WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
THE SUNDAYS
The Sunday Telegraph
BAE WARNS OF CREDIT THREAT TO SUPPLIERS
BAE systems has warned that its supply chain is at risk from suppliers failing to obtain adequate credit. The defence giant is supplied by tens of thousands of smaller manufacturers that are far more vulnerable to the funding squeeze than the company itself. BAE has a £45bn order book and recently raised $1.5bn (£900m) in a bond issue.
NBIM BOSS SLAMS MYNERS’ VOTING PLANS
One of the biggest sovereign wealth fund investors in the UK market has poured cold water on the proposal made by Lord Myners, the City minister, that long term shareholders could have more voting rights than those who trade in and out of a company’s shares.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
EDF ATTRACTS BIG HITTERS IN AUCTION OF £4BN UK ELECTRICITY NETWORK
An international cast of billionaires, pension funds and utility groups is lining up to bid for the biggest electricity distribution network in Britain, worth more than £4bn. The French nuclear giant EDF recently appointed Deutsche Bank and Barclays to prepare for auction its UK network arm.
ENERGY FIRMS IN SECRET TALKS ON NUCLEAR ‘LEVY’
Taxpayers may be forced to subsidise Britain’s nuclear renaissance through a levy tacked on to household fuel bills under plans being developed by the energy industry. Utility executives have told ministers that their pledge not to use public aid to fund the the £40 billion rollout of new nuclear power stations is no longer realistic.
TODAY
FINANCIAL TIMES
EUROPEAN BUSINESS TRAILS US, UK
The eurozone economy may appear to be recovering faster than those of the US and UK, but its companies are underperforming their British and American rivals. Companies from the eurozone are the only ones, among the trio of regions, where there have been more disappointments than positive surprises in the ongoing second-quarter results season, according to analysts at Dutch bank ING.
TORIES STIFLE FSA STAFF DRIVE
The Financial Services Authority’s efforts to strengthen its supervisory work by recruiting more staff have been thrown off course by the Conservative party’s plan to disband the regulator. George Osborne, shadow chancellor, said last month he would shift the FSA’s role to a beefed-up Bank of England.
The Daily Telegraph
LSE TRADES PLUMMET AMID FEARS
The London Stock Exchange has endured its worst July for equities trading in five years – sparking fears that major investment banks are switching to automated trading systems that bypass traditional exchanges. The value of equities traded on the exchange tumbled to £91.7bn, less than half the sum traded in the same month last year, and the worst July – measured by value of trades – since 2004.
ITV MISSES TARGETS
ITV’s share of commercial television viewing has fallen below its self-imposed target for the last two months. The terrestrial broadcaster’s published target is for its family of channels to have a 38.5 per cent “share of commercial impacts” (SOCI) by the time of the digital switchover in 2012.
THE TIMES
BARCLAYCARD CHIEF GETS MILLIONS
The chief executive of Barclaycard, Antony Jenkins, was paid several million pounds in compensation for not receiving a promotion that he had been promised. The revelation comes amid rising tension in Barclays’ retail and commercial bank and rumours that the division’s management could be shaken up.
BIG NOISES JOIN TWITTER CHORUS
Two of the biggest names in the British technology sector have thrown their weight behind a start-up operation aimed at providing easier access to Twitter. Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Lastminute.com, and Michael Birch, founder of Bebo — which was sold to AOL for $850m last year — are impressed with the idea and are among several investors to plough $2m (£1.2m) into TweetDeck.