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The Times
MONDAY FEBRUARY 10 2020
Business – Need to know – Morning Edition
Richard Fletcher
BY RICHARD FLETCHER
Good morning: In advance of next month’s Budget, business lobby groups have called for an overhaul of business rates. In separate submissions, released overnight, the CBI has argued that a government review of the tax “must be completed this year” and the Institute of Directors has called for business rates relief provided to small businesses to be extended. We have a full report here.
The lobbying follows a weekend of speculation about what may be in the chancellor’s Budget. The Financial Times reported on Saturday that the chancellor was mulling plans to restrict the tax relief on pension contributions while The Sunday Telegraph reported that the government was weighing up plans to impose a “mansion tax” on owners of expensive homes.
There is more this morning. Oliver Wright, policy editor for The Times, reveals that green proposals under consideration in the Budget include extending and possibly increasing subsidies of ￡3,500 on new electric vehicles.
NMC Health, the troubled FTSE 100 healthcare company, has said that it has been informed that the holdings and interests of Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, the largest shareholder and co-chairman, may have been “incorrectly reported historically to the company and the market”.
The company, which has come under attack from short sellers, said that it had asked Mr Shetty and another non-executive director to “absent themselves from further board discussions until clarification of these matters and pending a board decision about their ongoing roles as directors of the company”.
Alongside the announcement NMC confirmed a report in The Mail on Sunday that it had received “highly preliminary approaches” from the private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and GK Investment. Shares in NMC have fallen more than 60 per cent since the start of the year.
The foreign exchange group Finablr, which also counts Mr Shetty as its largest shareholder and co-chairman, said this morning that a committee of independent directors were examining arrangements between Mr Shetty and other shareholders which “may be relevant to their respective interests in the Company’s shares”.
Intu Properties, the shopping centre owner, has confirmed that it is in talks with new and existing shareholders about a fundraising alongside its annual results later this month. As reported in The Sunday Times at the weekend, the Hong Kong property group Link Real Estate Investment Trust is among the prospective new investors.
Please do keep sending your thoughts and observations about business coverage in The Times to me at richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @fletcherr for the odd link (and rant).
Have a great day,
Richard
Richard Fletcher
Business Editor
Email icon richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk Twitter icon @fletcherr
Ten things you need to know
1 Boris Johnson will call this week for work on the northern phase of HS2 to be speeded up as he gives the project the green light. The prime minister is expected personally to announce as early as tomorrow that the north-south line is getting the go-ahead.
2 A full ban on Huawei supplying the 5G network in Britain could cost the country’s leading mobile phone operators an estimated ￡1.5 billion and delay the expansion of the faster and more versatile network by up to two years. BT, Vodafone and Three would face substantial “tear-out” costs of removing Huawei’s equipment from its networks, according to Enders Analysis, the research company.
3 Britain’s biggest institutional investors are warming to the idea that companies should be set targets to increase employee share ownership, financing a study arguing the case for quotas and “name and shame” style league tables. The Social Market Foundation think tank urged the government to set a target for large listed companies.
4 Sajid Javid is facing calls to “clear the path” for companies at the budget next month by docking business rates bills when they refurbish, expand or relocate premises. The Institute of Directors, a leading corporate lobby group, said moves including a rates “holiday” for expanding firms would “provide a vital uplift” to the economy as Britain leaves the EU.
5 Shareholders in Consort Medical are angry that bosses received ￡3.5 million in share bonuses after a “low-ball” ￡505 million takeover by Repicharm, a Swedish rival.
6 Leading bankers risk being challenged by shareholders this spring as they are forced to spell out how their pay could hypothetically break the ￡10 million level.
7 Meininger Hotels, a German low-cost hotel operator, is planning a ￡300 million-plus London flotation to provide a platform for ambitious international expansion plans.
8 Consumption of gin is predicted to rise by more than 50 per cent over the next four years, cooling speculation that the “ginaissance” has already reached its peak, according to data compiled by IWSR, which tracks trends in alcoholic drinks.
9 The EU remains Britain’s single largest trading partner, but the value of goods exported to the continent fell from ￡173.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019 to ￡168.5 billion in the third quarter. Goods sold elsewhere rose from ￡170.9 billion to ￡177.1 billion, research by Lloyds Bank and IHS Markit found.
10 Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is expected to report a drop in profits after being hit by the government’s price cap on energy bills and lower wholesale gas prices.
Market snap
The Nikkei closed down 0.6 per cent this morning at 23,685.98. The FTSE 100, which closed down 38.09 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 7,466.70 on Friday, is forecast to open nine points lower when trading begins shortly. At 6.41am Brent crude was trading at $54.53 a barrel and the pound was trading at $1.290 against the dollar and at €1.176 against the euro.
On Wall Street Indices retreated from a four-day rally and Thursday’s record highs on Friday as traders sat on the sidelines watching coronavirus developments. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 277.26 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 29,102.51, still a weekly rise of 3 per cent, and the S&P 500 shed 18.07 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 3,327.71, for a 3.2 per cent gain over the week. The Nasdaq was down 51.64 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 9,520.51, a rise of 4 per cent over the five days.
The week ahead
After its big listed rival Glaxosmithkline disappointed investors last week, it’s Astrazeneca’s turn to prescribe its annual financial results amid pressure to shoot out the lights with its next round of blockbuster drugs. Analysts reckon that Pascal Soriot, who’s been working hard to develop and launch products from the blue-chip pharmaceutical group’s pipeline, has been taking all the right medicines. If their guesstimates are on the money, Astrazeneca will increase full-year operating profits by 16.8 per cent to more than $6.6 billion on a 12.2 per cent rise in product sales.
Others updating this week include Centrica, Ocado and Dunelm. Read Miles Costello’s comprehensive guide to the week ahead here.
Editor’s picks
Graham Ruddick
Failure to push ahead with employee share ownership is a missed opportunity
GRAHAM RUDDICK – DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR
Mark Littlewood
Moral outrage about new technology risks making us a prisoner of the past
MARK LITTLEWOOD – DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
The big read
“As we round a bend passing St Mary’s Church, a Land Rover is looking like it is about to pull out. Human reaction at this point might have varied: slowing down to let it come out; an exasperated blast of the horn; or just swerving past at speed. The autonomous Leaf appears to drive on unnoticing, prompting the safety driver to grip the wheel and gently pull out and away.”
Robert Lea takes a ride in Nissan’s autonomous electric Leaf - along with seven cameras, eight lidar–radar sensors which build up a 360 degrees picture of the surroundings, two GPS satellite receivers and a boot full of computers.
Read the full story >
Elsewhere in The Times
“Ellis Genge makes no apology for who he is and what he stands for. Nor should he. The 24-year-old was brought up on an estate in Bristol and he has had his troubles, none of which is a secret. He is now carving out a successful international rugby career and doing his bit to make a difference, from raising awareness of dyspraxia to the rugby courses he runs for inner-city kids.”
Genge is a force for good in rugby, argues Alex Lowe.
Read the full story >
The day’s front pages
The Times
The Times
A full ban on Huawei supplying the 5G network in Britain could cost the country’s leading mobile phone operators an estimated ￡1.5 billion and delay the expansion of the faster and more versatile network by up to two years.
Britain’s biggest institutional investors are warming to the idea that companies should be set targets to increase employee share ownership, financing a study arguing the case for quotas and “name and shame” style league tables.
Read the full update >
Financial Times
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