Aston Martin Holdings (AML) has unveiled its first sports utility vehicle in an attempt to compete in the fast growing luxury SUV car market and reverse the 75% slide in its share price since the company floated last year. The British company, which supplies cars to James Bond in the 007 films, said it hoped the long-awaited £158,000 DBX model would widen its appeal to wealthy women, as almost all of its current customers are men. The new car, which has a top speed of 181mph and goes from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, will emit more than three times as much carbon dioxide as a Ford Fiesta. The DBX travels 19.7 miles per gallon of petrol, compared with an average of 51.7mpg for new cars in the UK. “I can’t emphasise enough how incredibly exciting and significant DBX is for Aston Martin,” said Andy Palmer, its chief executive. “We have both delivered this model through our expertise, but also by garnering invaluable experience and knowledge from external counsel, including our female advisory board. This is a real landmark for this great British brand and I promise that DBX will reward all who experience it in their everyday lives.”
The asset manager Janus Henderson has been fined £1.9m by the City watchdog for mistreating and overcharging thousands of ordinary investors in a controversial practice known as “closet tracking”. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the firm’s Henderson Investment Funds Limited division failed to tell 4,713 small savers that their investments were no longer being actively managed, but continued to charge them the same fees. However, the fund did tell nearly all of its institutional investors – clients such as pension funds and banks – about the change, introduced in 2011, and even offered to continue to manage the funds free of charge. By keeping its retail customers in the dark about the changes to its Japan and North American Funds, Henderson was able to pocket an extra £1.8m in fees between 2011 and 2016. HIFL has since notified and compensated all of the affected customers.
The UK insurer Legal & General Group (LGEN) has teamed up with 14 housing associations to build 3,000 affordable homes annually, as official figures show a 22% rise in the number of affordable homes delivered in England in the past year. The insurance and pensions firm set up an affordable housing business in April 2018 and has built up a pipeline of 3,500 homes to be constructed across the UK over several years, backed by a £750m investment. Just over half of them will be shared ownership and the rest affordable or social rent. It aims to achieve its 3,000-a-year target across the UK by 2022. It has become a key player in the housebuilding sector in recent years, particularly in build-to-rent, as renting becomes more common. So far the firm has completed two affordable housing projects. Residents have started to move into one- and two-bedroom apartments at Leon House in Croydon, a former office building, and into two- and four-bedroom houses in Falmouth in Cornwall. About 60% of them are shared ownership – prices for 25% shared ownership at Leon House start at £76,250 – and the rest are affordable rents.
The drinks company Fevertree Drinks (FEVR) has said a slowdown in consumer spending has hit UK retail sales of its popular mixers. The premium tonic water and mixer maker lowered its forecast of global sales this year to £266m to £268m, about 13% year-on-year growth. Analysts had been forecasting sales of about £272m to £275m. Fever-Tree said that while sales through pubs, bars and restaurants in the UK had remained healthy, consumers were spending less in supermarkets and other retail outlets. Tim Warrillow, its chief executive, said: “Our performance has been behind expectations in the second half [in the UK] as we lap very tough comparisons in July and August [compared with summer 2018] and a wider slowdown in consumer spending.” Warrillow added that the company would not resort to heavy promotional discounting of its products to increase sales in the key trading period running up to Christmas.
