Market Buzz
Friday newspaper round-up: Virgin Orbit, Morrisons, LME
Britain has joined the 11-member strong Asia-Pacific trade bloc that includes Japan and Australia after nearly two years of negotiations. The deal, part of a push to agree worldwide trade deals after Brexit, secures access for British exporters to 500 million people in the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: SVB, Royal Mail, listing rules
People in Britain have more confidence in the EU than the UK parliament, reversing a state of affairs that has lasted for more than 30 years, research reveals. Since the UK voted for Brexit, the proportion of people declaring confidence in parliament has slumped by 10 percentage points to 22% while there has been a seven percentage point rise in confidence in the Brussels-based bloc, to 39%. Confidence in the UK government also fell from 2017 to 2021. – Guardian.
UK banking sector 'resilient', says BoE
The Bank of England said on Wednesday that UK banks are "resilient and strong enough to support households and businesses", but also that there is an "urgent need" to increase resilience in market-based finance.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Bulb, Twitter, Royal Mail
The bailout of the bust energy supplier Bulb is expected to cost the government billions of pounds less than originally feared because of a sharp fall in wholesale gas prices, according to the National Audit Office. The public spending watchdog said the government may end up spending £246m on saving the supplier, which has 1. 5 million customers and was acquired by Octopus Energy late last year. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, private renters, Inmarsat
Long-running talks between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union are on the brink of collapse, with the company’s board thought to have threatened to put the loss-making postal service – the regulated UK entity that delivers to every address in the country – into a form of administration if a deal cannot be agreed. A politically explosive move to declare the postal service insolvent is regarded by Royal Mail’s board as a last resort but has been raised with the union already.
Monday newspaper round-up: HS2, Vanguard, Credit Suisse
The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy faces risks to its financial stability because of the turbulence in the banking sector. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the Washington-based lender of last resort, said rising interest rates had put pressure on debts, leading to “stresses” in leading economies, including among lenders. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: HSBC, Easyjet, Sky
A group of investors in Hong Kong have jostled HSBC into a shareholder vote on its structure and strategy, including a possible spin-off of its Asian unit. The group was led by minority shareholder Ken Lui. Its argument was that the Asian unit was "effectively subsidising" the western business to the detriment of shareholders. It was not clear if Chinese insurer Ping An would back Lui's latest move. For its part, the board told shareholders in a notice sent ahead of its AGM on 5 May that such a spin-off would "significantly dilute" its strategy, result in a material loss of value and lead to lower dividends, The Sunday Times first reported.
Friday newspaper round-up: Construction firms, Ofgem, Credit Suisse, council tax
Ten construction firms have been fined a combined £60m by the competition regulator for “illegally colluding” to rig bids for lucrative contracts for projects including Bow Street magistrates court and Selfridges department store. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the companies had acted as a cartel over 19 private and public sector contracts that were worth a total of £150m. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: TikTok, Google, NatWest
Britain’s biggest banks are under pressure to pass on higher interest rates to savers after figures showing they have made an extra £7bn by refusing to do so, and as they stand to benefit from a tax cut announced by Jeremy Hunt. On the day the Bank of England is expected to announce a further rise in interest rates, the Unite trade union said banks had already made billions of pounds in extra profit from the dramatic rise in borrowing costs. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Pensions, banking reforms, Credit Suisse
The former chief executive of the housebuilder Persimmon who landed one of the biggest bonuses in British corporate history has set up a new venture with his wife. Jeff Fairburn, who was ousted from Persimmon after protests at his bumper £82m bonus in 2018, has set up an investment company with his wife, Jayne, the Guardian can reveal. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Unilever, Scottish Mortgage, Drax
Derby is to be named the new headquarters of Britain’s rail network by ministers this week, the Guardian understands. The delayed result of the competition to become the official home of Great British Railways is expected as early as Tuesday, with the Midlands city the frontrunner on a shortlist of six including Birmingham, Crewe, Doncaster, Newcastle and York. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: John Lewis, UK steel industry, Newcleo
Plans by loss-making retailer John Lewis to end more than seven decades as a 100% employee-owned business have drawn criticism from an MP and supporters of its mutual ownership model. Sharon White, who chairs the company behind the eponymous department store chain and Waitrose, believes the business could raise up to £2bn in new investment by diluting its mutual model, according to reports. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Bank of England, Virgin Media O2, THG
Experts at Investec believe that the Bank of England will stand pat on rates when it meets this week due to financial stability concerns triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and bailouts for Credit Suisse and First Republic Bank. "The degree of conviction in this view is necessarily small when inflation is still in double-digits but stability concerns have suddenly surged," they said. Inflation data out on Wednesday on the other hand was expected to decline to just below 10%, posing a dilemma for Bank.
Friday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, payments providers, Atom Bank
The chief executive of Royal Mail has been accused of “incompetence or cluelessness” by MPs calling on the regulator Ofcom to investigate whether the company broke legal service requirements. Parliament’s cross-party business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee has asked the watchdog to investigate a suspected breach of the universal service obligation (USO), which requires the postal operator to deliver letters nationwide six days a week. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Co-op, TikTok, Credit Suisse
Autonomous delivery robots will hit the streets of Greater Manchester this week as the Co-op partners with the self-driving logistics company Starship Technologies to bring its six-wheeled bots to a seventh British city. Five years after making their first UK delivery in Milton Keynes, Starship has expanded to cover hundreds of thousands of households across the country, offering services in cities including Cambridge, Leeds and Northampton. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Energy bills support, prepayment meters, financial ombudsman
The Treasury has performed a U-turn on a planned cut to energy support for households after warnings that it would plunge many thousands more families into poverty. In an announcement on the morning of the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget speech, the government confirmed that the energy price guarantee would continue at its current rate, which limits a typical annual household bill to £2,500. It is being extended from April, when it was due to expire, for a further three months until the end of June.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: SVB, Country Garden, pensions
SVB Financial Group and two top executives have been sued by shareholders over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, as global stocks continued to suffer on Tuesday despite assurances from US president Joe Biden. The bank’s shareholders accuse SVB Financial Group chief executive Greg Becker and chief financial officer Daniel Beck of concealing how rising interest rates would leave its Silicon Valley Bank unit “particularly susceptible” to a bank run. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Barclays, British Land, Saudi Aramco
Barclays could save itself more than £200m a year after deciding to take a break from paying into its staff pension scheme, despite the fund’s assets plummeting by £10bn in 12 months. Barclays last month declared profits of £7bn for 2022, but its “contribution holiday” means the cost of the payments it would normally make towards former employee’s retirement benefits will now have to be met by the pension scheme – prompting anger among some ex-staff. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: SVB, Melrose, Tesco
Silicon Valley Bank's demise does not pose a systemic risk to the UK's financial services sector, Rishi Sunak said on Sunday, even as he committed himself to finding a way to keep hundreds of UK tech outfits from going bust. The US lender was believed to have "several thousand" business customers in the UK, many of which relied on their deposits at SVB to pay staff and suppliers. Ministers' concern was that many of those businesses might go under lest some sort of bail out could be thrashed out, inflicting serious harm on the country's technology sector.
Friday newspaper round-up: EY, HS2, Arrival
Deloitte’s chief executive has launched a thinly veiled criticism of rival EY after its controversial plans to split the business into two were thrown into turmoil. EY initially announced plans for a radical breakup of its global operations last year, that would separate its audit and advisory businesses. – Guardian.