Below are the key headlines from today’s updated papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Jury discharged in landmark Barclays (BARC) fraud trial. The jury in a landmark fraud trial of four former Barclays executives, including the bank’s former chief executive John Varley, have been discharged. The case, which marks the first trial of a major banking boss over events during the financial crisis, is subject to continuing reporting restrictions. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) alleged that Mr Varley and three other ex-Barclays bankers – Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath – hid payments made to Qatar in exchange for emergency fundraisings in 2008. The investment helped the bank avoid a government bailout.
Keywords on game as big players enter fray. One of London’s largest listed video games companies has said that a battle between Silicon Valley’s biggest players to dominate the gaming industry will boost its prospects. Keywords Studios (KWS) , which provides services to developers, said that the launch of services by Apple and Google would help it to meet its financial targets for this year. Andrew Day, 55, chief executive, predicted an “increase in demand for content” as the tech giants carve out a foothold in the computer games industry.
Mike Ashley offers £150 million lifeline to Debenhams as deadline looms. Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International (SPD) on Monday offered to plough £150 million of fresh funding into Debenhams (DEB) in a last-ditch attempt to take control of the ailing business. The sportswear tycoon, who has a 29.9% stake in Debenhams, has until tonight to come up with a detailed plan as part of a refinancing deal to keep the chain afloat. The deadline, imposed by Debenhams’ lenders, is likely to be extended for the banks to consider the offer. The move comes after bitter clashes when Ashley accused Debenhams management of “a sustained programme of falsehoods and denials”, and urged them to take a lie-detector test about a meeting between the two firms.
Shares in Aston Martin Holdings (AML) moved at top speed on Monday, but the SatNav was set in the wrong direction. Investors ditched the luxury car-maker after Deutsche Bank downgraded its recommendation on the stock from Buy to Hold. The City was unimpressed as Deutsche pointed to Brexit-related uncertainty and volatility in the global car market as analysts halved their share price target from 2000p to 1000p. It is the latest setback for James Bond’s favourite car brand which floated at 1900p in October- but the stock quickly fell amid anger that they had been overpriced.
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) shares had a better day after the firm published its annual report where chief executive Agust Gudmundsson acknowledged difficulties in the UK market including subdued consumer confidence. However, he remained bullish and said: “In the second half, we anticipate an uplift in UK revenues as we benefit from recently secured new business.” Gudmundsson, who this year saw his annual pay rise to £768,750 from £750,000, added that he expects a “significant improvement” in trading in the second half of the year and the full-year group performance
Big pay rise for Centrica (CNA) boss as thousands of job cuts loom. The owner of British Gas has given its chief executive a big pay rise despite thousands of job cuts looming and the prospect of a cut in the dividend. Centrica boss Iain Conn’s pay packet for 2018 rose by almost half to just over £2.4m due to a cash bonus of £388,000. His take-home pay was on the rise once again after he took a cut of almost two-thirds for 2017 – a year in which annual profits plunged almost a fifth due to pressures in the energy market. Mr Conn’s bumper payday comes just weeks after he sounded the alarm on shareholder dividends, sending Centrica’s share price crashing to 20-year lows.
Saga (SAGA) continued to sink this morning, trading at record lows as analysts again raised concerns about its strategy following a profit warning. Shares in the over-50s insurer and travel group fell 7% after being downgraded by UBS. The Swiss broker noted that since floating less than five years ago Saga has issued two profit warnings and removed its medium-term guidance for earnings growth. The analysts suggested that the company had recently been seeking growth from the price comparison corner of the insurance market rather than through its direct-to-consumer offering, “extracting higher margins than perhaps the product commands”.