Thursday newspaper round-up: Centrica, Pensions, Mitchells & Butlers

29th May 2014 07:05

British Gas is set to lose its second boss in quick succession with the imminent departure of Chris Weston, who has been poached by Aggreko, the FTSE 100 temporary power provider. Centrica, the owner of Britain's largest energy supplier, is expected to confirm the move in an announcement to the stock market this morning. The British Gas Managing Director has been the subject of tabloid newspaper revelations about his alleged domestic energy consumption, and the recent furore over energy prices was believed to have played a part in his decision, Sky News reported. - The TimesGeorge Osborne may have to water down his flagship pension reforms as experts warn of a multi-billion pound black hole in the public finances caused by the changes. Treasury officials have been warned that the Government could miss out on as much as £24bn because of the pensions freedoms announced by the Chancellor in his Budget, sources have said. - The Daily TelegraphMitchells & Butlers is close to buying the Orchid pub company for more than £250m, according to reports. The owner of Harvester and All Bar One is in talks to take over up to 180 of Orchid's food-led venues, with a further 40 traditional pubs expected to enter administration, The Times claimed. M&B is believed to have offered £266m for Orchid, which runs Pizza Kitchen & Bar and The Great British Carvery. This is £10m to £15m more than private equity firms Colony Capital and Starwood. - The Daily TelegraphThe boss of Nationwide has called for the Bank of England to delay any action to cool the booming housing market even as Britain's biggest customer-owned lender unveiled a tripling in annual profits driven by a jump of nearly a third in mortgage lending. Nationwide Chief Executive Graham Beale said 'frenetic' housing market activity in London was starting to ease off while elsewhere in the country prices remained 2% below 2007 levels - or 21% when adjusted for inflation. - The Daily MailOnly a third of Britain's small businesses have turned to their banks for financing in the past quarter, the lowest level on record, according to the latest data. Despite the Government's repeated efforts to boost bank lending for firms, the latest SME Finance Monitor found that 33% of small firms reported using external finance, which includes bank loans, overdrafts and credit cards in the first quarter. Instead 27% said they regularly use trade credit while 30% said they had used personal funds. BDRC, the consultants that have run the survey since 2010, said it was the lowest level for 12 quarters. - The Daily TelegraphApple wants to regain the beat in its music business, which is under assault from a stream of upstarts. The tech giant said on Wednesday it is buying Beats Electronics LLC for $3bn to bolster a music business that has lost some of its mojo, as streaming-music services encroached on the downloads dominated by Apple's iTunes service. - The Wall Street Journal EuropeAB