Monday newspaper round-up: Sainsbury, Housing market, North Sea oil...

14th Jul 2014 07:23

The pension liabilities facing J Sainsbury could prevent the supermarket group from competing with rivals in the grocery price war, according to new research. The retailer is one of six FTSE 100 companies whose disclosed pension liabilities are now larger than its equity market value, the pension consultants JLT Employee Benefits has warned. Sainsbury's pension liabilities have outgrown its equity market value by 13pc so far in this financial year and its pension scheme represents a "material risk" to the business, JLT warned. The TelegraphHouse prices are rocketing and everyone from builders to estate agents are reporting surging profits - but one thing isn't shifting in the UK housing market: the houses themselves. The number of properties for sale in Britain remains in a slump, at half the number on sale in 2008. What is more the number of properties for sale has been declining for months. The National Association of Estate Agents will this week report data for June. The figures are expected to show a slight rise, but not enough to reverse months of decline. - The Daily MailSome of the biggest names in private equity are set to boost the flagging North Sea industry with a $1 billion swoop on undervalued oil and gas fields. Blackstone, Blue Water and KKR are planning to invest in two new shell companies that will snap up mature fields in Britain and Norway that oil majors and smaller explorers do not want. - The TimesForeign firms may face multimillion-pound fines if they break commitments on protecting jobs and investment once they have taken over British companies, Vince Cable has said. The business secretary said the coalition was prepared to introduce legislation to ensure there could be no "wriggle room" for companies to abandon commitments such as those given by US drugs company Pfizer in its failed bid for British rival AstraZeneca. - The GuardianOvo Energy, one of the fastest-growing independent energy suppliers and a poster child of the industry, has been accused of potentially putting customers' money at risk by demanding that they pay upfront. Ecotricity, a rival independent supplier, has complained to Ofgem and says that it is considering referring the company to the Financial Conduct Authority, the City watchdog. Ovo, which denies the allegation, has also been accused of breaching a licence condition that Ecotricity claims gives it an unfair advantage and discriminates against lower-income households. - The TimesThe number of customers complaining to the independent ombudsman about their energy bills has soared with more people making official complaints in the first six months of this year than the whole of last year put together. Official complaints more than doubled to 22,671 in the first six months of 2014 from 10,598 in the previous six months. The 2013 total was 17,960. Complaints to the ombudsman - who deals with disputes unresolved after at least eight weeks - also reached a record for one month at 4,124 in June, an increase of 216% on a year ago. - The GuardianBC