WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
FSA faces challenge in appeal against fine
The ability of the City’s watchdog to punish senior executives for insufficient supervision is being challenged in a test case by a former head of UBS’s wealth management operations in the UK. A tribunal yesterday heard an appeal by John Pottage, UBS’s former head of wealth management, against a £100,000 fine imposed by the Financial Services Authority in 2009 for allegedly not putting adequate controls in place when he took up the role in 2006.
LIBERTY AND ANGLO REACH DEAL ON QUINN
Liberty Mutual Group and Anglo Irish Bank yesterday completed the acquisition of Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurance company formerly owned by billionaire-turned-bankrupt Sean Quinn.
EADS CHIEF APOLOGISES OVER A350 DELAY
The head of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company has apologised to shareholders for the latest delay to a flagship aircraft programme at Airbus, the group’s main subsidiary. Louis Gallois, EADS’ chief executive, expressed regret at how the introduction of Airbus’ long-haul A350 aircraft had been pushed back from the end of 2013 until the first half of 2014, but insisted that the problems would not undermine the group’s recovery.
ASSET MANAGERS JOIN DRIVE TO GET MORE WOMEN ON FTSE BOARDS
Some of the UK’s most powerful institutional investors are banding together to help press FTSE companies to put more women on their boards. The move is backed by representatives from investment groups with more than £1,000bn in stock market assets.
THE TIMES
HOT TUNA TO ABANDON THE STOCK MARKET
Hot Tuna is to be taken private, leaving only a cash shell as a quoted company. The perennially struggling surfwear company said that trading was worse than expected and that it was difficult to raise finances to fund a turnaround. Francis Ball, the executive chairman, said that the management would stand down. “[The sale] would leave the plc as a cash shell unencumbered by the brand. We will go with the brand.”
BANKS CONFRONT KINGFISHER OVER DEBT
Kingfisher Airlines is set to meet its lenders today, amid growing doubts about its ability to continue operating without an emergency injection of cash from its billionaire founder. The company met last night to discuss a way out of the crisis.
The Daily Telegraph
CHRIS HOHN AMASSES $1BN STAKE IN NEWS CORP AMID PHONE HACKING SCANDAL
Chris Hohn, one of London’s best-known hedge fund managers, amassed an almost $1bn (£628m) stake in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp as the media company was engulfed by the phone-hacking scandal. The Children’s Investment Fund (CFI), founded by Mr Hohn in 2003, owned 53.8m of News Corp’s class A shares at the end of September.
CODELCO FILES AN INJUNCTION TO PREVENT ANGLO AMERICAN DEAL
Anglo American’s hopes of selling another $5bn (£3.1bn) stake in its Chilean copper mines have been dealt a blow after Codelco, Chile’s state-owned resources firm, filed an injunction to prevent a deal. Anglo surprised markets in Chile by selling a 24.5 per cent stake in its Chile Anglo assets.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
LOWE’S PROFIT FALLS ON STORE CLOSING CHARGES
Lowe’s fiscal-third-quarter earnings fell 44 per cent as store-closing charges masked the home-improvement retailer’s slightly improved same-store sales. Ricky Damron, Lowe’s store-operations executive, told analysts during a conference call that same-store sales mostly improved as customers along the US East Coast bought roofing products, dehumidifiers and cleaning supplies to prepare for and clean up flooding damage in the region.
ANADARKO RAISES COLORADO OIL -FIELD TALLY
Anadarko Petroleum said that land it controls in northern Colorado may hold more than a billion barrels of recoverable oil and natural gas, the latest sign that US energy production is set to surge.