Retail spending falls in August after strong July

Spending fell back in August after a surprise hike in July, according to the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday.

Hot weather kept customers off the high street last month, causing spending to fall 0.3 percent on August 2015. This is a sharp fall from July’s 1.9 percent spike.

The figure was the weakest in two years, but the BRC were quick to highlight that it was unlikely to be linked to Brexit.

Redrow shares up on strong profits

Welsh housebuilder Redrow reported strong figures on Tuesday, with pre-tax profits up 23 percent to £250 million.

Sales were “very encouraging” over 2016, despite a warning from Chairman Steve Morgan last year that more expensive regulations might make housebuilding harder.

Shares in Redrow are up 7.47 percent at 413.00 (1005GMT).

Payday loan complaints triple

Complaints over payday loan companies have risen sharply in 2016, more than tripling compared with the last six months of 2015.

A total of 4,186 complaints were made about pay day loan companies in the first six months of the year, with 53% of these being upheld by the Financial Ombudsmen.

However these issues continue to be dwarfed by PPI complaints, which accounted for 54% of claims considered by the ombudsman.

169,132 new cases in total reached the ombudsman in the first half of the year.

06/09/2016