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.
Boris Johnson will pledge as much as £5 billion this week to his plan to cover the country with fibre broadband lines within six years. The prime minister is set to make the commitment at this week’s Conservative party conference in Manchester, according to industry sources. It will be one of several unfunded promises that Mr Johnson is expected to make as he gears up for a general election. The extra cash, first reported by The Sunday Telegraph, will be directed at rural areas, many of which are represented by Tory MPs. The £5 billion of extra funding would provide incentives for broadband companies such as BT Group (BT.A) to extend their fibreoptic networks into sparsely populated regions.
Ted Baker (TED) investors are on alert for a cash call as the struggling retailer’s bosses hit the road to court fund managers. Chief executive Lindsay Page, outgoing finance boss Charles Anderson and Phil Clark, the commercial director, will start a week-long roadshow in London and Edinburgh after the company’s half-year results on Thursday, which analysts expect to include a dividend cut. One top-20 shareholder said the fashion brand could be looking to tap the City for cash. Ted Baker declined to comment on the suggestion. The series of meetings has been planned amid speculation that Ray Kelvin, the retailer’s founder and former chief executive, is plotting to take the business private.
Energean Oil and Gas (ENOG) is sizing up bidders for a $200million portfolio of assets as it focuses on becoming the biggest gas producer in the eastern Mediterranean. The firm’s chief executive Mathios Rigas has received about a dozen unsolicited expressions of interest for 19 oil and gas assets in the UK North Sea and offshore Norway – including a 25% stake in the Chinese-owned Glengorm gas field near Aberdeen. Energy analyst Kevin Swann, of Wood Mackenzie, says private equity-backed firms which could be in the running include Omani-supported Petrogas Neo, North European player Chrysaor, and Neptune Energy, founded by former Centrica chief Sam Laidlaw.
Metro Bank (MTRO) founder Vernon Hill is hunting new backers for the struggling lender amid mounting concern over its finances following a failed appeal to the debt market. Mr Hill, Metro’s billionaire chairman, has in recent days started making calls to equity investors trying to convince them to invest, including those who previously turned him down. His latest charm offensive comes after Metro was forced to cancel a bond sale due to a lack of investor interest, causing its shares to plummet. The well-connected American is understood to have promised potential backers he will “sort” Metro’s problems.
South West Water owner Pennon Group (PNN) could be set for a break-up after the waste management and water company announced a review of its business. Experts believe Pennon’s recycling arm, Viridor, could be spun off as a separate business to create better value for shareholders. Viridor has enjoyed soaring success as concerns over waste has helped fuel a boom in cycling. The division has more than 32,000 customers and works for about 150 councils and businesses in the UK. Earlier this year it unveiled plans for a new £65m recycling plant in Avonmouth, near Bristol, which will have the capacity to recycle 8% of all plastic waste.
This week brings Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) ‘capital markets day’ with analysts, when we can expect the company to unveil more details about its ambitious food plans under grocery boss Stuart Machin. Change at the food division is coming thick and fast – and Shore Capital’s Clive Black, a house broker, said the day is an opportunity to illustrate how talk of lower prices and improving ranges is being put into practice. That may help support the share price, which this month hit lows not seen since 2000
Bob Dudley is preparing to step down from BP (BP.) after running the oil giant for a decade, The American is drawing up plans to retire in a year and has discussed them with new chairman Helge Lund, Sky News reported yesterday. Dudley, 64, has been paid more than $110m (£89m) since he became chief executive. About 59% of shareholders voted against his $19.6m pay package in 2015, and he took a cut.
Neil Woodford will today be forced to defend his struggling investment empire. In his half-yearly performance update for Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) , the 59-year old is expected to insist he is committed to his long-term investing approach. Shares in Patient Capital have halved in value since January and the trust trades at a 35% discount to the underlying value of the assets it holds. Woodford’s performance is overseen by an independent board which is now under pressure to axe the fund manager. Woodford has been criticised for collecting £7.8million in fees since savers were frozen out from his flagship Equity Income fund on June 3.
Royal Mail (RMG) is recruiting a director to run its British operations as it heads for a showdown with postal workers and battles against slumping volumes in letters. The former state-owned monopoly abolished the job a year ago when it ousted Sue Whalley, the chief executive of UK post and parcels, after a spell of dire trading. Finance director Stuart Simpson was handed the additional role of chief operating officer. The board’s decision to appoint headhunters to fill the role again reflects consternation over its failure to get a grip on deteriorating performance in its UK business, which turns over £7.5bn and has 143,000 staff.