For Larger Slice Of Market

Pizza Hut is hoping to increase its slice of the home delivery market by matching the store count of its key rival.

It said it aims to open at least 100 new stores by 2014 through an investment estimated at £20m.

Pizza Hut Delivery currently has around 300 stores in England, Wales and Scotland, both company-owned and franchises but hopes to increase its number to match Domino's Pizza.

Spokesman Mark Fox said: "The long-term goal is to establish a solid base of over 700 delivery stores across the UK, with an immediate business focus of delivering an additional 100 stores."

As of September 24, Domino's had 699 stores in the UK, including one mobile unit.

The Pizza Hut expansion comes amid rapid growth in online ordering for home delivery pizzas.

Domino's recently revealed it took nearly 60% of its orders online in the second quarter.

Mr Fox added: "Our investment will increase our marketing spend, drive the outlet numbers and visibility of Pizza Hut Delivery, and create opportunities for franchisees to grow their businesses quickly."

Pizza Hut said it would offer an incentive to existing and would-be franchisees.

The expansion could help create up to 2,000 full or part-time jobs.

Yum! Brands, the US owner of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, recently sold its 330 UK dine-in pizza restaurants as it redirected its focus towards home delivery.

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50 Shades Of Grey Is Gold For Ann Summers

As many retailers suffer the effects of the consumer spending squeeze, one chain is crediting the popularity of a book for booming sales.

Ann Summers tycoon Jacqueline Gold says the success of the saucy literary trilogy 50 Shades Of Grey has helped her chain to sell out of many of their 'racy' items.

She told Hello! magazine the books, written by EL James, had also opened up a lot of new doors on a business level.

Anne Summers boss Jacqueline Gold joined the firm in 1979

"What 50 Shades has done is to move erotic fiction from the back of the book store to the front and suddenly everyone wants a piece.

"Attitudes have changed and rightly so because why shouldn't people be able to spice up their sex lives.

"There are a lot of quite surprising potential partnerships we're negotiating at the moment - companies who would never have thought of getting involved with Ann Summers before - four of which, excitingly, are very close to fruition."

The chain claimed that as sales had declined for the high street as a whole on last year, its own sales had grown 78%.

Sales of products featured in 50 Shades Of Grey had soared, the company said, with items such as blindfolds and handcuffs currently up 60% and 30% respectively.

Online sales had grown 50%, Ann Summers said.

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Man CEO Clarke Makes Way For Roman Empire

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The chief executive of Man Group, the FTSE-250 hedge fund manager best-known for sponsoring the Booker Prize, will announce this week that he is stepping down in the wake of the dismal performance of its flagship fund.

I understand that Man could say as early as today that Peter Clarke, who has run the company since March 2007, will retire early next year. He will be replaced by Emmanuel Roman, Man's chief operating officer, who joined when his own firm, GLG Partners, was taken over by Man two years ago.

Jon Aisbitt, Man's chairman, has sounded out the group's leading shareholders in recent weeks about the leadership transition. The details of Mr Clarke's departure and Mr Roman's appointment were agreed at a Man board meeting last week, according to insiders.

Mr Clarke had been reported by The Sunday Times in October to be pressing boardroom colleagues that he should stay in his post until the end of next year. Sources said today that that would not happen, and that Mr Roman would take the reins before the spring of 2013.

Investors will be watching closely for details of Mr Clarke's payoff. According to Man's latest annual report, he has a 12-month notice period, and some leading shareholders said today they would oppose any attempt by the company to award Mr Clarke a sum approaching last year's $925,000 (£576,000) base salary.

If he does receive a sum on that scale, it could ignite another spark in the ongoing row over rewards for failure at large British companies.

The Man website

Man shares have slumped in recent months with investors pulling billions of pounds from its funds. Assets under management have fallen from $71bn (£44bn) immediately after the GLG takeover to $60bn (£37.3bn) this autumn, a figure which includes the impact of another subsequent takeover.

Man's poor performance has been partly the result of the slump in fortunes at AHL, its flagship fund, which historically generated hundreds of millions of pounds in performance fees, which have since evaporated.

Mr Clarke has worked at Man since 1997, and was promoted to finance director three years later.

In recent weeks, the company has been touted as a takeover target for a larger hedge fund or financial services group. In October, Crispin Odey, the prominent financier, revealed that he had taken a small stake in the company.

Man refused to comment.

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E.ON Is Last Of 'Big Six' To Raise Energy Bills

The last of the major energy firms to confirm its winter price rises, E.ON, has said its bills will be going up from January 18.

The company is writing to customers to inform them of their plans, which will see the average dual fuel bill rise by 8.7%.

It blamed the increase on rising wholesale prices for energy and other factors such as rising network costs.

The announcement was seized upon by price comparison experts who claimed the increase would take the average UK dual fuel bill to a new record high.

E.ON said the move would mean the average electricity-only price rising by 7.7% with average gas-only prices going up by 9.4%.

uSwitch says UK average energy bills have reached a new record high

But around one in six of its 4.8 million customers would endure no increase at all, the company said, because they were on either capped or fixed products.

Chief executive Tony Cocker said: "We have held back from increasing our prices for as long as we possibly could and at the same time have worked hard to reduce our own costs as a business so that our customers can get the best price possible.

"However, some 16 months after our last price increase, and almost a year since we actually cut our electricity prices, we have had to make the difficult decision to increase our prices."

He explained: "In the next few days every customer affected by this price change will receive a letter from us explaining the detail behind this announcement.

"Wherever we can, we will include the likely impact on the customer's own bill. However, as well as the individual impact, the broader question is not what we are doing but why we are doing it.

"We have worked hard to reduce our own running costs which include tasks such as reading and changing meters, answering queries and managing our customers' accounts."

Mr Cocker also moved to defend E.ON from any suggestion that it was ripping off customers through price rises.

He said: "We also believe our profit levels are fair and will continue to be so.

"Last year our domestic profit margin was less than 2% and we will make public the amount we make this year when we publish our 2012 results. 

The company had pledged not to raise its prices during 2012 and was accused today by the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, Martin Lewis, of being "disingenuous".

Price comparison website uSwitch said the move would take E.ON's average dual fuel bill from £1,260 a year to £1,370 and would make the company the most expensive supplier for standard cash and cheque customers.

The decision also meant, uSwitch said, that the average household energy bill had reached a new all-time high of £1,352 a year – a 23% increase since January 2011.

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Branson Bets Walsh £1M On Virgin's Survival

By Tadhg Enright, Business Reporter

Sir Richard Branson has called his arch rival Willie Walsh's bluff and asked him to put a £1m bet on the future of Virgin Atlantic.

The Virgin founder has rejected speculation by the man who runs the British Airways' owner IAG that the Virgin brand will disappear from the skies after a reported investment deal with Delta Airlines.

In a blogpost on the Virgin Atlantic website Sir Richard wrote:  "Rumours have been spread in the press that I am planning to give up control of Virgin Atlantic and, according to Willie Walsh - who runs BA - that our brand will soon disappear.

"This is wishful thinking and totally misguided. Will BA never learn? Let's see how much they believe this. Let them put their money where their mouth is."

Virgin Atlantic has refused to comment on newspaper reports that Delta is poised to buy Singapore Airlines' 49% stake in the loss-making airline.

Delta's main interest in Virgin is in its prized landing slots at London Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, where the American airline wants to have a greater market share.

Sky sources suggest a deal could be announced in the coming days.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said:  "I can't see Delta wanting to operate the Virgin brand because if they do what does that say about the Delta brand?"

Sir Richard responded angrily by promising to pay BA staff £1m if the Virgin Atlantic brand is ditched within five years and called on Walsh to do the same is he is proved wrong.

"Virgin Atlantic was my baby 28 years ago when we set up with just one plane. Like all children, they never really stop being your babies and Virgin Atlantic is still much cherished.

"We intend to carry on doing so for many years to come and, contrary to Mr Walsh's hopes, we have no plans to disappear.

The rivalry between Sir Richard and British Airways dates back to his airline's foundation and descended into a "dirty tricks" campaign by BA whose staff actively tried to poach Virgin customers and who used shared airport computer systems to tamper with confidential company files.

Virgin Atlantic made a pre-tax loss of £80m in the year to February and has been in search of strategic airline partners having so far refused to take part in a wave of consolidation and mergers across the industry.

Singapore Airlines has acknowledged it is in talks to sell its shareholding but said that no decision has yet been taken.

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Exclusive: FSA Blocks New Metro Bank Chair

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Britain's first new high street bank for more than a century has become embroiled in a spat with the City regulator over the appointment of an American billionaire as its new chairman.

I have learned that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has raised objections to plans to appoint Vernon Hill, Metro Bank's founder and vice-chairman, as Anthony Thomson's successor.

Mr Thomson, who has chaired Metro Bank since its launch in 2010, officially steps down at the end of the year, and the fledgling lender said in September that it would appoint his replacement by January next year.

Sources close to the FSA said that Metro Bank had sought permission from it to appoint Mr Hill to the role several months ago and said discussions were continuing.

The FSA's objections are understood to be rooted in a probe carried out by American regulators several years ago into Commerce Bank, a US-based institution also founded by Mr Hill. In 2007, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which helps regulate US banks, issued a cease-and-desist order against Commerce amid an investigation into real-estate deals among the bank, Mr Hill, his family and other entities.

Vernon Hill is a US billionaire

The row is a repetition of a dispute between the bank and the FSA three years ago. Metro Bank wanted to appoint Mr Hill as its chairman ahead of its launch but was forced to install Mr Thomson instead in order to persuade the FSA to award it a banking licence.

One person close to the talks said it was conceivable that the FSA would soften its position but added that Metro Bank was likely to appoint a chairman from its existing line-up of non-executive directors if the obstacles to Mr Hill's appointment cannot be overcome.

The latest row between Metro Bank and the FSA will reignite the debate about the City regulator's regime for authorising new lenders as the Government seeks fresh competitors to Britain's established high street banks.

FSA officials are expected to publish in the new year a revised framework to make it easier for new entrants to the retail banking sector to secure licences. The overhaul is expected to include lightening the capital requirements for new lenders.

It is unclear exactly why the FSA regards Mr Hill as a suitable vice-chairman and board director of Metro Bank but has such significant reservations about him assuming the role of chairman. People close to the regulator said the FSA would only object to the appointment of a bank chairman if it had sound reasons for doing so.

Since opening its first branch in central London in July 2010, Metro Bank has become a prominent player in the debate over reform of high street banking despite having opened less than a dozen 'stores'. The bank has recruited thousands of customers on the promise of excellent service and longer opening hours rather than especially competitive savings rates.

Earlier this year, Metro Bank raised £125m from investors including Moore Capital and Steven Cohen, the hedge fund manager whose firm, SAC Capital Advisors, has been drawn into an insider trading scandal in the US.

Metro Bank is targeting a stock market listing by the end of 2014.

Mr Hill started Commerce Bank with $1.5m in capital at the age of 27, selling it 34 years later to Canada's TD bank for $8.5bn in the week that the Dow Jones index reached an all-time high. He attributed the timing in an interview with the Financial Times to "half luck and half planning".

The Metro Bank founder is also a majority shareholder in two banks in Pennsylvania, one of which has the same name and the other which is called Republic Bank. He is understood to be planning to merge the two.

Metro Bank said the process to appoint a new chairman was ongoing but declined to comment on Mr Hill or the FSA. The City regulator also refused to comment.

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