Friday newspaper round-up: CBI, G7, Pfizer, TSB, Thames Water

Britain’s leading employers’ organisation, the Confederation of British Industry, has warned the UK economy will shift down a gear this year and risks remaining in the slow lane because of Brexit. Cutting its growth forecasts for the year, owing to heavy snowfall in the opening months of 2018 and lingering fears over Brexit, the CBI said it expected the growth rate for the British economy to slow to 1.4%, from 1.8% last year. – Guardian

Emmanuel Macron has called on other members of the G7 to stand up to Donald Trump’s trade policies in the face of what he described as the threat of a new US “hegemony”. The French president was speaking alongside the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who is hosting the G7 summit in Quebec amid sharp disagreements between the US president and the six other leaders of industrialized liberal democracies over trade, climate change and the nuclear deal with Iran. - Guardian

US drug giant Pfizer has won its appeal against a record £90m fine levied against it and UK manufacturing partner Flynn for allegedly ‘price gouging’ the NHS by jacking up the price of an anti-epilepsy drug by more than 2,000pc. Watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) - which first levied the fines on the firms in December 2016 - said it was “disappointed” by the verdict and was considering an appeal. - Telegraph

The City watchdog has come under pressure to reconsider the legitimacy of Russian oil major Rosneft’s listing on the London Stock Exchange from Labour MP Stephen Kinnock. In a letter to the Financial Conduct Authority boss Andrew Bailey, Mr Kinnock said: “When British institutions become targets of foreign aggression, our regulators have a duty to sharpen their scrutiny, and take firm action.” He questioned whether the City watchdog had assessed “the legitimacy and legality of Rosneft’s position on the LSE, not least following the decision to suspend EN+”. - Telegraph

MPs have told TSB to consider sacking its chief executive Paul Pester after losing confidence in his account of the bank’s IT problems. The Treasury select committee made the extraordinary intervention after a three-hour session on Wednesday at which the banker repeatedly frustrated MPs with his responses to questions about fraud, compensation and how many customers were still experiencing difficulties almost seven weeks after TSB’s botched IT upgrade. – The Times

Thames Water customers will receive rebates and discounts totalling £15 over the next two years because of their supplier’s poor record in fixing leaking mains in and around London. The figure represents a £120 million penalty for Britain’s largest water company, though for customers it is the equivalent of the price of 15 large bottles of Highland Spring water. – The Times