Interserve (IRV) in rescue talks as Labour calls for ban on new contracts. Investors fear that outsourcing firm, a big builder of schools, could be the next Carillion. The embattled outsourcing firm Interserve – which has thousands of government contracts to clean hospitals and serve school meals – is in rescue talks with its bankers as it attempts to convince Whitehall and the City it is not the next Carillion. The heavily indebted group, which employs 75,000 staff worldwide, said on Sunday night that the talks with lenders would probably leave shareholders nursing big losses as the company drifts into the hands of the banks that have loaned it more than £600m. The Labour party called for a temporary ban on Interserve bidding for public contracts while the discussions take place.
City investors call on listed companies to pay living wage. Share Action campaign group has written to firms including Balfour Beatty (BBY) and Vodafone Group (VOD). A group of City investors with assets worth more than £180bn has written to listed firms including Vodafone, Balfour Beatty and Severn Trent (SVT) urging them to pay all employees a living wage. The chief executives of the utilities firms Severn Trent and United Utilities Group (UU.), homeware retailer Dunelm Group (DNLM) and telecoms firm Vodafone have received letters saying that paying the living wage to all staff and key contractors is the hallmark of a responsible business. Signatories to the letters, coordinated by the Share Action campaign group, include the Strathclyde Pension Fund, which is run by Glasgow city council, Hermes Investment Management and Nest, the state-backed workplace pension scheme. The investors have also targeted construction firms, which are “particularly vulnerable to precarious work and low pay”, Share Action said. Along with Balfour Beatty, the chief executives of Bellway (BWY), and Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) have received the letters.
BP faces shareholder challenge over carbon targets. Company is among energy firms being urged to set goals in line with Paris agreement. BP (BP.), Chevron and ExxonMobil face a shareholder challenge to set carbon targets in line with the Paris climate agreement, as a green group seeks to repeat its success in pressuring Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) to set environmental benchmarks. When Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, laid out an ambitious long-term carbon target last year, he acknowledged the role played by a resolution on carbon targets submitted by Dutch activist shareholders Follow This. Follow This is hoping to use investor power to push other major oil and gas firms into setting similar goals. The organisation has bought shares in several major fossil fuel groups and has submitted two resolutions to the European firms BP and Shell. It will file identical resolutions with the US companies Chevron and ExxonMobil later this week if other parties do not submit a similar demand.
Centrica’s motion tracker service aims to assist unpaid carers. Firm will install devices in homes of elderly, disabled and ill people for monthly fee. British Gas owner Centrica (CNA) is planning to put motion trackers in the homes of elderly, ill and disabled people as part of a service aimed at easing the concerns of millions of unpaid carers. The company has already built a connected home business selling smart thermostats and other devices to more than a million households. In the latest sign of how the UK’s biggest energy company is diversifying away from traditional electricity and gas supply, Centrica’s Hive unit is launching a subscription service to help unpaid carers keep track of those they look after. The service, which costs £15 a month, plus a one-off £150 charge upfront, will involve British Gas engineers fitting sensors in the home of the person being cared for, with their permission. Carers receive alerts via an app if anything out of the usual routine happens, such as a kettle not being switched on at the same time each day or a room not being entered.