Monday newspaper round-up: De La Rue, Tesco, Glaxo Smith Kline

The hedge fund pushing for change at passport and banknote maker De La Rue has increased its stake and ramped-up pressure on the boss to overhaul the firm. Crystal Amber is now understood to control about 4 per cent of the British company, up from 3.1 per cent following a high volume of trades on Friday. The activist fund is calling on De La Rue's management to come up with a strategy that will prepare it for the future by focusing more on selling its technology. - The Daily Mail

Tesco is set to launch a chain of discount shops to take on cut-price German retailers Aldi and Lidl at their own game. The supermarket giant has earmarked as many as 60 existing stores to transform into a low-price chain expected to operate under a new brand name. Sources speculated that the stores may be called Jack's – a reference to Tesco founder Jack Cohen – because an obscure Tesco subsidiary recently tried to register the name as a trademark. - The Daily Mail

In a strategy update this week, Glaxo is expected to outline plans to focus on developing blockbuster cancer drugs as it rebuilds its portfolio in the medicines industry’s most lucrative market four years after it largely, and contentiously, exited the area via a multibillion-dollar asset swap with Novartis, a Swiss rival. Ms Walmsley will be joined at a presentation to the City on Wednesday by Hal Barron, Glaxo’s new chief scientific officer and head of research and development, who has been reviewing the drugs pipeline for the past six months. - The Times

Theresa May will chair a cabinet meeting in the north-east of England as she starts a summer campaign intended to gain public support for her much-criticised Chequers Brexit plan. The visit on Monday is intended primarily to show the government’s ongoing support for the "northern powerhouse" concept, and May will confirm that up to £780m is being set aside for a pre-planned east coast mainline upgrade and that the is to go ahead. - The Guardian

President Trump’s efforts to neutralise the nuclear threat posed by North Korea are in danger of running aground as the communist state cancels key meetings and returns to its belligerent rhetoric. [...] However, US diplomats have since made it known that their counterparts in Pyongyang have refused to engage in meaningful discussions. American intelligence officials have told The Washington Post that the North is working to conceal key aspects of its nuclear programme and that a missile-engine testing facility that Mr Trump said would be destroyed remains intact. - The Times

Britain will "thrive" even if there is no Brexit deal, Dominic Raab has said, as his predecessor David Davis called on the Prime Minister to "reset" her Brexit plan and prepare a "reserve parachute" in case no agreement is reached. Mr Raab said there was "tremendous pressure" on the EU to secure a deal as he branded his counterparts "irresponsible" for failing to reassure British citizens living abroad about their rights after Brexit. - The Daily Telegraph

A second investment fund has been set up in Ireland by the City firm co-founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg, after it warned earlier this year about the financial dangers of the sort of hard Brexit favoured by the Conservative MP. The fund, which is backed by $50m (£38m) in seed money from the Swedish national pension plan, was created to meet demand from international investors, according to Somerset Capital Management (SCM). - The Guardian