Thursday newspaper round-up: Tax rises, E.On, Copper

13th Mar 2014 07:34

Britain and its governments face "crippling" tax rises and spending cuts in order to meet the needs of an ageing population. For too long people have in essence voted to give themselves benefits at the expense of future generations, said the Institute of Economic Affairs in a report. The IEA's Programme Director added there is a real danger of mass social breakdown or mass emigration of the country's most productive, The Daily Telegraph writes. A 6.6% increase in consumer prices, cost reductions and a colder than average winter at the start of 2013 led to a 26% rise in profits at E.On's UK supply business last year. While the firm was one of the last to raise its prices the above improvement in profitability has led to some calls for it to now lower what it charges, The Times says. Following the recent sharp slump in the price of copper there is talk in some quarters that China may be undergoing its own 'Lehman Brothers moment'. Making matters worse is the speed of recent events and, above all, a lack of reliable information regarding the size of copper inventories in Shanghai or the quantities of iron ore sitting at the country's ports. Nonetheless, economists seem sanguine regarding the economy's prospects, The Times writes. The developer of the Candy Crush Saga may be valued at as much as £4.6bn when it floats on the New York Stock Exchange, far above the £3bn initially mooted by some. The company is looking to raise £319m and its Chief Executive Officer stands to make as much as £448m. Nonetheless, there are some worries that the mobile app maker - which is backed by UK private equity firms Index Ventures and Apax - could end up flopping, much as Zynga did, The Daily Express reports. Spending in the UK on R&D spending dropped by 3% to £27bn in 2012, the equivalent of 1.72% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) but below the 2.06% average for the whole of the European Union. It was also considerably less than the target of 2.5% of GDP set by the government for this year, The Guardian reports. At the Retail Week Live conference on Wednesday Tesco's boss was adamant that he is not under pressure from his shareholders regarding his company's market share having dropped to a decade low. In that same vein, he insisted that the firm's performance is indeed improving although there is a lag between it being better and people talking about it, according to The Daily Telegraph. AB