BUSINESS LIVE: Retail sales fall 0.3%; Nationwide member benefits hit record; Marston's appoints new CEO

(PA) – The financial watchdog has found collapsed hospital operator NMC Health committed market abuse by understating its debts by as much as $4billion (£3.2billion).

On Friday, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) censured the former FTSE 100 company for misleading the market.

However, it stopped short of fining the business as no funds are expected to be left at the business once outstanding debts to creditors are paid out.

NMC Health was a London-listed healthcare operator, primarily running hospitals in the Middle East. It entered the FTSE 100 in 2017 after rapid growth and was valued at £8.6billion at its peak in 2018.

However, in late 2019, short-seller Muddy Waters published a report raising questions over NMC’s financial reporting.

In early 2020, the company then fired its chief executive and confirmed financial discrepancies, before ultimately being forced into administration in April that year.

The FCA said the company “published a series of financial statements and several clarification announcements, which contained materially inaccurate information about its debt position” between March 2019 and February 2020.

“The financial statements disclosed publicly misled investors by understating its debts by as much as $4billion,” the watchdog said.

The UK’s retailers saw their sales levels unexpectedly drop last month, pushing them to the lowest since February 2021 when there were still Covid-19 restrictions in place, official data suggested.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that retail sales volumes dipped 0.3 per cent in October. The statisticians also revised September’s fall from 0.9 per cent to 1.1 per cent.

(PA) – Fears of huge job losses at the UK’s largest rail assembly factory do not have anything to do with the controversial decision to scale back the high-speed HS2 line, according to the Prime Minister.

Alstom is consulting on potential redundancies believed to be around 550 at its train manufacturing site in Derby, while 780 contractors are also at risk.

Unite said a further 900 jobs are under threat in the supply chain, claiming that the proposed job losses are a direct result of the delay in the construction of HS2.

Rishi Sunak said on a visit to the East Midlands on Friday: “Of course, my sympathies go to all the people affected by it.

“I know that it will be an anxious time for them and the local teams on the ground are providing support and making sure that we’ve got a response in place to help all of those people and that’s happening.

“With regard to the reasons for it, I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to characterise that decision by Alstom as a result of the decision on HS2.

“Alstom are actually providing the trains for phase one of HS2 and the issue that they have, as do other companies in that sector, is about their order books next year.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is putting the finishing touches on his Autumn Statement, which will be delivered next Wednesday.

The Treasury will have breathed a sigh of relief this week after inflation figures showed the headline rate had fallen to its lowest level in two years.

British Gas is recruiting hundreds of new staff to work in its network of call centres.

The energy giant said it would create around 700 new jobs by the end of the year to boost its existing customer service teams in Stockport, Leicester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

Pub group Marston’s has appointed former Merlin Entertainments executive Justin Platt as its new boss.

It comes as Andrew Andrea announced he will quit the role, which he has held for two years, with immediate effect.

Nationwide Building Society made a £989million profit in the first six months of 2023 thanks to higher interest rates.

Nationwide’s statutory pre-tax profit for the six months to September were up from £969million in the same period of 2022.

Royal Mail has piled pressure on the Government to scrap Saturday letter deliveries as it crashed to a loss of nearly £320million.

With the 507-year-old firm facing a crucial Christmas after last year’s festive season was thrown into chaos by strikes, it warned that change was ‘urgently’ needed so it could adapt to people’s delivery habits.

The owner of UK aerospace firm GKN said it was on course to more than double its annual profits after demand and prices surged.

Melrose said profits were set to be 7 per cent higher than expected. Chief executive Simon Peckham said he was leaving it ‘well positioned for the future’ as he prepares to step down in March.

Interest rates could be cut as soon as February, Goldman Sachs predicted, even as a Bank of England official warned that they would have to stay higher for longer.

Economists at the Wall Street bank believe that if the UK falls into recession, the first cut could come in the first quarter of next year – although they see August as a more likely scenario.

Qinetiq boss Steve Wadey has hailed the success of the UK defence sector as his firm became the latest to report surging orders amid growing geopolitical tensions.

It said uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine, tensions with China and the conflict in Gaza had boosted defence and security budgets, helping the likes of Qinetiq, which specialises in high-tech areas such as robotics, laser and cyber, as well as more traditional UK defence firms such as BAE Systems and Babcock.

The founders of Hotel Chocolat are set to share a £280million windfall after agreeing to sell it to Mars.

In the latest takeover of a UK-listed firm by overseas suitors, the board of Hotel Chocolat backed a 375p-a-share bid from the US confectionery giant, valuing it at £534million.

(PA) – The UK’s retailers saw their sales levels unexpectedly drop last month, pushing them to the lowest since February 2021 when there were still Covid-19 restrictions in place, official data suggested.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that retail sales volumes dipped 0.3% in October. The statisticians also revised September’s fall from 0.9% to 1.1%.

Analysts had expected a rise of 0.4% in October, according to a consensus estimate supplied by Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Food shops said their sales had fallen 0.3% during the month, a worse result than September, but non-food stores saw a decline of 0.2% in October, after sales dropped 2.1% the month before.

Retailers blamed the cost of living, reduced footfall and wet weather in the second half of October.

“Retail sales fell again in October to their lowest level since February 2021 when widespread lockdown restrictions were in place,” said Heather Bovill, deputy director for surveys and economic indicators at the ONS.

“After rebounding in September, fuel sales dipped with increasing prices discouraging customers, while food sales also dropped as consumers prioritised essential goods.”

Jacqui Baker, head of retail at RSM UK, comments on the latest ONS monthly retail sales figures:

Retailers had high hopes for the start of this year’s Golden Quarter, but sadly wet weather and the cost of living dampened sales this month, as cash strapped consumers held out from splurging on clothing and bigger ticket items to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in November.

The sharp drop in consumer confidence in October shows that the cost of living pressure remains as high mortgages and rents, interest rates and inflation continue to squeeze household budgets. Although there are subtle signs of these pressures easing, consumers remain cautious and are reluctant to spend unless necessary.

Despite a subdued start to the Christmas trading period there are reasons to be hopeful. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals; energy prices falling; and thousands of households benefiting from the Autumn cost of living payment, consumers should feel more confident to spend in the run up to Christmas.