Bain Capital targets London-listed defence firm Chemring, Sky News reports
Feb 24 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital has made an approach to buy Chemring Group (CHG.L), opens new tab, Sky News reported on Monday, sending shares of the London-listed defence company up more than 15%.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
How to get up to £70 compensation from Mastercard, even if you've never paid with one
Millions of people in the UK could be entitled to claim compensation from Mastercard – even if they have never used one of the payment provider's cards. Following a group legal claim against the company regarding transaction fees, a resulting £200m settlement means millions of people who were making card transactions in the UK during the 1990s and 2000s could be due compensation. Here, Telegraph Money explains who could be eligible for a payment and what you need to do to claim. Why is Mastercard paying compensation? How much compensation could be available? Who is eligible? How to submit a compensation claim Compensation scams – be on your guard Why is Mastercard paying compensation? Mastercard's £200m settlement is the result of a long-running legal case initiated by the former financial ombudsman, Walter Merricks, in 2016 at the Competition Appeals Tribunal in London. Mr Merricks argued that in the years between 1992 and 2008, shoppers were being overcharged as a result of Mastercard's high transaction charges. Mastercard provides the technology that enables shoppers to make fast, secure card payments, and it charges retailers fees to use its services. Mr Merricks said retailers then effectively passed those high charges on to consumers in the form of higher prices in the shops. It's the largest settlement of a group claim in the UK. Nonetheless, it remains substantially less than the £10-£17bn Mr Merricks claimed shoppers were owed. Although the settlement between Mr Merricks and Mastercard was agreed in 2024, it was only approved by the Competition Appeals Tribunal in May. Commenting on the agreement, Mr Merricks said: 'I am very pleased that after nearly nine years of litigation with Mastercard, I have agreed a settlement that I believe will deliver meaningful compensation to class members who choose to come forward to participate in the distribution of the damages. 'Ever since I began my claim, I have aimed to ensure that the new regime for collective redress can be seen to work effectively and to do that, I had to take my case to the Supreme Court.' How much compensation could be available? This will depend on how many people come forward to make a claim, as there is a certain amount being set aside for compensation payments. Of the £200m settlement package, £100m has been ring-fenced for shoppers' compensation payouts. Although it is claimed that as many as 46 million consumers were affected by Mastercard's high charges, MoneySavingExpert has reported that only 5pc of eligible people are expected to claim. If that prediction is accurate, claimants can expect a £45 payout. However, if fewer people submit a claim, you could get as much as £70 (the maximum permitted in the settlement). The remaining £100m will be used to cover legal fees, a return for the litigation funder, and anything left over may fund further consumer payments and, potentially, a contribution to The Access to Justice Foundation. Who is eligible? To be able to claim, you'll need to meet all of the following criteria: You were living in the UK, for at least three consecutive months, between June 20 1997 and June 21 2008. If you live in Scotland, there's a larger window – ranging from May 22 1992 to June 21 2008. You were aged 16 or over during this period. You purchased goods or services in the UK during this time for non-business purposes – although proof of this won't be required. You were still living in the UK on Sept 6 2016 (the date the claim against Mastercard was filed). It doesn't matter whether you have used a Mastercard debit or credit card or not – this is because Mr Merricks argued that the company's high transaction fees hit all shoppers, irrespective of which card payment provider they used. If you were under 16 during those years, you won't be able to claim because it's argued that you would have been less likely to have been spending your own money. How to submit a compensation claim To be in with the chance of a payout worth up to £70, you'll need to submit a claim. The legal services firm, Epiq, is expected to launch an online claims portal at some point over the next few weeks on the Mastercard Consumer Claim website. Eligible consumers will then have a number of months to complete a claim online. The process is not expected to be complicated – claimants will simply have to state that they meet the criteria and provide details including date of birth, home address and bank details (so that the payment can be made electronically). There will also be no expectation for claimants to provide any evidence to support their claim. According to the claims website, payments will be made before the end of 2025. Compensation scams – be on your guard Beware of any communication or social media post that's telling you to claim now – the online claims portal is not yet live, so it's highly likely to be a scam. Fraudsters love to use compensation schemes as a hook for a scam – for example, there have been numerous bogus websites suggesting they can help the so-called Waspi women claim £2,950 compensation (the amount recommended by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman), despite the Government ruling out any such payments to date.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Massive high street fashion chain puts dozens of stores and thousands of jobs at risk as bosses draw up company rescue plan
A huge fashion brand that is a high street staple across the UK is putting dozens of stores and thousands of jobs at risk as desperate bosses rush to draw up a rescue plan for the struggling firm. The clothing retailer, which has 230 shops and employs around 5,500 people, is taking the step after latest figures showed it suffered a £32.2 million loss in 2023. River Island has now called in advisers from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to devise a formal restructuring plan to stop the business going bust. Proposals for a rescue plan are set to be finalised within weeks, Sky reports, although sources at the company say any key decisions about its future are yet to be taken. River Island was originally named Lewis and Chelsea Girl after being founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis, before changing its brand name four decades later. It is now headed up by CEO Ben Lewis, the nephew of its founder, who took over his second stint as the head of the family firm in February. He previously held the position for almost a decade before stepping down in 2019. In January, the firm introduced a redundancy programme at its London head office in a bid to save money in the context of increasingly pressured finances. The job cuts affected a range of employees across buying, merchandising and HR, but the total number of losses was not confirmed by the retailer. Company accounts showed the company was £33.2 million in the red for the 12 months to December 30, 2023. It also suffered a 15 percent decline in sales and a 19 percent fall in turnover. The year before, River Island had a total profit of £7.5 million. Any restructuring plan will be a court-supervised process that enables a company facing financial difficulties to compromise creditors such as landlords to avoid going bust. It is currently unknown how many stores and jobs would be at risk under the plan. In its latest accounts on Companies House, River Island Holdings Limited said: 'The market for retailing of fashion clothing is fast changing with customer preferences for more diverse, convenient and speedier shopping journeys and with increasing competition especially in the digital space. 'The key business risks for the group are the pressures of a highly competitive and changing retail environment combined with increased economic uncertainty. 'A number of geopolitical events have resulted in continuing supply chain disruption as well as energy, labour and food price increases, driving inflation and interest rates higher and resulting in weaker disposable income and lower consumer confidence.'
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Reeves urged to fund libraries, parks and social centres in left-behind areas
'Red wall' Labour MPs are urging Rachel Reeves to fund grassroots 'social infrastructure' such as parks, community centres and libraries, as well as high-profile transport projects, to ensure voters in left-behind areas can benefit from growth. The Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (Icon), chaired by the Labour peer Hilary Armstrong and supported by a string of backbenchers, has identified 613 'mission critical' local areas. It is calling on the government to pilot community-led regeneration schemes in places like these – which are defined as those furthest away from contributing to Labour's targets, including on growth and social mobility. Such neighbourhoods are characterised by higher unemployment, 'dramatically higher' welfare spending, and 40% lower productivity than the national average, Icon finds – and many voted Reform in last month's local elections. Ahead of next week's spending review, Reeves trumpeted plans for an additional £113bn in capital spending over the next five years, including £15bn on transport projects outside London and the south-east. The chancellor's rewritten fiscal rules allow for a significant expansion in borrowing to fund such investment, which Reeves has called 'the lifeblood of growth'. But the commission argues many projects that would be classified as day-to-day spending, which is more tightly constrained under Reeves's rules, are essential for improving long-neglected local areas. 'Buses and trams are important, but they're not the whole picture,' said Armstrong, who was the Labour MP for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010. 'The problem is that big infrastructure projects, like, you know, trains, bridges, roads, take a long time, and people don't really feel that they're in control of what's happening.' She added: 'Unless people are getting the skills, feel confident about who they are and what their opportunities are and actually believe that they are able to build real opportunities for their kids, for their families, for their communities, then they're not going to be doing the work that will add to the growth of the economy.' Jake Richards, the MP for Rother Valley, said: 'Transport and other infrastructure projects are really important, but we must not overlook the importance of social infrastructure, which will be critical to the government's missions. Sure Start is perhaps the best example of this, bringing remarkable benefits for millions of families in our most disadvantaged communities.' Armstrong cited a project in Wolverhampton the commission recently visited, which employed a chef to cater for community lunches. 'They came together and they chatted and they talked and they set things up coming out of it,' she said. She called on the Treasury to consider social infrastructure when judging how funds should be disbursed. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'It's about, how do you get a sense of pride in where you come from, where you live, neighbours that you can talk to because you share a meal with them once a week, or something – it's actually enabling people to get to know each other a bit better and be more confident in each other. That will absolutely transform people's lives.' Chris Webb, the MP for Blackpool South, said: 'Towns like Blackpool, the most deprived in England, are poorly served by traditional economic infrastructure, which tends to benefit the big cities more than isolated coastal towns. This government must draw on our party's proud history of rebuilding communities to directly invest in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.' The North Durham MP, Luke Akehurst, said: 'Investing in social infrastructure such as community centres, parks and libraries, would start to plug my constituency back into the national economy, which it has been excluded from for far too long.' Icon is funded by the Local Trust, which was set up to implement Big Local, a national lottery-funded project due to end next year, that gave more than 150 neighbourhoods more than £1m each to spend over a decade on locally led regeneration and fostering community connections. Analysis of Big Local by Icon suggests these areas saw greater declines in crime and smaller increases in economic inactivity than similar neighbourhoods outside the scheme.
