Monday newspaper round-up: Barclays, Domino's, TSB, Whitbread, Netflix

Dividends paid to holders of UK shares jumped to a record high in the first three months of the year, putting investors on track for £100bn in payouts this year. The payments rose 15.7% to £19.7bn, easily a first-quarter record, according to data tracked by Link Asset Services. - Guardian

High street decline and paralysis over Brexit has triggered the most UK profit warnings since the financial crisis. London-listed firms issued 89 alerts in the first three months of 2019, a fifth higher than last year, according to Ernst & Young. - Telegraph

Cabinet rivals to succeed Theresa May are backing the prime minister to stay in office into the autumn if she fails to get her Brexit deal through parliament. A leading Brexiteer demanded yesterday that Mrs May step down by the end of June and raised the prospect of another move to unseat her within months. - The Times

The property market is likely to stage a Brexit “relief rally” over the summer, according to Britain’s biggest property website, as it revealed signs of bounceback in prices over the past month. Rightmove said asking prices on its website jumped by an average of 1.1% – an increase of £3,447 – in the month to April 6 but remain 0.1% below the level of a year ago. - Guardian

Tenants are to be protected against eviction without good reason in a renting revolution to offer peace of mind to families unable to buy their own homes. No-fault evictions are to be scrapped under government plans to be announced today which will, in effect, make tenancies open ended, as they are in Germany and several other European countries. Scotland introduced similar changes two years ago. - The Times

Edward Bramson has been dealt a blow after a leading shareholder advisory group told Barclays’ shareholders to oppose the activist investor’s bid for a seat on the bank’s board. Glass Lewis said yesterday that Mr Bramson’s campaign to be elected as a non-executive director of the lender “falls short” and that other Barclays shareholders should reject his appointment at the bank’s annual meeting on May 2. - The Times

TSB is poised to unveil a “fraud refund guarantee” to ensure its 5.2 million customers are reimbursed in full if they are an innocent victim of a scam. The move – a first in the UK banking industry – will put customers at the heart of a new strategy to tackle the fast-growing problem of bank fraud in the digital age. - Guardian

Bonuses at Domino’s Pizza have put in the spotlight after the chain cut payout targets. Influential proxy advisers Glass Lewis, who guide some of the world’s biggest institutional investors, have raised concerns on plans to reduce earnings figures that trigger share awards to bosses. - Telegraph

Whitbread is expected to cut more than 100 head-office jobs as a result of its sale of Costa Coffee to the Coca-Cola Company for £3.9 billion. The FTSE 100 leisure group, which is returning £2.5 billion of the proceeds to shareholders, is understood to have launched a consultation process involving almost 10 per cent of the employees at its head office in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Some are being offered alternative jobs within the business. - The Times

The Government is considering an overhaul of rules for Netflix and Amazon's Prime Video, a week after targeting social media companies with strict new penalties. The Daily Telegraph understands that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is looking at whether rules for on-demand video streaming sites should be brought in line with those which apply to traditional broadcasters as part of its digital charter.

One of America’s largest airlines is cancelling 115 flights a day because of fears over the safety of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Carriers that have used the aircraft since it went into service two years ago have had to rethink their flight plans since alarms were raised over its safety in the wake of two fatal crashes. - The Times

Publicis, the giant French advertising group, unveiled its largest acquisition after agreeing at the weekend to pay $4.4 billion for a digital marketing agency. The world’s third biggest advertiser will buy Epsilon from Alliance Data as it seeks to keep ahead of an industry increasingly focused on personalisation and customers’ data. - The Times

Secret commissions are being paid to property agents behind leaseholders’ backs, with undisclosed payments from insurance brokers said to run into “hundreds of millions of pounds”. Sir Peter Bottomley, a Conservative MP and co-chairman of a parliamentary group looking into leasehold reform, warned that both private and commercial tenants were losing out to the practice, in which insurance brokers pay secret fees to managing agents when buildings insurance is renewed. - The Times

A record number of shops disappeared last year, but one British start-up is trying to dispel high street gloom by helping retail entrepreneurs and famous brands alike to open thousands of “pop-up” stores. New figures from Appear Here, a platform that allows businesses to rent short-term retail space, show that the company opened 4,500 stores in London alone last year. - The Times

Britons threw away or wasted almost ten billion receipts last year — the equivalent of destroying Sherwood Forest, according to campaigners. Two out of three receipts are put straight in the bin, with a further one in five lost or too faded to use, with campaigners saying the unnecessary production of receipts released more than 18 million kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere last year, the equivalent of burning more than 40,000 barrels of oil. They want retailers to make receipts digital. - The Times

Dangerous cars, electrical goods and toys could flood into the UK after Brexit unless the government urgently reforms the current “failing” safety enforcement system, a consumer group warned on Monday. Which? says the public will be vulnerable to delays in spotting and dealing with unsafe products unless continued access to the European Safety Gate system is negotiated. - Guardian

In Shanghai later today, the Lotus will flower once more. After years of driving up blind alleys and running out of gas, Lotus Cars will use China’s premier motor show to unveil plans for a £1 million-plus all-electric hypercar. - The Times

British children will no longer be able to “like” posts on Facebook and Instagram under plans for strict rules that will force social media giants to protect children online. A code of conduct drawn up by the data watchdog is set to impose conditions on how technology companies treat under-18s, with the threat of fines totalling billions of pounds. - The Times