Sunday newspaper round-up: Tesco, National Grid, Morrisons

Tesco's pension fund lost £9bn in value and fell into a deficit after multiple safe investments went sour. In particular, the fund is heavily exposed to so-called Liability Driven Investments. Those LDIs came unstuck in 2022 following a sharp rise in interest rates that left pension funds nursing heavy losses. Yet the grocer had no plans to pay more into the pension plan with a spokesman saying that the scheme was "in a strong position", "well-funded" and employing a different measure for estimating contributions then it was in fact "in surplus". - The Financial Mail on Sunday

National Grid boss John Pettigrew believes there is "no time to lose" to carry out the complete revamp that the electricity network requires in order to achieve net zero targets and cut the UK's exposure to gas prices. The planning system also required changes to speed up construction, he argued. Nearly five times as many pylons and underground lines as had been built over the past three decades needed to built by 2030. And rewiring the grid would cost "tens of billions of pounds" which meant higher household bills. - The Sunday Times

GMB national officer Gary Carter urged ministers to intervene if Macquarie went ahead and took full control of National Grid's gas transmission and meter business. The former operated over 4,000 miles of gas pipes in the UK. "Macquarie's reputation is one of maximising profits and stripping assets, often at the expense of investment as well as employees, pay and pensions. This government must not sit idly by when energy security is at stake." - Guardian

Morrisons has promised clients that they will see many "deflation dividends" over the next few months as the grocer went ahead with a fourth wave of price reductions since the start of 2023. Starting from Monday, white, wholemeal and granary rolls would cost 56% less, coffee prices were cut by 27% and those of cornflakes by 46%. A few days before industry chiefs were called to a meeting at the Treasury to explain why the cost of the weekly shop remained high and what measures they were taking to address the situation. - Sunday Telegraph