Thursday newspaper round-up: Housebuilding, water bills, RBS, Interserve

Housebuilding declined sharply in London and the Midlands last year as political and economic uncertainty around the shape of Brexit hit the housing market, according to industry figures. The number of new homes in London registered by housebuilders with the National House Building Council (NHBC) in 2018 fell 10% from the previous year to 16,069, the biggest annual drop since 2016. In the east Midlands and West Midlands, registrations were also down 10%, to 13,447 and 13,087 respectively following two strong years. – Guardian

The water and sewerage bills in England and Wales are to rise by 2% from April, adding £8 to the average annual cost for each household. The increase was confirmed by the industry body Water UK on Wednesday and means the average water and sewerage bill will be £415. Thames Water was last month given a dressing down by regulator Ofwat for not doing enough to keep future bills affordable and for its poor performance on leaks. Britain’s biggest water company had appeared to indicate it was planning significant future hikes. – Guardian

The company drafted in by the Government to introduce artificial intelligence across its departments has said the hype around using AI is likely to die down when companies realise it is “so obviously” the right way to do things, as it re-launched under a new name, Faculty. Marc Warner, chief executive and co-founder of the business, formerly known as ASI Data Science, told The Daily Telegraph: “In the early days of databases, marketing companies would tell people they were marketing companies ‘with a database’, because it was a new exciting innovative thing. – Telegraph

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has been given the go-ahead by investors to buy back up to £1.5bn of shares from the Government. The taxpayer-controlled lender, rescued by a £45bn bailout at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, gained the backing of 98.7pc of shareholders at a general meeting in Edinburgh on Wednesday. – Telegraph

The largest investor in Interserve wants to sack the ailing public services contractor’s chairman, finance director and most of the rest of the board in an effort to derail a £905 million rescue of the company. Interserve presented a restructuring of the business yesterday that would all but wipe out existing shareholders and hand the company to its lenders. – The Times

Bob Diamond has insisted that he is not preparing to leave Atlas Mara after his decision to step down as chairman of the African banking business he co-founded.The former Barclays boss has been chairman for more than two years, despite having originally taken the role on a temporary basis. He will return to his previous role as a non-executive director and will be replaced as head of the board by Michael Wilkerson, chief executive of Fairfax Africa, Atlas Mara’s biggest shareholder.- The Times