According to Lloyds TSB, the typical British household has £5,000 in savings and investments. This compares to over £19,000 in China.

German households, meanwhile, have average savings of almost £9,000.

UK and China

The bank said that the “remarkable” findings reflect the fact that there is no “social safety net” in China, such as state pensions and benefits, meaning that families must provide for themselves financially.

Lloyds TSB also said that the so-called savings ratio in the UK – that is a person’s savings as a proportion of their disposable income – has been falling over the last decade.

Currently, Britons save around 7 per cent of their disposable income. This compares with 47 per cent in China.

Greg Coughlan, head of savings at Lloyds TSB, said: “Despite significantly higher income levels, today’s British and German households are both being roundly beaten in the savings stakes by urban Chinese households.”

Dr Karl Gerth, author of As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything and a lecturer in modern Chinese history at Merton College, Oxford, said that Chinese people save out of necessity because they have to pay for healthcare, education, housing and their retirement.

“It has nothing to do with ancient Confucian wisdom and all to do with contemporary realities,” said Dr Gerth.

He said that savings levels among young Chinese people are far lower than among their parents’ generation.

“In China, young people are learning to spend,” he said.

Lloyds TSB’s findings were based on over 3,000 interviews with adults in the UK, China and German.

telegraph.co.uk

Nationwide said that house prices dropped by a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent last month after a similar decline in December, and are just 0.6 percent up on a year earlier.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices to remain flat on the month, giving an annual rise of 1.4 percent.

UK housing market

“The weakness in buyer demand is partly a reaction to the uncertain outlook for the economy, especially the labour market. But affordability is also part of the explanation – in particular, finding a sufficient deposit,” said Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner.

Britain’s housing market, formerly a major driver of consumer spending, has been extremely sluggish since the start of the financial crisis, a point reinforced by Bank of England mortgage data on Tuesday.

Nationwide said that the average first-time buyer now opted to put down a 20 percent deposit, compared to 10 percent in early 2008. Mortgages with lower deposit requirements are available, but tend to carry punitive interest rates.

However, for those home-buyers able to find a 20 percent deposit, low interest rates mean that servicing a mortgage is now cheaper than four years ago and close to its long-run average, with initial payments now costing 31 percent of take-home pay, down from 46 percent in 2008.

uk.reuters.com

But Southern Water, which is installing meters in all its customers’ homes after Kent, Hampshire and Sussex were designated areas of “water stress”, will increase prices by an average of 8.2% or £31, and Bristol Water is raising prices by 8.8%.

Water bills in the UK set to rise by 5.7%

South East, a water-only company that operates in the same counties as Southern and is also installing universal water meters, is increasing prices by 4.6%, or £9.

But customers of South West will face the highest bills, with the company estimating an average charge of £543, a rise of 4.7% or £24 on 2011-12.

The rises, which are based on a rise in the retail price index in November 2011 of 5.2%, will mean an average annual bill of £376 throughout the UK. A spokesperson for Ofwat said prices would vary from customer to customer if their water was metered, or if non-metered, depending on the rateable value of their home.

In 2009 the regulator set the size of “real” rises in charges for the years 2010-2015, with the aim of keeping average bills almost in line with inflation for another three years. Ofwat says this is around 10% less than the rise asked for by water companies.

Regina Finn, the Ofwat chief executive officer, said: “We understand that any bill rise is unwelcome, particularly in tough economic times. Inflation feeds through into water bills, and this is driving these rises. We will make sure customers get value for money.”

But the Consumer Council for Water said higher-than-anticipated inflation figures for the past two years meant customers had ended up paying more than they might have expected.

Dame Yve Buckland, the chair of the CCW, said: “In the current economic climate, many customers are struggling with rising household bills and the level of water debt is growing. Companies need to tell their customers very clearly what they are getting for their money and to help customers who are having difficulty paying their bill.

“Anyone struggling to pay their water bill should contact their company immediately. They can usually offer more flexible payment options, such as weekly or monthly payment plans. In some cases they may also be able to help through special assistance funds, or schemes to help eligible customers reduce their water bills.”

guardian.co.uk

A new survey by Kantar Worldpanel has found that sales growth at Tesco has slowed to just half that of the broader grocery market as rival supermarkets take over.

Tesco issued a shock profit warning on January 12 following its worst Christmas for decades.

Tesco

Sales growth at Tesco slowed to 2.1% in the 12 weeks to January 22, from 3.3% in the 12 weeks to December 25. This compared to an overall increase in UK grocery sales of 4.2%, according to the survey published on Tuesday.

Tesco’s market share now stands at 29.9%, its lowest level for seven years.

German discount retailer Aldi gained most of the market share lost by Tesco, with a 19.7% rise in sales in the 12 weeks to January 22. Its market share now stands at 3.5%.

Germany’s other discount supermarket chain Lidl also saw an 11.7% increase in sales although its market share growth was more modest.

Asda, the UK’s second largest supermarket, lifted its market share to a record 17.5% following its purchase of Netto stores.

Sainsbury’s, which earlier in the month reported record Christmas sales, grew its market share to 16.7%, its highest since March 2003.

Frozen food specialist Iceland Foods saw its share reach a 10-year high of 2.1 %. This came on the day second-round bids for a controlling stake in the business are due to be lodged.

With UK food inflation at 5.7%, the findings were attributed to people cutting back on the number of items they buy and switching to cheaper goods. Spare cash was being squeezed by rising prices, muted wages growth and austerity measures.

Ed Garner from Kantar Worldpanel told Sky News that while Tesco had seen “quite a sharp drop” in its market share, the supermarket giant was not being complacent.

“The good news in all this is we do have a very competitive market,” he added.

Tesco admitted it messed up its pricing strategy during the Christmas period – triggering an unprecedented slump in its share price, wiping billions of pounds from its market value.

news.sky.com

The research, by Sheffield Hallam University, showed that a basket of frozen family groceries cost just £15.45, whereas the same items bought fresh would cost £23.25. By opting for frozen versions of family favourites – such as broccoli, salmon and sausages – families could save almost £8 per supermarket trip.

Saving money with frozen food

Charlotte Harden, a nutrition and science consultant at the university, said: “We compared items from four of the top supermarkets and found that frozen food comes in at much better value per 100g. Many families are feeling the pinch at this time of year and will be looking for cost savings so they can clear post-Christmas debts. A really simple way to make your money go further is to buy frozen food.”

Previous research has indicated that the nutritional value of many frozen foods, such as vegetables, is just as good as fresh ones.

Over the course of a year the savings would amount to £405.60 – enough to fund gym membership for a year or buy an iPad2. Items compared included the most popular family purchases of pizza, broccoli, carrots, garlic bread, whole chicken, prawns, salmon, sausages, spinach and parsnips.

The study included “value”, regular, premium and organic ranges and found that shoppers had the opportunity to swap from fresh to frozen on more than 600 items.

Brian Young, director general of the British Frozen Food Federation, said that not only could frozen products help families save money but it could also reduce food waste. Recent figures from Defra (the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) showed that 17pc of fresh food purchased was thrown in the bin.

telegraph.co.uk

Rupert Murdoch’s son has decided against seeking re-election as a non-executive director.

GSK stated there had been no pressure placed on Murdoch to stand down, saying that the decision was based on his decision to move to the United States in his new role with News Corp.

James Murdoch

Murdoch, 39, also recently left the boards of the publishing arm within News Corp’s British newspaper division.

GSK chairman Christopher Gent said: “James has taken this decision to focus on his current duties as non-executive chairman of BSkyB, and following his decision to re-locate to the United States, as chairman and chief executive, international, of News Corporation.”

James Murdoch has come under fire for his handling of the hacking affair last year that resulted in the closure of the News of the World tabloid after it emerged it had accessed the voicemail of a girl later found murdered.

At the height of the scandal, he came under pressure from some investors to step down from the boards of satellite broadcaster BSkyB and News Corporation but he held on to his posts.

James could come under further scrutiny over his handling of the hacking affair in the next few weeks when a British inquiry into media ethics publishes its report.

Murdoch will leave the GSK board following the annual general meeting on May 3.

AFP

The company said that comparisons with the same period last year were flattered by last year’s business being heavily disrupted by snow.

Easyjet said this meant that the costs of flying per seat – a key measure of profitability – had fallen by 1.6%.

Easyjet

The airline flew a total of 12.9 million passengers in the period.

It reported that it had 70% of its first half booked, and said it should recover a £100m increase in its fuel bill to leave losses for the first half between £140 and £160m, compared with the £153m loss reported in the first half of last year.

Easyjet’s chief executive, Carolyn McCall, said the company had made a strong start to the year and she was “cautiously confident” in her outlook for the business.

The company said it continued to make steady progress in attracting business passengers, whose numbers grew by 200,000 to 2.3 million passengers in the quarter.

Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said the figures outstripped expectations.

“Despite a difficult backdrop, Easyjet continues to surprise on the upside,” he said.

“Sales growth is outpacing cost growth, with the group’s move to attract business travellers showing early promise.”

Earlier this year Easyjet introduced a £9 flat administration fee to replace the previous £8 booking fee levied on customers paying with most debit cards.

The company believes that the fee will not be subject to any new legislation, after the government vowed to ban excessive card surcharges when passengers buy tickets online by the end of the year.

bbc.co.uk

It is the first quarter of negative growth for a year and the fall was slightly more than expected.

The contraction in Gross Domestic Product (the value of all goods and services produced) marks a sharp slowdown on the 0.6% rise in the previous three months of 2011, and fuels fears of a double-dip recession.

UK Recession

If this figure is not revised upwards and there is another contraction in the first quarter of 2012, the UK will be plunged back into recession.

Negative growth in the final three months of last year was driven by a 0.9% fall in manufacturing, a 4.1% drop in electricity and gas production as the warm weather caused people to turn down heating, and a 0.5% fall in the construction sector.

Output in the service industry remained flat and government contracts were up by 0.4%.

GDP over the whole of 2011 grew by 0.9%, compared with growth of 2.1% in 2010.

Continuing problems in the eurozone have been significantly hampering growth.

The fourth-quarter decline has reignited the debate as to whether or not the coalition government’s austerity measures are to blame for choking off the economy.

Unemployment also recently hit a 17-year high.

Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told Sky News that the figures were “disappointing”.

Appearing on Boulton & Co, he blamed the negative growth on the 2008 financial crisis, high commodity prices and the deepening crisis in the eurozone – the UK’s largest export market.

But Mr Alexander insisted the Government would not deviate from its deficit reduction plan.

“The most important thing is to stick to the plan that we have to deal with our financial problems as a country because by showing this country can pay its way in the world the coalition Government has established confidence and kept interest rates very, very low. That of course does help,” he said.

Mr Alexander pledged to “redouble” the government’s efforts to stimulate growth – including boosting infrastructure investment, giving more support to small businesses and reducing red tape.

His comments echoed those of Chancellor George Osborne earlier in the day.

Mr Osborne also warned of the ongoing threat posed by the crisis in the eurozone.

He said: “Now Britain has substantial economic problems, debt built up over the past 10 years, and we are dealing with those, but the truth is that dealing with those problems is made more difficult by the situation in the eurozone.”

The growth figures reinforce expectations that the Bank of England will inject more cash into the economy next month in an attempt to stimulate growth.

The bank’s governor, Sir Mervyn King, has said that the UK faced an “arduous, long and uneven” road to recovery.

Mr King has so far resisted calls for another round of quantitative easing but negative growth will intensify the pressure.

James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank, said the GDP figures pointed to further economic gloom.

“Unfortunately, UK economic activity is likely to get worse before it gets better with a technical recession likely to be confirmed by GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2012.

“With such economic uncertainty, firms are reluctant to invest and hire so it is difficult to see where any growth will come from in the next couple of quarters.”

But he said he is more optimistic about the second half of 2012, when falling inflation will help ease the squeeze on consumers’ spending power, which has been behind much of the recent weakness in the economy.

The GDP figures follow data from the Office for National Statistics which showed that UK debt surpassed the £1trn barrier for the first time.

The International Monetary Fund has also downgraded its global outlook for growth.

The IMF’s forecast for UK growth this year was cut by 1% to 0.6% – although Britain is still expected to outperform Germany and France.

finance.yahoo.com

The UK subsidiary of the firm, which owns the Coryton oil refinery in Essex, has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as administrators.

Shares in the company, which is Europe’s largest independent oil refiner, were suspended on Monday.

Petroplus

Petroplus had its credit lines frozen by its lenders in December 2011.

Its credit rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor’s earlier this month on fears of the company defaulting on its debt.

“We have worked hard to avoid this outcome, but were ultimately not able to come to an agreement with our lenders to resolve these issues given the very tight and difficult European credit and refining markets,” said Petroplus chief executive Jean-Paul Vettier.

“We are fully aware of the impact that this will have on our workforce, their families and the communities where we have operated our businesses.”

‘Restructuring options’

The Coryton refinery is owned and operated by Petroplus Refining and Marketing Limited and employs about 500 staff and 350 contractors. It supplies about 20% of fuel for London and the South East.

As well as refining oil for use as fuel, it also imports fuel from other countries which has already been refined.

PwC has also been appointed as administrator for Petroplus Refining Teesside, which operates an oil storage site on Teesside and a research site in Swansea. It has about 60 employees.

“Our immediate priority is to continue to operate the Coryton refinery and the Teesside storage business without disruption while the financial position is clarified and restructuring options are explored,” said Steven Pearson at PwC.

He said PwC would be starting discussions over the coming days with customers, employees, creditors and the government “to secure the future” of both sites.

BP, which used to own Coryton and sold it to Petroplus in 2007 for $1.4bn (£900m), had earlier been in talks to throw the plant a lifeline by supplying it with crude and receiving refined products as payment.

BP is the plant’s biggest customer for refined fuel, but told the BBC: “There are no immediate supply issues across our network.”

A group of European parliamentarians, including East of England MEP Richard Howitt, have been meeting to discuss ways to save jobs at Petroplus, which has facilities in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK.

The group met European Union Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor last week to consider what options may be available.

The group is set to meet European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger later this week.

bbc.co.uk

“Asda today announced that it will invest over £500 million ($780 million, 600 million euros) in its UK stores and depots in 2012, helping create up to 5,000 new jobs across the country,” the Wal-Mart owned group said.

ASDA

Asda added in a statement that it planned to open 25 new stores and three new depots this year, and would expand and refurbish 43 of its existing outlets.
Cameron welcomed the news, which came after recent data showed that the nation’s jobless total had struck the highest level since 1994 — and could rise further in the coming months.

“The additional investment and 5,000 new jobs announced by Asda today will be a real boost for the economy and more importantly for people around Britain seeking jobs,” Cameron said in the joint statement.

Official data showed last week that a total of 2.68 million people were unemployed in November, up 118,000 from a quarter earlier.

The unemployment rate meanwhile rose to 8.4 percent in the three months to November, the highest level for 17 years.

AFP