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.
Michael O’Leary out of the cockpit in revamp of troubled Ryanair. Ryanair Holdings (RYA) chief executive Michael O’Leary unveiled plans to step back from the controls of the budget airline on Monday, 25 years after slipping into the cockpit. The major overhaul sees the motor-mouthed multi-millionaire step upstairs to become chief executive of a group holding company and the creation of four subsidiaries, including Ryanair UK, each with its own CEO and management team. Ryanair said the decision would “deliver cost and operating efficiencies” as well as allowing the airline to look at small-scale M&A. Although O’Leary is still committed to the group until 2024, the restructuring will also help form a breeding ground for an eventual successor to the 57-year-old Irishman
Flybe’s struggling shares soared today after the company confirmed it held ‘initial discussions’ with former Stobart boss Andrew Tinkler. Until now, the regional airline had only received an offer by a consortium of buyers comprising Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) and investment firm Cyrus Capital Partners. But today it confirmed it received interest from Tinkler, who was not looking to make an offer for the whole of Flybe. Flybe Group (FLYB) said Tinker’s offer was a ‘very preliminary, short and highly conditional’ alternative financing proposal, comprising a ‘capital injection and replacement of the funding’ provided by Connect.
MC Mining’s turnaround story looks to be justified. Investors should be sceptical of chief executives selling a company turnaround story — more often than not they are a lame excuse for sustained underperformance. But in Mc Mining Limited (MCM) case the T-word might be justified. The miner was going through a torrid time just a few years ago, short on cash and owing money to the banks and Rio Tinto. The company now has breathing space to focus on its major project, a large coking and thermal coal development called Makhado Lite in Soutpansberg in northern South Africa, which has secured all necessary permits to begin digging. If financing discussions are completed, then it is expected the company could break ground in the final quarter this year, with full capacity being hit by the end of next year. It has a coal purchase agreement with China’s Huadong Coal Trading Center for the hard coking coal it plans to produce at Makhado. Under the deal Huadong Coal Trading Center will buy 400,000 tonnes of coking coal per year. It still needs to find a buyer for the other 400,000 tonnes as the project is expected to produce 800,000 tonnes in total. Chief executive David Brown believes he can sell the rest domestically. “South Africa currently has no significant hard coking coal which results in producers having to import the commodity. Makhado’s coking coal can replace some of these imports,” he said. Peel Hunt has a Buy rating and a target price of 75p on the stock.
Private bank Julius Baer to cut jobs to save £80m amid UK expansion. Wealthy private bank Julius Baer said UK expansion was going well despite having to cut jobs globally as part of a Swfr100 million (£77 million) cost-saving drive. The firm, which opened new offices in Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh last year, pointed to “very solid” flows of cash from customers in the UK and said that revenues had grown after hiring more relationship managers. However, performance was disappointing and group profits fell 1% to Swfr 977 million because of rising costs. The company will shave off 2%, or 134 staff, of its 6693-strong workforce by the end of this year. Chief executive Bernard Hodler said the firm would “slow down the pace with regard to hiring” and confirmed there would be redundancies. “I cannot give you the exact number because we also want to grow in certain areas,” he added.
Opioid treatment firm Indivior sells rights to China drug for $123m. Indivior (INDV) on Monday sold off the rights to an opioid withdrawal drug in China for up to $122.5 million (£93.6 million). The group will sell the Sai Bo Song tablets to Hangzhou-based vaccine maker Pukang Biotechnology. China has an estimated 7.3 million people dependent on opioids, according to the latest figures. Indivior will get $17.5 million up front and up to $105 million more depending on certain sales targets being met over the next decade. Indivior chief executive Shaun Thaxter said offloading the tablets was “consistent with Indivior’s efforts” to focus on its other well-known drugs, Sublocade and Perseris. “With its knowledge of the local environment and scientific heritage, we believe Pukang is well suited to advance the science of addiction treatment in China,” he added.
Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) has attracted interest from numerous bidders, including offers for the entire 206-store chain and ones for parts of it, administrators said today. With the deadline for bids now elapsed, David Costley-Wood, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: ‘We are encouraged by the scope of offers received from trade and finance buyers for all and for parts of the business. ‘We will now be taking a number of these offers forward, and hope to be able to make progress in short order.’ The update from KPMG follows reports that around 100 parties were in the running for the collapsed cake chain, with a piecemeal sale looking like the most likely outcome. The cake firm’s parent company Patisserie Holdings is on the market after it folded last month, following the discovery of a £42million black hole in its accounts which left it unable to keep up with payments
City warns of worse to come as EU rules squeeze UK brokers. Tough new rules imposed on the City by the EU are making it harder for small and medium-sized companies to raise funds, hitting a key area of growth for the economy, says a new study of fund managers. The survey of investors by Peel Hunt and the Quoted Companies Alliance warns the quality of the research by brokers is getting worse, making it harder for fund managers to justify buying into potential growth stocks. The study comes after the Standard revealed that broker Daniel Stewart is on the brink of going out of business. Other similar firms are expected to merge or seek a bigger parent as they struggle for fees. MiFID II, European rules that force brokers to charge for research rather than wrap it up in banking fees, have been devastating for much of the old-style City. Today’s survey says two thirds of investors (62%) report since MiFID II was introduced, less research is being produced on mid and small-cap companies, with a third expecting further reductions in the volume and quality of research. Meanwhile 70% of fund managers said their access to research has decreased as a direct result of MiFID II. Of the UK quoted companies surveyed in the report, 25% said that MiFID II has had a negative impact on their business.
A British start-up could be about to make it easier to get a credit score thanks to millions of pounds in new funding. Aire Labs, a start-up that is using artificial intelligence to help people with credit checks, is raising $11m (£8.4m) from backers including French telecoms firm Orange and credit giant Experian (EXPN). Founded in 2014, Aire develops artificial intelligence-powered chatbots to take virtual interviews to provide people with credit scores. The AI steps in when companies cannot find enough information from credit providers or want to ensure additional checks.
Ferrexpo (FXPO) warned its full-year accounts may come with a health warning after its auditors opened an investigation into its payments to a charity. The FTSE 250 iron ore miner revealed Deloitte was scrutinising “unexplained discrepancies” in bank statements at Blooming Land, a Ukrainian charity set up by Ferrexpo in 2013 to further its corporate social responsibility goals. Ferrexpo’s most recent payment to Blooming Land was a donation of $9.5m (£7.3m) in the first half of last year. The miner said it still intended to announce its full-year results on March 20, but warned it “cannot guarantee that the review will be complete by then, or complete favourably”