The Times
Alton Towers Owner fined £5 million over rollercoaster crash: The Owner of Alton Towers was fined £5 million for “catastrophic” safety failures that led to the Smiler rollercoaster crash in which 16 people were injured, including two young women who each lost a leg.
Wolseley’s new Boss cuts 800 jobs and 80 branches: The new Chief Executive of Wolseley put his stamp on the plumber’s merchant by announcing 800 job cuts from its British business to stem losses while raising payouts to shareholders.
German banks pose threat to EU, claims Lamont: Struggling German banks pose a looming threat to the European Union, which will “hit a fence” as the bloc struggles with a series of crises over the coming years, the former chancellor Lord Lamont of Lerwick has warned.
Shale gas tanker reaches port in a political storm: The first shipment of gas fracked from American shale arrived in Scotland, starting a process that Ineos believes will transform the British petrochemicals industry.
Buyers snap up gilts at record low yields: Investors paid several million pounds to lend to the government yesterday after the Treasury issued public debt at a record negative interest rate.
Iran sinks hopes for OPEC deal to plug runaway oil supply: Hopes of an agreement among the world’s top oil producers to curb output to tackle the global supply glut were dashed last night when Iran refused an offer from Saudi Arabia to cut back its own production.
Rivals weigh up whether Monarch fits the budget: Budget airlines were believed to be circling last night as Monarch continued to struggle for funds, three days before the deadline to renew its operating licence.
Our strategy must spread wealth, Clark says: The economy is “visibly uneven” and a new industrial strategy must focus on spreading wealth across the nation, the new business, energy and industrial strategy secretary has said.
Chief heads for exit, but there is no change at Close Brothers: The Chief Executive of Close Brothers said that there would be no shift in strategy after the head of the banking division stepped down after 31 years amid “challenging market conditions”.
The Independent
George Osborne says the Bank of England’s quantitative easing makes the rich richer: The former Chancellor, George Osborne, has said that money printing by the Bank of England has made the rich richer and that interest rate cuts have hurt savers.
Housing crisis: London has the second most over-valued homes of any major city around the world: London has the second most over-valued property market of any major city around the world and is in “bubble risk territory”, a new report has found.
Financial Times
Arqiva ties future to mobile masts: Arqiva, the U.K. broadcast tower and mobile phone masts company, increased cash flow by almost a quarter in the year to June to strengthen its hand in a consolidating market.
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RBS Chief warns it may fail to sell Williams & Glyn this year: Royal Bank of Scotland’s Chief Executive has warned that it could fail to sell its Williams & Glyn unit before the end of this year, leaving the state-backed lender in “uncharted territory”.
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AP buys rights to British Movietone newsfilm archive: The Associated Press has bought the rights to the British Movietone newsfilm archive — a collection of video reels capturing political milestones dating back to 1896, including the first recorded speech of figures such as Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw.
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Oil group PDVSA sweetens debt swap offer: Bonds in Petróleos de Venezuela advanced to their highest levels since crude last traded above $100 a barrel after the heavily indebted state-owned oil group sweetened the terms it offered to creditors in a closely watched debt exchange.
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Athens approves fund to speed up privatisation programme: The Greek parliament has approved a fresh package of structural measures required to unlock another €2.8billion slice of bailout funding, including the establishment of a controversial fund to accelerate the country’s lagging privatisation programme.
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BP plan to drill Great Australian Bight draws critics: A multibillion-dollar plan by BP and other oil majors to begin deep water exploration drilling in an Australian marine park has provoked an outcry from conservationists, who warn it risks a “Deepwater Horizon-style” oil spill disaster.
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Philippine mine closures bolster nickel price: The Philippines’ decision to suspend half of its mining operations for failing to meet environmental standards boosted nickel prices on Tuesday, signalling a further recovery in its fortunes after it hit a 13-year low earlier this year.
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U.S. banks looks to Europe for top hires after Brexit: U.S. banks are shifting their senior hiring away from London and towards Frankfurt and Paris after the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU, research by headhunters shows.
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Walmart shops for stake in Indian ecommerce leader Flipkart: Walmart is in talks to buy a stake in Indian ecommerce leader Flipkart as the world’s largest retailer by sales tries a new tack in a country where its ambitions have been hamstrung by strict regulation.
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UberEats bites into European food delivery market: Uber is aggressively expanding its food delivery service across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in a move that takes on local players such as Dutch company Takeaway.com, which goes public later this week.
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Lex:
Close Brothers: banking on the cycle: Early in its history, Close Brothers speculated on railway lines into the Yukon, as many English merchant banks did. These days it prefers more modest gambles, such as lending to the U.K.’s smaller companies. For all the U.K. government noise that such enterprises deserve more attention from banks, Close Brothers has targeted them for decades. This type of lending does well for the group — and is unlikely to get any better.
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AG Barr: sweet and sour: Drinkers of Irn-Bru were once told it was “made from girders”. Not a selling point in most places, yet its maker AG Barr has so embedded the sugary orange fizz into the Scottish psyche that it rivals whisky as the national drink.
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Monte dei Paschi: something or nothing: The bank is considering a “voluntary” debt-for-equity offer to holders of roughly €5billion of junior subordinated debt at a premium yet to be determined. The new capital would be used to reduce gross bad debts by half, to about the Italian average of 18% of loans, while the core tier one ratio would remain at a semi-respectable 11.4 per cent.
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Lombard:
Standard Chartered should freeze out its buyout boys: The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that an Indonesian power station builder owned by the bank bribed government officials. StanChart had already come unstuck in this large, corrupt Asian country by lending to colourful local business folk.
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Key appointments: Corporate Britain’s best-kept secret is that finance Directors win their jobs by playing musical chairs. The result of the latest dance-off is that (deep breath): DMGT’s Stephen Daintith replaces David Smith at Rolls-Royce, who replaces David Mellors at QinetiQ, who replaces Simon Nicholls at Cobham.
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The Daily Telegraph
IMF sounds alarm bells over trade slowdown and low inflation: Urgent action is needed to reverse a slowdown in trade and stop low inflation from triggering a downward spiral of weak growth, job cuts and higher debt, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
RBS to pay $1.1 billion to settle mortgage-backed securities lawsuits: Royal Bank of Scotland is to pay $1.1 billion (£846 million) to settle U.S. lawsuits over claims it sold toxic mortgage securities to two American credit unions in the run-up to the financial crisis.
Circassia bets on respiratory portfolio as it sets out new strategy: Circassia’s Chief Executive has set out a new direction for the company, centered around its respiratory pipeline, following the high-profile failure of its key cat allergy treatment in final clinical trials in June.
Panmure Gordon returns to profit after ‘challenging but busy’ six months in the City: Panmure Gordon, one of the City of London’s oldest stockbrokers, has returned to profit in the first six months of the year as it found more work in the uncertain months before the EU referendum.
Britain leaps into seventh place in competitiveness rankings as powerhouses Germany and Japan slip: The U.K.’s solid economy and efforts to cut red tape have propelled the country up three places in the global competitiveness rankings, according to the World Economic Forum.
The Guardian
Wells Fargo Executives forfeit millions, CEO to forgo salary amid investigation: Wells Fargo Executives will forfeit millions of dollars in the wake of revelations that the bank’s sales quotas led to the creation of more than 2 million unauthorized accounts.
Former Wells Fargo workers file $2.6 billion class action lawsuit amid quota scandal: Two former Wells Fargo employees have filed a class action in California seeking $2.6 billion or more for workers who tried to meet aggressive sales quotas without engaging in fraud and were later demoted, forced to resign or fired.
Elon Musk plans to get humans to Mars in six years: SpaceX Founder Elon Musk has outlined his highly ambitious vision for manned missions to Mars, which he said could begin as soon as 2022 – three years sooner than his previous estimates.
Nicola Sturgeon to reopen Dalzell steelworks in Motherwell: Motherwell’s Dalzell steelworks, which were closed last winter amid an industry-wide crisis, will be formally reopened by Scotland’s first Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on Wednesday.
More women in top jobs would help high street, says Next Founder: Retail grandee George Davies has called for more women to be appointed to top jobs in British fashion, a move he believes will help boost the high street.
High street sales appear to be losing their post-Brexit-vote shine: The strength of Britain’s high street sales appears to be waning after shops reported a weaker than expected September.
Daily Mail
Brexit jobs exodus ‘has begun’ as global banks shrink operations and shift staff from London to the Continent, recruitment firm claims: Fears of a mass exodus of jobs sparked by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in June are rapidly becoming a reality, research claims.
Boohoo reports surge in profits after attracting millions of social media followers to boost sales: Upstart Boohoo has reported a surge in profits as it attracted millions of internet followers to boost sales.
Watchdogs warn of a world trade slowdown as weak growth and trade barriers take their toll: Global trade faces its worst year since the financial crisis as weak growth and a surge in protectionism take their toll, according to two international watchdogs.
Summer bookings disappoint at Thomas Cook as terror worries dog travel industry: Bookings at Thomas Cook remain under pressure as the travel market continues to be affected by recent terror attacks.
Daily Express
Market cynics sunk by Brexit buoyancy: Stock markets have enjoyed a buoyant three months to defy the doom-mongers who claimed Brexit would destroy share prices.
Deutsche Bank collapse could bury EU as stocks plunge further in day two carnage: The Eurozone’s banking system could implode, dragging the euro down with it, if Angela Merkel’s government allows Deutsche Bank to fail, experts have warned, as the bank’s share price hit new lows.
The U.K. will escape a post-Brexit recession, says the WTO: The U.K. economy is expected to escape a post-referendum recession, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
World Trade Organisation issues wakeup call as it cuts global trade growth forecast: The World Trade Organisation has cut its forecast for global trade growth this year by more than a third, reflecting a slowdown in China and falling levels of imports into the United States.
The Scottish Herald
Scottish Financial Enterprise Chief warns of challenges posed by Brexit vote: The Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise has told MSPs that the country’s financial services firms will face big challenges following the Brexit vote and highlighted the importance of them retaining access to the single European market.
Browns warns of “severe market uncertainty” as food firm posts profits rise: Browns Food Group, the company which resurrected the Hall’s of Scotland meat brand, has warned that “severe market uncertainty around European and world macroeconomic conditions” is clouding its outlook for the company’s current financial year.
Profits double at Perthshire whisky distillery: Whisky distillery Tullibardine has more than doubled its pretax profits to £3.8 million for the year ending December 2015 as revenue climbed 25% to £20 million.
Crystal Amber builds stake in Johnston Press: Activist investor Crystal Amber has hiked its stake in newspaper publisher Johnston Press to 6.74%.
Scottish Water sanctions biggest ever solar project investment: Scottish Water has unveiled its single biggest ever investment in solar energy projects as it seeks to drive down carbon emissions and costs a sites across Scotland.
Former Scottish Widows Chief takes Non-Executive post at Legal & General: The former Chief Executive of Scottish Widows has taken on a new role at Legal & General a year after stepping down from the Edinburgh-based life and pensions business.
FirstMilk unveils rise in farmgate prices: Scottish dairy co-operative First Milk has announced a 2p per litre increase in its farmgate price, its largest monthly increase since 2007.
Trinity Exploration & Production sees first-half revenues slide on back of oil price: Revenues at Edinburgh-based oil and gas company Trinity Exploration & Production, which operates in Trinidad and Tobago, fell by 42% in the first half of 2016, down from $27.8 million in the first half of 2015 to $16.1 million.
The Scotsman
House of Fraser tackles tough trading: Department store chain House of Fraser has warned of “challenging trading conditions” after unveiling a slip in sales in recent weeks.
Record profit for Glenfiddich maker William Grant: Scotch whisky distiller William Grant & Sons today raised a glass to record profits, helped by a return to sales growth.
Accelerator launches to tackle public sector challenges: Nine small firms have been selected to take part in an Edinburgh-based initiative aimed at delivering innovative solutions to a range of public sector challenges.
Fishers Laundry profits hit by ‘year of investment’: Fishers Laundry Group has unveiled an 11% drop in annual profits following a “year of significant investment” for the venerable Fife firm.
Entrepreneurial Scotland races ahead: The Entrepreneurial Scotland network has embarked on an overhaul after seeing its membership surge through the 1,000 mark.
City A.M.
Cath Kidston customers go potty for new Winnie-the-Pooh range: Cath Kidston has launched its collaborative designs with Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh, with most products selling out within hours.
Cambridge biotech firm sees shares jump over 100% on U.S. pharma deal: Shares in Cambridge-based pharma firm Sareum have shot up by 130% after it announced its up-coming cancer drug has been licensed to North American firm ProNai Therapeutics.
Standard Chartered share price drops on U.S. probe into alleged bribery in Indonesia: Shares in emerging market-focused bank Standard Chartered were dragged lower yesterday after news broke that the bank is the subject of a U.S. Justice Department investigation.
Glass looks half full for Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Megabrew takeover of SABMiller: The glass is looking half full for Anheuser-Busch InBev’s £79 billion takeover of FTSE 100-listed drinks group SABMiller ahead of the final shareholder vote.
Weak pound draws tourists to London’s Westfield centres: Westfield shopping centres have been inundated with Chinese customer’s bulk buying Burberry handbags on the back of the weak pound.
Irn Bru maker AG Barr slams sugar tax and announces plans to shed 10% of workforce: Irn Bru and Rubicon maker AG Barr announced it will shed 10% of its total workforce in a major company shake-up.
