The Times
Grant Thornton to be investigated over collapse of Globo: The implosion of a Greek mobile phone software company listed in London has led to an investigation into Grant Thornton, its auditor, by the accountancy watchdog.
Santander snaps up bargain as Portugal bails out Banif bank: Portugal has agreed to a €2.2 billion bailout for its seventh-largest lender in a deal that will hand the stricken bank’s good assets to Santander, of Spain, for €150 million.
Lenigas flies out of Gatwick for Cuba: The entrepreneur behind the so-called “Gatwick Gusher” oil discovery has resigned from five quoted companies to focus on a new venture in Cuba.
Randgold turns its back on ‘world class’ mine project: Randgold Resources has pulled out of a proposed joint project with AngloGold Ashanti to redevelop one of Africa’s largest gold mines, only three months after proclaiming it to be a “world class resource.”
The Independent
Fears of new economic crash as British families run £40 billion deficit: British families are on course to spend £40 billion more than they earn this year, fuelling fears that the country’s economic growth is based on soaring levels of debt and could easily collapse.
Martin Shkreli fired as CEO of pharmaceuticals company amid FBI fraud charges: The under-fire hedge fund Manager and entrepreneur Martin Shkreli has been fired from his role as CEO of a Californian pharmaceuticals company.
Toshiba shares slump 10% after record losses and more job cuts: Shares in Toshiba dived 10% on Monday, after the Japanese electronics and nuclear giant said it will lose a record ¥550 billion (£3 billion) this year and will slash another 6,800 jobs.
Resurrected Quindell back on junior market: Shares in Quindell resumed trading on Aim after the scandal-struck insurance software firm, now known as Watchstone Group, rewarded long-suffering shareholders with a £414 million payout.
Financial Times
Top law firms in U.S. and U.K. cash in on M&A boom: The top law firms by revenue in the U.K. and U.S. have outperformed and stretched their lead over second-tier rivals, according to new research, largely on the back of the record year for mergers and acquisitions.
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Peter Harf quits Reckitt board to focus on JAB: Peter Harf, the driving force behind the rise of Reckitt Benckiser, is to quit the board of the British consumer goods group after 16 years to focus on the rapidly growing coffee and Coty cosmetics empire of the Reimann family’s JAB Holding.
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SoundCloud in licensing deal with copyright group PRS for Music: The U.K.’s largest copyright has agreed a licensing deal with music service SoundCloud – without waiting for a court ruling that could have enabled it to negotiate more aggressively with video site YouTube.
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TransferWise in talks with U.K. banks to embed service in apps: TransferWise is in talks with several U.K. banks about embedding its money transfer capabilities in their smartphone apps.
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Uber-Lyft funding rounds top $3.1 billion: Uber and Lyft have each doubled their fundraising to raise a combined $3.1 billion from investors, underscoring how the most prominent Silicon Valley start-ups still have access to capital even as some smaller companies struggle to raise money.
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Morrisons’ former Boss backs Sainsbury’s: WM Morrisons’ former Chairman has admitted he was building a £6 million stake in rival supermarket Sainsbury’s at around the same time that he was locking horns with his own company’s management.
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Lex:
Spanish banks: Rajoy there!: Nobody expects the Spanish coalition. Hence the 3.6% slide in Spain’s Ibex-35 share index on Monday after its general election failed to deliver an absolute majority. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy must try to form a coalition government from few coherent options. Good luck with that.
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ITV: dear viewers: Reports that U.K.-listed broadcaster ITV has suitors circulate regularly. Comcast of the U.S. is the latest buyer to be mooted. The chatter helps explain why ITV’s shares have beaten the MSCI European Media index by 24 percentage points this year.
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The U.S. budget deal: a season for giving: In an era of unprecedented bipartisan hostility, be assured that two imperatives still bring U.S. politicians together: spending borrowed money and escaping Washington in time for Christmas. Late last Thursday, the U.S. Congress agreed a budget deal for 2016. It calls for $1.1 trillion in spending accompanied by another $700 billion of tax reductions, a generous gesture that increases the budget deficit in this season of giving.
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Lombard:
Frank sense for Randgold to demyrrh over Ghana deal: Of the three commodities brought by wise men for the infant Jesus, only gold still matters in the modern world. It has had a bad year, alongside materials no one would lug to a maternity ward, such as oil, iron ore and copper. Hardly surprising that Randgold, the highly rated gold miner, has scrubbed plans to invest in the Obuasi mine in Ghana.
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Mend, mend, mend: Is Teddy Sagi an appropriate custodian of a key part of British working-class culture? The billionaire owns 28% of Aim tiddler Netplay, which hopes to buy the football pools from Sportech. His main vehicle, gaming technology group Playtech, recently got the bum’s rush from City regulators when it tried to buy broker Plus500.
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The Daily Telegraph
Tom Hayes’ Libor sentence cut to 11 years: Libor fraudster Tom Hayes failed to overturn his conviction for manipulating the key interest rate benchmark at the Court of Appeal.
iSoft Directors banned by accountancy watchdog: The Financial Reporting Council has censured two former Directors of software company iSoft, which is alleged to have booked millions in revenues for a contract years before a deal was formally agreed.
Backlash after Camden Town Brewery sold to world’s biggest drinks company: Craft beer enthusiasts have rounded on Camden Town Brewery after the business announced it has been bought by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest beer company.
Spain’s stock market tumbles on political instability: Spanish stock markets tumbled and government bonds were sold off after inconclusive elections over the weekend saw disaffected voters favour smaller parties at the expense of the country’s two dominant groups, throwing the country into weeks of instability and political uncertainty.
Leon goes Dutch with European expansion plan: Leon, the healthy fast food restaurant, has put European expansion on the menu with the opening of a restaurant planned in Holland next year.
Small banks told: you will be hit by bonus cap: Small banks must not be allowed to pay big bonuses to top staff, the European Banking Authority has ruled, rejecting another of Britain’s plans to soften the blow from Brussels’ bonus cap.
The Guardian
Venison and veal on the menu as Christmas shoppers trim the turkey: Supermarkets are selling out of meats such as venison as adventurous shoppers opt for alternatives to the traditional turkey for the U.K. Christmas dinner centrepiece.
Sports Direct lashes out as Findel rejects planned board member: Sports Direct has accused Findel of under-delivering for shareholders after its attempt to put a representative on the board of the online retailer was rebuffed.
U.K. house prices to rise 6% on average in 2016, surveyors forecast: House prices in some parts of the U.K. could increase by as much as 8% in 2016 as the recovery that has taken hold in London ripples out across the country.
Rolls-Royce Boss expresses ‘disquiet’ over diesel engines division: Rolls-Royce’s Chief Executive has raised concerns about prospects for the company’s diesel engine business as he grapples with the group’s weak financial performance and unwieldy structure.
Daily Mail
Crowdfunding raises £100,000 for Made in Chelsea star and McVitie’s heir Jamie Laing’s confectionery brand Candy Kittens: The 27-year-old’s confectionery brand Candy Kittens has attracted more than £100,000 of investment after he launched a crowdfunding campaign.
Shell’s £40 billion takeover of BG Group edges closer despite tumbling oil price and shareholder discontent: Tumbling oil prices and shareholder discontent have not prevented Royal Dutch Shell’s £40billion takeover of BG Group entering the final stages.
Football Pools could change hands for £100 million with Tech firm Netplay TV in talks with current Owner Sportech: Technology company Netplay TV said that it has held talks with current Owner Sportech about a possible takeover.
Red tape is stifling mortgage lending while regulations designed to protect customers ‘make it difficult to secure a deal online’: Confusing red tape is making it harder for middle-aged people to get a mortgage, banks and building societies said.
Daily Express
Oil price falls to 11-year low and investors question Shell’s takeover of FTSE 100: The oil price hit an 11-year low yesterday amid fears of a worsening glut next year as fresh supplies hit the market.
Netflix pays NO corporation tax in Britain: Entertainment giant Netflix is the latest company to be shamed for paying no corporation tax in Britain, despite generating around £200 million of revenue from 4.5 million users in the country, according to reports.
The Scottish Herald
Shepherd and Wedderburn forecasts turnover of more than £53 million and hunts for new Glasgow home: Law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn is forecasting turnover of more than £53 million and is also on the hunt for a larger Glasgow office as it continues to build on the acquisition of the assets of Tods Murray.
Glasgow boiler specialist hits acquisition trail: Glasgow-based boiler maintenance firm James Ramsay has bought a local rental specialist with backing from the Pirrie brothers’ Nevis Capital and said it has more deals in the pipeline.
Design agency Thirst secures Australian craft brewing deal: A Recently formed Scottish design agency has made a series of labels for a collaboration between two of Australia’s best known craft brewers.
Scottish social enterprises secure more than £260,000 of funding: Social enterprises in Scotland have secured funding of nearly £270,000 from two separate schemes.
Malcolm Allan adds 20 jobs to meet steak pie rush: Meat processor Malcolm Allan says it has created 20 temporary jobs to meet demand for its steak pies across the festive period.
STV to launch new digital service: STV is to launch an enhanced digital news service in February. The broadcaster said it would “sit within the STV family of consumer services” and strengthen further its position in the digital news market in Scotland, replacing the existing service.
BPI says earnings on track: British Polythene Industries, in an update on current trading, has said performance remains consistent with the disclosure in its last update six weeks ago.
The Scotsman
Retailers get sales boost in Christmas run: High street sales growth accelerated in the year to December, but the outlook for sales in January is the lowest in more than three and a half years, a survey from the CBI employers lobby group revealed.
Demand for rental property rises by 77.5%: The Scottish lettings market has seen demand from renters rocket 77.5% this year, with 14 tenants now chasing each new rental property, according to a leading letting agent.
Polly Purvis takes chair at digital skills academy: One of the top figures in the Scottish digital technologies industry has been appointed chair of the country’s first digital skills academy.
Wood Group buys U.S. construction firm Kelchner: Energy services giant Wood Group made its second swoop for a U.S. company within a month in a move which will boost its presence in the shale gas sector.
KCA Deutag sells Ben Loyal drilling unit: Drilling contractor KCA Deutag has sold its Ben Loyal jack-up rig to an Egyptian group.
City A.M.
U.K. consumer confidence ends 2015 on a high: U.K. consumer confidence rose in December, rounding off a strong year for shoppers.
London house prices to climb 5% in 2016, says Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: London house prices will climb 5% next year as the shortage of homes coming to the market and rising demand lifts prices, according to a new forecast.
EU extends Russia economic sanctions by six months: The EU is extending economic sanctions against Russia by six months, it announced yesterday.
Transport for London, Santander and Blaze team up to make cycling on Boris bikes in London safer: Transport for London (TfL) has introduced a new cycle safety scheme: Blaze Laserlights will be fitted to all Boris bikes, to make them more visible at night and reduce the number of accidents with cyclists in London.
Serious Fraud Office takes 11 from Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale to court over Euribor rigging: The Serious Fraud office (SFO) is set to take 11 individuals to court for the rigging of a key European interest rate.
Equistone exits Audley Travel and 3i steps in with £159 million investment: FTSE-listed private equity firm 3i has bought a majority stake in bespoke travel agent Audley Travel from Equistone Partners for £159 million
