The Times
Arrest warrant issued for Mallya: Vijay Mallya suffered a fresh blow when an Indian court issued a warrant for his arrest over money-laundering allegations.
Tata in talks with 190 buyers for steelworks: Tata Steel has appointed Standard Chartered to help it to sound out possible buyers for its loss-making British division after formally kicking off a sales process for Port Talbot and other steelmaking sites.
From orange to black to shares dipping into the red: Netflix added a record 6.74 million subscribers in the first quarter, but shares in the California-based video streaming service dropped sharply, falling below $100, after it gave a disappointing outlook for the second quarter.
Brent bounces back despite Doha failure: Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic shrugged off the failure of oil producers to agree a production freeze as the price of Brent crude see-sawed.
Boots may be in hot water over pharmacy sales: The pharmacy watchdog is considering investigating Boots over claims that the country’s biggest chain of chemists has been milking NHS schemes to increase profits.
Google faces searching questions over power: Google is under renewed pressure in Europe after News Corporation filed a formal complaint with the European Commission alleging abuse of its dominance in the search business.
Verizon in vanguard of Yahoo bidders: The bidding for Yahoo’s core assets was due to close with only a handful of the 40 or so interested parties making preliminary offers.
CPP wins early skirmish in court fight over Directors: Battle was joined in court between lawyers representing CPP and rebel shareholders over plans to oust four of the company’s board members.
Energy Assets takeover is smart move for investor: The board and leading shareholders of Energy Assets have recommended a £198 million takeover bid by Alinda Capital Partners.
The Independent
McDonald’s trials all-you-can-eat fries and customisable burgers: A McDonald’s in the U.S. will be the first franchise to test all-you-can-eat fries when it opens this summer, according to reports.
Müller and Sainsbury’s recall children’s yoghurts over fears they contain plastic: Two brands of children’s yoghurt have been recalled over fears they might contain plastic.
Waitrose hits back at claims it stopped paying overtime because of the national living wage: Waitrose has hit back at claims that a decision to stop paying new workers overtime and Sunday rates is linked to the national living wage.
Vodafone, EE and Lebara rated the worst mobile phone providers: Vodafone, EE and Lebara are the worst mobile phone providers in the U.K., according to a survey by consumer watchdog Which?
Financial Times
Deloitte trims real estate arm to avoid conflicts of interest: The “big four” professional services firm Deloitte is to offload parts of its U.K. real estate arm after the business found it was hamstrung by efforts to avoid potential conflicts of interest with its auditing division.
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British Gas leaks customers as big six feel the heat: British Gas lost 224,000 domestic customers during the first quarter of this year, underlining the difficulties faced by large utility providers as they cope with a falling power price and pressure to cut bills.
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Mervyn King quits Aston Villa board: Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, has resigned from the board of relegated Premier League football club Aston Villa — just two months after joining.
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FCA sees a sharp rise in cases being contested: The number of enforcement cases by the U.K. financial watchdog that are challenged has leapt 80% in one year, with consumer-credit and benchmark-manipulation cases largely responsible for the increase, research shows.
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Vattenfall offloads German lignite mines to Czech consortium: Swedish energy group Vattenfall is planning to offload its lossmaking East German lignite mines to a Czech consortium, in a move aimed at cutting its carbon emissions and reducing its exposure to low European electricity and coal prices.
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Netflix sets sights on 100 million subscribers: Netflix will hit 100 million subscribers “sometime next year”, according to Chief Executive Reed Hastings, after the digital home of Daredevil and Orange is the New Black reported its best ever quarter, aided by expansion into 130 new markets.
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Twitter’s new MD for China linked to Great Firewall: Twitter’s new managing Director for Greater China once led a company that developed internet filtering products in conjunction with China’s Ministry of Public Security, raising questions for a company that has been blocked in the mainland since 2009.
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Tencent’s Pony Ma pledges more than $2 billion to charity: The Chairman of one of China’s largest internet companies is looking to join the ranks of the technology world’s big philanthropists Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates with a more than $2 billion donation to charity.
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CityFibre delivers first profit ahead of schedule: CityFibre made a profit for the first time as the fibre broadband group benefits from demand for alternatives to BT’s Openreach network.
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Lex:
Oil and markets: do ha, ha: Opec Ministers, together handling the taps for a third of the world’s oil supply, represent the capitalists. Traders had hoped that this group, meeting in Doha over the weekend, might begin to close the spigot. But no agreement to freeze production could be reached, let alone a decision to make cuts.
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PepsiCo: healthy returns: PepsiCo calls it “future-proofing”. The food and drink juggernaut, which over the years has faced calls to break apart its snack and soda units, stands stoutly behind its conglomerate model.
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Verizon/Yahoo: raising the wreck: Cord-cutting, from the point of view of those who own the cords, is not about lost customers. It is about price. Once upon a time, a customer of U.S. telecoms or cable companies paid a monthly bill of, say, $120. The bill was segmented into $70 for a package of video channels, and $50 for broadband internet.
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Lombard:
Reckitt Benckiser should not be given an easy ride on pay: Back in the rollicking 18th century, the populace communicated displeasure with the dandies of the age by jostling their sedan chairs. In business, the effect is these days achieved by a censure vote against the Chief Executive’s pay — as at BP last week.
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External logic: HSBC is expected to reassure long-suffering investors this week with plans to replace Chairman Douglas Flint with an external hire, writes Kate Burgess. That presages the departure of Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver too.
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The Daily Telegraph
Lloyds’ profits set to escape U.S. banking crunch: Lloyds Banking Group is expected to escape the sharp profit falls which have afflicted U.S. banks this year, because it doesn’t have an investment banking arm.
Saudis are going for the kill but the oil market is turning anyway: The collapse of OPEC talks with Russia over the weekend makes absolutely no difference to the balance of supply and demand in the global oil markets. The putative freeze in crude output was political eyewash.
Economists blast ‘one-sided’ Treasury warning on Brexit: A Government report into the economic impact on the U.K. of leaving the European Union has been criticised as “one-sided”, with some economists claiming it is an exercise in “assuming away” any possible benefits from Brexit.
Hurricane Energy raises £52 million for summer oil drilling: Aim-listed oil explorer Hurricane Energy will push ahead with plans to drill two wells in the West of Shetland oil basin in the North Sea this summer after raising £52 million through a share issuance.
Counterfeit goods worth a quarter of a trillion pounds a year, says OECD: Fake goods now make up 2.5% of all international trade and responsible for roughly the same proportion of global economic output as Austria, according to a new study of pirated products.
Mixed victory for Lakehouse Founder who re-enters the struggling builder’s boardroom: The Founder and biggest shareholder in council housing contractor Lakehouse is returning to the boardroom in a bid to revive the company’s fortunes following a protracted boardroom battle.
Morgan Stanley profits sliced in half on investment banking rout: Profits at U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley dived by 54% in the first three months of the year as trading revenues and corporate deals dried up.
Watchstone rejects Truell bid: The company embroiled in one of the biggest scandals on Aim in recent years could disappear from London’s junior market after receiving a second takeover approach from a firm backed by City financier Edi Truell.
The Questor Column:
Energy Assets soars 40% on £200 million takeover: Alindi Capital Partners’ £200 million bid for Energy Assets, the smart meter company, means our long-standing Questor buy tip has delivered fantastic gains for investors. Energy Assets buys smart meters and then installs them for industrial customers. New legislation is driving smart meter installation. The meters generate annual rental fees that are inflation linked, and backed by blue-chip names such as npower, British Gas and Gazprom. We have long admired the shares, and first tipped Energy Assets at 317p in October 2013, at 401p in November 2014, at 475p in April last year, and again at 507p in November last year. Energy Assets are recommending the offer and have received support from 45% of shareholders already. Hold for the deal to close. Energy Assets at 682p-194p. Questor says “Hold”.
Reckitt Benckiser: Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser has enjoyed a strong start to the year and the shares are perfectly placed to deliver capital returns and healthy dividend income for investors. The biggest challenge investors face when trying to allocate their funds is to find a home that is protected from the insidious effects of inflation, while at the same time providing an income through dividends. Reckitt Benckiser is well placed. It has a strong portfolio of consumer brands where the pricing can steadily increase without hitting demand. This is achieved by heavily marketing and advertising the brands, while at the same time slightly tweaking the product with new designs to tempt customers to pay that little more. Reckitt has started the year well. Like-for-like sales increased 5% to £2.3 billion during the three months to the end of March. Reckitt is a solid generator of cash, with the ability to steadily increase prices in an inflationary environment. Reckitt is a company we would be happy to hold on to forever. The shares are by no means cheap, trading on 24 times forecast earnings, but that reflects their market position and track record. We expect some more deal making in the year ahead. Reckitt Benckiser at £68.68-133p. Questor says “Hold”.
The Guardian
George Osborne says U.K. would lose £36 billion in tax receipts if it left EU: George Osborne has said the British government would lose £36 billion in net tax receipts, equivalent to 8p on the basic rate of income tax or 7p on VAT, if the U.K. leaves the EU and negotiates a bilateral trade agreement with the bloc.
BHP Boss says Britain should remain in the EU: Businesses could face a decade of damaging uncertainty if Britain voted to leave the European Union, said the Chief Executive of BHP Billiton, Andrew Mackenzie.
Oil exporters’ failure to cap output shakes markets: A failure by leading oil producers to agree to a freeze on the level of production has led to volatile trading on global markets, with the price of oil slumping more than 5% at one point before recovering in a kneejerk reaction to Opec’s inconclusive meeting.
Brussels steel summit fails to find answer to oversupply problem: The world’s largest steel-producing nations failed to make a breakthrough on the oversupply problem that has thrown the industry into crisis, at a meeting in Brussels.
Bimlendra Jha to head up Tata Steel U.K.: Tata Steel has named the Executive who led the sale of its Scunthorpe works as the new head of the company’s operations in the U.K.
Sir Martin Sorrell: I’m worth every penny I’m paid: Sir Martin Sorrell has defended his bumper pay package, arguing that he has put three decades of his life into building WPP from a maker of wire baskets into a £21 billion global marketing business.
One in four Executives believes ‘corruption and bribery is rife in U.K.’: More than one in four business leaders believe bribery and corruption is rife in the U.K., according to survey conducted by accountants EY.
Daily Mail
New row over LSE takeover after Bosses behind bid appear to suggest headquarters could move to Germany: A row has erupted over a takeover of the London Stock Exchange after Bosses behind the bid appeared to suggest its headquarters could move to Germany.
House prices jump £3,800 in a month to a new high as buy-to-let stampede unleashes wave of ‘trader-uppers’: House prices jumped £3,800 in April to hit another high as buy-to-let investors rushing to beat the stamp duty hike last month had a knock-on effect of energising the higher sectors of the market, new figures have revealed.
Stand-off over steel crisis as China rejects cuts to supply and accuses West of making ‘lame and lazy’ excuses: China has stoked fury by accusing the West of lazy and lame excuses over the steel crisis.
Stock Spirits Boss Chris Heath forced out after investor’s coup: The Boss of troubled drinks firm Stock Spirits has stepped down following a boardroom coup.
Centrica Boss Iain Conn suffers shareholder protest over pay after the British Gas Owner loses 250,000 customers in just 3 months: The Boss of British Gas Owner Centrica has faced investor anger over his £3 million pay package during the company’s annual general meeting.
BP Boss Bob Dudley defends his acceptance of a controversial £14 million pay deal despite the oil giant’s massive losses: The Boss of BP has defended his acceptance of a controversial £14 million pay deal despite the oil giant’s massive losses.
Daily Express
Britain ‘set for bankruptcy amid £1.85trillion of hidden debt’: Future generations will inherit a bankrupt country, as the Government hides a staggering £1.85trillion of debt, a think tank has warned.
The Scottish Herald
Travel firm in its biggest-ever modern apprentice recruitment drive: Barrhead Travel has announced plans to recruit 75 modern apprentices this year to support its expansion.
Rum backed by Enrique Iglesias to be distributed by Scottish distiller: Ian Macleod Distillers has announced its appointment as the U.K. distributor for Atlantico Rum, which has singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias as a global brand ambassador and co-Owner.
Aggreko wins Zimbabwe power supply deal: Scottish company Aggreko has announced a three-year contract to provide 200 megawatts of diesel-fuelled power in Zimbabwe.
Craft beer producers strike supply deals with supermarket giant: Thirteen Scottish craft beer producers have struck new supply deals with supermarket group Asda, with a combined value of more than £850,000 annually.
Aberdeenshire farm business wins Aldi supply deal: Aberdeenshire business Mackintosh of Glendaveny has agreed a £100,000 deal to supply discount retailer Aldi’s 65 Scottish stores with cold pressed rapeseed oil.
HSBC mulling share buy-back: HSBC may buy back some of its shares, Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver has told shareholders in Hong Kong.
Borders-based pharma firm in Japanese-led rebrand: Scottish pharmaceuticals firm ProStrakan has rebranded as Kyowa Kirin as the company’s Japanese parent, which is valued around £6 billion on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, seeks to present a consistent image across the world.
RBS lends record £1 billion for sustainable energy projects: RBS loaned more than £1 billion to support sustainable energy projects in the last year.
Iqarus spreads its wings with Exmed acquisition: Aberdeen healthcare firm Iqarus has expanded its medical solutions offering with the acquisition of Exmed, a specialist in remote medical support, equipment and clinical education.
The Scotsman
Famous Grouse maker Edrington to close Perth office: Whisky producer Edrington, behind brands such as The Famous Grouse, is to close its Perth office where more than 100 staff are based.
Historic Carron works to close with loss of 200 jobs: Plans to axe a historic Scottish manufacturing plant have been unveiled with the loss of more than 200 jobs in a fresh blow for Scotland’s flatlining economy.
Menzies finance Chief Paula Bell quits to join Spirent: Logistics group John Menzies is parting company with its Chief financial officer, Paula Bell, who is set to join telecoms company Spirent.
City A.M.
IBM revenue drops for 16th consecutive quarter but beats expectations: The New York-based firm’s operating earnings per share fell 19% to $2.35 in the three months ended 31 March, but this still beat analysts’ estimates for $2.09.
U.K. private equity firm 3i sells German jeweller called Amor for £89 million: FTSE 100-listed 3i Group said that it’s sold German jewellery business Amor to another private equity firm for around £89 million.
Citigroup says commodities rout is finally over: Citigroup has called an end to the commodities rout which has sent shockwaves through the global economy, and pummelled the balance sheets of mining giants.
Housing association L&Q to build 200 homes after buying £150 million Wandsworth Town site: The housing association London & Quadrant (L&Q) has announced plans to build a further 200 homes in south London after buying a £150 million development site near Wandsworth Town Centre.
Spotify backer Accel moves headquarters in West End to The Crown Estate’s One New Burlington Place: East London may have stolen the tech spotlight in recent years as new and more established names flocked to get a foothold in Tech City, however, the West End has proved it is still getting its fair share of deals.
Pepsico’s revenue drops three%, but earnings beat analyst expectations: Pepsico’s reported revenue fell by 2.9% in its first quarter, but its earnings beat analysts’ expectations.
UK Oil and Gas Investments share price falls after buying Horse Hill stake from Angus Energy: UK Oil and Gas Investments (UKOG), the company behind the so-called Gatwick gusher, has bought up a stake in the Horse Hill well development, increasing its stake.
