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Royal London says pension fees cap could cost £1 billion: The Government’s plans to cap fees paid by savers in pension schemes could end up costing the insurance industry £1 billion, the Chief Executive of the mutual Royal London has warned.

BHP Billiton leaves London off list of suitable homes for its big new baby: The world’s biggest new mining company, a $14 billion giant trading on three continents, will not be listing in London because Britain’s stock exchange is too expensive.

London among least ‘liveable’ cities Despite huge demand from international property investors, London is a less attractive place to live than Detroit, says the Economist Intelligence Unit

Rail fares to rise 3.5% in January Increase in regulated fares will take the total rise since 2010 close to 25% compared with an increase in average wages of just 6.9%

Carillion has raised its offer for Balfour Beatty in a move that values its larger UK construction rival at more than £2bn just two days ahead of a crucial deadline. The improved, third bid, which Carillion made after consulting with shareholders, will give Balfour shareholders 58.3 per cent of the combined company, up from its previous offer of 56.5 per cent. (Financial Times)

The Chinese government has handed down its biggest ever anti-trust fine on 12 Japanese auto parts manufacturers, who were penalised in connection with an investigation into pricing practices in the world’s largest automotive industry. In a statement on Wednesday morning, the National Development and Reform Commission said the companies would pay penalties totaling Rmb1.24bn ($200m), almost double the Rmb670m fine paid by six baby formula makers last year. (Financial Times)

Standard Chartered will be barred from processing transactions for some high-risk clients as part of a $300m settlement with New York’s banking regulator after it failed to improve procedures for identifying suspicious activity. As part of the agreement with New York’s Department of Financial Services, Standard Chartered will suspend clearing activity for high-risk Hong Kong business clients and exit certain client relationships at its branches in the United Arab Emirates. The UK bank will also not be allowed to accept new customers for dollar-clearing without prior approval by the DFS. (Financial Times)

mperial Tobacco Group Plc (IMT.L) Announced, in its interim management statement for the nine months ended 30 June 2014, that the guidance for the full year continues to be modest adjusted earnings per share growth at constant currency with dividend growth of at least 10.0%. The Growth brands outperformed the market with volume growth of 3.0% and net revenue up 7.0%. The Specialist brands supported the total tobacco portfolio with net revenue gains of 3.0%.

Profits rose 57% in the first half of the year at housebuilder Persimmon, which said trading in the early weeks of the second half remained ahead of tough comparative numbers from the prior year. The FTSE 100 builder took advantage of the booming housing market and sold 28% more new homes at prices 4.3% higher than the same period last year, also strengthening its land bank with 82,250 plots of land owned and under control by the end of June, up from 70,716 the year before.

Middle Eastern buyers seize half of £10 million-plus homes in Mayfair: Middle Eastern buyers have been ramping up their presence in the capital and now account for half of all purchases of £10 million-plus homes in Mayfair each year, new figures released show.

High streets hit as shopper numbers drop by 1.7% in July - but pop-up shops and short leases see vacancies fall to a three-year low: High streets suffered another blow last month as the number of visits from shoppers dropped by 1.7% year on year in July. Retailers in general were hit by a fourth consecutive month of declining footfall, as shoppers stayed away despite the warm summer weather.

Ineos buys fracking rights from BG Ineos buys fracking rights around Grangemouth and Firth of Forth: Ineos, the company at the centre of last year’s bitter dispute with unions at its Grangemouth petrochemical plant, has bought the rights to explore fracking for shale gas in a 127 square mile area around Grangemouth and the Firth of Forth.

uy BHP Billiton’s dividend income: BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining group, is detailing plans to demerge assets and increase returns to shareholders. The Anglo-Australian miner, which was formed through the merger of BHP and Billiton, is now planning to unpick part of that 2001 deal. Out goes a lot of the Billiton parts, including aluminium, nickel and manganese mining assets, with the company keeping its iron ore, copper, coal, petroleum and potash businesses. The impact of the demerger on the group is easily manageable. The mining giant’s market capitalisation is currently £118 billion, while the value of the demerged assets is estimated at around $14 billion (£8.4 billion), or 7% of the whole group. Following the demerger, BHP Billiton will become a more focused group, generating about 48% of profits from iron ore, 28% from petroleum, 22% from copper and 2% from coal, based on Questor’s estimates. The company is reliant on the value of iron ore for profits and China, the world’s largest user, is the largest driver of that price. The mining company has also increased production. This is part of a strategy across the industry. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have the lowest production costs in the world due to the size of their mines and can make profits at much lower prices than their rivals. They hope that this scorched earth tactic will push many smaller iron mines around the world out of business. Questor said on April 2 (Buy, £18.82) that BHP would increase cash returns to shareholders. The shares have risen 10% since then, easily beating the wider FTSE 100, which has remained largely flat. BHP Billiton at £20.67+17p. Questor Says “Buy”.

opps Tiles is oversold: The U.K.’s largest tile and wooden flooring specialist Topps Tiles has enjoyed a recovery in trading and profits driven by Help to Buy. Like-for-like revenues increased by 6.3% for the 13 weeks ended June 28, the company said in its latest early July trading update. However the shares have slumped by more than 20% since early March, as the wider market took fright on rising geopolitical risk. That selloff now looks overdone. Topps is still doing fine. Matthew Williams, Chief Executive, said the sales momentum has been maintained and that consumer sentiment remains favourable. The company was confident that it could hit market expectations of pretax profits up 60% to £17.1 million for the full year ended September. That is only about six weeks away. Earnings per share are forecast to increase 25% to 6.83p this year and to 8.4p next year. Questor thinks that for a company growing profits and earnings by more than 20% the forecast price earnings ratio of 15.4 times, falling to 12.5 times next year, is too cheap. Investing in U.K. retailers is always risky as consumer confidence can rapidly evaporate, but Topps is market leader and has exited some expensive borrowing charges so the cost of repaying interest on its loans fell by almost half to £800,000, from £1.5 million last year. Borrowing is now secured out till 2019. Small company shares have been hit hard since early March, and Topps Tiles hasn’t escaped the sell-off, giving back some of its gains. However, trading remains on target, so with only about six weeks left till the full year results Questor thinks the selloff is overdone. Topps Tiles at 109.5p +4.5p Questor Says “Buy”.

Derwent London benefits from office property boom: London-focused real estate investment trust Derwent London reported a strong set of first-half numbers that beat expectations last week. The FTSE 250-listed company, which has the majority of its property located in the West End of the capital, said the valuation of the portfolio had increased by more than £300 million, or 10%, in the first six months of the year, to £3.74 billion at June 30. The property sector as a whole was given a boost last week when Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, hinted that U.K. interest rates will stay lower for longer. Rental values increased by 4.2% during the first half and the portfolio yields 5.02%. The net debt of £974 million at the end of June has an average maturity of 7.2 years and a weighted average interest rate of 3.98%. John Burns, Chief Executive, said: “Derwent London is set to have another good year in 2014 after an excellent first half. Our confidence in our market, the quality of our brand and our strong financial position is reflected in the group’s most substantial development programme to date.” The company has 626,000 sq ft of space under construction of which almost a third is pre-let. Shares in Derwent London have enjoyed a strong year so far, up almost 14%, and easily beating the wider FTSE 250 that has fallen 1% during the same period. The performance follows a stellar five-year period during which the shares have more than tripled in value from lows of about £8 in early 2009. The shares now trade on a forecast price earnings ratio of 48 times, falling to 41 times next year, and offer a prospective dividend yield of 1.5%. Derwent is in a strong position, but Questor would argue that property moves in cycles and would be wary about getting in at the top of this one. Derwent London at £28.21 Questor Says “Hold”.

Boldilocks: In a half year results presentation, Mr Ritchie overlaid the curves of property cycles in the eighties and noughties to show their similarities. This gives Bovis confidence we are in the “early stages of recovery” now. Hence a plan to sell out 30 sites and open 40 new ones a year for three years, taking the total to 140-160. Hence also a commitment to lift the 2014 dividend to 35p, and pay out one-third of earnings from 2015. The shares, playing catch-up with rivals, rose 4.5%. Bovis can meet its targets if its bold assumptions of a Goldilocks scenario are correct. Who can’t? At the weekend, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said he might raise U.K. interest rates before wage growth resumes. That would dampen demand for new homes and could derail Bovis’s plans.

Lombard: Tales of the uneggspected show power of political risk: Avangardco evokes giggles because the Aim-listed Ukrainian group produces eggs, a product with potential for wordplay. But there is nothing funny about plans by the government of Crimea, an illegally annexed part of Russia, compulsorily to buy Avangardco’s operations there. The loss of a mining licence by Rio’s subsidiary Bougainville Copper is harder to emote over. Panguna, once the world’s biggest copper mine, has lain idle for 25 years because guerrillas on Bougainville wanted to split from Papua New Guinea. Rio lost its licence in a delayed reaction to autonomy. The company may now sell an associated exploration permit to a buyer less alarmed by zinging bullets. Optimists, meanwhile, think the possible partition of Iraq could benefit oil explorers cosy with the Kurdish Regional Government, such as Tony Hayward’s Genel. Wrangles between the autonomous KRG and the Iraqi government over oil exports would cease if the latter no longer existed. The small matter of keeping Isis out of Erbil – now with U.S. air support – comes first, though.

Arm lifted to top of FTSE by broker moves Chip designer Arm Holdings leads London’s main FTSE 100 index after Goldman Sachs recommends buying the stock

Punch says restructuring has ‘momentum’ Punch Taverns says half of all equity and bondholders support its fifth and latest plan to restructure and pay off some debt

Balfour in talks to sell US arm for £700m Potential WSP deal comes as leading shareholder in Carillion and Balfour Beatty urges construction groups to restart £3bn merger talks