Friday newspaper round-up: Oil prices, robots, UK auto industry

Saudi Arabia has described the collapse in oil prices to below $30 as “irrational” and expects the market to recover in 2016 even as the country continues to keep production high. Khalid al-Falih, chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco, told the World Economic Forum in Davos that current prices would not last, with many smaller producers facing financial difficulties. “The market has overshot on the low side and it is inevitable that it will start turning up,” said Mr Falih, predicting higher prices by the end of the year. – Financial Times

Big business has rallied around David Cameron’s plea for support in the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, with US banks donating hundreds of thousands of pounds and senior chief executives publicly endorsing the prime minister’s stance. Goldman Sachs, which has its European head office in London, is leading the way financially, paying £500,000 to the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America also plan to donate six-figure sums. – Financial Times

British high streets and factories will be transformed over the next two decades as millions of jobs are replaced by robots, a new report warns. Eleven million jobs across the UK economy are at high risk of being automated by 2036, with the retail and transport sectors most vulnerable, according to Deloitte. – Telegraph

Britain’s auto industry has posted its best manufacturing figures in a decade – but the stellar performance could be the final strong showing if the UK votes to leave the EU. A total of 1,587,677 cars rolled off British production lines last year, an increase of 3.9pc on the previous year and the highest in recent history, according to official data from industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). – Telegraph

VW has dismissed a call from the EU’s industry chief to pay compensation to European drivers who bought cars with emissions test-cheating software. Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the European commissioner for industry, urged the German carmaker to pay compensation to 8.5 million European drivers who had bought cars fitted with defeat devices when she met VW’s chief executive, Matthias Müller, in Brussels on Thursday. – Guardian

The privatisation of the taxpayer stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland has ground to a halt after shares in the lenders slumped to their lowest in more than three years. In a blow to George Osborne just weeks before the budget, the sale of billions of pounds of Lloyds shares at a profit has stalled, with insiders saying that a much vaunted retail offer might have to be delayed. – The Times

Employees could be empowered to buy shares in their company if it is sold, dissolved or floated on the stock exchange, John McDonnell said yesterday. The shadow chancellor unveiled the “Right to Own” proposal for workers to purchase shares in their company, which echoes the Conservatives’ Right to Buy policy for social housing tenants who want to buy their home. – The Times