Wednesday 25 January 2023

STARSALIGN FORACTIVISTS ATCAPRICORN

NICHOLAS EARL AND STAFF

ACTIVIST pressure sensationally forced Capricorn Energy’s chief executive out of a job yesterday, leaving the firm’s plans for a merger with Israeli rival Newmed seemingly in tatters.

London-listed Capricorn had been hoping to tie up a deal with Newmed that would have totalled near on £800m once a special dividend was included.

But activists –most notably major shareholder Palliser –appear to have nixed the deal, with boss Simon Thomson and chair Nicoletta Giadrossi stepping down yesterday alongside three other non-exec members of the board.

Capricorn had moved for Newmed after cooling on an initial merger plan

with Tullow Oil in the autumn of last year.

Palliser issued a letter earlier this month calling for the deal to be reconsidered, saying the Capricorn board was showing “brazen disregard” and said the firm had lost the “trust and confidence” of some 40 per cent of shareholders.

That itself came after LGIM, which owns four per cent of Capricorn’s shares compared to Palliser’s more than seven per cent, also said it wouldn’t back the merger and would vote to oust the management team.

Shareholder advisory outfits ISS and Glass Lewis also threw their weight behind the hedge fund’s criticisms, and a late notice offer to Palliser to add representatives to the Capricorn board appeared only to pique the fund more.

Capricorn for their part

said that Palliser’s complaints relied on “outdated and incorrect facts and assumptions” and that their alternate plan to grow the business “underestimates the value creation potential of the Newmed combination”.

The deal priced Newmed at £277m and would have come alongside a more than £500m special dividend.

The vote on the deal, which had been due alongside a vote on the board’s make-up on 1 February, has been pushed back until the end of next month.

Palliser welcomed yesterday’s dramatic developments.

A spokesperson said: “We are confident that today’s announcement marks the first step towards governance reform and a new leadership team focused on optimising value and delivering real growth in Egypt.”

Newmed, with significant operations in the Eastern Med, acknowledged that the likelihood of a deal had “significantly decreased”.

NOW THAT’S A HAPPY BURNS Scotch whisky firm in good spirits

THE COMPANY behind connoisseurs’ favourite The Scotch Malt Whisky Society hailed “demonstrable momentum” yesterday as it reported a year of strong growth.

The Artisanal Spirits Company reported revenues up some 20 per cent on the year before, with membership of its Scotch Malt Whisky Society –complete with access to

exclusive bars including one in Hatton Garden –up around 12 per cent. The firm also announced that David Ridley, the six-year boss, was stepping down with finance director Andrew Dane stepping in to lead the business. Shares popped just shy of nine per cent on the news –something sure to be toasted with a dram at the firm’s Edinburgh headquarters as attention north of the border turns to Burns Night.

Another headache for Home REIT as significant tenant stops paying rent

EXCLUSIVE

CHARLIE CONCHIE

ONE of the biggest tenants of troubled property investor Home REIT has stopped paying rent and is on the brink of going under as it struggles to secure sign off for government-backed housing

benefits, City A.M. has learned.

Lotus Sanctuary, which provides supported housing and accounts for 12.2 per cent of former Home REIT’s rental income, warned staff yesterday it had built a “substantial debt” pile of £2.7m and is suffering from cash flow issues as it struggles to get approval for “exempt status”

from local authorities.

The warnings further blow apart claims made by London-listed Home REIT that its rental income is ultimately backstopped by government-supported payouts.

It also underscores the growing instability of its business model, after it admitted a “general

deterioration” in its rental income over the past two months.

Some 35 per cent of Home REIT’s total rental income is now in jeopardy after City A.M. revealed a week ago that its biggest tenant Big Help was withholding rent.

In an email to staff seen by City A.M., Lotus boss Gurpal Judge said

the organisation was finding it “increasingly difficult to get sign off on exempt status from local authorities and concurrently we are also seeing delays in the processing of housing benefit applications again from local authorities”.

JAMES SILVER

CEO AND HOST OF BOARD MEMBERS FORCED TO STEP DOWN AS MERGER WITH NEWMED NOW LOOKS UNLIKELY

Youngsters won’t stick around if the system tells them to leave

YOUTH is the most precious thing in life,” George Bernard Shaw once wrote.

He was wrong. Being young in Britain these days is something you’d rather sell –and you’d need to, to afford to get on the housing ladder.

This country –and London and the south east in particular –is no longer a particularly sensible place to try and build a career. Average pay hasn’t moved for more than a decade. House

THE CITY VIEW

prices, meanwhile, continue to increase at an absurd level, giving first-time buyers an often insurmountable hill to climb to put down a deposit should they have the temerity to want to live somewhere even close to where they might actually want to.

Ask most twenty-somethings with a vague grasp of the public finances and they will further add that their likelihood of seeing a state pension is somewhere equivalent to aerial porcine.

It was insult added to injury then, yesterday, when the pensions secretary dangled the idea that the pension age would be bumped up to 68 perhaps as soon as the end of the next decade. It’s largely semantics, as

auto-enrolment schemes have largely moved the burden of oldage support in the long-term from ‘the taxpayer’ at large to individuals, but it is hard to square the financial imperatives behind that decision with the utterly absurd decision to reimpose the triple lock this year.

That triple lock is increasingly indefensible. It’s another example of the British political class’s unwillingness to make a tough decision or make a choice that

risks upsetting people. The failure to reform the planning system is another can kicked into the long grass, ensuring a generation will struggle to afford an asset vital for building a nest egg.

Meanwhile taxes keep creeping on up, leaving youngsters with even less to put away. London is the most vibrant, buzzing city in the world, but young talented people won’t stay here just for the food if they’re still renting at 40 and working at 80.

THE GUARDIAN

FORD TO CUT 3,200 JOBS IN EUROPE AND MOVE SOME WORK TO US

Ford plans to cut 3,200 jobs across Europe, according to Germany’s largest union, as the carmaker looks to cut costs and shift its focus towards electric vehicles.

THE TIMES

PREMIUM BOND PRIZE RATE BOOSTED TO 14-YEAR HIGH

The number of Premium Bond payouts worth £50 to £100,000 will increase after the prize rate was lifted to a 14-year high. National Savings & Investments is from next month increasing interest rates across a range of its products.

BARCLAYS SET TO REVEAL CATHAL DEASY AS CO-HEAD OF GLOBAL BANKING

Barclays is set to choose former Credit Suisse dealmaker Cathal Deasy as cohead of global banking as the British lender continues to overhaul its investment banking unit.

Inflation drives UK December borrowing to record £27.4bn

UK BORROWING in December hit its highest total in 30 years driven upwards by the government’s debt interest bill soaring due to raging inflation, official figures out yesterday show.

The government took on £27.4bn of debt last month, the largest amount since records began in 1993, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The amount was higher than market expectations.

The big overshot was caused by the amount of money Britain pays investors climbing rapidly last month to £17.3bn.

A huge chunk of the government’s debt stock is linked to an old measure of inflation, the retail price index, meaning investor payouts rise in line with prices.

Interest payments are upgraded in line with the RPI figures from two before, which topped 14 per cent in October, forcing the debt bill to nearly double December 2021’s number.

The government’s energy price cap of £2,500 has seen it spend billions of pounds on protecting households from crippling rises in energy bills.

That has raised spending sharply, widening the gap between what the treasury takes in tax receipts and spends on supporting the UK economy.

Poorer households have also received one-off payments to help with eye watering living costs, stepping up spending further.

Yesterday’s borrowing figures are the penultimate ones before the budget on 15 March.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are not expected to cut taxes for fear of raising the deficit too much.

The borrowing figures topped projections by the Office for Budget Responsibility in November, squeezing Hunt’s room to help Brits and businesses grappling with an inflation crunch by cutting taxes and increase spending at next month’s budget.

JACK BARNETT

COMING OUT OF THEIR SHELL Children draw chickens from models at the Natural History Museum as part of the Wild Escape, a new environmental campaign

Primark owner reports strong annual turnover

NICHOLAS EARL

FOOD processing giant and Primark owner Associated British Foods yesterday posted a bullish trading update, unveiling an upturn in revenues fuelled by Christmas trading.

It reported a 20 per cent year-on-year boost in turnover for the 16 weeks up to 7 January – with revenues climbing to just under £6.7bn.

In particular, Associated British Foods revealed Primark trading has been ahead of expectations.

The FTSE 100 company said: “We had a very strong Christmas period. We believe our proposition of great quality at affordable prices and attractive store experience is proving increasingly appealing to both existing and new customers.”

It described early trading in the new calendar year as “encouraging” but warned macro-economic headwinds remained such as inflation and the looming threat of a recession, which may weigh on consumer spending in the months ahead.”

The company has enjoyed an accelerated programme of store openings, and

remains on track to add a net 1m square feet of retail selling space in this financial year.

Primark is also continuing to make inroads online, with its website supporting a new click-and-collect service, which is being trialled in the UK.

Joshua Warner, market analyst at City Index, argued that the company is remaining cautious over Primark’s strong performance, concerned over future dips in consumer spending over the coming months – despite sustained momentum in trading.

He said: “Primark has performed ahead of expectations and had a strong Christmas period. Evidence suggests more shoppers returned to the high street over the holiday shopping season considering online shopping sites were plagued by disruption to deliveries. In fact, Primark delivered record sales in the week leading up to Christmas Day.”

For the full year, Associated British Foods is leaving its results forecasts as unchanged – anticipating both a significant growth in sales, but adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share to be lower than the previous financial year.

Global economy to avoid recession but UK outlook remains gloomy

JACK BARNETT

THE GLOBAL economy will narrowly avoid a recession this year due to China dismantling its zero Covid policy, forecasters predicted yesterday.

A boost from the world’s second biggest economy re-entering the global community is set to power world GDP 1.9 per cent this year,

according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Beijing’s surprise scrapping of its tough response to the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced the risk of the Chinese economy notching a third successive year of lower than possible growth.

Experts, however, think Britain is likely to suffer the toughest recession out of rich nations due to it

grappling with a knottier inflation surge driven by high energy prices and worker shortages.

Although economists’ worst predictions about the length and depth of a coming recession have been pared back following better than expected economic data, experts have warned the slump will knock two per cent off GDP, a similar hit to the early 1990s downturn.

More controversy swirls around Home REIT after rent withdrawal

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

“As a business our main revenue stream is enhanced housing benefit from our supported housing units and currently, we aren’t in payment for most of these units,” he added. “We are working hard to unlock these payments and are in talks with landlords and other suppliers about the current issues.”

Home REIT has said it has received £3.7m invoiced rent in full from Lotus.

The revelations of rent troubles at

Lotus come after City A.M. revealed in December the firm had no idea how much rent it receives through government housing benefit payments despite saying its business model ultimately relies on them.

The firm has been hit by a slew of claims since a Viceroy Research report which raised major questions over its business model and the stability of its rental income.

Home REIT did not respond to a request to comment.

HIPGNOSIS Song Management has bought the back catalogue of Canadian superstar artist and songwriter Justin Bieber in a deal reported to be worth $200m (£163m). His songs have been streamed over 32bn times on Spotify, where he has 82m monthly listeners.

Saga to build a ‘new superbrand’ Aramco-backed fintech opens bank in London

JESS JONES

ARAMCO has backed American fintech Wahed as it launches a physical bank in London. However, concerns of a high street bank exodus place question marks over the branch’s future success.

Wahed’s first UK-based physical bank, which opened its doors yesterday on Baker Street, has scored £61m ($75m) from the Saudi Arabian oil giant together with French football star Paul Pogba.

The halal investing platform, as Wahed describes itself, which allows customers to invest in halal equity funds, Islamic bonds and gold, is targeting the UK’s 3.9m Muslims.

SAGA is set to launch a new over-50s media brand, the conglomerate’s chief executive told City A.M., as the company looks to capitalise on the UK’s ageing population.

The company, which sells travel, insurance and financial services to over50s, is seeking to exploit a “gap in the market” and build a “superbrand for

older people” by overhauling its media business to capture advertising revenues from firms looking to sell to older customers, Saga boss Euan Sutherland said.

The launch of the new ‘Exceptional’ website sits in line with the firm’s push to become a “capital light” business, Sutherland said, as it looks to reduce its £721m debt pile by selling off its underwriting arm.

The new media plan will see the company adapt its Saga Magazine print product for the digital age with a view to capitalising on the wealth of data the firm has on its 10m over-50s customers.

Launched in the 1980s, the magazine has grown to become one of the UK’s top five most read monthly magazines.

But it now aims to make its magazine profitable in its own right by expanding sponsorship, endorsement and affiliate

deals through the launch of its new website, boosting its social media presence and releasing a newsletter for travel, insurance and cruise customers.

Sutherland explained that over-50s own half the UK’s wealth but only 20 per cent of UK advertising spending is targeted towards this age group.

The chief exec’s comments come as the over-50s conglomerate yesterday said it is on track to meet its financial goals.

While online-only banks like Revolut and Monzo have taken off in the UK, Wahed founder Junaid Wahedna says this model does not appeal to Muslims who want to see a “physical presence” before trusting a bank with their money.

It comes as declining footfall has seen other UK banks leave the high street in droves, with HSBC set to close over 100 branches this year while Halifax and Lloyds are also shrinking their physical presence.

LOUIS GOSS

ALAN JONES

AMAZON workers are staging their first-ever strike in the UK in a dispute over pay.

Members of the GMB at the company’s fulfilment centre in Coventry voted to walk out today in protest against a pay rise the union said is worth 50p an hour.

Stuart Richards, GMB senior organiser, said: “Today, Amazon workers in Coventry will make history.

“They’ve defied the odds to become the first ever Amazon workers in the UK to go on strike.

“They’re taking on one of the world’s biggest companies to fight for a decent standard of living.

“They should be rightly proud of themselves.

“After six months of ignoring all requests to listen to workers’ concerns,

GMB urges Amazon UK bosses to do the right thing and give workers a proper pay rise.”

An Amazon spokesperson said: “A tiny proportion of our workforce are involved.

“In fact, according to the verified figures, only a fraction of one per cent of our UK employees voted in the ballot – and that includes those who voted against industrial action.

“We appreciate the great work our teams do throughout the year and we’re proud to offer competitive pay which starts at a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour, depending on location.

“This represents a 29 per cent increase in the minimum hourly wage paid to Amazon employees since 2018. Employees are also offered comprehensive benefits worth thousands.”

Friday morning commuters still in decline, says new TFL data

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

MONDAYS and Fridays are the quietest days on London’s tube network in a sign that post-Covid hybrid working patterns are here to stay.

PA

Data published by Transport for London (TfL) showed a 13 per cent dip in numbers on any given Monday between October and December 2022 compared to the rest of the week.

According to TfL there were 17 per cent fewer people on the Northern line and the Overground between Highbury & Islington and West Croydon as well as between Crystal Palace and New Cross on Monday than on any other day of the week.

Muniya Barua, deputy chief exec at BusinessLDN, told City A.M. the data confirms Londoners continue to prefer hybrid working.

Travel rebound to turbocharge plane deliveries

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

CHINA is set to be the engine for global aviation’s recovery after its reopening from Covid-19 restrictions, with 44,500 new planes set to be delivered in the next 20 years.

Data published yesterday by aviation analytics firm Cirium shows the planes will be made in order to meet a 3.6 per cent annual passenger travel growth globally.

Worth $2.9 trillion (£2.4 trillion), the orders will be mainly driven by China’s post-Covid reopening, as Beijing is expected to have the highest passenger growth rate at six per cent per year.

The country is also set to account for 19 of the total 22 per cent of the region’s plane deliveries. North America and Europe will follow suit, taking respectively 21 and 17 per cent of all deliveries.

Cirium’s head of consultancy Rob Morris said the aviation industry was “undergoing structural changes, but remains on course to return to traditional growth paths by 2025”.

Airbus and Boeing will remain the two main players, delivering an estimated 80 per cent of aircraft between them, Cirium added.

Actual King versus the Twitter King: Crown Estate sues Musk in rent dispute

AZANIA PATEL

TWITTER is being sued by the Crown Estates over unpaid rent relating to its Piccadilly Circus-based headquarters building.

The Crown Estates manages property for King Charles III and the monarchy, which includes the 10m sq ft Twitter headquarters in central London.

The estate filed the claim against Twitter Inc, which is also facing legal action over unpaid dues on its San Francisco office, and its UK subsidiary in the High Court earlier this month.

A Crown Estate spokesman confirmed court proceedings had been issued in a dispute over the company’s UK headquarters in the West End and that no further comment was available.

The lawsuit is likely to add to Twitter’s woes, which have followed in the wake of Elon Musk’s controversial takeover of the social media platform.

Since the takeover last October, the company has fired over half its employees and advertisers have left the platform en masse expressing concerns over policy changes and an increase in hate speech.

London

M&C Saatchi chair to step down after turning around its fortunes

JACK MENDEL

GARETHDavis yesterday said he would not seek to be re-elected as chair of ad giant M&C Saatchi.

Davis made the announcement as the firm reported a nine per cent year-on-year increase in net revenue of £271m during 2022.

M&C Saatchi also revealed it had made its largest ever profit, £31m,

during 2022. The 14 per cent increase was down to strong performance in its higher growth specialisms in both the UK and the Americas.

M&C Saatchi said its profit before tax was in line with expectations set out in April last year.

Gareth Davis, who said he would be stepping down from the company’s board at its AGM after three years at the helm, added that it had been a

privilege to chair M&C Saatchi through a three-year turnaround.

He said: “Today’s trading update highlights another record year for the company, demonstrating the successful delivery of its growth strategy and marks a milestone in the company’s transformation journey.”

Chief exec Moray MacLennan, thanked Davis “for the key role he played in stabilising our business”.

Royal Mail boss to be grilled in parliament again

JESS JONES

ROYAL MAIL boss Simon Thompson has been recalled to parliament after facing allegations that he gave inaccurate information to MPs during a Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee last week.

The Committee, which took place last Tuesday to discuss Royal Mail’s operations amid extended industrial action, prompted a “significant amount” of Royal Mail employees to submit evidence contrary to Thompson’s answers.

In a damning letter published yesterday, Committee chair Darren Jones ordered Thompson to return for another hearing to provide further evidence.

Commenting on what triggered the recall, Jones said BEIS received “significant quantities of evidence that suggest his answers may not have been correct”.

“Giving inaccurate information to a parliamentary committee, whether by accident or otherwise, is taken very seriously,” he said. “We must get to the bottom of these inconsistencies on behalf of parliament and intend to do so during

this additional hearing.”

The BEIS Committee challenged Thompson on several matters that he denies regarding allegations that the Postal Digital Assistant system is used to unfairly pressurise employees and that Royal Mail prioritises parcels over letters.

According to the letter, Thompson said during the Committee that he was “not aware of technology we have in place that tells people to work more quickly. I am not aware of that at all”. However, BEIS claimed it had received evidence suggesting this statement was incorrect.

Jones’ letter also drew attention to a poster which instructed delivery office employees to prioritise parcels.

Thompson refuted the idea, saying letters were equally important and the poster was “dealt with”, however Royal Mail employees argued the poster was “not a one-off”.

The BEIS Committee also had concerns over Thompson’s comments on employee sick pay arrangements.

Royal Mail was approached for comment.

Just what’s in a name at Eurostar as group rebrands as… Eurostar

JACK MENDEL

EUROSTAR has unveiled its new brand identity complete with a logo, symbol and name: Eurostar.

The high-speed rail line’s regeneration includes bringing in French-Belgian highspeed train operator Thalys and Eurostar under one company name, the Eurostar Group.

Announcing the move yesterday, all of its 51 trains will carry a new star symbol by the end of the year, inspired by Etoile

du Nord which linked Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Under a single brand, the Eurostar Group will also introduce a loyalty programme covering all destinations, as well as a single booking system.

Eurostar Group’s chief exec Gwendoline Cazenave, who joined on 20 October, said the move “will help us become the backbone of sustainable high-speed rail in Europe, and support us in our ambition to double the number of passengers over the next decade.”

Eurostar has just unveiled new livery for its trains but the name remains the same NEW OLD

Royal Mail chief exec Simon Thompson

House sales set to tumble on recession jitters

JACK BARNETT

HOUSE sales are set to tumble due to owners waiting until the recession passes to cash in on their homes, estate agents have predicted.

Homeowners are expected to adopt a wait and see approach during the first six months of 2023 for fear they will have to sell their property at a lowerthan-demanded price.

Higher mortgage rates caused by the Bank of England hiking borrowing costs nine times in a row to tame the worst inflation surge in 40 years has priced would-be buyers out of the market.

That means sellers may have to lower prices to attract bidders.

According to data provider Moneyfacts, the average rates on typical twoyear and five-year mortgages have more than doubled over the last year.

Matthew Thompson, head of sales at estate agent Chestertons, said: “Despite

the uplift in viewings and new properties coming onto the market in December, we have noticed that there are fewer people looking to sell in the first part of this year, with many preferring to wait and observe how the market develops.”

Home sales have been slowing since last summer and dropped to just over 108,000 in December, numbers from HMRC yesterday showed.

Other data indicates home sales are likely to fall sharply over the coming months.

The Bank of England said mortgage approvals collapsed around a third in November, mainly triggered by UK borrowing costs skyrocketing after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.

Bank governor Andrew Bailey and the rest of the monetary policy committee are expected to raise interest rates again next Thursday by 50 basis points, piling more pressure on the housing market.

London to get its own highline as Camden copies Manhattan

JAMES DAVIES

CAMDEN’s green garden in the sky took a step closer to reality after charity Camden Highline was given the go-ahead for the first stage of a project that will transform a section of disused Victorian railway into an overhead park.

Garden designer Piet Oudolf,

working with the London Wildlife Trust, is leading the creation of the biodiverse walkway, which will stretch for 1.2km and connect Camden Town with King’s Cross.

The walkway will provide access to a number of neighbourhoods along the way and is part of the Camden Green Loop initiative, a project which aims to make inner London greener.

Heat pump goal unrealistic, says Sureserve boss

NICHOLAS EARL

HEAT PUMPS are still too expensive for social housing providers considering the transition from gas boilers, Sureserve boss Peter Smith has warned.

The chief executive of a leading energy services firm told City A.M. that “the maths doesn’t stack up” for installing heat pumps compared to established heating options.

He revealed it costs his firm £3,000 to fit a new gas boiler for a social housing tenant, but that it costs three times as much to install a heat pump – even with the help of £5,000 grants offered by Downing Street as part of the £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Smith said: “While the government is talking the right language here – the commercial reality is that, for social housing clients, it doesn’t work.”

Smith added that the UK’s target to install around 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 was “headline grabbing” and “meaningless”, with the UK lacking the number of heat pumps and engineers needed to achieve this.

Charity Camden Highline will transform a disused railway line into a vertical park

THE NOTE BOOK

Where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Jimmy McLoughlin, a former No.10 adviser turned podcast host

GREEN TO THE EXTREME

to fear new technology

THERE’s no doubt that when ChatGPT was released by OpenAI just before Christmas, it was like a thunderclap across the internet. Make no mistake: the arrival of a functional, smart artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’ is a seismic development in the history of technology.

Some immediately predicted the elimination of tens of thousands of writing jobs, from journalism to PR. I don’t agree –instead, I think it will enhance them and allow them to get more creative. There were similar fears when we replaced letters with emails in the 1990s –and, as we all know, that particular technology has created more work rather than less.

What I have found ChatGPT to be most useful for so far has been idea generation and structuring, rather than actually writing. I think most people have ideas for books, podcasts and plays, but working with ChatGPT has been interesting for fleshing those ideas out.

When it comes to writing, at the moment, ChatGPT most resembles a calculator in my mind. Like with calculators, it will still be a skill to know how to use them best and extract the most value out of them.

In Downing Street, I was famed for citing research from from the Edelman trust barometer which said that 51 per cent of Brits felt that innovation was going too fast. My point was as a government you cannot and should not want to be in a position where you are attempting to stop innovation from happening, but you should be relentlessly working out how everyone can benefit from it. That will be our biggest challenge when it comes to ChatGPT, as with all new technology: how do we skill people up in it and make them use the best of it? As for writers, a country whose history includes William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens should not fear this next chapter in the history of the written word.

£ Events are back with a bang, and for once I was delighted to receive an email from the editor of this newspaper entitled ‘Important’. It included an invite to the City A.M. awards on Thursday 2 March. With four chancellors since the event last year, it will be a terrific evening to see the best and brightest of the City come together to celebrate what the City does best. It promises to be, as usual, a brilliant evening –with a legendary afterparty.

£ At Jimmy’s Jobs, we did some polling with Focaldata on how people were feeling about their jobs for 2023. I was quite surprised that 40 per cent of people said they would be likely to move jobs this year, despite cost of living pressures. Almost one in ten, meanwhile, said they didn’t think their job or role would exist by the end of the year. So while that shows there are clearly fears about economic contraction and automation, it should at least be a boon year for recruiters.

DRAM A DREAM FOR NEW JOBS

It is Burns night tonight, and to mark the occasion celebrating Scotland’s most famous poet (or ‘spoken word artists’ as he would no doubt be called in 2023), we have released an episode of Jimmy’s Jobs of the future examining all the jobs in Scotch. The first bottle of Scotch was recorded in the same decade that Columbus discovered America –and now Scotch makes up an extraordinary 22 per cent of all UK food and drink exports to more than 180 countries.

But lest you think the industry only employs distillers and tasters, I was amazed to learn on our three-day visit to Scotland that a huge amount is being created in the tourism and hospitality industry, including Diageo opening a major tourist attraction on Princes Street. Apparently, half the visitors haven’t tried Scotch before visiting –so it seems there is still plenty of growth potential.

Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future can be found on all platforms and at jobsofthefuture.co

AI bot is fascinating –but there’s no reason

CAN I QUOTE YOU ON THAT?

Elon Musk tells us what he really thinks (for once)

The S in ESG? It stands for Satanic

It was Davos last week, and one of the annual criticisms is of business leaders flying to the Swiss ski resort to then discuss the importance of net zero, so fair play to Steve Varley, the global vice chair of sustainability at EY, who at least took the last leg of the journey by train and posted stunning pictures on social, too. Varley is also a keen cyclist. Perhaps a group trip for the travelling great and good next year?

Carney’s net zero group defends banks’ financing

CHRIS DORRELL

ONLY seven per cent of global banks’ energy financing between 2016 and 2022 went towards renewable energy projects, according to new data, although Mark Carney’s net zero financial coalition has disputed the claim.

A report by a group of campaign groups, including Banktrack and Rainforest Action Network, indicates “major failings” by financial institutions to help meet global commitments on net zero emissions by 2050.

Of the $2.5 trillion in bank loans and bond underwriting for energy activities made out since 2016, only $178bn was directed towards renewable energy projects, the report said citing data from sustainability research firm Profundo.

The share of financing for renewables reached a high of ten per cent in 2021.

Last year, the figure was nine per cent.

Regarding individual banks, Citi and JP Morgan both put $181bn into energy companies between 2016 and 2022, but only two per cent went to renewable energy firms.

In the UK, data shows only two per

cent of Barclays’ financing of energy companies went towards renewable energy firms over the six year period. For HSBC, only five per cent of energy financing went towards green energy firms.

However, the figures were called into question by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, or GFANZ, led by former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney.

“The report does not provide a comprehensive view of clean energy investment,” a spokesperson for the group told City A.M.

“The report excludes 70 per cent of power generation companies, the bulk of which accounts for most of the world’s wind and solar power,” they said.

“Analysis by the IEA suggests that between 2021 and 2022 around 48 per cent of total energy investment went to low carbon energy supply. That would be impossible if GFANZ members weren’t financing the transition,” the spokesperson said.

JP Morgan declined to comment. Citi and HSBC were contacted for comment by City A.M.

Millions at risk if energy support package is cut in April, Utilita warns

NICHOLAS EARL

MILLIONS of Brits are at risk of being unable to pay their energy bills beyond April, unless the government maintains support packages for households at current levels, Utilita Energy has warned.

The firm’s chairman, Derek Lickorish, has written to business

secretary Grant Shapps, calling for the subsidies in the Energy Price Guarantee to be sustained for another 12 months in order to keep average energy bills sustained at £2,500 per year.

In the letter, seen by City A.M., Lickorish argued the extension would provide “insulation from the short-term price-shock” that is expected after support is reduced

in April.

If the support package is not maintained, millions of households would be left “even more financially vulnerable,” he wrote. Extending the scheme would “allow time for government and industry to work closely together to implement better targeted support for those who need it most” next winter, he added.

Ovo adds its voice to calls for a social tariff to help household bills

NICHOLAS EARL

OVO Energy has joined calls for a social tariff to help households grappling with record energy bills, as the government urges the industry to do more to support vulnerable energy users.

Raman Bhatia, chief executive of Ovo, told City A.M.: “Households have endured one of the worst economic shocks for a generation – and it’s critical we support them. We’re calling for a social tariff to help lower-income

and vulnerable households receive ongoing help with their energy bills.”

The Big Six supplier is in favour of targeted relief for energy users identified by the government, in the form of a long-term cap on bills.

Similar social tariffs already exist in other industries such as the mobile and broadband sectors.

Investec has also lent its support to the concept of social tariff, arguing it could help create “a supply market that works for all”.

OVO Energy has suggested that targeted relief will help its most vulnerable customers

An electric car revolution that could run out of power unless cost drops

YOUGOV data shows that, by 60 per cent to 24 per cent, British drivers are agreed that electric cars are the future of the motor industry.

Of course, “future” may be the operative word: Kia’s UK chief Paul Philpott recently suggested that affordable small electric cars were “not viable” due to the high cost of batteries, and that the company didn’t intend to bring mass market EVs to the nation’s showrooms just yet.

Looking at YouGov Profiles data on current electric car ownership shows that these vehicles are more likely to be

Stephan Shakespeare

owned by drivers with greater means.

When asked, a third say they are in a higher income bracket (33 per cent) compared to a fifth of British drivers (18 per cent). Two-fifths (42 per cent) bring in over £50,000 per year in gross house-

hold income – compared to just three in ten (29 per cent) drivers.

If Philpott is pessimistic about affordability, however, the most cited reason for buying a battery-powered vehicle among electric car owners is lower running costs: two in five (38 per cent) say this is a key

purchase motivation. For comparison, just three in ten (28 per cent) cite protecting the environment as a reason to buy.

So if the upfront price of an electric car is a hurdle – and it’s the most commonly chosen barrier to purchase among current drivers of electric cars (14 per cent) and British drivers overall (10 per cent) –those who can afford to make the jump may pay less in the long run.

Nevertheless, our data shows that nearly three in five drivers (57 per cent) and half of electric car owners (51 per cent) believe it “costs too much” to be green all the time. If prices cannot be reduced in the short term, emphasising the financial benefits of owning an electric car – after the initial outlay – may do more to incentivise drivers to “go electric” in a cost of living crisis than environmental arguments.

NUMBER CRUNCHING THG’s Matthew Moulding brings in new CFO Damian Sanders

Pub body goes to war with energy firms over bills

JACK MENDEL AND STAFF

BRITAIN’s leading pub body went to war with the country’s energy firms yesterday, accusing them of profiteering.

The British Beer and Pub Association said that it had received “countless examples” of “price hikes and poor practice” which have negated government efforts to put in place financial support for struggling businesses.

The trade body has written to Ofgem, the regulator, and to the chairs of two influential Westminster committees calling for an investigation.

The intervention came on the same day that another pub group warned of the impact of energy costs on its business.

The City Pub Group admitted the price it pays for energy “rose substantially” last year, but it hopes that a company-wide energy reduction drive and hedging 40 per cent of its energy costs will reduce the company’s energy bills by around 10 per cent over the coming year.

The group also said it had lost just shy

of £1m-worth of sales due to industrial action, a day after Fuller’s tagged their own missed revenues in the £4m region.

Another round of strike action is due next week.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom in the sector. Pub and hotel operator Marston’s has reported bumper sales over the Christmas period as Brits treated a pint as an “affordable treat”.

The historic London-

Britain’s pub body has complained to Ofgem about practices

listed firm said like-forlike sales were up 12.9 per cent on Omicron-affected 2022 for the 16 weeks to 21 January. The firm added it had successfully hedged energy prices across the year.

“Whilst we still have certain cost challenges to navigate in 2023, we are well-positioned to continue to progress our strategy and are encouraged by the level of consumer resilience experienced to date,” boss Andrew Andrea said.

E-COMMERCE giant THG has hired Damian Sanders as its new chief financial officer amid a recent slew of negative earning reports and a collapse in share price. Following a global search, the British firm has landed on Sanders as the replacement for John Gallemore.

Stephan Shakespeare is the co-founder and CEO of YouGov

CITY DASHBOARD

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

LONDON REPORT BEST OF THE BROKERS

Shell and BP losses drag London index below European rivals

LONDON’s FTSE 100 was left behind by its European rivals yesterday after it was driven lower by big oil megacaps taking a tumble and recession concerns returning to bite.

The capital’s premier index fell 0.35 per cent to 7,757.37 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, jumped 0.34 per cent to 19,869.34 points.

The FTSE 100’s losses put it at the back of the pile in European trading yesterday.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.20 per cent, while Germany’s Dax was pretty much flat.

France’s CAC 40 jumped around a fifth of a percentage point.

“Stocks across Europe edged higher on Tuesday though the FTSE 100 was left behind,” Neil Wilson, chief market

analyst at Finalto, said.

BP and Shell shed around one per cent yesterday and were trading at close to the bottom of the FTSE 100.

The pair represent a big share of the index, meaning movements in their share prices exert an influence on the FTSE 100’s direction.

Sentiment in London was also knocked by weaker than expected data on the health of the UK economy.

The latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from S&P Global found the services industry is now shrinking at the fastest rate in two years. The reading fell to 48 from 49.9, far below the 50 point threshold that separates growth and contraction. Manufacturing activity was better than expected.

But European PMIs were better than Britain’s. Germany’s services survey rose above the boom-bust threshold, as did France’s manufacturing data.

Despite predicting a shaky year for the wider advertising field, analysts at Peel Hunt are staying positive on M&C Saatchi with a suggestion of ‘buy (from hold)’. They do shave off predicted revenues by three per cent, to account for flat growth in advertising and CRM stemming from competition, but strong growth in specialism areas is a shiny silver lining. Peel Hunt gave the stock a target price of 247p.

VOLATILE BEHAVIOUR

Marston’s gets a ‘buy’ from Peel Hunt, with sales rising 4.5 per cent compared to the start of 2020 (pre-pandemic), all despite the wider pub sector experiencing zero growth. Factor in the warming weather, falling wholesale energy prices and slowing inflation, and Marston’s is well placed to lead the charge of the sector’s recovery. Peel Hunt gave the stock a target price of 75p.

MICHAEL HEWSON, CMC MARKETS

“The pound initially shrugged off the worst set of public sector borrowing numbers for December since records began, but is close to becoming the underperformer of the day. The UK borrowed £27.4bn with £17.3bn of that being due to interest payments on index linked gilts which are linked to the RPI index.

OPINION

The Met Police is a victim of the curse of incrementalism and endless inquiries

Rosie Beacon

ing geographies and thus how it no longer fits the 1970s policing formula.

ADAMNING culture is one thing, and damning statistics are another. Sadly, both of these things now co-exist in the Metropolitan Police: an organisation we rely on for basic safety. If it wasn’t clear before, it certainly is now, that policing is at an inflection point.

It is no secret that public confidence in the police is declining. Some of this relates to the recent high-profile scandals, involving serving officers committing some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, which have certainly undermined police legitimacy.

But it also relates to concerns about the police’s competence and whether they are fulfilling their core functions effectively.

Turning this around requires comprehensive change. And if they struggle to get the foundations right – like recruitment and vetting – how are they supposed to get the complexities right – like responding to how technology and social change are fundamentally altering crime? As crime evolves, so too should the police. This is not merely a by-product of underfunding and austerity: the truth is that we are still applying a 1974 model of policing to the issues of 2023.

Inevitably, there are always political limitations to this kind of reformist desire. Mostly because basic reform, let alone radical reform, relies on political (and financial) capital. In other words, it relies on enough political security to overcome aggrieved stakeholders, whether that be local politicians, the media or the police force itself.

Therefore inconsistency in governments, their majorities and their priorities leads to a curse of incrementalism in public policy. Lots of commissions, lots of recommendations, much less actual change.

When it comes to the evolution of

crime, interestingly “traditional crimes”, such as burglary and car theft, have actually fallen significantly since the mid-1990s, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Between 1995 and 2021, theft fell by 75 per cent and domestic burglary 81 per cent.

But unfortunately there are multiple qualifications to this. Overall “traditional crime” has ostensibly reduced, but so too has our ability to investigate and prosecute. In the year to March 2021, only 5.6 per cent of all recorded police crime resulted in a charge or summons, compared to 17 per cent

in 2014.

And this “traditional crime” data notably does not include data on fraud and computer misuse. Needless to say that unfortunately fraud and cyber crime are enormous issues. So enormous in fact that fraud now makes up for an astonishing 40 per cent of crime, and with that included, the totality of crime is now substantially higher than in 1995. To nobody’s surprise, this also has a remarkably low rate of cases assigned an outcome, at just 4.9 per cent.

Fraud is the perfect case study in how crime is evolving, how crime is increasingly dislocated from traditional polic-

The internet means crime is not confined by local or even national boundaries, it is technically complex, anonymous and it evolves quickly. Fraud is also not the only internet based crime – the sexual abuse of children has been transformed by the internet. And it doesn’t even need to be an internet based crime to confound the 43 force structure – organised crime is another example.

There is of course, still a vast role for local policing. Neighbourhood police teams – a key innovation of the last Labour government - are essential for gaining the trust of local communities from which so much intelligence is derived. And they are able to collaborate much more effectively with say, the NHS and local government for cases that may involve mental health crises.

But it ought to be possible to combine effective neighbourhood policing with a serious response to crimes which cross territorial borders, such as fraud and organised crime. Better centralisation and better localisation in policing can co-exist and be mutually reinforcing.

Our policing model was created nearly 50 years ago – police are local but a lot of crime is the opposite. Everything from policing culture to effectiveness to the changing nature of crime suggests that incremental tweaks to our policing model are insufficient. If we do not challenge how policing works now, then will we ever?

£ Rosie Beacon is a senior analyst at the Tony Blair Institute

WE MAY have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both, wrote Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, author of The Curse of Bigness. Big government. Big Tech. Big Pharma. The Big Six. Fear of big things is as predictable as overpaying for a (big) black cab.

It’s why the phrase “too big to fail” inspired such fear when it was used by US Congressman Stewart McKinney to justify the seizure of Continental Illinois, one of the largest American commercial banks in the 1980s, following its insolvency and subsequent bank run in May 1984.

And then came 2008, which was Continental Illinois on crack, roughly seven times the failure of the Chicago bank, and led many economists, including former chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan to conclude “if it’s too big to fail, it’s too big”.

This same theory has been the driving force behind efforts to break up big tech, which despite the lessons of

We’re instinctively afraid of Big Things, but we don’t need to break up the Home Office

2008, was still allowed to become incredible behemoths.

In British politics, this fear of the Big runs deep.

Whenever a scandal is unearthed over immigration policy, like the 200 asylum-seeking children missing from Home Office run hotels, or at the Metropolitan Police, like the murder of Sarah Everard, or the crimes of David Carrick, the air in Westminster is filled with cries to break up the Home Office.

It’s simply too big, say serving staff and veterans of the Home Office.

There are different models for breaking it up, some involve three different departments, some two, all with socalled joint ministers who work in between them, tying the splintered Whitehall bodies together with a spindly web.

Thankfully, the Cabinet room can’t swell much bigger thanks to laws cap-

ping the number of Secretaries of State at 21.

This also means if you create new departments, you have to get rid of another and transfer its remit elsewhere. In other words, to make one smaller, you must make another bigger.

It’s also not clear the characteristic of Being Big is the Home Office’s main problem. A report for the Adam Smith Institute diagnosed a litany of troubles at 2 Marsham Street. This included a lack of political staff and advisers, few junior ministers able to make decisions, a lack of accountability at the lower rungs and, as a result, a Secretary of State terrified to lose their job and micromanaging to the detriment of any policy brief not at the front of the Prime Minister’s mind (such as the inability to deal with the Metropolitan Police while focussing - and failing - on small boats crossings).

None of these problems are in them-

selves a result of their size. You could appoint more political staff to the Home Office relatively easily, you could foist more responsibility on junior ministers by putting them out in front of the camera more often, and you could force them to answer ministerial questions when there are cock ups, such as David Carrick.

Instead, we demand the Home Secretary and we often get a politician overstretched and badly briefed. There is a separate question of whether we want the most senior person, or the person who should’ve been all over it. But it is a pattern which entrenches the Home Office dilemma. Had Suella Braverman not made a statement on David Carrick, Labour would have accused her of not caring about women subject to heinous abuse by the police.

Big Departments can actually be good things. When the Department for Work and Pensions was created

under Tony Blair in 2001, it merged the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.

Creating one organisation meant there was only one place people needed to go if they needed information on benefits or support back into work. It has stood the test of time and has been responsible for ensuring those most financially vulnerable have received the support they need during the pandemic and the energy crisis.

In Big Tech too we fear bigness and efforts to regulate it often falter as we try to break it up. Ironically, of course, the Online Safety Bill is a piece of legislation monumental in size.

When the Competition and Markets Authority blocked Meta from buying Giphy, it rested on arguments of “anticompetitiveness”. In truth, what the watchdog was saying is: it's too big and we’re loath to let it become any bigger.

As if preventing Mark Zuckerberg from buying gifs would somehow deal with its problems of transparency, data privacy and toxic algorithms.

The Home Office is too big to fail, and yet it has failed time and time again. Ditto with Big Tech. Too often, simply fearing what is big is a cop out for dealing with the problems inside of the system.

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley has promised to turn the force around in two years

Sascha

LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR

I’m a fintech girl in a fintech world

[Re: A recession will end the era of free money and tip the scales back to the Big Banks, yesterday]

Nick Parminter in your newspaper yesterday said “the power has shifted back to big banks... (with) big problems as well as big problems.”

It may be true that many fintech firms will go to the wall during the recession as a result of not having an abundance of investors flocking to their next venture, but that is the natural life cycle of the business world.

There will also be a handful of fintech firms who survive and having weathered the storm of a recession will be all the stronger for it and - this is the important bit - this will make them even more challenging rivals for the traditional banks.

It’s true, the confidence of youth is often at the expense of experience. But if those firms whose culture epitomises the confidence of the fintech bubble then gain the experience of difficult economic waters, and if they are able to keep their confidence in the face of that, they will be more able to challenge the hesitance of the banks whose hesitence means they don’t spent on innovation in the good times.

Elizabeth Terrance

Rishi Sunak’s strategy of quiet governance won’t deliver an election victory

Paul Ormerod

ONE of the prayers in the 1662 Anglican Prayer Book entreats that we be “godly and quietly governed”. In other words, government should not just be reasonable and morally upright, there should also not be too much of it.

Rishi Sunak appears to have taken this to heart, or at least the “quiet” bit, given the scandals which keep emerging around leading members of the Conservative Party.

After the frenzy of the short-lived Liz Truss regime, this is perfectly understandable. But does it actually enhance the prospects of the Tories at the next general election?

At first sight the answer would seem to be “yes”. Almost anything would be better, in terms of winning votes, than the chaos under Liz Truss.

But when examined under the lens of the so-called “peak-end rule”, Sunak’s quiet strategy looks much less promising.

Thirty years ago, the Nobel prize win-

A VERY GERMAN STALEMATE ON TANKS

You don’t need to be a defence expert to know something is up with Germany and tanks. The German government has once again refused to commit to sending tanks to Ukraine –attracting further criticisms from its international allies. The pressure on Germany has been piling up over the past few months, as allies push the government to send its Leopold 2 tanks to Ukraine or at least to allow other countries to export them. Britain authorised 14 Challenger tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

Germany’s reluctance risks creating fractions in a coalition of Ukraine-supporting countries that has so far been incredibly cohesive. The Polish prime minister has already said that if Germany doesn’t take a decision soon, he’s ready to lead a “small coalition” of countries that would send Leopold 2 tanks regardless of their ally’s final call on the matter. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have vocally issued a joint statement urging Germany to go ahead and send the tanks.

ELENA SINISCALCO

ning economist and top psychologist Daniel Kahneman theorised that people judge an experience not by some average over its entire length. Rather, their view is formed much more by how they felt at its most intense point - the peak - and at its end.

Kahneman and colleagues produced an impressive series of experiments in support of his proposition, and it always seemed to hold regardless of whether the experience was good or bad.

Like virtually everything in psychology, the theory has attracted criticism. But over the years, a substantial number of studies have come out with further evidence in its favour.

If the choices of the electorate are influenced by this rule, then a period of

quiescence is not what is needed. The Truss interregnum was such an unpleasant peak that something really positive towards the end of the government’s term of office will be needed to even try to offset it.

Going way back, in 1956 the then Conservative government caused what was widely perceived as national humiliation at Suez. British and French forces had invaded Egypt to secure access to the Suez canal, which was being threatened by a new Egypt government. Within days, the United States gave both countries a dressing down, and they were compelled to withdraw.

But the economy flourished at the end of the 1950s, with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan coming up with his famous phrase “you’ve never had it so good”. At the 1959 election, the Tories won an increased majority.

In 1992, John Major secured what was an unexpected albeit narrow Conservative majority, despite the mild recession of 1991 and 1992. However, the huge economic boom, created by Chancellor Nigel Lawson in the late

1980s, with tax cuts galore, influenced the voters even more.

Things didn't work out so well either for Labour in the 1960s or the Tories in the 1990s. At the end of their terms, the economy was growing strongly and living standards soared. But both governments were severely tainted by previous very negative experiences.

In 1967, Labour had been forced to devalue the pound – fixed exchange rates then existed. Prime Minister Harold Wilson attracted widespread ridicule for the phrase “the pound in your pocket has not been devalued” in a televised address to the nation. And in late 1992 the UK was summarily ejected from the precursor of the Euro, the ERM. The Conservative reputation for economic competence was thoroughly trashed.

In short, Sunak needs to be doing something rather than just hanging on hoping the voters will forget, because history says they won’t.

£ Paul Ormerod is an author and economist at Volterra Partners LLP

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The Truss interregnum was so unpleasant, Sunak will need real positivity to offset it

WE

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF:

Rishi Sunak has attempted to keep a low profile since being made Prime Minister

A

SWIFT END Ticketmaster admits mistakes over Taylor Swift US tour

LIFE&STYLE

WINE-DOWN WEDNESDAY

SUNDAYmarked Chinese New Year, an excellent reason to sample some of the country’s incredible wines. Despite making wine for over 2,000 years, it is only relatively recently that winemaking has increased and started filtering into the UK’s market.

“Wine is becoming popular because younger people are more influenced by Western tastes, and grape wine made in the Western style is a growing trend,” says Janet Wang, author of The Chinese Wine Renaissance. “Now Chinese wines are also starting to be exported because Chinese producers want to showcase their wines to an international audience, especially since 2012 when [they] started to win top prizes in international competitions”.

China’s terroir is varied and unique, allowing a range of wines to be created, with red wine dominating production and consumption. The expanse of the Loess Plateau, with altitudes of over 1,200 metres above sea level near the Gobi Desert, is a “very exciting new frontier for the world of wine,” says Wang.

Within this is the notable region of Ningxia, hailed as the Bordeaux of China and “the Eldorado of China’s top reds,” according to Lenz Moser, winemaker for Changyu Moser XV.

China is one of the largest wine producers in the world, says Moser, highlighting the industry’s speed of growth and “hunger for premium wines”.

“In a blind tasting in Zurich two years ago, our icon wine ‘Purple Air Comes From The East’ ranked fifth amongst such well-known stars as Château Pon-

COM

For those diligently sticking to Dry January, try this still Airen Blanco where the wine has been de-alcoholised to under 0.5% and is less than 45 calories a glass. It may not fool you into thinking there is booze, but it is a tasty alternative.

Wine without the snobbery, by Libby Brodie

CHINESE WINE IS HOT RIGHT NOW

tet Canet and Seña, but nobody expects top wines from China,” says Moser.

Effi Tsournava of The Royal Exchange’s Oeno House says that Chinese New Year and #TryJanuary have meant more consumers have been keen to give wine from China a whirl.

Sipping their Silver Heights ‘The Summit’ 2017 (£71 Oeno House), I was impressed by its bold elegance and unfolding, enticing complexity, a key feature of premium Chinese wines.

“Our guests’ eyes light up when we suggest a biodynamic Bordeaux blend from Ningxia, this element of surprise is certainly an alluring factor and we are delighted to see a growing number of wine-lovers keen to treat their tastebuds to new wines and explore new regions,” says Tsournava. “As Chinese wine’s quality, individuality and world-wide reputation are steadily growing, these are good earlyinvestment opportunities.”

As the Chinese usually drink wine in a banquet scenario, Chinese wines tend to be “food friendly and compliment a wide variety of food”, says Wang. “The wines need to be versatile and accommodating to lots of different dishes. Chinese wines tend to be fruit forward, approachable when young, and well balanced since balance is a very important concept in China, and within its own food and wine culture”.

If you want to try pairing for yourself then the Pan Pacific Hotel offers the largest, most extensive list of Chinese wine in London. I had the pleasure of trying it for myself this week as you can see from today’s Dining Diary.

JOURNEY’S END THE GRIFFIN SYRAH 2016 £26

CHATEAU QUINTUS 2016 £110

MILLESIMA.COM

treat.

Syrah (the same grape as Shiraz) from sunny South Africa, this bursts open with crushed violet petals and bright cherries before melting into a rich, smooth red that lingers on the palate. A new mid-week staple for me. Delicious.

The fifth property owned by the Domaine Clarence Dillon group, along with Châteaux Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion. This classic, excellently made Saint-Emilion Grand Cru is balanced, graceful and precise.

PAN PACIFIC’S STRAITS KITCHEN HAS GREAT CHINESE WINE

IF YOUare looking to explore Chinese wine then there is nowhere better than Straits Kitchen, in the central city-chic Pan Pacific Hotel.

Sommelier Francois Bertrand is passionate about providing wines to fit their Asian menu, believing the variety and quality from China will surprise and delight.

What unfolded over the course of the afternoon only proved his point, starting with Chateau Sungod’s Blanc de Blancs 2006, a traditional method sparkling wine from Hebei that was opulent, rich and nutty yet still retained a vibrant freshness. Bertrand took us on a journey, aided by Manager Viola Cerri.

We sipped Pretty Pony Riesling, a wine that was accurately described as

DINING DIARY

“addictive”, over summer rolls enlivened by the addition of fresh strawberries and chicken satay. My guest asked for a pot to take home. A small glass of yellow wine tasted like the love child of sake and sherry and held its own against a cup of warm chicken broth before we dove into delicious mains of seafood rice noodles, a perfectly succulent baked

black cod and a duck salad whose simple presentation belied its captivating, rich flavours of the savoury meat dotted with sweet lychees.

We glugged Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon, made by Lenz Moser, who I had just interviewed and who Bertrand described as an “excellent winemaker, just try and see for yourself”.

The finale was an Icewine, always a treat especially as only 4 countries can actually make it, needing as it does a harvest temperature of below 10 degrees. This was pure joy with the “Apple” dessert, an absolute mustorder for anyone visiting Straits Kitchen – which I thoroughly urge everyone to do.

DRUNK IN LOVE: THE INSIDE SCOOP ON BEYONCE’S MEGA GIG IN DUBAI

into existence, a kind of Alice in Wonderland version of American mall culture, filled with the most exclusive brands and expensive restaurants.

On its own terms, there’s no greater expression of mankind’s bravado and ambition at the end of the 20th century, a role New York served in its formative decades. It’s a metropolis dropped in a desert, a money-is-no-object playground for the super-rich, where architects routinely probe the limits of both physics and good taste.

There are two types of people in the world. The people that are in Dubai right now. And us.” So went the meme, shared tens of millions of times across the world this weekend.

The occasion – as if you haven’t already heard – was the launch of a self-described “icon”, the Atlantis The Royal hotel in Dubai, a $1.4bn monument to excess built over eight years on a strip of land dragged up from the sea itself like some parable from the bible.

And who better to launch an icon than the biggest icon of them all, Queen Bey, the world’s most bankable megastar, who hasn’t played a gig since 2018. In attendance, just 1,500 celebrities, influencers, some royalty, and a handful of journalists.

Debate has raged over whether Beyonce should have been there at all. A vocal supporter of the LGBT community, it’s been suggested that a lavish gig in a country where homosexuality is illegal sends a strange message. She’s said to have earned $24m for her hourlong performance, which might be the most ever paid to a musician for a single concert. Everyone has a price.

“This is your ticket for the weekend,” a smiling hotel worker said as he handed me a specially commissioned pleated bangle flanked by stones that “represent wind and water”.

“If you lose it, no Beyonce.”

The next few hours went by in a blur of canapes and Moet. Daylight existed to be ticked off, spent, killed. Get a haircut, throw yourself down the flumes, record some content for the Gram.

When darkness fell, the chosen few were funnelled out into the cool Arabian night. Beyonce emerged on a plinth a mere 30 ft away, belting out Etta James’ At Last. She followed up with the hits: Halo, Ave Maria, Beautiful Liar, XO, Crazy in Love, the first live performance of Brown Skin Girl, alongside her daughter Blue Ivy.

We had all been told in no uncertain terms that recording was banned, our phones sealed up in little cases before the show, and a bouncer the size of Mike Tyson roamed the crowd, pouncing on anyone who brought one out, only for two more to flash into life behind him, an unwinnable game of whack-a-mole.

Singing, screaming and occasionally weeping beside me were influencers and models and minor celebs, all clad in outrageous eveningwear. A terrible man in a diamond-studded shirt claimed he starred in the Netflix show Dubai Bling. A woman in a cocktail dress said she worked in real estate, while a group of loud English blokes had the unmistakable air of

hedge fund managers. There was a strong queer presence, too, unsurprising given anti-gay laws are rarely enforced in the resorts, but it all added to the confused messaging.

Everyone agreed they were watching something special. There were costume changes, a troupe of Lebanese dancers, fire-spinners. It ended with

Beyonce being lifted into the air over a fire-spewing fountain as she sang Drunk in Love. She’s still got it. It’s hard to say if they got their money’s worth ($24m?) but they got Beyonce on spectacular form.

Following the gig, more fireworks than I’d ever seen filled the sky with explosions. This joyous, unabashed dis-

play of wealth is incredibly on brand for a city that prides itself on going bigger and higher than anyone has gone before.

Once a dusty, unremarkable port on the Persian gulf, Dubai found itself flush with unimaginable wealth when it struck oil in 1966. The city we know today wasn’t so much built as willed

At the centre of it all is the Burj Khalifa, a skinny middle finger to western hegemony that hasn’t been topped since it was completed in 2010, and may never be.

Atlantis The Royal doesn’t soar particularly high – at a mere 43 storeys, it sprawls louchely across the apex of the man-made Palm like a curvaceous stack of Jenga blocks. It’s impossible to quantify what $1.4bn looks like, but you can see where it went.

It exists somewhere between impossible opulence and pornographic excess, impressing you almost against your will, your lizard brain cooing at the lights and shapes and sheer scale of it before your more rational part has had time to form an opinion.

You enter beneath a canopy of gold sculptures, pass a fountain belching both fire and water, and arrive in a

vast, aquarium-lined atrium. At the centre is a series of huge, polished metal blobs cascading from the ceiling like a drop of sweat from the brow of God himself.

Beyond is marble as far as the eye can see, every surface so highly polished it becomes indistinguishable from the channels of water that run throughout the hotel (I know at least one person who fell in). Outside, Jay-Z was playing backgammon beside an empty pool circled by half a dozen lifeguards. After the gig, he and Beyonce would retire to the Royal Suite, the most expensive in the world, costing a reported $142,000 a night (presumably Bey got a discount).

“Thank you for being a part of this iconic event,” read the note slipped under my door on the final morning.

And it did feel iconic, like the whole world was watching this improbable gig performed to a tiny number of people for an absurd amount of money. Should she have done it? Should we all have watched? I’m not sure – but it was one hell of a show.

It’s the most hyped launch in years. Steve Dinneen went to the Atlantis The Royal opening party

A bouncer roamed the crowd, pouncing on anyone who brought out a phone, only for two more to flash into life behind him

Beyonce at her first gig since 2018 at Atlantis The Royal in Dubai. Below from left: The fountain in Atlantis The Royal; The hotel exterior

SPORT

FEARS OVER BILLIE JEAN KING CUP DEAL

By

THE INTERNATIONAL Tennis Federation is in talks with private investors over a major new partnership to revamp the Billie Jean King Cup just weeks after the embarrassing demise of a similar deal for the Davis Cup, City A.M. has learned.

And the move has sparked serious concerns, with some insiders demanding greater transparency and scrutiny around any investment in the Billie Jean King Cup – formerly the Fed Cup – before contracts are signed.

There are also calls for ITF president David Haggerty to step aside and allow an investigation into the signing and premature dissolution of the $3bn Davis Cup deal with Kosmos, the investment vehicle of former footballer Gerard Pique.

“Let’s scrutinise and be very careful with the upcoming Fed Cup deal,” an individual with knowledge of the confidential talks told City A.M. “There is no free lunch.”

The deal being discussed for the Billie Jean King Cup, the women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup, is understood to be with a US investor.

That proposal is believed to be for the ITF to receive a large cash advance in the form of a loan which would be repaid at an interest rate of around five per cent.

The tennis body, whose international team competitions are among its biggest cash generators, would retain a majority shareholding of around 60 per cent in the competition’s commercial rights, with the investors taking the remainder.

But some senior figures at the ITF fear that the cash-strapped organisation could be about to repeat the mistakes of the Kosmos deal, which was heralded as a 25-year contract but abandoned after less than five years earlier this month.

They feel that the ITF leadership should have allowed its member nations greater opportunity to review the terms of the arrangement with Pique and Kosmos, which was backed by Hi-

Sources point out that, in a significant development just months earlier, the ITF amended its statutes to give the board the power to make key decisions about the Davis Cup and Fed Cup, as it was then known, without an AGM.

Kosmos was contracted to pay the ITF $120m a year but that was reduced during the pandemic and recent attempts to renegotiate the terms resulted in the deal’s termination. Questions still surround this year’s competition.

The fiasco has raised questions for Haggerty, who was elected president of the ITF in 2015 and is up for re-election

Former Lions captain Warburton backs Farrell to coach 2025 tour

MATT HARDY

FORMER Wales

The Welshman has played under Farrell on previous Lions tours, which in recent years have been coached by returning Wales boss Warren Gatland.

“I think Andy would be great. He would likely be the frontrunner,” Warburton, speaking on behalf of Sage, said. “Whether he wants to or not I don't know, but he would be a

phenomenal Lions coach.

“We respected him that much. He would have been amazing to play with. He understands the Lions concept.

“We would have team meetings on a Tuesday, walk out and the boys would look at each other and be like ‘I’m ready to go now’.

“He would get you to an emotional level that not many coaches can get you to. Anything he is asking you to do, he would do himself one hundred times over.

“He’s a really good guy, that goes a long way. He’s an outstanding candidate.”

this year. He also presided over a failed attempt to take over the running of fast-growing racquet sport padel last year.

German Tennis Association chief Dietloff von Arnim, who is set to stand against Haggerty in September, said last week: “There are so many questions for all associations worldwide that we are not being answered at the moment.”

The ITF said it couldn’t comment on speculation around the Billie Jean King Cup talks but defended its record on governance and transparency.

“The ITF operates on behalf of its 213 national members and is governed by

an ITF Board of Directors. When making any decision in its remit, the Board has regard to stakeholder views, as well as internal and external professional analysis,” said a spokesperson.

“We have well-established routes of consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including national and regional associations, ITF Committees and Commissions formed of a Board member and relevant experts, the professional tours and players, as necessary according to the topic.

“The ITF is committed to transparency as part of good governance and publishes its financial statements and annual reports online.”

Khachanov embroiled in political row over Artsakh

“stay

The

Artsakh, which is also known as the

ically

Khachanov, who reached the semi-finals in Melbourne yesterday, has an Armenian father and has called for Artsakh’s mostly ethnic Armenians to

“a

But Khachanov, who advanced to the last four in Australia after opponent Sebastian Korda retired injured while two sets and a break down, said: “I have Armenian roots.”

The 26-year-old added: “From my father’s side, from my grandfather’s side, even from my mom’s side.

“I’m half Armenian. To be honest, I don’t want to go deeper than that, and I just wanted to show strength and support to my people. That’s it.”

roshi Mikitani, the chairman of Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.

The move has sparked concerns and calls for ITF president David Haggerty to step aside

EXCLUSIVE: ITF in talks with private investors despite Davis Cup fiasco.

Frank Dalleres

TENNIS

RUGBY UNION

FRANK DALLERES

RUSSIAN tennis player Karen Khachanov has defended his conduct at the Australian Open after becoming embroiled in a political row by expressing support for the disputed region of Artsakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, is histor-

part of Armenia but now internationally recognised as belonging to Azerbaijan and currently the subject of a blockade.

strong” in messages that he scribbled onto on television cameras.

Azerbaijan Tennis Federation has called his messages “provocation” and

hateful act” in a letter of complaint to tennis chiefs.

and British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton has backed Ireland head coach Andy Farrell to be in charge of the famous rugby touring side when they head to Australia in 2025.

Wimbledon outcasts shining Down Under

RUSSIAN tennis star Andrey Rublev will be one step closer to a maiden Grand Slam should he overcome Australian Open favourite Novak Djokovic this morning Down Under.

The player – currently banned from competing at Wimbledon because of his nationality – has been in fine form in Melbourne thus far.

The 25-year-old Muscovite has beaten the likes of Dominic Thiem, Briton Dan Evans and Holger Rune on his way to the last eight. But in today’s match against Djokovic, Rublev will face his sternest test.

Because the former world No1 is on the hunt for his 10th Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam.

And despite his hamstring appearing to bother him slightly in his win against Alex de Minaur, the Serbian is on fire at the moment.

Rublev is going to need everything he has got to have a chance against his opponent on the Rod Laver Arena this morning, but he will back himself.

If you were to use the pair’s previous meetings, it doesn’t look too good for the Russian, however.

The two have played each other on three occasions, twice on indoor hard courts – like the Australian Open courts – and once on clay.

Both indoor matches were won by Djokovic in straight sets while the clay clash was won by Rubvlev in three sets.

The two may be separated by one place in the pre-tournament seedings but Djokovic will be a huge favourite this morning.

Elsewhere in Melbourne, the women’s semi-finals commence tomorrow with the pick of them Wimbledon champion and Russian-born Elena Rybakina’s clash with Victoria Azarenka – who, like Rublev, is currently banned from Wimbledon due to her nationality. The duo are 22nd and 24th seeds respectively but have been in astonishing form.

The Kazakhstani, born in Moscow, has dropped just one set on her way to the semi-finals while Azarenka has dropped two. Should the Belarusian go on to win the title on Saturday, it will be on the 10th anniversary of her last Grand Slam win – in the same location in 2013. It would be an astonishing

achievement for the 33-year-old and polar opposite to her opponent tomorrow. Rybakina, just 23, made the semifinals last year before winning at Wimbledon against Ons Jabeur. She could have another decade left on the circuit, as could fellow Moscow native Rublev, but the duo will come up against stiff, experienced competition today and tomorrow in matches that could define their careers.

It’s ironic that as tennis is searching for the next big thing, those who have been around for a decade continue to be in the mix. It’s testament to the catching up the youth must do to put their foot through the door – albeit Rybakina has a slam to her name.

South Africa present England with first challenge of 2023, writes Matt Hardy

IT’S YET another World Cup year and English international cricket returns on Friday when Jos Buttler’s side take on South Africa in a trio of one-day matches on the African continent.

England are the best one-day team in the world and begin their preparations for this year’s Cricket World Cup – held in India in October – this week.

As defending champions, England under Matthew Mott are playing their first limited overs series since adding the Twenty20 World Cup to their collection last year.

The two sides will compete in Bloemfontein for the opening two fixtures before travelling to Kimberley for the potential decider.

Between now and the World Cup –which England are defending after their dramatic Super Over win against New Zealand in 2019 – they will play South Africa three times, thrice against Bangladesh, four times against New Zealand and three times against Ireland.

There is, then, a lot of time against a variety of opposition for England to finesse their game plan before they head into a tough tournament on very difficult pitches.

DOMESTIC SUCCESS

But in a move that seems extremely well thought out to be one promoted by the current England and Wales Cricket Board, a number of the England squad have been down in South Africa for a couple of weeks.

The likes of Buttler, Jofra Archer and Harry Brook are competing in the new domestic SA20 competition – in which all sides are owned by IPL franchises.

Archer returned to competitive cricket for the first time since 2021 and has already been impressive in terms of his placement, wicket taking and bowling speed.

English duo Butter and Will Jacks currently top the run stats in South Africa while Phil Salt also makes the top 10.

Adil Rashid’s nine wickets puts him in the top 10 of bowlers, too, with Archer 12th.

It appears that England players are al-

ODI TEAM BACK AT IT

ready enjoying the conditions in which they’ll soon be playing international cricket – and that’s something we can expect to see from the likes of Stokes and Archer in spring’s IPL, too.

Head coach Mott has time to tinker with his squad ahead of the World Cup, and he is likely to do just that.

WORLD CUP DREAM

It’ll be little surprise to see a bit of movement in the squad between each ODI, enough to try combinations and options without altering the overarching game plan, across the next week.

The thing is, like every World Cup cycle, it doesn’t matter how many times you lose in the build-up if you win the prize event, so the pressure is off England – and that’s the way they

will like it.

The Test team has shown how an enjoyable atmosphere can generate great cricket, and the limited overs side will

Djokovic: 35

be keen to continue in that vein.

Of the 66 matches the two sides have played against each other, South Africa have won 29 and England have won 31.

England have won nine ODI games in South Africa while South Africa have beaten the tourists 17 times at home.

England haven’t won a one-day series in South Africa since 2009-10, when they triumphed 2-1 in a five-match series, but the last time England toured the country the two sides drew.

England may have players performing well in South African domestic leagues and will be looking to build on their limited overs World Cup success last year, but the home side are a different beast on the global stage, and they shouldn’t be underestimated by a confident England.

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