Moody’s doesn’t rate Deutsche Bank plan: The pressure on Deutsche Bank’s British Chief Executive grew after one of the top ratings agencies cut the German lender’s credit standing and warned that his chances of delivering an ambitious turnaround plan were becoming more remote.
Clydesdale Bank concentrates on cuts as PPI bill rises by £450 million: The newly independent Clydesdale Bank has been hit with a fresh £450 million charge for mis-selling payment protection insurance.
Conflict of interest row over Shell’s new auditor: Royal Dutch Shell was facing fresh pressure over the handling of its controversial £35 billion takeover of BG Group after some of the oil group’s biggest shareholders criticised the appointment of a new auditor with close ties to BG.
Small business loses out as big banks play safe over risk: Smaller financial services businesses have been among the biggest victims of so-called “de-risking” by large lenders, which have dropped customers amid pressure from regulators to prevent money laundering.
Thames taps into familiar source for its next Chief: Another former Boss of BT’s monopoly infrastructure provider has been hired to lead one of the country’s top water suppliers.
Trouble in store for high street in June: Sales on the high street are set to slide in June as shoppers cut back spending before the European Union referendum.
The Independent
Google Paris headquarters raided as part of tax payment probe: Google’s Paris headquarters have been raided as part of an ongoing tax probe.
EDF Chief says Hinkley Point decision could come before summer at the earliest: The Chief Executive of French energy giant EDF said the company “can’t afford to keep the U.K. waiting” and hinted a decision regarding the Hinkley Point C nuclear project in Britain could be reached before the summer.
Spotify revenues rise to £1.95 billion in ‘best year ever’ – but profit remains elusive: Spotify has heralded its “best year ever” after reporting revenue of almost €2 billion last year, even as losses widened.
Financial Times
Javid lands in Mumbai for key Tata talks: Sajid Javid, the U.K. business secretary, flew into Mumbai for talks with the senior management of Tata Steel as the Indian company gets set to finalise its shortlist of bidders for its U.K. steel operations.
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Four Seasons seeks bigger fee increases from local authorities: Four Seasons Health Care is pressuring local authorities to bring in steeper fee increases as losses at Britain’s biggest care homeowner continue to deepen.
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U.K. ‘bad bank’ to sell £16 billion of mortgages: U.K. Asset Resolution — the state-owned company winding down the mortgage books of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley — has announced plans to offload £16 billion-worth of loans, in the largest asset sale by a European “bad bank”.
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Total aims to be 20% low-carbon by 2036: Total’s Chief Executive wants the French oil and gas major to have a fifth of its assets invested in low carbon business within 20 years, as part of a radical reshaping of the group.
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Huawei sues Samsung over mobile device patents: Huawei, the Chinese technology group, is suing Samsung of South Korea for allegedly infringing its patents on mobile devices.
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HPE to spin off enterprise services unit: Hewlett Packard Enterprise is set to spin off its enterprise services unit, as Chief Executive Meg Whitman undoes another of the mergers that turned HP into what was once the most broad-based tech conglomerate in Silicon Valley.
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Former Mothercare managing Director joins BHS bidding: A former managing Director of Mothercare is leading a bid to acquire BHS, brightening hopes that a buyer could be found for the collapsed high street chain after some other potential buyers withdrew.
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Australia’s Wesfarmers writes off A$2.3 billion: Wesfarmers, the Australian conglomerate that bought Homebase, the British DIY group, warned on Thursday that its annual profits would be dented by up to A$2.3 billion in write-offs and restructuring charges.
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Volkswagen invests $300 million in taxi app Gett: Volkswagen has put $300 million into Israeli taxi start-up Gett on the same day Toyota announced an undisclosed investment in U.S. ride-hailing app Uber, in the latest sign of carmakers placing bets on the future of personal transport.
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Wells Fargo downgrades financial targets on back of low rates: Wells Fargo on Tuesday highlighted the pain persistently low interest rates and tougher regulations are inflicting on banks when the world’s largest lender by market capitalisation issued lower financial targets.
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Telegraph to axe senior jobs in fresh round of cuts: The Telegraph Media Group is cutting more jobs among its journalists amid a wider cost cutting exercise blamed on the downturn in print advertising.
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Lex:
HP Enterprise: buy high, sell often: Hewlett-Packard has made some of the worst acquisitions in corporate history. Fortunately, Meg Whitman says she is a “devotee of focus”. Last year, the then Chief Executive of HP split the company into two: legacy HP, selling printers to consumers, and HP Enterprise, selling servers and services to companies.
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Market place lending: peer to peer pressure: The backwash of a banking crash is a great time for financial innovation. The most recent one has been no different. Low interest rates, shattered balance sheets, banking software encumbered with legacy horrors — the stars have aligned neatly for a thousand fintech flowers to bloom.
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Sumner Redstone: class warfare: Facebook enacted a tri-class share structure last month that will keep him in control even if he sells shares. But in exchange for that iron grip, he conceded that his super share class would die with him and not be bequeathed. Good. Transfers of power have a way of favouring one group of shareholders over another.
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Lombard:
MPs right to get ratty about Lord Grabiner over BHS: The most damning words in trials are uttered by defendants rather than prosecutors. Lord Grabiner should know that. He is a distinguished barrister, as well as Chairman of Taveta. This Green family holding company once owned BHS, a store chain that has collapsed with £571 million in pension liabilities.
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Diss droid: What narcissists we humans are. For centuries we have struggled to produce automata resembling us. The latest fruit of this doomed effort is Pepper, a childlike robot MasterCard plans to deploy as a cashier in some of Pizza Hut’s Asian stores.
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The Daily Telegraph
Portuguese suitor makes last-minute bid for BHS: A Portuguese-backed consortium is in pole position to save BHS after Matalan Founder John Hargreaves and Select Fashions Cafer Mahiroglu retreated from the bid battle.
Greek crisis talks return as negotiators face off over debt relief demands: Greece edged closer to securing a lifeline from its European creditors on Tuesday, as finance Ministers met for another round of lengthy crisis talks.
Toyota and Uber join forces in ride-sharing deal: Toyota and Uber will join forces to create a “strategic partnership”, which will include an investment by the Japanese motor company, in what is the latest in a string of high-profile deals between car makers and ride-sharing services.
Severn Trent doubles profit as it drives efficiency overhaul: Midlands water company Severn Trent has more than doubled its pretax profit after driving forward a radical overhaul of its management and spending.
Monsanto rejects $62 billion Bayer bid, but remains open to talks: U.S. agricultural business Monsanto rejected a $62 billion takeover offer from German drugs and crops giant Bayer as it believes the current proposal is “incomplete and financially inadequate”, but said it is willing to engage in further negotiations.
Lotto revamp fails to boost revenues from Camelot draws: A controversial overhaul of the National Lottery has reversed a sales decline in the flagship Lotto game but failed to stop overall revenues generated by Camelot U.K.’s draw-based games from falling.
Tesco boosted by hints of progress on its turnaround: Tesco led the London market higher after an upbeat assessment of its turnaround plans from analyst at Bernstein.
Mortgage bills could rise even if Bank cuts interest rates on Brexit vote, Carney warns: Interest rates may have to rise in the face of a slowing economy if Britain votes to leave the EU, according to the Governor of the Bank of England.
The Questor Column:
Keller order book should deliver: Construction and ground work specialist Keller is enjoying steady trading in its U.S. business, but the downturn down under is hitting the Australian operations and leading to mixed results, sending shares 4.6% lower. The orders are still coming in and that left management confident of reaching targets for the full year. Keller generates the majority of its revenues from installing foundations and drilling pilings for buildings such as the Olympic Stadium, flood defences in the U.K. and major onshore oil and gas projects. The biggest encouragement came from an acceleration of order intake, which left the order book 15% higher at the end of April when compared to a year earlier. We picked Keller as one of our tips of the year because the shares already priced in much of the bad news when they fell sharply from £11 last last year. Now trading on around 10 times forecast earnings and offering a prospective dividend yield of 3% they look decent long-term value. Keller at 925p -45p. Questor says “Buy”.
Cranswick shares look a little overcooked: Cranswick, the FTSE 250-listed sausage maker, enjoyed an 11% jump in full-year profits as the expansion into the chicken market accelerates. The food supply company is enjoying rapid growth in sales to Asia, but Questor is concerned the valuation is looking a little overcooked. There is much to like in the annual results for Cranswick. The company increased profits during the year by diversifying from pig meat into cooked chicken. Full-year pretax profits increased 11% to £58.7 million, on revenue up 6.6% to £1.07 billion during the year ended March. Following the Benson deal the company then invested in improving the food production lines to increase capacity. Cranswick invested a total of £34 million in its facilities last year, £9 million of which was to double output in the chicken business. Sales of poultry increased by 24% last year as a result of this increased capacity. The interesting thing for investors is that nearly all this expansion is self-funded by the company’s ability to generate cash. Cranswick is suffering a bit as pig prices fell about 15% during the year to 114p per kilo, and this reduces the value of the pig herd. On the plus side the cheaper meat drives better sales with fresh pork volumes up 9% during the year. The 25% premium to the wider FTSE 250 looks too rich for a company predicting 10% earnings per share growth in the year ahead. We fear too many investors are piling in because of its excellent track record, rather than the underlying fundamentals, and we can’t recommend buying at these prices. Cranswick unchanged at £23.28. Questor says “Hold”.
The Guardian
Eurozone unlocks €10.3 billion bailout loan for Greece: European officials have agreed to unlock €10.3 billion in bailout money for Greece as the International Monetary Fund made a significant climbdown in its demand for upfront debt relief for the recession-hit country.
IFS warns Brexit would extend austerity for two more years: Britain’s leading tax and spending thinktank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has warned that leaving the European Union would force Ministers to extend austerity measures by up to two years to achieve a budget surplus.
British property market has peaked, estate agency Boss says: The Boss of one of Britain’s biggest estate agent chains appears to have called the top of the property market, saying there has been a big slump in demand from buyers after the nation has “reached the limit” on house prices.
Bank of England governor rejects accusations of bias over EU referendum: Bank of England governor Mark Carney has hit back at critics of Threadneedle Street’s warnings over Brexit, arguing that voters wanted to weigh up the economic risks of a vote to leave the European Union.
Daily Mail
Welsh brothers make £18 million after Halfords buys the bike shop they started with a £15,000 loan: Two brothers have made £18.4 million by selling two bike businesses they started by borrowing £15,000 from their parents to Halfords.
British Boss who used to run Alexander McQueen hired to smarten up Versace for a market float: Versace has hired a British fashion Boss to help it smarten up for a stock market listing.
New Nationwide Boss warns on harsh mortgage competition but profits jump again to hit £1.34billion: Nationwide has warned that profits will come under pressure in the near future as competition from rivals in the mortgage market heats up.
Daily Express
Bank Boss Carney accused of conspiring with George Osborne for EU ‘propaganda’: Bank of England Boss Mark Carney was accused of conspiring with George Osborne to produce Brexit “propaganda”, when he appeared before the MP Treasury Select Committee.
Britain’s huge £1.6trillion debt swells higher as Osborne fails to get a grip on borrowing: Britain’s debt jumped to £1.596 trillion in April, as George Osborne already looks set to blow his economy promises for the year ahead.
Signs of another housing crash: London rent prices drop hitting landlords: Rents in London fell in April taking landlord returns to almost the lowest level in the country, in yet another sign the market could be heading for a shock crash.
Ryanair ready for a fare war: Ryanair has fuelled expectations of a European fares war as it forecast a sharp drop in prices to fill its planes.
The Scottish Herald
Aberdeen hotel occupancy fall slowing: The year-on-year decline in occupancy rates in Aberdeen’s hotel sector slowed to its weakest pace in more than 12 months in April, a key survey has revealed, fuelling hopes the market might be stabilising.
Holiday feedback sites could boost economy by billions: Websites such as TripAdvisor could provide a huge boost to the Scottish economy as consumers become more reliant on peer-to-peer feedback.
$100 billion beer merger gets green light: EU antitrust regulators have approved Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $100 billion-plus takeover of SABMiller. The deal is conditional on the sale of SABMiller’s European beer business.
Kingfisher beats expectations with first quarter sales growth: B&Q Owner Kingfisher grew like-for-like sales by 3.6% to £2.7 billion in the first quarter, driven by strong growth at trade outlet Screwfix.
Bond repayment hole could mark the end for Xcite Energy: Xcite Energy is continuing negotiations with bondholders as the oil appraisal and development company aims to renegotiate terms ahead of bond maturity on June 30.
Wood Group lands new Statoil agreement: Wood Group has been awarded an evergreen master services agreement by Statoil to support the life cycles of its offshore and onshore facilities.
SLI reshuffles as Jackson departs: Andrew Jackson, head of wholesale and listed real estate funds at Standard Life Investments, is leaving after 25 years to pursue other interests.
The Scotsman
Facebook acquires Edinburgh audio start-up Two Big Ears: An Edinburgh-based start-up that specialises in virtual reality (VR) audio has been bought by social networking giant Facebook.
Tennent’s Owner targets China in latest overseas push: The Owner of Scotland’s best-selling lager has unveiled its latest bid to grow overseas sales by announcing a tie-up aimed at the Chinese market.
Aegon ends U.K. annuity work with £3 billion sale to L&G: Life and pensions group Aegon U.K. has sold its £3 billion U.K. annuity portfolio to Legal & General in a deal which completes its withdrawal from the sector.
Tamdhu distiller secures £60 million funding deal with banks: Ian Macleod Distillers, behind the Glengoyne, Tamdhu and Isle of Skye whiskies, has secured a £60 million lending package secured against its whisky stocks as it targets continued growth.
BGF invests £135 million in Scots firms in five years: More than £135 million has been invested in Scottish businesses by the Business Growth Fund (BGF) since it was launched five years ago.
Air link offers opportunities with booming Qatar: Qatar’s profile has been at its highest since the country was awarded the 2022 World Cup.
Glasgow firm creates stir with whisky cocktail: A Glasgow-based drinks business is looking to shake up the market with the launch of its Scotch whisky cocktail.
City A.M.
UniCredit CEO Federico Ghizzoni resigns amid shake-up of Italy’s biggest bank: UniCredit Chief Executive Federico Ghizzoni resigned after admitting the bank needs a new Boss.
Bank customers missing out on financial advice as mobile channel fails to drive engagement: Banks are failing to provide customers with enough financial advice, a new survey has shown.
PwC warns energy utility firms over rising levels of bad debt: Energy utilities companies have been slapped with a stark warning over the impact of rising levels of bad debt.
Old Mutual nearing U.S. sale to pave way for U.K. business flotation: Old Mutual is close to selling its U.S. asset management business, paving the way for an initial public offering (IPO) of its U.K. wealth management arm.
U.S. private equity firm in early talks over stake in Formula One: U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake is in early-stage talks with CVC Capital Partners over a stake in Formula One (F1) motor racing.
Storage company Big Yellow hikes its dividend after a year of surging profits: The self-storage company Big Yellow boasted strong profits after expanding its property portfolio this year.
Aldi taps into U.K. craft beer market in £600 million deal with 18 new offerings: Cut-price supermarket Aldi has launched a £600 million initiative to tap into the U.K.’s burgeoning craft beer industry.
Surge in buy-to-let loans dries up pipeline for lender Paragon: Specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon has recorded a 84.6% increase in loans in the first six months of 2016, to £823.6 million.
