Monday newspaper round-up: Goldman, BHS, Barclays, EE

Barack Obama and Angela Merkel have called for talks over a transatlantic trade deal to be completed this year as fears mount that the opportunity to reach an agreement is slipping away. The US president used a visit to Hanover in Germany on Sunday to try to breathe new life into the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which has been beset by political opposition in the US and Europe. – Financial Times

Almost 11,000 high street jobs are at risk with BHS set to fall into administration on Monday morning unless a last-minute rescue deal can be agreed with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct. The collapse of the department store chain will be the biggest failure on the high street since the demise of Woolworths in 2008, providing the government with another headache as it attempts to save thousands of jobs in the steel industry. – Guardian

Bob Diamond has teamed up with a major private equity firm as he attempts to develop plans to mount a bid for the African operations of Barclays, the bank he ran until four years ago. In linking with US-based Carlyle, Diamond will be hoping to start to amass the financial fire power needed to bid for the business in Africa that Barclays is selling. – Guardian

For a company calling itself Virgin Media, it has been a long time since Britain’s number two pay-TV operator had much to say about television. In the three years since the company became the £15bn jewel in John Malone’s European cable crown, pipes rather than poetry have been the top priority. Virgin Media’s chief executive, the Kiwi News Corp veteran Tom Mockridge, has slashed operating costs while boosting investment in its broadband service to ensure it maintains a speed lead over BT and Sky as an internet provider. – Telegraph

BT-owned mobile operator EE is seeking to dial up its coverage advantage over rivals with a pledge to expand its 4G network to 95pc of the country by 2020, as it reaps the benefit of a lucrative contract with the Home Office to to connect the emergency services. EE is seeking and capitalise on the deal it made last year with the Government to replace the Airwave radio network by promising to eradicate to eradicate “not-spots” for consumers too. – Telegraph

Company chiefs should be forced to disclose how many times larger their pay packets are than the average of their employees, one of Britain’s biggest investment institutions has argued. Legal & General has called for pay ratios to become mandatory at UK listed companies as investors redouble efforts to curb escalating boardroom pay levels. – The Times

Leading economists have launched a pro-Brexit group, arguing that Britain will be economically better off it votes to leave the European Union. The eight analysts, led by Margaret Thatcher’s adviser Patrick Minford, said that they planned to counter the “hyperbole, misguided speculation and economic illiteracy of the Project Fear campaign”. – The Times