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.
Kingsmill and Twinings owner warns of ‘very severe consequences’ on food supplies from a no-deal Brexit. Associated British Foods (ABF), the conglomerate behind Primark and one of the world’s biggest food producers, has issued a dire warning about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. The FTSE 100 giant believes the failure of Theresa May to strike a deal with Brussels over the UK’s divorce from the EU will lead to food supply chains being “severely disrupted”, its finance chief John Bason told The Telegraph. “People need to understand the disruption that will come from it,” he added. “There could be very severe consequences on the availability of food.” Mr Bason had earlier lambasted the Government for keeping a no-deal Brexit on the table, telling Reuters it was “unbelievable” and “irresponsible”.
Hammerson shakes up board and plans £500m sell-off. Hammerson (HMSO) has announced a boardroom shake-up and accelerated asset disposal programme after coming under pressure from an American activist investor. The owner of Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre said that it would appoint two additional non-executive directors and set up an investment and disposal committee as it seeks to sell at least £500 million of assets this year. In exchange, Elliott Advisors has agreed not to vote against ordinary resolutions at the upcoming general meeting. It also has said that it will not increase its voting interests and economic interests in the company above 10% and 15% respectively.
Provident Financial (PFG) may have to choose between a nil-premium takeover or a panicked breakup of the business after its former boss launched a £1.3bn bid from the company. The troubled doorstep lender is scrambling for a new plan following an unsolicited all-share bid last week from Non-Standard Finance (NSF) . If it succeeds, John van Kuffeler, who was chief executive and then chairman of Provident for more than two decades, would regain control of its larger but struggling competitor. Provident rebuffed the bid on Monday, saying it offered little value to shareholders of the 138-year-old firm
Profits at Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) have surged despite another year of natural disasters and other catastrophes resulting in a high number of claims for the London-listed insurer. After a reasonably smooth start to the year, a number of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires in the US, typhoons in Japan, hailstorms in Australia and large cyber and marine hull claims led to significant market losses in the second half. However, the FTSE 100 company still managed to make a pre-tax profit of $137.4m (£105m) in 2018, compared with just £39.7m a year earlier as the number of premiums it wrote increased across all divisions.
Legal & General Group (LGEN) investment arm poaches funds veteran Michelle Scrimgeour from rival. Legal & General Investment Management, the UK’s largest asset manager, poached a veteran operations executive on Monday to become chief executive of the £980 billion division. Michelle Scrimgeour, who has spent 30 years in the industry, will join from rival funds firm Columbia Threadneedle, where she is chief executive for Europe, the middle east and Africa. She replaces Mark Zinkula, who steps down in August after eight years leading LGIM. Scrimgeour, who was born in London and educated in Sheffield, will also join the L&G board. Chief executive Nigel Wilson said: “Her practical, collegiate and customer-focused approach will further bolster LGIM’s unique culture, leveraging its strong synergies with the broader L&G Group, and building on the outstanding job ‘Zink’ has done since 2011.”