Thursday newspaper round-up: Network Retail, Pret a Manger, Restaurant Group
A £1.46bn sale of Network Rail’s property portfolio to private sector buyers was carried out without consideration of the impact on the lives and livelihoods of thousands of sitting tenants, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found. The National Audit Office (NAO) also found that the rent charged for 5,261 properties sold to Telereal Trillium and Blackstone Property Partners could increase by 54% over the next three to four years. – Guardian
Pret a Manger is to begin a national rollout of full lists of ingredients on freshly-made products from Thursday to fulfil a pledge to improve labelling following the deaths of two customers who suffered allergic reactions to its sandwiches. A five-point plan being unveiled by the chain will also include the launch of tablet computers in every shop, containing detailed information about ingredients, and a commitment to bolster transparency by publishing quarterly food safety reports. – Guardian
In an odd way, this is history repeating,” says Lord Deben. The UK’s climate tsar is sounding a clarion call to end the country’s contribution to global warming, by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to zero within the next generation. The chairman of the Government’s committee on climate change has put forward a radical plan to toughen laws to reduce emissions by 80pc of 1990 levels by 2050. The watchdog’s landmark report, published today, would also make the UK the first industrialised nation to agree to legislate a net-zero target. – Telegraph
Andy Hornby has been appointed as chief executive of The Restaurant Group, owner of Frankie & Benny’s diners and Wagamama noodle bars. Mr Hornby, who stepped down from the troubled bank HBOS at the height of the financial crisis, is currently chief operating officer at GVC Holdings, the owner of the bookmaker Ladbrokes. - Telegraph
A mysterious British executive has been identified as the recipient of millions of pounds from a $1.3 billion Nigerian oil deal at the centre of one of the industry’s biggest corruption scandals. Peter Bosworth and the trading firm he ran, Arcadia Petroleum, have been named in multiple court documents as among the ultimate recipients of funds from the allegedly corrupt 2011 deal in which Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, the Italian company, acquired a prized offshore oil block, The Times and the investigative website Finance Uncovered can reveal. – The Times
Lloyd’s of London is setting out to modernise its 330-year-old business by moving its exchanges online after criticism that its way of working is out of date and expensive. The reforms are part of a proposed overhaul by John Neal, who became chief executive of the insurance market in October. It is hoped that they will counter two years of steep losses and increased competition from overseas. – The Times