03/02/2025

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | FEB 3, 2025

17

Theft, violence in UK retail soar to record levels

Scottish court rules against two new North Sea oil and gas fields LONDON: A Scottish court last week ruled against the development of two oil and gas fields in the North Sea in a “historic win” for two environmental groups. Scotland’s Court of Session agreed with campaign groups Uplift and Greenpeace and ruled that the previous UK government’s approvals for the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields were unlawful as they did not consider the carbon emissions the projects would indirectly generate. Judge Andrew Stewart, who presided over the judicial review, said he had considered all the circumstances and concluded in favour of granting “reduction”, a legal term for revoking approval. “The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers.” Shell, which owns the Jackdaw gas condensate field 250km east of the Scottish city of Aberdeen, and Equinor, the majority owner of Rosebank oil field 145km off the Shetland Islands, will now have to resubmit their environmental impact assessments. The decision follows a ruling by the UK Supreme Court in June that greenhouse gas emissions indirectly generated by a business must be taken into account. The oilfields were approved by the previous Conservative government, but the Labour government that came into power in July said it would not contest the Scottish court case in light of the Supreme Court ruling. – AFP

In the final quarter, while domestic spending helped support growth, it was not enough to offset falling exports, Destatis said. Analyst Carsten Brzeski from ING Bank said the figures underlined the scale of the challenge for Germany. “2024 was the year when cyclical and structural headwinds became a storm,” he said. “A substantial recovery of German industry is not in sight just yet,” he added, pointing to empty order books Satisfaction with the police response to incidents remains low, with 61% of respondents describing it as “poor” or “very poor”, the report showed. “With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have a licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse,” said Dickinson. The BRC said the amount spent on crime prevention also hit a record high, with retailers investing £1.8 billion on measures such as CCTV, security personnel, anti-theft devices and body-worn cameras, up from £1.2 billion in 2022/23. Responding to the report, the police said they had made progress in 2024. “Over the last year we have made significant strides in our fight

as well as the threat of US President Donald Trump imposing tariffs. The bleak data came a day after the government said it expected the German economy to grow just 0.3% in 2025, down from a previous forecast of 1.1%. France, the eurozone’s second biggest economy after Germany, also performed worse than expected in the fourth quarter as data showed its economy contracted by 0.1%. – AFP against retail crime, strengthening relationships with retailers and greatly improving information sharing which has resulted in a number of high harm offenders being brought to justice,” the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for retail crime Alex Goss said. The new Labour government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. It also plans to introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker. The issue of theft and violence has been raised by many of Britain’s biggest retailers over the last year, including Tesco , John Lewis and Primark, echoing similar reports in the US and elsewhere. – Reuters

o Industry body says many incidents linked to organised crime

BERLIN: Germany’s economy shrank more than expected at the end of 2024, official data showed last week, the latest bad news for Europe’s traditional powerhouse which is battling myriad headwinds. Output in the eurozone’s biggest economy fell 0.2% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter, according to preliminary figures from federal statistics agency Destatis. Analysts polled by data firm LONDON: Theft and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year and are “out of control”, driven partly by criminal gangs, according to a report published last week. An annual crime survey by industry body British Retail Consortium (BRC) found more than 20 million incidents of theft were committed in the year to Aug 31, 2024, which equates to 55,000 a day, costing retailers a total £2.2 billion (RM12 billion). There were 16 million incidents in the previous year. The figure broke the previous high of 89.1 million in 2018, Dubai Airports said, despite regional tensions caused by the Gaza war and last April’s unprecedented floods which badly disrupted operations. The United Arab Emirates city, located between Asia, Europe and Africa, has now been ranked as the world’s busiest international air hub for a decade. In a statement, Dubai’s ruler and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum called the airport a “global success story” and said it was targeting 400 international destinations, up from 272 currently. Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said he was confident of breaching 100 million passengers by 2027. Dubai, expecting competition from a major new airport being built in Riyadh, in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, is also planning a US$35 billion expansion and relocation to Al Maktoum International, on the city’s outskirts. The trade, tourism and business centre is also witnessing record real-estate prices and soaring population growth, spurred by the UAE’s efforts to diversify its economy away from oil. – AFP

FactSet had expected a contraction of 0.1%. Destatis also confirmed that output shrank 0.2% across the whole of 2024, in line with its earlier estimate, and marking the second straight year of contraction for the German economy. Germany has been suffering due to high energy costs, a manufacturing slowdown and weak demand for the country’s exports, combined with a host of structural issues. The BRC said many more incidents in the latest period were linked to organised crime, with gangs systematically targeting stores across the country. Incidents of violence and abuse in 2023/24 climbed to more than 2,000 per day from 1,300 the year before. “Retail crime is spiralling out of control. People in retail have been spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes. Every day this continues, criminals are getting bolder and more aggressive,” said BRC head Helen Dickinson.

German economy shrinks more than expected

Dubai airport sees 92.3 million passengers in 2024 DUBAI: A record 92.3 million passengers travelled through Dubai’s international airport last year, its operator said, underlining the Gulf city’s economic boom.

Emirates Airline planes are seen at Dubai International Airport. – REUTERSPIC