The Times
U.S. economy hit brakes in first quarter: The American economy slowed almost to a halt in the first three months of the year, dealing a blow to hopes of a global rebound.
Fall in house prices suggests the market is turning, say experts: Every region in England and Wales except for London and the East registered a fall in house price growth between February and March, according to figures from the Land Registry, leading some industry figures to argue that the once booming house market is turning.
Europe has been bad for growth, say Brexit economists: A group of economists led by Margaret Thatcher’s former adviser has hit back at Treasury warnings about Brexit by claiming that Europe has been bad for growth and will threaten Britain’s future.
MPs attack Javid over handling of Tata Steel crisis: The business secretary was on the back foot and did not know what he was doing as the crisis at Tata Steel unfolded at the end of last month, MPs claimed amid scathing attacks on the competence of Sajid Javid.
Weir Group pay deal rejected by investors: Weir Group became only the second company in U.K. history to lose a binding vote on Executive pay in a stunning victory for big institutional shareholders.
Shire Chief’s 25% pay rise just gets through: Shire breathed a sigh of relief as it squeaked through a vote at its annual shareholder meeting, despite nearly half its investors rebelling against “excessive” payouts at the pharmaceutical company.
The Independent
Volkswagen Bosses to be paid £49 million despite record losses after emissions scandal: Volkswagen is to pay 12 current and former Managers €63.24 million (£49 million) for 2015, a year of record losses for the company following its global emissions scandal.
Tata Steel U.K. Chief raises ‘serious question marks’ over future of Port Talbot plant: The head of Tata Steel U.K. has cast further doubt over the future of the Port Talbot steel plant in Wales and said the Government would probably have to do more to help the firm find a buyer.
Sir Martin Sorrell defends his £70 million pay package for second time as revenues jump at WPP: Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP Founder, has once again defended his pay package estimated to hit £70 million, one of the biggest cheques in British corporate history.
Deutsche Bank profit beats expectations as legal costs fall: Deutsche Bank posted a surprise profit in the first quarter as legal expenses dropped and the trading businesses performed better than analysts forecast. The shares jumped.
Financial Times
Investors rise up in day of protest over U.K. Executive pay: Shareholders rose up against the pay of Britain’s Bosses on Thursday in the most dramatic day of protests against Chief Executive rewards in four years.
To Read More Click Here
Schroders posts fund inflows before AGM protest: Schroders has posted another quarter of net inflows into its funds ahead of what is expected to be a frosty annual general meeting for the U.K.’s largest-listed investment house later on Thursday.
To Read More Click Here
WPP warns of ‘cocktail’ of pressures on clients: A cocktail of pressures is making companies cautious about spending on advertising, WPP has warned.
To Read More Click Here
Shareholder pay revolt set to heat up: Shareholders are preparing for potential rebellions over Executive pay at four big U.K. listed companies on Thursday as tensions between investors and company Bosses intensify.
To Read More Click Here
Three pharma deals worth $45 billion reignite M&A boom: A trio of deals worth a combined $45 billion breathed fresh life into the healthcare mergers and acquisitions boom on Thursday as Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie and Sanofi all went shopping for assets.
To Read More Click Here
Delta Air Lines to buy 75 Bombardier C Series jets: Bombardier, the heavily-indebted Canadian aerospace group, recorded a significant step forward for its C Series aircraft programme on Thursday when Delta Air Lines said it would be the first U.S. airline to fly the aircraft.
To Read More Click Here
Comcast’s NBCUniversal buys DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 million billion: Comcast’s NBCUniversal has agreed to buy DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 million billion in a deal that will add popular characters including Shrek and Kung Fu Panda to its growing family-focused entertainment business.
To Read More Click Here
Ford profits more than double to $2.45 billion: Ford has reported the most profitable start to a year in its history, after surging North American sales and better performance in Europe helped its first-quarter net income more than double from $1.15 billion to $2.45 billion.
To Read More Click Here
Abbott to buy St Jude in $25 billion deal: Abbott Laboratories, the U.S. pharmaceuticals group, has agreed to acquire St Jude Medical for $25 billion, in the first mega healthcare deal following a three-month lull after last year’s frantic merger and acquisition activity.
To Read More Click Here
Lex:
Amazon: bouncy castle: Last quarter Amazon shares fell 13% after results; this time they rose 12%, erasing this year’s losses. For a company with a $300 billion market capitalisation, this volatility is unsettling.
To Read More Click Here
Saudi reform: not all about oil: Seen from the indebted rich world, Saudi Arabia’s problems look enviable. The kingdom has an enervating addiction to oil — but this has left it with minimal public debts and almost $700 billion of foreign reserves to ease the shift to a new economic model.
To Read More Click Here
PayPal: fuddy goody: There must be few days when Elon Musk regrets swapping the humdrum world of payment processing for moon rockets, sunbeams and electric cars. Especially as PayPal — which Mr Musk ran in 2000 before selling out to eBay and ploughing the proceeds into SpaceX, Solar City and Tesla — is now seen as a sluggish bureaucracy by ‘s thrusting start-ups.
To Read More Click Here
Lombard:
Investors sing blues over ‘broken’ Executive pay: Music hall singer Will Fyffe claimed that after a couple of drinks on a Saturday night Glasgow belonged to him. It did not, however, belong to Keith Cochrane of Weir Group at 2.30pm on a Thursday afternoon on the occasion of the engineering group’s annual meeting.
To Read More Click Here
Digging for victory: The U.K.-listed miner lies buried under $12.9 billion of debt, a legacy of woeful acquisitions made at the peak of the commodity boom. Chief Executive Mark Cutifani is now straining to get Anglo out of the dirt by shovelling off everything he deems superfluous.
To Read More Click Here
The Daily Telegraph
Goldman Sachs to be grilled over BHS collapse: Goldman Sachs looks set to be dragged into the growing storm over the collapse of BHS. The House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills select committee said it will launch an inquiry into what checks were taken to ensure Dominic Chappell and his consortium of mystery investors were the right buyers of the retailer.
Japan’s Abenomics ‘dead in the water’ after U.S. currency warnings: The Bank of Japan has been forced to retreat from further emergency stimulus after a blizzard of criticism at home and abroad, and warnings that extreme measures may now be doing more harm than good.
Investors intensify fight against high pay for poor performance with Weir and CRH amongst the victims: Investors intensified the fight against high pay for poor performance in a bruising day of shareholder activism at some of Britain’s biggest companies.
Barclays plots to cut investment bank pay: Barclays’ Chairman wants to cut investment bankers’ bonuses and told shareholders that the current period of market turmoil might provide the cover he needs to chop pay.
PwC picks Ellis as new senior partner: The accountancy giant PwC has picked a long-serving restructuring specialist to lead its U.K. and Middle Eastern business, ending Ian Powell’s eight-year reign at the top. Kevin Ellis has beaten three other candidates in a vote of partners to become senior partner from July.
Tommee Tippee maker Mayborn gets new Chinese parent as 3i sells up: The maker of the Tommee Tippee, the most popular baby feeding bottle brand in the U.K., has been bought out by one of China’s largest insurers, Ping An, for around £300 million, according to a source close to the deal.
Volkswagen to bet on electric cars following emissions-rigging scandal: Volkswagen’s Boss has sketched out a wide-ranging transformation of the company that will see it focus more on electric vehicles and services like car-sharing as it seeks to get past a scandal over cheating on diesel emissions tests.
The Guardian
Tycoon Richard Caring received £93 million in BHS dividends from Sir Philip Green: Richard Caring, the restaurateur and clothing tycoon, has emerged as one of the major beneficiaries of generous dividends paid by BHS in the early days of Sir Philip Green’s Ownership.
Buy-to-let landlords blamed for decline in DIY among under-30s: Britain’s young adults are no longer putting up shelves, hanging wallpaper or retiling bathrooms, according to figures that reveal DIY is in steep decline among the so-called “generation rent” who cannot afford to buy and fix-up their own home.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn sells entire stake in Apple: Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn says he had sold his entire stake in Apple Inc, citing the risk of China’s influence on the stock.
Amazon has most profitable quarter ever, but operating costs also rose: Amazon.com traditionally has only faced one obstacle in its quest to infiltrate every aspect of consumers’ lives: it often lost money.
Daily Mail
Facebook trounces Twitter in the first quarter of 2015 making a £1 billion profit compared to rival’s £54.6 million loss: Facebook has thrashed Twitter in the first part of 2015, making £1billion profit while its rival made a multi-million loss, writes Emily Davies.
Tullow Oil jumps nearly 8 million% after lenders agreed to extend West Africa-focused oil explorer’s loans: Shares in West Africa-focused oil explorer Tullow Oil rose nearly 8 million% after lenders agreed to extend its loans.
Howdens Joinery enjoys sales boom as families choose to update their kitchens rather than move home: Families putting in new kitchens rather than moving home have boosted sales for Howdens Joinery Group.
RBS shares hit as lender reveals it will suffer ‘significantly greater’ costs after fresh delay in Williams & Glyn sale: Royal Bank of Scotland shares were hit when the part-state owned lender revealed that it risks missing a deadline to sell its Williams & Glyn brand and will suffer ‘significantly greater’ costs as a result.
U.K. car production soars 10% with a new vehicle rolling out of a British factory every 16 seconds during March: A new car rolled out of a U.K. factory every 16 seconds during March as production soared by nearly 10%, official figures reveal.
Daily Express
New stamp duty tax hits house price growth: House price growth in Britain has fallen back after a brief surge ahead of a new stamp duty charge for second home buyers.
Europe on the brink: Greece begs EU and IMF “give us more money”: Greece’s debt crisis has reached boiling point after Athens lashed out at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and begged Europe to hold an emergency summit over loan negotiations.
Back off: Germany isn’t going to bully us to change tack says Euro Bank Boss: German politicians have suffered another broadside from the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) as relations between the two sides break down further.
The Scottish Herald
Glasgow-based law firm says it has grown business across Scotland: Law firm Harper Macleod has said it has increased its share of the Scottish market after it grew turnover 17% in the latest year.
Housing market remains very positive, says Taylor Wimpey: Taylor Wimpey has reported that the new build housing market remains “very positive” because of good accessibility to mortgages at competitive rates.
ESpark rolls out technology initiative across U.K.: Scottish incubator business Entrepreneurial Spark has partnered with EMC, an IT specialist listed in New York, to offer technology know-how to its entrepreneurs across the U.K.
Travel group offloads hotel beds database business: Travel group TUI is selling its Hotelbeds bedbank business for €1.2 billion in cash to the U.K. buyout business Cinven and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Beattie announces record profits: Communications agency Beattie said it generated record profits in 2015 of £590,000 – a threefold increase over the previous 12 months.
AG Barr Boss sees pay drop by a fifth: The Boss of Irn-Bru maker AG Barr saw his total pay drop 22% last year as the company opted not to pay annual bonuses after a below-target performance.
Pilot hydrogen power project for Orkney: ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company, has been awarded a five-year grant worth €2.27 million from the EU’s fund for “innovative green hydrogen systems in an isolated territory”.
Value of trade with EU far outweighs cost of membership, says accountancy body: The £8 million.5 billion a year it costs the U.K. to be part of the European Union is far outweighed by the value of the trading relationship, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
The Scotsman
Aggreko sticks to guidance amid market challenges: Temporary power provider Aggreko has suffered a 14% slide in underlying revenues for the first three months of the year in the face of “challenging” conditions in a number of its markets.
Wood Group wins $500 million BP contract in Azerbaijan: Energy services heavyweight Wood Group has secured a major $500 million (£343 million) contract to provide services for BP-operated offshore facilities in Azerbaijan.
Brew Lab and Deliveroo strike up coffee delivery deal: A new partnership between delivery firm Deliveroo and speciality coffee shop Brew Lab means fans of the drink across Edinburgh can have it brought to their door.
Lloyds hails ‘robust’ performance despite fall in profits: Lloyds Banking Group cheered a “robust” performance in the first three months of the year as it posted a 6% dip in underlying profits to £2.1 billion.
City A.M.
U.K. consumer confidence at highest level for two years, despite Brexit concerns: Consumer confidence in the U.K. has reached its highest level in nearly two years despite concerns over the EU referendum, new figures released show.
Linkedin share price shoots up as earnings and revenue for the first quarter beat expectations: LinkedIn’s share price shot up by over 15% in after-hours trading, as the company beat expectations in its results for the first quarter.
Baidu’s share price jumps in after-hours trading after the company reports revenue to have soared: Chinese search engine Baidu’s share price jumped almost five% in after-hours trading after the company reported strong financial results.
Pharma consolidation continues with two new massive deals: The latest round of consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry has seen a combined £24 billion worth of potential deals.
Virgin America reports better than expected results as lower fuel costs offset fall in revenue per available seat mile: Virgin America, currently awaiting a green light on the merger with Alaska Air Group, has posted better than expected first quarter results, helped by low fuel costs.
Gaming Realms make play for worldwide gambling machine market through agreement with Scientific Games Corporation: Online gambling game creator Gaming Realms has signed a global five-year machine licensing agreement with U.S. company Scientific Games.
Heron Tower Owners secure £400 million refinancing deal: The Owners of the Heron Tower in the City have agreed a £400 million refinancing deal with ING and German bank Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW).
Hunters Property hails strong maiden results as public company: Hunters Property has posted a jump in revenues and profits in its first set of annual results since floating on London’s junior AIM market last summer.
