Business rates, Barclays, mortgages and Centrica

The row over a sharp rise in business rates rumbles on – but now the government has bowed to sustained pressure and announced help for small firms. The Guardian reports that Philip Hammond will announce new measures in the budget on 8 March following comments by the communities secretary that more should be done ‘to level the playing field’. At Prime Minister’s questions yesterday, Theresa May said that small businesses left with the highest rate increases would be given help. Stamp duty The Times reports that ‘sharp increases in the stamp duty on expensive homes are costing the Treasury as much as £500 million a year’. According to new analysis by Paul Nash, a partner at PwC, the tax take from homes worth more than £1.5 million fell to £749 million in the nine months to November 2016, from £1.08 billion in the corresponding period of 2015. Barclays The BBC reports on Barclays’ results, saying that the bank has revealed a jump in annual profits after making ‘strong progress’ in restructuring. The bank reported a profit before tax of £3.2 billion for 2016, up from £1.1 billion the previous year. In other banking news, the government has further reduced its stake in Lloyds Banking Group from 5 per cent to just 3.89 per cent. Centrica Aside from Barclays, Centrica’s results dominate the business news today. The Times reports that the British Gas owner has ‘disappointed investors by leaving its dividend unchanged despite the energy group reporting better-than-expected operating profits of £1.52 billion for 2016′. Profits at its British Gas domestic supply business fell 11 per cent to £553 million as customers switched elsewhere. It lost just over 400,000 customer accounts, mostly in the first half of the year. Following the profit rise, Citizens Advice has urged the firm to do more to lower customers’ bills. Chief executive Gillian Guy said: ‘British Gas continues to make big profits while its loyal customers’ bills remain high. Many people who have been with their energy company for years are paying much more than other customers because they’re on a standard variable tariff. And while offering a loyalty reward scheme is something, bringing down bills would do more to help struggling households.’ Mobile phones A quarter of mobile users have never switched mobile networks – rising to a third among over 55s – as the perceived hassle of switching costs Brits £5.8 billion a year, according to new research by uSwitch.com. More than two thirds of mobile users haven’t switched network in the past three years, while a quarter have stayed loyal to the same network since buying their very first handset. Many state they are happy with their network’s service and reception (44 per cent) but over one in 10 – more than 3.5 million people – who haven’t switched in the past three years are put off by the process, saying it sounds like ‘too much hassle‘. Mortgages

The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that gross mortgage lending reached £18.9 billion in January. This is 6 per cent lower than December’s lending total of £20 billion, but 2 per cent higher than the £18.6 billion lent in January last year. This is the highest lending total for a January since 2008 (£25.2 billion).

Commenting on market conditions in this month’s market commentary, CML economist Mohammad Jamei said: ‘Overall mortgage lending continues to hold up pretty well, but we seem to have a twin-track market. Weakness in buy-to-let and home movers has been offset by an increase in first-time buyers and remortgage lending. A continuing acute shortage of homes being offered for sale is one aspect of a broken housing market, that looks unlikely to resolve in the near term.’

Finally…

Forget the Bank of Mum and Dad – nearly one in six parents worry they will have to turn to their children for financial support in retirement, research from MetLife shows.

MetLife’s nationwide study found 16 per cent of over-40s with children are concerned that they will need to ask children for financial support as they will not have saved enough for a comfortable retirement by the time they stop work. Instead of bailing out their children, they worry they will have to rely on them for financial support.