Sunday newspaper round-up: Lloyds, BT, Standard Chartered

BP and BG Group will unveil billions of pounds in spending cuts, job losses and falling profits as the companies try to cope with the falling oil price, according to the Sunday Times. The groups report annual results on February 3rd, a day after the head of trade group Oil & Gas UK will tell an industry summit emergency tax cuts are needed to prevent long-tem damage to the North Sea oil industry. BP’s annual profit is expected to have more than halved to $10.6bn, a fall exacerbated by its stake in Russia’s Rosneft. Neither BP nor BG is expected to cut its dividend.

Retail veteran John Allan is the favourite to be the next chairman of Tesco, the Sunday Times reported. Allan, deputy chairman at Dixons Carphone, is Tesco’s top choice after Ian Cheshire, the former Kingfisher boss, said he would prefer another chief executive job. Some of Tesco’s big shareholders are concerned that Allan lacks recent experience – his most recent involvement in selling groceries was at Fine Fare from 1977 to 1985. Tesco has also considered appointing Archie Norman, the ITV Chairman who revived Asda in the 1990s.

Anglo American, the mining company, risks its bonds being downgraded to junk status as it faces big writedowns and falling profits caused by sliding commodity prices, the Sunday Times reported. The ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, is completing a review of leading mining companies. Anglo American’s rating is now BBB, two notches above sub-investment grade. Analysts expect the rating to be reduced by at least one notch after the price of copper, one of Anglo American’s main products, tumbled.

BT and Sky are expected to submit huge bids for Premier League broadcasting rights with sealed bids required by February 6th, the Sunday Times said. The companies could have to pay £4bn or more, up from more than £3bn the last time they bid, because overseas media companies such as US broadcaster Discovery are considering offers. The Sunday Telegraph said Sky was set to accelerate the launch of its new set-top box. New hardware and services will be offered to lure customers before BT’s monopoly of Champions League coverage takes effect.

Standard Chartered is considering the head of HSBC’s commercial bank as a replacement for chief executive Peter Sands, the Sunday Telegraph said. Simon Cooper joined HSBC in 1989 and joined the management board in October 2013. He has the kind of background Standard Chartered chairman John Peace is after, but he could also be in the running to become HSBC’s boss if he stays. Peace would like to name a successor to Sands by Standard Chartered’s annual results on March 4th, allowing Sands to step down by the end of the year.

BAE Systems could have its hand forced by Airbus’s plan to take control of the European missile company MBDA, the Sunday Times reported. Airbus wants to add the quarter of MBDA owned by Italy’s Finmeccanica to its own 37.5% stake. Such a deal would force BAE, which also owns 37.5%, to decide whether to bolster its position, accept being a minority holder or sell out to Airbus.

Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, said Greece will meet all its loan obligations as he appointed investment bank Lazard as an adviser before crunch talks with the Troika, the Sunday Telegraph said. In a statement aimed at soothing tensions between Greece and its creditors, Tsipras said: "I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole. No side is seeking conflict and it has never been our intention to act unilaterally on Greek debt."

The European Central Bank (ECB) will withdraw support from Greece’s banks if the country’s government reneges on its borrowing terms, the Sunday Times said. The ECB will not “have the possibility to continue extending credit” to Greek banks unless the country sticks to the terms of its €240bn rescue deal, ECB governing council member Erkki Liikanen said. Last week, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he would not seek an extension on the bailout package, which expires on February 28th.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will criticise Ofgem’s attempt to simplify the market for domestic energy bills when it sets out initial findings from its study of the market, the Mail on Sunday said. The CMA will say Ofgem’s decision to limit energy suppliers to four tariffs each may have reduced competition and prevented prices from falling. In statements it will release in February, the CMA is also expected to dole out heavy criticism to the big six suppliers, including Centrica’s British Gas and SSE.

US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman is preparing a takeover bid for Auto Trader, the UK’s biggest marketplace for used cars, according to the Sunday Times. The planned £2bn bid, which is very advanced, could derail one of the biggest planned flotations for 2015. Auto Trader’s owner, buyout firm Apax, had planned a £2bn listing. Apax gained full control of the business in 2014 when it bought out the half share owned by Guardian Media Group in a deal valuing Auto Trader at £1.75bn including debt.

Economic growth in the UK has accelerated since the start of 2015, a Confederation of British Industry survey shows. The Sunday Times said the results would ease fears that the economy is slowing and that if stronger growth persists interest rates could rise earlier than markets expect. A balance of 23% of companies experienced stronger growth in the three months to January, up from 14% a month earlier. Respondents were also optimistic about the next three months.

Ocado is expected to report its first annual profit on February 3rd as it prepared for an expansion drive, the Mail on Sunday said. After 15 years of trading the online grocery delivery group is expected to have made a profit of about £10m on revenue of £1bn. Some investors are concerned about a break clause in Ocado’s contract with Waitrose, which supplies most of its grocery goods, but Ocado has dismissed fears that Waitrose will sever ties.

Aldermore, one of the banks challenging the big four lenders, has revived plans for a flotation, according to the Sunday Times. After shelving a planned listing in October, the bank is sounding out investors and aims to go public in February. Aldermore had sought a valuation of up to £870m but its float was put on hold after share prices plunged. Bankers have said companies hoping to float have until early March because investors would be wary after that with May’s general election looming.

Motif Bio, a producer of new antibiotics, is lining up a stock market listing that could value the company at up to £60m, according to the Sunday Times. Motif Bio is talking to potential investors about a float on AIM to raise between £4m and £16m. Its main drug, Iclaprim, is likely to enter clinical trials in the second half of 2015.