Newspapers: The Times, Independent, FT, Telegraph, Guardian, Mail, Express, Herald 051115

The Times

Shares tumble on fears of house market slowdown: Countrywide issued a profit warning, sending its shares plummeting and raising fears that the housing market is heading for a serious downturn.

Brexit would force Britain ‘back into recession’: Leaving the EU would plunge Britain back into recession, damage the country’s long-term growth potential and drive up government borrowing, Morgan Stanley has warned.

Pension enrolment fills coffers at L&G: Legal & General is on course to manage the retirement savings of another 700,000 people being enrolled in workplace pensions for the first time, the company said.

Payday lender to compensate 4,000 vulnerable customers: The company behind the QuickQuid and Pounds to Pocket websites has become the fourth payday loans group to be censured by regulators for lending to people who could not afford to repay the money.

‘Lazy’ bank plans under fire by MPs: MPs have accused the Competition and Markets Authority of laziness after widespread criticism that its proposals to boost choice in the banking market did not go far enough.

EU ban on Britain’s ‘dirty’ coal forces power stations into desperate sell-off: Power stations are scrambling to sell a mountain of nearly a million tonnes of British coal in advance of new European rules that effectively will ban it from being burnt from the start of next year.

Vedanta scraps dividend amid commodity slump: The slump in commodity prices has forced Vedanta to scrap its dividend. The oil and mining group, which operates in India and Africa, announced a first-half profit of £244 million, down 62%, after a 12% decline in revenues.

We’ll go bust if rights issue fails to win support, Lonmin warns: Lonmin may go bust as soon as next month if shareholders fail to vote through a $400 million rescue rights issue.

Lego and dolls top low-tech Santa wishlist: Christmas will have a retro feel this year as children shun technology in favour of toys that they can pick up and play with, according to retail experts.

Social rent cut ‘could worsen housing crisis’: More than 1.5 million social housing tenants will pocket £420 a year each from George Osborne’s social rent cuts, which threaten to deepen the country’s chronic housing crisis, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

Good grief! Fox revenue falls $406 million: The media giant 21st Century Fox unveiled a 6% fall in revenues for the last quarter, sending its shares down.

The Independent

London property developer Galliard warns of overnight queues to buy a £199,000 studio in London: A London property developer has said it is expecting hundreds of people to queue overnight to buy property in a Houndslow development that goes on sale on Thursday.

BrewDog’s ‘transgender beer’ undermines the diversity of the trans movement, Stonewall says: A “transgender beer” launched by BrewDog has come under fire from the LGBT community for using language that does not reflect the diversity of the movement.

Ministry of Sound launches Spotify rival streaming app: Ministry of Sound has launched an assault on the online streaming market with a new service it hopes will tempt music fans away from Spotify and YouTube.

U.K. shop prices fall for 30th consecutive month in the run up to Christmas: Low commodity prices and strong competition amongst retailers dragged prices in British shops down for the 30th consecutive month in the run-up to the Christmas trading period, according to a sector survey.

Financial Times

U.K.’s high-wire act on power supplies laid bare: The scale of Britain’s energy supply crunch was laid bare as an unexpected outage of power plants sent wholesale electricity prices soaring and prompted the grid operator to call for the first time ever for industry to reduce power.

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Marks and Spencer sales fall underscores turnound challenge: Marks and Spencer said underlying sales of clothing and home furnishings fell 1.9% in the three months to the end of September, underscoring the challenge of turning round the U.K. retailer.

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TalkTalk expected to warn over effects of cyber-attack: TalkTalk is expected to warn investors next week that the cyber-attack on its website that exposed thousands of people to fraud has affected customer growth.

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L&G’s annuity sales hit by pensions change: Sale of annuities are set to decline even further after George Osborne’s pensions shake-up triggered a 75% fall, Legal & General’s Chief Executive has warned.

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Time Warner earnings outlook revives media industry fears: Time Warner set off a new wave of investor anxiety over the changing economics of television, sending shares in the biggest U.S. media companies lower after it cut its 2016 profit forecast.

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Dropbox Chief defends lofty valuation: Dropbox has sought to quell worries that it is failing to live up to its lofty $10 billion valuation, amid growing concerns that the most highly valued private tech companies, or “unicorns”, are caught up in a bubble.

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Facebook links with media groups to launch news app: Facebook is preparing its latest push into news with a new standalone app called Notify that is scheduled to launch to next week, with content from dozens of media partners including Vogue, the Washington Post and CBS.

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Telecom Italia’s fate lies in the hands of French tycoons: Takeover speculation has pushed shares in Telecom Italia near a seven-year high after two French billionaires increased their stakes last month to become the group’s largest investors.

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Lex:

Virtu Financial: a fraction late: Virtu Financial, which had come to embody the controversial business model, delayed its planned listing in 2014 by a year to let the heat subside. It finally listed its shares in April, and they have rallied 30% in the past 6 months. But even after reporting surprisingly strong trading revenue growth, of 34%, the stock fell nearly a tenth.

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Telecom Italia: plus ca change: Foreign tourists love Italy, partly because life there seems to stand still. Traditional ways linger on. Its phone company, Telecom Italia, has been similarly slow moving. Debt stays high, investment stays low, profits fall.

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ING: sticking with it: As European recovery stories go, ING has been compelling. Forced to sell its insurance business and other assets because it took Dutch state aid, it is a pure bank now. Anyone who backed its potential to recover has been amply rewarded. And they have outperformed those of other European banks this year.

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Lombard:

Glencore sell the family silver: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. While these were some of Julie Andrews’ favourite things, nothing cuts it for FT readers quite like a weird corporate finance deal.1` Glencore has struck a fine example of the latter by agreeing to sell more than 140 million ounces of silver for more than $900 million.

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Political hack: Cometh the TalkTalk hacking controversy, cometh a Commons select committee appearance for Chief Executive Dido Harding. The culture, media and sport committee has published its official call for evidence, presaging a wigging for the embattled baroness next month.

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The Daily Telegraph

Competition probe into banks was ‘lazy’, say MPs: Competition regulators are “lazy” and “passing the buck” as their probe into the banking market failed to find crucial information on the cost of bank accounts, according to MPs.

VW shares plunge as diesel emissions scandal spreads to petrol engines: Shares in Volkswagen plunged by 10% after the German auto giant admitted the diesel emissions scandal had widened to include petrol engines.

U.S. Fed Chairman Janet Yellen says December rate rise on the table: The Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve has paved the way for an interest rate rise next month, saying policymakers were poised to tighten policy if data continued to show U.S. growth remained solid.

Heathrow hints at night flight cuts for third runway: Heathrow Executives have suggested to MPs that they are prepared to cut night flights if a third runway is built, but refused to commit to a full ban on early morning landings at the west London airport.

Lifetime mortgages and workplace pensions boost Legal & General: Legal & General’s pursuit of new business to adapt to the British pension reforms has lifted its cash generation by 14% to £943 million in the first nine months of the year.

Marks & Spencer soothes shareholders with pay-out despite sales slip: Marks & Spencer is bracing itself for further falls in sales of its clothing ranges as it puts profitability at the top of its priorities.

Star Wars and James Bond studio Pinewood eyes Chile complex: Pinewood Studios, known for making movies from James Bond to Harry Potter, is eyeing Chile as the location for its first South American facility.

The Questor Column:

Tracsis still a buy on solid annual results: Tracsis, the traffic and transport analysis group, reported a solid, if slightly uninspiring, set of annual results. The shares subsequently dropped 2%, but we still think the growth prospects look good for the long term, based on healthy cash generation. Tracsis has a five-year deal with Network Rail, which runs until 2018, to monitor points on tracks – called remote condition monitoring – to try to prevent them failing. The revenue can be lumpy, and last year it fell to £3 million, from £5.8 million the previous year. However, John McArthur, Chief Executive, is confident its financial performance should smooth out. The traffic analysis business was expanded through the £2.6 million purchase of North-Yorkshire based SEP Events at the end of September. The long-term nature of the software contracts makes Tracsis very cash generative, and cash levels increased to £13.3 million at the end of July, from £8.9 million a year earlier. The shares are highly valued, trading on 19 times forecast earnings per share of 22.8p, as reported pretax profits are expected to increase more than 20% to £6.1 million. Tracsis at 435p -7½p. Questor says “Buy.”

Wincanton shares still cheap as dividend on the cards: Wincanton, the U.K.’s largest haulier, has agreed the £60 million sale of its records management business. The deal is the latest stage of a multi-year turnaround that leaves the shares well placed for further gains. The records management business, which generated £3.5 million in profits from revenue of £22.4 million last year, will be bought by Restore, the specialist document storage group. The lower debt levels will also reduce interest repayments, making a return to dividend payments more likely this year. Market expectations are for a 5p dividend this year, the first since the payout was cut in 2011. The deal with Restore is another step on the road to recovery after Wincanton reported rising profits and revenues in its most recent annual results. The haulage and logistics business is well diversified, with 12% of sales coming from construction, 13% petrol tankers, 15% fast-moving consumer goods, 25% groceries and 25% general merchandise. The balance comes from other sectors. That said, the shares are still only trading on a price-to-earnings ratio of 10 times, even though the loss of the records management business will knock about 10% off this year’s earnings to give 19p per share. Wincanton at 202¾p +¼p. Questor says “Buy”.

The Guardian

Janet Yellen says December interest rate hike is still on the table: A December interest rate increase is still on the table, U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday during testimony before the House financial services committee.

Deutsche Bank fined $258 million for violating U.S. sanctions: German banking giant Deutsche Bank will pay $258 million in fines for doing business with U.S.-sanctioned countries like Iran and Syria, U.S. regulators said Wednesday.

Facebook now averages over one billion users a day: Facebook now averages 1.1 billion users per day, according quarterly results announced on Wednesday, which also revealed the company made more money on mobile advertising alone than the whole business took in during the same period last year.

Campaigners urge George Osborne to resist RBS sell-off: George Osborne is being urged to stop the selloff of Royal Bank of Scotland shares at a loss before a parliamentary debate on the future of the bailed-out bank.

Daily Mail

Shares in Glencore jump almost 5.4% after it promises shareholders its cost-cutting and asset sales are on track: Shares in debt-laden mining and trading giant Glencore jumped almost 5.4% after it promised shareholders its cost-cutting and asset sales are on track.

Sterling soars to 11-week high against euro on mounting speculation that interest rates are to rise within a matter of months: Sterling soared to an 11-week high against the euro on mounting speculation that interest rates are to rise within a matter of months.

National Grid asks power stations to ramp up electricity generation over fears supplies will fall short because of technical breakdowns: National Grid has asked power stations to ramp up their electricity generation over fears supplies would fall short because of technical breakdowns.

U.S. cosmetics and skincare giant Estée Lauder reveals Brits love a bit of slap and sales are ‘booming’ in U.K.: U.S. cosmetics and skincare giant Estée Lauder revealed Brits love a bit of slap and sales are ‘booming’ in the U.K.. The Owner of such cosmetics brands as Bobbi Brown, M.A.C and Clinique as well as its own Estée Lauder lines, reported a 36% jump in profit to £200.9 million in the third quarter.

Daily Express

Vladimir Putin named the most powerful person in the world in Forbes 2015 list: Russian President Vladimir Putin has been unveiled as the most powerful person in the world in the Forbes list 2015, shunting the President of the United States out of the top two for the first time in history.

Pension freedoms a ‘ticking time bomb that could leave retirees penniless in 10 years’: Britain’s pensioners could wipe out their savings pot in just 10 years as a result of the freedoms introduced earlier this year, a report has warned.

The Scottish Herald

Fraser of Allander warns Scottish economy has slowed more than U.K., and urges rethink on tax credit cuts: Growth in Scotland has begun to “diverge quite markedly” from overall U.K. expansion as low oil prices weigh, and the Chancellor must reconsider swingeing cuts in tax credits, a leading economic think-tank has warned.

Shares slide at Wetherspoon on profits warning: Shares in pub operator JD Wetherspoon have dropped by nearly eight% after Boss Tim Martin warned that increased labour costs may cut profits in its current financial year.

Stagecoach eyes further European Megabus expansion: Stagecoach is planning to ramp up the expansion of its low-cost Megabus unit in Europe with a particular focus on expanding its footprint further France.

Gilligan takes charge of Tennent’s wholesale team: Rangers Director John Gilligan has returned to a high-profile position with Tennent Caledonian Breweries (TCB).

Glasgow diamond merchant on course for record year: Diamond Merchant Chisholm Hunter has said it wants to open more stores as the company heads for a year of record sales.

The Scotsman

Scotch whisky sector hope as exports slide slows: Signs have emerged that the pressures on the Scotch whisky industry may be easing, with new figures showing the decline in exports has slowed sharply.

Call for return to pre-recession housebuilding levels: Scotland needs to build at least 100,000 homes suiting a range of needs by the end of the next Scottish Parliament to tackle Scotland’s housing crisis, the industry is to be told.

Chisholm Hunter ‘may expand’ amid strong turnover: Jeweller Chisholm Hunter said it is “continuously looking for expansion opportunities” both in its current and new locations after achieving record turnover in the year to March.

RBS deny falsifying records to pay less compensation: Royal Bank of Scotland has denied allegations that it falsified documents in order to pay lower levels of compensation to small businesses which were mis-sold complex interest rate-hedging products.

City A.M.

Facebook revenue surges up 41% to $4.5 billion for third quarter, sending share prices soaring in afterhours trading: ​Facebook has reported revenue of $4.5 billion (£2.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2015, up 41% from $3.2 billion for the same period the year before.

Electronics company Qualcomm profits crash 44% to $1.1 billion for its fourth quarter of 2015: Electronics company Qualcomm announced net income for its fourth quarter of 2015 had shot down 44% to $1.1 billion (£710 million) from $1.9 billion for the same period last year.

Candy Crush creator King Digital Entertainment sees revenue fall seven% in third quarter: Revenue for King Digital Entertainment has taken a knock for its third quarter results, revealed, dropping seven% to $480 million (£312 million), compared to $514 million for the same period in 2014.

M&G Investments completes £247 million refinancing for 33 Lightsource solar parks: M&G Investments, Prudential’s European asset-management arm, has completed a £247 million refinancing for 33 solar parks.

OneSavings Bank results: challenger bank reports a rise in its loan book: Challenger OneSavings Bank reported a rise in its loan book for the first three quarters , saying it continued to expect full-year growth to be a “few percentage points ahead” of the 29% growth delivered last year.

Early Bird gets the worm on Crowdcube and beats £300,000 fundraising target with two days to spare: Early Bird, the healthy snack delivery service, has beaten its £300,000 fundraising target two days ahead of schedule on crowd funding site Crowdcube.

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