Economy: Third Quarter Growth Slows To 0.7%

UK economic growth slowed in the third quarter of the year, according to the first official estimate of GDP for the period.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) measured Gross Domestic Product growth of 0.7% in the period, down from output growth of 0.9% in the previous three months.

It charted a slowdown in manufacturing, saying expansion - at 0.3% - was its weakest for 18 months amid concerns for the world economy and the euro area in particular - the country's biggest trading partner.

The service sector, which accounts for more than 75% of the country's total output, showed growth of 0.7% during the three months to September - down from 1.1% in the previous quarter.

Construction output continued to grow

It meant, the ONS said, that annual growth was 3%, down from 3.2%, though total economic output was 3.4% bigger than its pre-crisis peak in 2008.

All the figures are subject to revision but the status quo still leaves manufacturing 4.1% behind and construction 8.2% short of their peaks.

Video: Govt 'Out Of Touch' On Economy

Construction output grew 0.8% in the third quarter.

The performance was widely expected by economists, given forecasts suggesting the eurozone may slip back into recession.

The data for the service sector suggests businesses will be more wary about spending while consumers remain hit by weak wage rises.

Chancellor George Osborne said: "Today's strong growth figures show that the UK continues to lead the pack in an increasingly uncertain global economy.

"With all the main sectors of the economy growing, it's clear that our recovery is broadly based.

"But the UK is not immune to weakness in the euro area and instability in global markets, so we face a critical moment for our economy.

"If we want to avoid a return to the chaos and instability of the past, then we need to carry on working through our economic plan that is delivering stability and security."

Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls responded: "For all George Osborne's claims that the economy is fixed most people are still not feeling the recovery.

"Working people are over £1,600 a year worse off since 2010 and these figures now show a concerning slowdown in economic growth too.

"We need a strong and balanced recovery that works for all working people, not just a few at the top."

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Asda Pledges To Fight Staff Equal Pay Action

Asda has said it will "robustly defend" its record on equal pay amid revelations it is facing a legal action potentially involving thousands of workers.

The law firm Leigh Day said it was currently representing hundreds of former and current employees and had been approached by over 19,000 people in total.

The company suggested that a legal victory could result in Asda being forced to hand over back-pay and interest dating back six years.

It said its clients, mostly women, "feel they have been paid less than others within the organisation despite carrying out roles of equal value."

Leigh Day said its case was based on claims that staff in Asda-owned distribution centres were paid more than staff working in the supermarket stores.

The company's employment law expert, Michael Newman, suggested that the implications of the legal claims were big not just for Asda but also other supermarket chains.

He said: "Our investigations suggest that the jobs are pretty much the same, in that warehouse staff are responsible for taking items off shelves, putting them on pallets and loading them into lorries.

"In the supermarket, they do the reverse: taking the pallets off the lorries, unstacking them and putting the items on the shelves.

"Where the jobs are not similar, we still think they are of equal value."

Asda, which has 175,000 employees, said: "A firm of no win, no fee lawyers is hoping to challenge our award-winning reputation as an equal opportunities employer.

"We do not discriminate and are very proud of our record in this area which, if it comes to it, we will robustly defend."

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Key Investor Empties Trolley Of Tesco Shares

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

One of Tesco's most prominent institutional shareholders has ditched its remaining stake in the company and cast doubt on the retailer's recovery prospects under its new chief executive.

Sky News has learnt that David Herro, a fund manager at Chicago-based Harris Associates, sold just under 1% of Tesco - worth around £140m at Friday's closing share price - in the days leading up to the company's interim results announcement this week.

Mr Herro has been a vocal steward of Tesco shares during the last two years, initially supporting the strategy of Philip Clarke before his sacking as chief executive in July.

In August, he changed his stance, offloading two-thirds of his firm's stake in Britain's biggest retailer while criticising the performance of its chairman.

Tesco shares are trading at their lowest level in over ten years

The Harris Associates fund manager joins Warren Buffett, the world's most famous investor, in slashing his holding in Tesco.

Mr Buffett recently called his investment in Tesco "a mistake", underscoring the huge task facing Dave Lewis as he bids to rebuild investor confidence in the company.

Video: New Tesco CEO On Ending Woes

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Herro - once Tesco's seventh-largest investor - confirmed the sale of Harris's remaining shares, saying: "There is a big question about how they will fund their recovery given the decline in operating profit and whether they will sell assets just as they are getting into the dangerous territory of being a distressed seller."

He said he would continue to monitor the situation but added that nothing that had been announced by Tesco this week would prompt him to reinvest at this point.

Tesco's shares are trading at their lowest level in more than a decade as investors take fright at the scale of the strategic and financial challenges confronting it.

Video: Tesco's Woes In Detail

Announcing a near-92% fall in half-year statutory pre-tax profits on Thursday, Mr Lewis said he would not be formally announcing a new strategy for the company.

He opted not to dispel City speculation about a potential rights issue, saying that while the company was not "currently" working on a capital-raising, he would "never say never".

Prospective buyers are circling assets including Tesco's valuable Asian retail operations and its data marketing division, Dunnhumby, although no formal sale talks are underway.

Tesco said that it had revised upward a black hole in its half-year profits caused by an accounting mis-statement to £263m and said the issue pre-dated this financial year.

Sir Richard Broadbent, its under-fire chairman, said he would step down, while Tesco is withholding termination payments to Mr Clarke and the former chief financial officer pending the outcome of a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The turmoil has forced Tesco to shore up its financial position by turning to five banks to lend the company £1bn each in order to head off the prospect of lenders calling in existing loans.

Insiders said that the syndicate included Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and HSBC, although Tesco refused to comment.

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Tesco Profits Plunge 92% In Accounting Chaos

Tesco's chief executive has told Sky News he will not take an axe to prices in the short term to win back shoppers, after first-half profits fell 92%.

Dave Lewis was speaking after the supermarket chain revealed its latest results and the conclusions of an inquiry into an accounting scandal.

Its chairman Sir Richard Broadbent confirmed a plan to quit as the probe identified a £263m profit overstatement.

Tesco said the internal investigation by Deloitte into its procedures had found historic failures in its UK food business going back a number of years, having previously suggested the error was a one-off.

The overstatement reflected profits in previous reporting periods too, Tesco confirmed, not just in the first half of its financial year.

Phillip Clarke was sacked as chief executive

Its share price fell 7% when the FTSE 100 opened for business in the wake of the statement but later eased back.

Analysts said it could be explained by UK sales continuing to fall and Mr Lewis' decision not to launch an immediate discount challenge to rivals - especially hard discounters at the bottom and Waitrose at the top end, who have eaten away at its market share.

Video: Ex-Investor Wants Tesco Redress

Mr Lewis told Sky's Business Presenter Ian King: "Our promotional intensity is very high."

He said: "The critical thing is that I and 320,000 other people give great service, make sure everything's available in a really good, quality way, and then price will be part of the equation."

But he added he might think about price in a "different way" once his business review was completed.

Thursday's results statement was delayed by a month because of the investigation.

Eight senior executives have been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry, which examined how Tesco logged suppliers' rebates and if they were reported in the correct accounting period.

Tesco said there was no evidence anyone at Tesco had sought to gain personally but the findings raise questions about the leadership of former chief executive Philip Clarke, who stepped down in the summer before the accounting issues were made public.

Tesco said his pay-off - and that of former finance chief Laurie McIlwee - was being delayed until such time as inquiries were complete.

Sir Richard said his decision to stand down reflected "the important principle of accountability."

The accounting scandal failed to overshadow the spotlight on Tesco's turnaround efforts.

Pre-tax profits fell 92% to £112m in its first six months while UK trading profit was down 55.9% to £499m.

Video: Waitrose Wins As Tesco Struggles

UK like-for-like sales were 4.6% lower - slightly better than expected.

Mr Lewis said: "We know that we have got a lot of work to do.

"We know what it is we need to do to turn the business around".

Tesco's market value - which has lost £17.6bn in the last five years - has plunged more than 50% in the past 12 months alone.

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EU Wants An Extra £1.7bn Payment From UK

Britain is facing a demand from the European Union for an extra £1.7bn because of the success of the economy.

The increase would add almost a fifth to the UK's annual contribution of £8.6bn.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said it was fair because it was like personal taxation - the more a person earns, the more they have to pay.

Commission spokesperson  Patrizio Fiorilli said: "Britain's contribution reflects an increase in wealth, just as in Britain you pay more to the Inland Revenue if your earnings go up."

The demand is intended to reflect improvements to Britain's economy since 1995.

Video: Does EU Membership Benefit UK?

The change in each state's contribution is a result of changes in the way the EU calculates gross national income.

A Commission spokesman said it was mainly due to the fact that the economic strength of EU's member states had increased or decreased relative to each other.

Preliminary figures seen by the Financial Times suggest that Britain is facing the largest adjustment in the amount it is required to pay compared to other members states.

The Netherlands, another country that is being asked to pay more, is being asked for an extra £509m.

By contrast, France is due to receive a rebate of £0.8bn, Germany £618m, and Poland £250m.

Britain's surcharge is due for payment on 1 December - just days after the crunch Rochester and Strood by-election.

The vote to decide who takes the seat hangs on a knife edge with David Cameron's Tories struggling to fight off a challenge from anti-EU Ukip.

Mr Cameron held talks on Thursday evening with Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, who is also facing a large demand for more cash, on what can be done to challenge the demands.

The surcharges are likely to overshadow a European Council summit in Brussels, where Mr Cameron is meeting leaders of the 27 other EU States, some of which are looking forward to reductions in their contributions.

Several Conservatives MEPs have already spoken out against the surcharge, saying Britain is being punished for its success.

Downing Street said the UK will be challenging the demand.

A source said: "It's not acceptable to just change the fees for previous years and demand them back at a moment's notice.

"The European Commission was not expecting this money and does not need this money and we will work with other countries similarly affected to do all we can to challenge this."

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Amazon Bleeds Value As Microsoft Delights

Shareholders headed for the fulfillment centre exit door on Thursday night as Amazon posted disappointing numbers, though Microsoft investors had more to cheer.

Amazon's stock price tumbled 11% in after-hours trading in New York - the result of a deepening quarterly loss of $437m (£272m) compared to a figure of $41m in the same period last year.

Revenue jumped to $20.6bn from $17.1bn.

The profit performance is explained by the world's largest online retailer's decision to keep investing heavily in its offering and new products at the expense of returns for shareholders.

Its forecast for Christmas sales was also cited by analysts as a reason for the latest sell-off, with Amazon stock already 22% lower this year.

The company said it expected holiday revenue of between $27.3bn and $30.3 billion - below expectations.

The Fire is Amazon's first smartphone

Amazon launched a smartphone, the Fire, earlier this year and has been offering a set-top video streaming device, a streaming video service and several tablets and e-book readers.

The company has also been investing in services for its loyalty programme, Prime, adding grocery delivery services and music streaming for Prime members as well as offering original TV shows such as the critically acclaimed "Transparent" starring Jeffrey Tambor.

It confirmed in August plans to buy the video game streaming service, Twitch, spending the best part of $1bn on the acquisition.

But it is increasingly clear that what investors want more than revenue growth, is a solid profit.

In a conference call with analysts, chief financial officer Thomas Szkutak defended its strategy and said the company is focused on "using its capital wisely so that over time we get good returns on invested capital."

Rival Microsoft's quarterly figures were well received in comparison.

Xbox consoles continue to sell well for Microsoft

The tech firm's profit and revenue sailed past expectations as chief executive Satya Nadella's push to embrace cloud computing and diversify into mobile devices helped lift sales by 25%.

Revenue from cloud services, including software delivered over the Internet, more than doubled last quarter at a time when some of Microsoft's better-known segments are slowing.

Shares jumped over 3% in after-hours trading having risen 33% in the past 12 months.

Microsoft still makes most of its money from selling traditional software for businesses and home computers but Nadella wants a shift towards software that can be easily accessed online and on the move.

The company confirmed it was to ditch the Nokia name on smartphones following the firm's purchase of the brand.

Costs related to the acquisition ate into profits to the tune of almost $1bn, with net income of $4.54bn supported by strong sales of Surface tablets and Xbox gaming consoles.

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Lloyds To Cut 9,000 Jobs In Three-Year Plan

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Lloyds Banking Group is to cut approximately 9,000 jobs - equating to just over 10% of its workforce - as part of moves to automate consumer-facing services at the UK's biggest high street lender.

Sky News has learnt that Lloyds will disclose plans for the cuts, which will take place over a three-year period ending in December 2017, alongside its third-quarter results next Tuesday.

The numbers are still being finalised ahead of next week's announcement, but sources confirmed that 9,000 was the most likely jobs figure to be outlined by the bank.

A target for branch closures would also be announced, according to one insider, but this was likely to be smaller than some reports had suggested.

"This is about responding to customer behaviour and ensuring that Lloyds is in the right shape for the next 20 years of consumer banking," they said.

Lloyds is understood to have more than 10 million customers who actively use online banking services, including 4.5 million mobile banking users - a level which has quadrupled during the last three years.

All of the major high street banks are shedding jobs and pruning branch networks, a trend exacerbated by the explosion in the number of banking transactions now conducted online and on mobile devices.

Lloyds is led by Antonio Horta-Osorio

Earlier this year, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) published research showing that UK-based customers conducted almost 40 million mobile and internet banking transactions each week in 2013, a huge increase on the previous year.

The job cuts at Lloyds, which employs roughly 80,000 people, will be on a far smaller scale than the cull which has taken place since the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS during the banking crisis of 2008.

Since then, tens of thousands of jobs have been axed at the combined group, and at rivals including Barclays, HSBC and the state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

It was unclear on Wednesday how many of the 9,000 roles affected would be in branches and how many in support roles at, for example, call centres.

Lloyds, led by chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, has also shed hundreds of branches as part of a state aid settlement with Brussels during the last five years.

His strategy update, which will be unveiled alongside results for the third quarter of 2014, is unlikely to include details of a return to the dividend list, with Lloyds - alongside other banks - facing European and UK stress tests between now and mid-December.

A spokesman for Lloyds, which is 25%-owned by taxpayers, declined to comment.

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Tesco Profits Plunge 92% In Accounting Chaos

Tesco chairman Sir Richard Broadbent is to quit as an inquiry into its accounting practices reveals a £263m profit overstatement, resulting in a 92% fall in first-half profits.

The supermarket chain said an internal investigation by Deloitte into its procedures had found historic failures in its UK food business.

It had suggested in September that the error was a one-off but said today the overstatement figure reflected previous reporting periods too.

Its share price fell 7% when the FTSE 100 opened for business in the wake of the statement.

Eight senior executives had been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry, which examined how Tesco logged suppliers' rebates and if they were reported in the correct accounting period.

Tesco said there was no evidence anyone at Tesco had sought to gain personally but the findings raise questions about the leadership of former chief executive Philip Clarke, who stepped down in the summer before the accounting issues were made public.

Tesco said his pay-off - and that of former finance chief Laurie McIlwee - was being delayed until such time as inquiries were complete.

Sir Richard said his decision to stand down reflected "the important principle of accountability."

The business, which has been battling hard discounters and strong competition from other major chains, made the announcements as it confirmed the effect on its current half-year results.

Pre-tax profits fell 92% to £112m while UK trading profit was down 55.9% to £499m.

UK like-for-like sales were 4.6% lower - slightly better than expected.

Chief executive Dave Lewis said: "We know that we have got a lot of work to do.

"We know what it is we need to do to turn the business around".

Tesco's share price has plunged more than 50% in the past 12 months as its dominance in the UK's grocery sector was eaten away by rivals.

It had previously admitted taking its eye off the ball while hunting growth overseas though its big investment in America fell flat.

The results statement said: "We have three immediate priorities. The first is restoring competitiveness in our core UK business.

The second is protecting and strengthening our balance sheet. The third is to begin the long journey of rebuilding trust and transparency in the business and the brand."

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Profit Fall Points To Scale Of Tesco Chief’s Task

There's no getting away from it: today's numbers from Tesco are horrible, whichever way you look at them.

First, the positive spin.

A 4.6% fall in UK like-for-like sales was – astonishingly – better than many analysts had forecast, while a £937m group trading profit was substantially higher than the City expected.

But those glimmers of light will not put the underlying task facing Tesco's new boss Dave Lewis in the shade.

The UK performance in the six months to August 23 was dreadful, and it will take a miraculous transformation to show a significant improvement by the time the company reports full-year results next spring.

Tesco said the like-for-like sales fall was the result of "strong competition across the grocery market, headwinds from price cuts and fewer untargeted promotions".

For most of the last 20 years we became accustomed to hearing those gripes from Tesco's rivals, not the market leader: in itself, that illustrates just how far Tesco has fallen amid intense competition from much smaller competitors in the shape of Waitrose, Marks & Spencer (at the premium end of the market) and discounters Aldi and Lidl.

By one measure – statutory pre-tax profit, which includes one-off nasties – earnings slumped by almost 92%.

Under Philip Clarke, who was sacked as chief executive in the summer, profit declines became wearily familiar to Tesco shareholders, but not on this scale.

Improving things will be made much harder by the absence of eight key executives from the business during the most crucial trading period of the year.

Their enforced (temporary?) departure is the result of an accounting scandal now being probed by the Financial Conduct Authority and other regulators.

Tesco disclosed today that profits had been overstated by a total of £263m, the majority of which relates to the current financial year but some of which dates to prior periods.

That casts a pall over the reign of Mr Lewis's predecessor, Philip Clarke, and explains why the board has decided to delay 'liquidation' payments to him and the former chief financial officer, Laurie McIlwee.

"To be clear, we are not saying that they won't be paid, but the board has made a decision to withhold those payments until the investigations are concluded".

There's further boardroom upheaval in store. Tesco confirmed Sky News' report from earlier this week that chairman Sir Richard Broadbent is to step down next year.

The arrival of a new chief executive and chief financial officer (Alan Stewart, most recently of Marks & Spencer) would, Sir Richard said, "mark the beginning of a new phase for the company".

Tesco shareholders certainly hope so.

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Foreign Criminals Costing Taxpayers £850m

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

Foreign criminals are costing taxpayers £850m a year, with thousands of offenders setting up home in the UK instead of being deported.

Of the 4,200 foreign convicts living in the community, one in six - 760 - have absconded, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

Among those who have absconded are 58 "high harm" individuals who have been missing since 2010, the report said.

The NAO found that despite greater resources the Home Office has made "slower than expected progress" in dealing with the problem.

The report estimated that public bodies spent £850m in 2013/14 managing and removing foreign national offenders, working out at around £70,000 per offender.

Video: How Police Stop Foreign Criminals

Meanwhile, the number of foreign prisoners has risen 4% from 10,231 to 10,649 since 2006, the NAO said.

Removal numbers have fallen to 5,097 from a peak of 5,613 in 2008/09. Meanwhile, the time it takes to deport an overseas criminal is 319 days.

This comes despite a 10-fold increase in the number of Home Office staff working on foreign national offenders (FNOs), from 100 to more than 900.

Amyas Morse, of the National Audit Office, said: "It is no easy matter to manage foreign national offenders in the UK and to deport those who have completed their sentences.

"However, too little progress has been made, despite the increased resources and effort devoted to this problem."

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone, has long raised concerns about the number of foreigners in UK prisons and failures to deport them.

He said: "Most people will be staggered that despite increasing its staffing for deportations from 100 to 900, the Home Office is not actually deporting any more FNOs than it was before.

Video: Romanian Police Fighting UK Crime

"The public will also be concerned that at any one time over 4,000 convicted FNOs are at large within our communities and that, of these, over 700 go missing.

"My view is that if you are a foreign national who commits a crime in the UK, you should be caught, convicted and sentenced with your sentence served back in your own country at the expense of your fellow nationals."

Immigration and security minister James Brokenshire MP said: "The countless appeals and re-appeals lodged by criminals attempting to cheat the system cost us all money and are an affront to British justice.

"That is why we are putting a stop to that abuse through the Immigration Act.

"New powers came into force this week to cut the number of grounds on which criminals can appeal their deportation and to end the appeals conveyor belt in the courts.

"The Immigration Act will help us deliver an immigration system that is fair to the people of this country and legitimate immigrants and tough on those who flout the rules."

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Homebase: A Quarter Of Stores To Be Closed

The owner of the DIY chain Homebase is to close a quarter of its stores over the next three years, leaving thousands of jobs hanging in the balance.

Home Retail Group (HRG), which made the announcement as it confirmed its half-year results, said it planned to shut 25% of its 323 stores by 2018 through scheduled lease expirations and sales.

It said: "The result should be a more efficient and productive estate that can support future investments". 

Homebase currently employs 17,000 people.

A spokesperson told Sky News: "HRG has announced a three-year plan for Homebase to revitalise the business for the future.

Argos, also owned by HRG, was already getting a digital makeover

"Part of the plan will be to right-size the store estate through scheduled lease expiries and a series of sales to other retailers.

"Once they are identified, our colleagues will be the first to be informed about any of the affected stores, and where possible we will redeploy colleagues to other stores within the Group, or encourage retailers buying our leases to offer roles within their businesses locally".

The transformation to a greater digital offering was confirmed against a backdrop of rising sales at Homebase.

Home Retail said group underlying first half profit rose 13%, reflecting sales growth at Argos particularly.

Profit before tax reached £30.9m in the six months to 30 August though its full-year result would depend on Argos' Christmas trading, HRG said.

Argos has itself undergone a turnaround, with Home Retail moving away from its traditional catalogue store offering towards digital click & collect.

Homebase like-for-like sales grew by 4.1% over the six-month period.

Its improved website helped multi-channel sales rise 12%.

John Walden, chief executive of HRG, said "Homebase is a good business with the basis for future growth.

"In this context, Homebase will pursue a three-year plan through to the end of 2018 to improve the productivity of its store estate, strengthen its propositions and accelerate its digital capabilities by leveraging Argos' investments.

"This will position Homebase as a smaller but stronger business, ready for investment and growth".

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Yahoo Nets Profits Boost From Alibaba Stake

A rise in mobile revenues and proceeds from the sale of Alibaba shares helped Yahoo shares gain more than 5% after-hours in New York.

The third-quarter update beat expectations and prompted chief executive Marissa Mayer to launch a defence of her strategy after it came under attack from activist investor Starboard Value.

Crucial mobile advertising revenue was $200m (£124m) and she estimated that gross revenues from mobile would be more than $1.2bn (£770m) this year.

The sale of part of Yahoo's stake in the Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba yielded $6.3bn, taking profits for the quarter to $6.8bn (£4bn).

But there is concern that Yahoo's total revenue during the three months to September rose by just 1% from last year - a dramatic contrast to the 20% increase posted by rival Google.

Yahoo still owns nearly 384 million Alibaba shares

Yahoo's share of the roughly $141bn worldwide market for digital advertising now stands at 2.4%, down from 3.9% in 2011, according to the research firm eMarketer.

Starboard Value - a New York hedge fund - went on the attack, claiming that Ms Mayer, who took the top job in 2012, had been wasting money on ill-advised acquisitions and a bloated payroll while mismanaging its lucrative stake in Alibaba.

Ms Mayer, a former Google executive, told investors the $1.6bn she had spent during her tenure had made Yahoo more competitive in the mobile-device market.

And she insisted that Yahoo would not have been in a position to make as much money as it had on its Alibaba holdings if she had not taken steps to ease "years of tension and hard feelings" that existed between the two companies.

"This team has now been in place for two years and we've achieved much more than many people realise," Ms Mayer said.

Yahoo still owns nearly 384 million Alibaba shares, currently worth about $35bn (£21.7bn), eclipsing the value of Yahoo's ongoing internet business.

The investment leaves Ms Mayer facing further questions over how the windfall will be spent.

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Apple Revenues Up 12% After iPhone Launch

Apple has posted a 12% jump in revenue - exceeding expectations following its best ever iPhone launch.

Sales of the smartphone hit 39.27 million in the quarter ending in September, up 16% on last year.

This surpassed the roughly 38 million some on Wall Street had expected, and excluded sales in China, its largest market outside of the United States.

The new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models went on sale last month and have already surpassed the previous-generation model in volumes, according to chief financial officer Luca Maestri.

This helped Apple record sales of $42.12bn (£25bn) and profits of $8.5bn (£5.2bn).

1/8

1. Gallery: The Man Who Took Over From Steve Jobs

   Tim Cook, pictured here with Steve Jobs in August 2007, was born in 1960 in Alabama. He grew up in Robertsdale, finishing second in his year at the local high school

2. He has two degrees, the first in industrial engineering from Auburn Uni. He later received an MBA from Duke Uni in 1988

3. Cook was a part of the so-called Computer Revolution. He worked at computer giant IBM for 12 years, before moving to Intelligent Electronics in 1994

4. Cook gained a reputation as an excellent operations executive, next taking his skills to Compaq

5. He struck up a rapport with Steve Jobs immediately, joining Apple in 1998 when it was barely afloat

6. Within a year, he had helped Apple to swing to profit in 1998, later managing the resurgent Mac division

7. Promoted to Apple's No 2 spot in 2005, he ran the company as chief operations officer during Mr Jobs' medical leave

8. Widely liked, he is a dedicated supporter of Auburn Tigers football team and a keen sportsman

"Our fiscal 2014 was one for the record books, including the biggest iPhone launch ever with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus," Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, said.

"With amazing innovations in our new iPhones, iPads and Macs, as well as iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, we are heading into the holidays with Apple's strongest product lineup ever."

However, the iPad continued to struggle amid a general decline in tablet sales.

Video: Sept: Complaints Of Bendy iPhone 6

The device slid more than 13% to 12.3 million units.

Apple hopes its recent alliance with IBM will help drive more tablet and phone sales to corporate customers.

Shares in Apple were roughly flat at about $100 (£62) in after-hours trade.

1/7

1. Gallery: Apple Unveils New iPads

   Apple has launched its new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 just hours after their details were apparently leaked by mistake on the technology giant's website

2. The devices feature Touch ID fingerprint sensors and a camera 'burst mode'

3. Burst mode lets a user take multiple shots within a split second of each other on the Air model

4. Extra features complement the boosted processor power and better camera optics which come with each new iDevice iteration

5. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims there are now 675,000 apps available for the iPad

6. Apple has also confirmed that its desktop computer, the Mac, is also receiving an update to mark its 30th birthday

7. Tim Cook says the upgrades make it Apple's "strongest ever line up"

Video: Sept: Supersize iPhone 6 And Watch

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Total CEO Dead As Plane Crashes Into Snow Plough

The boss of oil company Total has died after a plane crashed into a snow plough during take-off in Moscow.

Christophe de Margerie, who became chief executive of the French firm in 2007, was one of four people - all French - who died in the accident involving the corporate jet.

A Vnukovo International Airport spokesman said: "A plane crashed when it collided with a snow-clearing machine. Three crew members and a passenger died.

"I can confirm that the passenger was Total's head de Margerie."

The driver of the snow plough, who was unhurt, was drunk, according to Russian investigators.

"It has been established that the driver of the snowplough was in a drunk state," the investigating unit said in a statement, adding that a preliminary theory was that "an error by the pilots and the actions of the snow plough driver" led to the accident.

The collision occurred just before midnight local time as the plane attempted to take off for Paris.

Christophe de Margerie was a staunch defender of Russia's energy policies

Airport officials were quoted as saying visibility at the time was 350 metres.

Mr de Margerie was on a list of attendees at a Russian government meeting on foreign investment in Gorki, near Moscow, on Monday.

The 63-year-old was a staunch defender of Russia and its energy policies amid the conflict in Ukraine.

With his distinctive moustache and outspoken manner, Mr de Margerie was one of the most recognisable figures among the world's top oil executives.

He took on the additional role of Total chairman in 2010.

Total is the fourth-highest valued of the West's oil companies behind Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.

Potential successors to Mr de Margerie include Philippe Boisseau, head of Total's energy division, and Patrick Pouyanne, who was tasked with reducing exposure to unprofitable European refining sectors.

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China Growth Weakest Since Financial Crisis

The slump in China's property market contributed to a further slowdown in the country's economic output in the third quarter of the year.

Official figures showed GDP growth at its weakest level since early 2009 during the period, rising by 7.3% on an annual basis.

The performance, while better than some analysts had expected, followed growth of 7.5% in the previous quarter and the slowdown reinforced expectations that Beijing will announce more targeted stimulus measures.

Communist leaders are trying to steer China toward growth based on domestic consumption instead of over reliance on trade and investment but the deterioration in output growth raises fears of politically dangerous job losses.

Premier Li Keqiang has stated repeatedly that the country can tolerate slightly lower growth.

The Chinese economy - while still growing an an enviable rate - has a number of problems with the collapse in property values currently at the top of the list.

The government took action to help arrest house price declines and falling construction last month by cutting mortgage rates for some home buyers for the first time though it was too early for the impact of those measures to be felt in the third quarter.

Developers have huge inventories of unsold homes and increasingly risk-averse banks are wary about financing new mortgages which would only increase their exposure to the weakening sector.

Separate property data for September also released on Tuesday showed that the slowdown had deepened in the quarter, with real estate investment falling compared a year ago while revenue from property sales dropped 8.9%.

High infrastructure spending has helped maintain robust employment but that mini-stimulus is now fizzling out - hence the focus now on Beijing's policymakers.

A majority of economists do not see aggressive action, in the form of interest rate cuts, in the short term.

Leaders have previously ruled out massive stimulus as China is still struggling with a mountain of local government debt built up in 2009 when Y4trn (£401bn) billion) was spent to cushion the impact of the global financial crisis.

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Didcot Power Station Fire 'Very Serious'

Fire crews from three counties have been tackling a major blaze at the Didcot B Power Station.

The blaze - described by Oxfordshire Fire And Rescue as "very serious" - began in one of the gas-fired cooling stations.

Twelve fire engines, 65 firefighters and three hydraulic platforms were sent to the site on Sunday at around 8pm.

The National Police Air Service were also deployed - but the Government insisted electricity supplies would not be affected.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "I've been reassured by National Grid that there is no risk to electricity supplies.

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1. Gallery: Major Fire At Didcot Power Station

   A major fire broke out at the Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire about 8pm on Sunday. Pic: Jess Collins

2. The blaze - described by Oxfordshire Fire And Rescue as "very serious" - began in one of the gas-fired cooling stations. Pic: @markydavidb

3. Twelve fire engines, 65 firefighters and three hydraulic platforms were dispatched. Pic: Zainab Mirmalek

4. The National Police Air Service were also deployed. Continue for more images

"I will be keeping in touch with the relevant authorities throughout. My priority is to understand the cause of the fire and get the affected unit back generating electricity as soon as it's safe to do so."

Oxfordshire's chief fire officer, David Etheridge, said his team were hampered by high winds before bringing the blaze under control.

"It was a very serious fire. Our crews have been working very hard in very difficult conditions," he told Sky News.

"The fire is now under control and there is absolutely no risk to the public from the smoke plume.

Video: Resident Describes 'Massive Blaze'

"These fires are always very tricky for us. Water and electricity don't mix but we've worked with the site management on plans and we do exercises to make sure that when we do get an incident such as this we can all work seamlessly together to get it under control."

Thames Valley Police advised residents to close windows and remain indoors.

Site operators RWE Generation told Sky News no one had been injured.

Spokesman Dan Meredith said: "We have taken the precaution to shut down safely the station and all our employees are accounted for."

Video: Power Station Shut Down Amid Blaze

He said the the fire was contained within the cooling tower module - there are a number of modules that form part of the site.

Mr Meredith added that an inquiry would be launched into how a blaze was allowed to begin in Station B, which opened in 1997 and can power millions of homes.

Zainab Mirmalek, who lives opposite the power station, said: "About 9pm you could see a massive blaze but now you can see loads of hoses, lots of steam and smoke and water gushing, though there is still lots of orange."

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PM: I'll Cut Benefits To Fund Apprenticeships

By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent

Benefit cuts hitting 100,000 families will be used to fund a £1bn commitment to deliver three million apprenticeships over the next Parliament, David Cameron has revealed.

The plans show that 70,000 households will be affected by further reducing the benefit cap to £23,000. 

That saves £135m per year, while taking housing benefit off 18 to 21-year-olds will cut £120m a year and hit 30,000 young people.

The Prime Minister is calling on all FTSE 100 companies with a significant workforce in Britain to provide apprenticeships by 2020.

He has received the backing of a number of major companies including Fujitsu, National Grid, Nestle, Airbus, Balfour Beatty and Ford. 

Video: Apprentice Boost Is 'Great' Idea

Mr Cameron said: "Because of difficult decisions we will make on welfare, we will deliver three million apprenticeships by 2020. This is a crucial part of our long-term economic plan to secure a better future for Britain.

"It will help give us the skills to compete with the rest of the world. And it will mean more hope, more opportunity, and more security for our young people, helping them get on in life and make something of themselves.

"We have already doubled apprenticeships this Parliament. We will finish the job in the next and end youth unemployment."

Video: Osborne Pledges Fair Welfare System

The way Mr Cameron is planning to pay for the jobs boost is likely to draw criticism from the Labour party and the Lib Dems.

Nick Clegg has accused the Conservatives of funding tax cuts for the wealthy on the back of the least well off.

In his conference speech, Mr Clegg said: "The young and the working poor are hit time and time again as George Osborne takes his axe to the welfare budget with no regard for the impact on people's lives."

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Comparison Sites Under Fire Over 'Kickbacks'

Price comparison websites have been accused of hiding the best energy deals from consumers.

Instead, tariffs are promoted from providers who are paying the sites around £50 commission when a user switches, according to consumer group The Big Deal.

It claimed CompareTheMarket, uSwitch, Confused.com, GoCompare and MoneySuperMarket use search options that filter out the best non-commission offers.

The Big Deal said some websites have option boxes such as switch "now" or "today", showing only providers that pay commission.

The campaign group's Will Hodson told The Sun: "By hiding the best deals they are using us to earn themselves a kickback."

He also told Sky News: "The claim that they are consumer champions has to be challenged.

"These guys put commission first and consumers second."

It said better switching offers are available that can save consumers up to £200 a year.

The websites said their services were transparent, operating within existing guidelines and saving consumers money.

Uswitch's Ann Robinson told Sky: "The people who use our site save an average £200, and 10% of our users save over £300."

MoneySuperMarket said filter results were "not a loophole" and CompareTheMarket added that "suppliers sometimes stipulate which tariffs they wish to sell on price comparison websites".

The energy watchdog Ofgem said it was considering a regulation overhaul of the sector.

Profits for the so-called big five comparison sites have climbed 400% since 2005, reaching a combined total of £170m last year.

The Big Deal said it has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over the hidden cost claims of the comparison firms.

The CMA is currently investigating the energy market over concerns of tariff and previously said the big energy providers could be split up, separating retail arms from their supply divisions.

The big six providers currently supply around 92% of all consumers - down from 99% five years ago - according to recent estimates.

Energy costs for consumers have more than doubled in the last decade, despite falling inflation and a squeeze on wages since the financial crash.

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Bank 'Gloomier' As Economy Woes Hit Markets

The Bank of England's chief economist has spoken of his concerns for the UK's economic outlook as it writhes in both "agony and ecstasy" alongside weaker global growth.

Andy Haldane told a business audience the Bank may need to keep interest rates lower for longer than previously thought to reduce the chance of the economy slipping into long-term stagnation.

He cited greater financial and political risks and the danger that wages and productivity might continue to fail to recover as forecast.

"Put in rather plainer English, I am gloomier," he said.

Andy Haldane is the Bank of England's chief economist

"This implies interest rates could remain lower for longer, certainly than I had expected three months ago."

His remarks came at the end of a week in which stock markets tumbled and pushed back their expectations for the timing of the first UK rate rise to towards the back end of next year.

Video: Investing? Stocks, Savings Or ISAs?

Fears of recession in the eurozone, weakness in the US and China and an end to the US Federal Reserve's quantitative easing (QE) programme contributed to the sell-off that saw £50bn wiped from the value of the FTSE 100 in just two days.

The London market was over 1% higher on Friday and the pound lost half a cent against the dollar in the wake of Mr Haldane's comments.

He said Britain's economy was "writhing in both agony and ecstasy" amid the volatility and raised the spectre of "secular stagnation", meaning a long period of negligible growth as a result of the world's woes.

"If there is genuine uncertainty about the path of the economy, the optimal policy response may be to avoid the worst outcomes", he said.

The UK's economy has been growing steadily this year - outperforming the G20 - with growth of 0.9% measured in the second quarter and unemployment falling to a 6% rate.

But wage growth remains muted and inflation is falling - with both factors a problem for a recovery largely built on consumer spending.

While they formed part of Mr Haldane's argument on UK policy, the country's economic performance is in stark contrast to that of its biggest trading partner, the eurozone.

The IMF recently forecast a 40% chance of eurozone recession - with even Germany on the brink - as the area battles low inflation, high unemployment and higher risks associated with the west's sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.

It was revealed on Thursday that five nations using the single currency had slipped into deflation while Greece's borrowing costs rose to 9% - a level seen as unaffordable again amid concerns relating to its bailout programmes.

The European Central Bank is under pressure to launch its own programme of QE to provide stimulus.

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Tesco Profit Shortfall 'Better Than Feared'

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A shortfall in half-year profits at Tesco which plunged Britain's biggest retailer into crisis is next week expected to be disclosed to have been smaller than initially feared.

Sky News understands that the supermarket chain plans to announce alongside its first-half results on Thursday that it had previously overstated earnings by between £200m and £250m.

The final figure was likely to be somewhere close to the middle of that range, a banking source said.

The numbers are still being prepared by Tesco's auditors this weekend and a final figure for the mis-statement will not be identified until the middle of the week, according to the source.

If the accounting error is below the £250m figure indicated last month, however, the news will be greeted with relief by the City following speculation that it could have to inflate that number substantially.

Dave Lewis, Tesco's chief executive, told staff yesterday that he expected to be able to give a "clear and accurate indication" of the company's performance during the first half of the year.

An investigation being undertaken by Deloitte and Freshfields will not be completed in time for the results announcement but is understood to point towards there being no requirement at this stage for previous years' profits to be restated.

Eight executives have been asked to stand aside to facilitate the probe, which is focused on payments from Tesco's suppliers.

Sky News also understands that Tesco has asked Greenhill, the investment bank, to field offers from bidders for assets such as Dunnhumby, the marketing services group behind the grocer's Clubcard loyalty scheme.

Sources said that Advent International, TPG and at least one other firm had enquired about Dunnhumby's availability but were being told that Mr Lewis was not keen to hold talks about a deal at this time.

Tesco owns a number of businesses - including an Asian retail empire valued by some analysts at up to £10bn - which could be sold if its board decides it needs to raise capital.

The accounting crisis has triggered investigations by the Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Reporting Council, and raised questions about the future of chairman Sir Richard Broadbent.

Tesco declined to comment.

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UK Firms Consider Paying For Egg Freezing

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Correspondent

British companies have said they would consider following Apple and Facebook's lead by paying for female staff to freeze their eggs.

With the US tech giants now offering the fertility treatment as a benefit, Sky News asked 18 city firms if they would consider providing the same perk.

Two said yes - Spacious, who provide office space, and the bike light company Blaze.

Its founder Emily Brooke said she would even like the option herself.

Facebook and Apple sparked a worldwide debate by offering the perk

She told Sky News: "It just gives you a little bit more freedom and takes the pressure off later on in life.

"The women in my team are just as ambitious as I am, they work incredibly hard and I wouldn't expect them to take up the opportunity, I wouldn't want them to necessarily, but I would like them to have the option."

Two years ago Sarah Brocklehurst had her eggs frozen. Now 43, she knows it isn't a guarantee she'll be able to conceive in the future but says it has given her a choice.

She said: "Just being able to freeze the eggs allowed me to take a little beat to relax, be able to look around sensibly at looking for a man that i wanted to be with, not just a man that I could have a child with, which is what I think - some women unfortunately fall into that trap.

"And also fix things like my career and my living situation. So I think it's the best thing I could have done really."

This week one of Europe's largest fertility clinics is opening on the edge of the city of London.

Video: New IVF Treatment Gives Women Hope

For £200 Create will offer businesswomen fertility tests in their lunch hour and the chance to freeze their eggs so they can concentrate on their careers.

But the centre's medical director believes all women over 29 should be routinely tested for free on the NHS to assess their chances of starting a family.

Professor Geeta Nargund said: "We need to be proactive if we want to help the nation's fertility in the long run and spend less in the long run on fertility treatments.

"We want to invest in proactive fertility screening on the NHS. Many times people say I wish I knew this, I wish I was able to find out about this five years ago."

Video: New Hope For Women Considering IVF

With so many advancements in fertility treatments there are some who believe couples may be relying too much on science as a quick fix if they delay having a family.

Professor Melanie Davies from the British Fertility Society said "I know there are social pressures and I know that one has to find Mr Right but if you're in a good situation a good relationship the best advice is to get on and have children naturally

"That is far more successful than freezing ones eggs and more successful than having IVF at a later stage."

At a cost of around £7,000 for three rounds of egg freezing, women will need a decent salary or generous employer to pay for it, but all experts agree that age is still likely to be the biggest factor when it comes to a couple's chances of starting a family.

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