New owners to force out Sergio Bucher, chief executive of Debenhams (DEB). Lenders call time on former Amazon executive Bucher. The new owners of Debenhams are preparing to force out its chief executive after taking control through a pre-pack administration, believing he is the wrong person to lead a turnaround of the stricken department store chain. Lenders to Debenhams are poised to push out Sergio Bucher, who joined from Amazon in 2016. They are putting together a new leadership team after the group’s collapse, which wiped out shareholders, including Mike Ashley’s , which owned a 29.7% stake. The new owners, including the hedge fund Silver Point and Barclays, are understood to be in talks with Terry Duddy, Debenhams’ chairman, in the hope he will agree to take on an executive role, although nothing has yet been agreed. Duddy has been interim chairman since Ashley orchestrated a coup that booted former chairman Sir Ian Cheshire and Bucher off the board in January.
Gambling bosses at Ladbrokes signed off each other’s share sales. The chairman and chief executive of Ladbrokes owner GVC Holdings (GVC) signed off each other’s mammoth share sales last month, The Sunday Times can reveal. It is understood that chairman Lee Feldman and boss Kenny Alexander gave each other permission to sell a combined £20m worth of shares — a highly controversial move that wiped 20% from the bookie’s valuation in a day. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the directors, but the revelation is likely to stoke debate at a company that has repeatedly fallen foul of investors. GVC’s pay report has provoked a significant shareholder rebellion for the past two years and the group was relegated from the FTSE 100 index last month.
Asos founder Quentin Griffiths accuses BDO of bungling move offshore. One of the founders of the online fashion retailer ASOS (ASC) is suing accountancy firm BDO, claiming it gave him incorrect advice on how to avoid tax. Quentin Griffiths, who launched the site with Nick Robertson in 2000, said BDO was “negligent” and “made a basic and fundamental error” when it advised him on how he could avoid tax on share sales, costing him more than £4m. He said that in 2013, he told BDO partner Andrew Lines he was selling shares in Asos and Achica, an online retailer he also co-founded, and wanted to avoid capital gains tax by moving offshore.
Lloyds hit by new row on pensions over deal for Juan Colombas. Warning given over right-hand man after Horta-Osorio shamed into retreat. Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) has sparked a new pensions row, with investors warning over a director’s generous deal just weeks after chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio gave up his final salary retirement perk. Chief operating officer Juan Colombas receives a pension allowance worth 25% of his £779,000 salary, which could trigger an “amber top” alert to shareholders from the Investment Association — a powerful body representing fund managers — before Lloyds’ annual meeting in May. Colombas, 56, is the latest executive to be thrust into the spotlight amid a backlash over the scale of the pensions paid to senior bankers. Unlike most of their employees, bosses tend to receive a cash sum each year to put towards retirement.
Tesco boss Dave Lewis trials price cuts for loyalty card members. Tesco (TSCO) is experimenting with giving its Clubcard holders lower prices at the till, as chief executive Dave Lewis steps up plans to create an Amazon-like loyalty scheme. Tesco is understood to have lowered prices for Clubcard holders on 20 randomly selected groceries across 50 stores, in a week-long trial that will end today. Clubcard, introduced in 1995, was a key force in Tesco’s march to the top of the supermarket industry and now has 17m members. However, shoppers have become fickle as the discounters Aldi and Lidl have extended their reach.
JD Sports sprints ahead of Mike Ashley. JD Sports Fashion (JD.) is set to rub salt into Mike Ashley’s wounds when the sportswear retailer reports annual results on Tuesday. Ashley — who has just seen his £150m investment in Debenhams wiped out — once boasted that he would put his rival out of business, but JD Sports boss Peter Cowgill has outmanoeuvred him by securing exclusive products from Nike and Adidas and focusing on “athleisure”. The City expects JD Sports to report pre-tax profits of £349m, up 18%, on sales of £4.6bn.
Barclays wins support of Merian Global Investors in struggle with activist investor Edward Bramson. A leading investor in Barclays (BARC) has voted against Edward Bramson’s bid for a board seat, as tension between the activist investor and the bank reaches boiling point. Merian Global Investors’ Richard Buxton, one of the UK’s best-known fund managers, said Barclays did “not need a hostile disruptor in their midst, arguing on false numbers against their execution of the existing strategy to improve returns, for his own short-term ends”. The latest attack on Bramson’s plans to shrink Barclays’ investment bank comes after David Cumming, chief investment officer of Aviva Investors and a supporter of the activist in the past, said he would side with Barclays. Merian and Aviva collectively own about 0.3%. Aviva also has a 14% stake in Bramson’s vehicle, Sherborne Investors.
BT bid to win hearts and minds in split from Openreach. BT Group (BT.A) hired a group of “culture experts” to quiz managers about their attitudes towards its legal split from Openreach. The former telecoms monopoly recruited consultants to carry out a “hearts and minds” review to look at staff’s feelings about the structural overhaul. BT said it had hired the consultants because it believed that attitudes were “key to the sustainable success of the commitments”. The FTSE 100 giant agreed to separate Openreach, its phone and broadband network arm, in March 2017 following a lengthy stand-off with Ofcom. The watchdog stopped short of calling for a full break-up, but demanded that Openreach set up its own independent board.
Search is on for Taylor Wimpey chairman to replace Kevin Beeston. The FTSE 100 housebuilder Taylor Wimpey (TW.) has begun searching for a successor to long-serving chairman Kevin Beeston, whose tenure is set to end this year. Beeston is the latest chairman to be “timed out” under corporate governance reforms that impose strict limits on the careers of non-executive directors. Directors are no longer considered independent when they have served on a board for more than nine years. City sources said headhunters had been appointed to find a new chairman for the builder. The process is being led by Dame Kate Barker, an economist who previously sat on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee and who is Taylor Wimpey’s senior independent director.
Jeremy Corbyn has BAE Systems (BA.) in his sights. The City has finally realised that under a government led by a lifelong pacifist intent on renationalisation and restricting arms sales, the defence giant would be badly exposed. Jeremy Corbyn leant into a microphone before a cheering crowd in Trafalgar Square three years ago. It was the keynote speech at a march against the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent. The Labour leader, a lifelong member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, was unflinching in his views. “Consider for a moment what a nuclear weapon actually is,” he said. “It’s a weapon of mass destruction . . . I hope we don’t spend £100bn on the replacement of the whole Trident systems and the submarines.” Corbyn’s speech proved futile: MPs voted by a huge majority to renew the nuclear fleet later that summer. That decision, however, may yet be revisited. As Theresa May’s grip on power weakens, the growing possibility of a Labour government led by a pacifist with strident views on nationalising key industries has sent ripples through boardrooms.
Direct Line should be able to beat traffic. Paul Geddes can give himself a pat on the back. During nearly a decade in charge of Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG), its outgoing boss has transformed the insurer from an unloved afterthought in a dusty corner of RBS to a blue-chip stock pumping out special dividends. Geddes, who is due to stand down this summer, is in demand among headhunters. It might seem like an easy job for his successor, Penny James, who steps up from her role as finance boss next month. Yet Direct Line and insurers in general face a road littered with challenges. One speed bump is the pressure to evolve in the digital age. Analysts expect James to invest in technology and digital services to keep up.In a future of driverless cars, they will feel the heat. Such vehicles are expected to improve road safety, which could lead to fewer insurance claims, but lower premiums. In a blow to investors last month, 2018’s special dividend was nearly halved to 8.3p as the board bolstered capital buffers amid Brexit uncertainty. With the share price having dropped by 8% since early April, some analysts reckon the company now looks cheap. Despite these roadblocks, with a dividend yield of about 6% and with the push into comparison sites, Direct Line is revving to go. Buy.
