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.
UK high streets have shed more than 140,000 jobs this year as store closures and retail failures made 2019 one of the most challenging years in a generation. More than 2,750 jobs were lost every week, according to a detailed analysis by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) published today. It predicts the picture will worsen in 2020, unless the government intervenes, with high business rates one of the factors blamed for accelerating chain store closures. Prof Joshua Bamfield, the CRR’s director, said retail was in crisis owing to high costs, low levels of profitability and sales moving online. “These problems are felt by most businesses operating from physical stores in high streets or shopping malls,” Bamfield said. “The low growth in consumer spending since 2015 has meant that the growth in online sales has come at the expense of the high street.” - The Guardian
Almost £4bn has been ploughed back into funds that invest in London-listed shares since the election was called, in the biggest wave of money since prior to the EU referendum. Recovering investor confidence after Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in the election has driven billions back into UK stock funds in recent weeks. About £3.8bn returned to the UK’s “unloved” stock market during the campaign and the week after the prime minister’s triumph, according to data firm EPFR Global. Money had been leaking out of UK equity funds for most of 2019 but London’s market has seen the strongest inflows since the second half of 2015 during the recent reversal. - The Telegraph
An American hedge fund that blocked a rescue deal for Interserve, the giant outsourcer, has taken a £17 million short position in Future (FUTR) . Coltrane Asset Management is betting that the publisher’s share price is heading for a fall. Its shares have drifted lower since November 27, when a clutch of senior managers sold stock worth £44 million. On the same day the hedge fund, which is based in New York, disclosed that it had taken a sizeable wager against Future. Coltrane has since expanded its short position from 0.67% to 1.2% of the company’s outstanding shares. - The Times
BP’s retiring chief executive has accused campaigners and politicians of oversimplifying the climate change crisis, arguing that natural gas should be a bridge between fossil fuels and renewables. Bob Dudley said it was “hard to find people who understand the complexity of the energy system” and warned the world would “not even come close” to replacing fossil fuels with renewables in the next two decades. Dudley’s comments to The Sunday Times follow a year of increasing pressure on energy giants and their investors over climate change. BP (BP.) , which produces the equivalent of 3.7m barrels of oil and gas a day and is directly or indirectly responsible for 491m tons of annual carbon emissions — more than the entire UK — has been targeted by Extinction Rebellion protesters and dropped as a sponsor by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and National Galleries Scotland. BP’s forecasts suggest that if the world continues to tackle climate change at its current pace, oil, gas and coal will still account for 73% of energy consumed in 2040. Even under a “rapid transition”, along the lines of the Paris Agreement, they will account for an estimated 56%. - The Times
The boss of conglomerate Smiths Group (SMIN) is likely to step down next year after the demerger of its £2bn medical business. Andy Reynolds Smith, chief executive since 2015, has been under pressure from investors since he was forced to abandon a merger of Smiths Medical, which makes devices such as catheters, with American rival ICU Medical. The Smiths board was uncomfortable with the terms of the deal, which would have seen ICU pay in shares. Since Smiths pulled out in September last year, ICU’s stock has tumbled by more than a third. In March, Smiths, which also makes airport scanners and industrial equipment, said it would spin off the medical business into a separate listing. The division’s performance has been deteriorating: sales rose 1% to £874m last year but operating profits fell 6% to £147m, which Smiths blamed on regulatory costs and “inefficiencies”. - The Times
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) is plotting an overhaul that could see up to 10,000 jobs axed. Noel Quinn, the lender’s interim boss who is vying to win the role on a full-time basis, will unveil the shake-up in February as he seeks to cut costs across the sprawling global bank. In the firing line will be parts of HSBC’s US division, its retail banking operations in France and about 10,000 jobs. In the US, it is understood that HSBC is considering offloading its west coast branches. Based in cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco, this arm of HSBC serves a large community of ex-pats from countries such as China and Mexico. But it is less tightly focused and performs more poorly than the lender’s east coast branches, which date back to HSBC’s acquisitions of Marine Midland and Republic in the 1980s and late 1990s respectively. The east coast operations, thanks to Republic, include a strong private wealth division which HSBC thinks will remain useful. - The Mail
The Schroders (SDR) dynasty are this year’s biggest winners on the London stock market, having chalked up gains at a rate of more than £4m a day. By Christmas Eve, the Schroder family’s stake in the eponymous fund manager had grown to £3.9bn — up almost £1.5bn after a strong year for the FTSE 100 which gilded the fortunes of many of Britain’s wealthiest individuals and families. Analysts at Argus Vickers provided The Sunday Times with details of all London-listed shareholdings worth more than £10m. The analysis showed that easyJet (EZJ) founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is another of 2019’s winners. His family’s shares in the budget airline are now worth £1.28bn — up by £289.7m over the year. Amid gloom on the high street, one of this year’s surprising successes has been the share price of Dunelm Group (DNLM) . Members of the Adderley family, who own more than half the retailer, have seen the value of their stake increase by more than £537m. Meanwhile, the shares owned by Boohoo.com (BOO) -founder Mahmud Kamani and his family in the fast-fashion brand have risen by £434.1m. Ivan Glasenberg, the chief executive of Glencore (GLEN) , has seen the value of his stake in the commodities giant plunge by £663m. Two other Glencore investors, Daniel Maté and Telis Mistakidis, are sitting on losses of £248.4m and £246.2m respectively. Roman Abramovich’s stake in Evraz (EVR) is down more than £458.6m. The London-listed steel giant has been hit by the slowing global economy and the US-China trade war. Ray Kelvin’s stake in Ted Baker (TED) is now worth less than £65m — down from £225.4m a year ago. The tycoon resigned in March amid disputed claims of “forced hugging”. - The Times
Britain’s economy is set to grow by less than 2% next year and house price rises could take up to six months to kick in, analysis by The Mail on Sunday shows. Economists said that while Britain may well be free to make its own trade deals after January 31, there is no cutting loose from a world economy facing multiple sources of instability. The experts said the US-China trade war and the potentially fraught negotiations over the UK-European Union agreement on market access would act as barriers to growth in 2020. They warned that the talks between London and Brussels would be conducted against the backdrop of an ‘overdue recession’ for advanced economies. Forecasts for UK GDP growth ranged from a pessimistic 0.5% – suggested by the financial information group IHS Markit – to the more upbeat 2% offered by Liverpool Macro Research. The International Monetary Fund prediction for the UK was 1.4% in 2020 – below the 1.7% expected for the US but on a par with the 1.4% forecast for the eurozone. - The Mail
Stock Spirits Group (STCK) handed its boss a £200,000 package so he could move from Poland to Britain — even though most of its products are sold in eastern Europe. The company’s annual report revealed the arrangement with Mirek Stachowicz, who relocated in August to “focus on the group’s strategy, which includes M&A”. He will be reimbursed for school fees, rent and other expenses for two years, capped at £200,000 a year. News of the relocation package comes as an activist investor is pressing for a special dividend. Western Gate, which represents the family office of Portuguese cash-and-carry tycoon Luis Amaral and is Stock Spirits’ second-biggest shareholder, claims the company offers the lowest cash return among its peers, with a dividend payout of 60.5% against an average of 71.3%. - The Times