Sunday newspaper round-up: Centrica, RBS, H&T

8th Dec 2013 19:07

The Chairman of Centrica has called for an end to "Punch and Judy" arguments about energy prices as analysts calculated that up to £11bn has been wiped off the value of energy companies in two months, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Sir Roger Carr said any attempt at capping prices would lack logic and threaten the "financial fabric" of energy companies. The Labour opposition's threat to freeze prices after the next election has destroyed between £7bn and £11bn of shareholder value since party leader Ed Miliband made the pledge in September, Liberum Capital analysts said.Former directors and shareholders of Peacocks, the fashion chain, are considering refering Royal Bank of Scotland to the Serious Fraud Office over the bank's treatment of the company, the Mail on Sunday reported. RBS was one of the banks that called in administrators at the same time as it was being paid to try to raise fresh finance. The news comes after RBS was attacked for its treatment of companies in a report written by businessman Lawrence Tomlinson.Britain's biggest pawnbroker H&T is considering a bid for its stricken rival Albemarle & Bond (A&B), the Sunday Times reported. H&T is one of a number of potential buyers that has expressed an interest in A&B. They also include US vulture fund Apollo Capital, US pawnbroker EZ Corp and Jon Moulton's Better Capital.Ex-Barclays boss Bob Diamond is preparing a return to the City to buy an African bank, the Sunday Times said. He plans to list a cash shell called Atlas Mara in London in the next two weeks. Diamond has set up the operation with the billionaire Ashish Thakkar. He has not yet decided on a target but has lined up £150m in backing. Atlas Mara will be run by Diamond's merchant bank Atlas Merchant Capital, which he set up after being driven out of Barclays last year.Brtain's top banks could be bit by big fines and customer departures over crashing computer systems, the Mail on Sunday reported. Regulators are watching banks' computer problems closely after two failures at Royal Bank of Scotland in a week. A survey by the consultant Fujitsu found that 26% of bank customers would switch lender if an IT problem made services unusable while 70% would leave if their information security was threatened.Richard Buxton, the star fund manager, has pulled in almost £1bn of investors' money at Old Mutual since he was hired in June, the Sunday Times said. Investors put £250m into Buxton's fund in October alone and his old fund at Schroders was hit by big outflows.British Airways has embarked on court action to try to block the trustees of its employee pension increasing the amount the airline has to pay into the scheme, the Sunday Telegraph said. BA's scheme had its inflation-linked annual increase to payments changed in 2011. Instead of using the retail price index measure, the scheme is now linked to the consumer price index which usually rises more slowly. The scheme's trustees added 0.2% to the annual rise but BA claims they lack authority to impose the increase.The new Chief Executive of Anglo American will say on December 12th that he has cut 7,500 jobs at its troubled platinum mining operation in South Africa, the Sunday Times said. Mark Cutifani expects to cut another 6,500 jobs by 2016 at the business, which suffers from high costs, labour unrest and weak commodity prices. He will announce the cuts at an investor day.Sales at department stores rose last month for the first time in more than a year, the Mail on Sunday reported. Figures from Barclaycard showed spending at the stores jumped 2.8% from a year earlier. Overall spending rose 3% in November with spending on clothes up 8.8%. The numbers show that shoppers are leading the UK's return to economic growth but they may also raise concerns that the recovery is too dependent on consumers.British living standards will start rising before the next general election, the Sunday Times reported. Citing figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the paper said earnings will rise ahead of inflation for 15 months before the election, due in May 2015. But real household incomes will still be lower than they were in 2009-2010.Lance Batchelor, who resigned as the boss of Domino's Pizza on December 6th, will become Chief Executive of Saga, the Sunday Times reported. He will leave Domino's in April and take over at Saga the following month to steer the insurer and holiday company for the over-50s to a stock market flotation. Domino's shares fell 9% on the day his resignation was announced.SF