The Times
Heathrow is in for the long haul as profits jump: Profits at Heathrow soared by more than a fifth last year, despite fears that its growth is being constrained by political dithering over a third runway.
Time’s up for Yahoo (and Mayer, too): Time Inc, the Owner of world-famous magazines including Time, People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune, is understood to be exploring a bid for the core businesses of Yahoo.
City broker fined £1.2 million for lax controls: A broker and wealth Manager with several high-profile backers has become the first wholesale financial firm to face a temporary ban on taking on business after an investigation by the City regulator into its market abuse controls.
Satsuma provides Provident with taste for online lending: Provident Financial is continuing to invest in Satsuma, its online lending platform, as it shifts away from its doorstep business.
Carney hints at further interest rate cut: Households may soon enjoy cheaper borrowing after the Bank of England’s Governor hinted that interest rates could be cut further amid a global slowdown in growth.
Mars bars recalled after plastic scare: Millions of chocolates were recalled from Britain’s supermarket shelves after a customer in Germany found a piece of plastic inside a Snickers bar.
The Independent
Facebook and Netflix helped U.K. TV ad spending hit a record £5 billion in 2015, Thinkbox says: Tech companies pushed TV advertising revenue in the U.K. passed a record £5 billion for the first time in 2015.
Drax loses power after Government cuts its subsidies: Profits at the power station company Drax have fallen by two-thirds in the wake of tumbling energy prices and the loss of support from government subsidies.
Bill Gates backs FBI in fight with Apple over unlocking terrorist’s iPhone: Bill Gates has said that Apple should help the government to break into a terrorist’s phone.
Londoners need 266% pay rise to buy home in the city, National Housing Federation claims: Londoners need a 266% pay rise to buy a home in the capital, a leading industry body has claimed.
Financial Times
Powa Technologies sheds U.K. staff after administration: Most of the U.K. staff at Powa Technologies, the $2.7 billion tech start-up that went into administration last week, have lost their jobs after a heavy round of redundancies.
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Standard Chartered eyes bonus clawbacks after loss: Standard Chartered is considering clawing back bonuses from about 150 current and former senior staff, its new Chief Executive said after reporting its first annual loss for more than a quarter of a century.
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TDR Capital reboots ‘annex’ buyout funds: TDR Capital has launched a rare “annex” private equity fund in a fundraising to inject fresh money into older investments held by an existing vehicle.
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L&G makes move into housebuilding: Legal & General is breaking into direct housebuilding with the aim of producing thousands of flat-pack units each year, in an unprecedented move for a big British insurer.
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Honeywell still open to deal despite UTC’s regulatory concerns: Honeywell has insisted that regulatory obstacles need not prevent it from merging with United Technologies, in a spirited riposte that suggests it remains committed to pursuing the potential $90 billion transaction.
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Lex:
StanChart: Winters blues: Given banks’ tendency to apply gloss to terrible results, it is refreshing how Standard Chartered described its first annual loss since 1989 as “poor”. Another four-letter word that will be on investors’ lips: risk.
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LSE/Deutsche Borse: noch einmal: Two previous attempts to combine the capital markets of Britain and Germany failed, partly because of British harrumphing over a national institution being shipped, bowler hats and all, across the North Sea. Against the backdrop of a referendum on EU membership, that sentiment may return.
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IHG: room to grow: According to hotelier InterContinental Hotels Group, five to eight years. The company once said that was the length of an upcycle in revenue per average room (revpar), a key factor in hotels’ top line growth. If that is right, the industry must be near a peak.
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Lombard:
Eurocrat left best-placed to unravel London Stock Exchange deal: The U.K. has won an exemption from ever closer union with Europe. The deal evidently does not include the London Stock Exchange. German rival Deutsche Borse is in talks to absorb the group, which began in a City coffee house in the 17th century
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Bulldog breed: BHP Billiton may have the words of Winston Churchill in mind in cutting its interim dividend by 74%, more steeply than the City had expected.
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The Daily Telegraph
EU is key to London’s strength, says CBI: London’s greatest strength is its access to the single market of the European Union, according to the capital’s business leaders.
Saudi Arabia dashes hopes of output cut as oil woes deepen: Saudi Arabia has warned that there is almost no chance of a cut in oil production by the OPEC cartel to lift prices and avert a bloodbath for the energy industry, dashing hopes for a quick reprieve as the supply glut continues to build.
GKN shrugs off China sales slowdown: Engineer GKN, the drive shaft and gearbox maker whose parts go into one of every two new cars, has shaken off worries about a slowdown in China, the world’s largest car market.
Ladbrokes shares jump despite first loss for a decade: Investors have shrugged off Ladbrokes’ first annual pretax loss for a decade and seized on tentative signs that a turnaround plan by the troubled bookmaker’s new Boss is starting to bear fruit.
Thomas Cook hit by investor revolt over pay: The tour operator that has been embroiled in scandal over its handling of the deaths of two children on one of its holidays has now been hit by a shareholder revolt over Executive pay.
Kerry sales boosted by the right ingredients: Kerry Group, the maker of Mattessons Fridge Raiders and Cheese Strings, has posted a 6% rise in annual sales to €6 billion (£4.6 billion), largely boosted by its ingredients business.
Holiday Inn Boss insists no pressure to buy rivals: The hotels giant behind the Holiday Inn brand will not be “forced” into making a blockbuster acquisition, its Boss has insisted, as the firm disclosed it would instead return $1.5 billion of surplus cash to shareholders.
The Questor Column:
RBS may not have others’ woes but it still has worries: Bank stocks have already taken a beating so far this year, with the FTSE 350’s banks down 18.6%. However, RBS’s 2015 results this Friday should hold fewer surprises. The state-backed lender has already revealed it is on track to make its eighth consecutive annual loss, with investors anticipating the bank will report it was £2 billion in the red last year. The key factor keeping RBS on the wrong side of breaking even this time around is more provisions for payment protection insurance compensation and legal bills, as well as covering the expected impact of low interest rates. The bank’s recovery from the financial crisis may have been dreadfully slow but its turnaround plan is very gradually taking hold and the bank can start concentrating on growing both lending and profits. A question for investors is, when will that result in returns? RBS cannot give pay out dividends yet: it has to spend around £1 billion buying back the dividend access share from the Government, an impediment put in place by the 2008 and 2009 bailouts to make sure the Government gets its cash back before other investors. But slowly, the bank is making progress. Analysts at UBS expect RBS to start returning capital to shareholders via a combination of dividends and share buybacks in the coming years. More than a dozen other banks have already been fined, and RBS has so far set aside £3.8 billion to cover civil litigation. Until that overhang is out of the way, investors are right to be worried about the stock. Even then, the precise timing of any dividends is highly uncertain, and the bank’s future also depends on the U.K. economy’s ability to keep on growing faster than other rich nations. Hold. Royal Bank of Scotland at £2.36 -9.2p. Questor says “Hold”.
Lloyds’ dividend could show promise: Lloyds precedes RBS with its financial results to be published on Thursday, and is similarly positioned to benefit from sustained U.K. growth. On the face of things, the bank is performing well. Investors should look out for a healthy dividend, and anything above a 2.25p payout would be a positive surprise. However, the expected sale of government shares will be one factor capping the stock. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, decided last month to postpone the next sale of shares as Lloyds’ share price tumbled below the 73.6p level at which he gets the taxpayers’ money back. The Government plans to attract retail investors with a discount, likely to be only around 5% to the market value. But it will only do this when the price hits 73.6p. By that logic, you might as well buy now and enjoy the 10p uplift. The danger with this strategy is that the shares continue to languish at their current levels. Six months ago they touched 90p and looked destined to rise to 100p. But now markets appear to have re-rated the stock as hopes for a bumper dividend have faded away, leaving the shares bouncing around the low to mid-60s. Lloyds Banking Group at £0.629 -0.3p. Questor says “Hold”.
The Guardian
Bank of England says City expects more sterling volatility before EU poll: The Governor of the Bank of England has said currency traders are buying more protection against the pound falling now that the referendum on membership of the EU has been announced.
Brexit campaigners should be less hasty to dismiss the threats of big business: Threats from Britain’s biggest businesses that they will take their high-grade jobs and multi-million pound investments abroad should there be a vote to quit the EU are dismissed by out campaigners as the posturing of a cosy elite.
Pensions overhaul could trigger raft of mis-selling claims, warns watchdog: George Osborne’s pension overhaul could trigger the next major wave of mis-selling claims, according to a report by the public spending watchdog.
Aston Martin to open Wales factory for new DBX model: The luxury carmaker Aston Martin has announced it will open a new factory in south Wales, creating more than 750 jobs.
Carney: Bank of England could cut interest rates to zero, but not below: The Bank of England could cut interest rates to zero, but will seek to avoid following Sweden, Denmark and the Eurozone by setting negative rates to bolster growth and inflation.
Privately educated elite continues to take top jobs, finds survey: A privately educated elite continues to dominate the U.K.’s leading professions, taking top jobs in fields as diverse as the law, politics, medicine and journalism, according to new research.
Daily Mail
Wealth management firm WH Ireland fined £1.2 million for failing to have the correct systems in place to prevent market abuse: WH Ireland has been fined £1.2 million by the City regulator for failing to have the right systems in place to prevent market abuse.
Pound hit by double whammy as investors fret over Brexit and Carney warns of another rate cut: Sterling was hit by a double-whammy as investors fretted about Britain quitting the European Union and the prospect of another cut in interest rates.
Drax mulls shutting its coal-fired stations amid competition from cheap gas and renewables: Drax is weighing up whether to close its coal-fired power stations amid competition from cheap gas and renewables.
BT Boss in final plea not to split Openreach with Ofcom recommendations due to be published: BT’S Boss has made a last ditch defence of its Openreach arm ahead of the publication of a regulator report which could see the infrastructure division broken up.
Daily Express
Standard Chartered falls £1.1 billion into red: Standard Chartered slumped to its first annual loss since 1989 and warned of more “painful” restructuring after taking a battering from China’s slowing economy and tumbling commodity prices.
Crisis in kitchens as female talent drains away: Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) indicate that female chefs are increasingly scarce. The latest figures suggest fewer than one in five chefs in the U.K. (18.5%) is a woman, down from the previous year.
The Scottish Herald
Glasgow optician chain expands with acquisition: Glasgow-based MM Eyecare has taken another step in its Scottish expansion drive with the acquisition of a Dundee chain of opticians.
City Deal boost for Glasgow area’s credentials as innovation hub: The £1.13 billion Glasgow and Clyde Valley city region deal boost will provide a big boost to the area’s standing in growth industries such as life sciences as well as its infrastructure, it has been claimed.
BHP Billiton slashes dividend, posts $5.67 billion net loss: Global miner BHP Billiton slashed its interim dividend by 75%, abandoning a long-held policy of steady or higher payouts as it braces for a longer-than-expected commodities downturn.
Hotelier IHG to return $1.5 billion as full-year profit rises: InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world’s largest hoteliers, reported a 4% rise in yearly profit, boosted by strong demand across all its regions.
Whitehorn to step up at Stagecoach: Stagecoach is to appoint Will Whitehorn deputy Chairman and senior independent Director in succession to Garry Watts from April 1.
Persimmon in housing sweet spot as profits and payouts soar: Shares in the U.K.’s second-biggest housebuilder Persimmon have raced ahead after the group unveiled a profits leap and an enhanced capital payout to shareholders.
Scottish cities out in front for workforce graduates: Scotland has two of the U.K.’s three most attractive city regions for a highly-qualified workforce, with Edinburgh and Glasgow matched only by Bristol, according to the Office of National Statistics.
The Scotsman
PureLifi raises $2 million ahead of latest product launch: Edinburgh technology spin-out PureLiFi is gearing up for the launch of its latest product that uses light instead of radio waves to transmit data.
Fresh call for distillers to stop using imported grain: The current use of maize from France to make Scotch whisky has come under strong criticism from a former vice-President of NFU Scotland.
Wood Group reveals 8,000 job losses as profits drop: Oil and gas services giant Wood Group insisted it was a “strong and balanced business” despite reporting lower full-year earnings.
Royal Bank of Scotland back U.K. remaining in EU: The Boss of Royal Bank of Scotland and banking giant Barclays have said they want the U.K. to remain in the EU.
City A.M.
Nearly 20% of London households are in debt after paying for essentials: Nearly one in five London households end up in the red on a monthly basis after paying for essentials, according to new data.
Etsy’s share price surges after reporting strong revenue growth despite an earnings loss: Quirky online marketplace Etsy reported revenue just over expectations, as it announced the number of its active buyers and sellers has surged.
EU referendum: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair says Brexit could lead to the breakup of the U.K.: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned that if the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union it could lead to the breakup of the U.K
Scottish and U.K. governments agree a deal on fiscal framework: The Scottish and U.K. governments have finally reached agreement on the financial arrangement that will support new devolved powers.
Hugo Boss share price plummets following ugly results as the U.S. and China look set to drag on future profits: Hugo Boss shares have tumbled by almost 20%, their biggest fall since October 2008, after it warned that sales in China and the U.S. so far this year have been weaker than it expected.
EU referendum: Scotiabank warns U.K. GDP growth could slow by up to 5% after Brexit: Another big bank has warned that leaving the European Union could lead to a major slowdown in British growth.
