The Times
Blackpool leisure tycoon is first among his peers: Blackpool’s three piers are back under single Ownership after the Owner of the seaside resort’s North Pier snapped up the Central and South piers for an estimated £8 million.
MasterCard ‘overcharging in Europe’: MasterCard has been accused of overcharging European stores for processing the transactions of cardholders from other countries.
Mystery of £7 million payment in Irish ‘bad bank’ sale: Police in Northern Ireland are investigating an allegation that a politician may have been in line to benefit by up to £7 million as a result of a transaction involving the Republic of Ireland’s “bad bank”, the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
Barclays’ investment Chief in clash with Jenkins to retire: The head of Barclays’ investment bank, who clashed with Antony Jenkins, the ousted Chief Executive, is expected to leave the group by next March as part of the latest shake-up under John McFarlane, the new Executive Chairman.
New banks hit out at ‘penalising’ profit tax: Challenger banks vented fury at the budget’s introduction of a new tax on profits that will hit all but the smallest lenders.
Drinks group joins £200 million bidding war: The retailer behind the Bargain Booze and Wine Rack off-licence chains confirmed that it was among the bidders in the estimated £200 million auction of Matthew Clark, the drinks wholesaler.
Uniqlo sets great store by massive expansion: It could be a bold business move, or foolhardy. Either way, the Owner of the Uniqlo fashion brand has brushed aside concerns about China’s economy, and stock market, and is to open even more stores in the country.
Primark fashions its arrival in Italy with new Milan store: Primark has made it to the spiritual homeland of fashion — Italy.
Buy-to-let change will not harm us, says Barratt Chief: The new Boss of Britain’s biggest housebuilder has dismissed concerns that cuts in tax breaks for buy-to-let mortgages could hit demand in the sector.
Music streamers in bid to outdo Spotify: Two streaming companies have been brought together by a shared investor with the hope of creating a specialist able to target emerging markets that Spotify and Apple Music have yet to crack.
The Independent
One-third of shop workers to miss out on ‘living wage’ rises: Around one million workers in retail could miss out on the Government’s so-called living wage pay rise to £9-an-hour by 2020 because they are under 25 years old, the Independent understands.
China slaps a selling ban on investors to halt market slide: China’s stock market regulators have banned big investors from selling shares in their latest attempt to halt the plunge in the country’s markets.
Mortgage lenders and advisers are still letting customers down: A year after tough new rules were introduced to clean up the mortgage market, the City watchdog has released the findings of a review saying that in almost two-fifths of cases it couldn’t work out why advisers and lenders recommended certain loans.
Boots cleanses itself in £140 million Liz Earle deal: The Owner of the high street chemist Boots has bought the U.K. skincare brand Liz Earle for £140 million.
Cisco commits $1 billion to backing Britain’s tech stars: The U.S. technology giant Cisco has vowed to invest $1 billion (£650 million) in the British tech industry over the next five years.
Financial Times
Barclays sets out plans to ‘unleash revenue growth’: Barclays is ramping up its lending to mortgage and credit card customers and investing more in its investment banking advisory and African businesses, to help meet stretching growth targets set by its new Chairman.
Bwin.party confirms 110p a share offer from Aim rival GVC: Bwin.party, the Gibraltar-based online gaming group, has confirmed that it is has received an initial offer of 110p per share from its smaller Aim-listed rival GVC Holdings.
Iran talks in deadlock, says Kerry: The final stage of nuclear talks between world powers and Iran is in deadlock, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry has warned, with a short time to go until U.S. legislation will kick in that will strengthen the position of hawks opposed to the deal in Washington.
Honda recalls another 4.5 million vehicles for Takata airbag faults: Honda is expanding its recall to include newer vehicles fitted with potentially faulty airbags made by Takata, bringing the total for Japan’s third-largest carmaker to some 24.5 million vehicles.
InternetQ hints at music streaming sale: InternetQ has hinted at a sale of its music streaming business Akazoo, after spinning it off into a separate unit with £12 million in backing from investment groups Penta Capital and Toscafund.
Procter & Gamble sells beauty arm to Coty in complex deal: Procter & Gamble has agreed to spin off Clairol and 42 other beauty brands to Coty in a complicated $12.5 billion-plus deal that largely completes the divestitures promised by the world’s largest consumer goods company as it narrows its focus on its biggest businesses.
Strong sales in Asia lifts Fast Retailing: Fast Retailing said on Thursday that a sharp rise in profits in the nine months to May had been buoyed by strong sales in China and other parts of Asia, where its operations are expanding rapidly.
PepsiCo drinks and snacks sales rise in North America: PepsiCo raised its full year earnings forecast after delivering second quarter profit that topped analysts’ expectations.
T-Mobile U.S. gives customers free calls in Mexico and Canada: T-Mobile U.S. is to let its customers make calls and use mobile data when travelling in Mexico and Canada without incurring roaming fees, the latest in a string of offers the smallest U.S. wireless carrier has introduced to help maintain its blistering growth rate.
Network Rail subsidies worth £3.9 billion to be handed to train groups: The moves strip Network Rail of £3.9 billion a year in government subsidy and hand the money to private train operating companies such as Virgin and Stagecoach. They will in turn pay higher fees to Network Rail for using the tracks.
Lex:
P&G/Coty: Beauty in the eye of the beholder: On Thursday, P&G finally announced it would offload several fragrance, hair colour and make-up brands to Coty in a transaction valued at $12.5 billion. The businesses’ $6 billion in revenue roughly equals that of Coty, making it difficult for Coty to buy them for cash. This is not a conventional “spin-off”, where all P&G shareholders would get a stake in the beauty business and keep their P&G stake. Instead it is a “split-off”: shareholders will have to choose if they want to keep their interest in what remains of P&G or go along into the new, bigger Coty. The June P&G rumours drove up Coty’s shares by another quarter. The new Coty will now be the third-largest beauty products company in the world. It says the deal will boost earnings per share by a third and it is confident enough in that prediction to raise its dividend by 250%. Despite its divestments, P&G’s growth remains sluggish, as reflected in returns in recent years. But for shareholders looking to join Coty, the easy money seems to have been made already.
Barclays: investment bank blues: Each of the four big bank Bosses that have been unseated this year — from Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche and Standard Chartered — left behind an investment banking arm that needs to shrink and cut costs. Following this week’s defenestration of Barclays Chief Antony Jenkins, fixing a weak capital position relative to peers and an investment bank that does not cover its cost of capital are the prerequisites for a rising stock price. The first can be done quickly; the latter will take time. Worse, even as it is scaled back, the unit still consumes a huge whack of capital. If old businesses in run-off mode are included, almost half of the bank’s equity supports investment banking. The retail and corporate bank, by contrast, is more profitable and needs only a third of group equity. The balance sheets of the core investment banking businesses have shrunk, as Barclays moves away from its historic bias towards fixed income trading and related activities that, while providing rich upfront income, entailed hefty long-term capital commitments. Barclays is also prioritising investment in origination and distribution over trading. Its credit and rates businesses use two-thirds the capital they did a year ago, for example.
U.K. dividends: a classical tax grab: In his summer budget this week George Osborne, the U.K.’s finance Minister, pledged to scrap a system of tax credits on dividend payments that dates back to 1973, replacing it with a tax on dividend income offset by an annual tax-free allowance. This is a straightforward revenue-raiser. In tax terminology it takes the U.K. away from an “imputed” system and closer to the “classical” system of corporate taxation used in the U.S. Britain’s shift back to the classical system is unlikely to have the same result. In the 1970s, when imputed taxation was introduced, corporation tax was sky high. Now it is low by international standards: 20%, and set to fall further. U.K. companies were domestically focused and owned largely by British individuals. Now they are global and overwhelmingly owned by institutions, many of them foreign, whose dividend income is not taxed. And unlike their U.S. peers, U.K. finance Directors who are mindful of their investors’ tax situation still have an option at their disposal: larger distributions to shareholders are frequently structured to return capital rather than pay a dividend, enabling investors to take advantage of a lower tax rate and a more generous annual allowance.
Lombard:
Memento mori: Nervous Nellies at the Prudential Regulation Authority have asked general insurers to war game disasters. These range from “an earth-directed solar storm” to terrorists planting a bomb outside Lloyd’s. Underwriters are also asked to imagine their complete financial wipe out through a grown-up version of the toddler’s question: “Daddy, what’s it like being dead?” The stress tests are less alarming than those applied to banks, because they are not expected to trigger capital raisings. Instead they should make insurers work through the specifics of some of the “once in 200 year” disasters for which they are capitalised. Findings will, however, feed into considerations by the PRA about whether to include insurers in rigorous stress testing of the whole financial system. Now that really is a scary scenario.
Down, out: Keith Down, finance Director of transport group Go-Ahead is going ahead and leaving. It is the latest spin of a merry go-round of finance Director jobs this summer. Mr Down is destined for Dunelm. David Stead, the current numbers wrangler of the soft furnishings group, is heading for Dunroamin’, if that is what his retirement property is called.
The Daily Telegraph
Greek deal in sight as Germany bows to huge global pressure for debt relief: Germany is at last bowing to pressure as a chorus of countries and key institutions demand debt relief for Greece, a shift that could break the five-month stalemate and avert a potentially disastrous rupture of monetary union at this Sunday’s last-ditch summit.
FCA drops three-year probe into ‘London Whale’: The Financial Conduct Authority has dropped its three-year investigation into the “London Whale” trader who racked up $6.2 billion-worth of losses at one of the world’s leading banks.
Libor still not repaired, warns global watchdog: Three years on from the Libor-rigging scandal, the key interest rate benchmark is still not fully repaired, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) warned.
Bank of England keeps interest rates steady as fears of Grexit grow: The Bank of England has kept its interest rates at their historically low level for the 76th month running, as the threat of a Greek exit from the Eurozone weighs on the economic outlook.
Challenger banks to lobby George Osborne over controversial new tax: The U.K.’s newest banks, established in the wake of the financial crisis to inject more competition into the banking industry, are launching a campaign in a bid to get the Government to exempt them from a potentially disastrous tax introduced in the Budget.
Balfour Beatty issues seventh profit warning in under three years as construction troubles continue: Balfour Beatty has issued its seventh profit warning in two-and-a-half years as the infrastructure group continues to dig up fresh problems with long-running contracts.
China markets rebound as it curbs investors from selling shares: Chinese equity indexes rebounded on Thursday, with more than half of mainland stocks suspended as regulators scramble to halt a £2.5tn rout. The yen weakened, while copper and oil rose.
Greece finally admits €2 billion gas pipeline deal with Russia: Greece has admitted for the first time it is planning a €2 billion gas pipeline with Russia.
The price the Greeks are willing to pay to stay in the euro: The Greek government is hours away from finalising its proposals for a three-year rescue programme from its creditors.
The Questor Column:
Buy Unite for student property returns: Investors can benefit from the growing demand for university accommodation through buying shares in Unite. The FTSE 250-listed company has managed to build up a dominant position in the U.K. student property market. Unite’s U.K. Student Accommodation Fund (U.S.AF), in which it holds a 22% stake, was valued at £1.98 billion at the end of the second quarter – a 4% rise on the same period last year. Property investing is ultimately a yield play. Borrowing cheaply and delivering stable rental income will generate profits and see the value of the property portfolio increase. The shares are backed by the underlying value in the two property portfolios. Analysts from JP Morgan Cazenove estimate the net asset value of Unite will be about 550p per share at the end of December. Unite’s dividends have more than doubled from 4.8p in 2013 to 11.2p last year, and are expected to increase by more than 15% each year for the next two years. The shares are up 66% since our “buy” recommendation on August 30, 2013. However, we still think there is more steady capital growth to come, so retain that advice. Unite at 595.5p+13p. Questor says “Buy.”
The Guardian
Osborne’s new minimum wage will attract EU migrants, says Thinktank: The new national living wage (NLW) is likely to make the U.K. more attractive to EU migrants, according to a respected Thinktank
Budget means HSBC and Standard Chartered banks will pay £1 billion less in tax: HSBC and Standard Chartered – two of the U.K.’s biggest international banks – will pay more than £1 billion less tax a year as a result of the summer budget, according to estimates from City analysts.
Greece debt crisis: Athens accepts harsh austerity as bailout deal nears: The Greek government capitulated on Thursday to demands from its creditors for severe austerity measures in return for a modest debt write-off, raising hopes that a rescue deal could be signed at an emergency meeting of EU leaders on Sunday.
Sainsbury’s faces equal pay battle with female shop floor workers: Sainsbury’s is facing legal action from four female shopfloor workers who claim they are paid less than men to do equally valuable jobs at the supermarket chain.
IMF cuts 2015 growth forecast for U.S., U.K., Japan and Canada: The International Monetary Fund has cut its global growth forecast for 2015 after a harsh winter led to a weak start in the U.S.
Union warns Royal Mail over threat to working conditions: The Communication Workers Union has launched a campaign against what it claims are threats to working conditions and services at Royal Mail from privatisation and regulatory intervention.
Daily Mail
Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina lands top job at Walgreens Boots Alliance as long-standing Boss Greg Wasson is ousted: Stefano Pessina, the billionaire Boss behind Boots the Chemist, has completed his boardroom coup at Walgreens Boots Alliance and is to become its new permanent Chief Executive.
Sky to unveil it will give away superfast broadband for free as price war with BT intensifies: A price war over home internet will escalate on Friday when Sky announces it is to give away superfast broadband for free.
George Osborne has put Britain on the path to economic prosperity, says financial analyst: Louise Cooper is an independent financial analyst and Goldman Sachs alumna.
AstraZeneca sells off drug rights to Entocort in deal to raise £140 million: AstraZeneca is continuing to ditch surplus medicines as it seeks to refocus on selected therapy areas, cutting a £140 million deal with gastrointestinal drug Entocort.
Kingsmill is back on the shelves at Tesco after supermarket giant banished its bread: Kingsmill Owner Associated British Foods has managed to get its loaves back on the shelves at Tesco four months after Britain’s biggest grocer banished its bread.
Daily Express
Unemployment in Spain and Greece at ‘make or break’ moments: The worrying scale of unemployment in the debt-laden countries of southern Europe has been laid bare, as the economic crisis in Greece threatens to spread to other countries.
Hundreds of thousands Co-op customers charged double for food or fuel by card glitch: Hundreds of thousands of Co-op customers were double-billed on Tuesday this week, the retailer has admitted.
Summer Budget 2015: New road tax and MOT changes for drivers: George Osborne has announced a radical reform to the way British drivers are taxed as part of his emergency Summer Budget.
The Scottish Herald
Premier Oil highlights recent progress on West of Shetland project: Premier Oil has hailed the increase in productivity achieved on a key field development project West of Shetland, on which it has faced big challenges.
Ayrshire aerosol maker cuts losses: Barony Universal Products, the Scottish aerosol maker has narrowed losses amid tough trading conditions as brand Owners and retailers compete for sales of products like deodorants.
Dell division launches security centre: A subsidiary of IT giant Dell has launched a new security services facility in Edinburgh.
Investec says Tennent’s Owner is undervalued: Investec has declared that C&C Group “remains fundamentally undervalued” as it reaffirmed its recommendation to buy shares in the Dublin-based Owner of Tennent’s Lager.
Aridhia has high clinical hopes for latest project: Aridhia, the Scottish healthcare analytics company, has begun work with a U.S. computer language specialist which aims to make clinical data easier to understand for practitioners.
U.K. sales fall but sun shines for Goals in LA: Shares in Goals Soccer Centres have dipped by XX% after poor weather weighed on U.K. trading in the six months ended June 30.
Interbulk in sale and leaseback deal: InterBulk Group has improved its funding flexibility with a sale and leaseback deal.
Office space take up rises in Glasgow: Office space take up in Glasgow has risen in the second quarter of the year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.
The Scotsman
Goals Soccer Centres’ sales hit by poor weather: Five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centres has seen its performance in the U.K. short of hopes in the first half because of bad weather.
Capita buys Edinburgh data analytics firm Barrachd: Outsourcing giant Capita has gone on another shopping expedition in Edinburgh, swooping on a data analytics specialist that has worked with the likes of Aegon and Standard Life.
Superdry Owner eyes China as warm front trims growth: SuperGroup flexed its international muscle as it signed a deal to take its fashion brand into the vast Chinese market.
City A.M.
Dunelm shops at Go-Ahead for Finance Chief: Homeware group Dunelm has appointed the Finance Chief of transport group Go-Ahead to take up the same role as it reported better than expected fourth quarter sales.
Plus500 says frozen accounts hurt revenues: The pain continues for Plus500, the troubled spreadbetting firm that saw thousands of its trading accounts frozen in May so to comply with U.K. anti-money-laundering rules.
Crowdfunders stick to Sugru like glue with record £3.5 million raised: Hackney-based inventor Jane ni Dhulchaointigh broke two crowdfunding records, after her start-up Mouldable “glue” company Sugru closed its Crowdcube campaign with a total of a £3.5 million investment for just over four% equity.
VW shows unity for new brand Boss after battle: Vehicle manufacturing giant Volkswagen (VW) welcomed Herbert Diess as its new brand Chief.
Fashion chain Reiss is exploring a share sale: Family owned high street fashion chain Reiss, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, is reportedly exploring a share sale which could value the company at as much as £325 million.
ITV and BBC to share Six Nations coverage in £300 million deal: The BBC will share Six Nations coverage with ITV from 2016, keeping the European rugby tournament on free-to-air television until 2021
