Press Round-Up Short (Premium)
Thursday newspaper round-up: Banks, steel, trade, trains
US regulators have started rowing back on banking restrictions brought in following the financial crisis, in a move seen as a significant victory for the Trump administration. The Federal Reserve has proposed altering the so-called Volcker rule, which was designed to stop banks from engaging in proprietary trading while accepting taxpayer-insured deposits. - Telegraph.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: RBS, nuisance calls, M&S, Shire
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has called on the government to use its position as majority shareholder of Royal Bank of Scotland to block planned branch closures. McDonnell said the government should use its stake to force RBS, which holds its annual shareholder meeting in Edinburgh on Wednesday, to act in the public interest and accused it of “dancing to the tune of the bank’s board”. Earlier in May RBS revealed plans to close 162 branches in England and Wales with the loss of nearly 800 jobs.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, RBS, drones, Codemasters
The growing risk of a bad Brexit deal for the City of London is causing severe tensions between the Bank of England and the Treasury, according to reports. Amid mounting fears that Brussels will reject plans put forward by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, for maintaining close ties with the EU for financial services, the Financial Times reported that Bank officials are at loggerheads with the Treasury over the search for a “Plan B” arrangement. – Guardian.
Friday newspaper round-up: Bunnings, Lloyds, Apple, Bitcoin investigation
The Australian hardware chain Bunnings has pulled the plug on its disastrous $1bn venture into Britain, drawing an ignominious close to one of the worst retail acquisitions ever seen. After burning through hundreds of millions of dollars trying to sell the all-conquering sandpaper-meets-sausage-sizzle formula to DIY-crazy Britons, Bunnings’ parent group, Wesfarmers, said on Friday that it was offloading the 200-plus chain of former Homebase stores for a reported £1 nominal fee.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Brexit transition, max-fac, autos, Barclays
Theresa May will ask the European Union for a second Brexit transition period to run until 2023 to avoid a hard border in Ireland. Britain will propose another transition covering customs and trade that will follow the period already agreed, scheduled to last until the end of 2020. - The Times.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Carillion, BP, Vedanta, Unaoil
The government was too slow to spot mounting financial problems at troubled public sector outsourcing company Carillion, according to a report that reveals the Cabinet Office decided the contractor was not “high risk” even as it neared insolvency. The parliamentary public accounts committee, which produced the report, also warned that Carillion’s collapse indicates that too many public works contracts are concentrated in the hands of a few private firms. - Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Sainsbury's, defence spending, BP
J Sainsbury is facing fresh scrutiny of its £12 billion merger with Asda after more than 100 MPs signed a letter criticising changes to the company’s staff pay that threaten to leave some workers more than £3,000 a year worse off. As many as 13,000 Sainsbury’s employees could take a hit to their pay packets, according to critics of the company’s plans, as it consults on a new deal meant to equalise pay among its 130,000-strong workforce. - The Times.
Market buzz: FTSE flies to new record high, MPs call for Russian clampdown
1654: A "solid day" for equity markets in the US and UK, says market analyst Chris Beauchamp at IG, with the FTSE 100 clocking up yet another record high and moving on for the next summit of 8000, while the Dow Jones comes back from the weekend with a solid 300-plus day so far.
Monday newspaper round-up: Business registrations, M&S, Sky, RBS
Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has sparked a dramatic fall in the number of French, Dutch and Belgian businesses registering in the UK, in a further illustration of Brexit’s impact on the UK economy. Figures from Companies House show that French companies registered 48% fewer businesses in the UK in 2016-17 than the previous financial year while companies in Belgium registered 38% fewer. Companies in the Netherlands, which is probably the worst affected by Brexit of Britain’s trading partners, registered 52% fewer companies last year than in 2015-16.
Friday newspaper round-up: Low paid workers, gender inequality, PayPal, Liberty Global
A smaller proportion of UK workers are low paid than at any time since the early 1980s, due to above-inflation increases in the government’s national living wage. A report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank said the share of employees who were officially classified as low paid – earning less than around £8. 50 an hour – had fallen to 18%, the lowest since 1982. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Rail franchises, customs deal, Capita, buy-to-let
Britain will tell Brussels it is prepared to stay tied to the customs union beyond 2021 as ministers remain deadlocked over a future deal with the EU. The Prime Minister's Brexit war Cabinet earlier this week agreed on a new "backstop" as a last resort to avoid a hard Irish border, having rejected earlier proposals from the European Union. - Telegraph.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Carillion, Amazon, Thomson Reuters
Carillion collapsed as a result of “recklessness, hubris and greed” among directors who put their own financial rewards ahead of all other concerns, according to an excoriating report into the firm’s demise that spreads the blame between board members, the government, accountants and regulators. The company, which managed huge construction projects and provided government services ranging from school meals to prison maintenance and NHS cleaning, slumped into insolvency in January.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: RBS, Brexit impasse, East Coast rail, FirstGroup
Officials charged with managing the taxpayer’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland have begun contacting City brokers to gauge interest in a potential share sale, only days after the lender agreed a provisional deal with American prosecutors over the sale of toxic mortgage-backed bonds. UK Government Investments began calling investment banks last week after RBS announced a $4. 9 billion settlement on Thursday that cleared what is widely regarded in the City to have been the last hurdle to the state restarting the sale of its 71 per cent holding.
Monday newspaper round-up: High street, Carillion, Crossrail, WPP
Shoppers are deserting the high street in greater numbers than during the depths of the recession in 2009, creating a brutal climate that is putting thousands more retail jobs at risk. The coming days will be crucial to the future of a handful of household names, including Mothercare and Carpetright, which are trying to persuade investors to make vital cash injections so they can jettison unwanted stores. There is also the spectre of job losses at Poundworld, the struggling discount chain, which is being cut adrift by its American owners.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Housebuilding, Brexit, CYBG, Rolls-Royce
Britain's biggest developers could be told to hand over chunks of their building sites to smaller firms as part of a package of measures being considered to help solve the country's housing crisis. A government-appointed panel is understood to have found that the construction of homes is being slowed down as a result of a high proportion of planning permissions being granted for large sites owned by single developers. - Sunday Telegraph.
Friday newspaper round-up: Gender gap, high streets, Aviva, oil prices
Hundreds of companies are being pursued by Britain’s equality watchdog after failing to file gender pay gap data on time. This year, for the first time, all companies and public bodies with more than 250 employees were legally obliged to publish the gap between the average amount paid to a man in their business compared with the average for a woman. The data compares men in all roles with women in all roles, rather than those in similar jobs, in a bid to highlight the prevalence of men in high-paid and management roles and to encourage companies to make changes.
Thursday newspaper round-up: FOBTs, Sky, trade plans, BP
A cut to the maximum stake on addictive betting machines to £2 has been delayed after a senior minister led a cabinet revolt against the plans. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport planned to announce the reduction today after winning over sceptics in the Treasury but a source close to the cabinet says Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, has strongly objected to the plan. - The Times.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Retailers, Facebook, Google, Vodafone
Britain’s retailers suffered the sharpest drop in business in more than two decades last month as bad weather, the squeeze on household budgets and the timing of Easter led to a hefty cut in consumer spending. In the latest evidence of the slowdown in the economy since the turn of the year, the latest health check from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG found that sales were down by 3. 1% in April, the biggest decline since the survey was launched in 1995.
AstraZeneca offloads Seroquel rights for $538m, gets Lynparza green light
AstraZeneca has agreed a $538m deal to license-out the sale of its Seroquel schizophrenia and bipolar treatment and separately has been boosted by an approval of its Lynparza cancer treatment from European regulators.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, retail, rail, manufacturers
Theresa May is facing renewed cross-party pressure to accept membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) or risk defeat in the Commons. Peers vote on Tuesday night on a series of amendments as officials work to try to find a deal on May’s preferred option of a customs relationship with Europe that is acceptable to Brexiters and remainers in her cabinet, as well as MPs and EU negotiators. - Guardian.