Sunday newspaper round-up: Woodford, GVC, Asos, Brexit, Nationwide, Sainsbury's

BenevolentAI, the tech firm led by former Facebook executive and government minister Baroness (Joanna) Shields, is understood to be raising money at a level far below its $2bn (£1.6bn) valuation. BenevolentAI is said to have held talks with big Asian investors, including Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

A fall in its value would come at a dire time for Woodford, whose reputation has been all but destroyed after he was forced to gate his flagship Equity Income fund last month as investors pulled out billions of pounds. It shrank from a peak of £10.2bn to £3.7bn before it was suspended. - The Sunday Times

The chief executive of GVC offloaded the gambling giant’s Turkish business to his partner in a stud farm, The Sunday Times can reveal.

Kenny Alexander struck a deal in 2017 to sell the FTSE 250 company’s lucrative Turkish business to a firm that provided IT services to GVC. Alexander needed to jettison the Turkish business to pave the way for a £4bn swoop on bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral. Gambling in Turkey is highly restricted and GVC’s operations there were seen as a stumbling block to regulatory and shareholder approval.

GVC said in December 2017 that its Turkish division would be sold for €150m (£134.5m) to Rospo Malta, group formed by the owners of a company that provided IT services to GVC’s Turkish business. GVC later said it had waived the money to ensure the merger with Ladbrokes completed on time. - The Sunday Times

Asos is preparing a round of job cuts amid a botched warehouse opening in America and slowing sales.

The online fast-fashion retailer is consulting on about 100 redundancies at its head office in London. Most of the roles under threat are in the marketing department, according to a source.

The move follows a difficult time for Asos, which issued a trading warning in December, then reported a near-90% drop in interim pre-tax profits in March. Chief executive Nick Beighton said at the time that the results were “disappointing”. - The Sunday Times

Tory MPs have not been able to agree on very much since the momentous decision by voters to leave the EU. Yet as they headed back to their constituencies last week, there was one prediction that, for once, united them all. Figures from across the party agreed that Boris Johnson is odds-on to be the party’s next leader and to enter Downing Street. One cabinet minister, among those to have reluctantly accepted that view, had one word to sum up their feelings: “Gulp.”

Delight, anger and disillusionment were expressed by Tory MPs in anticipation that the former foreign secretary will finally grasp the crown he has coveted for so long.

Even among some of those backing his candidacy, there is an acknowledgement that they are taking a major gamble that could have serious implications not just for the party, but for the future of the UK. - The Observer

Boris Johnson is being warned that embracing a disruptive no-deal Brexit would fuel nationalism in Scotland and risk the future of the union, as both opponents and supporters predict that he will now claim a decisive victory in the Tory leadership election.

With Johnson seemingly weeks away from entering Downing Street, the Scottish secretary, David Mundell, issues a thinly veiled warning to him that Nicola Sturgeon would welcome a no-deal Brexit with “unseemly glee”.

Both Jeremy Hunt and Johnson have suggested they would be willing to back a no-deal Brexit if necessary. Yet, with signs that Johnson has retained a clear lead over Hunt, Mundell’s words appear squarely aimed at the former foreign secretary over his threat to leave the EU – with or without a deal – at the end of October. - The Observer

Some 15million customers of Nationwide, the country's largest building society, are being urged to make a stand against fat cat pay at the annual general meeting, to be held in 11 days' time.

They are being asked to vote against the directors' remuneration report – and in particular, the £2.372m awarded to chief executive Joe Garner in the society's last financial year. This represented an increase of 2.3 per cent on the year before.

The call to action, from lobby group the Building Societies Members Association, comes as Nationwide is in the process of telling savers it is making savage rate cuts to a phalanx of accounts including cash Isas. - Mail on Sunday

Sainsbury's finance chief Kevin O'Byrne last week admitted during a frosty shareholder meeting that the £46m spent on merger talks with Asda was 'an awful lot of money'.

The confession came as the company and its chairman Martin Scicluna were forced to repeatedly defend the supermarket chain's strategy and chief executive Mike Coupe's £3.9m pay. - Mail on Sunday