Monday newspaper round-up: Co-op, Issa brothers, Victoria

The boss of Co-op is calling on the government to take more action to tackle retail crime amid a warning it has reached record levels as criminal gangs are operating “exempt from consequences”. Co-op said its latest data showed that of the nearly 3,000 occasions this year where security teams detained serious offenders in its stores, the police failed to show up almost four-fifths of the time, leading to a “dangerous pressure cooker” environment that puts store workers and communities at risk. – Guardian

The great property sell-off by landlords has continued across Great Britain this year, in particular in Scotland, where the buy-to-let bubble appears to have burst. As the property website Rightmove reported that new seller asking prices dropped by 1.7% or £6,088 last month to an average of £362,143, Hamptons revealed that landlords were on target to have bought the fewest number of homes since 2010 – once the period of the first Covid lockdown is discounted from the data. – Guardian

The billionaire owners of Asda have signed a multimillion-pound deal with Tesla to launch ultra-fast charging outlets for electric vehicles (EVs) across their petrol station empire. EG Group, owned by the brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, has agreed a deal with Tesla to roll out the chargers across thousands of their sites in the UK and Europe. – Telegraph

The former boss of one of Britain’s best-known venture capital firms is preparing to make a City comeback after abruptly stepping down from the company he co-founded. Filings at Companies House show that Dominic Perks, who previously ran Hambro Perks, has set up a business called Lexham Capital Partners. It marks the first significant move by Perks, 46, since he left his eponymous venture capital business in April. – The Times

Leading proxy shareholder agencies have recommended investors in Victoria vote against accepting the royal carpet maker’s annual report and accounts at its meeting today. After accountants issued a qualified audit opinion and raised fraud risk concerns Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have advised shareholders in the 128-year-old company to oppose the resolution. - The T|imes