The Times
Matalan turns to bank’s special measures unit: One of Britain’s biggest retailers has gone into its bank’s special measures division for struggling businesses as fears grow over the deterioration in its trading.
Global pay freeze and job cuts to save HSBC $5 billion: Misery among bank workers has been compounded by HSBC’s decision to impose a pay and hiring freeze on its 260,000 employees worldwide.
Britain goes on spending binge and puts extra £1.2 billion on credit: Consumer credit in Britain is growing at its fastest in almost a decade after £1.2 billion was piled on to cards and personal loans last month.
Go ahead for Clydesdale Bank to float: Clydesdale Bank has cleared the final big legal hurdle for its planned stock market flotation and separation from National Australia Bank.
Lakehouse shares fall 58% after profit warning: A caretaker of council houses has issued a profit warning less than a year after floating on the London Stock Exchange, triggering a steep fall in the company’s share price.
The Independent
China arrests peer-to-peer lenders Ezubao in $8 billion Ponzi scheme: More than 20 people have been arrested by the Chinese police in relation to a “Ponzi scheme” that reportedly took some 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) from nearly 1 million investors.
Guptas continue to show faith in U.K. steel with plans to list stake: The wealthy Indian Gupta family, which owns Liberty House Group and Simec, is looking at plans to float a minority stake in its international steel-to-industrial empire that could value the business at $1 billion.
Lenders to help pay for battle against illegal loan sharks: High cost lenders will face a new levy to fund a crackdown on illegal loan sharks, the Chancellor has announced.
Findus Crispy Pancakes to vanish from U.K. supermarkets: Findus, known for its Crispy Pancakes, is set to vanish from U.K.’s supermarkets after 50 years in the aisles, according to reports.
O2 and Three merger could result in higher bills for customers, Ofcom exec warns: The proposed merger between O2 and Three could push up mobile phone bills for users, according to Sharon White, Head of communications watchdog Ofcom.
Financial Times
Premier Oil urges action to maintain North Sea fields: Ministers should give regulators the power to force oil and gas companies to invest in ageing North Sea infrastructure, as the basin struggles to deal with $35-a-barrel oil, one of Britain’s biggest production companies has warned.
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Anglo American pressed on climate change disclosure: Shareholders owning 5% of Anglo American’s voting stock have united to table a resolution calling for increased transparency on how the mining group deals with climate change.
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Concord Resources agrees $250 million financing from Goldman unit: Concord Resources, a newly formed trading house that has launched into one of the worst commodity slowdowns in more than a decade, has secured a $250 million credit line from a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.
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Flood Re insurance scheme secures £2.1 billion backing: Hundreds of thousands of homeowners in the most flood-prone parts of Britain will have access to cheaper insurance following a £2.1 billion reinsurance deal.
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Zika declared a global emergency by WHO: Zika has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organisation as the number of suspected birth defects linked to the mosquito-borne virus rose into the thousands.
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Pharma M&A for 2016 continues to surge: Despite suffering a sharp sell-off in January, global healthcare companies’ appetite for mergers and acquisitions is far from over as deal activity has more than doubled to $56 billion compared with a year ago, according to a Financial Times’ analysis.
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Vallourec seeks to raise capital and cut production capacity: Vallourec has announced plans to halve its European production capacity and raise about €1 billion from selling equity as the French steel manufacturer becomes the latest victim of falling energy prices.
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Luxottica shares dive on management fears: Shares in Luxottica fell sharply on Monday on news that the luxury eyewear group has lost its third Chief Executive in 18 months.
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Alphabet eyes title of world’s most valuable company: Alphabet, the holding company for Google, looks set to become the world’s most valuable company when stock market trading begins on Tuesday, following the revelation that it poured $3.6 billion last year into “moonshot” projects such as driverless cars.
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Nokia shares slide as Samsung patent deal disappoints investors: Shares in Nokia dropped to their lowest level in almost six months after the financial terms of a deal to share its mobile phone patents with Samsung disappointed investors.
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Lex:
SFX Entertainment: facing the music: On Monday, SFX Entertainment, the electronic dance music festival company whose events drew hundreds of thousands to parks and stadiums, filed for bankruptcy.
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Luxottica: visionary: At Italy’s Luxottica, an exception has been made. In September 2014, the eyewear maker and retailer lost its long-time Chief Executive Andrea Guerra just as Founder and Chairman Leonardo del Vecchio took a more active role. The successor to Mr Guerra lasted 40 days.
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Lombard:
Aberdeen’s Anne should give M&G and industry new, clear options: Anne Richards, newly-appointed Chief Executive of M&G Investments, was once a research fellow at Cern, where nuclear physicists bang together subatomic particles in the cause of science.
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Smokin’ roll-ups: U.S. hedge fund Manager Jim Chanos has decried “platform companies” — which aim to consolidate an industry fast — as a manifestation of M&A bankers’ hunger for fees. The agreeable Mr Chanos is a little biased. He is a short seller whose Manhattan office is adorned with statues of bears.
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The Daily Telegraph
EasyJet to trial world’s first hydrogen hybrid plane: EasyJet passengers could be served waste water produced by their plane’s fuel system, after the airline unveiled plans to trial zero-emission hydrogen technology.
Time running out for China on capital flight, warns bank Chief: China is rapidly losing the confidence of global lenders and capital outflows risk turning virulent if the current policy paralysis continues, the world’s top banking body has warned.
Global market turmoil could hit U.S. growth, says Fed vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer: Global market turmoil could drag down U.S. growth and force the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold, its vice-Chairman has said.
U.K. bad bank scraps plan to sell mortgage process unit: Government agency U.K. Asset Resolution has struck a deal to outsource the servicing of its £30 billion of loans, largely made up of 228,000 former Bradford and Bingley, Mortgage Express and Northern Rock Asset Management customers.
Shell backs out of Malaysian refinery business: Royal Dutch Shell will sell a majority stake in its Malaysian refining business as part of a strategy overhaul to combat plummeting profits.
Twitter shares jump over 10% on talk of Marc Andreessen and Silver Lake takeover: Shares in Twitter leapt more than 11% at one stage on Monday amid reports that the company may be a takeover target for private equity group Silver Lake and famous Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen.
The Questor Column:
Hold BT as it awaits Openreach decision: The Government has cleared the takeover of mobile operator EE. But it is possible that the regulator Ofcom could still cleave Openreach from BT as part of the first formal review of the sector in more than 10 years. Openreach generated 28% of the group’s revenue, 42% of the earnings, and 52% of the free cashflow during the three months to the end of December. The loss of this business unit would, therefore, be a bitter blow. BT has launched a TV war against Sky. BT Sports began coverage of the Champions and Europa leagues from August at an annual cost of about £300 million. But the really big spending was on the Premier League, with the company’s costs for TV coverage jumping 71% under the three-year deal. BT paid £960 million for 42 games in the next PL season. The costs will hit next year’s financial results. BT’s takeover of EE completes the offering and, when combined with the existing mobile services, gives it control of over about 35% of the U.K. market. However, coming with a price tag of £12.5 billion, EE was not cheap. Even if Openreach was carved out of BT, investors would end up holding shares in both companies, or receive cash compensation. Stepping aside from the regulatory wrangling, BT’s third quarter was promising, with underlying revenue up 4.7%, and pretax profits jumping 24% higher. Encouragingly, the earnings growth was fastest in the consumer business. Going on past performance the most likely regulatory outcome for Openreach will probably be some sort of fudge, and given BTs strong U.K. position we’d be happy to hold. BT at 494.2p +9.35p. Questor says “Hold”.
The Guardian
Google overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable listed company: Google has become the world’s most valuable listed company after announcing that its global revenues rose 13% to $75 billion (£52 billion) last year, and the group’s tax rate fell to just 17%.
Sainsbury’s nears Home Retail Group takeover with £1.3 billion offer: Sainsbury’s is close to taking control of Home Retail Group after agreeing an increased price of £1.3 billion for the Owner of Argos.
Marquee Brands sells Ben Sherman putting 100 U.K. jobs at risk: About 100 jobs are at risk after Ben Sherman, the British clothing brand worn by rock stars in the 70s and 80s, was sold through a pre-pack administration deal.
Stelios Haji-Ioannou opens easyFoodstore with 25p offer: The Founder of easyJet has opened a discount food store that is selling everyday groceries for 25p each.
Morrisons cuts cost of basics as supermarket price war continues: Morrisons is to cut the prices of more than 1,000 products as the supermarket price war continues.
U.K. manufacturing data better than expected: British factories enjoyed a pick-up in activity last month but the flagging global economy took its toll on exporters and the manufacturing sector shed more jobs.
Daily Mail
Force is strong with Disney as it overtakes Lego to become world’s most powerful brand, thanks to success of Star Wars: The success of the latest Star Wars film has made Disney the world’s most powerful brand, according to research.
Barclays and Credit Suisse fined £102 million by U.S. authorities for secretive ‘dark pool’ trading operations: Barclays and Credit Suisse have been fined £108 million in the U.S. for their secretive ‘dark pools’ trading operations.
Rolls-Royce seals biggest engine deal for almost a year after Norwegian budget airline places £1.9 billion order: Rolls-Royce has sealed its biggest engine deal for almost a year after budget airline Norwegian placed an order for £1.9billion.
Boots axes 350 store Managers as part of cost cutting plan that will see staff retrained to work in call centres: More than 350 management roles at Boots will be lost as part of the health and beauty group’s cost saving plan.
Daily Express
Domestic demand helps U.K. factories but exporters still struggle: Britain’s factories ramped up production last month as work flowed in from domestic customers but exporters continued to struggle despite a weaker pound.
Tumbling share values see pension pots plunge by 13%: Stock market turmoil has wiped thousands off the value of a retirement income taken under new pension freedoms, a report has warned.
Welcome to austerity Saudi Arabia: Crashing oil prices sends economy into meltdown: Saudi Arabia faces financial ruin if it fails to undergo severe austerity measures in the coming years, as the oil price crash continues to rage, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Mayhem at Calais forces fall in ferry sailings: Migrant chaos on the shores of Calais saw sailings by British ferry firm to the continent plunge by 8.5%, industry data shows.
Brexit boost: Hitachi would stay in U.K. if Britons voted to leave Europe: Industry giant Hitachi has pledged to stay in the U.K. if Britons voted to leave the European Union (EU).
Ryanair slashes ticket costs to lure new customers: Budget airline Ryanair is set to chop tickets prices in the coming months to offer more travellers bargain getaways.
The Scottish Herald
Barr and Gibson sell The BIG Partnership to MBO team: Scottish public relations industry veterans Alex Barr and Neil Gibson are selling The BIG Partnership to six fellow board members in an £11 million deal that values their stakes at more than £4 million each.
Restaurant chain Di Maggio’s raises profits as turnover hits record: Scotland’s largest independent restaurant chain, Di Maggio’s, has unveiled a 25% leap in annual profits on record turnover of more than £30 million as it continues to expand.
Bowleven says $28 million Tanzanian deal was worth investigating after walking away: Bowleven has said the time spent on a $28 million gas deal in Tanzania was well spent although the firm chose to walk away from it.
Stirling insulation firm appoints new Director: Superglass, the Stirling-based insulation manufacturer, has appointed Swedish non-Executive Director Jan Holmstrom to its board.
Scottish Friendly still hungry for growth as it posts record sales: Scottish Friendly, Scotland’s largest financial services mutual, said it continued to seek merger and acquisition opportunities as it reported record sales of £25.5 million in 2015.
Contract win boosts shares at Glasgow shopping centre promotions firm: Shopping centre marketing specialist SpaceandPeople saw its shares jump 14% to 65.5p as it announced a contract win with British Land, one of the U.K.’s biggest shopping centre Owners.
U.S. growth keeps Murgitroyd moving: Murgitroyd, the Glasgow-based patent attorney, has seen half-year revenue top £20 million for the first time driven by continued growth in the U.S.
The Scotsman
Cirrus Logic in major Edinburgh office move: Chip designer Cirrus Logic is to embark on a major office letting at Edinburgh’s Quartermile regeneration scheme.
Aberdeen investment Chief Anne Richards to lead M&G: Anne Richards, Chief investment officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, is to leave the fund Manager this year to become Chief Executive of M&G Investments.
Stephen Millar appointed managing partner at CMS: Law firm CMS has appointed Aberdeen-based oil and gas lawyer Stephen Millar as its new managing partner.
iMultiply targets Executives with new search arm: A recruiter based in Edinburgh is launching a division specialising in top-level Executive roles after seeing growing demand in the sector – and has also announced high-end appointments in the business.
City A.M.
Oil prices: Africa’s big oil producers Nigeria and Angola seek World Bank support as rout bites: Two of Africa’s biggest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola, have been forced to seek help from the World Bank, as falling oil prices weigh on their currencies and balance sheets.
S&P cuts Shell’s rating and warns on other oil companies BP, Eni, Repsol, Statoil and Total: Standard & Poor’s (S&P) cut Royal Dutch Shell’s credit rating, while warning that there’s a “significant likelihood” those of several other European oil firms could follow.
Zoopla poaches Notonthehighstreet.com’s Finance Chief Andy Botha: Zoopla Property Group has gone shopping at Notonthehighstreet.com after poaching the online retailer’s Chief commercial & financial officer Andy Botha.
Standard & Poor’s downgrades BHP Billiton and places ratings on watch due to low commodity prices: The ongoing commodities rout has prompted ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) to lower its long term credit ratings on mining firm BHP Billiton from A+ to A, and place the company on CreditWatch with “negative implications”.
BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley appoints Lamar McKay as deputy in pre-results shake-up: BP has appointed Lamar McKay to the new post of Deputy Group Chief Executive in a shake-up of the oil giant’s top team.
EU referendum: European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi says deal to keep the U.K. in the EU would be a boost for Europe: European Central Bank (ECB) Boss Mario Draghi has said that securing a deal to keep Britain in the EU would provide a “confidence boost” to Europe.
Genel and Gulf Keystone Petroleum share price: Oil firms rise as KRG boosts confidence: Shares in London-listed oil firms Genel and Gulf Keystone Petroleum jumped on the news that they could recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in overdue payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
North Sea oil and gas: Scottish government unveils funding to boost research and development: The Scottish government unveiled £12.5 million funding to sustain research and development (R&D) in the embattled North Sea oil and gas industry, which has been pummelled by the oil price rout.
DLA Piper merges with Finland law firm Peltonen LMR to improve its presence in the Nordic region: An international law firm has revealed that it is venturing further into Nordic territory with its most recent merger move.
