Tourism: Storm-Hit Dorset Gets Easter Boost

By David Crabtree, Sky News Correspondent

Early indications suggest the storm battered south-west coast has enjoyed a much-needed boost in tourism over the Easter weekend.

The area was hard hit in the worst winter on record and business owners reported that in places trade was down by as much as a third.

But good weather in this holiday period has brought the tourists back in great numbers and, once the figures are in, tourism bosses hope they will show the region is back on track.

In Lyme Regis, bed and breakfast accommodation and most of the local hotels were full and the beaches busy.

David Tucker, who runs the Lyme Regis Museum, said footfall was clearly down in the early part of the year but he expected the area to recover quickly.

"The images of Lyme Regis and elsewhere being battered and damaged by the storms are bound to have a lasting effect on people," he said.

Waves batter Lyme Regis in December

"All we can say is that everything is back to normal and this is a beautiful place to come and visit."

Mark Callaghan, who owns The Terrace cafe and shop in Lyme Regis, said: "We are economy-driven as well as weather-driven here and we are constantly at the mercy of both.

"People who a couple of months ago may have tried and failed to get here because of the weather are certainly coming back. It might be a gradual process.

"We have had to expand our online business so we can keep going forward."

The Environment Agency announced today that it has repaired 350 flood defences, including the sea defences at Weymouth and the dune system on the Lincolnshire coast.

The Government says the Environment Agency has been provided with an extra £270m to maintain the defences.

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Refund For Android Virus App That Did Nothing

Google will refund every Android user who downloaded a bogus virus scanning app which did nothing.

The scanner was nothing more than an icon that changed shape when a user tapped it, but briefly topped the charts in the Google Play store.

Google is now giving refunds to people who bought the app, and offering a $5 (£2.97) Google Play store credit.

Android app directory AppBrian.com estimated the total number of downloads hit 30,000.

This means the move by Google will cost around $270,000 (£160,000).

Google sent a message to customers who had bought the app, saying: "This app made the false claim that it provided one-click virus protection; in reality, it did not.

"Google Play's policies strictly prohibit false claims like these, and in light of this, we're refunding you for your Virus Shield purchase."

The app's creators insisted they never meant to scam customers, saying the wrong version of its app was uploaded to Google's store by mistake.

The app was advertised as ad-free one-click protection from malware.

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David Moyes Sacked: Man Utd Shares Rise

David Moyes has been sacked as Manchester United manager, with Ryan Giggs taking over until the end of the season.

A statement on the club's website said: "Manchester United has announced that David Moyes has left the club.

Manchester United veteran Giggs will take the reins for the remaining games

"The club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role."

Shortly after, it released another statement, saying: "Ryan Giggs, the club's most decorated player, will assume responsibility for the first team until a permanent appointment can be made."

Moyes was informed of the decision to let him go this morning at the club's Carrington training ground, said Sky's Paul Kelso.

Chief executive Ed Woodward is said to have told Moyes the news face to face.

Manchester United shares rose 7% on the New York Stock Exchange during the first few hours of trading today.

Speculation over the sacking started yesterday, after United's 2-0 weekend defeat to Moyes' former club Everton.

Van Gaal (L) and Jurgen Klopp are among favourites to take over

The result left the champions in seventh place and made it impossible for them to qualify for next season's Champions League for the first time since 1995.

The team has lost 11 times this season, six at home, and also endured defeats to bitter rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.

There has reportedly been discontent among some of the club's top players during Moyes' time at Old Trafford.

Moyes' tenure fell well short of fans' early expectations

Moyes was handpicked by Sir Alex Ferguson after 11 years at Everton where he guided the team to five top-six finishes.

The 50-year-old signed a six-year contract but is now set for a pay-off of around £4m - a year's salary - after less than a year in charge.

Former Manchester United star Gary Neville - whose brother Phil was part of Moyes' backroom staff - told Sky he thought the manager should have been given more time, but admitted the club's form had taken a nose dive.

"The results have been poor," said Neville.

"As a fan, I haven't enjoyed watching it.

Nail in the coffin? Moyes' team lost 2-0 at Everton on Sunday

"The performances have got worse and worse. There was a little bit of a pick-me-up at Christmas where you thought there might be a little bit of a run.

"But in the last month or two the performances have deteriorated - Olympiakos, Liverpool and the Everton one were particular low points."

Dwight Yorke, part of United's 1999 treble winning side, also told Sky Sports that Moyes had been a "huge disappointment".

Ex-England striker Gary Lineker posted on Twitter: "Wish David Moyes all the very best. He's a good man and a good manager, just not the right fit for Manchester United."

Favourites to replace the Scot include Louis van Gaal, manager of the Dutch national side, and Borussia Dortmund's Jurgen Klopp.

Diego Simeone is also in the frame after a successful season at Athletico Madrid.

But it is Old Trafford legend Giggs who will look to steady the ship for the remaining four games of the season.

The club's American owners, the Glazer family, are thought to be ready to bankroll a summer spending spree of £150m or more as the club pushes for a swift return to the top of the game.

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Best Of British Gear Up For China Car Show

Western Firms Need To Heed China Potential

Updated: 8:33am UK, Tuesday 14 January 2014

By Roland Boal, Designer, Priestmangoode

Western companies need to pay a lot more attention to what is happening in China and Britain's presence here is more limited than it could be.

There is a lot more potential here than is being tapped because Britain's creative industries are extremely well regarded in China.

There is a hunger for new and exciting things. China is moving really fast and moving forward.

There is a certain sense of excitement among people and I think they want products that reflect that; whether it is a train or a plane.

If it is a high-speed train, then make it look really fast.

For us, that is liberating, it is nice to be able to let your imagination run more freely.

In terms of design work, there is no sense of "that will be too difficult to make" or "that will be uneconomical to make" - within reason.

Quality control can sometimes be an issue, but like with any manufacturing facility anywhere in the world, as long as it is subject to the right level of on-going scrutiny and support I do not think that should be a problem.

Apple's products are an obvious example of beautifully-made things that are made here in China.

I get very upset when I hear things like "of course it broke, it was made in China" or "I don't buy that company's products because they're made in China", I think there is such an out-of-date attitude towards the capability of manufacturing in China.

I think we really do need to re-evaluate how we perceive manufacturing in China.

Yes, you can get low-quality products but manufacturing is, by definition, a supply activity so they are not creating the demand for low-quality low-cost electronics, they are fulfilling our demand for the instant gratification of, say, a $300 television.

Undeniably, there are examples of unscrupulous manufacturers ripping off products and knowing exactly what they are doing, but I think those are the exceptions rather than the rule.

I think we get a little bit obsessed by the idea of fake products in China and blatant rip-offs.

But nobody who could afford the original, particularly in China, would be seen dead with it.

I have come across no examples of dishonesty or seen anybody behave poorly. I think China recognises the importance, particularly internationally, of addressing this negative stigma attached to corruption.

There are plenty of markets yet to be exploited in China. We are looking at an explosion in the popularity of private jets and helicopters.

At the moment I think there are fewer than 500 private aircraft in all of China because you were not really allowed to fly them.

Now that you are, people will buy them and they will buy a combination of Chinese products and internationally-designed helicopters.

China is such a huge country, they have an enormous amount of experience manufacturing products for domestic consumption, it seems to have taken them a little while to start looking internationally.

As they do so, they are looking for products designed for international consumption.

So as Chinese airframe manufacturers are selling more products in Africa and South America, if those have been made in China, great, and designed in Britain, also great. Everyone wins.

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Pipeline Closed Down After 'Major Fuel Theft'

An underground pipeline has been shut down because thieves are suspected of tapping into it and stealing a "large quantity" of diesel.

The line, which transports fuel from Esso's Fawley oil refinery in Hampshire to its terminal in Birmingham, was closed for checks.

The shutdown came after diesel was discovered in an industrial storage unit in West Wellow, also in Hampshire, on Thursday evening.

The exact amount of fuel found has not been confirmed, but police said it was a "large quantity" that was believed to have been illegally obtained.

Two men aged 32 and 34 from the Salisbury area have been detained by Hampshire police on suspicion of conspiracy to steal fuel.

The Fawley refinery serves several terminals including Birmingham

An Esso statement said: "Early indications suggest that the fuel may have come from a nearby Esso pipeline."

It is not known when the pipeline will re-open but a company spokesman said Esso did not expect its retail customers to be affected.

The fuel was found in a storage unit by the owner.

Police said: "The exact quantity and circumstances surrounding the accumulation of fuel are central to the investigation, and detectives are focusing on identifying those responsible.

"The fuel is stored safely and securely and is being retrieved by engineers from the nearby Esso refinery."

The Birmingham terminal is one of several Esso terminals supplied from Fawley.

The others include Purfleet, Avonmouth and the West London Terminal, none of which is fed by the affected pipeline.

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GSK In £8.5bn Deal With Swiss Rival Novartis

British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to sell its oncology business to Novartis for $14.5bn (£8.5bn) and will buy the Swiss company's vaccines division.

Novartis is expected to pay another $1.5bn (£900m) if certain milestones on the deal are met.

Under a "major three-part transaction" GSK and Novartis have agreed also to create a consumer healthcare business, GSK confirmed in a statement.

GSK will own 63.5% of the newly-created consumer healthcare business.

The British firm said it would use proceeds from the deals to return £4bn to its shareholders.

Shares in the company were up more than 4% in midday Tuesday trades.

GSK chief executive Sir Andrew Witty said the deals are expected to be completed during the first half of 2015.

He said they would accelerates the firm's "strategy to generate sustainable, broadly sourced sales growth and improve long-term earnings".

Novartis confirmed it signed several multi-billion dollar deals with GlaxoSmithKline and US company Eli Lilly, which may affect up some 15,000 of its employees.

It will sell the vaccines business to GSK, excluding its flu sector, for $7.1bn (£4.2bn), plus royalties.

Eli Lilly will buy the Basel-based firm's animal health division for about $5.4bn (£3.2bn)

No details have been released on the potential impact of the deal on jobs for the Brentford-based GSK.

Sir Andrew added: "Opportunities to build greater scale and combine high quality assets in vaccines and consumer healthcare are scarce.

"With this transaction we will substantially strengthen two of our core businesses and create significant new options to increase value for shareholders."

Meanwhile, US pharma giant Pfizer may renew its bid for British drug company AstraZeneca, after its reported £60bn takeover approach was rejected.

AstraZeneca topped the FTSE 100 top risers on Tuesday morning, up more than 7% on the potential deal before easing slightly.

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Harley-Davidson Revs Up Quarterly Revenue

America's iconic Harley-Davidson's has seen its first-quarter earnings rise 18.7% amid a surge in motorcycle ownership and greater factory efficiency.

The Milwaukee-based company said global sales of new motorcycles grew 5.8% in the first three months of the year as buyers snapped up its new models.

Its profit result beat Wall Street estimates, with shares rising more than 7% in premarket trading.

Harley-Davidson posted net income of $265.9m (£160m), up from $224.1m (£133m) a year ago.

The company, which has developed a huge industry in bolt-on accessories and merchandise, saw strong growth in both areas.

Motorcycle and related product revenues were up 11% to $1.57bn (£932m).

The company's overall revenue, which includes financial services, was up $160m, to $1.73bn (£1.02bn).

Bike sales grew 3% in the US to 35,730 during the quarter despite a long, cold winter, but international sales, especially in Asia, helped the results.

Harley said Asia-Pacific motorcycle sales were up more than 20% to 7,178 for the quarter.

While in Europe, Middle East and Africa sales were up 8% to 9,940. They rose 9% in Latin America to 2,558.

But industry watchers are now seeing how the latest model announcement will fare in future results, with the release of its first all-new model in more than 13 years.

The 'Street' is small and priced below most traditional Harleys and is being offered in 500cc and 750cc versions for young urban riders.

It is being built in the US, and in India for the non-North American market, and has a non-traditional 60-degree water-cooled V-twin engine.

Grumbles from mainstream buyers have been heard, who believe it undermines the brand's heritage and therefore potential resale values.

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Smartphones 'Too Slow' For London Transport

The use of smartphones for contactless payments on London's transport network will not be allowed until transaction speeds are dramatically increased.

Transport for London (TfL) has modified its reader technology, however pilot programmes have shown the time taken for smartphones to process payments is still too long.

Instead, contactless card systems issued by high street lenders remain as the priority technological advancement ahead of a potential phase-out of the existing Oyster card system.

Contactless payments have been used on buses since December 2012, with more than 11.5 million journeys paid using the system.

TfL is expected to roll out the system to include the Underground, tram, Docklands Light Rail, Overground and National Rail services in the capital before Christmas 2014.

More than four out of five mobiles now sold in Britain are smartphones

Smartphone use is expected to follow as they make up more than 86% of mobiles now sold in Britain, according to research group Kantar Worldpanel.

Oyster and contactless cards complete transactions within a second but smartphone comparative speed tests cause delays at ticket barriers.

In a statement to Sky News, TfL director of customer experience Shashi Verma said: "We are continuing to modernise all our transport services to make it easier for customers to do business with us.

"The upgrade to our readers to accept contactless payment cards also makes them capable of accepting suitable payment applications on mobile phones.

"In principle, mobile phones with a Visa, Mastercard or Amex payment application could be accepted on our services.

High street-issued contactless cards are being rolled out for use

"At this stage, mobile phones with pre-paid cards will not be accepted. We are testing to see how the devices perform on the system and welcome any innovations which improve the services and choices we are able to offer customers."

Several phone operators have already developed bespoke payment systems, however they must meet TfL's technical requirements.

The Underground currently handles around 3.5 million passenger journeys a day.

More than 2 billion journeys are made on buses annually and Oyster cards are used for at least 85% of the trips.

But Oyster and contactless payments are not without their own potential problems.

TfL has warned passengers about the risk of "card clash" when tapping in and out of their yellow card readers and barriers, if several cards are in a wallet or purse.

The card readers may reject the attempt, or take a payment from another card - with customers charged for two maximum fares.

TfL advised: "This could happen because the yellow card reader reads one card when you touch in at the start of your journey and a different card at the end when you touch out."

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Strike Trips Up Largest Sport Shoe Factory

A workers' strike at the world's largest sports shoes manufacturer has entered its second week, hampering production for global brands such as Nike and Adidas.

Employees at Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Ltd's massive factory in southern China have failed to agree to labour terms with the company.

The complex employees more than 40,000 people and has been hit by stop-start strikes.

The dispute stems from underpayments for social security and housing fund payments, which are required by local law.

The dispute has now become one of the largest strikes in China's huge private sector.

Low-cost manufacturers face rising labour activism as a shortage of migrant workers, who remain legally domiciled in their home districts, putting upward pressure of costs.

Tens of thousands of workers remained off work on Tuesday, according to labour groups, after rejecting the company's latest offer.

The offer included making up back payments for social security and housing, full contributions for those benefits starting May 1 and a £22 monthly allowance.

"We'll pay what is in the regulations, there should not be any concern on that," Yue Yuen spokesman George Liu said.

Meanwhile the workers at the Dongguan plant have demanded a 30% pay raise and a new commitment to future contributions.

They also say it's unfair that workers would be required to make up their share of missed contributions from the past. And they want their own representatives to negotiate with management.

Another, smaller Yue Yuen plant in Jiangxi province was hit by a brief strike on Monday that also centered on social security payments but for the opposite reason.

Mr Liu said workers slowed production because they didn't want to make full payments, which would leave them with less take-home pay.

The strikes come as an executive for global shoe brand Nike admitted the huge pressure on increasing margins led the company into Bangladesh for clothing, ahead of a factory collapse last April in Dhaka that claimed more than 1,100 lives.

Nike chief operating officer Eric Sprunk said: "Our competitors were moving fast into Bangladesh and the pressure was getting bigger and bigger.

"We needed a strong point of view to say, 'Are we going to increase our source base there or not?'"

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Barclays Pay Plans Receive Mixed City Verdict

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Barclays will this week suffer a sizeable City rebellion over its decision to hike bonuses last year while simultaneously receiving overwhelming shareholder backing for its future pay plans.

Sky News has learnt that more than 90% of investors who have cast their votes in advance of this week's annual meeting are supporting the bank's plans to pay up to twice the level of employees' salaries as bonuses under new European Union rules.

The scale of investor support for that resolution is important because it will be followed by votes at the AGMs of the other major UK banks in the coming weeks.

Insiders say that a similar result is expected on a resolution setting out Barclays' future executive pay policies, in what will represent the first major test of a binding vote introduced by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary.

At Barclays, the binding vote encompasses new role-based allowances being handed to hundreds of Barclays' top managers, in effect enabling them to be paid higher bonuses.

However, insiders said that roughly one-quarter of shareholder votes cast so far had opposed last year's directors' remuneration report, the ballot for which is non-binding.

Mr Cable has written to the remuneration committee chairs of FTSE 100 companies to warn them that there are "signs that some companies continue to consider pay awards which appear excessive in light of recent performance".

An aide to the Business Secretary said the timing of his letter was designed to coincide with the Barclays AGM.

Barclays has sought to appease restive investors by recruiting a new chairman for its board pay committee, replacing Sir John Sunderland.

One insider said on Tuesday that Sir John's re-election had also received comprehensive support, with Thursday's AGM expected to show that he had been backed by more than 90% of shareholders.

A number of institutional investors, including Fidelity, have criticised pay at Barclays in recent weeks after the bank increased its bonus pool by 10% to £2.4bn despite a slide in profits.

However, Richard Buxton, one of the City's top fund managers, who oversees billions of pounds at Old Mutual Global Investors and is a long-standing Barclays shareholder, told Sky News he was supportive of Antony Jenkins, the bank's chief executive.

"Our focus is on the progress being made to improve returns, notably within the investment bank," he said.

"We are confident that much more will be achieved here, which will feed through to lower costs and lower compensation over time, albeit in an uneven fashion."

He added that Barclays had made "significant progress on compensation" in 2012 but had had to "give a bit back last year" in a more competitive market. 

"I'm confident that after further work on costs this year, the three-year average 2012-2014 numbers will show material moves in the right direction. 

"The bank knows it has to improve the staff-to-shareholder reward ratio - but this is a multi-year journey."

Barclays, which will outline further cost-cutting plans at its investment bank on May 8, declined to comment ahead of its AGM.

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