Wednesday newspaper round-up: Rolls-Royce, pay, Brexit, Qinetiq

Legislators are to meet Warren East to discuss his restructuring plans for Rolls-Royce, underlining the political sensitivities the new chief executive will have to navigate as he attempts to stabilise the UK’s flagship engineering group after five profit warnings. More than 20 Labour and Conservative MPs wrote to Mr East earlier this month to request a meeting, highlighting concerns for the future for the group’s 21,300 employees in the UK and plans to shift more production to low-cost countries. – Financial Times

Investment guru Warren Buffett is headed for his worst year relative to the rest of the US stock market since 2009, with shares in his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway down 11 per cent with two more trading days to go. The underperformance comes in Mr Buffett’s Golden Anniversary year at the helm, when he told investors for the first time that they should judge his record based on Berkshire’s share price, rather than just the book value of the company, which had been his preferred yardstick for decades. – Financial Times

Ashley Madison, the adultery webiste, has seen its popularity soar in recent months, despite a hack that exposed the personal details of millions of its customers. More than 43.4m people have signed up to the company, according to its website, up from around 37m - including 1.2m Britons - at the time of the cyber attack in August. – Telegraph

The UK's richest people saw their wealth increase by $1.4bn (£900m) in 2015, with property tycoon the Duke of Westminster leading the way. Britain's 11 richest citizens now control $67bn, according to Bloomberg's billionaire index, up 2pc on 2014's total. The Duke of Westminster was the highest placed Brit with a $14bn fortune, up $623m over the past 12 months. The 64-year-old owns swathes of central London through his company, Grosvenor Estates. – Telegraph

Average pay growth for Britain’s workers is likely to stall at about 2% in 2016, as the ready availability of migrants makes it easy for employers to fill vacancies, according to a forecast of the labour market. In its annual assessment, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), which represents the human resources profession, says job creation will remain strong over the next 12 months, but wage growth has reached a plateau. – Guardian

The new director general of the CBI is promising to play a leading role in the debate about whether Britain should stay in the European Union in 2016. Carolyn Fairbairn said it will be up to British business to ensure the benefits of membership are fully understood by the public, with a referendum on a Brexit expected to take place as soon as next summer. – Guardian

One of Britain’s leading defence technology companies has secured a contract worth $16 million to provide aircraft launch and landing systems for the US Navy’s next aircraft carrier, the $11.5 billion John F Kennedy. QinetiQ said its North American unit had won the contract from San Diego-based General Atomics. – The Times

An Israeli technology company that uses data from mobile phone signals to track pedestrian traffic movements and crowd behaviour has announced plans to float in London. Trendit said that it was intending to list on London’s main market and hoped to raise £4 million through a placing and subscription of shares. The group is expected to have a market capitalisation of up to £12 million when its shares are admitted for trading. – The Times