Newspapers: The Times, Independent, FT, Telegraph, Guardian, Mail, Express, Herald 231215

The Times

Tata steelworkers given lifeline by vulture fund: The future of the giant Scunthorpe steelworks is looking brighter after it emerged that a London investment fund is in advanced talks to buy it from Tata Steel.

Oil price rises in spite of warm winter and stockpiles: Two of the biggest shareholders in BG Group have sold nearly £300 million of shares in recent weeks, in a sign of rising unease over its proposed £36 billion takeover by Royal Dutch Shell.

City giants pay only £20 million in corporation tax: Investment banks that made more than £3.5 billion in profits last year managed to pay just over £20 million in corporation tax, despite running much of their international operations out of London.

Conoco turns out lights on last Russian investment: One of the first big western oil companies to invest in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union has quit the country with the sale of its half of a joint venture with Rosneft.

The Independent

Cloud-based cardiac monitor tops start-ups in U.K.-Lebanon link-up: The company behind pioneering heart-monitoring technology praised by Barack Obama has landed in London as part of a scheme to nurture start-ups from Lebanon.

FastJet’s half-empty flights push share price down: FastJet’s shares dived 7% as the African low-cost airline warned that revenues would miss forecasts for this year and next after flying a succession of half-empty planes.

Google and Ford could be announcing a joint autonomous car project at CES: Rumours are swirling that Google is teaming up with car manufacturer Ford on a self-driving vehicle project, after Google spent years researching and developing their own autonomous car prototypes.

Britain created 45,000 tech businesses in 5 years: One new tech company has been created every hour for the past five years in the U.K., according to a new report.

Financial Times

Slater & Gordon faces potential class action suit: Slater & Gordon, the listed Australian law firm that bought most of U.K. peer Quindell earlier this year, is facing a potential class action law suit from shareholders following a collapse in its share price prompted by regulatory and financial difficulties related to the acquisition.

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Baxalta sounds out rivals as it weighs up Shire deal: Baxalta is sounding out potential alternatives to a takeover by Shire even as the U.S. biotech company remains open to a deal with its U.K.-listed suitor.

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Disney in talks to sell Fusion stake to Univision: Univision is in negotiations to take over the Ownership and operation of Fusion, the millennial focused U.S. cable channel and digital network that it formed two years ago with Walt Disney.

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Apple opens board nominations to large investors: Apple has amended its corporate bylaws to allow shareholders to nominate new board members, making it the latest in a string of U.S. companies to introduce a measure that offers greater control to investors.

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Lex:

U.K. banks: catching up with the spin: British banks like to boast that they are fixing themselves — cutting costs, shrinking balance sheets, lifting capital ratios and shaking off the legacy issues that still weigh on them years after the financial crisis. Their share prices tell a less flattering story. State-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland — which has come furthest since the crisis — has been the worst performer this year, down a quarter. Lloyds Banking Group was the best, but still down 6%. HSBC and Barclays are sandwiched between them.

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Tata steel: the China syndrome: Tata Steel may have found a buyer for its European long products business (girders, rails, and so on). It has long been determined to be rid of the unit. It is in exclusive sale talks with Greybull Capital, a turnround shop. This gives hope to the unit’s workers — many based in North Lincolnshire in the U.K. — who faced the possibility the business would be shut down.

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Men’s Wearhouse: dress to distress: Two years ago, two successful mid-tier U.S. clothiers Jos A Bank and Men’s Wearhouse began a hostile merger fight in which each tried to buy the other. Men’s eventually acquired Bank in an all-cash deal for $1.8 billion that closed in June 2014. The two chains were widely mocked (at least by the stylish financial news media) for their seemingly identical bland fashions.

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Lombard:

Safer to back riders than horses when resources and cash were cheap: Investment performance comes under scrutiny as the old year winds to a close. Reviewing returns, Lombard regrets backing a horse called Quantitative Easing that careered through the crash barrier at Cheltenham in March. Fortunately the loss was covered by a wager with a PR man in September on how fast his Chief Executive, who had gone to the wrong restaurant, could join us for breakfast.

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The Daily Telegraph

Shell plans big cost cuts on BG merger: Shell is planning to slash $7 billion (£4.7 billion) of costs, $8 billion of investment and 10,300 jobs in the next two years if shareholders approve its plan to buy BG, the energy giant has vowed.

Popular app that helps teens pass exams secures A* from investors: Gojimo, which is used by one in five GCSE and A-level students in the U.K., has raised £1.2 million in growth capital.

U.K. awash with oil as tankers forced to turn around: Unseasonably warm winter weather has left the U.K. with its highest October stockpiles of oil for the past five years, according to Government figures.

Boss of Central Rand Gold departs after it fails to find a buyer: The Boss of a South African gold miner has left the company after it failed to find a buyer.

Tom Hayes weighs Supreme Court battle after losing appeal: Tom Hayes is considering taking the appeal against his conviction to the Supreme Court, after the Court of Appeal rejected his bid for freedom.

China stimulus hopes lift global markets: Chinese government officials have cleared the way for fresh stimulus measures to halt the worsening economic slowdown in the World’s second largest economy, sending stock markets around the world higher.

The Guardian

Tata Steel eyes sale of long products business to investment group: Tata Steel is in talks to sell its European long products business to an investment group in a move that could safeguard 4,700 jobs and keep open several British plants threatened with closure.

Hundreds of Phones4u’s stores empty a year after collapse: More than half of Phones4u’s former stores remain empty just over a year after the mobile phone retailer went bust.

U.S. third-quarter GDP revised down as economy continues sluggish recovery: The U.S. economy grew at a slightly slower pace than first thought in the third quarter of 2015, continuing a sluggish recovery trend started after the last recession.

Japan set to unveil expansionary budget: The Japanese government is planning nearly £537 billion of record spending in the next fiscal year to shore up a fragile economy, with Tokyo also promising to rein in a bulging debt burden in an expansionary budget set to be unveiled this week.

Daily Mail

Silver screen success is gold dust for U.K. economy as tax relief helps to generate healthy returns and thousands of jobs: George Osborne has hailed the success of the British film industry this year, after movies such as Suffragette starring Carey Mulligan, helped to boost the economy.

BHP Billiton faces billions in fines after Brazilian dam fails killing at least 17: The death toll following the collapse of a dam at a mine controlled by BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale has risen to 17 with two still missing.

Triumph Motorcyles accelerates back into profit a year after crashing to an £8 million loss: Triumph Motorcycles has ridden back into the black, a year after skidding into an £8 million loss.

Former RBS trader pleads guilty to planning multi-million dollar fraud against U.S. investors: A former senior trader at Royal Bank of Scotland has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a multi-million-dollar fraud against investors in the U.S.

Daily Express

Customer confidence at a record high: Consumer confidence rose in December, capping the best year for British morale since records began more than 40 years ago, according to figures.

Osborne Xmas headache: Britain’s borrowing Increases and debt reaches £1.53 trillion: Britain’s debt has jumped by £71.9 billion over the current financial year to reach an incredible £1.536 trillion, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed.

Warning British homes’ eye-watering debt of £40 billion ‘could spark another financial crisis’: Overstretched homes with high levels of debt could trigger another financial crisis, critics have warned.

The Scottish Herald

Glasgow hotel revenues show year-on-year fall, hit by reduced events schedule: The Glasgow hotel sector experienced year-on-year falls in room rates and occupancy last month, a survey has shown.

North Sea downturn weighs on venerable engineering business: Woollard & Henry has suffered a 50% fall in profits as the downturn in the oil and gas sector weighed on the firm but has won more business in the paper-making sector amid challenging conditions.

Easy as ABC as merger creates new Glasgow digital agency: Glasgow-based Pursuit Marketing, which specialises in generating sales leads for businesses, has added a new string to its bow by bringing a newly-formed creative agency into the fold.

Clydesdale battles complaint backlog ahead of flotation: Clydesdale Bank is taking up to seven months to respond to complaints about mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) despite promising a year ago that it would respond within the statutory two months allowed.

Arria extends to Silicon Valley: Arria NLG, the natural language generation specialist, has entered into a partnership with Genpact, a New York-based developer of digital and cloud-based business processes.

Queen’s Park eyes savings with new signing: Queen’s Park has signed up with Thames Water Commercial Services for a supply contract which the football club forecasts could cut its annual bill by 12%.

The Scotsman

AAM’s Directors see bonus payouts fall after difficult year: Bosses at Aberdeen Asset Management saw their pay packages fall last year although the company’s six Executive board members were still awarded an average of more than £2.25 million each.

Renewables now biggest generator of electricity: Green energy projects have become the largest generator of electricity in Scotland for the first time, with renewables now producing more power than either nuclear or fossil fuels.

Oil giant Total fined £1 million for huge offshore gas leak: Oil company Total has been fined a record £1.125 million for a safety breach that led to a massive gas leak from an offshore platform.

Letting agents forecast lower property supply: Two out of five letting agents expect the supply of property to fall over the next five years, the highest rate this year, according to a research published.

Construction firm secures AECC contract: Construction consultancy Turner & Townsend has been selected to manage the construction of the new £333 million Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) near the city’s international airport.

City A.M.

Nike share price climbs as strong China sales offset drag from strong dollar: Bumper sales in China are boosting revenues at sportswear giant Nike. Global sales reached $7.7 billion (£5.2 billion) in the three months ending 30 November, a rise of four% compared with the same period last year, the company said.

HMRC national task force considering clampdown on eBay and Amazon over VAT fraud by overseas retailers: The government is considering forcing online retailers such as Amazon and eBay to pay for millions of pounds of unpaid VAT owed by small overseas traders that sell through their sites.

Boeing agrees $12 million settlement with U.S. regulators: Aircraft maker Boeing, which has over 2000 workers in the U.K., has agreed a $12 million (£8.1 million) settlement with U.S. regulators.

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