Wednesday newspaper round-up: Dyson, rents, Brexit
The scale of no-deal panic gripping major companies has been thrown into sharp focus by a series of damage-limitation announcements, as corporate Britain signalled it is running out of patience with Westminster gridlock. Sir James Dyson, the Brexit-backing billionaire, dealt a further blow to the government by revealing he is shifting his company headquarters to Singapore in a move that drew sharp criticism. – Guardian
Rents across Britain fell in 2018 for the first time in a decade, offering relief for tenants after years of inflation-busting rises. Figures from the Deposit Protection Scheme – a government-backed group that supervises tenancy deposits – showed the average rent fell by £9 (1.17%) from £774 in 2017 to £765. The typical UK tenant spent 31% of their income on rent in 2018, a fall of 0.5% from the year before, the DPS said. – Guardian
Arow has erupted at one of Britain’s biggest pub companies after its third-largest shareholder called for the chairman to step down amid allegations of a boardroom gender bias. Fund management titan Aberdeen Standard has attacked Mitchells & Butlers, the owner of chains including Harvester, All Bar One and Toby Carvery, for failing to put more women on its board and questioning the independence of its non-executive directors. – Telegraph
Scandal-hit bakery chain Patisserie Valerie has collapsed into administration and put thousands of jobs at risk, just months after it revealed a devastating accounting fraud. KPMG has been appointed as administrators and has already shut 70 of Patisserie Valerie’s 191 stores and concessions with immediate effect. – Telegraph
A disorderly Brexit would “set Europe back for years to come”, the former boss of Germany’s central bank warned as he called on both sides to make compromises to deliver a deal that is acceptable to everyone. Axel Weber, the former Bundesbank president who is chairman of UBS, the global Swiss bank, said that it was in the interests of Britain and the European Union to strike a deal and remove the risk of no deal. If time was running out, Article 50 should be extended to continue negotiations, he said. – The Times
The Taiwanese company that owns Chinese factories assembling most of Apple’s iPhones had responded to the trade war between Washington and Beijing by considering a switch to manufacturing in India. Senior executives from Hon Hai Precision Industries, better known as Foxconn, plan to visit India next month to decide whether to include an Indian assembly operation in their budget plans, according to The Wall Street Journal. – The Times