Tuesday newspaper round-up: WM Morrison, Pensions, Osborne
Wm Morrison’s former treasurer and head of tax has been charged with two offences of insider dealing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
Marks & Spencer Group
245.80p
17:05 19/04/24
Next
8,774.00p
16:40 19/04/24
Paul Coyle was arrested in December in North Yorkshire, as part of an investigation the FCA said was related to trading in shares in Ocado, the online grocer, between February and May 2013.
Morrisons replied to the latest development by saying none of its employees were implicated in the investigation.
“Morrisons is satisfied with its governance and procedures concerning the handling of market sensitive data in this case and found that the company’s procedures had been properly followed. These accusations if proven would be a result of an individual acting alone,” the supermarket said.
Two of Britain’s largest pension funds are limiting their exposure to hedge funds, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Paul Bishop, investment director the £20bn Railways Pension Scheme said that hedge funds in aggregate offer a poor trade-off between expected returns and cost, while BT Pension Scheme has also been reconsidering its position, according to the report.
Sources close to BT are quoted as saying the scheme’s weighting in hedge funds is set to fall in the wake of restructuring of BPK Partners, the hedge fund arm of its own fund manager Hermes.
The decision, the Wall Street Journal added, follows a growing backlash against high fees and poor performances.
The Chancellor George Osborne announced that 10m households would be hit with a two-year freeze on tax credits and benefits, if David Cameron was to be re-elected at the general election in May.
The Guardian reported that Osborne’s strategy will cut £3bn a year from the welfare budget, with in-work families with children set to lose as much as £490 a year in child benefit and tax credits, with an average loss per household in the region of £300.
The two-year working-age benefits freeze would eliminate £3.2bn a year off the welfare bill by 2017-18, the first step in Osborne’s plan to wipe £12bn more from the annual welfare bill.
Former Conservative Minister John Redwood was accused of attempting to intimidate business chiefs who speak out in favour of staying withing the European Union, threatening them with paying "a very dear economic and financial price" and even losing their jobs.
Ironically, that echoed threats by Jim Sillars, the former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party, before the Scottish referendum. Sillars warned companies of a day of retribution should they speak out in favour of the Union, The Times says.
Marks&Spencer saw a sharp decline in its market share during the past three months. That is likely to spark renewed concerns about the performance of the clothing division, while at the same time pilinig the pressure on the company' boss, Marc Bolland.
Figures from Kantar Worldpanel show that M&S suffered a 0.6% drop in its share of the clothing market for the 12 weeks to 31 August, with most of that going to Next. The data, seen by The Times, was made available to those firms participating in the survey last Friday.