Italian police: BT’s UK bosses ‘knew about accounts scandal’. The £530 million Italian accounting fraud that eventually claimed the head of former BT Group (BT.A) chief executive Gavin Patterson may have had its roots much closer to home than the telecoms company has previously admitted, prosecutors allege. BT had always claimed the fraud, which involved inflating earnings in Italy over several years, was a local matter. The head of the European arm Corrado Sciolla was forced out after BT shareholders saw their shares fall by almost a third as it disclosed the scandal in January 2017. Patterson admitted investors were furious and finally left the company after 14 years this year. Now emails between top executives of BT and the managers of the Italian arm appear to contradict the company claims that London knew nothing of the accounting skulduggery.
Ferrexpo under fire over the fate of charity funds that could have been “misappropriated”. Ferrexpo (FXPO) management was feeling the heat today as the embattled iron ore company admitted funds it gave to a charity in Ukraine could have been “misappropriated”. The findings were made by its auditors Deloitte, which in February launched an investigation into charity Blooming Land’s use of Ferrexpo’s funds. The London-listed Ukraine-focused company said: “The independent review committee cannot yet conclude the ultimate use of the funds by the charity. However, there are indications some could have been misappropriated.” The investigation shines a spotlight on Ferrexpo chief executive Kostyantin Zhevago, who is a billionaire and a politician in Ukraine.
British Land in £429m Sainsbury’s superstores sell-off. Property giant British Land Company (BLND) on Tuesday slashed its exposure to struggling out-of-town hypermarkets, with a £429 million deal to offload the bulk of its Sainsbury’s superstores. A joint venture between the FTSE 100 firm and Sainsbury’s has agreed to sell 12 shops to US investor Realty Income Corporation, which makes its UK debut. After debt and other costs are paid, the sellers will respectively get £95 million and £133 million. The exit comes 11 years after British Land and Sainsbury’s teamed up. Since then the supermarkets industry has grappled with competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl, and a number of shoppers using smaller High Street convenience stores.
Taylor Wimpey boss scraps plan to buy cut-price flat for himself. The boss of housebuilder Taylor Wimpey (TW.) on Tuesday backed down over the controversial purchase of one of his own firm’s luxury flats after outrage over his £436,000 discount on the central London property. Chief executive Pete Redfern was aiming to buy the £2.5 million flat in Wimpey’s Palace View scheme next to Lambeth Palace, which has views over the Houses of Parliament. Redfern, who earned £3.2 million last year, was using a staff discount, which knocks 5% off the price of a property for the firm’s workers, up to the value of £100,000. An internal audit of a softening London market also cut another £336,000 off the value of the flat, allowing him to buy an apartment originally valued at £2.48 million for just £2.04 million.
Fever-Tree boss sees annual income soar to £4m. Fevertree Drinks (FEVR) boss Tim Warrillow saw the amount he took home more than quadruple to £4 million last year, following remarkable growth by the tonic waters maker. The 44-year-old saw his annual income increase from £844,000 a year earlier. The 2018 figure, which includes salary and bonus, was boosted by the first payment from a three-year long-term incentive plan. In previous years no LTIP awards were included in remuneration. Fever-Tree’s annual report also showed that finance chief Andrew Branchflower’s total package rose to £1.9 million from £540,000. Branchflower and Warrillow’s basic salaries rose 5% this year respectively to £248,100 and £385,900. Fever-Tree has benefited from a British gin boom which has triggered more demand for premium mixers.
Soaring oil prices kept the blue-chip index in positive territory on Tuesday after a clampdown on Iranian exports gave the market a post-bank holiday boost. Price for the black stuff hit a six-month high of $74 a barrel after US secretary of state Mike Pompeo promised to end waivers permitting Iranian exports to eight countries on May 2, which will cut supply on the global market. Two other big producers, Venezuela and Libya, also face production problems but noises from US authorities suggest they think slack will be taken up by other oil producing giants, such as Saudi Arabia and America itself. However, the Iran move conjured up images of oil markets slowing from a gush into a trickle, sending the Footsie’s biggest constituent, Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB), up 49.50p at 2516p on expectations it can sell its stock-in-trade for slightly more dosh. BP (BP.), another major producer, also rose 11.09p to 578.79p. On the flipside, carriers like easyJet (EZJ) and British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) lost altitude due to expectations of higher fuel prices for airlines. Budget carrer easyJet lost 45p at 1174, a drop of 3.7%, while IAG was down 2.69%, shedding 15p to 542p. Across Europe, airlines also suffered similar oil-related woes with Ryanair Holdings (RYA), KLM France and Lufthansa also falling by low single-digits.
Video games group Keywords Studios (KWS), which makes the picks and shovels for video game producers including Fortnite maker Epic, struck a small sub-£1 million deal to buy Japanese company Wizcorp. The takeover for the mobile gaming specialist, which employs 35 people in Tokyo, should help Keywords’ standing in the Japanese market, Jefferies analysts said. The deal, which came on the back of promising results for the company two weeks ago.
Scottish broadcaster STV Group (STVG), which hosts its annual meeting in Glasgow today, shrugged off pressures in the advertising market to promise rising revenues. The company, which broadcasts Bafta-nominated drama The Durrells, said revenues would be up 1% to 2% due to a surge in regional advertising. Its STV Growth Fund is working with 130 Scottish advertisers, 50% of whom have never advertised on TV before, boosting regional advertising by nearly a third.
