Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit, accountants, Debenhams, Dixons, WPP
Supermarket giants have warned the Treasury that a no-deal Brexit would force up the price of the average weekly food basket by as much as 12%. Senior executives from some of the big four supermarkets made the alarming prediction in briefings to the Treasury on the impact on food prices of a no-deal Brexit. The biggest tariffs on imports from the EU could include cheese, up by 44%, beef, up by 40%, and chicken, up 22%. - Sunday Times
Airlines and aerospace giants have demanded that Brussels allows Europe’s air safety watchdog to plan for a no-deal Brexit, amid fears that flights could be grounded. The European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) is currently banned by the European Commission from holding emergency talks with Britain to keep planes flying in the event of no deal. - Sunday Times
More than 100 Westminster constituencies that voted to leave the EU have now switched their support to Remain, according to a stark new analysis of YouGov polls by consumer analytics company Focaldata. In findings that could have a significant impact on the parliamentary battle of Brexit later this year, the study concludes that most seats in Britain now contain a majority of voters who want to stay in the EU. - Observer
The Bank of England has ploughed billions of the Treasury’s foreign currency reserves into euros since the Brexit referendum, in an apparent vote of confidence in the single currency. Figures from the Bank — which manages stocks of foreign currency on behalf of the Treasury — show that Britain now holds more euros than dollars in its reserves, reversing the position of June 2016. - Sunday Times
The US ambassador to London has said the UK should join Donald Trump in adopting a hardline attitude towards Iran. Britain and its European allies responded with dismay to the US president’s decision in May to pull out of the 2015 deal which relieved sanctions on Iran in return for an end to Tehran’s military nuclear ambitions. - Observer
The Big Four accountancy firms are run like ‘sweetie shops’ for the partners and cost-cutting has eroded the quality of large company audits, it was claimed last night. Clive Hyman, a former partner at leading audit firm KPMG which has been at the centre of a number of scandals, said lower-ranking staff were suffering because of bad management decisions. - Mail on Sunday
Mike Ashley has been accused of abusing the system after he bought bust department store House of Fraser in a controversial £90million deal that leaves 10,000 pension fund members in the lurch. A row broke out over the fact that the Newcastle United owner's bid was favoured over a higher 'white knight' offer from rival retail billionaire Philip Day that would have protected pensioners. Administrators from accountancy firm EY could face a Government inquiry after selling the 169-year-old chain to Ashley in a deal that appears to put the interests of banks and bondholders ahead of workers' retirement savings. - Mail on Sunday
Retail billionaires Mike Ashley and Philip Day are set to battle for control of Debenhams as the race to become the next king of the high street intensifies. Just days after Mr Ashley’s Sports Direct pipped the owner of Edinburgh Woollen Mill to the takeover of House of Fraser, retail sources say both entrepreneurs have trained their sights on its closest rival, with Mr Ashley said to be weighing a bold plan that would result in the two department store chains ultimately being merged. - Sunday Telegraph
An attempt by new Dixons Carphone boss Alex Baldock to extract more favourable terms from mobile operators has met firm resistance, threatening his pledge to improve returns on smartphone contracts. It is understood from multiple sources that Vodafone’s British arm is finalising a deal to continue its relationship with Dixons Carphone on substantially the same terms for two more years. - Sunday Telegraph
Seven Marks & Spencer clothing stores will close their doors for the last time on Saturday as the high street chain pushes ahead with a radical transformation plan. The retailer announced in May that it plans to close 100 stores by 2022, putting hundreds of jobs at risk. - Obsevrer
Failings by the audit giant PwC meant that accounts for the department store BHS contained “incomplete, inaccurate and misleading” statements about its ability to continue as a going concern after its £1 sale by Sir Philip Green, according to a damning report. The verdict of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on PwC’s handling of BHS says the firm “should have concluded that a material uncertainty existed” about BHS’s ability to survive outside Taveta, the holding company for Green’s high street empire, including Topshop. - Sunday Times
Virgin Media users will get back UKTV channels, including Dave and Gold, after the two companies reached an agreement, it has been announced. Customers lost all 23 of UKTV’s channels last month in a row over fees but the channels that were removed had already started to reappear, Virgin Media said on Saturday. - Observer
The battle for energy market dominance is taking to the high seas. Once a niche element of the global market, super-cooled mega-tankers filled with liquefied natural gas are increasingly criss-crossing the globe and now the world’s fastest-growing source of energy. The boom in trade has kickstarted trillions of dollars of investment in export projects in the US, Qatar and Australia to meet the growing needs of super-consumers in China and Europe. - Sunday Telegraph
The UK’s Epipen shortage has deepened after US drug giant Mylan began rationing access to the vital medicine. In an update published last week, Mylan said manufacturing problems were now restricting the supply of its Epipen Junior product containing 0.15mg of adrenalin. Previously, shortages had only impacted the 0.3mg version for adults. - Sunday Telegraph
One of the UK’s largest DIY retailers is reviewing the sale of Roundup weedkiller products amid mounting concerns about their use, after a US jury found that the herbicide had caused a terminally ill man’s cancer. The manufacturer of the weedkiller, Monsanto, has insisted that British consumers are safe to continue using Roundup products, which are widely sold at DIY stores and used by British farmers. But a spokesperson for Homebase said it would be reviewing its product range after the ruling in California. - Observer
The heatwave will cause tens of thousands of homes to sink into the ground, insurers have warned, as they are braced for subsidence claims to quadruple. Over the past two months a record breaking spell of hot and dry weather has caused the soil on which homes are built to shrink, which will result in many sinking into the ground later this year, it is claimed. - Sunday Telegraph
The advertising giant WPP has approached a senior executive at IBM in its search for a chief executive to replace Sir Martin Sorrell. David Kenny, the senior vice-president of IBM’s Watson and Cloud Platform division, was interviewed in New York last month by WPP chairman Roberto Quarta and the board, according to Sky News. The report shows that Quarta is continuing to consider external candidates. - Sunday Times
European pilots have sought to counter concerns that Ryanair is ramping up the transfer of hundreds of jobs to countries less welcoming to unions. The president of the European Cockpit Association (ECA), a body that represents more than 38,000 pilots from national associations across 36 countries, said that Polish pilots want to be “part of the movement” against Ryanair. - Sunday Telegraph
Tens of millions of workers around the world endure cripplingly long hours in “gig” jobs, suffering exhaustion, sleep deprivation and social isolation in exchange for low wages. Even the best workers struggle to raise their wage rate because of intense competition. - Sunday Telegraph
Embattled Big Six energy supplier Npower has continued to shed customers and deepen its losses this year ahead of its planned tie-up with SSE’s energy supply arm. The supplier lost around 350,000 customers over the first half of the year, dragging the company to a loss of £15m compared to a loss of £11m in the same months last year. - Sunday Telegraph
One man was killed and another seriously injured in an explosion at a military hardware factory in Salisbury on Friday evening. The blast occurred at the Chemring Countermeasures plant, which makes flares, at about 5pm. A 29-year-old man died at the scene and a second man, who is 26, is in a serious but stable condition in hospital. - The Times
Industry leaders have criticised unscrupulous funeral directors for using misleading sales tactics and pressuring consumers into buying prepaid funeral plans, an under-regulated market that has soared in popularity in recent years, leaving consumers with little recourse if things go wrong. Co-op Funeral Services, one of the country’s largest funeral plan providers, described the prepaid funeral plans market as a “ticking time bomb” that could reach “breaking point” by 2025 if regulation was not enforced. - Sunday Telegraph
China’s dominance of the technology that will power the next generation of super-fast mobile broadband threatens to leave Britain vulnerable to Chinese espionage, Britain’s top spy has warned. Jeremy Fleming, head of GCHQ, said “fifth generation” mobile services (5G) — which are expected to be launched in Britain next year and could eventually underpin everything from driverless cars to energy-saving “smart cities” — are among a host of new technologies that risk making “us more vulnerable to terrorists, hostile states and serious criminals”. - Sunday Times
The City watchdog has been accused of putting Royal Bank of Scotland’s reputation ahead of the need to protect customers after it failed to take disciplinary action over the bank’s mistreatment of small businesses. Kevin Hollinrake, co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on fair business banking, has written to the head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) this weekend. He is calling for a public inquiry into banks’ behaviour towards SMEs following the financial crisis. - Sunday Times
Disgraced door-to-door lender Provident Financial offered customers 'silent accounts' that enabled them to keep their debts secret from their partners, according to a former executive. The firm also signed up customers to tiny loan deals they did not need and could easily repay, in order to flatter its accounts by making it look as though it had large numbers of reliable customers – a practice known as 'pot busting'. - Mail on Sunday
The High Speed 2 rail line has steamed into further controversy with a Spanish manufacturer launching a legal challenge against its plans to buy £2.8bn of trains. Madrid-based Talgo alleges that HS2 botched the procurement of rolling stock and treated it unfairly. - Sunday Times
Jaguar Land Rover plans to overhaul its product range over the next six years with a flurry of new cars. Britain’s biggest automotive manufacturer has told investors it will launch 99 new variants, including three new or returning cars — such as the Defender off-roader. Car makers typically launch multiple variants of each car. - Sunday Times
Investors tired of playing the stock market can buy a stake in Lord's cricket ground next spring through a bitcoin scheme backed by property developer Charles Rifkind. Rifkind owns the lease to a network of defunct railway tunnels at the northeastern end of the site, and is offering fans 'a slice of the home of cricket' for £500 a share. - Mail on Sunday
The London-listed oil company JKX Oil & Gas is scrambling to find out why a Ukrainian MP has quietly become its second largest shareholder in a deal that has sparked speculation of a potential takeover by oligarchs. Vitaliy Khomutynnik, one of Ukraine’s richest men, has clinched a 20 per cent stake in JKX – which has assets in Ukraine and Russia – via an investment fund called Cascade. He bought the stake from Proxima, a Russian fund that in 2016 succeeded in booting out the entire JKX board. - Mail on Sunday
More than 70 staff at an AIM-listed robotics company will share a near-£100million bonus bonanza after a stunning stock market run triggered Silicon Valley-style rewards. Merseyside-based Blue Prism – whose software automates clerical tasks for clients including the NHS, Telefonica, Coca-Cola and Npower – has been one of the best-performing shares on the London Stock Exchange in recent history. - Mail on Sunday
German and French vintners are harvesting their grapes weeks ahead of schedule following the heatwave that has affected much of Europe. While many German farmers have complained that the hot and dry climate has damaged their crops, with yields of some, such as wheat, expected to be down by as much as 50%, vintners have seen reason to celebrate. - Observer