Tuesday newspaper round-up: Ghosn, Findel, Paperchase, Interserve
Carlos Ghosn has been granted bail by a court in Japan, more than three months after the former Nissan chairman was arrested over allegations of financial misconduct. The Tokyo district court set bail at 1bn yen ($9m) after a request last week by Ghosn’s newly appointed legal team, Kyodo news agency reported. – Guardian
Britain’s retailers suffered from weaker sales last month as mounting uncertainty over the UK’s departure from the EU led to consumers becoming more wary of making bigger purchases before Brexit. In the latest evidence that momentum in the economy is fading during the weeks before Britain is scheduled to formally leave the EU, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and accountancy firm KPMG said that total sales growth dropped to 0.5% in the year to February, down from 1.6% a year earlier. – Guardian
Findel’s board unanimously rejected a £140m takeover bid on Monday that was triggered after Mike Ashley’s Sport Direct bought another chunk of shares in the online retailer. Directors said the mandatory offer "significantly undervalues" the company and told shareholders to take no action, with a formal response to follow once the offer document had been sent.- Telegraph
At least five Paperchase stores will close after the stationery chain began a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) process on Monday. The high street retailer, owned by private equity group Primary Capital, blamed the combination of declining footfall and higher business costs. – Telegraph
The biggest shareholder in Interserve has returned with a sweetened offer to save the struggling contractor. Coltrane Asset Management, a New York-based hedge fund, said that it would underwrite a £110 million share offer and would convert £435 million of debt into equity. Creditors would end up owning 55 per cent of the business and shareholders would be left with 37.5 per cent, compared with only 5 per cent under a proposal set out by Interserve itself. – The Times
Britain is making progress on gender equality in the workplace, but it continues to lag behind other developed countries because of a “stubbornly persistent” gender pay gap, a report has said. The UK has moved up a position in a league table measuring gender equality in the workplace in developed countries, yet it still ranks 13th out of 33. Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand took the top three spots in the Women in Work Index by PWC, the Big Four accountancy firm. The index is based on five indicators that include gender pay equality and the proportion of women in full-time employment. South Korea was at the bottom. – The Times