New Rules To Boost Home-Based Businesses

Entrepreneurs will have more freedom to begin a business from home under new measures to be announced by the Government.

They include legislation which will make it simpler to run a company from a rented property and new guidance on business rates.

There will also be updates to planning guidance to make it clear that planning permission will not normally be required to run a home-based business.

Business minister Matthew Hancock said: "It's this spirit of personal endeavour and self-determination that is driving our economic recovery.

"But home businesses don't just fire up the economic engines and create jobs, they turn dormitory towns into living communities, they keep our streets safer, and by driving down car emissions, cleaner too.

"We'll give people the confidence they need to run a business from a rented home, making sure that the majority of home businesses are exempt from business rates and our aspiring entrepreneurs have the information they need to start up and grow."

Under the measures a new model tenancy agreement will be made available to landlords.

The law will also be changed so landlords can be confident that agreeing to a business within their property will not undermine their tenancy agreement.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said it firmly supported the removal of "unnecessary barriers" to setting up at home.

"At least some of the kitchen table businesses of today will expand and become the commercial property space-seekers of tomorrow," she said.

"We therefore have an interest in ensuring that the law and our sector is adapting to modern business practice and supporting UK entrepreneurs at every stage of their business development."

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UK Growth Hits Fastest Annual Pace Since 2007

The annual rate of UK economic growth has been revised upwards to 3.2% - its fastest pace since the end of 2007.

The announcement was made by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as it confirmed GDP growth of 0.8% in the second quarter of the year.

While that figure represented no change on its original estimate, the ONS said it had measured a stronger performance in the construction sector than previously calculated in its wider revisions.

It confirmed that the service sector - which makes up more than 75% of GDP - remained the main driver of Britain's economy between April and June, expanding by 1%.

Much of this has been attributed to consumer spending despite huge pressure on budgets because of weak wage growth - a situation that had been tipped to ease during 2014 but has worsened again in recent months.

The ONS confirmed on Wednesday that wages shrank at an annual rate of 0.2% in the second quarter while the main measure of inflation rose to 1.9%, meaning the gap between wages and price rises was widening further.

The Bank of England has now made the weak pay issue a core factor in its discussions over the timing of an interest rate rise.

The UK's resilient GDP growth is in sharp contrast to economic fortunes in the euro area.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Germany's GDP was in decline and French growth was stagnating.

Chief UK economist at Citigroup, Michael Saunders, told Sky News he was not overly concerned that the woes being experienced by the country's biggest trading partners would damage the UK's recovery.

He said the suro had been "in economic terms, something of a zombie for a number of years now" and backed calls from France for the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide stimulus.

"The ECB will eventually get around to QE (quantitative easing) - five years too late - I think they're going to do it in the next couple of quarters and that will give some boost but it really is a sad story of multiple policy failures in the euro area," he said.

"Even if it gets a bit better I don't think it will get a lot better in the euro area."

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Lastminute Owner Eyes Sale Of UK Dotcom Icon

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Lastminute.com, one of the icons of the original dotcom boom, is being put up for sale nearly a decade after its takeover by an American technology giant.

Sky News has learnt that Sabre Holdings, which is listed in New York, is exploring plans to offload Lastminute.

Sabre has appointed bankers at Houlihan Lokey, an advisory firm, to oversee an auction, and has already begun sounding out potential buyers.

A sale of Lastminute could still be aborted if the terms of a deal are not sufficiently attractive to Sabre, but sources said on Saturday that the US company was prepared to accept a substantial loss on the roughly £600m it paid in 2005.

Prospective buyers could include private equity firms or rival online travel groups such as Expedia.

Sabre has itself listed on the public markets, floating on Nasdaq in April with a valuation of nearly $4bn.

It has four main divisions, with Lastminute operating as a subsidiary of Travelocity, Sabre's group of travel e-commerce businesses.

Lastminute was one of the darlings of the early UK internet industry, floating in 2000 two years after being founded by Brent Hoberman and Martha - now Baroness - Lane Fox.

However, Lastminute's performance has been underwhelming, despite it continuing to spend substantial sums on marketing and advertising.

Its biggest market shares are in the UK and France but it has struggled to make an impact elsewhere in Europe.

Analysts say that Travelocity failed to integrate Lastminute effectively or to build the network of hotels or other partners to which it has access during a period when some rivals have expanded aggressively.

Mr Hoberman has also criticised Sabre's exploitation of the Lastminute brand, calling it "an under-utilized asset" last year.

A Sabre spokeswoman said in a statement: "We are always reviewing options to make our technology company as successful, relevant and innovative as possible.

"If we have news to share, we commit to doing so quickly and transparently."

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New Rules To Boost Home-Based Businesses

Entrepreneurs will have more freedom to begin a business from home under new measures to be announced by the Government.

The measures include legislation which will make it simpler to run a company from a rented property and new guidance on business rates.

There will also be updates to planning guidance to make it clear that planning permission will not normally be required to run a home-based business.

Business minister Matthew Hancock said: "It's this spirit of personal endeavour and self-determination that is driving our economic recovery.

"But home businesses don't just fire up the economic engines and create jobs, they turn dormitory towns into living communities, they keep our streets safer, and by driving down car emissions, cleaner too.

"We'll give people the confidence they need to run a business from a rented home, making sure that the majority of home businesses are exempt from business rates and our aspiring entrepreneurs have the information they need to start up and grow."

Under the measures a new model tenancy agreement will be made available to landlords.

The law will also be changed so landlords can be confident that agreeing to a business within their property will not undermine their tenancy agreement.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said it firmly supported the removal of "unnecessary barriers" to setting up at home.

"At least some of the kitchen table businesses of today will expand and become the commercial property space-seekers of tomorrow," she said.

"We therefore have an interest in ensuring that the law and our sector is adapting to modern business practice and supporting UK entrepreneurs at every stage of their business development."

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Rents Rise Again As Home Costs Swallow Income

Rental bills are rising by more than inflation again after a break of more than a year as a separate study warns over the impact on families of higher housing costs.

According to LSL Property Services, which runs the Reeds Rains and Your Move chains, the average monthly rent across England and Wales increased by 2% in the 12 months to July as the market picked up with students starting to book accommodation.

That took the pace higher than the 1.9% rate of inflation for the first time since June last year - with the average rent now standing at £753 per calendar month.

London and the South East regions led the way in terms of the highest values - with a £1,143 average in the capital - though London's rate of increase stood at 2.3% over the 12 month period compared to 3% in the North West.

The North East was the only region where rents had fallen over the period, LSL said, with a 3.8% reduction to reach £507 typically.

Its report was released as another study warned that almost 1.6 million UK households were now seeing more than half their disposable income being taken up with rent or mortgage costs.

The Resolution Foundation think-tank, which carried out the research, said 'pinched' households were more likely to rent privately, be young, live alone, live in one bedroom properties, have recently moved and live in London.

Its analyst, Laura Gardiner, said: "The majority of the housing pinched are in work but on low and middle incomes, leaving little left over after housing costs to spend on other essentials.

"With house prices and rents rising in some parts of the country, interest rates expected to start to go up and income growth remaining weak, we should be concerned about the ability of this group to absorb additional pressure on their household budgets from higher mortgage payments and rents.

"It is vital that more money is invested in the supply of new housing in order to drive down costs, otherwise we can expect to see a steady rise in the number of households that are 'housing pinched' over the coming years."

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Alibaba Film Unit Probes Cash Irregularities

The film unit recently aquired by Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba has announced an investigation into possible accounting irregularities.

Alibaba Pictures Group confirmed the news to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and said the probe's scope pre-dated its purchase by Alibaba in June and only related to its time as ChinaVision Media Group.

Trading in Alibaba Pictures shares was suspended pending the results of the inquiry while the Group's latest financial results were also delayed.

The disclosure was made as its parent company readies for what is expected to be the biggest-ever listing by a tech firm.

It is believed Alibaba will look to raise $20bn (£12bn) in its planned initial public offering in New York next month - more than Facebook's $16bn two years ago.

Alibaba - which has made a string of big-money purchases to broaden its interests - makes more money than Amazon and eBay combined.

It bought 60% of ChinaVision Media for more than $800m as part of its push into online content and changed its name to Alibaba Pictures.

The statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange said the new management team had found "certain possibly non-compliant treatment of financial information" in the company's accounts.

The film business said the discrepancies meant it was likely that there had been "insufficient provision for impairment of certain assets" in the January-June period - potentially valuing assets at more than they are worth.

An audit committee is investigating whether it would affect the company's previous financial reports.

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Home Sales 'Highest For Seven Years'

Chartered surveyors are selling as many properties as they did before the start of the financial crisis.

In a monthly poll of its members, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has found that on average, the number of homes sold per surveyor in July went up to 24.6.

That's the highest amount since June 2007, when the average number was 25.2.

The pick-up in sales per surveyor is a further sign that the housing boom is continuing across the UK. In January 2009, in the midst of the economic crisis, surveyors were only selling on average 9.8 houses per month.

Prices are projected to increase by 2.6% over the next 12 months, according to respondents to RICS.

The state of the UK housing market continues to be of concern to the Bank of England. However, in its inflation report this week it predicted house price growth would halve by next spring to around 0.5% per month.

A report from the Halifax earlier this month showed house prices across the country rose 1.4% in July.

In London, often seen as a hotbed for house prices, only 10% of chartered surveyors reported an increase in July, compared to 30% in June.

RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn added: "Members now expect price gains over the next year to be faster outside of the capital, than in it."

Some elements of the poll hinted that the market might be normalising. Surveyors reported the first drop in demand for houses to be surveyed since January 2013, as well as an increase in supply for the second consecutive month.

The RICS Residential Market Survey is the longest-running monthly survey of house prices in the UK.

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Lenovo Hails Mobile Future As Sales Soar

A 32% jump in sales of mobile devices has helped the world's biggest maker of PCs grow its quarterly profits.

Lenovo, which has intensified efforts to diversify from its traditional personal computer roots, confirmed that earnings rose 23% to $214m (£128m) in the April-June quarter compared to the same period last year.

It credited strong growth in sales of smartphones and other mobile devices, which topped $1.6bn (£1bn) over the three months.

The profits reflect the China-based firm's heavy investment in mobile technology - a strategy that has included the purchase, from Google, of Motorola's handset business for $2.9bn (£1.74bn).

Global revenue rose 18% to $10.4bn (£6.23bn) - with PC sales making up 29% of that total figure.

The company said shipments of desktop computers rose 12.1% over a year earlier, compared with an industry average of 2.4% - reflecting a pick-up in demand in its home market.

Just over a third of its revenue was made in China while the US and the Americas accounted for $2.2bn (£1.32bn) of sales.

Revenues from Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 27% to $2.8bn (£1.68bn).

Lenovo's chairman, Yang Yuanqing, said he expected mobile sales to be the bulk of its future revenue as its focus shifts from PCs.

The company said it rose to number three among global tablet computer suppliers, adding that worldwide smartphone shipments grew about 39% year-on-year.

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France: Growth 'Has Broken Down In Europe'

It has been confirmed Germany's economy contracted in the second quarter of 2014 while France has warned that growth "has broken down" in the country and wider eurozone.

Official figures showed that Europe's biggest economy recorded a surprise 0.2% GDP dip between April and June as foreign trade and investment, particularly in the construction sector, weighed on growth.

Investor and business confidence was since taken a knock because of the crisis in Ukraine - straining relations with Russia - raising fears of an even weaker recovery.

Those jitters were reflected in financial markets on opening - with the German DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris both losing ground amid a wider sell-off across Europe.

France called on the European Central Bank to do more to tackle the risk of deflation and bring the euro to a more competitive level as it posted zero GDP growth for the second consecutive quarter.

The figures also prompted the finance minister Michel Sapin to slash his government's forecast for growth in 2014 to "around 0.5%" compared with a previous projection of 1%.

He told the daily Le Monde newspaper: "Growth has broken down, in Europe and in France.

"With zero growth in the second quarter, thereby extending the stagnation we saw in the first, our country is slowing down and will not achieve the 1% growth observers were predicting three months ago".

Analysts have warned for months that France, the second biggest economy in the eurozone, looks increasingly the weak link in a halting recovery as the government battles to push through much-needed reforms.

Unemployment hit a new record in June to a shade under 3.4 million while the forecast for France's public deficit is now predicted to be above 4% of GDP this year - missing key targets demanded of it by the EU.

The country's statistics agency blamed falling manufacturing output as a key component of its performance and cited a large number of mid-week public holidays as having a particular impact on productivity.

More follows...

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Care Giant Races To Avert £500m Sale Collapse

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The parent company of HC-One, one of Britain's biggest nursing home operators, will hold crunch talks this week aimed at preventing the collapse of a £500m sale of the business.

Sky News has learnt that NHP is expected to meet with representatives from Credit Suisse, the Swiss banking giant, which is taking legal action to stall the auction in an attempt to secure repayments to bondholders.

HC-One, which owns and operates approximately 220 sites previously run by the now-defunct Southern Cross group, had been on the verge of agreeing a sale to Formation Capital, a US-based healthcare investor.

Credit Suisse has warned that it will pursue further legal avenues to derail the sale without a string of assurances from the company and its partners by August 15.

The legal tussle, which the Swiss bank believes is necessary to protect its financial interests, has thrown the future ownership of the UK's third-biggest care home operator into fresh doubt.

HC-One, whose parent company is carrying more than £1.3bn of debt, has about 10,000 residents across its estate and employs roughly 14,000 staff.

Formation, which declined to comment, is said to have told the selling shareholders that its offer will lapse shortly without a resolution of the impasse, although it is unclear whether it will abandon its interest altogether after that point.

It is reported to have pledged to invest tens of millions of pounds to fund new homes and modernise existing ones.

Anchorage Capital, a Wall Street hedge fund which is another HC-One creditor, is also trying to delay the sale.

Analysts speculated that regulators could seek to intervene if the situation deteriorated to the extent that stakeholder confidence in HC-One was undermined.

In a statement issued to Sky News on Monday, NHP said it had halted the sale process because of the dispute and is "engaging with Credit Suisse and other stakeholders with a view to resolving the issue and completing the sale of the group as soon as practicable".

An insider said the row would not have an impact on patient care and pointed to more than £80m invested in HC-One since November 2011.

"The sale process represents the next phase of ensuring HC-One remains a stable, debt-free and fully funded organisation, committed to providing the kindest possible care," the statement said.

"We are deeply disappointed that Credit Suisse has taken this action at this late stage."

The row could trigger a renewed debate about the extent of private sector involvement in crucial healthcare services after more than a decade of debt-fuelled takeovers of care home and hospital operators.

Southern Cross's collapse in 2011 under a toxic combination of mounting debts and rising rents sparked recriminations between ministers, landlords and care home operators.

The parent of HC-One, which is chaired by Chai Patel, the healthcare tycoon behind The Priory rehab clinics, also said that without a resolution of the dispute, it would consider selling the business through an alternative process.

This would involve selling the underlying assets themselves - the 221 care homes - rather than the shares in the companies which own them.

In response, Credit Suisse said it supported the work undertaken by Mr Patel to stabilise the business, adding in a statement: "Any contractual disputes between CS and other transaction parties relate to the holding company of HC-One and will have no bearing on the day-to-day operations of HC-One itself."

Dr Patel and other directors are reported to be in line for a £5m bonus if the company is sold.

Deutsche Bank, which was appointed by Capita, the special servicer, to run the auction, could not be reached for comment.

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