Tuesday newspaper round-up: Sports Direct, London property, cyber crime

Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, has for the first time agreed to appear before MPs in Westminster next month to give evidence about the retailer’s workplace practices. However, he has done so on the condition that the politicians visit his Shirebrook premises the day before. - Telegraph

London’s luxury postcodes have seen house prices fall by as much as 11.8% over the past year, but the property slowdown is a “myth” in much of the rest of the capital. The price of homes in 47 out of 272 postcode areas fell over the last quarter, the majority in the city’s most expensive neighbourhoods, according to data from the estate agency Stirling Ackroyd published on Tuesday. - The Guardian

Total pledged to continue investing in the North Sea yesterday as it called for greater collaboration to survive the oil industry downturn. Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of the French company, said that there was an urgent need to bear down on costs. - The Times

A flurry of recent flotation announcements has raised hopes that the dormant initial public offerings market is springing back to life. Maisons du Monde on Monday revealed it is set to carry out what is not only France’s first initial public offering of 2016 but one of the biggest expected there this year, with the furniture and design company setting a price range that would give it enterprise value of more than €1bn. - Financial Times

John Hargreaves, private founder of the Matalan retail chain, is the frontman behind a mystery rescue bid for BHS. Mr Hargreaves, who left school aged 14 to set up a market stall in Liverpool, is understood to working with a rival retailer ahead of a bid deadline on Tuesday. - Telegraph

The UK financial sector is failing to take cyber crime seriously enough, a report will say on Tuesday, recommending that companies share more information while calling for tax breaks to boost investment in cyber defences. The financial services industry is “the perfect target” for cyber attack, warns the report from lobby group TheCityUK, presenting the results of a six-month review of cyber security in the sector. - Financial Times

The global community is badly prepared for a rapid increase in climate change-related natural disasters that by 2050 will put 1.3 billion people at risk, according to the World Bank. Urging better planning of cities before it was too late, a report published on Monday from a Bank-run body that focuses on disaster mitigation, said assets worth $158tn – double the total annual output of the global economy – would be in jeopardy by 2050 without preventative action. - The Guardian

The chairman of AIM-listed Caledonia Mining was left red-faced and around £17,000 out of pocket yesterday after his broker sold his entire shareholding in the firm without his knowledge. American Leigh Wilson, 70, who first joined the Toronto and London-listed firm in 2008, was forced to announce that his broker had sold 75,200 shares – his entire stake – for around £33,000 between February 26 and March 2. - Daily Mail

Approximately 11,000 online recipes are to be dropped following a review of the BBC’s online output that promises to save £15m a year by cutting back on magazine-style content as well as local news. The recipes are being “archived or mothballed”, a source said, and will “fall off the face of the internet” after the food site is closed, with no live links. - The Guardian

Britain's largest water company has run up a £250m black hole in its pension pot while its foreign owners have pocketed almost £2bn in dividends. When it was sold to a consortium of investors, led by Australia’s Macquarie, in 2005 Thames Water Utilities had a £38m pension deficit but in the last decade this has ballooned by more than 655 per cent to £249m – an increase of £211m. - Daily Mail

One in three people have experienced poverty in recent years, according to figures that underline the precarious nature of work in Britain. The proportion of people experiencing long-term, or persistent, poverty had declined to one of the lowest rates in the EU, with the Office for National Statistics saying in 2014 6.5% of the UK population was in persistent poverty, amounting to approximately 3.9 million people. - The Guardian