Wednesday newspaper round-up: Fund outflows, North Sea Union, Berkeley Group

24th Aug 2016 07:56

(ShareCast News) - The immediate fallout from Brexit yielded the biggest outflow of funds from investment managers for at least three years in July as UK investors preferred to put their cash into safe havens. Figures from Morningstar, the financial data specialist, showed that investors pulled nearly £5 billion out of UK investment funds that month because of fears about the vote to quit the EU. However, there have been signs more recently that the market has returned to a degree of equilibrium, helped by the general recovery on the stock market, where the FTSE 100 index has been testing the 7,000 level again. - The TimesThe prime minister of Flanders has proposed a radical North Sea Union linking Britain to a cluster of regional states to cushion the Brexit shock, a sign that European leaders are starting to look for creative ways to heal the referendum rift. Geert Bourgeois, leader of Belgium's dominant region, said there is a growing consensus in EU capitals that it would be fatal mistake to try to "punish" Britain. - The Daily TelegraphShareSoc, the UK Individual Shareholders Society, has advised its members to vote against house builder Berkeley's remuneration package at the company's forthcoming AGM. It argued that total payouts from a long term incentive plan from 2011 are likely to come to £400m, which ShareSoc described as "excessive". - The Daily TelegraphIreland has registered its first year of net immigration since 2009, statistics showed on Tuesday, as the rate of Irish nationals leaving Europe's fastest growing economy fell sharply. Net immigration to Ireland peaked at over 100,000 at the height of its housing boom in 2008, but the country lost around 30,000 people a year during its 2010-2013 EU-IMF bailout. Migration added 3,000 people to Ireland's population in the year to April 2016, the first increase in seven years. - The GuardianLocal authority pension funds are planning to back a shareholder resolution calling for an independent review of Sports Direct's treatment of employees. The retail group will hold its annual general meeting on 7 September in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, where shareholders will vote on a trade union-backed plan to commission an investigation into working practices that will report back within six months. - The GuardianOver half of households across the UK are concerned about the potential impact of Britain's vote to leave the European Union on their personal finances and jobs. Nearly 27 per cent of Briton's are worried that June's Brexit vote could put their job at risk, according to a report from the Scottish Friendly and the Social Market Foundation. - The Daily Mail