Barclays Four ‘hid payments to Qatar to stop bank looking weak’, court told. The former boss of Barclays (BARC) kept payments to Qatar hidden to avoid the bank looking “weak” and potentially putting off other investors during the 2008 global financial crisis, a court heard on Wednesday. Top Barclays bankers made secret payments to Qatar in exchange for £4 billion to stave off the “dire” consequences of a government bail-out, Southwark crown court heard today in the long-anticipated trial of four former top executives. The executives at the “very top” of the banking giant believed the independence of Barclays was “in jeopardy” when it agreed to pay £322 million of fees which were hidden from the market, it is said. The bank feared falling into government hands during the financial crisis, and allegedly agreed to Qatari Holdings’ inflated fee demands to stay afloat.
Blow for Serious Fraud Office as last Tesco (TSCO) boss is cleared of fraud. The ex-finance boss of Tesco on Wednesday became the last director to be acquitted over the supermarket’s accounting scandal after a judge said there was no case against him. Carl Rogberg, who suffered a heart attack in February, was accused of fraud and false accounting with Chris Bush, Tesco’s former UK boss, and John Scouler, an ex-commercial director. But he did not stand trial with his colleagues in September until he recovered. In December, a judge dismissed the charges against Bush and Scouler halfway through a retrial because of lack of evidence. Today’s result ends the trial brought by the Serious Fraud Office over a £250 million profit black hole at the groceries giant, in another embarrassing defeat for the SFO.
O2 and Vodafone Group (VOD) line up a future deal for shareholders. While BT’s top brass were gladhanding in Davos, O2 and Vodafone were putting the finishing touches on a deal that should speed the roll-out of the next generation of mobile coverage across the UK. The pair have long shared phone masts as a natural way of saving on the costs of rolling out network coverage. Their masts’ joint venture, known as CTIL, hastened the spread of 3G and 4G to millions of people. So today they agreed to extend the network sharing partnership to 5G, in a move that makes total sense. However, for shareholders, there’s a bigger prize in the pipeline. The pair also signalled that they will increase the independence of the CTIL operation with a view to selling it.
Burberry warns of ‘tens of millions’ hit risk from no-deal Brexit. Burberry Group (BRBY) on Wednesday sounded the alarm over a no-deal Brexit, with Britain’s largest luxury goods firm warning it will be “complex” and could cost it tens of millions of pounds. The FTSE 100 fashion designer, which has so far kept its cards close to its chest on Brexit, today used its third-quarter update as an opportunity to outline how it could be affected after March. Finance chief Julie Brown admitted crashing out of the EU without a deal could be bad for the business, and said: “It would be very complex to manage.” She warned switching to new trade tariffs will cost the brand, known for its trademark trenchcoats, in the “low tens of millions of pounds” a year, although it hopes to mitigate the hit .
Nearly a thousand staff are expected to lose their job on Wednesday as 70 Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) stores will shut. The café chain collapsed into administration last night and KPMG has been appointed to try and find a buyer for all or parts of the company. In total, more than 3000 jobs are at risk across the business, which has around 200 stores and a string of concessions, including in department store chain Debenhams and grocer Sainsbury’s. Some concessionaires are understood to be trying to move staff to new roles where possible. Intu Properties (INTU) is the most exposed of the listed landlords to Patisserie Valerie’s collapse as the malls owner and its rivals faced the prospect of a number of shops becoming vacant.
Brexit caution sees Marston’s trim pubs expansion plan. Pubs firm Marston’s (MARS) on Wednesday took the axe to its plans to open new boozers, blaming the confused political landscape as a result of Brexit. Chief executive Ralph Findlay said: “Regrettably the government doesn’t know what’s going to happen in March. So we do think it is appropriate to be more cautious.” He added: “We operate in increasingly uncertain times from a political and macro-economic perspective.” Investments in new-build sites will be slashed to £25 million from around £50 million per year from 2020 onwards. The pub operator and brewer is also looking to sell £80-£90 million of non-pub properties in 2020-2023. It wants to cut its net debt by £200 million to £1.2 billion by 2023.
AJ Bell raking in funds despite the rocky markets. AJ Bell (AJB), the newly floated funds platform that’s made a fortune for founder Andy Bell, is still hoovering up cash despite turbulent stock markets. In the three months to December the firm drew in £1.2 billion in funds, 20% ahead of last year, directly from investors as well as from the thousands of financial advisers who use its platform. Customer numbers rose 4% to 190,498 over the period when AJ Bell made its stock-market debut. It couldn’t defy the gravity of falling markets, however. Plunging global markets wiped £2.7 billion off the company’s total assets under management to £44.2 billion.
Metro Bank dives after its boss Donaldson reveals commercial loans mistake. Metro Bank (MTRO) founder and chairman Vernon Hill was today left counting the cost of a mistake by his chief executive in the way it had accounted its commercial loans. That combined with a profit alert to send shares plunging 28%, or 620p, to 1582p. In a trading update the lender reported a jump in profits for 2018 to £50 million but that was £9 million below what was expected by the City. Chief executive Craig Donaldson blamed competition in the mortgages market, which hurt revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Donaldson said: “It’s a tough mortgage market out there at the moment and there’s fierce competition between the big and small banks.” The shares dive marked a rough day for Hill, a 5% investor, who saw £25 million wiped off his paper fortune.
