Friday newspaper round-up: Thomas Cook, LSE, Airbus

The future of Thomas Cook is hanging in the balance as the travel company scrambles to raise an additional £200m to secure an emergency rescue deal. Britain’s oldest package-holiday firm must secure the funds before a crucial meeting next Friday after a last-minute demand from its lenders, which include about 10 banks led by RBS, Barclays and Lloyds. – Guardian

More than a third of British rail services failed to reach stations on time over the past year, according to new performance measurements. Under the toughened standards, trains are considered punctual if they arrive within a minute of the timetable, rather than the previous limit of up to 10 minutes. Under the changed regime, just 64.7% of services were on time in the 12 months to the end of June, a figure the rail passenger watchdog Transport Focus described as “unacceptable”. – Guardian

The boss of the London Stock Exchange mounted a staunch defence of its £22bn takeover of data business Refinitiv in his first public comments since the Hong Kong exchange launched an audacious bid for his company. David Schwimmer said the Refinitiv deal, which was only announced last month, was a transaction LSE felt “very good about” because it was “a very strong fit strategically”. – Telegraph

Businesses which have been told by the government to prepare for a no-deal Brexit are being undermined by “big gaps” in official guidance about the UK’s scheduled departure from the European Union in six weeks, a leading employers’ group has warned. The British Chambers of Commerce said there was “incomplete or insufficient information available to plan thoroughly for a no-deal” in 31 out of 36 “business-critical” areas, undermining government claims that companies have what they need to prepare. – The Times

Airbus is under investigation in Germany over possible spying by several employees, who have been accused of obtaining confidential army documents on procurement projects. The Munich state prosecutor’s office said it was investigating 17 Airbus employees and an unquantified number of German government officials. – The Times