WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
SPOTIFY SIGNS DEAL WITH VIRGIN
Spotify and Virgin Media on Wednesday announced a deal that could help the music streaming service boost numbers of paying customers and reach a wider audience. By the end of the year, Virgin Media’s 4m UK customers will be able to access Spotify’s catalogue of 13m songs through their TV set-top box, laptop or mobile phone.
IRON ORE TO STAY ABOVE $150, SAYS VALE
The price of iron ore will remain above $150 a tonne for at least the next five years, according to Vale, the top miner of the commodity. The bullish prediction by Guilherme Cavalcanti, finance director of the mining group, is the latest contribution to a debate on the outlook for the iron ore market that has polarised analysts and investors.
BIDVEST CONSIDERS SALE OF FOOD SERVICE UNIT
Bidvest, the South African industrial conglomerate that owns UK food service group 3663, is considering selling its Foodservice group, after receiving several approaches for the unit that could be worth about $4bn. The Johannesburg-based company, the world’s largest food distribution group outside the US, told shareholders on Wednesday that it had received various unsolicited proposals for its Foodservice business.
LANDMARK YEAR FOR CROWN ESTATE
The Crown Estate made a record profit in its last financial year ahead of proposals that would give the royal family a direct cut from revenues of the £7.3bn property portfolio, which are paid to the Treasury. George Osborne last week confirmed proposals to replace the Civil List grant to the royal household that had been in place since 1760 with a 15 per cent profit share of the Crown Estate.
THE TIMES
HUFFPO LANDS IN THE UK
The Huffington Post, the online newspaper that has shaken up the American media establishment, arrived in Britain yesterday with its founder vowing to continue its expansion worldwide. Arianna Huffington said that the launch of the British version of her eponymous news and opinion website was a prelude to a wider push across the globe.
RUSSIAN AIRLINE EJECTS WESTERNERS
The British chief executive and foreign managers at Russia’s leading budget airline have been thrown out of the company in a boardroom coup engineered by representatives of the oligarch Mikhail Fridman. Andrew Pyne, the chief executive of Avianova, and three senior managers were barred from entering the company headquarters in Moscow by security guards who said foreigners no longer worked there.
The Daily Telegraph
SPONSORS TAKE UP THE RUNNING FOR LONDON 2012
British Airways has unveiled multi-million pound plans to publicly promote its sponsorship of London 2012 for the first time. The airline’s backing of the Olympics is its biggest ever sponsorship, and the new campaign marks the stepping up of the visibility of the companies backing London 2012.
STRATEGIC DEFENCE REVIEW HIT
The National Audit Office has hit out at the Government’s decision to save two aircraft carriers while cutting other key defence capabilities. The report issued yesterday by the National Audit Office is about the decision, taken at the end of last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), to order two new aircraft carriers while cutting other key defence capabilities.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
GLENCORE BOSS TALKS UP STOCK
Glencore International boss Ivan Glasenberg, who had grown used to steamrolling obstacles in his nearly two decades at the helm of the commodities juggernaut, has more recently encountered a raft of challenges underscored by a disappointing public-markets debut that he calls surprising. Glasenberg blamed “external factors” such as the Greek financial crisis for investors’ refusal to bid up Glencore stock following its 18 May initial public offering.
ITALIAN REGULATOR URGES GAS REFORM
Italy should enact financial incentives to beef up its natural-gas infrastructure, the country’s top energy regulator said Wednesday, in comments that underscored how a recent Italian ban on nuclear energy has altered that country’s energy profile.