Section:GDN 1N PaGe:37 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 20:28 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
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FTSE 100 All share Dow Indl Nikkei 225 £/€ £/$
1.2221-0.0024 -0.0055Longest decline for carmakers since
2001 as output for July drops by 10%
Jasper JollyThe car industry has witnessed its
worst period of decline since 2001,
as global trade tensions and Brexit
uncertainty provide a dire operating
environment for manufacturers.
Production was down more than
10% year on year in July, and has fallen
for 14 consecutive months , according
to the latest fi gures from the Society
of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
The decline is now longer than the
13-month downturn between Octo-
ber 2008 and October 2009, during the
global fi nancial crisis.
Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief
executive, described the continued
decline as a “serious concern”.
The fall has come amid an unprec-
edented array of challenges for thesector. Diesel sales slumped after
emissions scandals, and the trade war
between the US and China has added
to fears of a global growth slowdown.
Brexit uncertainty has meant that
investment in factories has stalled,
and carmakers worldwide are scram-
bling to fi nd money to make signifi cant
investments to electrify their ranges.
“It’s a very gloomy time in the UK
car industry,” said David Bailey, a pro-
fessor of business economics at the
University of Birmingham. “It’s clearly
a negative performance in export mar-
kets, which is a big worry because we
expected the devaluation of sterling
to boost exports.”
Manufacturing output was down
by 10.6% in July, to 108,239 cars ,
the SMMT said. British car factories,
which make vehicles for manufac-
turers including Jaguar Land Rover,
Nissan and Mini , produced 774,760cars in the fi rst seven months of the
year – almost a fi fth lower than the
same time last year.
Hawes said: “The sector is over-
whelmingly reliant on exports and
the global headwinds are strong, with
escalating trade tensions, softeningdemand and signifi cant technologi-
cal change.”
The weak production has come
before any possible disruption to oper-
ations at the beginning of November
if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Economists deem a no-deal Brexit
increasingly likely following the prime
minister’s decision to prorogue parlia-
ment for fi ve weeks, making it harder
for MPs to block a no-deal Brexit. If
there is no deal, parts and fi nished
vehicles could be delayed at the bor-
der by new checks. Carmakers also fear
the imposition of tariff s as high as 10%.
Car industry executives believe that
a no-deal Brexit would be damaging
for the sector. PSA Group, the owner
of brands including Peugeot and Cit-
roën, warned in June that it would
build its new Vauxhall Astra in the
UK, at Ellesmere Port, only if the gov-
ernment secures a good Brexit deal.Pizza Express
sees profi ts
fall as Franco
Manca grabs
a bigger slice
of the market
Sean FarrellPizza Express was dealt another blow
from the downturn in casual dining in
the fi rst half of the year while its newer
rival Franco Manca hit the spot as its
menu of sourdough pizzas, green cola
and vegan cheese appealed to chang-
ing consumer appetites.
The contrasting fortunes were
underlined as Pizza Express reported
falling profi ts and restaurant openings
on hold, while Franco Manca attracted
more customers and took advantage
of falling rents to open more branches.
Pizza Express said underlying prof-
its fell 7.7% to £32.4m in the six months
to the end of June. The chain opened
two new branches over the period and
said the focus would be on improving
existing sites and revamping its menu.
Pizza Express’s chief executive,
Jinlong Wang , said: “We are taking a
measured approach to growing our
business in the UK and Ireland ... We
are now planning to focus our capital
investment on upgrading our existing
estate rather than adding more sites.”
Pizza Express opened its firstrestaurant in 1965 and expanded in
the 1990s to become a mainstay for
families eating on a budget. The chain
was bought by Hony Capital, a Chinese
private equity fi rm, in 2014 when cas-
ual dining was booming in the UK.
The market for casual dining has
struggled since 2016 after becom-
ing overcrowded with chains that
expanded too quickly. Rising rents,
wages and ingredient costs squeezed
margins , especially in the saturated
Italian-themed market. Jamie Oliver’s
Italian chain closed in May and Prezzo
and Strada have closed branches.
Franco Manca, founded in 2008 in
south London, has expanded whileother chains struggled. Its owner, the
Fulham Shore, said the fi ve restaurants
opened in the fi rst 21 weeks of its fi nan-
cial year were trading well and it was
in talks to add more branches.
“At Franco Manca, increased rev-
enue is being driven by restaurant
openings and increased customer
numbers,” said the Fulham Shore’s
chairman, David Pag e.
“We continue to see more prop-
erties coming to the market at ever
lower rents ... and will continue to
take advantage.”
Page was Pizza Express’s boss
before it was sold in 2003. The Fulham
Shore also owns the Real Greek chain.▲ Franco Manca
is expanding: this
branch opened in
Greenwich, south
London, in AprilDeadline tonight
for consumers
to submit claims
on mis-sold PPI
Rupert JonesUK consumers have just hours left
to submit a complaint about pay-
ment protection insurance (PPI)
before they lose their chance to claim
compensation.
The fi nal deadline for submitting
a complaint is 11.59pm today. The
Financial Conduct Authority said:
“This is the fi nal chance for consum-
ers to think about whether they had
PPI and submit a complaint directly to
any providers right away. There’s still
time to act if you do it now.”
Many of the biggest claims manage-
ment companies have already stopped
accepting PPI claims in case they could
not get them registered with the lend-
ers before the deadline. Consumers
who miss the cut-off will not be able
to claim money back for PPI.
PPI is Britain’s costliest ever con-
sumer scandal , with £36bn paid out
so far by UK banks to compensate
people who bought often-worthless
insurance cover thinking it would help
them repay debts in the event of sick-
ness or unemployment.
As many as 64m PPI policies were
sold in the UK, but very often the cover
was mis-sold. Banks and other fi nan-
cial institutions pushed the policies
alongside mortgages and credit cards.
Latest fi gures show 5.4m people
have accessed the FCA’s website.One of Franco Manca’s
pizzas: the vegan specialSource: SMMTCar production fell for a 14th
consecutive month in July
Per cent1.3m1.4m1.5m1.6m1.7m1.8m2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019Of the six carmakers who produced
more than 10,000 cars in the UK last
year, only Mini increased production.
With Honda announcing in Febru-
ary the closure of its Swindon factory,
which produces the Civic , the loss of
Ellesmere Port would mean the UK
losing almost 16% of its manufacturing
capacity in the space of little over six
months.
Nissan has also withdrawn produc-
tion of its Infi niti cars from Sunderland
this year, and has backtracked on a
previous commitment to build a new
X-Trail model there.
Honda’s factory closure announce-
ment will mean the end of about 7,000
car industry jobs, while a further 1,100
jobs are in the balance at the Ellesmere
Port site.
Car industry workers whose jobs are
under threat will be among a delega-
tion scheduled to meet Michael Gove
today. Gove is the minister in charge
of government planning for no deal.
The Unite union said it would press
Gove on providing clarity for car-
makers who rely on “just-in-time”
deliveries of parts to allow continuous
production, and ask what assurances
the government could off er to the for-
eign companies on which British car
manufacturing relies.RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws