The rise of white van woman

Now women make up almost 6% of UK tradespeople. Photograph: Alamy

Name: White Van Woman.

Age: It doesn't matter, so long as she's female.

Appearance: A smiling vision of practicality. Hard hat mandatory, visible bum crack optional.

Wait a minute, White Van Woman? What an ungainly phrase. Look, don't get caught up in semantics. We're talking about the rise of female tradespeople. According to a study of 10,000 workers, women now make up almost 6% of the UK's builders, plumbers and plasterers.

Is that a lot? Put it this way: female tradespeople now even outnumber migrant workers.

Really? It makes sense. The amount of women taking up DIY in recent years has been significant – between 2011 and 2012, for example, B&Q reported a 400% increase in the number of women enrolling in its skills workshops.

That's just a hobby, surely. No, they're making a living from it. The theory is that many women who lost their jobs during the last economic downturn set up their own building and plastering companies. There's even a magazine, Women In Trade, dedicated to reflecting the rapid growth.

I don't understand what the appeal is. The appeal of being a capable self-starter in a potentially very lucrative industry? No idea. It must be because they get to listen to Richard Keys on TalkSport on their way to jobs.

How will this affect the trade industry in general? Well, either Travis Perkins will start selling tile adhesive in a pleasant shade of fuchsia, or nothing will change at all you sexist idiot.

Is there actually a call for women in this line of work? You'd be surprised. When asked why they had set up their businesses, a lot of new female bosses said they were so disappointed by the poor customer service offered by male companies that they took the matter into their own hands.

Oh, so all of a sudden yelling "Make us a cup of tea, love," every 15 minutes isn't good customer service? Apparently not. It isn't explicitly stated in the report, but women are generally thought to be better at not yelling "WOY-OY!" out of windows at other women, too.

Good for them, then. White Van Woman is still a horrible phrase, though. It's better than Handy Mandys, though. Let's never call them that.

Do say: "How nice that one of the final gender-segregated professions in the world is becoming more diverse".

Don't say: "Free inside next month's issue of Women In Trade: some lovely mittens".

ScottishPower faces more questions over £79m warranty scandal

ScottishPower was the controlling force behind the warranty scheme, benefiting by millions of pounds when it collapsed, liquidators allege. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

ScottishPower is facing fresh legal and political pressure over one of Britain's biggest extended-warranty scandals, which left more than 625,000 of its customers owed £79m more than a decade ago, amid allegations that the energy group "deliberately evaded" repaying promised sums.

Liquidators have been chasing funds on behalf of out-of-pocket consumers for years after two companies involved in the warranty offer went bust. They now claim to have discovered new evidence they had not been aware of when accepting a £6m settlement from ScottishPower – a fraction of the sum they say should have been provided to meet money-back promises.

The dispute centres on a promise to ScottishPower customers buying five-year PowerPlan extended warranties on fridges, washing machines and other electrical goods that they could claim back the entire cost of the warranty if, five years later, they had not made a claim on it.

Liquidators to PowerPlan Company Limited (PPCL) now allege: "ScottishPower … denied that it was liable for cashback [claims from maturing warranties], and gave an account of the history which painted it as an innocent party who had been a mere sales agent in a flawed scheme that was the brainchild of PPCL directors."

PPCL was set up as a company independent of ScottishPower to issue extended warranties sold in the energy group's 150 high-street stores between 1998 and 2001. But, liquidators claim, it was a "virtual company", a "conduit pipe" directing almost all cash reserves back to ScottishPower through the group's insurance arm, Domestic Appliance Insurance Limited (DAIL).

New evidence, the liquidators allege, proves ScottishPower was the controlling force behind the warranty scheme, benefiting by tens of millions of pounds at consumers' expense when the scheme fell apart.

ScottishPower denies misleading liquidators and insists it had been entitled to argue it was not liable for up to £75m of cashback claims in "hostile and adversarial" negotiations with PPCL liquidators.

A cross-party group of nine MPs, including the former Labour consumer minister Gerry Sutcliffe, have this month written to the business secretary, Vince Cable, asking him, in the light of allegedly new material, to review an inquiry into the affair carried out by the department a decade ago.

Liquidators to DAIL have put ScottishPower on notice that they intend to ask the courts to set aside the 2004 settlement with the energy group, which saw it pay £6m to draw a line under the matter.

Meanwhile, liquidators to both DAIL and PPCL have sent reports on the affair to the Financial Conduct Authority and to criminal authorities. They claim that fraudulent misrepresentations may have been made before the 2004 ScottishPower settlement.

Liquidators to PPCL from the MacDonald Partnership have claimed in a letter to regulators: "When ScottishPower realised the cost of making cashback payments was spiralling out of control, it deliberately evaded its liability. As a result, it avoided the need to issue a profits warning, and consumers lost out."

ScottishPower points to the collapse of the high-street retailer Powerhouse as contributing to the failure to meet cashback promises to warranty holders. Powerhouse bought most of ScottishPower's stores in 2001, together with DAIL, the energy group's insurance subsidiary.

As part of the sale, ScottishPower gave a £75m indemnity against cashback claims on DAIL. Later, however, it argued that it had discovered an unintended flaw in the legal wording which meant this indemnity could not be called upon.

In a statement, ScottishPower said the main reason warranty holders were left out of pocket was "the unexpectedly large number of such claims made by customers … together with Powerhouse's collapse into administration".

The resurfacing scandal is likely to be particularly uncomfortable for David Nish, chief executive of Standard Life, who was ScottishPower deputy finance director at the time and played an important role in overseeing the setting up of a string of companies and contracts for the extended warranty offer.

Later promoted to group finance director, Nish signed off the 2003 accounts of ScottishPower in which shareholders were told: "The directors consider it extremely unlikely that there will be any material financial exposure [from the cashback indemnity]." This showed that the board did not expect to pay out on cashback claims.

Contacted by the Guardian, a spokesman for Nish declined to comment or answer questions. He said all inquiries should be directed to ScottishPower.

Sutcliffe said he and fellow MPs felt new evidence pointed to "an abuse of corporate power" which had left "many of our constituents worse off." He said: "While this was a while ago, there are still people in senior posts today who were responsible for this taking place."

ScottishPower rejects claims that the liquidators have discovered new information that could invalidated the 2004 settlement.

In a statement, it said: "We emphasise that the PowerPlan extended warranty scheme, which was one of a number of very similar extended warranty products offered by retailers across the industry, did not involved any wrongdoing by ScottishPower."

Walmart stays top of Fortune 500 list after posting nearly $500bn revenues

Walmart stayed in the top slot. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Walmart remained top of Fortune's annual list of 500 highest-earning US companies on Monday, nearing half a trillion dollars in annual revenue and netting $16bn.

The top 10 highest-earning companies were the same as last year, pulling in revenues worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but there was some notable reshuffling.

Apple, the highest-ranking tech company, moved into the fifth-place slot, with $170bn in annual revenue and $37bn in profits.

Berkshire Hathaway, the corporate conglomerate helmed by billionaire Warren Buffett, edged oil refining company Phillips 66 out of fourth place. The investment firm pulled in $182bn in annual revenue last year. Phillips 66 dropped to the sixth slot, with $161bn in annual revenue.

The Fortune 500 list includes US companies, public and private, filing financial statements with federal or state agencies. The list was conceived by Time editor Edgar Smith in 1955.

In 1994, the list was retooled to include "service" companies such as McDonald's and AT&T. Previously, it only included industrial companies.

Companies are ranked by annual revenue, a hierarchy that corporation communications and Dartmouth Tuck School professor Paul Argenti says is important but incomplete.

"You've got to take every list with a grain of salt. This one is very trasparent and obvious: it's just revenue, and revenue tells you part of the story about a company, but not all," he said.

"I guess a lot of people don't realize the size or the magnitude of organizastions," said Argenti, adding that for workers a more important list might be "best places to work or best reputation."

The magazine also produces a broader Fortune 1,000 list, ranking the 1,000 highest-earning companies in the US.

World Cup predictions: economists fear England's group of death

England team photo ahead of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. 'It will be tough for England to qualify from this group but, if they do, they should have a decent chance to at least reach the quarter finals,' say PwC. Photograph: Action Images / Pool Pic

The dismal science has taken another look at the beautiful game, with economists at PwC the latest to put out predictions on the World Cup.

By "analysing all the key variables", the consultancy has concludedEngland finds itself in a "group of death" and will have a tough fight to progress beyond the group stage in Brazil.

John Hawksworth, UK chief economist at PwC, comments: "Group D has the highest total combined score on our index and is therefore deemed to be the 'Group of Death'. This reflects the strong collective footballing tradition of Uruguay, England and Italy – three countries in the top 10 of the all-time World Cup table that between them have won seven of the previous 19 World Cups.

"It will be tough for England to qualify from this group but, if they do, they should have a decent chance to at least reach the quarter finals."

The report follows an analysis by Goldman Sachs last week that predicted host nation Brazil will beat Argentina 3-1 in the final of the 2014 World Cup, while England will not make it beyond the group stages.

Meanwhile, Prof Stephen Hawking has unveiled formulae on the optimal conditions for England success in Brazil.

The PwC World Cup Index ranks the team eighth in terms of relative prospects in the tournament. Brazil are top, followed by Germany, Argentina, Spain and Colombia.

The report considers factors such as historical performance, home advantage and the number of players available in a country. It predicts Germany, Argentina and Spain will push the favourite, Brazil.

"This suggests a relatively lower chance of success for Brazil than the 48.5% probability estimated in a recent Goldman Sachs report, which seems high given the strength of the opposition and the element of good fortune in any individual football match," it adds.

Turning to economics, the report finds few clues to footballing success in nations' prosperity.

"In the Olympics, our previous analysis showed that money can buy you success. But in the World Cup, we found little evidence of any such effect as middle income countries such as Brazil and Argentina can do at least as well as richer European nations like Germany, France and the UK," said Hawksworth.

"Footballing tradition is more important than GDP in driving World Cup success: in that sense, the beautiful game is a great leveller."

GlaxoSmithKline reaches deal with UK firm developing cancer treatments

A GlaxoSmithKline research centre in France. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

GlaxoSmithKline has struck a multimillion dollar deal with a British biotech firm to develop cutting-edge cancer treatments, after a new flurry of activity in the pharmaceutical sector.

Adaptimmune said that the deal could net it $350m (£209m) over seven years, as well as royalty payments on any products that get to market.

The Oxford-based firm, which develops cell therapies that help the body fight cancer, said trials in the US had shown encouraging results, while it was also poised to begin trials in Europe.

In April GSK agreed to sell its portfolio of cancer drugs to Novartis for $16bn, but left the door open to further oncology research.

GSK's tie-up with Adaptimmune comes as AstraZeneca announced promising results from early-stage trials of two ovarian cancer drugs.

When used in combination, olaparib and cediranib have been shown to stop the growth of tumours in women with the disease, AstraZeneca told investors at a oncology conference in Chicago at the weekend.

The drugs are among a number of promising treatments in the pipeline that the firm used to defend itself against an unwanted takeover by Pfizer, which was forced to drop its bid last week. As part of AstraZeneca's defence strategy its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, pledged a 75% increase in annual sales to $45bn (£27bn) by 2023, with the new cancer drugs playing a significant role in the forecasts.

Although the Pfizer bid failed, merger frenzy in the pharmaceutical sector continues, with reports that London-listed Shire is preparing a bid for NPS Pharmaceuticals, a US firm that has developed a breakthrough treatment for a debilitating bowel condition. The Times reported on Monday that Shire has lined up a $5bn credit facility from banks led by Citigroup to finance its takeover bid.

Shire, which is itself thought to be a target for acquisition, paid $4.2bn last year to acquire rare diseases specialist ViroPharma and its lucrative pipeline of products.

"We do not comment on rumour and speculation," said a spokesperson when asked about a bid for NPS Pharmaceuticals.

In a further sign of investor interest in life sciences, Imperial Innovations, an investment vehicle with a portfolio of 96 life science and technology firms, announced a fundraising drive to raise money for some of its most promising ventures.

The firm, which is listed on London's smaller AIM exchange, hopes to raise £150m from big institutional investors by the end of the month. Potential recipients of the funds include Veryan Medical, the third largest company in its portfolio, which grew out of a research project at Imperial College London.

Veryan has developed a stent – a metal mesh tube inserted in an artery – that mimics the natural swirl of the blood flow, which researchers have found improves outcomes for patients with circulation problems.

Another company to benefit from the fundraising drive will be PsiOxus, where researchers from Imperial College and the University of Oxford are developing treatments that use the body's immune system to destroy cancerous cells.

"We are investing more capital into companies we know well, where the technology has been de-risked somewhat," said Imperial Innovations' chief executive, Russell Cummings. Some of the funds will also be targeted at new companies, he added.

Imperial Innovations starts around four to six companies a year with its four partner universities – Imperial College London, Oxford, Cambridge, and University College London – but that number of startups could rise to eight.

Airlines accused of 'being embarrassed' of profits as earnings forecasts rise

The airline industry expects global profits to reach $18bn (£11bn) in 2014 – the highest ever in absolute terms. Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways' parent company,International Airlines Group, has accused airlines of "being embarrassed to make profits" and worrying that passengers would "bitch and moan" about high margins.

His comments came as the industry announced it expected global profits to reach $18bn (£11bn) in 2014. The figure is the highest ever in absolute terms and a steep rise on previous years despite persistently high fuel prices.

However, Tony Tyler, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said at its AGM in Doha that the headline figures masked a daily struggle for airlines to break even.

The IATA has shaved $700m off its forecast due to concerns about China, but profits are up from $10.6bn in 2013, and almost three times the 2012 figure, as total spending on air travel rose to $746bn.

But Tyler said: "The brutal economic reality is that on revenues of $746bn we will earn an average net margin of just 2.4%. That's less than $6 per passenger.

"Some airlines will do better. But even if you're smart or lucky enough to be one of those, every day is still a struggle to keep revenues ahead of costs."

Walsh said airlines had a problem. He said: "We should not be embarrassed by saying we are trying to generate much higher profits than we are. This is the problem with our industry. A 2.4% margin – people would laugh at you in other industries."

He said other sectors made margins of 30-50%. "People buy their products and don't bitch and moan about it.

"We as the providers of this service almost feel embarrassed to talk about profitability and some of the people that buy our product don't think we should be allowed to make a profit. It's madness and it has to finish.

"You get people who will pay tens of thousands for a car or fortunes for watches. You don't hear people say: 'What was the margin on the watch I just bought?'"

The rise in profits has come despite fuel costs and relatively slow growth. Brian Pearce, the IATA's chief economist, said: "It's remarkable that the industry is generating any profit at all."

Airline fortunes closely mirror world trade and business confidence, which had been growing, he said. "In the first quarter of the year there has been a faltering of that upturn. We think it will resume but it shows we are still in fragile conditions."

Fuel costs have spurred the industry to achieve an extra 1.9% efficiency this year, but most airline chief executives agreed that fuel – at nearly $110 for a barrel of oil – was a major barrier to profit.

Ivan Chu of Cathay Pacific said: "It's a major part of your costs and something you can't control and very volatile, and the last few years the price has been very high."

Walsh agreed: "The issue is volatility. In 2001 a barrel of oil was $21.47 and we were unprofitable as an industry. Last year it was 32% of our costs and we were profitable."

Employees have borne the brunt of much cost-cutting. At International Airlines Group, new contracts at BA and Iberia have sliced salaries and introduced tougher conditions for crew and pilots.

Andrés Conesa, the chief executive of Aeroméxico, said labour had dropped from 35% to 22% of his airline's costs.

The chief executive of Qatar Airways, Akbar al-Baker – who said his close relationship with Walsh would bring another joint venture between the two airlines, but did not elaborate – said airlines should not recognise unions. "They are a pain in the ass. Everybody agrees but a lot of them would be afraid to say that I'm right."

Walsh said: "We have to live with the fact that we've got a trade union but are as determined as ever to run our business efficiently."

Intense competition from low-cost carriers has seen air fares fall in real terms by 3.5% this year, with the number of passengers worldwide reaching 3.3 billion.

Planes are flying fuller than ever before but lower fares mean that a higher load factor – or percentage of occupied seats – is needed to break even.

Tyler said consolidation had played a part in making the sector viable although national controls on foreign ownership had prevented many possible mergers.

However, he said: "By creatively working together – through alliances, joint ventures, franchising and domestic consolidation – we are seeing some significant results."

Walsh said: "The joint venture is a poor substitute but it's the only way in certain markets."

He said that while International Airlines Group had been looking at other airlines, to consolidate further, there was "not an opportunity at the moment".

Tyler warned that there were "strong headwinds" from rising infrastructure costs and inefficiencies in air traffic management, as well as the industry's perennial complaints about a heavy tax burden and costly regulation.

US airlines are making sustained recoveries after a wave of bankruptcies and consolidation. But David Barger, the chief executive of the US low-cost carrier JetBlue, said profits were going more to airports and financiers than airlines. "We're in the wrong part of the food chain."

Margins for airlines in Europe will be about half the global average, at 1.3%. But as Pearce pointed out, in the precarious world of airlines the average profit margin for the last 20 years is zero.

Tougher oversight of foreign exchange market expected to be unveiled

George Osborne's speech this year in front of London's financial community comes as investigations into claims of rigging of foreign exchange market. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

The chancellor, George Osborne, is expected to announce measures to increase oversight of the £3tn-a-day foreign exchange market as investigations continue into the latest allegations of benchmark-fixing in the City.

Osborne could unveil the changes on 12 June in his Mansion House speech, an annual set piece in front of London's financial community, where he will appear alongside the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney. Both men have stated their desire to clean up Britain's banking industry.

Under the proposals manipulation of the foreign exchange market could be subjected to the same, toughened regime as for Libor. The government acted last year to bring setting of the Libor interest rate within the remit of statutory regulation for the first time, making attempted manipulation of the benchmarker a criminal offence.

A Treasury spokesman declined to comment on the details or exact timing of any announcement by Osborne, which was first reported by the BBC. The spokesman said the Treasury was keen to influence new international rules on benchmarks for financial instruments.

"Ensuring confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of financial markets is central … which is why we've taken action to reform Libor, and why we're now using the lessons we have learned here to inform and shape the important ongoing global debate on benchmark reform," he said.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global body chaired by Carney, is expected to report next month on how to improve currency fixings. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority is conducting an investigation into the foreign exchange market, with the US department of justice also launching an inquiry.

Last week Carney said he wanted the FSB to recommend changes that would affect how markets set benchmarks such as Libor and foreign exchange fixings.

"Merely prosecuting the guilty to the full extent of the law will not be sufficient to address the issues raised. Authorities and market participants must also act to recreate fair and effective markets," he said in a speech.

In March the Bank of England suspended a member of staff in connection with its review of the foreign exchange market and launched a formal inquiry into whether its staff knew about potential market rigging.

Speaking to MPs the same month, Carney said the Bank was "ruthlessly and relentlessly" investigating what had happened in foreign exchange markets.

He said the alleged rigging could become a worse scandal than Libor, telling MPs: "This is as serious as Libor, if not more so, because this goes to the heart of integrity of markets. We cannot come out of this with a shadow of doubt about the integrity of the Bank of England."