Below are the key morning headlines from today’s papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
We come in peace: Comcast chief Brian Roberts launches charm offensive after £30bn takeover of Sky. Brian Roberts is far from the typical buccaneering media tycoon. Softly-spoken and engaging, the Comcast proprietor cuts a less intimidating figure than some of the industry’s more aggressive players. The 59-year-old is on a whistle-stop tour of Sky (SKY) operations in Europe having bought the TV giant from under the nose of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox for £30billion. On Monday it was Sky’s offices in Munich and Milan. Yesterday it was the broadcaster’s vast shiny campus at Isleworth, west London.
The star fund manager Neil Woodford faces a grilling at the High Court over his role in the failed boardroom coup attempt at Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) earlier this year. Mr Woodford, 58, has been named as a witness for Andrew Tinkler, the former Stobart chief executive who was sacked as an executive director and then tried to unseat the company’s chairman Iain Ferguson. Mr Tinkler, a major shareholder, drew support from Mr Woodford in an unsuccessful campaign to vote Mr Ferguson off the board at in the Southend Airport owner’s annual general meeting in July.
One of the world’s biggest tobacco companies is stockpiling £30m of cigarettes amid concerns Brexit may lead to the UK running out of smokes. Imperial Brands (IMB) , whose brands include Lambert & Butler and Golden Virginia, said it was building up UK reserves to mitigate possible supply disruptions caused by Britain’s exit from the European Union. The comments, made by chief financial officer Oliver Tant, came as Imperial Brands posted a 1% increase in full-year revenue to £30.5bn while profit before tax fell 2% to £1.8bn.
Sky (SKY) deal ‘allows Comcast to take on Silicon Valley’. The boss of Comcast has said that the American cable and broadcasting group is big enough to fight back against Silicon Valley after its £30 billion takeover of Sky. Brian Roberts said that the enlarged company had the muscle to see off the threats posed by Netflix and Amazon, both of which are pouring billions of dollars into their film and television offerings. “Neither company had enough scale in this new world. Together we have much better scale,” the media magnate said. He was speaking after addressing staff at Sky’s headquarters in west London for the first time since he seized control of the pay-TV group. In September, Comcast emerged as the victor from a sealed-bid auction for Sky, topping an offer from 21st Century Fox, which had the backing of Disney
Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand is to step down next year after 14 years at the helm. The pub and brewing company has doubled in size during Mr Anand’s tenure – staff numbers have grown from 16,000 to 39,000 currently. Greene King’s current £1.5bn market valuation is twice that of when he started. Mr Anand will formally leave his role on April 30, 2019 and Greene King (GNK) said the process to find his successor “is well advanced”. Both internal and external candidates are being considered, it is understood.
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) has finalised an £850m sale of engines to power China Eastern Airlines’ fleet of Airbus A350 jets at an inaugural import conference in Shanghai. Under the terms of the deal, Rolls will supply and maintain Trent XWB engines for the 20 airliners the carrier ordered from the pan-European plane-maker two years ago. China is forecast to be the fastest-growing region for aviation over the coming decades and agreement is seen as an important step with such a major airline. The deal was revealed at the China International Import Expo which was opened by President Xi Jinping on Monda
Sugar trade turns sour but Primark sweetens pill. The cost of ending a European Union quota regime was laid bare yesterday when Associated British Foods (ABF) revealed that profits in its sugar division had halved and could fall further. The conglomerate, which owns Twinings Tea and Primark, said that operating profits in AB Sugar had fallen by 51% from £249 million to £123 million in the year to September 15. It expects profits at the division to be “significantly lower” this year, “reflecting the full-year effect of the current level of EU sugar prices, which will represent a further reduction on the average prices achieved this year”. The overall company’s adjusted operating profit rose by 3% to just over £1.4 billion, a touch ahead of expectations, after strong performances from Primark and its grocery, ingredients and agriculture divisions.
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) has suffered a data breach at its US business that has exposed sensitive financial information including customers’ bank statements and account details. The bank said hackers had gained access to online accounts last month, and said it had suspended access for some customers to prevent fraud. The breaches gave access to customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, account numbers and balances, and their transaction history, as well as account information of payees. It said less than 1% of customers in the US had been affected, and that it would offer them credit monitoring services. The bank is also improving online security to make it more difficult for hackers to access accounts even with a password
IWG (IWG) has confirmed reports that it has looked at spinning off its property portfolio to focus on franchising its flexible office space business as it revealed a double-digit hike in revenues despite a “disappointing” performance in the UK. Mark Dixon, who launched the company formerly known as Regus back in 1989, said while it was too early to say exactly what direction it would go in the future, a split was one option on the table. He said: “We’re looking at a whole range of strategic possibilities, one of them is splitting off the property side, what are the possibilities for [flexible office brand] Spaces and so on.”
Britain’s largest motor insurer Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) has unveiled a 6% dip in gross insurance premiums amid a competitive market and year of extreme weather. The FTSE 100 insurer has been hit this year by a combination of pricing pressure and unpredictable weather: the so-called Beast from the East ate up almost all of its yearly budget for weather claims, and then the cold snap was followed by the hottest ever UK summer. Although Direct Line’s gross written premiums fell to £854.5m for the three months to September 30, City analysts said the business has so far weathered the headwinds well.
Purplebricks Group (PURP) has reasserted its dominant grip on the UK online estate agency market, reporting a 20% surge in half-year revenues despite a slowdown in the wider sector. The Aim-listed company said it had maintained its 74% share of the online market in an investor update that came after rival Emoov put itself up for sale after running into financial problems last week. Michael Bruce, chief executive, said the sluggish market had led to a “shakeout” in the industry, “highlighting weaknesses in both some traditional and online agents business models
The boss of Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) has blamed listing rules in the UK for forcing the gold miner to abandon the London Stock Exchange after its £18bn merger with Barrick of Canada. Mark Bristow said restrictive rules meant the new company would have to do a “full IPO [initial public offering]” in order to retain a foothold on the LSE, threatening the viability of the deal. “It was a requirement of listing rules in London that even though we are listed as a premium stock in London and Barrick is listed in Toronto and New York, we had to do a full IPO,” said Mr Bristow.
Power Clean fuel company ITM Power (ITM) will take part in a project to blend hydrogen into normal gas supplies. Hydeploy, funded by watchdog Ofgem and led by the Cadent and Northern Gas Networks, aims to use hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It was announced in 2016, but is now going ahead with a year-long trial at the University of Keele. ITM will supply the electrolyser, which creates hydrogen from water.
