Thursday newspaper round-up: SME confidence, ECB, insurers, SAB

Confidence among small businesses is at a four-year low because of concerns among companies that the economy will weaken as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. A survey by the Federation of Small Businesses has revealed that confidence has fallen for the third consecutive quarter. Those who are pessimistic about their prospects outweighed those feeling optimistic for the first time since 2012. The lobby group described the study as a wake-up call for politicians to act to “avoid an economic slowdown”. - The Times

Hedge funds are being warned that they could inadvertently put Anheuser-Busch InBev’s £79 billion takeover of SABMiller at risk unless they convert their derivatives in the Peroni and Grolsch brewer into shares. Although the odds are that the vote by SABMiller investors will be waved through next week, advisers are warning that because of the unusual nature of the vote, there is a small chance the funds could unintentionally block it. - The Times

Officials at the European Central Bank fear they could be hemmed in by legal action as they look for ways to extend their quantitative easing programme to help fuel the eurozone’s fragile recovery. The €80bn-a-month bond buying plan is already the subject of a legal challenge and officials fear that its problems in court will increase if the ECB relaxes the conditions of the scheme — a move staff are considering. - Financial Times

Foreign demand for British cars has helped push automotive manufacturing to its best August for 14 years as the industry reported a boom in exports following sterling’s post-Brexit plunge. UK car plants produced 109,004 new cars last month, a 9.1pc increase from the previous year, with the majority of cars destined overseas. In the past 12 months, 1.13m vehicles have been made in the country, up 12pc from last year. - Telegraph

The UK’s new insurance regulator has told the industry to strengthen its planning for big disasters. David Rule, who took over as the Bank of England’s top insurance supervisor in July, used his first speech to warn insurers that they need to do more to plan for big losses caused by events such as Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in the 1992, and the September 11 terror attacks of 2001. - Financial Times

A Labour MP has accused Marks and Spencer of threatening to sack “thousands of staff” over the Christmas period if they do not accept new proposals that could cut their take home pay. Siobhain McDonagh, the MP for Mitcham and Morden who is leading a campaign against “unscrupulous pay cuts”, said that she had been contacted by more than 120 M&S employees “who will be losing out” after a consultation on employment contract changes. - The Times

Libya has exported its first cargo of oil from the port of Ras Lanuf since 2014, reviving hopes of a recovery in production in the country. Officials at the terminal, located 230 miles (370km) from Benghazi, said that the tanker Seadelta had set off for Italy after a lull in fighting between rival groups. - The Times

Unpublished field trials by pesticide manufacturers show their products cause serious harm to honeybees at high levels, leading to calls from senior scientists for the companies to end the secrecy which cloaks much of their research. The research, conducted by Syngenta and Bayer on their neonicotinoid insecticides, were submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency and obtained by Greenpeace after a freedom of information request. - The Guardian

Amber Rudd’s business career has come under scrutiny following a Guardian investigation that reveals her involvement with two companies in an offshore tax haven, and another where her co-director was jailed for fraud. A fresh leak of tax haven data names the home secretary as having been a director of two companies in the Bahamas – a fact she did not refer to earlier this year when defending David Cameron over his father’s investment fund in the same country. - Guardian

A company offering the UK’s first online property ISA has secured £1.3m of backing from Zoopla and prolific venture capitalist Robin Klein ahead of its launch. Bricklane.com aims to allow individuals to invest in the property market with a contribution of as little as £100, which the company will invest in properties in Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds which are then let out to tenants. - Telegraph

Maverick investor Terry Smith has more than doubled the amount of money he has invested in his own funds to £200m. Smith has sold his stake in FTSE 250 investment company Tullett Prebon, where he was chief executive until August 2014, and ploughed the cash into his own Fundsmith. - Mail

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan have vowed to spend $3bn over the next decade to try and cure all diseases. The Facebook founder and his wife, who pledged to give away 99pc of their wealth to good causes following the birth of their daughter last year, said the money would be used to assist scientific work and build new research tools. - Telegraph