Below are the key headlines from today’s updated papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
No-deal Brexit is nothing to fear, says Lord King of Lothbury. The former governor of the Bank of England Lord King of Lothbury has said that Britain should leave the European Union without a deal. The peer told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “My own personal preference would be to go back to Europe and say we have a clear strategy, which is we want to leave without a deal but we’d like to take six months to complete the preparations to avoid the dislocation.” There would be “short-run dislocation costs” if the UK left without a deal, he said, but added that predictions about the effect of Brexit on the economy had been proved to be wrong. “I don’t believe that with adequate preparation, or in the long term, that the economic cost of leaving would be very different from staying in the European Union,” he said, adding that it was matters of “politics and identity” that motivated people, rather than economics.
Citigroup has issued an explicit recession warning for the United States, advising clients to wind down exposure to risky assets and prepare to ride out the storm. The bank’s global investment team said the US Federal Reserve over-tightened monetary policy last year, waiting too long to stop raising interest rates or to slow the pace of quantitative tightening (reverse QE). The economy is already shot below the waterline and will mostly likely succumb to the textbook pathologies of a fading expansion. “The US economy seems to be transitioning into a stagnation phase after a brief period of goldilocks on a sugar high of fiscal stimulus. We advise investors to prepare for recession,” it said.
Boeing 737 MAX 8 safety crisis could cost Tui profits €300m. Fallout from the Boeing 737 MAX safety crisis caught TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) in its crosshairs today as the FTSE 100 holiday company warned investors that the grounding of the aircraft would hit its profits by up to €300 million. The profit warning, its second in seven weeks after the earlier revelation of damaged margins, sent shares in the First Choice operator tumbling by 64¼p to 705½p, a fall of 8.3% and down more than 50% over the past 12 months. The safety of the Boeing 737 MAX has come under growing scrutiny after two of the aircraft crashed in only five months. A 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa this month, killing all 157 people on board, including nine Britons. The same model operated by Lion Air crashed off the coast of Indonesia in October, killing 189.
AstraZeneca strikes £5.3bn deal for ‘transformative’ cancer drug. AstraZeneca (AZN) has agreed its biggest deal in more than a decade to develop and sell a potentially “transformative” cancer medicine, as the race to find the next blockbuster oncology drug heats up. The FTSE 100 drugmaker will pay Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo up to $6.9bn (£5.3bn), starting with an upfront amount of $1.35bn, to help share the global cost of developing and commercialising the drug, which is known as trastuzumab deruxtecan. It follows a string of blockbuster deals in the pharmaceutical industry, including a similar $4.2bn cancer-focused tie-up between Britain’s biggest drugmaker, Glaxosmithkline, and Germany’s Merck in February.
Travis Perkins names Atkins boss as new chief executive. Travis Perkins (TPK) has picked the boss of structural engineer Atkins to take over when its veteran chief executive John Carter steps down later this year. Mr Carter, who has spent four decades at Travis including five years at the helm, will hand over to Nick Roberts in August and will stay on as an employee of the company until the end of the year, “to ensure a smooth handover”. The announcement comes after Mr Carter set out plans to simplify the builders’ merchant, including selling off its plumbing and heating business and overhauling its management structure, last year.
‘If there were any justice in the world, the majority of the advisers would be put in prison,’ thundered an impassioned Mike Ashley today as the billionaire tycoon appeared to concede defeat in his battle for Debenhams (DEB) . The long-running saga between the struggling department store chain and Ashley’s Sports Direct International (SPD) – its biggest shareholder – came to a head this week after Debenhams snubbed Ashley’s previous takeover advances in favour of a £200million refinancing. On Thursday, the retailer said it had received approval from the majority of its bondholders to press ahead with the restructuring plan, and later on Friday it said the process was completed. Debenhams hopes the plan will secure the future of the chain, which employs 25,000 people. However, it could result in a pre-pack administration, which will wipe out existing shareholders including Ashley who holds a near-30% stake. Chairman Terry Duddy said: ‘We are pleased to have agreed this comprehensive funding package which secures the future of the Debenhams business and provides reassurance for Debenhams’ employees, pension holders, suppliers, lenders and other stakeholders.’