The Times
Petrofac Executive ‘paid $2 million bribe to win oil deal’: A Director of the oil company Petrofac ordered “confidential payments” worth $2 million to help to secure an oil contract in Kuwait, according to documents seen by The Times.
Global risks left Fed split on rates decision: America’s policymakers were split over whether to raise interest rates in April, according to the latest Federal Reserve minutes, which suggest that the March debate between members about the state of the U.S. economy was fierce.
Foxtons Chief’s pay safe as houses despite profit fall: The Chief Executive of Foxtons has been awarded a 19% pay rise, despite the estate agency’s remuneration Chairman admitting that he “recognises that an increase of this magnitude is unusual”.
MSC delivers high-tech life on the high seas: France is celebrating a record €4 billion order to build four ocean liners that MSC Cruises, the Swiss-based group that has placed the order, claims will be the most sophisticated vessels of their kind.
London is still top of the world for finance: London has fought off the challenge from New York to retain its position as the world’s premier financial hub, according to the 19th Global Financial Centres Index compiled by Z/Yen, the City think tank.
H&M’s star fades after Europe’s mild winter: In what has become a depressingly familiar fashion for clothes sellers on the high street, profits at H&M dropped by 30% in the first quarter, hit by unseasonable weather and volatile currencies.
IMF urges reforms to boost jobs and growth: Western governments should step up deregulation, cut taxes on labour and spend more on training the unemployed to prevent their economies sliding into a long-term low-growth trap, the International Monetary Fund has urged.
Schroders under scrutiny over link with CPP Founder: Schroders is facing questions over its relationship with the multimillionaire Founder of CPP as the fund Manager leads a campaign to oust four of the credit protection company’s Directors in an increasingly acrimonious boardroom coup.
‘Mad Punter’ made a killing by ‘chatting with reporters’: A millionaire investor accused of insider trading in the shares of big British companies has said that he routinely received tips from financial journalists regarding which stories they were about to run, a court was told.
Banks face challenge to writing off fines against tax: George Osborne is facing questions about the ways in which banks can write off fines that they have had to pay for wrongdoing against their tax liabilities, despite government moves to bar the practice.
Do not quit the EU, JP Morgan Boss tells Britain: The Chief Executive of JP Morgan has branded the European Union “bureaucratic and dysfunctional” but believes that Britain should remain a member, nevertheless.
The Independent
Tata Steel: Sale process to begin by Monday, says Sajid Javid: Tata Steel intends to formally start the sales process of its U.K. business “by Monday at the latest”, Business Secretary, Sajid Javid has said.
Panama Papers: HMRC ‘starved’ by austerity could not pursue tax evaders even if it wanted to: The U.K. tax authority would be incapable of chasing up tax evaders named in the huge “Panama Papers” document leak because it has been “starved” of funding by Tory austerity cuts, leading lawyers have warned.
Tata Steel: Scunthorpe steel workers vote on ‘transformation plan’ cuts ahead of plant sale: Workers are voting on temporary changes to terms and conditions as part of an impending sale of a giant steel plant.
George Osborne ‘stealth tax’ could cost half a million workers £1,000 each: Half a million British workers could lose out on hundreds of pounds a year under a “stealth tax” coming in on Wednesday which was not announced in George Osborne’s Budget.
Renting in London is cheaper than paying a mortgage, new study says: Stepping on to the property ladder is more cost-effective than renting in almost half of Britain’s fifty biggest cities, but in London renting a property is actually cheaper than paying off a mortgage, new study suggests.
Financial Times
Four Seasons replaces Chairman as battles mount: Four Seasons Health Care, Britain’s biggest care home operator, has replaced its Chairman amid concerns over the long-term viability of the private equity owned company.
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Atom Bank launches challenge to high-street lenders: Digital challenger Atom Bank has opened for business after its launch suffered delays and aims to take on established high-street institutions.
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Park Square raises €1.2 billion fund to invest in subordinated debt: Park Square Capital, one of the biggest non-bank lenders to private equity in Europe, has raised a €1.2 billion debt fund to take advantage of dislocations that have this year rocked financing for leveraged buyouts and led banks to step back from the market.
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Pinterest sharpens focus on expansion with promoted pins in U.K.: Pinterest has started selling Promoted Pins in the U.K. as the online scrapbooking site valued at $11 billion expands its advertising outside of the U.S. for the first time.
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Losses deepen at tool hire group HSS: Losses at HSS Hire deepened in 2015 as its first year on the London Stock Exchange passed with a flurry of profit warnings and a management overhaul, establishing the company as the worst performing IPO of the year.
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Samsung earnings guidance fuels smartphone hopes: Samsung Electronics reported first-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations, defying slowing growth in the global technology sector as its latest flagship S7 smartphone made a strong start.
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Nokia cuts 1,300 jobs in Finland following Alcatel-Lucent deal: Nokia has begun cutting thousands of jobs following the acquisition of French rival Alcatel-Lucent. About 1,300 jobs will be lost in a further blow to Finland’s economy, which has been hard hit by previous rounds of restructuring at the telecoms group.
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Lex:
M&A failures: deep breaths: The country’s best-known drugmaker trying to move abroad to lower its tax bill. Those three deals (Comcast/Time Warner Cable, Halliburton/Baker Hughes, and Pfizer/Allergan) ran into regulatory problems and were blocked — all, in retrospect, entirely predictably.
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Energy loans: flare up: Since a rally at the end of February, European bank shares have resumed their slide. Over the calendar year so far they have slumped 24%, as measured on the MSCI European banks index, against a 10% decline in the wider market.
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U.K. mortgages: not betting the house: U.K. housing is a kind of Rorschach test for observers of its economy. Some peer at the blot and see all that is wrong with the country: stubborn inequality, financial risk, people using low rates just to trade, rather than virtuously make stuff.
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Lombard:
U.K. Mail seeks efficient way to put round pegs in square holes: Fears for the future of Tata’s U.K. metals factories have inspired paeans to state Ownership not heard since XTC’s 1979 (irony laden) hit Making Plans for Nigel: “He has his future in a British Steel, Nigel’s whole future is as good as sealed.”
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High stakes at high tea: And just how good can those cakes really be? Those are two of the questions that occur on hearing that Premier Foods — Owner of exceedingly self-regarding baker Mr Kipling — is “to meet its main institutional investors to provide them with further insight into the business, including the value creation potential of new strategic initiatives”.
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The Daily Telegraph
O2 takeover at the mercy of Brussels as Hutchison does £3 billion mobile deals with Sky and Virgin Media: Hutchison, the Owner of mobile operator Three, has signed deals worth £3 billion to guarantee space on its expanded mobile network as it makes its final appeal to officials in Brussels to allow its controversial takeover of O2.
U.K. Managers plan rescue of Tata’s steel plants: Senior U.K. Managers at Tata could rescue the company’s stricken British strip steel business in an ambitious buy-out.
Pure Gym pressing ahead with float plans: Private equity-backed Pure Gym is pressing ahead with plans for a stock market float that could value the no-frills fitness club chain at about £500 million.
Former JustEat Boss tucks into French ‘odd jobs’ start-up StarOfService: StarOfService, a Parisian start-up that helps users book local services, from DJs to gardeners, has edged ahead in the global race to dominate the nascent industry, securing the backing of Klaus Nyengaard, the former Chief Executive of takeaway marketplace JustEat, who is also joining the firm’s advisory board.
Gas price war to drive U.K. prices to seven-year lows: U.K. gas prices could fall to seven-year lows this summer as Russia and Norway prepare to flood Europe with gas in a battle to defend their market share against the rise of U.S. shale.
Barclays sells stake in Yorkshire-based shoe materials maker to Malaysian firm: Barclays has sold its majority stake in shoe materials maker Texon to private equity firm Navis Capital Partners in a deal that values the company at around £100 million.
China’s debt explosion threatens financial stability, Fitch warns: China’s huge debt levels will weigh on growth over the next five years and could threaten the country’s financial stability unless policymakers rein in credit, Fitch has warned.
The Questor Column:
Next struggles as credit customers fall: Shares in Next are now 25% cheaper – equivalent to £20 per share – than they were at the start of the year, but investors should think twice before going shopping for a bargain as the most profitable part of the company goes into reverse. Next is a very successful clothing retailer. Sales increased 3% to £4.18 billion during the year to the end of January, and pretax profits moved 7% higher to £836 million during the same period. Next’s retail arm generated profits of £402 million, from sales of £2.37 billion, or a profit margin of 17%. Next Directory generated more profits at £405 million, from much lower sales at £1.66 billion, or a profit margin of 24.4%. Within the business it is the customers who spend on credit that are most valuable as they generated £188 million from interest payments on their credit balances. However, there are worrying signs that the U.K. shopper is showing signs of fatigue following a six-year debt-fuelled binge. Credit customers at Next have fallen by about 190,000 during the past two years, to 2.6 million at the end of January. The rate of decline in credit customers is also accelerating from 3% in the first half to 4.3% in the second half, and a forecast of 5% in the year ahead. The amount that the average customer borrowed jumped 24% higher to £335 during the year. Next also allowed them to pay back less at the end of each month. What this means in practice is that Next is selling more clothes but collecting less cash from its customers. As cash generation falls, the net debt levels jumped £335 million higher, to £850 million at the end of January. We recommended selling this time last year (Sell, £73.15, March 2015), and we wouldn’t go bargain shopping just yet. Avoid. Next at £54.10 +160p. Questor says “Avoid”.
Rotork: Industrial valve specialist Rotork saw its shares slide more than 4% after broker Morgan Stanley downgraded the company’s outlook and warned capital spending in the oil sector will come under further pressure. The gloomy research note said that we may have only just begun to see the cuts in spending from the oil majors, as more pain is expected in the year ahead. The Bath-based engineering group manufactures high pressure valves that are mainly used in the oil and gas industry. The company generates about two thirds of its profit from valves used to control flow rates in the oil and gas refining process, with the remaining third largely coming from valves on pipelines and small gears and instruments businesses. The engineer showed a 28% drop in pretax profits to £102 million when it reported results for the year to the end of December last month. Market consensus is for full-year pretax profits to remain flat at £102 million in the year ahead, on revenue down 4% to £526 million, giving forecast earnings per share of about 9p. However, that may prove optimistic as the oil price slump has resulted in a slowdown in the order intake, down by 15% on a year earlier. Rotork is not standing still and is using this opportunity to expand, spending £148 million on acquisitions throughout the year, the largest deal being £125 million for Bifold, a valve manufacturer and distributor. We recommended selling in October last year at 186.4p, and until there is a meaningful recovery in the oil and gas sector we retain our negative stance. Rotork at 165.7p -7.4p. Questor says “Sell”.
The Guardian
Libor trial: ex-Barclays staff earned big bonuses, court hears: A group of former Barclays bank employees accused of conspiring to rig Libor interest rates were paid big bonuses and offered each other wine and coffee in return for favourable rates, a court has heard.
Britain under pressure to end opposition to tax haven blacklist: Britain is under growing pressure to end its opposition to an EU blacklist of tax havens, as the European commission vowed to step up action on tax transparency following the leak of the Panama Papers.
Premier Foods lays out ambitious growth plans: Premier Foods has laid out ambitious growth plans as it seeks to convince investors to hold out for a better offer from U.S. predator McCormick.
Daily Mail
Reckitt Benckiser facing fresh calls for boardroom shake-up after handing Boss more than £23 million in pay and perks: Nurofen Owner Reckitt Benckiser faces fresh calls for a boardroom shake-up after handing its Boss more than £23 million in pay and perks.
First female master tailor on Savile Row says street is undergoing a renaissance and attracting younger customers: The first female master tailor on Savile Row said the street is undergoing a renaissance and attracting younger customers, writes Laura Chesters.
Low-cost airline Boss Bjorn Kjos will fly you to New York for £149 (and says we must build a new runway in Britain): Walking through Gatwick with Bjorn Kjos is rather like accompanying a celebrity or a member of the Royal Family. Everyone, but everyone, seems to know the Chief Executive of low-cost airline Norwegian, and they all want a chat with him.
British steel crisis could cost Government nearly £5 billion over next decade if urgent action is not taken: The steel crisis in Britain could cost the Government nearly £5 billion over the next decade if urgent action is not taken.
New Waitrose Boss Rob Collins vows to expand grocer despite onslaught of discounters such as Aldi and Lidl: The new Boss of Waitrose has vowed to expand the grocer despite the onslaught of discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.
Daily Express
New car sales are at a 19-year high: New car sales went into overdrive last month with the second biggest monthly figure on record to provide a timely confidence boost to Britain’s economy.
Biggest ever drug deal collapses after U.S. closes tax loopholes: The biggest pharmaceutical deal in the world has collapsed after a crackdown on tax avoidance measures by the U.S. American drugmaker Pfizer was on course to merge with Irish rival Allergan in a £113billion agreement, which would have allowed the U.S.-based company to switch to Ireland’s lower corporate rates.
The Scottish Herald
Construction and haulage company posts record turnover and raises profits: Ayrshire-based haulage and construction group Maxi has achieved record annual turnover and a leap in profits in “difficult” trading conditions.
Scottish economy struggles, weighed down by oil and gas woes: The Scottish economy grew by only 0.2% in the fourth quarter of last year, as the oil and gas sector’s woes continued to weigh, official figures have revealed.
More diversity needed among auditors, says research: Audit teams in Scotland need to hire more people from diverse backgrounds, according to research by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and the U.K. Financial Reporting Council (FRC).
Scottish triathlete and duathlete plans new sportswear range: Four times world duathlon champion Catriona Morrison is developing a new range of funky sportswear for children that she plans to sell internationally.
Cairn Chief takes home £1.2 million: Cairn Energy’s Chief Executive Simon Thomson saw his total remuneration rise from £1.07 million to £1.29 million last year, according to the annual report just published.
Scottish Enterprise Chief receives £74,000 for non-Executive role: Scottish Enterprise Chief Executive Lena Wilson received £74,000 last year for her non-Executive Directorship of Intertek, the FTSE-listed product testing business.
Global IT company which specialises in offshoring on short leet for £40 million-plus Highlands contract: A global information technology company which specialises in offshoring, or transferring jobs to other countries to cut costs, is on the short leet for a £40 million plus IT contract in the Highlands.
Cluff raises exploration funds through share issue: AIM-quoted oil and gas business Cluff Natural Resources said it had raised more than £700,000 through the placing and subscription of 58.2 million new shares at 1.25p. Shares in the firm closed at 1.38p, down 8.33%.
The Scotsman
Edinburgh craft ale club Beer52 eyes spirits market after funding deal: Craft ale subscription service Beer52 is looking to move into the growing sector of artisan spirits after securing fresh funding from a handful of high-profile entrepreneurs.
EnerMech rejig triggers job losses: Mechanical engineering group EnerMech has announced the layoff of about 90 jobs in the U.K. and Norway, many at management level, marking the latest setback for the oil and gas industry.
Scots Prison bakery looks for more dough to expand with new site: A prison bakery social enterprise which aims to provide employment training for offenders is launching a crowdfunding campaign to open a second site.
Bowleven’s plans for drilling push in Cameroon pushed back to 2017: Plans by Edinburgh oil explorer Bowleven to drill appraisal wells on its major prospect off the coast of Cameroon have slipped into next year as the downturn in the sector continues.
Borders-based rugby kit supplier teams up with Intersport: A Borders-based online retailer which supplies rugby kit to as far as Australia and the U.S. is to expand its sporting portfolio after securing a major new partnership with global giant Intersport.
City A.M.
Co-operative Group Chief Executive Richard Pennycook asks board for salary and pay cut: Co-operative Group’s Chief Executive has asked his fellow board members for a pay cut. Richard Pennycook is understood to have requested his basic salary, currently £1.25 million, be reduced by a third.
Marathon Oil denies early closure of key North Sea site: A U.S. oil major has rebutted claims that it wants to accelerate the closure of a strategically important oil field in the North Sea.
Moneycorp warns over uncertain year ahead as Brexit fears bite: Moneycorp, the foreign exchange firm recently granted a banking licence in Gibraltar, has warned the outlook for 2016 is uncertain due to doubts surrounding a potential British exit from the European Union.
North Sea oil companies profitability languishing near 20-year lows: The profitability of the North Sea oil sector has fallen to its lowest level since 1997, as low oil prices continue to bite.
Glencore share price falls after sale of agriculture stake disappoints: Glencore shares fell, after investors were left disappointed by the commodities miner and trader’s sale of a minority stake its agriculture arm to Canada’s largest pension fund.
Russia reveals more details about potential freeze deal: Russia has revealed more details about a potential freeze deal between Opec and non-Opec producers that could come out of a meeting in Doha. Sources told Reuters that Russia believes an oil price at $45-$50 per barrel is acceptable to allow the global oil market to balance.
Housing associations in £30 billion mega-merger talks to build 100,000 London homes: Three of the U.K.’s biggest housing associations are in talks to merger, with the view to build 100,000 new homes across London and the south east over the next decade.
Empiric Student Property strikes deal with University of Bath: Empiric Student Property has reached an agreement with the University of Bath to provide its students with housing at three different sites.
