Below are the key morning headlines from today’s papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Mike Ashley vows to close Intu Properties shops in rent row. Sports Direct International (SPD) tycoon Mike Ashley has said he will shut all his stores in shopping centres owned by Intu Properties (INTU) after the landlord’s refusal to accept his proposed new terms on four House of Fraser sites. The move will see Ashley shut 17 stores — a mix of Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Flannels, USC and Evans Cycles outlets — when leases reach a break clause or expire. The billionaire claims this will cost more than £25m a year in lost rent and service charges. Intu’s rental income was £460m last year. “Intu has demonstrated it is unwilling to help retailers save stores and jobs,” said Ashley. “It is unrealistic for Intu to continue to enjoy a long-term relationship with our retail businesses.”
Steinhoff short-seller Fraser Perring lays siege to plastics firm RPC. Ex-social worker says RPC uses deals to hide weakness. The FTSE 250 packaging company RPC Group (RPC) has come under attack from a short-seller who took on the disaster-hit South African retailer Steinhoff. Former social worker Fraser Perring, who runs the website Viceroy Research, is selling RPC’s stock short ahead of its half-year results on Wednesday, saying its poor underlying health has been masked by rapid expansion. The £3bn business, whose shares have fallen more than 11% this year, is at the centre of a looming bidding war between private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital.
Domino’s Pizza told to beef up board. Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) is under pressure to shake up its board as shareholders push for a heavyweight non-executive director to challenge its chairman and chief executive more effectively. Some of the top 20 investors are understood to be lobbying for a new senior independent director to replace Helen Keays, an ex-GE Capital and Vodafone executive, who has served on the board for seven years.
Posh shoppers abandon Waitrose and Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) for Lidl and Aldi. Upmarket shoppers are seeking out cheaper prices at German discount chains. Where you shop has long been seen as a barometer of social standing in class- obsessed Britain, but Martin is one of a growing number of well-heeled shoppers defying the norm. After establishing themselves as a force at the lower end of the market, the German discounters Aldi and Lidl have stocked up on lobsters and serrano ham — and set their sights on the upper end, putting a squeeze on more upmarket rivals as they head into the all-important Christmas shopping season. Sales at Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) have underperformed those of competitors for 18 months, despite its strong presence in the fast-growing convenience-store market, while the decline in M&S’s like-for-like food sales has accelerated to 2.9%. Waitrose is cutting costs and stripping out lower-margin products in an attempt to rebuild profits, which fell by almost a third to £172m last year. “The discounters have already given Asda and Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) a kicking because they were strong up north, but now it’s the turn of Sainsbury’s, M&S and Waitrose,” said Bryan Roberts, an analyst at the consultancy TCC Global. “There was a perception that they were bullet-proof and the discounters’ tanks wouldn’t get to their lawns, but they’re there now.”
Charities must pay to bank at Barclays. Thousands of charities and community groups have been told by Barclays (BARC) that they will have to pay for their banking after it deemed that they no longer qualified for free services. About 5,000 not-for-profit organisations, ranging from small charities to scout groups, have been told that they must open a business bank account with the high street lender, meaning that they will be charged for services that previously were provided free. Community accounts are provided by Barclays free of charge to not-for-profit organisations that have an annual turnover of under £100,000. This allows the organisations to use services such as making and receiving payments without being charged. More than 100,000 organisations are estimated to use the service.
Restaurant Group (RTN) dissenters set to lose Wagamama vote. The fate of the Restaurant Group’s controversial £559 million takeover of the Wagamama chain will be decided this week amid signs that the deal will win backing from shareholders, albeit by a slender margin. The acquisition, together with the £315 million rights issue to fund it, have divided opinion and investors on both sides have lined up to give their views before Wednesday’s vote, which requires a simple majority. Those publicly opposing the deal so far include the Chicago-based Grizzly Rock Capital and Vivaldi Asset Management, speaking for a combined 1.9% of the company; Columbia Threadneedle Investments, with 7.7%; and Sanford DeLand Asset Management, which has 1.7%. Conversely, three of the biggest shareholders have given their backing: Royal London Asset Management, which has a 5.7% stake; Schroders, holding 5.5%; and the 7.9% shareholder JO Hambro Capital Management
Asos raises eyebrows with shares handover. The former chief financial officer at ASOS (ASC) is in line to receive 13,000 shares next year, even though she has left the business to join Debenhams (DEB) . The online clothing retailer said that Helen Ashton was entitled to the shares, at present worth about £650,000, under a long-term bonus scheme run by the online retailer, which will hold its annual meeting this week. As the shares will be awarded next October, their full value could vary depending on share price movements. Asos calls itself “the world’s No 1 destination for fashion-loving twentysomethings”. It has 18.4 million active customers.
Babcock International Group (BAB) gives up hope of unmasking Boatman raider. The people behind Boatman Capital Research, the shadowy outfit that made damaging attacks on Babcock, may never be identified, it is feared. Shares in Babcock tumbled last month after anonymous analyst Boatman released a dossier which contained a series of allegations about problems it claimed the FTSE 250 engineering outsourcer was facing. However, attempts to identify Boatman have been unsuccessful. The organisation has failed to respond to efforts to contact it and the City watchdog has no record of the outfit. Babcock has hired corporate investigators Kroll to try to identify the report’s authors but chief executive Archie Bethel has admitted the hunt has gone cold
Branson and Walsh braced for clash over Flybe Group (FLYB) rescue. Bitter rivals Sir Richard Branson and Willie Walsh are to lock horns in a bid battle for ailing regional carrier Flybe as experts warn failure of the country’s biggest regional airline could be catastrophic for a string of smaller airports. After years of struggle, loss-making Flybe has put itself up for sale following warnings of “material uncertainty” over its future. Multiple industry sources have told The Sunday Telegraph that British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) is in pole position to buy Flybe, with its regional network providing a useful link into British Airways’ sprawling global hub at Heathrow.
Openreach to connect one million more homes to ultrafast broadband by next summer. Openreach has unveiled plans to upgrade broadband services for another million homes and businesses over the next nine months, as it continues to pursue a deal with Ofcom which will allow it to keep investing in its network. BT Group (BT.A) broadband infrastructure unit said it was extending its ultrafast network footprint to a further 81 locations, on top of the 250 where the technology had already been deployed. Openreach said this was a “multi-million pound investment” which would introduce faster broadband in areas including Manchester, London, Birmingham and Blackpool, preparing those regions for a wave of smart home technology and higher take up of virtual reality gaming. “As the digital revolution rushes forwards and the demand for data continues to grow, we need to sure we stay ahead of the curve,” Kim Mears, managing director for strategic infrastructure development at Openreach, said.
Food giants weigh their appetite to bid for Ambrosia as owner Premier Foods (PFD) is said to have asked more than £100m. Dairy Crest Group (DCG) , whose stable of food brands includes Cathedral City cheese and Clover margarine, is among a string of firms interested in gobbling up custard and rice pudding maker Ambrosia after it was put up for sale earlier this month. Ambrosia owner Premier Foods has reputedly been asking for bids of more than £100million, according to food market sources. Other interested parties are believed to include German yogurt maker Müller and Ireland-based manufacturer Kerry Foods. The companies declined to be drawn on their interest and Müller said it did not comment on ‘speculation’.
BTG chief Dame Louise Makin in line for £20m windfall after firm’s sale. The woman who turned BTG (BTG) into a diverse pharmaceuticals and life sciences company could bank up to £20million from its takeover. Dame Louise Makin, who took charge in 2004, could net the package in bonuses, shares and performance pay after BTG’s £3.3billion sale to Boston Scientific. The US firm offered 840p a share, almost 37 per cent more than BTG’s closing price last Monday – the day before the approach – of 615p. BTG shares have soared 34% since then to 826p on Friday.
