Friday newspaper round-up: John Lewis, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hurricane Energy
The new chairman of the John Lewis Partnership has warned of potential store closures and job losses as part of a plan to shore up its finances. Sharon White told the employee-owned group’s staff council that it faced making “difficult decisions about stores and about jobs” during what was its “most challenging period” since its inception in the 1920s. Despite the hard work of employees, trading results were disappointing and not generating enough profit to invest in the business, she told the meeting. – Guardian
The government is preparing to reverse plans put forward last year to cut import tariffs on most goods coming to the UK under proposals for post-Brexit trade agreements. The Department for International Trade has opted to simplify the current regime rather than abolish large parts of it, as Theresa May’s government planned under a temporary scheme to follow a no-deal Brexit. – Guardian
Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Hargreaves is to sell £500m-worth of shares in the business he co-founded, saying the size of his investment in the firm had left him with “an awful lot of eggs in one basket”. The prominent Brexit supporter, 73, said the sale of around 6pc of the shares in Hargreaves Lansdown, which was being conducted by Barclays and Numis on Thursday night after the market closed, was part of long-term financial planning to diversify assets. – Telegraph
Factories across Europe will have to shut within weeks if the coronavirus outbreak continues to disrupt their supply chains, analysts have said as the economic fallout grows. Fiat Chrysler, the Italian-American carmaker, said yesterday that it could shut one of its plants on the Continent as industry braces for a “significant” increase in disruption and multinationals scramble to respond. – The Times
Shares in Hurricane Energy fell by 17 per cent after it warned it may have to plug and abandon a well to the west of the Shetland Islands. The Aim-listed energy group struck oil at the Lincoln Crestal well last summer and suspended it with plans to hook it up to an existing production vessel this year, subject to regulatory approvals. – The Times