Thursday newspaper round-up: Ryanair, UK car production, Thomas Cook, Prudential
Bulgaria’s Kristalina Georgieva has said the global economy needs to be ready to cope with a fresh economic downturn after being chosen to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The economist said she was taking charge of the Washington-based organisation at a time when growth was slowing, trade tensions growing and with debt at record levels. – Guardian
Ryanair has written to UK pilots asking them to take unpaid leave or transfer to other bases abroad, saying they could otherwise join the 9,000 job losses at Thomas Cook. The airline, which reported profits of €1bn (£886m) in May, told its pilots that a “significant surplus of pilots must be reduced” at UK bases including Stansted and Manchester, and that it was encouraging them to take up to 12 months of unpaid leave. – Guardian
Production of cars from UK factories has risen for the first time in 15 months – but only because normal production schedules were skewed by shutdowns as companies braced for the impact of Brexit. A total of 92,158 cars rolled off British production lines in August, a rise of 3.3pc on the same month a year ago. - Telegraph
Thomas Cook bosses could be stripped of their bonuses, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said - as it emerged executives secretly discussed putting the firm into administration two months ago as a last resort. Amid a growing backlash over the collapse of the business - which left 21,000 workers without a job, and saw 150,000 Britons stranded abroad, triggering the largest ever peacetime operation to bring them home - Mr Shapps said that investigators probing what happened could seek to recover money paid to directors. – Telegraph
The total bill for Prudential’s ambitious plan to split itself in two has been put at more than £430 million in the first year, as Britain’s biggest insurer spelt out the full costs of demerging its M&G fund management operation. Paul Manduca, the Prudential’s chairman, said in a letter to shareholders that he expected the total cost to the Prudential to hit £350 million, while its demerged M&G business would incur at least an extra £80 million a year of head office costs. – The Times
Plans by the Bank of England to sell its imposing 28-acre sports estate in southwest London have led to a grassroots revolt among angry members, some of whom are preparing a bid. The decision by the Bank’s court of directors in April to lease the Roehampton site, ending more than 100 years of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’s history there, came amid mounting criticism in Westminster of its “very expensive country club”. – The Times