New Car Sales Accelerate By 18% In March

New car registrations were up almost 18% in March compared to the same period last year.

A total of 464,824 cars were registered in the month, the highest level for a decade - nearly 15,000 a day.

Last month's figure and the previous high, recorded in March 2004, were the two best registration periods since 1999 when the motor industry ditched the August new number plate for a twice-yearly system.

The sales speed-up in March has taken year-so-far sales to 688,122, a rise of 13.7% on the total for the first three months of 2013.

Trade body SMMT said the surge reflects a return to confidence to Britain, especially as more than half of the total went to private buyers.

"New car registrations surged 17.7% in March to 464,824 units, a surprisingly strong level of growth and a reflection of intensifying consumer confidence and the availability of great new products," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said.

"Given the past six years of subdued economic performance across the UK, there is still a substantial margin of pent-up demand that is contributing to a strong new and used car market."

The month of March is the traditional registration high point, however the industry expects growth to continue.

"There has never been a better time to buy a new car thanks to attractive finance deals and advanced technologies that often make new cars cheaper to run," Mr Hawes said.

"We expect the market to continue to perform positively for the rest of the year, albeit at a more modest rate."

The best-selling car remains the Ford Fiesta, with 25,753 registered in the month.

That was 58% above the next best-seller, the stablemate Focus (16,860), and the Vauxhall Corsa (16,231).

VW Golf, Vauxhall Astra and Nissan Qashqai were the next best models, along with the VW Polo, Fiat 500, BMW 3 Series and Toyota Yaris.

Alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) saw a rise of 35% year-on-year, however the "green vehicle" total was still below 2% of all cars put on the road.

There is now expected to be a surge in AFVs sales, amid an increased awareness of air pollution.

Diesel-powered cars, whose exhaust emission particulates are known to be harmful, made up 47.8% of sales in March.

Many heavily-populated areas of Britain have been blanketed in thick smog this week, due to atmospheric conditions and vehicle pollutants.

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House Of Fraser Bought By Chinese Tycoon

A Chinese tycoon has bought British high street chain the House of Fraser, according to sources.

Reuters said a 89% stake was bought by Sanpower, a Nanjing-based conglomerate controlled by Yafei Yuan.

Sources have told Sky News an announcement is expected imminently.

House of Fraser will now seek strategic growth in mainland China as part of a wider, global expansion.

The deal values the department stores at more than £450m.

The two sides are thought to have been in secret discussions for several months.

This follows a protracted search for investors led by House of Fraser's chairman, Don McCarthy.

Just months ago the company was tipped for a public flotation.

But Sky News City Editor Mark Kleinman reported in February that Mr McCarthy apparently had no desire to chair a publicly-listed company.

Sports Direct and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley was also tipped as a making a possible move for the company.

The British group enjoyed strong Christmas trading, with like-for-like sales at its 61 stores up more than 7% during the three weeks to December 28 and more than 4% in the nine weeks to the same date.

Established during the 1850s, House of Fraser was taken private in 2006 for £351m by a consortium led by Baugur alongside Mr McCarthy and entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter.

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Microsoft XP And Office 2003 Security Warning

Britain's data protection watchdog has warned owners of Microsoft's Windows XP and Office 2003 products of future potential security flaws.

The warning from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) comes as the software giant is set to end official support of the products on April 8.

Despite Windows XP being considered an aged operating system, it still powers nearly a third of all PCs worldwide, according to NetMarketShare.

UK software firm AppSense believes three-quarters of UK firms have XP within their networks, while Gartner says many businesses have up to 20% running on XP.

The ICO said once official support ends, no update release to overcome flaws will be issued, risking data breaches of machines used by businesses and private users.

The watchdog said the problem will get worse over time as more vulnerabilities are gradually discovered.

It said that will increase opportunities for attackers to exploit and potentially gain unauthorised access to systems.

ICO technology group manager Dr Simon Rice also warned that the issue is not limited to these two products.

He said: "Organisations regularly end support for their older products.

"And those with supported systems still need to be vigilant, as vulnerabilities will be discovered over time."

Dr Rice urged businesses to be prepared for the ending of support.

He said: "As a responsible data controller, it is your organisation's responsibility to make sure you have the measures in place to keep people's details safe."

He added: "Where you cannot apply a (software) update, you may need to put additional measures in place to mitigate the risk."

Approached by Sky News, a Microsoft spokesperson said warning about the end of support was announced some time ago.

It said the user notifications raised the issue of potential virus and security risks.

:: Microsoft has given advice for users of both Office 2003 and Windows XP on its website.

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Lloyds Seeks Approval To Boost Pay Of Top 400

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Lloyds Banking Group is to seek approval to boost the pay packets of up to 400 of its most senior staff in a move which could stoke political tensions over bankers' remuneration.

Sky News has learnt that the taxpayer-backed lender will disclose in documents ahead of its annual general meeting (AGM) that it wants the flexibility to pay the higher-than-expected number employees up to 200% of their salaries in bonus awards.

The 400 executives, who are known as 'code staff' by regulators because of their designation as the holders of the most important jobs at the bank, can only be paid the equivalent of their base salaries without shareholder approval under new European Union rules.

The move by Lloyds to seek approval to double the level of variable pay will put the Treasury in a delicate position as it strives to avoid being seen to endorse bumper bonuses, particularly at banks in which it has a direct ownership interest.

One route allowing it to navigate this dilemma would involve UK Financial Investments, the agency which manages taxpayers' stake, abstaining on the remuneration-related votes at Lloyds' AGM, although final decisions are not thought to have been taken.

Approximately 75 of Lloyds' staff are being awarded allowances which, in line with similar deals at other banks, count towards their base pay and will enable higher bonuses to be paid from this year.

Antonio Horta-Osorio, the bank's chief executive, will receive a £900,000 allowance in deferred shares which will boost his guaranteed annual pay to £2.6m.

Lloyds, less than 25% of which is now owned by the taxpayers after a £4.2bn sale of Government shares last week, has identified the 400 eligible employees in accordance with definitions imposed by the European Banking Authority.

The new EU rules have prompted major banks operating in Europe - including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Morgan Stanley - to devise new monthly or quarterly payments, drawing criticism from politicians in Brussels.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, has mounted a legal challenge to the pay ratio cap, arguing that it will do little to curb risk-taking and may damage the City of London.

Lloyds' move to seek approval for the higher payments will be disclosed in the circular to shareholders ahead of next month's AGM, which Treasury sources said was expected to be distributed in the coming days.

The bank is also understood to be tabling a resolution that will ask investors to approve the ability to pay a scrip dividend for the first time since it was bailed out by taxpayers following the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS in 2008.

Lloyds has already said that it hopes to resume dividend payments in the second half of 2014 and anticipates becoming a distributor of chunky payouts to shareholders in the coming years.

Sources said that the Lloyds documentation would also include a resolution seeking approval for the bank to draw up a prospectus for a possible sale of shares to the general public.

Such a plan, which is unlikely to be launched by the Treasury until the autumn, could see billions of pounds of shares offered to retail investors.

Lloyds declined to comment on Thursday.

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High Streets Show 'Resilience' After Crash

Around 80% of high street stores left vacant after the collapse of successive retail chains have now been filled, new research suggests.

Accountancy giant Deloitte said Britain's high streets were recovering at a greater pace than rival locations such as shopping centres and retail parks.

Britain's retail environment suffered a major change in the wake of the financial crisis more than five years ago, with a number of household names disappearing.

Chains including Woolworths, HMV, Blockbuster, Comet and Jessops vanished from the retail landscape but Deloitte said "great resilience" was being shown in re-occupancy.

It examined almost 30 major administrations since 2009 and used research from the Local Data Company to track the status of around 5,900 shop premises.

Around two-thirds of the shopfronts were left vacant at some point, but many have since been filled, it said.

Like property price variations, however, regional shop vacancy rates are evident.

Deloitte said the North West vacancy level stands at 32% whereas in London the figure is 18%.

Out-of-town shopping zones have apparently been hit hardest, in the downturn.

While the average high street vacancy rate across the country is 20%, it is 29% at shopping centres and 37% for retail parks.

The better high street re-occupancy rate is aided by lower refurbishment costs in comparison to large out-of-town locations.

Deloitte found that the average vacancy rate for the High Street is 20%, but it rises to 29% for shopping centres and 37% for retail parks.

"The results of this research are surprising and seem to challenge a number of myths around the state of the high Street," Deloitte director and report author, Hugo Clarke, said.

"They would suggest that far from being dead, the high street appears to be showing great resilience and a capacity for re-invention.

"It seems that a structural shift is taking place with the high street emerging as an unexpected winner."

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Dawlish: Damaged Railway Reopens After Repair

David Cameron has paid tribute to workmen after they completed a £35m repair project on the badly-damaged rail line at Dawlish.

A 300-strong team has spent weeks repairing the line, which was badly damaged on February 4 when the sea wall was breached during storms.

The line which links Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance was forced to close after part of the wall collapsed.

Storms caused a 100m breach in the sea wall at Dawlish

The Prime Minister said: "This is a great day for the hard-working people of Dawlish, and for businesses and commuters across the South West whose lives have been turned upside down by the devastating loss of their train line."

Half of Dawlish train station has been rebuilt after the storms

Shipping containers were put into place in Dawlish to act as a temporary sea wall, but they suffered damage after further storms in February and engineers also discovered a cliff face just south of the village in Teignmouth had sheared away above the track.

Mr Cameron said: "Back in February when I visited the town to see the damage for myself, I promised to do everything I could to get to this vital artery back up and running as quickly as possible.

The coast-hugging line bore the brunt of the severe weather

"I am delighted to say that promise has been delivered today. A promise which says that the South West is well and truly open for business."

As part of the repair work, half of Dawlish station has also been rebuilt, new cabling has been installed and the sea wall breach has been fortified with more than 6,000 tonnes of concrete.

A team of 300 workers spent weeks fixing the line

National Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: "Our army of engineers has done an amazing job of putting back together a railway that was ravaged by the elements.

"They have overcome every obstacle thrown at them, winning many battles along the way to restore this critical piece of the network, ahead of schedule, and in time for the Easter holidays."

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Cowdery Nets £200,000 Profit After FCA Fiasco

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The founder of the closed life insurer Resolution has netted a profit of almost £200,000 on shares he bought after last week's botched launch of a probe into the sector by the City regulator.

Sky News can reveal that Clive Cowdery, one of the wealthiest and most prominent tycoons in the insurance industry, is sitting on the paper windfall after swooping for 1.2m shares last Friday.

He acquired the shares at an average of just under 274p, in the wake of a newspaper report that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would be investigating millions of so-called "zombie" life insurance policies dating back to the 1980s.

The report wiped billions of pounds from the value of listed insurance companies, including Resolution, which saw its shares slump by as much as 16% at one point on Friday before recovering to close down 7%.

The partial recovery came after the FCA corrected some details of the newspaper report, but insurers were furious that it took the regulator more than six hours to issue the clarification.

Later on Friday, the watchdog issued a further statement to say that its board would be appointing a law firm to conduct an inquiry into the fiasco, which has also drawn the ire of George Osborne, the Chancellor.

Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, has called the FCA's actions "an extraordinary blunder".

Mr Cowdery's share purchases last week were an indication of his belief in the continuing strength of Resolution, which will shortly be renamed Friends Life, according to people close to him.

The company announced last month that its founder would step down from the board at its annual meeting.

He is expected to establish another life insurance acquisition vehicle focused on Germany, Italy or the Netherlands next year, although he has said he remains interested in further opportunities in the UK.

An ally of Mr Cowdery said that his £200,000 gain on the shares he acquired for £3.3m last week was modest in the context of the sums he spends annually on his think tank, the Resolution Foundation.

Mr Cowdery, who now owns shares in Resolution worth roughly £28m, has fared far better from the recent share trades than his boardroom colleagues.

Andy Briggs, the company's chief executive, bought 47,000 shares at 313p ahead of last Friday's fall in Resolution's share price.

Tim Tookey, the finance director, acquired 20,000 shares at 315p on March 25 and a further 175,000 shares two days later at 320p.

Both men are nursing significant paper losses on those holdings although neither has any intention of selling the shares in the short term.

The insurance industry has been left reeling by both last Friday's FCA fiasco and Mr Osborne's Budget announcement that pensioners will no longer be effectively forced to buy an annuity.

A spokesman for Mr Cowdery and Resolution both declined to comment.

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Vodafone Creates 1,400 Jobs With 150 Stores

Vodafone has confirmed plans to open 150 new stores this year, creating 1,400 UK jobs.

The company said the £100m expansion was part of its previously announced £1bn investment commitment to the UK market.

Vodafone, which has 19 million customers in the country, had pledged in June last year to increase its UK expenditure by 50% as it fought strong competition from the likes of EE and O2.

Its capital investment programme, the company said, was one of the largest in its history and aimed at delivering Vodafone's commitment to provide indoor and outdoor coverage using 2G, 3G and 4G services to 98% of the UK population by 2015.

UK chief executive Jeroen Hoencamp said: This year we'll invest more than ever before to provide our customers with the strongest network and best services in the UK.

"We're also committed to putting our brand and our people where our customers want us: right at the heart of their high street and shopping centre."

Vodafone said the opening of the new stores would take the total number of Vodafone-branded UK outlets to more than 500.

It planned to open the first of the 150 stores in Notting Hill, Fulham, Walthamstow, Wembley, Ilford, Perry Barr and Bicester.

The announcement was welcomed by Prime Minister David Cameron.

He said in a statement: "It is a sign that our long-term economic plan to create jobs and build a stronger, more competitive economy is working."

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China Confirms 'Mini Stimulus' To Boost GDP

The Chinese government has announced measures to help boost living standards and its economy at the same time.

The total cost of the so-called 'mini stimulus' was not disclosed but the investment programme aimed to deliver social housing to replace shantytowns in many cities while railway construction would also be accelerated.

China's top economic official Li Keqiang said other measures included more tax breaks for small businesses.

There is pressure on the world's number two economy as it risks missing its GDP growth target of 7.5% for 2014, with official output surveys showing little sign of confidence picking up.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail line

The programme announced by Premier Li also showed that policymakers were highly reluctant to opt again for a strategy of massive spending and borrowing, such as the one unleashed following the financial crisis of 2008.

While the stimulus helped China's economy recover rapidly - with growth of more than a staggering 70% since 2008 - the resulting credit boom created a huge debt burden of 230% of GDP.

That debt mountain contributed to GDP growth slowing to a 14-year low of 7.7% in 2014 as spending was cut back.

Since becoming head of the ruling Communist Party in November 2012 and state president in March last year, President Xi Jinping has mounted an austerity campaign among top officials and a highly publicised crackdown on corruption that has seen some high-ranking officials sacked or charged.

China's huge export market has also been hit by factors outside its own control - namely the slow world economic recovery which dented demand for its products.

The targeted measures announced call for slum clearance to be accelerated with the China Development Bank, the country's biggest policy lender, issuing home financing bonds to help finance new social housing.

Western China has missed out on high speed rail investment

The authorities will also create a special fund worth up to 300 billion yuan (£29bn) annually to boost rail construction - a key policy aimed at reducing pollution from road traffic - with high speed bullet train lines also improving vital internal trade links.

China plans to build more than 4,000 miles of railway in 2014 alone.

The announcement represented a 25% increase in track extensions while the authorities also confirmed that western China would benefit from 80% of the investment.

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Asos Profit Plunges 22% Despite Sales Boost

Online fashion retailer Asos has seen its half-year pre-tax profit plunge by 22%, despite retail sales being up by a third in the UK.

The fall comes as the firm steps up expenditure on IT and distribution facilities for future growth expectations.

Asos said its pre-tax profit was £20.1m in the six months to February 28, down from £25.7m in the same period last year.

In March the company warned that investments in Germany and the UK to help distribution would impact profit.

It also said start-up costs in China would affect the bottom line.

Last month, the firm said the outlay would disproportionately hit first half-profit and forecast a full-year profit of around £65m.

On releasing the H1 figure the company said: "Asos is not and has never been about the short-term, the scale of the global opportunity remains as exciting as ever."

Barnsley is the main UK warehouse centre for the group.

Around two-thirds of group sales are from the UK and the European Union.

Some analysts wonder if the firm's international growth ambitions may cause overreach.

Its international sales growth of 14% is low relative to other divisions, working from a small base.

Asos was launched in 2000 and listed on London's AIM exchange in 2001. In 2010 it launched American, German and French sites.

The company, which targets people in their 20s, has also had to contend with the rise of Boohoo recently.

Its rival aims to provide fashion for teenagers and people in their early 20s, and its share price jumped 50% on flotation last month.

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