Carlos Ghosn, the joint chairman of Renault-Nissan, has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of falsifying financial statements and is due to be removed from his position by the board on Thursday. Mr Ghosn is chairman of the Renault-Nissan alliance as well as chief executive and chairman of Renault. The companies have worked as an alliance for almost a two decades, adding Mitsubishi to the fold last year, of which Mr Ghosn is also chairman. The Brazilian-born Frenchman has led a dramatic turnaround at Nissan over the last two decades, rescuing it from near-bankruptcy.
CYBG (CYBG) veteran Debbie Crosbie is to take the reins at TSB as the embattled lender tries to move on from an IT meltdown that left it on its knees. Ms Crosbie, who is the chief operating officer of CYBG, will become chief executive of TSB next year following the departure of former boss Paul Pester in September. Mr Pester left the bank with a near-£2m bonus after a botched IT upgrade caused months of chaos and wiped out the bank’s expected profits. The fiasco has cost TSB around £250m.
Industrials group Diploma (DPLM) has increased its dividend by 11pc after reporting a jump in profits in its last financial year. The maker of industrial seals, fasteners and medical products reported a 9% rise in pre-tax profits to £72.7m in the year to the end of September, while sales were up 7% to £485.1m. The good results were boosted by Diploma’s US business, where the economy is growing strongly and corporation tax has fallen.
Investment giant AJ Bell has confirmed it will go ahead with its stock market debut next month in a deal that will give staff a £2m Christmas boost. The company, which has 750 staff, has decided to list in December despite a backdrop of market volatility and a raft of disappointing London listings which bankers say have subdued appetite among City investors. The business is expected to be valued at £500m once it lists, valuing founder Andy Bell’s 28% stake at £140m. Staff will also share a £2m windfall once it goes public.
Britain’s biggest businesses are backing a major mental health campaign that seeks to ensure workplaces are required to make provisions for mental as well as physical first aid. The campaign, led by social enterprise Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, and signed by a consortium of high profile businesses, is asking the government to prioritise its manifesto pledge to amend the Health and Safety regulations so all employers make mental health first aid mandatory. Among the signatories is Stephen Clarke, chief executive of WH Smith (SMWH), which has been at the forefront of promoting access to first aid for both mental and physical health.
Shares in the FTSE 250 group rose 6pc to 1,373p by midday as investors welcomed the news. The annual dividend was raised by 11pc to 25.5p.
The upbeat results came despite Diploma being without a chief executive. The company ditched its former boss, Richard Ingram, in…
Private investors to spark UK’s first subsidy-free solar boom. Astring of subsidy-free solar farms will move ahead within weeks, marking the first fresh private investments in renewable energy without government handouts. Private equity fund Horus Capital said its new solar development arm, Suncore Energy, will begin construction of three new solar farms totalling 45MW from next month. The first of the trio will move ahead in Worsted, near Gatwick, after clinching the last ever government feed-in tariff for solar power, but the pair that follow will be the first new projects to power the grid with subsidy-free renewable electricity.
Sales growth stagnates for Britain’s top pubs, bars and restaurants. Britain’s top pubs, bars and restaurants, including Pizza Hut, YO! Sushi and TGI Fridays, saw slow sales growth last month as business costs squeezed margins. Leading managed pubs and restaurants saw a 0.2% increase in like-for-like sales in October, according to the Coffer Peach Business tracker, which is produced by the consultancy CGA. It found large regional disparities between London, which recorded growth of 2.5%, and the rest of the UK, where sales contracted by 0.5%. Phil Tate, chief executive of CGA said: “There is little or no growth in the market – and stronger London trading is making up for poorer sales outside the M25”.
Litigation funding house float driven by rise in high-profile lawsuits. A Sydney-based litigation funding house is preparing to float in London next month as more investors in Europe take a punt on lawsuits in the hope of pocketing chunky damages. Litigation Capital Management (LCM), which claims that 95% of its cases have reached settlement, is placing its bets on the growing popularity of litigation funding in Europe by opening an office in London and delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange to instead float in the UK.
Russian gold miner confirms future hopes of 30% free float. Russian gold miner Polyus has put back plans to sell down more of its shares in London as markets turn volatile and the gold price slides. The company, which is 82% owned by Said Kerimov, has a 17.5% free float of its shares in London and Moscow. But Mikhail Stiskin, chief financial officer, said that while the goal of a 30% float was a “long-term objective”, there was now “no timeline” for a selldown. “We confirm the ambition [to have a 30% free float]: we think it is necessary and a prerequisite for a re-rating of our shares, given that liquidity is not sufficient at this point,” he said.
