Morning Financial Press Review 11/12/19
Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
has agreed to restart a compensation scheme it set up for victims of fraud after “serious shortcomings” were found. An independent review of recompense provided to small business owners who were damaged by the £1 billion HBOS scandal found that the scheme failed to deliver “fair and reasonable offers of compensation”. Sir Ross Cranston, a retired High Court judge, said that “claims to direct and consequential loss must be reassessed” as he accused Lloyds of an “unacceptable denial of responsibility”. The Financial Conduct Authority said that the bank’s failings needed to be addressed quickly. The City watchdog added that senior management must explain how and why the issues identified by Sir Ross occurred and that “further action may be required in light of those answers”.
Advertising mogul Maurice Saatchi has quit the agency which bears his name, days after an accounting error sent shares plunging 45%. The Tory peer, one of the greatest admen of his generation, stood down as an executive director of on Tuesday night as part of a boardroom clear-out. He quit alongside non-executives Lord Dobbs – author of political thriller House of Cards – Sir Michael Peat and Lorna Tilbian, as the company battles for stability following an announcement that it had overstated profits by nearly £12m. Insiders said the departures follow a split over the direction of the business.
Further misery was heaped on investors yesterday after the fashion group delivered another profit warning that claimed the scalps of its long-serving chief executive and chairman. In an unscheduled trading update, Ted Baker said that its full-year profits would be as little as £5 million, a 90% nosedive on a year earlier. In response to the collapse in profits Ted Baker said that Lindsay Page, 61, would be stepping down as chief executive with immediate effect after 22 years with the business. David Bernstein, 76, the chairman, is accelerating his retirement plans.
Market opening hours could be slashed by the in a bid to improve traders’ work-life balance. The business is asking City workers whether the market should be open for a shorter time than the current 8am to 4.30pm as part of a consultation on how to bring more women and disabled people into the industry. Industry groups have repeatedly called for a shortening, arguing that the average London trader works a 60-hour week once extra time before and after the daily session is factored in. Only one in eight people working in London’s trading firms is female, according to figures released last year by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Competition between Britain and the United States to help build Japan’s next fighter jet has intensified with defence officials on both sides of the Atlantic intensifying their lobbying of Tokyo. The Ministry of Defence and have been forced to counter rising pressure on Japan from the American defence department and Lockheed Martin over a contract to build the F-3 fighter, sources said. Japan is seeking to replace its ageing fleet of single-engine F-2s with twin-engine jets capable of patrolling larger areas. It is concerned about China’s increased military presence in the South China Sea and North Korea’s repeated firing of long-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.
The two most senior non-executive directors of the healthcare technology company founded by Lord Drayson, the former science minister, have resigned suddenly after a corporate governance fiasco. Annalisa Jenkins, who was appointed as acting chairwoman of in October, and Andrew Gilbert, the senior independent director, have left the board. Sensyne has appointed Sir Bruce Keogh, 65, an existing non-executive, as interim chairman and has appointed Spencer Stuart, the headhunter, to find a permanent chairman and non-executive directors. Sensyne has had four chairmen and women since it floated on the London Stock Exchange’s junior Alternative Investment Market in August.
Equipment hire company warning of a slowdown at its dominant US business has scared investors away from the business. Ashtead derives more than 80% of its sales in the US. However, despite posting group revenues up 14% to £2.68bn in the first half and pre-tax profits 6% better at £660m, concerns about US demand saw shares drop 7.5% to £21.89. Updating on progress in the six months until the end of October, new chief executive Brendan Horgan warned that the US was seeing a “lower rate of growth compared with recent years”. This, he said, was putting pressure on operations that Ashtead.
will create up to 10,000 new jobs as it invests more than £200million in pubs and hotels over the next four years. It is to build 60 new pubs and ‘a few’ new hotels, while a further 80 existing pubs across the UK and Republic of Ireland will be doubled or tripled in size. Most of the investment will be channelled into developments in small and medium-sized towns. The chain currently runs 875 pubs and 58 hotels across the UK and Republic of Ireland, and employs 44,000 staff. New premises will be opened in places such Bourne, Lincolnshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, and Diss in Norfolk. There will also be new pubs opening in Felixstowe, Suffolk, Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire and in Prestatyn, North Wales. There will also be investment in major cities including London, Birmingham and Leeds. The company founder and chairman Tim Martin said: ‘We are looking forward to opening many more new pubs as well as investing in existing pubs over the next four years.
fell after the pharma group reported unexpected results from tests of a gel for erectile dysfunction. Trials showed it worked but also that a placebo gel containing some of the active ingredients worked too. This meant the trial failed to meet its goal to beat the placebo, though Futura said this could be a ‘simpler route’ to getting regulatory approval. Investors had expected a positive result against the placebo gel.
The Tory donor behind Ovo Energy has been given the green light to take control of Britain’s second largest energy supplier for half a billion pounds. The UK’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority, cleared Ovo Energy’s £500m takeover of energy supply arm, saying the tie-up would not affect competition in the energy market. The approval clears the way for Ovo to become the second largest energy supplier in the country, and propels the personal wealth of its founder, Stephen Fitzpatrick, past £600m. The former banker founded Ovo Energy in Bristol 10 years ago and still holds a 67% stake in the company, which was valued at £1bn before the SSE deal. The deal will increase Ovo’s customer base from 1.5 million to 5 million homes at a stroke.
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