Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
The High Street is at ‘breaking point’ and many of the country’s biggest chains are in a fight for survival, says a major study. Changing consumer habits, an unfair business rates regime and rising staff costs are hitting the UK’s biggest chains leading to more store closures than ever before, according to research by professional services firm A&M. Profit margins in stores have fallen in the past eight years from 8.8% to 4.1%, while costs have soared by close to 11% in the past five years. Traditional bricks-and-mortar shops have also suffered because consumer spending online has risen fourfold since 2008. The report estimates that Britain’s 150 largest retailers, including supermarkets, have 20% more store space than they would like, which has fuelled closures and insolvencies.
The board of Just Eat (JE.) is under pressure after it rejected a hostile £4.9 billion bid from a South African technology investor that threatens to scupper a proposed merger with Takeaway.com. A takeover battle erupted for the FTSE 100 takeaway delivery group yesterday after Naspers made a 710p-a-share offer. The bid, via Prosus, Naspers’ Dutch-listed investment vehicle, was rejected by Just Eat as being too low. However, shares in the delivery business rose by 145½p to 735p, well above the offer price, amid expectations that there could be further bids, either from Prosus or from suitors.
Whitbread (WTB) chief Alison Brittain insists she has no regrets after doling £2.5bn out to investors instead of using the money to buy other businesses, despite a takeover frenzy this summer in the leisure industries. The company struck the deal of the year in 2018 by selling coffee chain Costa to Coca-Cola for £3.9bn, and Ms Brittain was always clear that the majority of these proceeds would be returned to shareholders. The sale has left Whitbread, which has owned some the biggest brewing, hotel and restaurant names during its 277-year history, with Premier Inn as its main remaining asset. Three blockbuster transactions have grabbed the headlines this summer.
Sensyne Health (SENS) said that Lord Drayson, its chief executive, had proposed forgoing his £500,000 pay for the rest of the financial year, which runs to the end of April. The former Labour science minister will be paid £1 instead of the roughly £250,000 that he should have received. Sensyne also has withdrawn its remuneration policy for Lord Drayson, 59, and will give its leading investors a final say over any bonus that the board proposes for him for this year. Under the abandoned policy, he could have been handed a £1 million award.
Investors burned by the failure of famed stock-picker Neil Woodford have sought advice on taking legal action against Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) over its part in the events that led to them being trapped in the Woodford Equity Income fund. Leigh Day, law firm, has confirmed it is investigating how much Britain’s most powerful stockbroker knew about the situation within the fund while it continued to publicly back it. Hundreds of thousands of Hargreaves customers bought units in Mr Woodford’s flagship fund, which along with the smaller Income Focus portfolio appeared on the broker’s Wealth 50 list of recommended funds.
The new boss of Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) yesterday accused his predecessor of running “the engine too hot”. Delivering a savage analysis as he cut both sales and profit forecasts, Laxman Narasimhan referred to a string of errors within the Durex and Gaviscon-maker’s largest health division and claimed that the business had taken its “eye off the ball”. Mr Narasimhan, 52, who joined from Pepsico seven weeks ago, said that Reckitt had struggled to integrate Mead Johnson, the American baby formula maker it bought for £12 billion two years ago. He was also critical of the group’s failure to maintain close relationships with American retailers, which he said was responsible for low stock levels of its Mucinex medicine before this flu season.
The banker at the heart of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) restructuring group scandal will be in court as a witness for the first time. Derek Sach, former boss of RBS’s toxic Global Restructuring Group (GRG), will give evidence in a case starting next week brought by Oliver Morley, 49, a property developer who took out a loan from RBS and is suing it for damaging his business. He claims that GRG placed him under ‘economic duress’ which led to some of his assets being seized by RBS in 2010 and sold.
Haydale Graphene Industries (HAYD) has unveiled a range of materials that offer protection against lightning strikes. These could be applied to drones, planes, space technology and offshore wind turbines, which Haydale says are particularly susceptible to being struck. It has developed the materials with companies including Airbus UK, GE Aviation and BAE Systems, and has been testing them with customers.
The new chief executive of Travis Perkins (TPK) hit the pause button on the sale of its plumbing and heating unit amid ‘unprecedented’ levels of uncertainty in the market that has knocked trading. The Wickes and Toolstation owner put the division up for sale last December to cut costs and simplify the business. Nick Roberts, who has been at the helm for three months, said the plan to simplify the business remains ‘the right one’ as he announced a 3.8% rise in group sales during the third quarter.