Thursday newspaper round-up: Debenhams, Microsoft, WPP, Afren
Debenhams has confirmed plans to shut up to 50 stores, nearly a third of the UK-wide chain, putting up to 5,000 jobs at risk. The struggling department store also unveiled a near £500m annual loss as it writes off the value of its brand and the cost of unwanted shop leases and IT systems. Debenhams, which currently has 165 stores and employs 27,000 people, is struggling to adapt as shoppers switch away from the traditional high street towards spending more on leisure activities and to buying online. Nearly a quarter of all spending on fashion purchases is now made on the internet. – Guardian
A Liverpool tower block that had more housing prosecutions in 2017 than any other building was 80% owned by international investors, some of whom were banking publicly funded rents while subjecting tenants to potential danger from hazardously low temperatures. Mill View tower, a 16-storey former council-owned high rise in Toxteth, attracted 13 prosecutions last year for Elite Property Management and Lettings Ltd, a local firm that was managing 13 of the flats. The flats had cost around £60,000 each in 2013 and were all rented to residents claiming housing benefit. The company was prosecuted for licensing offences. – Guardian
Microsoft's profits have risen by more than a third despite growth in its crucial cloud computing business slowing down. The software company, which has been reinvigorated under its chief executive Satya Nadella in recent years, posted a profit of $8.8bn (£6.8bn) for the three months to the end of September. This was up 34pc on the previous year. – Telegraph
WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, is preparing to sell a stake in Kantar, its data investment management division. The process is going to be run by Goldman Sachs and will see WPP retain a stake in the data company. WPP will detail plans to sell the division when it reports its third quarter results. – Telegraph
Two London oil and gas executives were convicted yesterday of a fraud that made them more than £13 million personally in a £35 million money-laundering operation. Osman Shahenshah and Shahid Ullah, the former chief executive and chief operating officer respectively of Afren, were found guilty of fraud and money-laundering offences by deceiving the British company’s board into agreeing a deal valued at more than £230 million. – The Times
Theresa May has cited the government’s crisis over Brexit to justify installing her longstanding lieutenant as Britain’s most senior civil servant without a formal recruitment process. Sir Mark Sedwill, 54, was promoted to cabinet secretary after it was announced that Sir Jeremy Heywood, 56, who is being treated for cancer, would not return to work. Sir Mark had been acting in the role since June. – The Times