US inflation unexpectedly rises to 3.2% in February; UK unemployment climbs – business live – business live

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has today raided two sites and made three arrests across the south of England, as part of a new investigation into an alleged £76m fraud involving luxury care homes.

The raids in St Leonard’s, Dorset and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire are part of an investigation into the UK registered property developer, the Carlauren Group, which collapsed into administration in November 2019, requiring some elderly residents to vacate their homes and leaving more than 600 investors out of pocket, the SFO said.

Over four years, the Carlauren Group purchased 23 properties across the UK, mostly former hotels including the historic Windlestone Hall in Durham, offering an annual 10% return on investment in its renovation of these properties into high-end care homes.

Only nine of the properties were ever operational and some continued to be run as hotels, instead of homes. The group also bought a number of vehicles purportedly for the company including two Lamborghinis, a Mclaren 570GT, a private jet and two yachts, the SFO said.

More than 600 people and companies invested in the scheme via purchase of rooms, that were to be rented out to elderly residents, in facilities that boasted of swimming pools, room service and other luxury amenities. Rooms were advertised widely and sold with a guaranteed annual payout and the opportunity to resell the asset back with up to a 25% profit after 10 years, the SFO said.

Nick Ephgrave, the SFO’s director, said:

This company’s abrupt collapse has created turmoil and enormous anxiety for many, with elderly people forced to vacate their homes and investors left with nothing.

Today’s arrests are a major development in our investigation and a step towards getting the answers so many people need.

Inflation in the US unexpectedly edged up to 3.2% last month, suggesting that price growth remains stubborn and that the Federal Reserve probably won’t be in a rush to cut interest rates.

The headline figure rose from 3.1% in January, according to official data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists had expected the rate to stay at 3.1%.

Excluding volatile items like food and energy, the ‘core’ measure of inflation fell from 3.9% to 3.8%, the lowest since May 2021, but was higher than the 3.7% forecast by Wall Street.

OBR economist: UK’s productivity so bad the only way is up

Larry Elliott

Britain’s productivity record has been so bad in the 15 years since the global financial crisis that the only way is up.

That was the guardedly optimistic message from David Miles, a member of the Office for Budget Responsibility, when giving evidence to MPs on the Treasury committee this morning.

Miles said in the years since the financial crisis, productivity growth in the UK had fallen from 2.5% a year on average to 0.5%, and added that the economy would have been 30% bigger had the pre-crisis trend continued.

We are all a lot worse off.

It is an educated – and perhaps not terribly educated guess – that the past 15 years have been so bad it is likely the next 5-10 years will be a bit better.

Miles thinks there is a good chance the use of artificial intelligence will help boost productivity in Britain’s service sector, but even so doesn’t expect productivity to return to its pre-GFC trend.

Miles joined the OBR’s budget responsibility committee in January 2022. He retains a part-time professorship of financial economics at Imperial College in London.

Starling Bank names new CEO

Kalyeena Makortoff

Starling Bank has finally named a new CEO.

Raman Batia will be shifting sectors, moving from energy retailer Ovo, to lead the online-only lender by early summer. He will take over from interim boss, and former chief operating officer, John Mountain.

Batia does have experience in the banking sector, though, having previously served as head of digital banking for HSBC’s UK and European arm. As a member of HSBC’s executive committee, he also had responsibility for its First Direction and M&S Bank operations.

Batia’s appointment comes roughly a year after founder Anne Boden stepped down in a surprise move that she said was designed to shield the online bank from potential concerns over a conflict of interest, because she is a major shareholder.

Starling chair David Sproul said:

We see significant opportunities for Starling under Raman’s leadership as the economy stabilises, as our truly differentiated offering for personal and small business customers wins market share in the UK, and as our Engine by Starling software-as-a-Service business secures further international contracts.

The value of UK mortgages in arrears has risen sharply, indicating that households are struggling with high interest rates.

The value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears increased by 9.2% between October and December from the previous quarter, to £20.3bn, and was 50.3% higher than a year earlier, according to Bank of England figures released today.

Loan balances with arrears made up 1.23% of all outstanding mortgage balances, up from 1.12% the previous quarter, and the highest since the end of 2016.

Michelle Lawson, director at mortgage broker Lawson Financial, said on Newspage:

This data makes for grim reading but is sadly not unexpected. People don’t have bottomless pockets and this data places stark emphasis on that fact. Household finances are set to spontaneously combust if the current level of pressure on them continues. You’d like to think the Monetary Policy Committee will read this report given that the Bank of England produced it.

Today’s labour market data show more than a fifth of people aged over 16 were economically inactive between November and January, which means they weren’t working or looking for a job. This is some 9.2 million people – 700,000 more than before the Covid pandemic.

A rise in long-term illness has been cited as a main reason.

Those classed as economically inactive include students, those who care for the elderly or look after young children, people with disabilities and those taking early retirement.

*This post was amended to say that more than a fifth of people aged over 16 were economically inactive, rather than people aged between 16 and 24 as mistakenly reported earlier.

Here is our full story on the data:

And here is some analysis:

The UK arm of the German supermarket chain Aldi has raised staff pay for the second time this year.

Hourly rates for store assistants and deputy store managers will rise from £12.00 to £12.40 outside the M25, and from £13.55 to £13.65 within the M25, from 1 June.

Aldi claims its new national minimum rate of £12.40 an hour for store assistants and deputy store managers is the highest level of entry pay paid by a supermarket in the UK.

Aldi is also the only supermarket to offer paid breaks, which for the average store colleague is worth more than £900 a year. It is the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket and has more than 1,000 stores, 11 regional distribution centres and 45,000 staff across Britain.

Aldi is vying with its fellow German-owned discounter Lidl to be the UK’s fastest-growing grocery chain, with both benefiting as the ongoing cost of living crisis has prompted more people to switch to discount chains to save money.

On 1 April, the UK’s national living wage will go up by almost 10% to £11.44 an hour for full-time workers aged 21 and over. This will benefit nearly 3 million low-paid people.

Shares in Persimmon fell 3.7%, making it the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 in early trading, after the housebuilder reported a 33% drop in home completions and a halving in annual profits, and flagged a “subdued” outlook.

Persimmon completed 9,922 new homes last year, down sharply from 14,868 in 2022. Profit before tax more than halved to £352m.

Dean Finch, the chief executive, said:

With interest rates expected to remain at current levels and a general election on the horizon, market conditions are expected to remain subdued throughout 2024.

In Germany, inflation slowed to 2.7% in February, according to final figures.

Consumer price growth slowed from 3.1% in January, the German statistics office said.

Markets are eagerly awaiting inflation data from the US, out at 12.30pm GMT, which is expected to show the rate unchanged at 3.1%.

Tony Wilson, director at the Institute for Employment Studies, said:

Today’s jobs figures show that the labour market remains pretty subdued. The employment rate is broadly flat but still about one percentage point below where it was before the pandemic, even though unemployment has fallen back to where it was.

So as has been the story in previous months, there are fewer people in work because there are more people outside the labour force altogether – not looking or not available for work. In all, there are well over half a million more people out of work than before the pandemic began. This is being driven by more young people and older people outside the labour force, and in particular because of more people reporting long-term health conditions that stop them from working.

In our view this is holding back the recovery as the economy is continuing to create jobs, with nearly a million unfilled vacancies reported today. This reiterates that we need a different approach to how we reach and engage with people who are out of work and may want to come back to work, and in particular our employment services need to be more accessible, inclusive and supportive. Employers need to play their part too, and do more to keep people in work and to open up opportunities for those who may need more support.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Unemployment has gone up in the UK, with the jobless rate unexpectedly rising, while pay growth has slowed, reflecting wider weakness in the economy.

The unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 3.9% in the three months to January from 3.8%, according to the Office for National Statistics, at a time when the economy entered into recession. City economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged.

The number of people claiming jobless benefits increased by 16,800 in February. Employment growth has tailed off, from an increase of 72,000 in the three months to December to a fall of 21,000 in the three months to January.

As employers cut back on hiring people, the number of job vacancies in the economy declined, by 43,000 to 908,000 in the three months to February. (But they remain more than 100,000 above their pre-pandemic level.)

Average earnings grew by 5.6% between November and January, down from 5.8% in the previous three months. Excluding bonuses, pay growth slowed from 6.2% to 6.1%.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said:

The easing in wage growth in January is probably still a bit too slow for the Bank of England’s liking. But there are encouraging signs that a more marked slowdown is just around the corner and that an interest rate cut in June is possible.

The Bank of England wants to see evidence that wage growth is slowing before cutting borrowing costs.

The chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said:

Our plan is working. Even with inflation falling, real wages have risen for the seventh month in a row. And take home pay is set for another boost thanks to our cuts to National Insurance which in total are putting over £900 a year back into the average earner’s pocket.

Britain’s competition watchdog plans to launch a formal investigation into vet pricing, as it has multiple concerns, including that pet owners might be overpaying for medicines or prescriptions.

After taking a look at the market for the UK’s 16 million pet owners, the Competition and Markets Authority flagged these concerns:

• Consumers may not be given enough information to enable them to choose the best veterinary practice or the right treatment for their needs.

• Concentrated local markets, in part driven by sector consolidation, may be leading to weak competition in some areas.

• Large corporate groups may have incentives to act in ways which reduce choice and weaken competition.

• Pet owners might be overpaying for medicines or prescriptions.

• The regulatory framework is outdated and may no longer be fit for purpose.

Referring to the watchdog’s concerns, Sarah Cardell, chief executive, said:

These include pet owners finding it difficult to access basic information like price lists and prescription costs – and potentially overpaying for medicines. We are also concerned about weak competition in some areas, driven in part by sector consolidation, and the incentives for large corporate groups to act in ways which may reduce competition and choice.

If it finds the market is not working as it should, the CMA can impose measures such as mandating the provision of certain information to consumers, imposing maximum prescription fees and ordering the sale or disposal of a business or assets.

Most vet practices do not display prices on their website – of those practices checked, over 80% had no pricing information online, even for the most basic services. People are not always informed of the cost of treatment before agreeing to it – around one fifth of respondents to its call for information said that they were not told of the cost before agreeing to tests.

Some vet practices make up to a quarter of their income selling medicines, so there may be little incentive to make pet owners aware of alternatives, the CMA said.

A company can own multiple vet practices in a local area without making that clear. The share of vet practices that belong to large corporate groups has shot up to almost 60% from 10% in 2013.

The CMA has launched a four-week consultation on the proposal to launch a market investigation.

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