News in brief

16 December 2024: Royal Mail fined £10.5m over late deliveries; British trader found guilty of £1bn tax fraud; FCA delays Shein listing amid supply chain scrutiny.

Ofcom has fined Royal Mail £10.5m for failing to meet its delivery targets over the past year. The media watchdog said it would fine the postal company for the second time in just over a year for falling “well short” of its first and second class delivery targets. Only 74.7% of First Class mail and 92.7% of Second Class was delivered on time, short of the respective targets of 93% and 98.5%. The company was previously hit with a £5.6m charge in November 2023, City A.M reported.

A British hedge fund trader has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Denmark for tax fraud. Financier Sanjay Shah, founder of London-based hedge fund Solo Capital Partners, orchestrated a tax fraud that cost the Danish government more than £1bn. He also received a permanent entry ban to Denmark and will have assets worth $1bn (DKK 7.2bn) seized, as well as a string of properties. He has appealed the decision, stating he used a legal loophole, but will remain in custody, the BBC reported.

The Financial Conduct Authority has delayed approving fast-fashion retailer Shein’s stock market listing due to supply chain concerns. Britain’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner flagged IPO concerns over labour practices at Shein’s suppliers. Advocacy group Stop Uyghur Genocide announced a legal challenge against Shein in June. The same month, Shein filed confidentially with the FCA for a London listing. The financial regulator is taking time to check the supply chain oversight and assesses any related legal risks, the Guardian reported.

13 December 2024: NAO shares resource allocation guide for finance leaders; the Fed expected to cut interest rates again; plans for energy tariffs with no standing charges.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has released a guide on resource allocation for finance leaders across government. In particular, it aims to help them assign resources effectively when these are scarce and trade-offs need to be made. The NAO guide outlines three principles - using information intelligently, prioritising allocation effectively, and building strategically for the long term.

The Federal Reserve could cut rates for the third time this year. Prices rose 2.7% in November compared with a year before. The core inflation rate also held steady last month, at 3.3%. The annual rate of inflation remains above the Fed’s targeted goal of 2%. Many economists and investors predict the Fed will cut rates on 18 December. Expectations place a potential cut at a quarter-point, which would bring rates down to 4.25% from 4.5%, the Guardian reported.

Energy firms could be forced to offer customers tariffs with no standing charges. All households currently pay the fixed daily charges covering the costs of connecting to a supply, but there have been widespread calls for these fees to be scrapped. A proposed shake-up of bills by regulator Ofgem would mean suppliers must offer one price-capped tariff that includes the standing charge, and another that loads these costs on energy usage charges instead. Customers could choose which suits them best, the BBC reported. 

12 December 2024: Robert Tindle named ICAEW Vice President; monthly rent rises £270 since pandemic; CMA investigates potential bid rigging for school repair contracts.

Robert Tindle has been elected as ICAEW Vice President for the year June 2025 to June 2026. Tindle has been a member of the ICAEW Council since 2017, representing the Northern constituency. He is a partner at Tindles LLP, a firm he established in 2000, which specialises in providing a full range of business advisory and compliance services to entrepreneurial clients.

Renting a newly let property is on average £270 per month more expensive than at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rent rose in 2021 due to demand from tenants after lockdowns and limited numbers of available properties. The average cost of renting is now £1,270 a month, or £15,240 a year. However, average earnings in the past three years have not kept pace with the steep rise in rents, and tenants are now starting to face limits on affordability, the BBC reported.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating several British roofing and construction services companies. This follows allegations that they “illegally colluded to rig bids” to win contracts for repairing schools, funded through the government’s condition improvement fund (CIF). The latest round of CIF funding made almost £450m in contracts available. The CMA has carried out surprise inspections at several business premises to gather evidence, including physical and digital documents, and is working closely with the Department for Education, the Guardian reported.

11 December 2024: Blow for UK as equipment giant Ashtead chooses US; Cost of average UK Christmas dinner up 6.5%; Thames Water sewage spills spike.

Equipment hire giant Ashtead plans to move its primary stock market listing to the US, reported the BBC, in a fresh blow to the London Stock Exchange. It said the US was a "natural long term listing venue" because most of its profit was in North America, along with its bosses, headquarters and the majority of its employees. Ashtead is the latest of several big companies in recent years to delist from the London Stock Exchange, which denied it was in crisis in May. Ashtead said it would discuss its proposed move with shareholders before putting it to a vote. The firm aims to move its primary listing to the US in the next 12 to 18 months, but it will keep a UK listing as an international company. The firm which hires out construction equipment, has more than 25,000 employees.

The cost of an average Christmas dinner has surged 6.5% on last year, pushed up by hefty price rises on potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and parsnips. UK shoppers will pay £32.57 for a festive meal for four, according to retail analysts at Kantar, spurred by a 16.3% jump in potato prices and a near 15% rise in the cost of carrots. All elements in the meal rose in price except sparkling wine, which remained level on last year with the most expensive item, turkey, up 8.5%. The overall cost of a Christmas dinner rose by almost three times the pace of wider grocery inflation, reported The Guardian.

Thames Water has revealed a 40% spike in sewage spills while warning that a looming decision on what it can charge customers is "fundamental to our future". The UK's biggest supplier, which has been battling to avert the prospect of a special administration amid a massive debt pile, has consistently argued that the regulator's ruling on its request for an inflation-busting rise to charges could make it uninvestable. Thames, and the wider industry across England and Wales, is due to learn next week what Ofwat will allow bills to rise by over the next five years, reported Sky News.