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.
Willie Walsh, the outgoing chief executive of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) , is in a relationship with a colleague, which could raise questions over governance at the British Airways owner. IAG announced the retirement of the 58-year-old aviation veteran last week after 15 years during which he built an aviation powerhouse. In an announcement that surprised investors, IAG said Walsh would stand down in March and be replaced by Iberia boss Luis Gallego. Just two months ago, Walsh said he planned to retire before his 60th birthday on October 25, 2021. However, IAG did not interview external candidates for the job, which is one of the most high-profile roles in the aviation industry. Walsh will leave the board in March and officially retire from the company in June. Last night, IAG said that Walsh’s relationship with his subordinate, who is understood to work in the finance department, was not connected to his departure. “Willie’s personal life has nothing to do with the timing of his retirement,” said the company. “IAG has an excellent internal candidate in Luis Gallego, which is why no external candidates were interviewed.” - The Times
Concerns over the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, Donald Trump’s trade war and Brexit have delayed the launch of a £1bn British business fund planned by HSBC Holdings (HSBA) and a Chinese sovereign wealth giant. The fund, announced last June by then chancellor Philip Hammond, is a collaboration between the $200bn (£150bn) China Investment Corporation (CIC) and the Asia-focused bank. Its intention is to invest in British companies with ambitions to grow in China. However, sources close to the plan said geopolitical tensions last year, including Brexit, had delayed the fund’s launch. - The Times
William Hill (WMH) , GVC Holdings (GVC) , Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) – The gambling industry watchdog is preparing to ban bookmakers from taking credit card deposits for betting online, in the latest move to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable customers. The Gambling Commission is expected to announce the long-awaited ban on credit card wagers, with the rules due to be unveiled as soon as Tuesday. Well-placed sources said an announcement by the regulator was imminent. It comes two years after charity groups such as GambleAware and Citizens Advice urged the government to implement the policy to protect people from sliding into gambling addiction. Major betting websites including PokerStars, Betfair, 888 Holdings (888) and Bet365 all currently allow their customers to make deposits online using credit cards, which has led to warnings from campaigners that gamblers risk racking up huge debts. The regulator’s latest interventions come amid mounting expectations that the government will begin the process of drawing up a new Gambling Act to replace the one passed by Tony Blair’s government in 2005, which has been criticised for dramatically reducing regulation. The industry’s reputation has taken further blows in recent weeks after revelations about its reliance on so-called VIPs making heavy losses, and concerns about a commercial deal with the Football Association to live-stream FA Cup games. The £750m deal to provide seven bookmakers with exclusive rights to screen some fixtures sparked an outcry – leading the FA to agree that matches would be shown elsewhere, too. The Gambling Commission and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport both declined to comment. - The Guardian
Aston Martin Holdings (AML) is said to have attracted interest from a Chinese electrical vehicle battery maker. James Bond’s favoured marque stunned the City with a profit warning last week, saying it was in talks “with potential strategic investors which may or may not involve an equity investment”. Sky News reported that China’s CATL had held talks with Aston Martin. This weekend the Financial Times reported China’s Geely, which owns a stake in Daimler, was also considering injecting cash, but the paper said Lawrence Stroll, a billionaire Formula One team owner, was closest to making an investment of £200m to take a 20% stake. - The Times
NMC Health (NMC) is preparing to take legal action after a short-selling attack on the firm wiped £2.6billion off its value, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Shares in NMC Health halved after American short-seller Muddy Waters published a damning report that raised red flags over NMC Health’s accounting practices, claiming its finances pointed to possible ‘fraudulent asset values and the theft of company assets’. A source close to the company revealed it has engaged two major law firms to advise on filing a possible lawsuit to repair its reputation. The source said: ‘NMC Health is considering all potential legal remedies, both civil and criminal.’ The legal claim will focus on actions taken by third parties to ‘mislead the market and manipulate the share price’, according to a statement to the stock exchange. Muddy Waters, run by the notorious bear raider Carson Block, and a group of hedge funds based in the US, Switzerland and London, cashed in from the share price fall because they were ‘shorting’ the shares. Funds that have built up short positions in NMC include AQR Capital, PSquared, Gladstone Capital Management and Portsea. The NMC insider said the crash triggered by Muddy Waters’ report on December 17 has created a ‘material loss’ for NMC’s pension fund backers and institutional investors, which include BlackRock and Legal & General. - The Mail
Embattled travel money firm Travelex is thought to be aiming to start resuming services this week — although it could be much longer before it resumes normal operations after a cyber-attack on New Year’s Eve. Yesterday its website continued to show a message saying its online travel money service was not available and that the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police were investigating, after ransomware crippled Travelex’s systems. Hackers are believed to have demanded $6m (£4.6m). The company will start to tell big customers tomorrow about a resumption of services during the week. It would not comment on whether it has paid a ransom or expand on a statement by its parent company, Finablr PLC (FIN) , which said there was no evidence that “any data had been exfiltrated”. - The Times
Trainline Plc (TRN) has locked horns with its former owner Sir Richard Branson by launching its own version of “split ticketing”. The London-listed company, launched by Virgin Group in 1997 and sold to private equity in 2006, is to roll out SplitSave, a legal loophole that will save beleaguered commuters up to £260-a-year each. The move comes just days after Virgin Rail launched its own app, hoping to break the stranglehold Trainline has on buying train tickets online in the UK by offering a split ticketing service. Trainline floated on the stock market last year and is worth more than £2.2bn. Sir Richard’s more than two decade tenure running British rail services came to an end in 2019 after a bid to continue running the lucrative west coast train line was disqualified by the Government. - The Telegraph
Julian Dunkerton’s dreams of delivering a festive turnaround lay in tatters as Superdry (SDRY) warned that its profits could be wiped out after a nightmare Christmas performance. The fashion retailer blamed “unprecedented” levels of discounting by rivals along with subdued consumer demand for a collapse in sales, and warned that it would now make between zero and £10 million of underlying profits this year. Analysts had already lowered their expectations to £20 million after poor half-year results last month. - The Times
Retail chief Katie Bickerstaffe’s short-lived career leading major energy supplier SSE (SSE) is to end within weeks. The former Dixons Carphone executive will quit her role chairing SSE Energy Services when the company’s sale to Ovo completes, which is likely to happen this month. She was originally hired in 2018 to run a new energy business due to be formed out of a planned merger between SSE Energy Services and rival Npower. But the 51-year-old was appointed as chairman instead when that merger fell through last year, tasked with helping the supplier split from SSE, either through a listing or sale. - The Telegraph
One of America’s oldest investment funds has quietly built a near one-fifth stake in Micro Focus International (MCRO) . Dodge & Cox, which has more than $300 billion under management, has amassed a 17% stake in the embattled British company. It first arrived on the Micro Focus shareholder register after its ill-fated takeover of Hewlett-Packard’s software division in 2017. The US fund giant has topped up its holding several times since. It comes as the company prepares to update shareholders on its plans to revive its fortunes early next month. - The Times
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) is entering talks to secure new funding from Chinese backers as it seeks to capitalise on a long-awaited truce with Apple. The Hertfordshire-based technology company plans to raise new funds for an expansion drive, two-and-a-half-years after it was bought out by a Beijing-backed private equity firm. Imagination had become one of Britain’s top-listed tech companies due to a lucrative supply agreement with Apple, but was put up for sale and taken off the London Stock Exchange in 2017 after the iPhone maker revealed plans to design its own graphics chips. Business from Apple accounted for around half of its sales and Imagination’s survival was seen as uncertain after royalties from the US giant dried up. - The Telegraph
Investors in Joules Group (JOUL) took fright after a shock profit warning, admitting that “a wrong number incorrectly entered into a spreadsheet” had caused a shortage of stock for online orders. Shares in Joules tumbled after it said that this year’s underlying profits would be “significantly below market expectations”. Liberum, its house broker, slashed its share price target to 260p from 400p and lowered its profit forecast from £16 million to £10 million. - The Times
Britain’s biggest housebuilders should be slapped with hefty fines if they are guilty of shoddy workmanship, senior politicians and campaigners have said. Ministers are being urged to ensure a New Homes Ombudsman has the power to penalise developers guilty of poor building standards. A spate of housebuilding scandals – culminating in a devastating report last month on Persimmon, one of Britain’s biggest residential developers – have pushed the Government into what is widely-seen as a long-overdue crackdown on substandard practices. The Queen’s Speech proposed a law requiring property developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman scheme, which could investigate complaints and award compensation. - The Telegraph
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) lived up to its “king of trainers” slogan by defying the wider retail gloom to reveal that its profits will be at the top of City expectations. The sportswear chain declined to give a sales figure for its performance over Christmas, other than to say that it had achieved “positive like-for-like trends” across its sports stores, particularly overseas. It said that it was confident that its headline pre-tax profits would be in the upper range of between £403 million and £433 million, which would be a 20% rise on last year’s £355.2 million. Analysts at Berenberg said that it was a typically “qualitative” trading statement from the retailer, which is run by Peter Cowgill, 66. “We also note that management are typically conservative with guidance at this stage, anyway, having gone on to beat January guidance at full-year results by around 2% in each of the last two years,” Graham Renwick, an analyst at Berenberg, said. - The Times
The EU will be unashamedly “political” and block the City of London’s access to European markets if Boris Johnson tries to exempt the UK from its laws. Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenković, whose country is taking over the presidency of the EU, made the bloc’s intentions clear after the prime minister insisted the UK would not be aligned to the bloc’s regulations. Asked whether the EU would use its power to switch off the City’s ability to serve European clients to gain leverage in the coming negotiations with Britain, Plenković said: “I wouldn’t go into the vocabulary of weapons but what I have learned in international and European negotiations [is] that all arguments and considerations are treated as political.” A major issue in the EU-UK negotiations over the future relationship concerns the extent to which the British government wants to diverge from the bloc’s rules in various sectors of the economy. The outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said this week that it would not be appropriate for the UK to be a “rule-taker” in the field of financial services after Brexit. The European commission president, however, warned of the economic costs of seeking a loose relationship with the EU. Ursula von der Leyen was also speaking in Zagreb following a meeting with Johnson in Downing Street. - The Guardian