Monday newspaper round-up: Audits, Sky, BT, Amazon
The competition watchdog has challenged the accounting profession to find ways to improve choice in the auditing market that could save the Big Four firms from being broken up. Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, issued the challenge in meetings with the biggest accountants. It signals a reluctance from the regulator to force accountants to spin off their audit practices after they called the idea “unworkable”. - The Times
Carillion’s collapse “could happen again” as the Government has not yet learned how to outsource work effectively, a group of MPs has warned. Public services are deteriorating as the Government prioritises costs above all else in outsourcing decisions, said a damning report from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. - Telegraph
The former chief executive of Stobart Group has accused the company of treating shareholders with contempt for ignoring a vote that reinstated him as a director of the company. Shareholders at Stobart’s annual meeting on Friday proposed from the floor to appoint Andrew Tinkler as a director of the infrastructure group which owns Southend airport, despite him being dismissed from the board in June for an attempted boardroom coup. - The Times
Dutch electronics firm Philips has warned it may shift production out of Britain in the event of a 'hard' Brexit, saying it was “deeply concerned about competitiveness” of its operations there. The Amsterdam-based group employs about 1,500 people in Britain, most notably at its factory at Glemsford in Suffolk making baby care products for export. - Guardian
Comcast is expected to submit a formal £22 billion takeover bid for Sky this week, laying the ground for a bidding war for Britain’s largest commercial broadcaster. Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive of the giant American cable company, has until Friday to publish the terms of its £12.50-a share-offer, which would then give 21st Century Fox a further 28 days to top Comcast’s offer. - The Times
Plans to install hundreds of thousands of additional charging points for electric vehicles are to be announced by the transport secretary. Chris Grayling will unveil proposals aimed at making it easier to recharge electric vehicles than refuel those running on petrol or diesel, in an attempt to increase the take-up of ultra-low emission vehicles. - Guardian
The pub industry could be toasting a return to growth soon after at least 40 years of decline in the number of pubs nationwide. According to data from MCA, the market analyst, the number of pubs will continue to fall for another two years, but then will flatten out from 2021 and will turn positive from 2023 as closures are more than offset by new openings. - The Times
BT is preparing to sell off its City of London headquarters in a sale-and-leaseback deal that would take advantage of a resilient commercial property market. This year, the FTSE 100 telecoms group announced plans to shed 13,000 jobs over the next three years, to leave its City headquarters and to adjust its property portfolio. - The Times
The UK’s official number crunchers are transforming their data gathering in order to measure the “Amazon effect” on the prices of goods and services. No longer just based on a traditional “shopping basket”, official figures on price rises will soon take account of the nation’s online shopping habits, measuring the sales of millions of items such as clothing, flights and package holidays. - Telegraph
A mining company hopes to feed growing demand for electric vehicle batteries by digging up nickel and cobalt in Brazil. Brazilian Nickel will look to raise $30m (£23m) in an initial public offering on London’s junior Aim market later this month, and put the money towards a full feasibility study of its Piauí Nickel project, which it hopes to have in production by 2021. - Telegraph
The duo dubbed the “Bitcoin billionaire twins” have snapped up the New York Stock Exchange’s tech chief, the latest executive to jump ship for a cryptocurrency venture. The Winklevoss twins, who sued Mark Zuckerberg claiming he stole their idea to create Facebook, have hired Robert Cornish to serve as Gemini cryptocurrency exchange’s first chief technology officer, making it the latest digital-asset business to bring in an executive with expertise serving professional investors and traders. - Telegraph