Newspaper round-up: Bayer, Monsanto, Ford, Biffa

Bayer has agreed a $66bn Monsanto deal to create an agrichemicals giant. The combined business will have annual revenues of $23bn and dominate a sector which has seen a wave of consolidation as falling crop prices trigger tie-ups in the hunt for efficiencies. In the past year DuPont and Dow Chemical agreed to merge, and China National Chemical Corp inked a deal to buy Syngenta, which for years had been eyed by Monsanto. - Telegraph

Ford has announced it is to move all small-car production to Mexico as its profits look set to fall. The second-largest US automaker dropped its expected pre-tax profits forecast from $10.8bn to $10.2bn as it announced plans to expand its self-driving and electric lines in the face of intense competition from Silicon Valley as well as traditional car firms. Chief executive Mark Fields also said that the company was moving all of its small-car production to lower-cost Mexico, drawing another rebuke from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who called the decision "Horrible". - Guardian

Biffa, the UK waste management business, has confirmed plans to list on the London Stock Exchange in October. The company, a stalwart of the cleaning-up industry with a 100 years of history behind it, says it made some £927.5m in revenues in the 2016 financial year. Underlying operating profits were £62.5m. It of course reckons there's money in them there bin bags. - Financial Times

The City watchdog is facing a courtroom showdown with a former top Barclays executive after regulators accused him of suppressing an internal report that was “highly critical” of the way in which the bank’s wealth management business was run. Andrew Tinney, former global chief operating officer of Barclays Wealth, is challenging a lifetime bar from the financial services industry over allegations that he repeatedly misled investigators over the existence of a damning report into the division’s culture. - The Times

MPs are to debate stripping Sir Philip Green of his knighthood. The sale of BHS by Sir Philip's Arcadia Group to a former bankrupt, Dominic Chappell, and its subsequent collapse a year later has also prompted questions about how corporate governance at private companies should be tightened. Mr Field said: "It is the first chance for the whole House to pass its judgment since our report into BHS and its collapse." - Telegraph

A slide in wages growth in the month after the Brexit vote appeared to give the first warning sign that the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the referendum could harm the UK labour market. The Office for National Statistics said wages growth slipped to 2.1% in the three months to July, from a revised 2.4% a month ago. When bonuses are added to the wage total, earnings rose by 2.3% during the quarter, down from 2.5%. Employment rose by 174,000 in the period, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.9%. - Guardian

Car sales across Europe have grown at their slowest level in two years since the UK's vote to leave the EU, the latest data shows. During July and August, the number of new cars sold in the EU rose by 3 per cent to 1.9m when compared to the same months in 2015, according to the latest figures from the European car manufacturers' association ACEA. - Financial Times

Luminance, a start-up backed by Mike Lynch, the British technology investor, is aiming to reduce the time taken on due diligence that accompanies multimillion-pound M&A deals from weeks to days or even hours using a new form of artificial intelligence. Its new software deploys machine learning to read and “think” like a lawyer. Scanning hundreds of pages of complex documents a minute, it can spot anomalies and potential pain points in contracts and other corporate paperwork. - The Times

UK electricity prices for Thursday have soared to record highs after unplanned nuclear plant shutdowns and the continued heatwave triggered an unseasonal power crunch. Industry sources suggested National Grid was close to having to issue an emergency alert to call for more power for Thursday evening, amid fears demand could outstrip supply. Day-ahead electricity prices have hovered at about £40 per megawatt-hour in recent months but on Wednesday surged to a record £160/MWh, according to Jamie Stewart at price reporting agency Icis. Prices for the hour to 8pm on Thursday evening traded at £999/MWh. - Telegraph

The Everyman cinema chain is set to move hundreds of staff off zero-hours contracts by the end of next year, joining a wave of companies turning against the controversial employment contracts. In the next few months two further sites, including Leeds, will switch to the system, which promises at least 40 hours a month. "Lilly said:"If all goes well we want to take it across the chain. - Guardian