Business Blog

18 April 2013 Last updated at 10:47 ET

Insurer Aviva has revealed plans to cut 6% of the company's workforce worldwide over the next six months.

The cost-cutting move will see about 2,000 people in the UK, Europe and Asia lose their jobs.

The company will consult with unions and staff before the number of job losses in the UK is finalised.

Altered redundancy packages for UK staff were also announced. From May this year, redundancy pay will be capped at 78 weeks, down from 104.

Payouts will also be cut from four weeks' pay for each year of service, to two. However, this change will not kick in until December, after the latest round of redundancies.

Unite, the UK's largest union, reacted angrily to the news.

"Once again, finance staff are being forced to pay the price for boardroom failure," said Unite national officer Dominic Hook. "To cut redundancy pay so drastically when there is deep uncertainty over job security is a callous and disgraceful act."

Aviva said the steps were necessary.

"I know this is difficult news for our employees, but these changes are essential if we are to remain competitive," said Mark Wilson, group chief executive officer. "Aviva needs to become a more efficient and agile organisation to unlock its potential."

The company is attempting to reduce costs by more than £400m. Its financial results released in March showed savings of £275m had already been made.

18 April 2013 Last updated at 07:27 ET

The head of Barclays' investment banking business, Rich Ricci, has resigned, the bank has announced.

The move follows the arrival of Barclays's new chief executive, Antony Jenkins.

The boss of the bank's wealth management business, Tom Kalaris, has also quit.

Both men played key roles under Bob Diamond, the former Barclays chief executive who left after last year's Libor rate-rigging scandal.

Mr Ricci gets a year's salary after departing, unless he lands another new job in the meantime.

Barclays declined to reveal his basic salary and pension package.

Mr Ricci, who has been with Barclays for 19 years, has often attracted controversy over his pay.

Despite waiving his bonus last year, he landed £18m from selling 5.7 million shares he gained as part of annual bonuses and incentives schemes in previous years.

He will be replaced by Eric Bommensath and Tom King, who will share the job as co-heads.

Barclays' Mr Jenkins said: "Today's changes will ensure we have the right senior team in place to deliver strategy and commitments we made on 12 February and build the 'go-to' bank."

17 April 2013 Last updated at 19:12 ET

Consumers who want to sell their houses via so-called "quick sale" companies are in danger of being misled, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Quick house sale providers offer to buy houses in as little as seven days, but at a discount to the full market value.

The OFT is warning that homeowners may receive much less for their property than it is worth.

"Any losses could be very high," it said.

In some cases such companies agree to buy a house, but then reduce the price at the very last minute.

"Businesses offering quick house sales may provide a useful service for homeowners who need to unlock cash in a hurry," said Cavendish Elithorn of the OFT.

"However, they are often used by consumers in vulnerable situations and therefore we are concerned about the risk of consumers being misled and losing out on large sums of money," he said.

Consumers identified as particularly at risk include those selling after a relationship breakdown, or the elderly who might need the money to pay for long-term care.

False valuations

During an investigation last year, the BBC spoke to two people who were angry at the way they had been treated by quick sale companies.

Malcolm Haywood, from Lincolnshire, wanted to sell his house quickly, and agreed to a sale price of £120,000.

But just before the deal was signed, the company involved, Gateway Homes UK, dropped the price to £80,000.

Pat Hardy, from Teesside, signed a similar deal with Tom Craven Property.

She had agreed a purchase price of £75,000, but the day before the removal men were due to arrive, they lowered the offer to £40,000.

Both companies insisted that the number of complaints amounted to less than 1% of their customers.

The OFT said practices which cause concern include unclear fee structures, reducing the price at the last minute, and wrongly claiming to be a cash buyer.

It also warned about companies making false property valuations, and tying customers into contracts which prevent them selling to other people, should alternative, and more generous offers emerge.

The OFT would now like to hear from anyone who has used a quick sale provider, whether their experience is good or bad.

They can be emailed on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Following last year's BBC investigation, the Law Society called for tougher regulation of the industry.

18 April 2013 Last updated at 05:42 ET

Retail sales in March were 0.7% lower than in February because of bad weather, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS also said retail sales volumes last month were 0.5% lower than a year earlier. The decline was in line with economists' expectations.

However, in value terms, retail sales were 0.1% higher.

Non-food sales plunged 4% in March, their largest monthly fall in more than three years.

But consumers turned to the internet in the cold weather, with "non-store" retailing seeing its biggest rise since March 2009.

"Feedback from department stores, clothing stores and household goods stores suggested that sales were dampened by the weather, as they prepared their stores for the spring season," the ONS said.

Analysts had broadly predicted the fall.

"It's obviously disappointing that it's down just under a percentage point on the month, but given that it jumped by 2% the previous month, it was always going to give back some of that prior strength," said Alan Clarke at Scotiabank.

Much of Britain's GDP is generated from consumer spending and analysts have said the retail sales figures will feed into the broader economic picture.

"I think we shouldn't get carried away and read too much gloom into this," said Brian Hilliard at Societe Generale,

"It will weaken [first-quarter] consumption numbers and that's again a disappointment which might lower people's expectations for Q1 GDP."

Meanwhile, business leaders called on the government to do more to help the High Street.

"Although it is possible that the UK economy may narrowly avoid entering a new recession, the weak economic climate means that the outlook for retailers is likely to remain challenging for some time," said John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce.

"Against this backdrop, we urge the government to do all it can to help support enterprise and wealth creation and open up new opportunities for UK firms to exploit both at home and abroad," he added.

19 April 2013 Last updated at 07:26 ET Continue reading the main story

Overview Stock markets Share prices Currencies Commodities Gilts & Bonds UK Earnings
	London | Paris | Frankfurt | Tokyo | Wall Street

Continue reading the main story

(Noon): Mining shares pulled the market higher after a rise in the price of some metals and a well-received trading update from Anglo American.

Shares in Anglo American rose 3% after it reported a rise in output during the first quarter of the year.

In lunchtime trade, the FTSE 100 was up 38.93 points, or 0.6%, at 6,282.60.

William Hill climbed 4.7% after the bookmaker said it had enjoyed a strong start to 2013, with net revenue up 15% and operating profit 8% higher.

The firm said more sporting bets were made online than in its betting shops, with an increasing number placed through its mobile apps.

Shares in GlaxoSmithKline were unchanged after the Office of Fair Trading accused it of paying firms to delay the launch of cheaper versions of an antidepressant treatment. In a statement, Glaxo said it "very strongly believe that we acted within the law".

Shares in airline Flybe fell by one pence to 41p after the carrier said revenue growth for the past financial year was at the lower end of expectations.

On the currency markets, the pound was up 0.4% against the dollar at $1.5345 and was 0.1% higher against the euro at 1.1725 euros.

19 April 2013 Last updated at 00:00 ET By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst

Some 60% to 80% of fossil fuel reserves owned by listed firms could be classed as unburnable if politicians stick to CO2 emission limits, a report warns.

The research by the London School of Economics and NGO Carbon Tracker says firms spend billions of pounds of shareholders' money on exploration.

It says 200 listed firms spent £440bn in 2012 chasing more coal, oil and gas.

It says if this continues for a decade - and if CO2 limits are achieved - they would waste over £4tn.

The research says the listed companies analysed own 762 billion tonnes of CO2 in the form of coal, oil and gas.

Many of the firms are listed in the City of London - the world's fossil fuel investment capital.

To stick to the current agreed global limit on emissions - which is sure to be breached - the firms would probably be able to emit no more than about 125-275 billion tonnes of CO2 - about a quarter of their assets.

The authors say that, even if the rules are relaxed to allow emissions to a level associated with a 3C temperature rise, there will still have to be limits on fossil fuel burning.

The carbon capture and storage technology can strip carbon from fossil fuel exhaust gases and store it in rocks, but it is unproven at scale, trials are years behind schedule and it may not work in some areas of the world.

The authors say the current fossil fuel business model assumes that there are no emissions limits.

This attitude is perhaps hardly surprising, given the mismatch between politicians' rhetoric on the need to cut emissions and the continued rise in atmospheric CO2.

Carbon Tracker has been campaigning for regulators to force firms to disclose the potential CO2 emissions embedded in their fossil fuel reserves, in order to inform potential investors.

It says there is a danger of a carbon "bubble."

Follow Roger on Twitter.