Tuesday newspaper round-up: Sports Direct, Brexit, gender pay gap

22nd Mar 2016 07:23

(ShareCast News) - Investors have suffered losses of at least $150bn in the value of oil and gas company bonds, as the slump in crude prices since the summer of 2014 has fuelled fears of a wave of defaults in the US and emerging markets. The 300 largest global oil and gas companies have also seen $2.3tn sliced from their stock market value over the same period, a 39 per cent slide since oil began its decline, an analysis by the Financial Times has found. - Financial TimesIt is bizarre that anyone still bothers to claim to have agreed a "merger of equals" when the concept has been shown time and again to be either a public-relations-driven fantasy or an all-too-real disaster. Yet here comes another one, hot on the heels of the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse. The latest to adopt the pose, the business information providers Markit and IHS, are less equal than most. Following the $13bn (£9bn) combination, shareholders in Nasdaq-listed, London-based Markit will hold only 43pc of equity. Conveniently enough, IHS shareholders' 57pc falls just short of the 60pc threshold that would trigger the US Treasury's clampdown on tax inversion deals. - TelegraphSports Direct boss Mike Ashley has lambasted politicians after snubbing a formal summons to attend a grilling by MPs in Parliament over working conditions at the retailer. The Business, Innovation and Skills committee last week ordered the sportswear tycoon to appear at cross-party hearing on June 7 afterMr Ashley declined repeated invitations to respond to questions about zero-hours contracts. - TelegraphBritain's biggest companies could face a credit downgrade - potentially forcing up their borrowing costs - should the UK vote to leave the EU in June, according to a report by a leading ratings agency. Moody's said the prospect of lengthy and uncertain negotiations would deter foreign investors and limit the profits of mainstream corporations that trade with the rest of the EU. But banking and insurance would be less affected than non-financial companies. - GuardianThe government should make all jobs flexible and introduce an industrial strategy for low-paid women's jobs to act on its pledge to close the gender pay gap, MPs will say. The 19.2% gap between men's and women's pay has barely improved in the past four years despite the government's pledge to eradicate it within a generation, the women and equalities select committee will say in a report published on Tuesday. The gap for full- and part-time workers means on average a woman earns about 80p for every £1 earned by a man. - GuardianMike Ashley admitted yesterday that Sports Direct was in trouble, blaming MPs for creating a spiral of negative publicity surrounding the company. Mr Ashley told The Times he had concerns that the sportswear retailer, which employs about 18,000 people in Britain, was losing momentum and said that he would refuse to appear before a Commons select committee in June. - The TimesIt was the crisis that dealt a "final blow to Britain's self-image as a world power to be reckoned with". Now a Bank of England policymaker has warned that Britain could face another Suez-style crisis in the run-up to the European Union referendum. Kristin Forbes, an external member of the Bank's monetary policy committee, made the comparison in a speech in London yesterday, in which she said that the UK's heavy dependence on foreign financing c0uld make it vulnerable in the face of a possible Brexit. - The Times