Morning Financial Press Review 17/09/19
Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
The global oil market after a devastating drone attack on Saudi Arabian production facilities dominated markets yesterday, sending European equities tumbling and ending a five-day winning streak for the continent’s top indices. The price of Brent crude spiked in the early minutes of Asian trading, but pulled back quickly to stand around 10% up throughout London trading. Saudi Arabia lost around half its production capacity – about 5% of the global supply – as a result of the attack, which the US has blamed on Iran. Even after surging, oil still stood around its mid-August levels, reflecting the steady drop it experienced throughout a summer period wracked by trade war doubts. Oil giants gained from the price increase and rose 20.2p to 524.6p and 43p to £23.22 respectively.
Chinese state media has seized on the rejection by the of an unsolicited £30bn takeover bid by the Hong Kong bourse. The People’s Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece, published a scathing commentary giving a laundry list of reasons as to why the LSE would rebuff Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), given “persistent worries” over ongoing political unrest, a lack of strategic vision, and a lowball bid. LSE’s rejection is a sign that Hong Kong cannot break away from the mainland and develop on its own without the support of a China brimming with opportunities, according to the piece. It also praised the LSE for identifying its existing tie-up with the Shanghai Stock Exchange as its preferred way to access the market in China. The LSE “won’t worry about Shanghai … as long as China continues to rise, so will Shanghai”.
Shareholders in have overwhelmingly backed a £4billion takeover by US private equity firm Advent International. More than 93% of participating shareholders voted in favour of the controversial deal at a meeting in London today – surpassing the 75% threshold needed to pass the move. The takeover has stoked opposition, including from the family of the group’s founder Michael Cobham. Opponents of the takeover have urged the Government to intervene and slammed MPs for ignoring national security concerns and ‘trading away Britain’s future prosperity’. They argued that the takeover is being waved through at a time when the Government is distracted by Brexit. Although the deal has now been rubber stamped by investors, business secretary Andrea Leadsom still has the power to open an investigation or even halt the proposed transaction because of Cobham’s extensive military contracts.
added to a lorry-load of woes by warning that profits would be “significantly below” expectations. The trucking operator also raised the spectre of tapping investors for cash after drawing down “more heavily” on its bank loans. The company’s shares have been suspended since last month after failing to publish its half-year results in time. Boss Alex Laffey quit with immediate effect as an accounting review was launched after a £2m error in its 2018 profits was identified. Last week, major investor DBAY Advisors made a preliminary approach to buy the company. On Monday Eddie Stobart, which was spun-off from Stobart Group as a separate listed company in 2017, said it had failed to deliver against “an ambitious budget” and had been forced into exiting a “problematic” contract.
The European Union is bracing itself for further tariffs from the United States within weeks as Washington prepares to launch the latest blow in a dispute over aircraft subsidies. American officials are understood to have received approval from the World Trade Organisation to impose retaliatory duties on a vast array of European exports as a result of the bloc’s subsidies for Airbus. The decision is due to be officially announced in a fortnight. While the EU’s own complaint regarding American subsidies for Boeing is also being examined at the WTO, this was lodged nine months later than the US complaint. The case has been in litigation at the WTO for well over a decade.
The former chief executive of Deutsche Bank is to replace Lord Livingston of Parkhead as chairman of . Lord Livingston, 55, said that he had taken a “personal decision” to stand down at the world’s largest listed hedge fund and that it was the “right timing” for the company. His replacement, John Cryan, was chief executive of Deutsche Bank until he was ousted last year amid infighting about how to restructure the bank. Investors reacted with uncertainty to the shake-up of the board.
The unrest surrounding spread from its clients to its investors yesterday after it emerged that the wealth manager would review perks such as cruises for its advisers. Its shares fell by 28p to close at £10.03 amid shareholder concerns that a radical shake-up to the rewards system and exit fees for customers may harm profitability, that clients could turn their back on the firm and that advisers frustrated at losing perks could leave for other wealth managers. Ian Gascoigne, its managing director, had told more than 700 of its advisers on a call last week that such benefits were up for review because there was a public perception that they could not be justified.
reported a 22% fall in profits yesterday amid a sluggish market for the gems and “uncertainty” caused by US-China trade tensions. Richard Duffy, 55, who became chief executive of the group in February, said that the diamond market was at its weakest since the 2008 financial crisis. He said that the outlook for the market would be affected by further escalations of the trade battle between the United States and China, in which the two countries have impose tariffs on goods worth billions of dollars over the past year. “The diamond market gets impacted by global GDP growth and this is one of the macroeconomic factors that plays into the current negative narrative,” Mr Duffy said. Recent unrest in Hong Kong and concerns surrounding growth in some of the world’s leading economies are also among the wider headwinds facing the diamond market, the group said.
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