Below are the afternoon headlines from today’s papers, featuring the The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Barclays talks up investment bank as showdown with raider looms. Barclays (BARC) declared its controversial investment bank was beating bigger rivals on Wall Street on Wednesday as it braced for a crunch meeting with activist investor Ed Bramson. The New York corporate raider wants Barclays to scrap at least some of its trading arm and return cash to beleaguered shareholders. But Barclays chief executive Jes Staley insists the best way for investors to gain is for the bank to keep chasing deals in London and on Wall Street. He noted that the bank was involved in the three biggest takeovers this year, Comcast’s bid for Sky, Randgold’s merger with Barrick and Michael Kors’ purchase of Versace, giving the lie to the idea that European banks can’t compete in investment banking.
European stock markets are pushing higher, as Boeing’s decent results brings some cheer to the trading floors. Britain’s FTSE 100 is up 80-odd points, recovering yesterday’s losses, and the other indices are also looking healthier. By hiking its profit forecasts, Boeing has brought some confidence that corporate earnings – and economic growth – is holding up well. European multinational companies are also getting a currency boost. With the euro and pound dropping against the dollar today, their overseas earnings are more valuable.
Crispin Odey’s hedge fund goes £30 million short on packaging giant Smith (DS) (SMDS) . Hedge fund Odey Asset Management has taken aim at UK cardboard giant DS Smith with a £30 million short bet amid fears of a packaging industry slowdown. The FTSE 100 supplier, which churns out 16 billion boxes per year and makes Amazon packaging, has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to the e-commerce boom. However, its shares have fallen 25% over the past three weeks due to price fears and the market rout. At the same time, the number of DS Smith shares on loan to hedge funds has doubled to 1.18% since the start of the month, according to IHS Markit obtained by the Standard.
Government policing of rogue landlords labelled ‘pathetic’. MPs hit out as Guardian and ITV News investigation shows convicted landlords exploit loopholes in law. The government’s efforts to police rogue landlords have been branded weak and pathetic after a Guardian and ITV News investigation found convicted landlords continue to operate by exploiting loopholes in the law that is supposed to protect the most vulnerable tenants. The comments came after the Guardian and ITV News revealed that rogue landlords are collecting rent, often funded by taxpayers via housing benefit, despite convictions for housing offences and failing to pass the “fit and proper” person tests required by housing legislation in England and Wales. Because of the way the law is written, this is usually perfectly legal.
Two of the City’s most established names, broker finnCap and Lord Leigh of Hurley’s advisory firm Cavendish, joined forces on Wednesday amid a shake-up of the broking sector. FinnCap, set up by Sam Smith in 2007 and chaired by veteran financier Jon Moulton, said it was buying Cavendish, a 40-strong boutique advisory company co-founded by Tory party treasurer Leigh. The pair hope to float the combined business on the AIM. Cavendish advises entrepreneurs and company owners on selling up. The move comes as new EU rules continue to affect the way brokers can charge for research, denting their revenues and spurring consolidation.
Afren bosses guilty of using $300m oil deal as ‘personal bank account’. The former bosses of Afren have been found guilty of using a fraudulent $300m (£232m) deal to siphon millions away from the oil company before its collapse. Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah were convicted of fraud and money laundering by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday after a three-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The pair had originally pleaded not guilty to charges that they hatched a plan to secretly take a 15% cut of the illicit oil deal it struck with Nigerian services contractor Oriental Energy Resources after losing out on multi-million pound pay packets.
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) boss Warwick Brady has refuted allegations by the company’s sacked chief executive that he struck a sweetheart deal with low-cost airline Ryanair. Andrew Tinkler claims suggestions that a $300m (£225m) agreement between Stobart-owned Southend Airport and the Irish carrier could negatively affect company finances were the catalyst for him being fired earlier this year. In June Ryanair agreed to make the multimillion dollar investment in return for operating three planes out of the airport. However, Mr Brady told The Daily Telegraph: “We are never going to enter into loss-making contracts.
The High Court has dismissed a winding-up order that threatened the existence of stricken coffee chain Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) , but the company has been forced to open a probe into discrepancies relating multimillion-pound bonuses handed out to top executives. A petition lodged by tax authorities against the company’s main operating unit was dismissed by the High Court, holding company Patisserie Holdings said on Wednesday. But the chain admitted it was “seeking to understand” why share options from 2015 and 2016 “have not been appropriately disclosed and accounted for in its financial statements”.
Coming hot on the heels of the scandal at cake seller Patisserie, accounting problems at small cap gas and electricity supplier Yu Group (YU.) will do little to improve investor sentiment towards AIM, London’s junior stock market, says AJ Bell’s Russ Mould. Both Yu Group and Patisserie had been very popular constituents of AIM before problems emerged, although Yu’s share price had recently come under some pressure as money flowed out of growth companies. It is worth saying the issues at Yu do not look as serious as those at Patisserie where finance director Chris Marsh was arrested and released on bail as part of a probe into potential fraud. However, it will be difficult for Yu’s management to regain their credibility as fixing problems with the way ‘historic accrued income’ is recognised and higher than expected non-payments from trade debtors are set to hurt reported earnings.
