Friday newspaper round-up: Philip Green, John Lewis, SSE, VW
Sir Philip Green has threatened the MP Frank Field with legal action after the Labour politician claimed to have seen leaked details of the official investigation into the BHS pension crisis. Last week Field told a radio programme that he has new information from the original investigation launched by the Pensions Regulator into the £571m BHS pension black hole left by the owners when the high street chain collapsed in April last year. – Guardian
Can they fix it? John Lewis reckons it knows someone who can. Middle England’s favourite retailer has signed up an army of plumbers, electricians, decorators and gardeners to offer a new home maintenance service launching next month. The retailer, which has built up one of the most trusted brands in the UK partly thanks to its highly rated customer service and “never knowingly undersold”pledge, is now aiming to make employing a tradesperson a lot less hit and miss. – Guardian
Britain’s second largest energy supplier has steadily grown the profits it makes from supplying energy to households for a third year in a row despite mounting political pressure to keep bills low. The energy regulator has revealed that SSE is the only Big Six supplier to have grown its pre-tax margins every year since 2013, even as the debate over energy bills and profits has heated up. – Telegraph
Volkswagen – the car maker whose emissions scandal sparked the huge backlash against diesel – has launched its own scrappage scheme. The German car giant is offering discounts on its new cars of between £1,800 and £6,000 to buyers who trade in older diesel models. – Telegraph
Petrofac’s chief executive made more than €300,000 by betting on a share price fall at a rival oil services company after its boss tipped him off about his imminent resignation, financial regulators in Italy have said. Ayman Asfari bought put options in Saipem on the morning of December 5, 2012, hours before Pietro Franco Tali’s shock resignation as chief executive over an investigation into alleged corruption. Two days later, after Saipem shares fell, Mr Asfari sold the put options for almost five times their purchase price, making a €302,506 profit. – The Times
More than 10,000 equal-pay claims may go ahead against Asda after the supermarket chain failed to stop the cases proceeding. Shop workers in the group’s stores, who are mainly women, can compare themselves to better-off, mainly male, workers in the supermarket’s distribution centres, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled. – The Times