Below are the key morning and weekend press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
French conglomerate LVMH is closing in on a deal to buy Tiffany after tabling a higher offer for the New York-based jeweller. The Paris-based luxury group, controlled by Europe’s richest man Bernard Arnault, has raised its bid to $135 per share, the Financial Times reported. The boards of both companies are expected to meet on Sunday to approve the offer. Arnault’s latest bid for the US maker of diamond engagement rings values the company at $16.7bn, after Tifanny rebuffed LVMH’s initial $14.5bn offer, which would have given investors $120-per-share. LVMH and Tiffany did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The two leading power companies have quietly shifted ownership of their British operations into offshore companies to protect against Jeremy Corbyn’s threat of cut-price nationalisation, The Sunday Times can reveal. National Grid (NG.) and SSE (SSE) , which together own Britain’s entire gas and electricity transmission spine, this weekend confirmed they had created overseas holding companies in recent months to seek shelter from Labour’s renationalisation agenda. SSE has put its UK business into a new Swiss holding company; National Grid has shifted its gas and electricity businesses into new subsidiaries in Luxembourg and Hong Kong. The moves are designed to build defences against Labour’s sweeping renationalisation plans.
Unilever (ULVR) is weighing up a sale of its traditional tea business including its historic PG Tips brand, amid cooling demand for the British cuppa. City sources said Unilever is exploring a sale of PG Tips and Lipton as part of efforts to cater to changing consumer tastes. Sales of black tea bags fell 3.4% last year, according to Kantar. It is understood that Unilever has revealed it could offload its tea unit in City meetings. One top 20 investor said: “Unilever has said ‘black tea, we’d love to be rid of it. Whether they can get someone to pay for it, that’s the million dollar question’.” The Anglo-Dutch company has also publicly hinted at a sale.
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) has poached a senior Tesco executive to run its struggling clothing and home business – one of the toughest challenges in UK retail. The retailer has drafted in Richard Price, who is responsible for Tesco’s own-label clothing brand F&F, in the latest effort to revive sales. M&S has been suffering as rivals such as Primark and the supermarket chains undercut it on price, while shoppers increasingly buy more clothes online. Mr Price will assume the role from M&S chief executive Steve Rowe, who took personal charge of the clothing business after Jill McDonald was ousted by the retailer in July.
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) is preparing to take a hit of up to £450m from PPI mis-selling compensation that is likely to deepen its multimillion-pound losses — casting a shadow over its expansion plans. The lender, bought by (CYBG (CYBG) ) last year, is expected to make a hefty final provision for the payment protection insurance debacle, which has cost the banking industry £50bn so far. Analysts forecast that PPI and other mis-selling charges, as well as restructuring expenses from CYBG’s £1.7bn acquisition, will drag the bank to a £250m loss for the year to the end of September. “They will be reporting a material loss courtesy of the PPI charge,” said Investec analyst Ian Gordon.
The boss of Countryside Properties (CSP) is standing down after announcing a 5% rise in annual profits to £114.8m and increasing the number of homes built by a third to 5,733. Ian Sutcliffe said he planned to join his wife in retirement, having led the FTSE 250 business since 2015 and through its flotation the following year. Its shares have almost doubled since then to 371.8p, valuing the company at close to £1.7bn. Countryside posted a 16% rise in revenue to £5.7bn, although margins fell slightly to 21.7% after buying Westleigh Group. Westleigh focuses on affordable housing, which has lower margins.
The outsourcing giant Mitie Group (MTO) is suing the Ministry of Justice over what it claims was a botched contract tender to clean and repair courts and tribunal buildings. The £2.2bn turnover company has lodged a High Court claim over the contract, which it lost last month to French rival Engie. Mitie says the government took an “unfair and unequal” approach to scoring the tender, and awarded scores that were “manifestly wrong”. Since 2012, Mitie has carried out facilities management at courts in the south of England, including maintenance, security and cleaning. Court documents show it hopes to claim more than £200,000 in damages from the government, and is demanding that Engie is stripped of the contract.
Ocado Group (OCDO) could soon launch a rapid response delivery service in the US to take on fast-growing rivals such as Uber Eats and American technology start-up Takeoff. It would be similar to the company’s fledgling Zoom service, currently being tested in West London, which delivers to the door in less than an hour. Ocado finance director Duncan Tatton-Brown is understood to have presented the idea to potential investors at a meeting in Barcelona. He said the plan could form part of the company’s ‘developing’ relationship with $120billion (£93billion) retailer Kroger and would cater to the growing demand for same-day delivery in major cities. The launch of Ocado Zoom – first revealed by The Mail on Sunday in February – allows shoppers to order food costing as little as £15 compared with a minimum of £40 through its main service.
A multinational energy firm accused by prosecutors of maintaining a fake set of accounts to disguise the payment of bribes to foreign government officials has been identified by the Guardian as the UK-based company Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) . Petrofac has been under investigation by the UK’s anti-corruption agency, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), for suspected bribery and money laundering. The allegations of corruption have emerged as part of a separate investigation by US prosecutors into another firm, Unaoil. Petrofac said no charges had been brought against any of its companies or current employees since the SFO started its investigation three years ago. In a press statement published by US prosecutors last month, two brothers who ran Unaoil admitted their roles in paying multimillion-dollar bribes to officials in Kazakhstan and eight other countries over 17 years. Cyrus Ahsani, 51, and his brother Saman, 46, who managed Unaoil, pleaded guilty to facilitating the payment of bribes between 1999 and 2016. They admitted conspiring to facilitate bribes on behalf of multinational firms to secure oil and gas contracts for them. The US prosecutors alleged in a legal document published last month that 27 firms around the world conspired with Unaoil to corrupt officials in specified countries.
The boss of Future (FUTR) , the publisher behind Classic Rock and Total Film, is in line for a payday of nearly £18 million after overseeing a twenty-fold surge in its share price over the past five years. Zillah Byng-Thorne, chief executive of Future, is expected to receive 1.24 million shares from a long-term incentive scheme after hitting all her performance targets. The award, worth £17.5 million at last week’s close, could vest as soon as today. The payout for Ms Thorne, 45, could stoke tensions with shareholders. She took home £4.78 million in the 12 months to the end of September last year, including a £1.45 million long-term share bonus.
Land Securities Group (LAND) , which owns the Westgate shopping centre in Oxford, Piccadilly Lights in the West End of London and Brighton Marina, has announced it has hired a new boss one week after post a half-year loss. Mark Allen, chief executive of St Modwen Properties, will take on the top job by no later than 1 June next year, but current boss Robert Noel will stay on at the firm ‘for the time being.’ Mr Allen will rake in a base annual salary of £800,000, and, as well as other benefits, get a £12,000 annual car allowance and be eligible for a £200,000 ‘one-off cash relocation payment.’ Subject to meeting performance conditions, Mr Allen will also be eligible to participate in Landsec’s Long-Term Incentive Plan, with a ‘maximum annual award of 300% of base salary.’