Tuesday newspaper round-up: Retail woe, credit card misselling, AA, Lidl

The number of retailers going into administration has risen for the first time in five years as falling consumer confidence and rising costs take their toll on businesses. Figures compiled by Deloitte show that 118 retailers became insolvent last year, a 28 per cent increase on 2016, when 92 firms filed for administration. - The Times

High street spending in the run-up to Christmas increased at the slowest rate since 2012 after spiralling prices forced shoppers to spend more of their earnings on food and essential items. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) sent a worrying signal to non-food retailers, in a week of crucial trading updates for the sector, as they showed that consumers reined in their spending on furniture, clothes and footwear in December. - Guardian

Tens of thousands of subprime credit card customers could be denied compensation for a mis-sold debt waiver product because of a legal spat between Barclays and the US company that bought the card business a decade ago. CCUK, a British subsidiary of a company based in Atlanta, has appealed to the High Court to try to force Barclays to make compensation payments to some 80,000 affected individuals, who took out cards with a payment break protection (PBP) add-on. - The Times

Drug firms have urged the government to push to keep the UK as a member of the EU’s medicines regulatory body, despite concerns this could mean continued jurisdiction over the industry by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). FTSE 100 giant AstraZeneca and Japanese multinational Eisai both told The Daily Telegraph they ideally wanted the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to continue to oversee the movement and safety of drugs on both sides of the Channel.

Theresa May’s new year reshuffle was thrown off course when senior members of the cabinet refused to move and Justine Greening quit the government after turning down a job as work and pensions secretary. Earlier, Jeremy Hunt rejected a new position as business secretary and instead persuaded the prime minister to allow him to remain at health in a beefed-up role taking on more responsibility for social care. - Guardian

The former boss of the AA, who was ousted for assaulting a colleague, is challenging his sacking in an employment tribunal. Bob Mackenzie was dismissed as executive chairman last July after he attacked a fellow AA executive in a hotel bar, which was captured on CCTV. He is understood to have lodged a claim alleging his sacking was mishandled and contravened company procedures. - Telegraph

Lidl is to open a 1 million sq ft warehouse in Luton as it continues its attack on the British grocery sector. The German discount retailer group said the new regional distribution centre would be more than double the size of any warehouse it had in the UK and would be on a 58-acre site at junction 11A of the M1. - The Times

Jaguar Land Rover has reported its best-ever year, with global sales rising 7pc to 621,100, despite demand flat-lining in the UK. However, the company used the sales milestone to hit out at the Government’s policy towards diesel cars, saying it could harm the development of new, cleaner engines and electric vehicles. - Telegraph

Debenhams has been downgraded by Moody's credit rating agency after the struggling department store chain's profit warning last week sparked fresh concerns about the chances of its turnaround plan. Moody's said that following the dismal trading update it now expects the company's metrics to deteriorate this year beyond its original expectations. As a result it was cutting its rating from Ba3 to B1, four notches below investment grade. - Telegraph

British companies are being subjected to a barrage of cyberattacks, which leapt by nearly a quarter during the final three months of last year. Beaming, a provider of internet services for businesses, reported that on average British firms each suffered 231,028 cyberattacks during 2017, or 633 attempts to breach their firewalls every day. - The Times

Two large Apple shareholders have asked the technology giant to assess the impact its products are having on young people, amid a growing concern over the effect smartphones are having on their mental health. Activist investor Jana Partners LLC and the California State Teachers’ Retirement Sytem (Calstrs), which control around $2bn of Apple shares or 0.2 per cent, published an open letter on Saturday urging the Silicon Valley company to respond to the widespread phone addiction phenomenon, which psychologists have suggested may become a public health crisis in years to come. - Telegraph