Thursday newspaper round-up: Macron, Tesco, Greene King, Ferguson
Emmanuel Macron will hold a friendly but “frank” working lunch with Boris Johnson on Thursday after dismissing his request to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement and scrap the Irish backstop as “not an option”. The French president told reporters on Wednesday night that there was a “British democratic crisis” over Brexit and he was seeking “clarification” from Johnson on his proposals as the 31 October exit date approaches. – Guardian
Tesco has pledged to step up its efforts in the battle against single-use plastic with measures that include banning brands using excessive packaging from Britain’s largest supermarket chain. Dave Lewis, Tesco’s chief executive, said the company would “reserve the right not to list” products with too much non-recyclable packaging from next year onwards, in an article published on theguardian.com. – Guardian
Fears have been raised that Greene King’s shock sale to one of Asia’s richest families is “almost certain” to result in pubs being shut and could lead to the sale of its famous Bury St Edmunds brewery. CK Asset, part of the empire built by 91-year-old billionaire Li Ka-shing, struck a £4.6bn deal on Monday to buy the 220-year-old Suffolk brewer. The swoop was at a premium of more than 50pc of Greene King’s share price. – Telegraph
Britain’s trade transport system is no longer fit for purpose. Today’s deformed structure amounts to a failure of statecraft over decades and - as we are discovering - is a potential threat to economic national security. Goods from Germany’s Ruhr Valley or the manufacturing clusters of Baden-Württemberg are transported in lorries to the Channel and from there to Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, or Manchester in the UK’s industrial heartland. – Telegraph
Ferguson has held talks with investors about relocating its stock market listing to New York. Executives at the FTSE 100 plumbing and heating group are understood to have received a mixed response to the idea of quitting London, which would require the backing of three-quarters of shareholders. – The Times
The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund lifted its investment in equities to a record high in the second quarter. Norway’s huge oil fund said that 69.3 per cent of its assets were in shares, up from 66.3 per cent at the end of last year and only 61.2 per cent three years earlier. – The Times