The Times
Don’t invest in Britain, European firms urged: Continental companies should avoid investing in Britain because of uncertainty surrounding withdrawal from the EU, Europe’s largest management consultancy has warned.
Barclays to freeze Boss’s pay over fear of backlash: Barclays has proposed freezing its Chief Executive’s maximum pay package for three years as it seeks to avoid the pay disputes engulfing other companies.
Made in Britain label threatened by trade deals, exporters fear: The CBI is calling on the government to ensure that exporters can take full advantage of free trade deals after Brexit by maintaining their “Made in Britain” label.
Britain ‘must square EU circle’ before U.S. deal: President Obama’s Chief trade negotiator has cast doubt on Britain’s prospects of securing a quick deal with the United States, saying that the U.K. needs to redefine its relationship with the European Union before transatlantic talks can move to a “meaningful” stage.
Fears of Toshiba exit give Tories a nuclear headache: Ministers are under pressure to secure the future of the proposed Moorside nuclear plant in Cumbria as the industry braces for the potential withdrawal of Toshiba, the main developer.
Co-op Bank may lose its name if stakes are low: The Co-operative Bank could lose its name if its parent group’s stake falls so low that consumers are being misled.
Retailers demand leading role in May’s industrial revolution: The Bosses of leading retailers will meet the business secretary next week to try to persuade the government to include the sector in its new industrial strategy.
French energy giant challenges the big six with cut-price deal: Britain’s big six energy suppliers are facing a threat to their dominance after Engie, the French conglomerate, announced its arrival by undercutting their prices.
Saudi Arabia goes beyond call of duty in delivering Opec promise: Opec is expected to confirm that Saudi Arabia has slashed output by more than required and delivered record levels of compliance with the cartel’s promised cuts.
Supreme revival at Universal: Universal Music Group is reviving Polygram Entertainment as part of a push into music documentaries. Its first project will be The Story of Motown, a documentary in collaboration with Berry Gordy, the producer and Founder of the music label behind acts including The Supremes.
Germans feel €3 billion effect of BT troubles: The fallout from BT’s profit warning appears to be spreading with analysts predicting that Deutsche Telekom is set to book a €3 billion writedown on its shareholding.
Miner battles Dechert over ‘unrealistic’ £16 million legal bill: Miriam González, the international lawyer and wife of the former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, is at the heart of a dispute over a £16 million legal bill incurred during a fraud investigation into a mining company.
Apprentices are here for the trendier beers: Greene King, which was founded in 1799, has set up a brewing venture at its plant in Bury St Edmunds called the Craft Academy, where apprentices will spend 18 months learning about brewing, design, marketing and sales.
Small businesses back in play after U-turn on public sector deals: The government has backtracked on a “clumsy and bureaucratic” rule that could have prevented small businesses applying for public sector contracts.
The Independent
Ivanka Trump brand sales plummeted at Nordstrom in weeks before election: So after the president made an excitable intervention over a clothing chain’s decision to drop his daughter’s clothing line, he may have been surprised to learn the items were not selling well at all.
Pensioner household incomes higher than those of working age, study finds: Pensioner household incomes have overtaken those of working age equivalents for the first time, a new study found.
U.K. could be shut out of super-accurate EU GPS system it helped to build: Brexit could leave the U.K. out of new EU-wide global positioning system (GPS) that went live in December after more than 15 years in development, with much of the cutting-edge work having been carried out by British companies.
Financial Times
India optimistic of being coal-free by 2050: India will not need to build another coal power plant after 2025 if renewables continue to fall in cost at their current rate, according to a report that suggests that carbon levels could be cut significantly beyond parameters agreed at the Paris climate talks.
Oil and gas discoveries dry up to lowest total for 60 years: Discoveries of new oil and gasfields have dropped to a fresh 60-year low, as companies put a brake on exploration and large fields have become harder to find.
China’s Wanda circles Postbank in search of European bank assets: China’s largest property developer Dalian Wanda Group has set its sights on banks in Europe, including Germany’s Postbank, as it diversifies away from its core real estate business.
Cinven in €3.5 billion offer for German drugmaker Stada: Stada, a German manufacturer of generic copies of drugs such as Viagra, has received two takeover proposals including a €3.5 billion bid from private equity group Cinven, kicking off a bidding war for the company.
Generali targets deeper cuts in attempt to stay independent: Italian insurer Generali is planning to raise its cost-cutting target in an effort to defend itself against a potential bid from Intesa Sanpaolo, the country’s largest bank by market value.
Piraeus Bank under pressure to appoint new Chief Executive: Greece’s biggest bank is coming under increasing pressure to end one of the longest senior job vacancies in European finance by appointing a new Chief Executive in the next six weeks.
Shareholder revolt called against Franklin Templeton: An influential adviser to big investors has called for a revolt against Franklin Templeton at the Californian fund company’s annual meeting next week, piling further pressure on the emerging market specialist.
SoundCloud loses key Executives amid funding woes: German music streaming service SoundCloud has lost two of its top Executives, and is urgently seeking funds, after warning in January that it may run out of cash this year.
M&S holds talks with Christos Angelides over fashion business role: Marks and Spencer has held talks with Christos Angelides, the former Next Product Director, about leading its latest attempt to turn round the department store’s out-of-vogue fashion business.
Lex:
Hon Hai: brand new deal: Designers of products typically capture more value than makers. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, has been at the wrong end of that chain. This may be about to change. On Friday the company’s shares hit a record high for the fourth consecutive day. Creation of a successful in-house brand would spur further gains.
The Daily Telegraph
EU urges Greeks and creditors to hammer out a deal quickly: Greece should agree a new deal with its creditors as quickly as possible to avoid another crisis rocking the Eurozone, the continent’s financial leaders have urged.
RBS plays down claim it will cut 15,000 jobs: Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to cut more costs and chop more workers, but played down reports it will cut 15,000 staff in the next round of shrinking.
Olive oil crisis looms as poor harvests set to cut yields: The olive oil shortage is coming, says Walter Zanre, Boss of Filippo Berio U.K., the nation’s best-selling olive oil brand, and it will be much worse than anyone realises.
Bumper sales and profits for specialist drug-maker Shire: Shire, the pharmaceuticals giant, is expected to report a doubling in profit and sales when it announces full-year results on Thursday, thanks in no small part to its £26 billion acquisition of Baxalta.
Mattress retailer SIMBA Sleep raises £9 million from raft of new City investors including husband of Heineken heir: SIMBA Sleep, the online mattress retailer, has raised £9 million from a raft of new investors including fund manager Henderson, broker Numis and Citi banker Michel de Carvalho, whose wife Charlene is the sole heir to the Heineken family fortune.
Laird mulls selling its precision metals arm: Electronics component maker Laird is mulling a sale of one of its major divisions as the struggling company battles to turn itself around.
The Guardian
U.K. offshore wind ‘will lower energy bills’ more than nuclear: Offshore windfarms could provide cheaper power than Britain’s new wave of nuclear power stations, a leading figure in the wind industry has claimed.
Weak pound and rising inflation push clothing spend to five-year low: Britons slashed their spending on new clothes and shied away from the high street in January as they juggled Christmas debts and rising living costs.
Fraud case and falling share price take shine off Lloyds’s farewell to taxpayer: When Lloyds Banking Group last week finally accepted responsibility for compensating the small business customers who were victims of a £245 million fraud involving HBOS Reading, it was again forced to face up to the nasty surprises that lurk inside the once fast- growing bank it took over during the 2008 crisis.
Osborne’s bleak Brexit forecast ‘has undermined the Treasury’: George Osborne’s “project fear” forecasts about the economic risks of leaving the European Union have undermined public confidence in the Treasury and left it ill-equipped to influence Brexit, according to a damning new report from former Whitehall Chief Lord Kerslake.
Daily Mail
Surge in internet crowdfunding sees City floats lose their appeal: Now small firms turn to web for investors: A plunge in small firms joining the City’s junior stock market could be down to thriving public investment through crowdfunding websites, analysts claim. Just one business joined the AIM market in January – cement maker SigmaRoc, which raised £46.5 million. Nine companies left.
Banking software group Misys understood to be mulling return to Stock Exchange in boost to London’s flotation markets: Banking software group Misys is understood to be mulling a return to the London Stock Exchange, in a boost to London’s flotation markets.
Troubled engineering giant Rolls-Royce expected to announce record £4 billion pre-tax loss: Troubled engineering giant Rolls-Royce is expected to announce a record £4 billion pre-tax loss.
‘I’m waiting for the next crisis to deliver my absolute returns’, says manager of Brooks MacDonald Defensive Capital: Funds that strive to generate positive returns for investors through thick and thin remain popular. The latest figures from the Investment Association show that last year, targeted ‘absolute return’ funds were by far the favourite sector.
Daily Express
U.S. competition overshadows GSK progress: Results for GlaxoSmithKline in 2016 were ahead of what the market was expecting, with sales up 6% and core operating profits up 14%.
Retailers feel the heat as consumers tighten belts and sales drop: Consumers are reining in their spending at the start of 2017 as the January sales failed to stop outlay on clothing falling at the fastest pace in nearly five years, according to an index.
Island Pools System Commercia roll out and Cool Chile expands its product range: British start-up Island Pools System is looking for new investment of £150,000 to take its revolutionary cleaning technology for swimming pools and spas to market, writes Maisha Frost.
Thomson owner Tui to update market on trading as City looks for indications that strong bookings trend continues: Thomson owner Tui will update the market on first-quarter trading this week as the City looks for indications that a strong trend in bookings last year has continued into 2017.
The Scottish Herald
Services weak but manufacturing up: Growth of the Scottish private sector economy accelerated slightly in January as manufacturing performed well but services stagnated, while inflationary pressures continued to mount following sterling’s Brexit vote-induced tumble, a survey shows.
First fintech accelerator to launch at Spark hub: A centre of excellence dedicated to financial services technology will open in Edinburgh in May.
Glasgow shades pioneer dazzles Richard Branson: As controversy rages about banks’ treatment of small firms, we hear from a business which found the decision to take an innovative approach to raising start up funding paid off.
Valentine launch for business inspired by love: An entrepreneur from Edinburgh is to launch her home furnishings business on Valentine’s Day after becoming one of the first Scots to receive funding from the Virgin StartUp fund.
PwC dealmaker leaves firm: David Leslie, one of Scotland’s best known dealmakers, has left PwC. The accountancy giant said Mr Leslie left the business on 1 January. It is understood he wanted to take on fresh challenges after spending more than 15 years as a partner at PwC and its forerunner Price Waterhouse.
Mid-sized firms driving job growth: Almost 80,000 jobs have been created in Scotland over the last five years by mid-sized firms.
Strong fourth quarter for U.K. plc: Quoted companies posted a 5.6% rise in operating profits to £10.5 billion between October and December, the latest Profit Watch U.K. report from The Share Centre found. However pre-tax profits dropped by 2.6% to £8 billion, as profit falls at Imperial Brands, Shaftesbury and easyJet weighed on the overall total.
The Scotsman
Warning of higher fish prices due to dispute: The price of a fish supper could rise in the coming weeks as a strike by Icelandic fishermen threatens the U.K.’s supply of fresh cod and haddock.
Wealthy ‘shunning Scotland’ due to high property tax: Property experts have warned that the Scottish property tax is discouraging highly paid Executives from moving to Scotland.
City A.M.
The FCO is leading a delegation of British life sciences firms to China this week: A Foreign Office minister is leading a delegation of British healthcare and life sciences firms to China this week in a bid to boost trade.
Swiss voters reject tax reform plan: Voters in Switzerland have chosen to block the government’s attempts to reform its corporate tax regime.
Bank of England officials are talking Brexit with City Bosses: Bank of England officials have been meeting with various senior City figures, with wishlists for Brexit high on the list of talking points.
