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Is there an answer to the perennial problem of Britain's housing shortage?

Taylor Wimpey's chief executive Peter Redfern says: "If you had asked me that question 10-12 years ago I would have absolutely told you it’s all about planning.

"I think that’s much more balanced than that at this point in time. The planning system is easier – it is still difficult but it is a lot easier than it was – and it is now one of a number of issues.

We work through a series of different road blocks with different bottlenecks on each site. Sometimes it is about absorption, sometimes it’s about availability of skills but the industry is growing. You can’t remove all those bottlenecks overnight."

Image source, Holmesdale

Skipton building society will take over Holmesdale building society in October.

Holmesdale was founded in 1855 and has one branch in Reigate with 26 employees.

Skipton has committed to keeping the branch open for two years but then it will be "subject to [our] ongoing branch review process".

The takeover is subject to a vote by members.

Mike Kirsch, Holmesdale boss, said: "We firmly believe that this proposed merger is in the best interests of our members."

The move will reduce the number of building societies in the UK to 43.

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Big Six energy suppliers' market share has fallen to its lowest-ever level of 79% for electricity and 78% for gas.

More than one in five energy consumers are now with small and medium sized suppliers, according to figures released by Ofgem this morning.

In December last year, independent companies supplied 21% of consumers for electricity and 22% for gas in December last year.

Four years earlier in 2013 their market share was just 4.7% for electricity and 5% for gas.

Dermot Nolan, chief executive of Ofgem, said: “The message is clear: suppliers need look at what they are offering to their customers or risk losing them."

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British car manufacturers fear that the wrong Brexit deal could prove disastrous for the industry.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, warned today: “Future growth will depend on maintaining our current open trade links not just with Europe but with key international markets.

"A transitional deal will be an important first step but, in the long term, a seamless relationship between the UK and Europe must be maintained."

The Society has just published January's motor manufacturing figures which were static, with just 72 fewer vehicles produced than in the same month last year.

However exports drove overall volumes, with output for overseas customers rising 1.5% to a record 119,252 units.

The growth offset a decline in production for the UK market, which fell for the sixth consecutive month - down by 6.0% to 28,229.

That reflects falling UK business and consumer confidence and confusion over government policies on diesel taxation and air quality plans.

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Papers released today show that Msheireb, the Qatari company behind a Carillion project in the country, accused the contractor of having “mismanaged the works, under-resourced them and starved the project of cash”.

The papers "reinforce the impression that the upper reaches of Carillion was stocked with fantasists," said Frank Field, chair of the Works and Pensions Committee.

Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, added: “The Carillion directors' litany of excuses for the collapse of the company is fast unravelling."

On the plus side of share performance insurance group Admiral saw its shares rise by 5% after it reported record profits and turnover.

Shares in housebuilder Taylor Wimpey gained 2% despite a fall in profits. It described market fundamentals as "solid".

What's happening to the shares in companies making the news this morning?

ITV shares have fallen by nearly 5% after the release of its results, which revealed a fall in profits.

Estate agency Foxton's shares are down by 1.6%, after it said profits were 65% lower.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Peter Redfern, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, admits the house builder "made a mistake" over leasehold contracts which forced some homeowners to pay escalating ground rents running into thousands of pounds a year.

Taylor Wimpey has set aside a total £130m to convert homeowners to less onerous contracts.

Mr Redfern told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The truth is on this issue the reason we made a provision is that about 11 years ago we made a mistake.

"The contract structures we set up were too expensive over time for customers and that is why we’ve taken what is a voluntary decision to make those changes at our cost. We think that’s right but that is because of a mistake made a long time ago."

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The FTSE 100 opened this morning down 0.28% at 7,262.42.

The index had an up-and-down time yesterday (see graph) but ended the day down 7.13 or 0.098%.

Pre-tax profits at insurer Admiral hit a record £405.4m in the year to 31 December - a rise of 43%.

David Stevens, Group Chief Executive Officer said: "It's 25 years since the launch of Admiral. 2016 was only the second year we'd ever reported a year on year fall in profits. So it's great to be back in the groove, with a 23rd year of "record profits".

Admiral Group has delivered another record set of results in 2017: record turnover and profit, strong return on capital, strong solvency ratio and record customer numbers.

Turnover also hit a record, increasing by 15% to £2.96bn,as did customer numbers which rose by 11% to more than 5.7 million.

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Whitbread says it has bought 19 hotels in Germany from Foremost Hospitality.

It describes the acquisition as an "important step in accelerating Whitbread's existing international strategy and in replicating Premier Inn UK's success and network scale in this key strategic market".

Chief executive Alison Brittain said: "One of our three key strategic priorities is to focus on building strong and sustainable growth in key international markets.

"Today's announcement marks the next stage in our ambitious growth plan for the Premier Inn brand in Germany.

"We believe Germany has many of the structural growth drivers that have underpinned the success of Premier Inn in the UK and that Germany is a market that will deliver strong returns in the future."

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Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said profits fell 5.8% to £555.3m in 2017 after it was forced to take a £105m hit on the leasehold scandal.

It built 14,842 homes in the year which was up 4.6%.

Total revenue climbed 7.9% to £3.965bn.

Boss Pete Redfern said: "Despite some wider macroeconomic uncertainty, consumer confidence remains robust and market fundamentals are solid."

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Estate agency Foxtons has warned that sales activity in London has sunk to "near historic lows".

The group said full-year pre-tax profits slumped 65% from £18.8m to £6.5m in 2017.

Boss Nic Budden said: "Sales activity in the London property market is near historic lows and this had a significant impact on our overall performance in 2017."

Revenue from lettings was down 3% on due to downward pressures on market rents, the company said.

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Comparison site GoCompare - which listed on the stock market in November 2016 - said operating profits climbed 20% to £36m last year.

Dividend for the year will be 1.4p a share.

Chief Matthew Crummack said the company's results "come from control, discipline and a single-minded focus".

It completed the purchase of discount site MyVoucherCodes in January and has also taken minority stakes in mortgage robo-adviser MortgageGym and Dubai-based comparison site Souqalmal.

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Builders merchant Travis Perkins said adjusted pre-tax profits fell 10% last year to £343m.

Boss John Carter said: "2017 was a challenging year for the Group, with continuing uncertainty in our end-markets, and declining consumer confidence throughout the year."

However, he added: "The long-term prospects for our businesses remain favourable."

The company took a £40.9m hit during 2017 to pay for a Plumbing & Heating transportation plan.

Revenue in the year grew 3.3% to £6.4bn and the dividend pay out will be 46p a share.

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Broadcasting giant ITV has reported a 6% fall in underlying pre-tax profits to £800m for 2017, but said it was a strong performance in a "challenging environment".

Various revenue streams rose - with external revenue up 2% to £3.13bn

Total ITV Studios revenue was up 13% to £1.6bn and Online, Pay & Interactive revenue climbed 7% to £248m.

However, as expected ITV Family Net Advertising Revenue fell by 5% "as anticipated" to £1.6bn "impacted by the uncertain economic environment".

ITV said it had seen a "great start" to 2018 and expects advertising revenues to recover in the first half, forecasting growth of 1% in the first quarter and growth in the second quarter, helped by the Fifa World Cup.

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In case you hadn't heard, snow has fallen in parts of the country.

On Wake up to Money, Michael Kruymans of the Business Continuity Institute was asked for top tips for firms trying to cope with the weather.

"One of the things that can make a big difference... is the ability for employees to work at home," he said.

Not only are schools closed meaning carers have to look after children, but transport systems are being affected, causing congestion.

"So the more people you can keep at home the better it's going to be."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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With retailers Maplin and Toys R Us close to the end, their collapse was inevitable, says Sue Noffke, UK equities fund manager at Schroders.

Retailers have to make sure they have relevance for today’s consumer, she tells Today.

"Today’s consumer is very demanding. They want multi-channel offerings, very sharp prices, good service, and Maplin and Toys R Us haven’t delivered for customers," she says.

"Lower interest rates and the low cost of capital really kept a lot of these retailers going in parts of the business that really aren’t relevant today, so we’re getting a coming to fruition of something that may have just been delayed for a few years."

BBC Radio 5 live

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US cable TV giant Comcast has made a £22.1bn bid for Sky, challenging an existing offer from 21st Century Fox, controlled by the murdoch family.

On Wake up to Money Rob Enderle, a tech and media analyst from Oregon, said Comcast has thrown its hat into the ring for Sky because it "needs to broaden its horizons".

Lot of people are moving away from cable and to their internet provider for entertainment, so Comcast's growth had "slowed substantially" and it needed to gain territory in other areas, he said.

They needed to get more scale before they "get beat up too much" by the likes of Amazon and Netflix and some of the things being done by Elon Musk and SpaceEx, added Mr Enderle.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Why has Comcast made its £22bn bid for Sky now? Ian Whittaker, media analyst at Liberum tells Today that there are several factors in play.

"Comcast is weak internationally, he says. "It’s got a very good US presence but it doesn’t really have much outside.

"If you take control of Sky you’re the leading pay-to-view operator in the UK, Germany and Italy and you also have a presence in Spain as well. That gives you a very good European distribution platform."

He says timing is also important with Sky's recent successful lower bid for the next Premier League rights a factor.

But Comcast must have looked at the Competition and Markets Authority's report on the Fox bid for Sky and seen an opportunity, he says.

"Comcast probably thought, it looks as though this is a little more complicated than previously thought for Fox," he says.