The incoming chief executive of mining giant , Mike Henry, has refused to say whether the company will bow to increasing shareholder pressure and quit the Minerals Council of Australia over its position on global heating. Henry also declined to say whether he would be quitting his role as vice chair of the Minerals Council when he takes over from current chief executive Andrew Mackenzie at the end of the year. However, Henry said he endorsed the position taken on climate by the company under Mackenzie, who earlier this year described global heating as a crisis requiring “the biggest global mobilisation since World War II”.
Royal Mail (RMG) has won a high court injunction preventing the first national postal strike in a decade, which it said could have disrupted postal voting in the general election. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it would appeal against the injunction after it was granted in London’s high court on Wednesday. Trade union sources said strike action could still take place before Christmas – a key commercial period for Royal Mail – if members vote again and even if the legal appeal is lost. The strike cannot take place before the general election on 12 December, unless the appeal succeeds. Members of the CWU overwhelmingly backed industrial action in a dispute over job security and employment terms and conditions. Last month 97% voted in favour of action, on a turnout of almost 76%. However, Royal Mail successfully argued that there were “irregularities” in the ballot.
The pugnacious founder-chairman of Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) has taken up arms against the City, turning his talent for polemic away from Brexit and towards the financial establishment. In a lengthy tirade – now a customary feature of Wetherspoon’s stock exchange statements – Tim Martin dismissed UK corporate governance rules as “up the spout” and criticised two major institutions that own a chunk of the company he built. He also lashed out at the investor advisory group Pirc, which has publicly rebuked Martin for spending £95,000 of company money on pro-Brexit literature without first seeking approval from shareholders.
Centrica (CNA) has won a court battle with the energy regulator after the watchdog made an 11th-hour change to price cap calculations, which dealt a £70m blow to the supplier. Britain’s biggest energy supplier pledged to take Ofgem to court last year after the regulator announced a surprise change to the methodology used to set the energy price cap. It said the late change in determining fair energy prices for 11m homes knowingly underestimated the cost of supplying energy last winter, and would lead to an unexpected one-off cost increase of £70m for British Gas. An Ofgem spokesman said the regulator was disappointed by the high court’s judgment but its energy price cap would remain fundamentally unchanged. The judicial review focused on the first phase of the energy price cap regime, which was in effect over the first three months of 2019. Ofgem said it would consider its next steps in light of the judgment. A spokesman for Centrica said the outcome underlines the importance of transparent and rigorous regulatory processes and well-designed regulation.
British Land Company (BLND) has had nearly £600m wiped off the value of its retail empire over six months. It also reported a bigger half-year loss due to torrid conditions in the retail industry. The property company has written down the value of its retail investments by 10.7% to £4.8bn in its latest financial results, which cover the first half of the year. The drop comes after an 11.1% write-down in the 12 months to 31 March. The tumbling value of British Land’s retail properties helped push the company to a loss of £440m, up from last year’s loss of £42m. The firm said the last 18 months had been tough in the retail world as a number of large retailers had collapsed into administration or, like Debenhams and Arcadia Group, opted for insolvency procedures, known as a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), to shut stores and force through rent cuts with landlords.
Losses at Mulberry Group (MUL) have increased by a third after widespread discounting hit sales in the UK. The handbag maker said pretax losses widened to £11m in the six months to 28 September from £8.2m a year before. Sales in the UK, which account for 65% of the business, fell 4% amid challenging conditions and subdued demand from shoppers. Sales fell despite efforts to connect with younger consumers through a series of gigs in pubs and handbags designed by the former Celine designer Johnny Coca. Thierry Andretta, Mulberry’s chief executive, said: “The consumer is more and more waiting, in the market in general, for the promotional sales period. The UK is more and more similar to what’s been happening for a long time in the US.” Mulberry is also among a number of brands affected by difficulties at department stores, which have been discounting heavily in an attempt to attract shoppers.
