Money latest: The 'German classic' that's a healthier and cheaper alternative to crisps (2024)

Sky News has learnt the owner of Superdry's flagship store is weighing up a legal challenge to a rescue plan launched by the struggling fashion retailer.

M&G, the London-listed asset manager, has engaged lawyers from Hogan Lovells to scrutinise the restructuring plan.

The move by M&G, which owns the fashion retailer's 32,000 square foot Oxford Street store, will not necessarily result in a formal legal challenge - but sources say it's possible.

Read City editor Mark Kleinman's storyhere...

NatWest says its mortgage lending nearly halved at the start of the year as it retreated from parts of the market when competition among lenders stepped up.

New mortgage lending totalled £5.2bn in the first three months of 2024, the banking group has revealed, down from £9.9bn the previous year.

The group, which includes Royal Bank of Scotland and Coutts, also reported an operating pre-tax profit of £1.3bn for the first quarter, down 27% from £1.8bn the previous year.

An unexplained flow of British luxury cars into states neighbouring Russia continued into February, new data shows.

About £26m worth of British cars were exported to Azerbaijan, making the former Soviet countrythe 17th biggest destination for UK cars - bigger than long-established export markets such as Ireland, Portugal and Qatar.

Azerbaijan's ascent has coincided almost to the month with the imposition of sanctions on the export of cars to Russia.

Read the rest of economics and data editor Ed Conway's analysishere...

Rishi Sunak has hailed the arrival of pay day with a reminder his government's additional National Insurance tax cut kicks in this month for the first time.

At last month's budget, the chancellor announced NI will be cut by a further 2p - so some workers will pay 8% of their earnings instead of the 12% if was before autumn.

The prime minister has repeated his claim this will be worth £900 for someone on the average UK salary.

While this additional cut - on top of the previous 2p cut in January - does equate to £900 for those on average full-time earnings of £35,000, there are two key issues with Mr Sunak's claim:

• Once the effect of all income tax changes since 2021 are taken into account, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reports an average earner will benefit from a tax cut of £340 - far less than £900;

• Moreover, anyone earning less than £26,000 or between £55,000-£131,000 will ultimately be worse off.

In short, this is because NI cuts are more than offset by other tax rises.

We explain below how this is the case...

Tax thresholds

This is partly down to tax thresholds - the amount you are allowed to earn before you start paying tax (and national insurance) and before you start paying the higher rate of tax - will remain frozen.

This means people end up paying more tax than they otherwise would, when their pay rises with inflation but the thresholds don't keep up.

This phenomenon is known as "fiscal drag" and it's often called a stealth tax because it's not as noticeable immediately in your pay packet.

That low threshold of £12,570 has been in place since April 2021.

The Office for Budget Responsibility says if it had increased with inflation it would be set at £15,220 for 2024/25.

If that were the case, workers could earn an extra £2,650 tax-free each year.

Less give, more take

Sky News analysis shows someone on £16,000 a year will pay £607 more in total - equivalent to more than three months of average household spending on food.

Their income level means national insurance savings are limited but they are paying 20% in income tax on an additional £2,650 of earnings.

In its analysis, the IFS states: "In aggregate the NICs cuts just serve to give back a portion of the money that is being taken away through other income tax and NICs changes - in particular, multi-year freezes to tax thresholds at a time of high inflation."

Overall, according to the institute, for every £1 given back to workers by the National Insurance cuts, £1.30 will have been taken away due to threshold changes between 2021 and 2024.

This rises to £1.90 in 2027.

The UK could face a shortage of cava due to a drought in the sparkling wine's Spanish heartlands.

The Penedes area of Catalonia is dealing with its worst drought on record, with vineyards across the region so parched the roots of 30-year-old vines have died.

It's left shrivelled red and green grapes languishing under intense sun, fuelled by fossil-fuel driven climate change.

Cava is an increasingly popular drink in the UK, with 17.8 million bottles sold in 2023 - an increase of 5% from the previous year, when Britons stocked up on 16.8 million bottles, according to the Cava Regulatory Board.

That makes the UK the fourth-biggest buyer, behind only the US, Belgium and Germany.

Workforce slashed

The problems have been compounded after Catalonia-based cava producer Freixenet announced it will temporarily lay off 615 workers, almost 80% of its workforce.

Under Spanish law, companies facing exceptional circ*mstances can lay off staff or reduce working hours.

This measure is expected to take effect from May and it is not known how long it will last.

Price rises

One industry source told retail publication The Grocerthat cava shortages would push up prices "certainly for next year" if there isn't enough supply.

This could last for years if the drought persists, they added.

Consumer expert Helen Dewdney told MailOnline the staff cuts at Freixenet can only mean one thing - price rises.

However, she added, supermarkets say they are not experiencing any issues right now.

Parents are being hammered by rising childcare costs, according to a new study that suggests they may spend more than £160,000 raising their child to the age of 18.

Research by Hargreaves Lansdown has found that parents with children pay £6,969 a year more than couples without.

Over 18 years and assuming an annual inflation rate of 3%, that amounts to a whopping £163,175, the investment platform said.

Its study also found that parents were less likely to have money left at the end of the month.

Single parents carry the biggest burden, with the research suggesting they have just £85 left on average compared to £365 for couples with children.

Hargreaves Lansdown also found just 23% of single parents reported having enough emergency savings to cover at least three months' worth of essential expenses, compared to 63% of couples with children.

Parents are also at a slight disadvantage when it comes to pensions, the research found, with only 43% of couples with children on track for a moderate retirement income, compared to 47% without. Only 17% of single parents have a decent projected pension fund.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at the firm, said "having children is one of the most expensive decisions a person can make".

She adds that as a result of having a child, "financial resilience suffers across the board", and added: "For single parents, life is even tougher, and they face far lower resilience on almost every measure.

"It means we need all the help we can get."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

One of the top stories shaking up the markets this morning is that UK-based mining company Anglo American has rejected a major $38.8bn (£31bn) takeover bid.

Details of the attempted buyout by Australian rival BHP emerged yesterday- sending Anglo American shares soaring.

The deal would have created the world's biggest copper mining company - with the news coming as the price of the metal hit record highs this week.

However, Anglo American has now dismissed the proposal as "opportunistic" and said BHP had undervalued the company.

Anglo's shares are slightly down by 0.8% this morning - suggesting investors may not have given up hopes that a deal could eventually be agreed.

However, overall the FTSE 100 is up around 0.4% this morning, buoyed by strong reported earnings from US tech giants Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet.

It's helped the index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, hit yet another intraday (during the day) record of 8,136 points this morning.

The winning streak comes after a week of all-time highs on the index - including a record close of 8,078 points yesterday. The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

Among the companies doing well this morning is NatWest - despite the bank reporting a fall in pre-tax profits of nearly 28% for the first quarter of the year.

Shares in the lender are up more than 3% after its results were better than expected by analysts.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16, almost on a par with yesterday.

Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil has crept up slightly to $89 (£71).

Self-checkouts - they're like marmite, people seem to either love them or hate them.

But the boss of Sainsbury's has claimed that his customers doenjoy using self-checkouts, despite criticism that that machines don't always provide the convenience promised.

Simon Roberts told The Telegraph that there are more of them in Sainsbury's stores "than a number of years ago" as shoppers like the "speedy checkout".

But despite this, he said there won't be a time when they'll replace cashiers completely.

"Over the last year, where we've put more self-checkouts in, we're always making sure that the traditional kind of belted checkout is there," he said.

His comments come after northern supermarket Booths ditched self-checkouts at all but two of its sites after customer feedback.

Walmart and Costco in the US have also scaled back on the systems.

Let us know in the comments - do you love or hate self-checkouts?

We've all heard consumer advice that's repeated so often it almost becomes cliché. So, every Friday the Money team will get to the bottom of a different "fact" and decide whether it's a myth or must.

This week it is...

'Smart meters save you money'

For this one, we've enlisted the help of Dr Steve Buckley, also known as the Energy Doctor and head of data science at Loop...

So do smart meters help you save?

"The short answer is both yes and no," Steve says.

"Installing a smart meter by itself won't magically reduce your energy consumption. But, by giving you easy access to your energy usage data, smart meters pave the way for savings that you couldn't achieve otherwise."

Before smart meters, most households only found out how much energy they had used when the bill arrived.

By that stage it's too late to address wasteful usage, leading to what's known as "bill shock".

"With a smart meter, you can see your usage and costs in real-time through an in-home display or an app provided by your supplier," Steve says.

"This immediate feedback encourages you to use less energy. If you measure it, you can control it."

In 2022, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero found that homes with smart meters used about 3.4% less electricity and 3% less gas.

"This might not seem like a lot, but it adds up to a saving of over £50 per household annually," Steve says.

If all homes in the UK made similar cuts, that would amount to savings of around £1.5bn and a potential reduction in CO2 emissions by about 2.7m tonnes each year.

"Good for individual households but also great for the planet," Steve says.

Smart meters are often installed at no extra cost to the consumer - it's effectively free data for households.

Limitations

Smart meters are more or less what you make of them - a simple, free tool that allows you to see headline figures.

However, "without detailed analysis, it's tough to identify and eliminate" where you could be wasting money, Steve says.

Apps like Utrack, Loop and Hugo Energy can help you work out where you might be losing money by offering a more detailed breakdown if connected to your smart meter.

Those tools are often free, but you may need to register your card details as proof of address.

The tools give a number of useful insights, including looking at consumption in other households of similar size or monitoring where chunks of your money are going, such as to a faulty boiler or the "phantom load" (energy wasted by devices left on unnecessarily).

Myth or must?

Although smart meters alone don't reduce energy bills, they are a vital tool to help energy efficiency and cost savings.

By Ollie Cooper, Money team

It can be hard to balance getting nutritious foods that make you feel good without spending a lot.

In this series, which ends today after digging into yoghurt, bread, pasta, fruit juice and plant-based milk, we've tried to find the healthiest options in the supermarket for the best value.

Sunna Van Kampen,founder ofTonic Health,who went viral on social media for reviewing food in the search of healthier choices, has given his input for the past six weeks.

And for the final part of the series, we're looking at the nation's favourite snack: crisps.

The series does not aim to identify the outright healthiest option, but to help you get better nutritionalvalue for as little money as possible.

We're a people obsessed: in the UK, we get through six billion packets of crisps a year.

Sunna has three easy tips for finding the tastiest options that are kinder to your body...

1. Understand the fat facts

"Typical crisps can be oil sponges and contain over 30% fat from low-quality vegetable oils that have been fried," Sunna says.

"What we are on the lookout for those that buck the trend and stay away from the fat."

So, he says, aim for crisps that contain less than 15% total fat.

2. Fibre up your snack time

"While crisps aren't exactly salad, some can offer more nutritional value than others," Sunna says.

"Check the labels for options that have more fibre or protein."

These help you feel fuller for longer and also keep your digestive system happy.

3. Portion control

"It's easy to demolish an entire bag in one sitting - however, many brands offer multipack bags that are portion-controlled, usually around 25g a bag," Sunna says.

Sticking to these helps to manage calorie intake and stops overindulging.

The big picture

"Small changes might not immediately seem like a lot but if you eat a bag a day with your lunch, we are talking about up to a whopping two litres of oil cut from your diet over the course of the year," Sunna says,

"This is not permission to eat crisps every day (enjoy as an occasional treat) but rather an indication of how small changes add up quickly overtime."

The good news is Sunna's recommendations are all similar in price to their popular, fattier rivals - so you don't need to make a bigger investment to reap some health benefits.

We've included the prices for the brands' standard multipacks at Tesco - correct as of time of writing.

Walkers Oven Baked - £1.95 for six-pack

"Around £1.95 for a pack of six, these crisps are baked, not fried, slashing the fat content to 13%, so a great option."

Popchips -£2.25 for five-pack

"These have just 13% fat content as they're popped rather than fried so are a great way to go reducing fat without compromising on the crunch."

And for some non-crisp options...

ProperCorn Popcorn - £2 for six-pack

Often described as "the healthier, lighter option", Sunna says ProperCorn "isn't actually the best option on the market for fat content at 17.4%".

That being said, you do get "double the fibre of standard crisps at 10.9g per 100g".

At only £2 for a pack of six, it's well-priced, too.

Snack A Jacks - £2.20 for five-pack

"At only 8.3% fat per 100g, it's a great option at £2.20 for a pack of five."

Penn State Baked Pretzels - £1.50 for 175g bag

Now for Sunna's winner.

"The German classic is a great option at only 4.6% fat per 100g," he says.

One downfall is that they are not available in portioned bags, so be careful with the whole 175g bag for £1.50.

Want another option altogether?

"If you want to be even healthier, consider the switch to nuts, seeds or even dried cheese snacks," Sunna says.

"Higher in calories yes, but higher in good healthy fats too and are more satiating which will limit the chance of overeating."

The nutritionist's view-fromDr Laura Brown, senior lecturer in nutrition, food and health sciences at Teesside University...

"Baked instead of fried crisps is definitely a way forward as well as the popcorn suggestion," she says.

"We should also be aiming to look at the amount of protein and fibre found in products. For example, lentil and pea snacks are growing in popularity due to their higher protein and fibre values, so the focus should be more on looking for ingredients other than potatoes, oil and salt.

"I also feel 'crisp' based snacks made in an air fryer are becoming more popular. These can include a wholemeal wrap with a small amount of oil added, and placed in the air fryer with paprika and other seasoning added for flavour.

"Also, chickpeas in the air fryer make for a super delicious protein and fibre rich snack. They are cheaper than crisps and lower in fat since no oil has to be added."

Read more from this series...

Halifax has become the latest major lender to up mortgage rates.

They are putting up a range of deals by 0.2%.

BM Solutions also announced increases today.

It follows similar moves by TSB, NatWest, Virgin, Barclays, Accord, Leeds Building Society, HSBC and Coventry last week.

Lenders are responding to swap rates - which dictate how much it costs to lend money - rising on the back of higher than expected US inflation data, and concerns this could delay interest rate cuts there.

US trends often materialise elsewhere - though many economists are still expecting a base rate cut from 5.25% to 5% in the UK in June.

This is what average mortgage rates look like as of today...

Justin Moy, managing director of EHF Mortgages, told Newspage:"Yet more bad news for mortgage borrowers, as two of the biggest lenders announce increases to their fixed-rate products.

"As mortgage rates creep up and past 5% even for those with the largest deposits, we seem to be lacking a clear strategy of the government or the Bank of England on how rates will eventually fall.

"Even 2% inflation may not be enough to reverse the recent trends in rates."

Morrisons has launched two major changes for shoppers – with stores now offering travel money and trolleys featuring advertisem*nts.

Announcing their bureau de change service, Morrisons said customers could exchange currencies in select stores or could place their money orders online at Morrisonstravelmoney.com.

Using the online service means customers can either click and collect their cash in certain Morrisons stores or at any of Eurochange's 240 branches. Alternatively, they can go for home delivery.

Services director at Morrisons, Jamie Winter, said the service "will provide our customers with easy access to a wide range of currencies at competitive exchange rates".

So far, stores in the following areas have travel money kiosks:

• Bradford
• Leeds
• Sheffield
• St Helens
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Nottingham
• London
• Basingstoke
• Hastings

In other news, the supermarket chain rolled out a new trolley advertising across 300 stores in a partnership with Retail Media Group.