The Times
U.S. rate rise is coming soon, insists Fed Chief: America’s central bank is on track to raise interest rates next month despite concerns about Donald Trump’s election victory.
‘True cost of reactors would bankrupt EDF’: The French state electricity giant building Britain’s new nuclear power plant was accused by environmentalists of a gross underestimation of the cost of atomic energy.
Deutsche Post receives leaner and meaner business package: Deutsche Post has got a better idea of what it is taking on in the British letterbox market after U.K. Mail, the company it has just raided, reported slowing mail and parcel volumes.
QinetiQ finds a long-term ally in MoD with warship contract: Floated a decade ago, the old Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, now known as QinetiQ, calmed any Brexit or Trump-related worries by reporting a 5% increase in underlying profits and a 65% surge in orders on the back of persuading the MoD that it should be a long-term contractor of choice.
Ted Baker Chief has a spring in his step: Ted Baker said it was focused on festive trading after reporting a 15% boost in revenues during the last quarter.
Premier refinances $2.8 billion debt pile: Premier Oil is closing in on a refinancing deal in which the maturity of its debt will be extended beyond the end of the decade.
Musk wins SolarCity merger vote: Elon Musk has promised shareholders “your faith will be rewarded” after they approved by 85% the $2.2 billion deal for Tesla to merge with SolarCity.
The Independent
JP Morgan Boss Jamie Dimon ‘turns down Donald Trump job offer’: Jamie Dimon, the Chief Executive of JP Morgan has reportedly turned down the job of U.S. Treasury Secretary despite being approached by Donald Trump’s transition team.
Deloitte set to move work from U.K. after Brexit: The world’s largest accountancy firm will move work outside of the U.K. if it cannot employ enough foreign workers after Brexit.
Donald Trump will cause ‘global trauma’ if he imposes tariffs on China: The Executives from BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, have urged Donald Trump not to tear up the Paris climate change agreement, while warning the world will be in ”trauma” if the President-elect imposes tariffs on China.
Retail sales surge in October: Retail sales surged by 1.9% in October, far outstripping City analysts’ expectations and showing continued strength of household consumption despite the Brexit vote.
Wine prices are about to surge, Majestic Boss warns: Wine is about to get more expensive thanks to the collapsing pound, according to the Boss of one of the country’s biggest wine merchants.
Financial Times
BT and Sky downplay prospect of football rights bidding war: The heads of BT and Sky have attempted to play down the prospect of a frantic bidding war in the impending auction of European football rights, after a huge rise in the most recent sale of television rights for England’s Premier League.
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Diageo reverses decision to auction ‘The Monarch of the Glen’: Diageo, the world’s largest Scotch whisky producer, has backtracked on its decision to auction one of Scotland’s most important paintings, by agreeing instead to gift approximately half the value of “The Monarch of the Glen” to the National Galleries of Scotland.
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Deutsche Bank eyes bonus clawback for former Bosses: Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board is taking legal advice on whether it can recoup bonuses from a number of former Executives, including former Chief Executives Anshu Jain and Josef Ackermann.
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Wells Fargo account openings tumble by nearly half: Account openings have dropped sharply at Wells Fargo for a second consecutive month as the U.S. bank grapples with the fallout from the scandal over fraudulent sales practices.
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GKN to shut Yeovil helicopter plant with loss of 230 jobs: GKN will close its Somerset helicopter factory next year, with the loss of some 230 jobs, in the latest blow to Britain’s helicopter industry after the Ministry of Defence opted to buy U.S.-made aircraft.
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McDonald’s to roll out in-store mobile ordering: McDonald’s will introduce in-store mobile orders and payments next year as the world’s largest fast-food chain embarks on the next stage of its turnaround plan to improve its image and attract millennial consumers.
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Trump supporters call for Pepsi boycott: PepsiCo, the food and beverages group, is facing a boycott of its products by supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, after rightwing political websites misrepresented comments by its Chief Executive.
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Henkel plans ‘targeted acquisitions’ to drive growth: Henkel plans to use “targeted acquisitions” to help fuel its future growth, as the German consumer goods conglomerate unveiled its new four-year plan on Thursday.
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Apple offers cure for iPhone 6 Plus ‘touch disease’: Apple has acknowledged a recurring defect in its two-year-old iPhone 6 Plus, offering customers a cut-price touchscreen repair after months of mounting complaints.
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Vodafone to stay the course in India as challenges mount: When Vodafone acquired a majority stake in Indian mobile group Hutchison Essar almost a decade ago, its then Boss Arun Sarin described the £6 billion deal as an exhilarating voyage of discovery. “We are going to learn as much from India as we are going to take from India,” Mr Sarin promised.
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Taiwan launches $1.9 billion bailout for big shipping groups: Taiwan has become the latest Asian shipping power to attempt to bail out its container shipping industry, as a glut of vessels and lacklustre trade growth continue to produce the worst-ever conditions in the industry’s 60-year history.
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Lex:
Investment banking: no fee lunch: This week Coalition, a consultancy, said that combined third-quarter revenues at the 12 biggest banks were up more than a tenth year on year. Fees for advising on mergers and acquisitions helped. That will not last. On Wednesday, a Congressional panel advised barring Chinese companies from buying U.S. assets. Asian investment banking operations in particular look at risk.
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Bank capital: rogue Goldmen: Government Sachs is back with a vengeance. The new White House Chief strategist is an ex-Goldman man, another is in the running to be Treasury secretary and a third is already ensconced as a Federal Reserve President. If Lloyd Blankfein really controlled the government, however, the Goldman Chief Executive might pick friendlier alumni.
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Zurich: bland ambition: Simplicity may be a virtue to new Zurich Insurance Boss Mario Greco; ambition certainly is not. On Thursday the CEO, who joined from Generali in March, branded previous growth targets “a mistake” and revealed plans to slim down the insurer and grow its dividend. Cost savings should allow him to achieve this — but do not expect much in the way of earnings growth.
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Lombard:
JPMorgan’s princelings at extreme end of trade in influence: Are U.S. regulators fining JPMorgan $264 million in settlement of alleged foreign corrupt practices? Or are they punishing the bank for cruelty to the slower kids in the class? Chinese “princelings” hired for their family connections to state businesses were referred to by colleagues as “the photocopiers”, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Duplication was the only task some seemed fit for.
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Parcel bomb: Moya Greene, Royal Mail’s postmistress general, is not one to faint like a Dickensian matron. Since Royal Mail was listed three years ago she has stuck stoically to her brief, lifting the dividend while cutting costs and bringing RMG’s antiquated systems into the 21st century. Now she says capex will tail off and cost savings rise.
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The Daily Telegraph
Big Six energy giants ‘don’t need to raise prices this winter’: There is “no reason” for the Big Six energy giants to raise their standard variable tariffs this winter because their hedging strategies should insulate them from rising wholesale prices, leading analysts have said.
JP Morgan fined $264 million for breaching bribery laws by hiring Chinese ‘princelings’: JP Morgan is to pay $264 million (£212 million) to U.S. authorities to settle charges the Wall Street bank breached anti-bribery laws by employing Chinese “princelings”, the children of influential figures, to secure business worth more than $100 million.
Staples stores to vanish from U.K. high street: The U.K. high street is losing another retail name as office stationery chain Staples shops will close following a £1 deal with a turnaround firm.
Focus on value retail pushes NewRiver Retail’s income up 19%: A focus on the value end of the retailing market has pushed income up 19% in the last six months for property company NewRiver Retail, as bargain-hunting consumers hit the shops.
Creston appeals to shareholders to accept private equity bid over ‘uncertain’ trading: The marketing services company Creston has appealed to shareholders to accept a bid by its biggest investor to take it private after losing more than 40% of its value in the last year.
The Questor Column:
This micro-cap trust, at a 9% discount, is less risky than it seems: The River & Mercantile U.K. Micro Cap Investment Company has been around only since December 2014 but has an experienced manager in Philip Rodrigs, who runs a number of other portfolios for the asset management firm. Over the past 10 years Mr Rodrigs has achieved cumulative growth of 251.4%, streets ahead of his peer group on 103.7%, according to FE Trustnet, the investment analyst. The fund is a concentrated portfolio of about 45 holdings, with its top 10 holdings representing more than 40% of assets at the end of September. Key themes include digitisation and “big data”. One problem that can afflict funds that invest in smaller firms, even if they adopt the “closed-ended” structure of an investment trust and do not have to accommodate new money from investors, is that the portfolios can become too big. This can threaten performance if, for example, a particular holding performs very well but is too small to allow a significant stake to be held. River & Mercantile U.K. Micro Cap has a unique approach to this problem: if the fund exceeds £100 million in size for an extended period, it will return capital to investors by redeeming shares. Since launch, the trust has traded at an average premium of 0.1% but despite its strong performance the premium has disappeared since the EU referendum and the shares now stand at a discount to the fund’s asset value of about 9.4%. The trust does not have a yield target and a dividend is unlikely to be paid. Questor says “Buy”.
The Guardian
Tesco may open dozens more Arcadia fashion concessions in its stores: Tesco is to deepen its relationship with Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia group, potentially opening dozens more concessions for its Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Evans and Wallis chains in supermarkets.
Autumn statement: safeguard public investment, say experts: The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, should limit the impact of the Brexit vote on the economy by excluding public investment spending from his deficit reduction plans in his autumn statement next week, economists say.
Brexit unlikely to mean loss of City’s role in processing deals in euros: One of the City’s most prized businesses – the way that financial products priced in euros are processed – will not be lost to the remaining members of the European Union as a result of Brexit, according to the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.
Number of care workers on zero-hours contracts jumps to one in seven: The number of care workers on zero-hours contracts has jumped from one in 10 of the sector’s workforce to one in seven in the past year, according to an analysis of official data.
Daily Mail
RBS was warned £12 billion fundraising drive in the run-up to the financial crisis would mislead investors: The Royal Bank of Scotland was warned about its high-risk investments by advisers in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to court documents.
Sacked Rio Tinto mining Boss to take legal action over alleged £8.4 million bung to a middleman in west Africa: A row has broken out at one of the world’s largest mining companies after it fired two top Bosses during a major corruption investigation. Rio Tinto sacked its energy and minerals Chief Executive Alan Davies and legal and regulatory group Executive Debra Valentine amid a probe over an alleged £8.4 million payment to a middleman.
Former market traders who started out flogging cut-price cosmetics to make £23 million as their make-up firm floats: Two former market traders who started out selling cut-price make-up are on course to make £23 million when their company floats. Eoin Macleod and Sammy Bazini spent their teenage years selling cosmetics at market stalls in London in the early 1980s before going into business in 1992.
American billionaire tipped for key role in Donald Trump’s government offloads his entire stake in Virgin Money: U.S.-based billionaire Wilbur Ross has sold his remaining stake in lender Virgin Money for £171.5 million. Ross, who is head of private equity firm WL Ross Co., is tipped to become Donald Trump’s commerce secretary.
Royal Mail pledges an extra £100 million in cost savings as half year earnings fall by 5%: Royal Mail is to hike its annual cost savings by £100 million over the next three years, after the group posted a fall in half year earnings hit by a decline in marketing mails post-Brexit vote.
Tool rental firm Speedy Hire is back in the black after investor coup: Speedy Hire is back in the black after rolling out a series of cost cuts and overcoming a boardroom coup..
Daily Express
Asda commits to turnaround after ninth quarter of falling sales: The American owner of Asda has given its backing to the supermarket’s management but warned of a long-haul recovery after a ninth straight quarter of falling sales.
Bank of England clampdown on buy-to-let mortgages: Landlords could find it harder to get a mortgage from next year, as the Bank of England is set to enforce stricter lending rules on buy-to-let loans.
EU caves in: Disaster-hit Spain and Portugal let off shocking budget deficits: Struggling Spain and Portugal will not be punished for breaking official budget rules, the European Commission (EC) has confirmed amid concerns of rising Euroscepticism within the bloc. The two states failed to keep their budget deficits below three% last year, risking the wrath of Brussels policymakers.
Bank of England independence needs reining in, says Ed Balls: Former Labour shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has called for the Bank of England’s independence to be reined in amid growing “popular discontent”.
‘Another failure’ European markets struggle to make gains prompting fears: European stock markets were struggling to make gains during Thursday morning trading, amid a stronger euro. Germany’s premier index the DAX was down by around 0.1%, while France’s CAC 40 was flat, as the single currency strengthened.
The Scottish Herald
Financier sets out the case for a green energy bond: A corporate financier has drafted a paper outlining how Scottish communities could directly benefit from renewable projects by investing in a green energy bond.
Isle of Harris Distillers in gin click and collect service: Isle of Harris Distillers has launched a click and collect service for its gin, which managing director Simon Erlanger believes is the first scheme of its kind in the drinks industry.
Chief Executive shows faith in Enquest: The Chief Executive of Enquest, Amjad Bseisu, and his family have agreed to invest around £15 million in the North Sea-focused firm as it aims to bring the giant Kraken field into production off Shetland.
Trade deal allows Scottish seed potato exports to Kenya: Scottish seed potatoes can be imported into Kenya after an agreement was signed between the two countries in a boost to the sector.
Nish linked to top HSBC role: David Nish, the former Chief Executive of Standard Life, has been linked with succeeding fellow Scot Douglas Flint as Chairman of HSBC.
Rettie delivers Leith flats plan: The property development arm of Rettie and Co has delivered 96 homes for rent at Harbour Point, Leith, on behalf of investor Forth Ports.
Scottish Water cuts emissions: Scottish Water has declared that it generated enough electricity from renewable sources to power 11,200 homes last year.
The Scotsman
ZoneFox seeks to treble team in fight against data risks: Edinburgh-based security software specialist ZoneFox has set itself the ambitious target of trebling its headcount next year as it rolls out its new product aimed at protecting firms from “insider threats”.
Scots Holiday Inn owner falls into administration: The owner of three Holiday Inn hotels across Aberdeen and Edinburgh has fallen into administration.
Six-figure funding boost to help close gender gap: Funding of £200,000 has been unveiled for projects to support more women into business and tackle the gender gap.
SIS marks anniversary with six new patrons: Social Investment Scotland (SIS), the third sector lending specialist, has named six new patrons including Lady Susan Rice and former politician Wendy Alexander.
City A.M.
Academics call for businesses to take a cold hard look at themselves to win back public confidence: Britain’s companies have been urged to perform “trust audits” in order to address rock-bottom public perceptions of business.
Gap shares slump as profits unravel for most recent quarter: Shares in Gap have plummeted in after-hours trading, after the retail giant revealed its incomes and sales had fallen during its most recent quarter.
More scrutiny on Chinese M&A targeting U.S. as congress advised to block state-owned takeovers: Chinese takeovers are coming under increasing scrutiny in the United States, with congress now advised to ban state-owned firms from acquiring American companies.
Valeant share price slumps as charges against former exec revealed: Shares in Valeant slumped in early trading, after charges were brought against one of the company’s former Executives over the troubled firm’s relationship with specialty mail-order pharmacy Philidor.
Co-operative Bank says low interest rates behind decision to cut 200 jobs: The Co-operative Bank is cutting 200 roles across the business in a bid to cut costs. The roles will be made redundant by the end of March 2017.
M&A bounces back in U.K. and Europe after “lackluster” lead-up to Brexit vote: More deals are on their way to the U.K. and Europe, after a new study found a sharp rise in early-stage M&A discussions in the quarter after the EU referendum.
