Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Investors have reacted with anger and concern to the appointment of the Micro Focus International (MCRO) boss as chairman of struggling banknote printer De La Rue (DLAR) . Kevin Loosemore has been appointed to the board of De La Rue with immediate effect and will become chairman from October 1. The appointment comes with Micro Focus in the middle of a strategic review and potentially facing relegation from the blue-chip FTSE 100 index this week. Micro Focus shares plunged by a third last week when the company warned on profits and said that revenues would not meet targets. Meanwhile, De La Rue is seeking a new chief executive and remains under siege from activist investor Crystal Amber after a string of profit warnings and the loss of the huge UK passport contract. De La Rue is also the subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into corruption allegations. Richard Bernstein, fund manager at Crystal Amber, has campaigned for De La Rue chairman Philip Rogerson to step down. He described Mr Loosemore’s appointment as “a disappointment”, adding: “You have to ask if one of the interview questions De La Rue asked him was ‘Do you know how to issue a profit warning?’” Mr Bernstein, who is De La Rue’s second-largest investor, said controlling such a large stake would normally mean he would be consulted about such an appointment. “I’d expect to be asked if there were any red flags or if we had any advice – that didn’t happen. “We’re non-committal because we have to base our opinion on evidence, but De La Rue didn’t allow us to form an opinion on evidence,” Mr Bernstein added.
Britain’s worst blackouts in a decade have exposed disagreement between National Grid (NG.) and the energy regulator over the maximum penalties it could face in the event of any wrongdoing. Ofgem has the power to “impose financial penalties of up to 10% of a licensee’s turnover” if it finds an energy company to have broken its licence conditions. The Times has learnt that Ofgem believes the relevant turnover figure for the National Grid Electricity System Operator, which is responsible for keeping the lights on and is under investigation over the August 9 blackouts, is at least six times higher than the company does. If the operator were to be found at fault and fined this financial year, Ofgem’s figure would imply maximum potential penalties of £140 million, compared with about £22 million in National Grid’s view.
Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) chief Steven Harris will step down from the board of Neil Woodford’s Patient Capital Trust at the end of this month, as the remaining board members decide whether to part company with the veteran fund manager. Mr Harris is the third director to leave the five-person board since May as the investment trust battles a suppressed share price amid the wider publicity crisis engulfing Mr Woodford since he shut investors out of his flagship equity income fund at the start of June. Mr Woodford recently relinquished his position as Circassia’s largest shareholder to his former employer Invesco. He still owns more than a fifth of the company’s shares according to the latest data from Bloomberg. Last month Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) was forced to write down the value of Industrial Heat, one of its more controversial holdings. Mr Woodford’s stake in the cold fusion company was floated in Guernsey before shares were delisted last month.
AstraZeneca (AZN) reported positive results from advanced trials of two key drugs, sending shares in the blue-chip pharmaceuticals group to a record high. The group said yesterday that Brilinta, its heart disease drug, was found when combined with aspirin to help patients with cardiovascular problems and type 2 diabetes. Farxiga, a drug for diabetes, was found to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death or worsening of heart failure by 26%. In both cases, the tests were phase three trials, advanced tests that involve 100 or more patients. Shares closed at £75.33, valuing Astrazeneca at just under £100 billion. The group’s shares have risen in value by just under 28% over the past year as it has reported a string of positive results from drugs in its pipeline.
Hurricane Energy (HUR) has said its key west of Shetland oilfield has been producing more than 14,000 barrels a day in its first few months of operation in spite of some engineering challenges. The performance of the Lancaster field is being closely watched by the industry. It is the first in UK waters to be extracting resources from a fractured basement rock formation which lies below where North Sea oil has typically been found. Hurricane is thought to be sitting on one of the largest undeveloped sets of assets on the UK continental shelf, with about 2.6 billion barrels of oil available in waters to the west of the Shetland Islands. An early production system on Lancaster to tap just a portion of the potential resources there went into operation in June. Hurricane said it had been performing ahead of initial estimates.
Cabot Energy (CAB) surged almost 30% after the company said that it had secured a loan to fund its winter exploration work. Cabot Energy said it had entered into a non-binding agreement for a loan of up to C$5 million (£3.1 million) with a private energy lender in Canada to fund its winter work programme. It had also signed a share subscription agreement with High Power Petroleum, an existing shareholder in the company, that will see $300,000 raised to fund summer works. Additional funds will be raised next month via an open offer to shareholders. Scott Aitken, chief executive, said: “Signing a term sheet for a significant amount of credit with a specialist lender in Calgary is an important building block in our plans to execute our growth strategy.”
Investors were left underwhelmed by an update on mining firm Metal Tiger (MTR) . The shares closed flat after it revealed it had ploughed another £1.7million into Australian partner Cobre. Cobre controls 80% of the so-called Perrinvale project, which aims to mine extra copper in central western Australia. Metal Tiger said yesterday surveys were being carried out at the site, where signs of copper, zinc and gold have been found, and that it held ‘significant potential’.