Monday newspaper round-up: BHS, Sports Direct, Sky, National Grid
Retail tycoon Mike Ashley has opened a new front in the war of words surrounding the fate of BHS, claiming there is still time to save thousands of jobs as he made a third approach for the collapsed department store chain once owned by rival billionaire Sir Philip Green. However, people briefed on the process dismissed Mr Ashley’s interventions as a publicity stunt at a time when his Sports Direct retail group faces damaging revelations surrounding its treatment of contract workers. - Financial Times
According to The Times, Ashley has mounted an attempt to take over as many as 80 BHS stores, saving several thousand of the 11,00 staff facing redundancy. On Friday evening the Sports Direct billionaire said the business was “fully committed” to reaching a deal with Duff & Phelps, which is handling BHS’s administration, and wanted to buy a significant chunk of its 163-store network, as well as the right to trade under its name.
Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group discussed selling BHS to a leading turnaround fund or South Africa’s richest man before offloading the chain to a former bankrupt with no retail experience. Evidence submitted to MPs reveals that Goldman Sachs, who acted as a “gatekeeper” to Sir Philip, had considered other interest from turnaround specialists Sun Capital, which owns bed retailer Dreams and Bonmarche. - Telegraph
One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has begun to introduce “Brexit clauses” into its contracts that give buyers the right to pull out of a deal to buy a new home if Britain votes to leave the European Union. Galliard Homes, the largest privately owned property developer in London, said that its contracts now came with a clause allowing a housebuyer to pull out of a deal and get their money back. - Times
Japanese stocks were down sharply and leading Asian markets lower on Monday as a broad global pullback from riskier assets continued in the lead up to the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday. That has seen investors head for the relative safety of government debt, pushing yields on benchmark bonds in many countries to record lows, alongside a recovery in the US dollar. - Financial Times
George Osborne’s ambition to make London the go-to option for global trading in the yuan came a step closer to being realised last night when China’s state-owned currency marketplace revealed that it intends to open branches in the capital and in New York. The China Foreign Exchange Trade System said that the expansion of its network beyond national borders would allow it to serve more overseas institutions and become a “main trading platform and pricing centre” for the yuan globally. - Times
Britain should brace itself for a winter of tight electricity supplies that will force National Grid to use its last-resort measures and push wholesale prices up, according to a new analysis. Figures from Enappsys, which monitors wholesale electricity market data, show the grid will have an even more difficult job keeping the lights on than last year, when it took new emergency measures for the first time. - Financial Times
A lack of basic digital skills is costing the economy £63 billion a year and must be tackled urgently, a committee of MPs has said. In a report that criticises the government for dragging its heels on a long-promised digital strategy, the science and technology committee says that Britain faces a basic IT skills crisis that is damaging productivity and economic competitiveness. - Times
The imminent leap in the cost of Premier League football rights is putting pressure on Sky’s pay-TV channels, as it seeks to slash its bills from Discovery and other suppliers. It is understood that Sky has entered tricky negotiations with the US media giant over the cost of carrying its channels, which include the female-focused brand TLC and nature documentary specialist Animal Planet, as well as the flagship Discovery Channel. - Telegraph
The American owner of Asda is preparing to name the head of its Chinese operations as the new boss of Britain’s third biggest supermarket chain. Sean Clarke, head of Walmart’s Chinese business, will take over as chief executive of Asda from Andy Clarke. - Times
Former shareholders of the oil giant Yukos have delayed a bid to seize Russian state assets in the UK, after a Dutch court overturned a $50bn (£35bn) damages award in their favour. According to High Court documents, companies associated with billionaire Leonid Nevzlin were last week granted a stay on a hearing scheduled for November after they had hoped to use the hearing to seize Russian buildings in London and payments due from British companies such as Inmarsat to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. - Telegraph
Symantec is acquiring threat-blocking service Blue Coat Systems from its private-equity owners Bain Capital for $4.65bn, in the struggling antivirus company’s largest deal for more than a decade. Greg Clark, Blue Coat chief executive, will take the top job at Symantec, a position that has been vacant since April. - Financial Times
Britain is set to double the amount of electricity it imports from France under plans to construct a new £1.1 billion subsea power cable. The power line running from Le Havre to Lovedean, near Portsmouth, will supply enough electricity to power four million British homes, according to its developer. It also is intended to be up and running in 2021, at least four years earlier than the new nuclear plant planned for Hinkley Point, Somerset, by the French utility EDF. - Times