The tactics of an increasingly professional shoplifting gang which has stolen at least £73,000 of goods from supermarkets across the UK have been revealed to the BBC.
Usually operating in groups of three, the gang members wear bluetooth headsets to communicate and warn each other if security guards are watching them.
Wheeling a trolley or carrying a supermarket basket, they blend in with shoppers as they walk down the alcohol aisle, casually taking champagne bottles off the shelves.
Then, one gang member will deliberately set off the security alarm to distract staff, while another simply walks out of the store with their stolen goods.
“It’s like a mafia-style operation. It’s run like a business,” says Sarah Bird from the National Business Crime Solution (NBCS) – an organisation which works with 100 businesses to tackle retail crime.
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The criminals have been dubbed “the champagne gang” by the organisation, as it is the main item they have focused on stealing.
The gang “took full advantage” of a champagne shortage in mainland Europe 18 months ago, says Mrs Bird, caused by a post-Covid surge in demand and the failure of some crops. It meant a stronger black market, she says.
The group has a clear hierarchy with people at the top who instruct, she says, and a stream of employees who get paid.
“They travel to a specific place, they have a shopping list of things they need to steal. They steal the goods and get a day rate,” says Mrs Bird, head of local services at the NBCS.
NBCS
Police believe the stolen goods are often transported into Europe
The sophisticated shoplifting operation carried out by the champagne gang is being replicated by other criminal groups across the country.
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The NBCS says it is tracking 63 organised criminal groups across the UK who have stolen at least £2.4m of goods in five years. Of these, 26 groups originate from the UK and Ireland and the rest predominantly from Eastern European countries.
The champagne gang originates from Romania and is responsible for 60 shoplifting incidents across the UK – from Gateshead to Bournemouth – according to NBCS data.
They came onto the NBCS’s radar in early 2023, but have since started swiping other types of alcohol and meat to serve a new demand.
The group changes tactics when new technology comes into the market that might impact their operation.
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“They were originally using trolleys to take goods out the stores,” says Mrs Bird. “However retailers invested in trolley wheel technology to stop the trolleys at certain points in the stores.
“So they’ve started to now use baskets and bags to remove the goods.”
Sarah Bird from the NBCS says only two members of the group have been prosecuted so far
While the gang typically operates in a group of three, during one theft in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, there were at least seven members in the shop.
“We believe they took the opportunity in the Harrogate store as a training day for the new recruits – showing them the ropes and then effectively putting them to work,” says Mrs Bird.
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“If they’re caught, they’re disposable. Generally speaking if they’re arrested and charged they’ll be bailed and quite often they’ll move back to their country – in this case to Romania.”
Only two members of the group have been prosecuted so far, according to the NBCS.
It is not only the thieves who end up back in Romania – it is believed the stolen goods end up there too, she says.
Intelligence, including from ANPR cameras – Automatic Number Plate Recognition – suggests the gang’s vehicles drive to Europe with the goods inside.
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“This acts as an effective supply chain. The goods are moved from the UK to the continent to be sold in the likes of Romania.”
Sarah Walker says the gangs entering her store are intimidating to staff
Retailers have repeatedly warned that shoplifting gangs are helping to fuel the rise in retail crime – and it is hitting shoppers in their pockets.
Shoplifting added £133 to the cost of an average UK household’s annual shopping bill, according to the Centre for Retail Research.
Browns department store in Beverley, East Yorkshire, is being targeted by gangs who are getting smarter – its manager, Sarah Walker, says.
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In March, one gang stole perfume from her store and within 90 minutes had targeted another Browns shop, 30 miles away in York.
“They’ve done research on the market where they’re going, they’ve looked at shops that have got the products that they need. It’s calculated,” Mrs Walker says.
Staff watch as gangs of four to six people of both sexes enter the shop, knowing exactly what to target.
“These gangs are intimidating, they can be young, and to put my staff under that vulnerability it’s hard,” says Mrs Walker.
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“You don’t expect to come to work and be pushed and shoved out the way for someone who has got a shopping list – it’s organised crime and it’s a hit to our business.”
Mrs Walker says she reports shoplifting incidents to the police but it often “falls on deaf ears” and no-one gets arrested.
She wants to see more information sharing between UK police forces.
Steph Coombes, head of intelligence for the NPCC’s Opal unit, says the initiative to tackle shoplifting has had positive results
Humberside Police said it had liaised with North Yorkshire Police and the forces believed the two incidents in Beverley and York were linked.
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However, it said the suspects could not be identified from CCTV footage and therefore no arrests could be carried out.
The past year has seen more information sharing between forces, in the form of Project Pegasus, in the National Police Chief Council (NPCC), which is focused on serious organised shoplifting.
Shoplifting gangs are “very good at adapting” their methods, Steph Coombes, of the NPCC, tells the BBC.
A total of 60 arrests have been made under the operation in four months – impacting organised crime groups and individuals which account for £3.4bn of loss, she added.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Woodside Energy, Australia’s largest oil and gas developer, will delist its shares from the London Stock Exchange next month, in the latest blow to the UK market’s status as a natural resources hub.
Perth-based Woodside listed shares in the UK when it merged with BHP’s oil and gas assets in 2022, to allow British shareholders in the mining company to maintain their exposure to the assets.
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Yet the company, which has a market capitalisation of A$47bn (£24bn), said on Wednesday that the cost of maintaining the secondary listing was no longer justified.
Meg O’Neill, chief executive of Woodside, told the Financial Times that the UK listing accounted for only 1 per cent of Woodside’s issued share capital, and that most of its large UK-based institutional investors opted to hold its ASX-listed stock.
The decision comes after BHP moved its primary stock market listing to Australia in 2022 as part of a plan to unify its dual corporate structure, depriving the FTSE 100 index of one of its biggest constituents. The shift was announced the previous year, when the miner unveiled the deal to sell its petroleum business to Woodside.
London fell behind New York, Toronto and Sydney this year as a global venue for mining company listings, with investors warning it was in danger of being “sidelined” by a sector it once dominated if a few major groups headed overseas.
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Rival Rio Tinto, which has a dual listing with shares on both the LSE and ASX, has also come under pressure from an activist investor to unify its share structure on the Australian exchange, but has argued against the move.
Woodside shares boomed after the merger with BHP as the price of liquefied natural gas soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Its UK stock has fallen back by about 30 per cent in the past 12 months and the company has looked for other deals to boost its growth profile. It held talks with local rival Santos before acquiring two US assets this year.
The UK-listed Woodside shares have been slightly weaker than the ASX stock over the past year. The former are expected to stop trading on November 19.
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Australian property listings company REA planned to launch a secondary listing in London as part of its cash-and-shares offer to acquire UK rival Rightmove earlier this year but could not strike a deal with its target.
Woodside raised its production forecast for the year on Wednesday and lowered its guidance for capital expenditure spending, which pushed its revenue for the third quarter above analyst expectations.
O’Neill said that while the oil price had been under pressure over concerns about Chinese demand, the LNG price had been stronger heading into winter in Europe and Asia. “The market is finely balanced,” she said.
The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com said: “While ‘boosting your State Pension’ doesn’t sound sexy, this is about big money, and we’ve had huge successes.
“It’s the most lucrative thing many under age 73 can do, some gain £10,000s.
“The deadline’s half a year away, but the process ain’t quick, so start now.”
Martin added that for every £825 or less you pay to buy NI years, many stand to gain over £5,400.
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Typically, strict time limits apply to buying back these years.
How to track down lost pensions worth £1,000s
However, when the new state pension was introduced in 2016, the rules were relaxed to aid the transition.
This relaxation was initially set to end in April 2023 but has been extended until April 2025.
It means that from May 2025, you will only be able to buy back six tax years, starting from 2019.
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Although several months remain until this deadline, Martin has urged his readers to “just get on with this and do it now.”
Before considering purchasing any missing years, checking if you can obtain some years for free with NI credits is essential.
We have outlined the process you need to follow to boost your state pension below.
What is National Insurance?
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NATIONAL Insurance is a tax on your earnings, or profits if you’re self-employed.
These contributions make you eligible for things like the state pension and certain benefits.
You’ll usually pay National Insurance Contributions (NICs) when you’re over the age of 16 and earning a certain amount.
For example, if you earn £1,000 a week, you pay nothing on the first £242.
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Earn over that and you pay 10% on the next £725 – so £72.50. Then you pay 2%o on the rest, so £33, which works out as 66p.
For the self-employed rates are slightly different.
You can also get something known as National Insurance in some circumstances when you’re not working, for example when you have kids and claim certain benefits.
NICs are usually taken automatically by your employer and paid to HMRC, so you don’t need to do anything.
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You can see how much NICs you pay on your wage slip.
Anyone working for themselves usually has to pay NICs themselves when completing a self-assessment tax return.
CHECK YOUR YEARS
If you think you’re missing National Insurance years, the first thing to do is check you State Pension forecast.
You can check this as well as the State Pension age through the government’s new ‘Check your State Pension’ tool online at www.gov.uk/check-state-pension.
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The tool is also available through the HMRC app, which you can download free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
You’ll need to log in using your Personal Tax Account login details. If you don’t already have an online HMRC account, you can register at gov.uk.
It shows you how much your state pension could increase by and what NI years you’ll need to buy to achieve this.
You’ll then be able to pay for these missing years securely online, without having to call up separately.
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You’ll need to pay for these in full – you can’t pay in instalments.
You can’t use the online service if you’re already getting your State Pension.
Instead, you’ll need to call the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469.
However, before you commit to buying new National Insurance years it’s vital you check whether you were entitled to free credits at any point.
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CHECK FOR NATIONAL INSURANCE CREDITS
Before making a voluntary contribution, it is important to check if the gaps in your contributions can be filled with free NI credits.
For example, those on certain benefits should qualify for Class 1 credits.
This includes parents with active claims for child benefit.
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You can check the full list of people eligible to claim credits by visiting www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility.
It explains the circumstances where you’ll need to claim and when you’ll get it automatically.
TOP UP YOUR NATIONAL INSURANCE YEARS
In some cases, buying back missing years can be really valuable.
But earning back the years isn’t free, so your voluntary contributions come at a price.
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If you fill gaps between 2006/07 and 2015/16, you’ll pay the 2022/23 rates for contributions.
It is worth £15.85 a week, which means it costs £824.20 to buy one year of contributions.
As the state pension was £185.15 per week in 2022/23, this boost would add £5.29 per week or around £275 per year.
Although you’d have to pay £8,242 (10 lots of £824.20), the annual state pension boost would be around £2,750.
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Someone who was retired for 20 years would get back around £55,000 in total (before tax).
Anyone under 73 can make voluntary pension contributions, as it’s assumed everyone under this age will claim the new state pension.
If you’re below the state pension age, you can check your state pension forecast by visiting www.gov.uk/check-state-pension to determine if you’ll benefit from paying voluntary contributions.
You can also contact the Future Pension Centre by calling 0800 731 0175.
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If you’ve reached state pension age, contact the Pension Service to find out if you’ll benefit from voluntary contributions.
You can contact this service in several different ways by visiting www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service.
You can usually pay voluntary contributions for the past six years.
For example, you have until April 5, 2030, to compensate for gaps in the tax year 2023 to 2024.
The deadline has been extended for making voluntary contributions for the tax years 2016 to 2017 or 2017 to 2018.
You now have until April 5, 2025, to pay.
Find out how to pay for your contributions by visiting www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance.
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How does the State Pension work?
AT the moment the current State Pension is paid to both men and women from age 66 – but it’s due to rise to 67 by 2028 and 68 by 2046.
The state pension is a recurring payment from the government most Brits start getting when they reach State Pension age.
But not everyone gets the same amount, and you are awarded depending on your National Insurance record.
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For most pensioners, it forms only part of their retirement income, as they could have other pots from a workplace pension, earning and savings.
The new state pension is based on people’s National Insurance records.
Workers must have 35 qualifying years of National Insurance to get the maximum amount of the new state pension.
You earn National Insurance qualifying years through work, or by getting credits, for instance when you are looking after children and claiming child benefit.
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If you have gaps, you can top up your record by paying in voluntary National Insurance contributions.
To get the old, full basic state pension, you will need 30 years of contributions or credits.
You will need at least 10 years on your NI record to get any state pension.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Even before its birth as a public company, 23andMe never really had a chance. The DNA-testing firm’s shares have slid, revenue has disappointed and profit has not materialised. Co-founder Anne Wojcicki now wants to take 23andMe private, at a meagre price. This misfortune is the result of both nature and nurture.
As business models go, 23andMe was stunted from the start. Customers pay to spit into a tube, mail it back and learn what is written in their genes. Results can range from discovery of genes associated with serious medical conditions to more frivolous revelations, such as the genetic propensity to hate other people’s eating noises.
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The problem is that after that big reveal, there is not much scope for recurring business. Back when 23andMe’s backers exploited frothy market conditions to merge with a special purpose acquisition company, the company forecast $400mn of revenue by 2024, boosted by activities such as drug development. It made just $220mn.
Wojcicki is to blame, though a wider slide in valuations of experimental drugmakers didn’t help. The godparents share some responsibility: Citigroup and the late Credit Suisse brought 23andMe to market in 2021. Citi’s analyst declared the $10 stock to be worth $14, only for the share price to halve in just over six months.
Even an injection of Richard Branson’s DNA didn’t help. The Virgin mogul set up the Spac that acquired 23andMe and handed it a public listing. His involvement in other blank-cheque firms has flopped too. An investment in eco-disinfectant maker Grove Collaborative has shrunk by 97 per cent. Of the two space companies Branson sold to Spacs, Virgin Galactic’s operations are on hold and Virgin Orbit went bankrupt.
The best hope for 23andMe is a takeover by Wojcicki, who proposed buying the portion of the company she doesn’t own for 40 cents a share in July. That was rejected by independent directors, who subsequently resigned. With the stock trading at 27 cents, it no longer looks so mean.
Still, it’s not clear what Wojcicki would get. No fewer than 13 US states — covering one-third of the population — have passed laws forcing companies to get consent from genetic data providers before a transfer to a new owner, say privacy advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If many say no, the value of 23andMe’s main asset may melt away before the ink is dry on a deal.
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That’s more reason for investors to take what they can get and learn from their mistakes — namely, piling into a fragile, unproven business model in a hyped-up market. Genetic testing makes it possible to anticipate future challenges from the get-go. Backers of 23andMe did nothing of the sort.
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Private equity investors are selling second-hand stakes in ageing funds at a blistering pace this year, as pensions and endowments find ways to get out of unlisted investments amid a slump in deal activity that has curtailed cash payouts.
So-called secondary deals, in which investors in private equity funds sell their stakes to new investors for cash, or a PE firm arranges the sale of a company stake to a new fund, are forecast to smash all-time records, according to investors and advisers who spoke to the Financial Times.
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Matt Swain, an executive at investment bank Houlihan Lokey, predicts a record-breaking $150bn spate of sales — an increase of more than 25 per cent from 2023 and shattering a previous record of $132bn in deals in 2021. Investment bank PJT Partners predicts $145bn in such sales and calculates that activity in recent months is evenly split between institutions such as pensions dumping fund stakes and PE firms arranging deals with new funds.
The surging activity inside what was once a niche market points to the continued challenges facing the $4tn buyout industry, which has been pummeled by higher interest rates and a slowdown in dealmaking.
“The meaningful gap in distributions is driving the need for liquidity across the board,” said Darren Schluter, a managing director who handles secondary deals at PJT.
The industry is sitting on more than $3tn in unsold investments, a record level, according to consultancy Bain & Co. PE firms have been reluctant to sell companies at a loss or float businesses if the valuations do not meet expectations, choosing to instead hold those investments for longer than ever before. That has meant recent funds have returned less than half the cash to their investors compared to historical averages, leaving backers starved for returns and considering selling their holdings at discounts in secondary deals.
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Matthew Wesley, global head of private capital advisory at Jefferies, estimated secondary sales had accounted for 14 per cent of overall private equity exits over the past year, up from just 4 per cent or 5 per cent in 2019 and 2020.
But the recent surge in activity also points to rising optimism on private market valuations, with buyers increasingly willing to purchase fund stakes at narrow discounts to their reported value. Schluter said demand for private equity fund stakes had risen due to strong fundraising from specialist buyers, making it an opportune time for many investors to consider sales.
“Supply is at an all-time high, but pricing is at some of the highest levels it has been across the board. There is more capital coming into the market,” he said.
In late 2022 and early 2023, a lack of secondary demand meant investors were taking steep discounts to get out of positions, with stakes selling for 80 cents on the dollar and sometimes less, according to industry sources.
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Now, PJT estimates sales of buyout fund stakes are priced between 93 per cent and 98 per cent of a fund’s reported value, up three percentage points from the beginning of the year. That figure includes deferrals, in which the seller does not receive cash for as long as 18 months, which can boost prices by up to four percentage points.
Large investors in private equity funds told the FT they were using buoyant markets to quit investments in underperforming funds.
“We have made many investments over the last 25 years in private equity and, unfortunately, a material proportion of them have not liquidated in an orderly fashion,” said an executive at one large US pension fund. “And so we are taking the position that it might be time to get out of those positions through a secondary sale.”
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Specialist buyers of fund stakes including Ardian, Hamilton Lane, StepStone Group and Lexington Partners have recently raised record-sized funds to purchase second-hand fund stakes. In 2023, secondary funds raised a record $93bn, according to Preqin, a 160 per cent increase on the year before.
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