Wednesday newspaper round-up: Barclays, retail job losses, Woodford
Barclays is being urged to stop offering loans to fossil fuel companies as part of the first ever shareholder climate resolution aimed at a UK bank. A group of 11 pension and investment funds managing more than £130bn worth of assets have filed a resolution calling for Barclays to set clear targets to phase out services to energy companies that fail to align with Paris climate goals. – Guardian
Mothercare and Links of London will disappear from UK high streets this week as 94 stores close their doors for good, resulting in 3,150 job losses. All 79 Mothercare shops and 15 Links of London will have shut by Sunday night, after both companies collapsed into administration before Christmas. The latest wave of closures, with 2,800 jobs lost at Mothercare and 350 at Links, comes after a tough festive period for high street retailers when subdued spending combined with the shift to online. – Guardian
British savers piled into UK stock market funds at the fastest rate for more than four years following the Conservative Party’s overwhelming election victory as they bet on a deal-making and investment spree. Investors poured a net total of £1bn into UK-focused funds in December, more than double the previous largest monthly inflow in July 2015, according to Calastone which processes cash transfers. – Telegraph
Savers trapped in Neil Woodford’s frozen investment fund have reacted with fury after it emerged that the fallen stockpicker and his business partner paid themselves almost £14 million in dividends last year. Woodford Investment Management paid £13.8 million in dividends to Woodford Capital, a company owned by Mr Woodford and Craig Newman, in the 12 months to the end of last March, accounts filed with Companies House yesterday showed. – The Times
Two of the controlling shareholders of NMC Health were seeking to offload about $500 million of shares in the beleaguered FTSE 100 private healthcare group last night to cut their debts. In a statement after the market had closed in London, it emerged that Saeed Mohamed al-Qebaisi and Khalifa Butti al-Muhairi hoped to sell shares worth a combined $490 million in NMC and shares worth $75 million in Finablr, a UK-listed foreign exchange company, via an accelerated bookbuilding by Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Barclays. – The Times