Thursday 23 March 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

SUCCESSION OUR VERDICT ON THE FINAL SERIES OF THE SMASH HBO HIT P23

FED STAYS THE COURSE WITH HIKE

MARK KLEINMAN

THE COLUMN THAT GETS THE CITY

TALKING P8

THE US Federal Reserve yesterday looked past the ongoing wobbles in the global banking system and hiked interest rates for the ninth time in a row, extending its aggressive fight against inflation.

Chair Jerome Powell and the rest of the federal open market committee (FOMC) bumped the world’s most important interest rate 25 basis points higher to a range of 4.75 per cent and five per cent.

The move signals the Fed is more concerned about stopping inflation from sticking around than easing pressure on the global banking network that has seen Credit Suisse, one of the oldest financial institutions, sold off to

its main rival UBS in a shotgun marriage over the weekend.

US inflation has been steadily falling since its summer peak of more than nine per cent and is now running at 6.4 per cent, although core inflation remains stubbornly high, luring the Fed into its latest hike.

The inflation fight still has a “long way to go and is likely to be bumpy,”

Powell said.

However, as a result of the banking volatility tightening credit conditions, thereby doing some of the Fed’s work, Powell said “ongoing” rate increases will no longer be necessary, although “some additional policy firming”

Powell and co’s resolve to keep inflation down sets the

scene for Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and his team of rate setters, who will announce their rate decision at midday today.

EYES TURN TO BAILEY AFTER STATESIDE RATE HIKE A HAIR-RAISING EXPERIENCE Former PM defends gatherings

Markets reckon the monetary policy committee (MPC) will also kick UK interest rates 25 basis points higher to a post-financial crisis high of 4.25 per cent.

Such a move would mark the eleventh time in a row the MPC has tightened policy, but would be a climb down from a series of at least 50 point increases.

Numbers out from the Office for National Statistics yesterday showed UK inflation is running at 10.4 per cent, above the Bank of England and City’s expectations and the highest in the rich world.

Core inflation –a more accurate measure of underlying price pressure –jumped to more than six per cent, while food prices rose by more than 18 per cent over the last year.

A DEFIANT Boris Johnson yesterday insisted he “did not lie to the House” and claimed a boozy leaving do was “essential for work” in a fiery evidence session set to determine his political future.

Johnson underwent a fierce grilling in parliament yesterday as MPs aimed to decide if he misled, intentionally or recklessly, the Commons over the partygate saga.

The former prime minister said he was “misremembering” when he said

rules had always been followed and called the inquiry “manifestly unfair”, even displaying flashes of anger. After taking a Bible oath, he swore to MPs: “I am here to say to you, hand on heart, that I did not lie to the House.”

Raising a toast surrounded by alcohol at a leaving do for communications chief Lee Cain was, he said, “not only reasonably necessary but it was essential for work purposes”

£ FULL REPORT ON PAGE 11

City brokers Finncap and Cenkos Securities set to merge in all-share deal

ANNA MOLONEY

RIVAL brokers Finncap and Cenkos

Securities are reportedly in advanced talks to merge in an allshare deal that could be announced as soon as this morning.

If it goes ahead, the tie-up, first reported by Sky News’ Mark

Kleinman late last night, could create the City’s biggest dedicated investment bank for small-cap growth companies. The tie-up comes amid a challenging backdrop for City brokers, with a widespread slump in capital markets hammering profits throughout the sector.

Cenkos recently reported a £2.24m loss for the full-year, down from a £3.4m profit a year ago, while Finncap swung to a £2.59m half-year loss in December as flotations dried up.

The share price of both Londonlisted brokers have suffered accordingly, with shares in Finncap

and Cenkos falling 59 per cent and 49 per cent over the last year respectively.

Finncap, with a market capitalisation of £21m, will acquire Cenkos Securities, worth £22m, Sky News understands.

The news comes months after fellow City broker Panmure Gordon

abandoned a bid for Finncap due to an inability to reach a price agreement.

Finncap and Cenkos Securities were not immediately available for comment when contacted by City A.M.

£ KLEINMAN’S TAKE: PAGE 8

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

JACK BARNETT

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

The business message matters more than ever as do the optics

ONE of Boris Johnson's half-admissions

yesterday was that the ‘optics’ of the lockdown gatherings at Downing Street weren’t great. He’s right: hence the widespread national anger, frustration and sense of crushing betrayal.

‘The optics’ is one of those phrases that has moved from our PR-centric political world to that of the wider business environment. It’s used almost as

THE CITY VIEW

a defence –we’re not doing anything wrong, guv’, but I suppose it looks a bit off. Well, the optics are the optics for a reason. Take the size of the bonus dished out to British Gas boss Chris O’Shea, which tots up at more than £4m. Now, of all

people, O’Shea is certainly aware of the ‘optics’ –after all, he inexplicably did a Sunday Times photoshoot wearing a T-shirt that said ‘make tea not war’ as if he was too much the modern boss to deign to put a collar on. Quite what message he was trying to send then remains unclear, but the message the bonus sends to the customers of British Gas, like the ones who were broken into by debt collectors in order to have pre-

UBS to benefit from Credit Suisse deal as dust settles on dramatic acquisition

CHRIS DORRELL

ANALYSTS yesterday were increasingly convinced that UBS’ acquisition of Credit Suisse had the potential to create long-term value for the newly merged entity.

Bank of America’s Alastair Ryan said: “The industrial logic is impeccable: Credit Suisse was the closest competitor to UBS in wealth management and Switzerland; and both banks are heavy in Swiss central costs.

“Being next door to one another, cost synergies could be substantial,” Ryan concluded.

Bloomberg Intelligence’s Alison Williams pointed out that the guardrails in the deal offered financial security to UBS.

“The significant financial protections baked into UBS’ acquisition of Credit Suisse bolster the case for longterm success, and this may increasingly gain investor focus as details continue to unfold,” she said.

In order to get the deal across the line, the Swiss authorities provided UBS with insurance in the form of a close to £8bn loss guarantee on a clearly defined part of Credit Suisse’s portfolio.

payment meters fitted, is fairly clear: it’s two words, and starts with an F.

O’Shea may well be a very good people person and a fine manager of a business that has had to navigate an extraordinary period for the energy industry. He, last year, chose to forgo his bonus amid hardship for customers. The remuneration committee are, in truth, the ones with questions to answer. But the message bosses send

matters –not just to employees, but to the wider British public. British business does not have a fantastic reputation, and it will not have been enhanced during the energy crisis. For the vast majority of people, opinions on ‘business’ are formed by their interactions with train companies, the customer service offered by their water provider and, yes, their energy company. So responsibility matters more than ever.

The Swiss National Bank also agreed to provide a £8.9bn liquidity line to UBS.

However, shares in UBS closed 3.7 per cent lower yesterday. Most other major European banks also closed in the red with the European-wide Stoxx 600 banking index down slightly.

Investors have been mulling how the deal will affect UBS’ longer-term plans. Ratings agencies downgraded the bank’s outlook to negative as a result of the acquisition, suggesting that there might be “significant financial, cultural and franchise related integration challenges”.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

GOOGLE’S BARD CHATBOT REPEATS MISTAKE THAT WIPED $120BN OFF SHARES

Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot Bard is still making the same error that contributed to a $120bn wipeout for the tech giant’s share price a month ago.

THE TIMES TRUMP MEDIA SPAC DISMISSES CEO

The blank-cheque company that plans to take Donald Trump’s media business public has ousted its chief executive, deepening tumult inside a company that has been threatened with stock exchange delisting over unpaid fees.

THE GUARDIAN RMT SUSPENDS NEXT WEEK’S RAIL STRIKES

The RMT has called off its two remaining rail strikes next week, with talks to continue to resolve the dispute. Thousands of staff were due to strike on 30 March and 1 April, but the union has announced it will now not happen.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

CHANNEL SURFING Surfers ride a ‘four-star’ Severn Bore wave at Minsterworth, Glos., formed in the estuary of the River Severn, when the tide meets the river’s channel

The Credit Suisse takeover by UBS could bring long-term value to its new owner

Inflation leaps to 10.4 per cent in surprise jump

JACK BARNETT

UK INFLATION has surpassed forecasts and stayed in the double digits, in a sign the Bank of England will need to keep hiking interest rates to tame prices, official figures out yesterday revealed.

The rate of price increases jumped to 10.4 per cent in February, up from 10.1 per cent in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

City analysts had expected the rate to trim to 9.9 per cent and slip out of the double digits for the first time since last summer.

The rate is also above the Bank of England’s latest forecasts and is the biggest inflation overshoot since 2009. Britain is now emerging as an outlier in the rich world, with most of its peers’ respective inflation rates steadily falling since the autumn.

In the US, inflation has not risen in

PERCENTAGE

21% 29% 40%

around six months, while the eurozone rate has also been on a downward trajectory since its peak several months ago.

Federal Reserve officials announced another rate hike of 25 basis points yesterday to keep pushing down on stateside inflation, overlooking turmoil in the banking sector.

It is the first time the inflation rate in the UK has risen since last October, when it hit a peak of 11.1 per cent, and breaks a three-month falling streak.

Prices rose at a faster pace in February compared to January due to “rising alcohol prices in pubs and restaurants following discounting in January,”

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said.

Food prices scaled more than 18 per cent over the last year, the quickest increase since records began, pressuring poorer households whose budgets are eaten up by the weekly shop.

ANALYSIS

These were not good inflation numbers for the Bank of England. They were even worse for families.

Nearly everyone has been taken aback by the Office for National Statistics calculating the annual rate of headline inflation (the consumer price index) snapped a three-month falling streak to climb to 10.4 per cent last month. That wasn’t supposed to happen. The Bank reckoned it’d be 10.2 per cent. The City thought it’d slip back into single digits – to 9.9 per cent – for the first time since last August.

Source:

JACK BARNETT

LONDON’s FTSE 100 nipped higher yesterday despite investors betting the Bank of England will be forced to keep raising interest rates to tame higher than feared inflation.

ONS’ data release yesterday showing inflation had climbed for the first time in three months initially held the FTSE 100 lower through the morning session, but

a late rally among banking stocks pulled the premier index into the black.

Britain’s biggest bank HSBC closed near the summit’s index, adding nearly two per cent, while Asiafocused lender Standard Chartered advanced 1.31 per cent in welcome news after a week of turmoil in the sector.

The capital’s premier index closed up 0.41 per cent at 7,566.84 points.

The actual numbers turned out to be the biggest inflation overshoot since 2009. For those of you that still care, the retail price index was even higher at more than 13 per cent.

Price rises trending back on an upward direction indicates the full effects of the Bank of England’s ten back-to-back interest rate increases has to pass through the economy – they are now four per cent.

Governor Andrew Bailey and his team of economists at their last meeting dropped the “forceful” term to describe their response to inflation shocks, indicating they’ll opt for a 25 basis point interest rate rise today.

JACK BARNETT

Boss of British Gas owner Centrica handed fivefold pay hike to £4.5m

AUGUST GRAHAM

THE BOSS of British Gas owner

Centrica has been handed a £4.5m pay package, a five-fold increase, after the business saw its profits soar last year.

Chris O’Shea – who last month had to apologise for the way British Gas had treated some customers –was paid a salary of £790,000 for last

year and will be handed around £3.7m in additional payments.

Of this, £711,000 will be paid in cash straight away, while the rest is tied up in Centrica shares for a few years, the business revealed yesterday.

It will be the first time O’Shea has been paid a bonus since taking the top job at Centrica in 2020.

A year ago he waived his right to a bonus as customers were struggling to

pay their energy bills, leaving his total remuneration at £875,000.

Nevertheless, the move to accept the extra millions this year is likely to raise eyebrows, especially with British Gas recently thrust into headlines over allegations of forced installations of prepayment meters.

In its annual update yesterday, Centrica argued that it needed to pay bonuses to “retain leaders”.

UK taxpayers to face £56bn bill to fix water system

NICHOLAS EARL

IT WILL potentially cost hundreds of billions of pounds over multiple decades to update the UK’s creaking and outdated water and sewerage systems, raising the prospect of higher water bills for everyone, a House of Lord’s committee has warned.

In a report on water and sewage regulation failures, the Industry and Regulators Committee argued that funding would have to come from water companies, with insufficient public funds available for such upgrades.

If suppliers are chiefly responsible for water and sewage networks, customer bills will likely increase to raise the revenues –which by 2025 will have been flat or falling for 15 years in real terms.

To help ease potential customer costs, the committee suggested the government should legislate for a single social tariff in time for the next price review in

2024, when Ofwat establishes budgets and profit thresholds for water companies.

The committee also called for cheaper solutions to reduce water pollution to be considered alongside new infrastructure, such as the use of uncropped arable land for storing water.

Alongside confirming the costs in fixing Britain’s leaking infrastructure, which was designed in the Victorian era to direct sewage overflows towards bodies of water, it argued that Ofwat’s role needed to be clarified.

An Ofwat spokesperson said the regulator agreed more spending was needed, but noted 14 of the 17 companies have not spent the funds granted to invest in the network over the past two years.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We’ve put the strictest targets ever on water companies to clean up our waters and worked closely with the regulator to drive tougher enforcement”.

Allianz wins court case over refusal to pay for WWII bomb damage

TOM PILGRIM

INSURER Allianz has won a High Court fight over its refusal to pay out on an insurance claim by the University of Exeter for damage caused by the disposal of a Second World War bomb.

Contractors working on private land to the west of the university’s campus unearthed the unexploded 1,000kg (2,200lb) device in February 2021.

The high-explosive bomb had been dropped by German forces in 1942.

With the help of a Royal Navy bomb disposal team, the device was detonated 27 February, causing damage to some buildings in the immediate area.

The university submitted an insurance claim under its policy with Allianz in relation to damage to halls of residence and “business interruption” linked to the rehousing of students.

However, Judge Bird yesterday cleared the insurer, ruling that “the dropping of the bomb is an act of war and so the loss suffered is excluded from cover”.

The High Court ruled Exeter University could not make a claim as it was an “act of war”

How City A.M. reported on sewage leaks last year

London renters coughing up £570 a week as homes supply dwindles

LAURA MCGUIRE

LONDON rent prices have shown no sign of cooling in February, with renters in the capital now forking out up to £570 per week on accommodation costs. According to figures by letting agent Foxtons, limited supply and a challenging economic outlook forced rent prices in the capital up

Superdry share price climbs after sale of Asia Pacific IP for £40m

LAURA MCGUIRE

STRUGGLING fashion brand Superdry has sold the intellectual property (IP) of its Asia Pacific offering to South Korean retail group Cowell Fashion Company for $50m (£40m) in a bid to boost funds.

The deal will see Cowell own and sell the Superdry brand in the Asian market starting with its home market of South Korea and then eventually extending to other markets such as China.

The pair said they would work together to “develop products relevant for those markets”, while London-listed Superdry’s share price was up more than three per cent yesterday.

“This agreement offers the Superdry brand a fantastic opportunity to expand its global reach, while providing additional funding to help deliver our turnaround programme in the face of the challenging consumer landscape,” Julian Dunkerton, chief executive of Superdry said.

Fever-Tree fizzes up despite price hike warnings

SHARES in upmarket tonic maker FeverTree soared yesterday as the company assured investors it could mitigate rising production costs.

The London-listed drinks company yesterday reported a drop in earnings for the year with adjusted ebitda down 37 per cent to £39.7m.

The London-listed drinks company said it had felt the financial strain of soaring costs in glass production and transatlantic freight costs – which were fuelled by hikes in inflation and a challenging political outlook.

To mitigate the costs, the mixer maker said it would be hiking prices of its products.

The UK market proved particularly challenging for Fever-Tree, with revenues down two per cent to £116.2m, though this drop was offset by acceleration in both Europe and the US.

The group said it remained

confident about the outlook for the year, as it delivered total revenues of £344.3m, representing an increase of 11 per cent year-on-year.

As a result, Fever-Tree said it expects 2023 ebitda to be in line with previous guidance of between £36m-£42m.

“We have seen an encouraging start to 2023 in our key growth markets and are confident of maintaining the group’s momentum in the months ahead,” Tim Warrillow, co-founder and chief executive of Fever-Tree, said.

Investors were convinced, with shares jumping to close up 9.5 per cent after the update.

Commenting on the results yesterday, AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould said: “Investors have responded positively to a message which came through loud and clear in Fever-tree’s latest update – the company believes its brand is strong enough to be able to pass on higher costs.”

five per cent from January.

The continued demand for letting in London increased six per cent, with 20 prospective renters now forced to compete for one property.

The data showed that, so far this year, South and West London have proved to be more popular compared to last year, with registrations up 16 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

“February’s rise in average rent price is an indicator of how intense the imbalance is between supply and demand,” Gareth Atkins, Foxtons managing director of lettings, said.

It comes as earlier this month, Foxtons chief executive Guy Gittins warned that the lack of demand in London is so “dramatic” that people will be forced out of the capital.

SAY ‘HOLA’ TO ANDORRA

Great value skiing in the peaks of the Pyrenees

Ailing fashion firm Superdry hopes that selling off its IP to Cowell will boost its funds

LAURA MCGUIRE

Hurricane Ian deals a blow to insurance sector

LOUIS GOSS

THE GLOBAL insurance sector suffered natural catastrophe losses of more than $100bn (£81bn) for just the fifth time in 2022, after taking a major hit from Hurricane Ian, new research shows.

Natural catastrophes caused $275bn worth of damage in 2022, costing insurance companies $125bn, the research from reinsurance company Swiss Re shows.

The hit marks just the fifth time that insurers have suffered natural catastrophe-related losses of more than $100bn since 1970.

The 2022 loss, however, comes as the third time that insurers have taken a hit worth more than £100bn in the past six years, after the sector took a $121bn hit in 2021 and a $173bn hit in 2017. Insurers’ losses had previously only surpassed the $100bn threshold on two occasions since 1970, including

after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The major losses seen in 2022 came after Hurricane Ian, which hit the southwest coast of Florida in September, cost the insurance sector estimated sums of between $50-65bn.

This saw Hurricane Ian become the second costliest storm ever recorded, after Hurricane Katrina cost the insurance sector sums equivalent to $62bn in 2005 in today’s money.

The report, however, warns that insurers’ losses will likely continue to rise over the coming years, due to soaring property prices and the accumulation of wealth in disaster prone areas such as Florida’s southwest coast.

“The magnitude of losses in 2022 is not a story of exceptional natural hazards, but rather a picture of growing property exposure,” Swiss Re’s head of catastrophe perils Martin Bertogg said.

Record highs reached for Euro M&A deals

LOUIS GOSS

THE MARKET for M&A deals involving European insurance companies surged in 2022, as private equity funds continued to drive the market forwards, despite the headwinds facing the world.

The boom saw investors shrug off rising interest rates to complete a record 435 M&A deals in 2022, up from 285 in 2020 and 379 in 2021, new research from FTI Consulting shows.

The record number of deals came as private equity funds continued pushing ahead with M&As, as they remained attracted to the insurance sector’s scalability.

Private equity firms were involved in 60 per cent of deals of Europe’s insurance sector M&A deals in 2022, accounting for 263 of the 435 deals.

This private equity push saw 42 deals directly driven by private equity firms and a further 222 driven by private-equity backed insurance companies.

Source: Swiss Re Institute

Insurance companies efforts to grow their business through consolidation also drove an uptick in dealmaking activity.

Publican toasts return of Square Mile punters

LAURA MCGUIRE

BRITAIN’s oldest brewer Shepherd Neame has said consumer spending in the wake of the cost of living crisis has “remained strong” as the group posted strong revenues for the 26 weeks to December 2022.

The listed pubs group, which operates around London and the South East, posted revenues of £85.3m, up 8.4 per cent from £78.4m in the same period last year.

The hospitality group said a hot summer and “progressive return to offices” within the City of London also helped rake in pre-tax profits of £3.5m.

However, for the Christmas trading period, Shepherd Neame blamed train strikes for a decline in large parties which it usually sees over the festive season. As a result, total beer volumes were down 0.9 per cent and accommodation sales were down 8.6 per cent.

The group estimated it lost £250,000 in sales due to the strikes.

Jonathan Neame, CEO of Shepherd Neame, said: “We have an excellent pub estate with considerable potential, well established brands, a loyal customer base, and a high profile within the individual communities we serve.”

“All these factors will stand us in good stead as the cost of living crisis eases and the economy returns to growth,” he continued.

While soaring inflation and living costs have hindered pub trade, Shepherd Neame said for the 12 weeks to 18 March, retail like-for-like sales were up 12.8 per cent compared to the same period in 2022.

The chief also said that he welcomed the new ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee’ which was announced in Hunt’s budget last week. The move will see beer and other draught products in pubs 11p cheaper than in supermarkets.

Vistry outlook remains rosy despite fall in profit

CHISTOPHER DORRELL AND PA REPORTERS

VISTRY’s shares finished in the green yesterday despite a fall in profit as the company set out a positive outlook for the coming year.

The Kent-based housebuilder’s pretax profit fell to £247.5m from £319.5m the year before, a fall of 23 per cent.

It set aside cash to make buildings fire safe in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell fire, totalling £97m during the year, helping to push down pretax profit by 22.5 per cent.

Earlier this month, the housebuilder signed a contract with the government which will force it to fix any unsafe buildings over a certain height that it put up over the last 30 years.

On an adjusted basis, the housebuilder’s profit rose 21 per cent. Vistry also saw a 13 per cent increase in revenue.

Vistry’s shares closed up 0.14 per cent yesterday as investors welcomed the firm’s outlook.

The group said it expects to deliver adjusted profit before tax for the 2023 financial year in excess of £440m.

MARK KLEINMAN

@MARKKLEINMANSKY

BREAKING BUSINESS STORIES AND ANALYSIS

Credit Suisse only the start of unfolding chaos

DEAL of the century or dud of the decade? UBS’s government-orchestrated swoop on Credit Suisse, its historic rival, was one of those moments in global finance that will be debated long after any of those involved in it have retired to their lives of Alpine luxury.

Make no mistake: this was a state bailout masquerading as a private sector rescue. UBS chairman Colm Kelleher said as much in the formal announcement of the takeover, describing it as “attractive” to his shareholders but a mercy killing (my words) for those of Credit Suisse.

There’s truth in that, but a combination of UBS and Credit Suisse was a deal the Swiss government had always resisted. Bern had always wanted to maintain two national banking champions, and even Kelleher and his boardroom colleagues were lukewarm, at best, about the idea this time last week.

In the end, after 167 years, it took just a few days to seal Credit Suisse’s fate. The evaporation of market confidence that materialised last week, though, was a manifestation of the draining faith that investors had in the lender’s grasp of both its own balance sheet and moral compass. The last decade’s spying scandal, hedge fund blow-ups and

IF AT first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That appears to be the corporate mantra adopted by the board of Finncap Group, the smallcap broking firm.

This morning, it’s expected to announce an all-share merger with Cenkos Securities, its listed rival, in the latest attempt by the City’s

embattled brokers to get fitter through industry consolidation. The terms of the deal are hazy, but I understand that the slightly smaller Finncap (in market cap terms at yesterday’s closing share price) will

deluge of mis-selling conduct had cost Credit Suisse its remaining goodwill from markets and regulators. Management and board members over a long period of time must share the blame for that failure – although the malus and clawback rules introduced in the last ten years will be of little use now in holding them to account. Credit Suisse’s decision to pay bonuses –temporarily halted by the Swiss government –even after the announcement of the UBS rescue will stick particularly sharply in the throats of the holders of its AT1 bonds who have been wiped out as part of the takeover.

In one sense, the most alarming aspect of this unfolding crisis is how little it ostensibly has in common with that of 2008. Credit Suisse had a more than adequate capital buffer, and the credit line provided by the Swiss National Bank last week ought to have been sufficient from a liquidity perspective to reassure investors.

But the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US this month, and the difficulty that even the likes of Jamie Dimon are having stitching together a rescue plan for First Republic, the US lender, underline just how tough governments and regulators are finding it to restore a sense of order. This crisis feels far from over.

acquire Cenkos. Two of the proverbial drunks propping up the bar? That may be how some competitors label the deal, but at first glance there’s strong industrial logic. The merger will create the leading player in the market for

serving smaller growth companies, allow the removal of unnecessary overheads and establish a solid base to lead further dealmaking activity in dire need of it.

I’d expect a positive, if muted, response when the announcement hits the screen today –and don’t out others getting involved too.

Wide of the net? Extra cash from top flight may not seal deal

WHO’d be a referee? That question has been asked in football for years, but usually about the official on the pitch. Now, it might equally apply to the putative head of the sport’s still-conceptual regulator, the idea of which the government, somewhat bizarrely, believes might be a vote-winner come the next general election.

Proposals for fan involvement in the running of clubs, for a tougher test on the fitness of owners and for fairer distribution of the Premier League’s riches have been on the table

for years.

The last of the three is the subject of tense negotiations between the top flight and the English Football League. As I revealed on Sky News this week, the Premier League is offering its lower league counterparts a £125m-a-year contribution beyond the existing solidarity and parachute payments.

That’s up from a £95m-a-year proposal tabled in December. It may not be enough. There remains a wide gulf between the Premier League offer and the EFL’s demands.

The disadvantage for Alison Brittain, the former Whitbread chief executive who now chairs the Premier League, and her CEO, Richard Masters, is that the government is liable to dismiss any proactive offer from the top flight as insufficiently generous.

A recent white paper on football governance highlighted a £4bn chasm between the aggregate annual revenues of the 20 elite clubs and those of the 24 in the Championship. Rightly, the Premier League wants strict cost controls imposed on EFL clubs as a condition

of future funding arrangements. History suggests that such a stipulation would be wise –the number of clubs which in recent years have run into financial quicksand either by chasing promotion with reckless abandon, or through sheer mismanagement, has caused heartache for fans across the country.

The Premier League will probably have to go further, though, if it wants a financial distribution agreement to be resolved well before the new regulator is established. The final whistle is not yet audible.

Finncap’s merger with rival Cenkos is business sense

CMA warns on Broadcom’s VMware deal

PAUL SANDLE AND MUVIJA M

BRITAIN’s competition regulator said US chipmaker Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware could make servers more expensive, and it would refer the $61bn (£49.5bn) deal to an in-depth inquiry unless its concerns were addressed. Broadcom agreed to buy the cloud computing and virtualisation company last year to diversify into enterprise software.

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) yesterday said the deal could dampen innovation and drive up the cost of computer parts and software for servers.

“Servers are a vital building block, functioning largely thanks to hardware products made by firms like Broadcom, working in unison with virtualisation software from firms like VMware,” said CMA executive director David Stewart. “We are concerned this deal could

allow Broadcom to cut out competitors from the supply of hardware components to the server market and lead to less innovation at a time when most firms want fast, responsive and affordable IT systems.”

The regulator said Broadcom had five working days to address its concerns, after which it would decide within a further five days whether to refer the deal to an in-depth investigation.

Broadcom said it was working constructively with the CMA and it was confident it would address any concerns.

“We will demonstrate that the transaction enhances competition and benefits businesses and consumers through increased quality, innovation and choice,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The European Union is set to issue an antitrust warning about the deal, Reuters reported last month.

Budweiser to hike the price of a cold one after work

LAURA MCGUIRE

BUDWEISER has said it will “reluctantly” have to raise its prices in the future as costs inflation continues to hit companies’ bottom lines.

Brian Perkins, group president of Budweiser Brewing Group in UK and Ireland, told City A.M. that “no company has been immune to cost inflation”.

Perkins said the maker of the American-style pale lager will be

forced to raise prices “because we still want to maintain a viable business that can grow and invest”.

Explaining the dilemma, he said: “At some point, you face this tension where you want to do the right thing by the consumer… But you also need to run a business where you employ people. You’re responsible for lots of people’s livelihoods and if you have a contracting business, it doesn’t lead to a good place.” Perkins did not reveal exactly when

the price rises would come in, and while the firm will look to try and make efficiency savings before raising prices, it might be necessary to ensure the “quality” of the brand. Despite cost pressures, he was hopeful the firm will not be forced to cut jobs.

“Our view is that we need to put all the effort into growing our business… if we do that, then those are the types of savings that we don’t need to countenance,” he said

Brexit deal passes despite Tory rebellion

JESS FRANK-KEYES

MPS yesterday voted to approve a key aspect of Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework Brexit deal.

MPs have voted in favour of regulations to implement the so-called Stormont brake –which would allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to reject new incoming EU rules –by 515 votes to 29.

A total of 22 Conservative MPs voted against the measure, after whispers of a more serious rebellion emerged earlier in the day.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and senior Conservative MPs including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, ex-home secretary Priti Patel and previous Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said they intended to vote against the Brexit deal measure.

Earlier yesterday, the prime minis-

ter’s official spokesman would not confirm whether rebellious MPs could be thrown out of the party, saying only that it was a matter for the whips’ office.

After the vote, Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris welcomed MPs backing the deal and said: “This measure lies at the very heart of the Windsor Framework, which offers the best deal for Northern Ireland, safeguarding its place in the union and addressing the democratic deficit.”

However, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson did not welcome the outcome, stating that his party will not re-enter power-sharing arrangements at Stormont.

He wrote on Twitter: “I have consistently indicated that fundamental problems remain notwithstanding progress made. Consequently there is not a sustainable basis at this stage to enable us to restore Stormont.”

PMQs: Starmer’s cameo on Law and Order

WHEN in doubt, dig in on law and order.

This is underlined, twice, in Sir Keir Starmer’s playbook. The American TV show was, after all, running for more than twenty years, so surely they know a thing or two about what people want.

Indeed, the Labour leader was spoilt for choice with Conservative chaos yesterday. Boris Johnson was getting ready to face down the privileges committee with all the pent-up aggression of a bull in Spain on 6 July, the day before he was unleashed on the streets of Pamplona.

Elsewhere, the renowned voice of reason Steve Baker was accusing the former PM of being a “pound shop Nigel Farage”, as he

joined forces with the pound shop version of himself, Liz Truss, and the rest of the European Research Group intent on driving us through another doom loop on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Rishi Sunak is terrible at party management, that’s why he had no idea there was one going on during lockdowns when he was fined for being at it.

But in Prime Minister’s Questions, Sunak promised that “culture, standards and behaviour” would all improve.

Unfortunately he wasn’t talking about the Tories. He was talking about the Metropolitan Police, which, he was keen to remind us, he’s not actually responsible for, following a damning report by Dame Louise Casey.

As Rachel Reeves shot the Prime Minister with daggers for eyes, Sunak declared to the Commons he had nothing to do with the mess at the Met: “Primary accountability for the Met sits with the Labour Mayor of London, and the relationship between the Mayor and the Met is, as in (Louise Casey’s) words, dysfunctional.”

Boris: We did nothing wrongbut I agree it didn’t look great

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

AFTER taking an oath on the King James Bible, Boris Johnson swore to MPs: “I am here to say to you, hand on heart, that I did not lie to the House.”

“When those statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time,” he said.

Johnson made the remarks as he was questioned by MPs looking to find whether he misled – intentionally or recklessly – the Commons over the partygate saga.

He attempted to argue that gatherings – including his birthday party which the Met Police fined him for – were “essential for work purposes”.

Asked about a leaving do and a photograph of champagne bottles, he said it “seemed to me to be wholly in accordance with rules and guidance and a proper use of my time” and denied seeing “any sign of drunkenness or excess”.

Johnson told the committee: “When I said the guidance had been followed completely (at) No 10, which is actually what I said, I was misremembering the

line that had already been put out to the media about this event, which was ‘Covid rules were followed at all times’.”

He has insisted that he made his denials to Parliament “in good faith” on

the advice of his officials, which he now concedes turned out to be wrong. Tory MP Alberto Costa said: “Some might see your reliances on the reported assurances you received as, and forgive me,

ANALYSIS

Boris Johnson’s close to four-hour appearance at the privileges committee may have elucidated little fresh insight into the seeminglyendless saga of Whatsapps and booze-ups. But his performance proved revelatory in other ways.

Johnson’s temper was frayed as he betrayed frustration, exasperation, even contempt for the questioning MPs.

“People who say that we were partying in lockdown simply do not know what they are talking about,” he thundered.

While it’s not clear when the committee will deliver its findings, another yet-to-be answered question hangs in the air.

Asked whether he would accept the outcome, he ducked and dived, suggesting that his opinion on their legitimacy would depend on whether he was “exonerated”.

as a deflection mechanism to prevent having to answer questions about your knowledge of these gatherings.”

But Johnson replied: “No, that would be a completely ridiculous assessment.”

This Trumpian phrasing is worrying but also unsurprising –indicating yet again his apparent belief that the normal rules of politics and public standards seemingly don’t apply to him.

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

People who say that we were partying in lockdown simply do not know what they are talking about.

I’m here to say to you hand on heart that I did not lie to the House.

You can’t expect human beings in an environment like No 10 to have, as it were, an invisible electrified fence around them. They will occasionally drift into each other’s orbit.

Consumer Duty will help growth, Axa chief argues

LOUIS GOSS

THE HEAD of Axa’s UK & Ireland division has pushed back against claims the Financial Conduct Authority’s new Consumer Duty could hinder the City’s competitiveness.

Claudio Gienal, chief executive of Axa UK and Ireland, told City A.M. he “supports” the FCA’s new customer-focused mandate.

Gienal also said he doesn’t “see an issue with competitiveness” around the flagship reforms, which aim to ensure financial services firms produce “good outcomes” for their customers and prevent them from being exploited.

His comments came in response to City minister Andrew Griffith, who has hit out at the FCA’s plans arguing the Consumer Duty could hinder the financial sector’s growth.

Gienal cautioned, however, that while firms should already be prepared for the new rules,

UK pension age reforms shelved as potential voter backlash feared

LOUIS GOSS

had, however, planned to bring this date forward to 2037-2039.

the watchdog should make sure that insurers have “time to breathe” after having to deal with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

But he said he has “faith the FCA will find the right balance” when bringing its Consumer Duty into force.

His comments follow the news that the FCA has already begun contacting insurers to ensure they are ready for the Consumer Duty when it comes into force this summer.

The City watchdog confirmed to City that it has already begun “checking that firms are handling claims promptly and fairly” before the Consumer Duty comes into force in July. The FCA has been sending out questionnaires to companies in the sector to measure their preparedness in implementing Consumer Duty later this year.

MINISTERS have reportedly shelved plans to raise the UK’s state pension age, over concerns of a backlash from middle-aged voters in the run-up to the next general election. The UK’s state pension age is currently set to rise from 66 to 68 after 2044. The UK government

22 Bishopsgate lawsuit against City grandee Lipton is dropped

JACK MENDEL

A LAWSUIT filed against City grandee

Sir Stuart Lipton over the development of 22 Bishopsgate has been dropped after a judge described the case against him as “wholly misleading”.

Former business partner Hamid

Alqumairi claimed he was key in fixing the deal to build one of London’s tallest skyscrapers and was owed £11m in fees for his role.

The building was completed in December 2022 for £1bn after years of delay partly due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

Alqumairi claimed he was pivotal in securing the project when Lipton and AXA purchased the site in 2015 from a

Saudi consortium.

But Sir Stuart Lipton, through his property firm Lipton Rogers Developments (LRD), told City A.M. the claim has now been dropped and Alqumairi has been ordered to pay Lipton’s legal costs.

“Their ill-conceived attempts to litigate are now over,” LRD said.

LRD said the judge said that Alqumairi’s statement announcing the lawsuit in February, was “improper.”

Alqumairi has been ordered to pay £175,438.66 to LRD.

Alqumairi told City A.M., however: “Despite this outcome, it remains the case that I was instrumental in 22 Bishopsgate’s development.”

Ministers have shelved these plans, the Financial Times has reported. The government is now aiming to push any decision to a date after the next election, which must be carried out no later than January 2025.

Plans to do the same in France have been met with serious resistance and street protests.

Becky O’Connor, director of public affairs at Pensionbee, said: “An earlier increase to the State Pension age from 67 to 68 would have gone down like a lead balloon.”

Standard Life managing director Dean Butler noted those workers planning to use their own savings to retire early would be forced to consider an “extended workforce period” or make their savings stretch.

22 Bishopsgate, one of London’s tallest skyscrapers, was delayed because of Covid-19

AXA’s Gienal: “FCA will spur growth”

WHY TULIP HAS LABOUR’S CITY PLANS BLOOMING

Charlie Conchie talks to Labour’s City chief Tulip Siddiq

Bloating Tummy pain Needing to wee more No appetite

IN THEfive years to 2020, the role of Labour City minister may have seemed at times a fairly thankless task. Courting London’s financiers did not get top billing under Jeremy Corbyn, and the 2019 manifesto is rather lacking in references to Solvency II reform and post-Brexit financial services equivalence.

But the party, industry and public have shifted their focus. Fears of a banking crisis have taken hold and financial technicalities have drifted into the lexicon of the average voter. The Square Mile has suddenly become a key battle ground between two increasingly vocal and visible City Ministers.

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn since 2015, now shoulders the responsibility for Labour’s efforts, facing off against the well-liked and increasingly well-known Andrew Griffith (pictured).

Siddiq, a former New Labour acolyte and long-time politico, doesn’t have the business experience of her opposite number, who served a senior exec at Sky before making the move into politics.

But she speaks to City A.M. just after calling for a review into the rippling impact of rate hikes, and claims a small victory against her opposite man in response.

“[Griffith] just stopped me in the lobby and said, ‘I'm happy to meet with you if you want to have a sit down and go through all the questions in the letter’,” she tells City A.M.

The pair are now set for a tete-a-tete to thrash out a potential review into financial stability –broadly on her terms.

TRICKY INCUMBENT

But the uncomfortable truth for Siddiq is that her opposite man is currently riding high. Griffith was central to the rescue efforts of the stricken UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank last week in a move that has been hailed by the country’s tech chiefs. Even Siddiq concedes it was a job well-done.

“I congratulated HSBC [...] and obviously made the point of Treasury's hard work over the weekend. It was done very quickly,” she says.

“I suppose the question I ask is how did we get here in the first place? He didn't really like me asking that, but I think it's a fair question.”

Siddiq says she’s looking to uncover the answers to that in her proposed deepdive into financial stability, but it is perhaps a question that will struggle to find purchase when the City is focused on immediate existential threats.

And as the incumbent, Griffith is proving a regular point of contact for a Square Mile in crisis. It’s a position he is looking to capitalise on.

The energetic City minister is understood to have been on a

wooing warpath in the past week, dining with some of the key movers and shakers involved in the UK’s landmark capital markets reviews, meeting the country’s top fintech bosses at the Fintech Strategy Group and now speaking with bosses at a party session later this week.

His visibility however, also means he shoulders the responsibility for some of London’s recent blows.

MARKET MALAISE

The City has been plunged into a period of introspection by a slew of top firms ditching London for New York in recent weeks.

Despite launching myriad reviews into the structure of the UK’s capital markets, the Tories are now inextricably linked with failed efforts to win the listing of the symbolically and strategically important chipmaker Arm, as well as a flood of firms away from London. Labour is looking to make hay.

“We feel a bit like we've seen too many firms move overseas where they can easily access the investment they need to grow. And we seem to be saying this time and time again,” Siddiq says.

“I just feel that prioritising the London Stock Market and pension fund investment is one of the things we would seriously consider if we were in the treasury.”

Under shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, the party has unveiled plans for a small business funding review to allow pension cash to flow into start-ups. But similar plans are underway across the floor. Successive Conservative prime ministers and chancellors have been exploring measures to allow pension cash to flow into listed and unlisted firms, and in his budget last week, Hunt nodded to measures in the Autumn to boost the appeal of the London Stock Exchange. Siddiq is clear that action is needed sooner, accusing Hunt of “kicking reform into the long grass again.” But the mood music is remarkably similar.

REGULATORY REFORM

The much-touted post-Brexit refresh of financial rules is another area where the demand of Siddiq and her opposite man may often overlap. She is keen for more rapid reform on Solvency II reform for instance, but says that changes to ringfencing rules –which force banks to separate retail from investment activity –should not be tinkered with in a time of crisis.

“I don't feel that global investment banking should put our UK high street banks at risk. And I think derivatives trades going wrong shouldn't threaten working people's lives and my constituents’ savings,” she says.

If they are persistent, ask your GP about ovarian cancer.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE - TO KNOW, YOU’VE GOT TO KNOW

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of deaths in England. Many people don’t know about it, or think it doesn’t affect them - yet it is the cause of one in four deaths across England. The good news is that CVD is largely preventable - and your blood pressure is the easiest way to tell if you might be at risk.

Though often without symptoms, the clearest warning sign that you might be at risk is persistently high blood pressure, known as hypertension. In England, almost half of CVD deaths are attributable to high blood pressure, and around half of heart attacks and strokes are associated with hypertension, too. It’s estimated that more than 12 million people in England - more than a quarter of all over-18s - have it, and more than 4 million of us are walking around with hypertension without knowing it.

ABOUT BLOOD PRESSURE

When your blood pressure is too high, it makes your body work harder. It puts extra strain on your blood vessels, heart and other organs - everything from the brain to the kidneys to the eyes.

Persistently high blood pressure increases your risk of a number of serious and potentially life-threatening health conditions, such as a heart attack and stroke.

If you have high blood pressure, reducing it even a small amount can lower your risk of these health conditions.

AM I ESPECIALLY AT RISK?

All adults over the age of 40 are encouraged to get their blood pressure checked at least once every five yearsrepeating the process even if your first reading is ok.

Certain factors can make you more susceptible to hypertension - and therefore cardiovascular disease.

YOU MIGHT BE MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP HYPERTENSION

IF YOU:

£Are overweight

£Eat too much salt and not enough fruit and vegetables

£Don’t exercise enough

£Drink too much alcohol, coffee or other high-caffeine drinks

£Smoke

£Don’t get enough sleep or are

WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN?

Blood pressure is measured with two numbers - a higher number, which is the force with which your heart is pumping blood around your body, and a second, lower number, which is the amount of resistance to your blood flow.

regularly disturbed

£Are over 65

£Have a relative with high blood pressure

£Are of black African or black Caribbean descent.

HOW IS IT TREATED?

FOR UNDER-80S, HERE’S WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN

140/90

AND ABOVE IS A SIGN OF HYPERTENSION

Sean Alexander was by his own admission living an unhealthy life working as a financial advisor in London when an eye issue made him visit the optician.

“They said that there was haemorrhaging behind the eye which sounds severe. They told me to go to A&E, they did loads of tests on the eye, and they could see that it was the result of high blood pressure,” he told City A.M. Sean was started on medication to reduce his blood pressure straight away, but it’s lifestyle changes that have made the biggest difference - and now, working in a different field as a strength and conditioning coach, he’s glad his high blood pressure was noticed early.

“To be honest I didn’t really know back then about high blood pressureit was not something that was ever on my radar,” he says.

“I take actions on my own health now, whereas before I wouldn’t have taken anything seriously. So now I make sure that I get a yearly checkupa full 360 - so I’ve always got a marker every year to know where my health is and the areas that I need to improve.”

£Or at home, with a blood pressure monitor

TO KNOW, YOU NEED TO TEST

Healthcare professionals will tell

people with high blood pressure to make lifestyle changes - but there are also drugs available, which can help bring the risks down.

WHERE DO I GET MY BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKED?

The first step to addressing high blood pressure is to find out if you might be

at risk. The good news is that doing so is easier than ever.

You can get your blood pressure tested at a number of places:

£At many local pharmacies

£At your GP surgery

£As part of your NHS Health CheckFor adults in England aged 40 to 74

£In some workplaces

The only way to know if you have high blood pressure, or are at risk, is to get tested.

So get yourself tested - the NHS is ‘open for business’ and getting an early diagnosis is the best way to keep stress off the health service this winter. Remember, CVD is largely preventable - but the only way to know, is to know.

I WAS LIVING AN UNHEALTHY LIFE IN FINANCE - UNTIL I HAD TO GO TO A&E

THE SQUARE MILE AND ME

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?

My first job was as a professional tenor saxophonist but my first role in the City was working at a consultancy that handled communications surrounding most of the government’s privatisation programme.

WHEN DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS THE INDUSTRY FOR YOU –AND WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU MIGHT BE GOOD AT IT?

About two weeks into the role I realised the constant factor that effective communications and advocacy play in the equation for determining success or failure in business. Endorsement of my abilities came in 2000 when I set up my own firm and quickly built it to be a leading corporate and financial communications consultancy.

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU LOVE ABOUT THE CITY OF LONDON?

The culture –The Corporation of London is the fourth biggest funder of culture in the UK supporting the Barbican, Museum of London, LSO, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Sculpture in the City, outdoor events... there is a wealth of world class experiences on our doorstep.

… AND ONE THING YOU’D CHANGE?

The level of bureaucracy and structural barriers to investment that exist in the UK Listing Rules in particular around secondary fundraisings. Proposed reforms need to be fast tracked to avoid London losing its attractiveness and competitive edge

ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC FOR THE YEAR AHEAD?

For my own business very, because effective communications and advocacy are critically important for UK plc in good times and bad.

WHO’S THE CITY OR BUSINESS FIGURE YOU MOST ADMIRE?

Sonya Branch, general counsel of the Bank of England and trustee of Target Ovarian Cancer. An extraordinary business leader with a laser-focused, brilliant brain, who is always at the epicentre of extraordinary events such as Brexit, Covid-19, the collapse of the pound… and yet always makes time for anything important.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE LUNCH?

Celebrating being awarded the Freedom of the City in 2017.

WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU NOTICED THE MOST OVER YOUR 30 YEARS IN THE CITY?

Far greater equity – I can’t imagine anyone today experiencing what I did when my then chairman left a book on their desk entitled ‘How to Dine Out and Lose Weight’ with the inscription

“Remember Emma, pile on the profits not the pounds”. It was the catalyst for me to leave and set up my own business though...

AND WHERE’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE IN THE CAPITAL?

The Barbican Centre – it is a cultural oasis in the heart of the City and my spiritual home having spent nine years

as chair of its Trust.

WHERE’S HOME DURING THE WEEK?

Bedford Row in Holborn which is (coincidently!) a seven-minute walk to my office.

AND WHERE MIGHT WE FIND YOU ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON?

As chair of Target Ovarian Cancer and deputy chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, I can usually be found in my study immersed in papers and planning.

YOU’VE GOT A WELL-DESERVED

TWO WEEKS OFF, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

Two weeks off means it must be the end of the year so sunshine is calling… India is always the number one choice for me and my husband, Ian Rosenblatt.

WHAT IS YOUR SUPERPOWER?

I never get jet lag.

We dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good: this week, SEC Newgate’s UK chief exec Emma Kane OBE tells us about her musical past, the Barbican and her charity work

CITY DASHBOARD YOUR

LONDON REPORT

Inflation shock tames FTSE 100 as market braces for the Fed

LONDON’s FTSE 100 nipped higher yesterday despite investors betting the Bank of England will be forced to keep raising interest rates to tame higher-than-feared inflation.

The capital’s premier index closed up 0.41 per cent at 7,566.84 points, while the domestically-focused midcap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, slipped 0.11 per cent to finish at 18,757.79 points.

New figures out yesterday from the Office for National Statistics revealed inflation climbed for the first time in three months in the UK, hitting 10.4 per cent in February, smashing both City and Bank of England forecasts.

That data release initially held the FTSE 100 lower through the morning session, but a late rally among banking

BEST OF THE BROKERS

stocks pulled the premier index into the black.

Britain’s biggest bank HSBC closed near the index’s summit, adding nearly two per cent, while Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered advanced 1.31 per cent.

Banking stocks have been weighed down over the last week due to fears over the sector’s health after Credit Suisse was hauled off to rival lender UBS in a weekend shotgun sale. Those higher than forecast inflation numbers have nearly nailed an eleventh rate increase by the Bank today, probably a 25 basis point move, which would send borrowing costs to a post-financial crisis high of 4.25 per cent, markets are betting. Yet more rate rises from the Bank to tame price pressures raises the risk of the UK tipping into a recession this year.

Hostelworld is hoping investors will be here for a long-stay, bedding in robust full-year results for 2022 - including a 312 per cent hike in revenues while ebitda was €1.3m. The refinancing of its debt is underway, and Peel Hunt believes full-year revenues are well ahead of pre-pandemic 2019 levels at this stage. It said: “Once the company has moved past the key Easter trading period it will be clearer if it can maintain the recent level of growth.” The investment group has kept a buy stance of 200p per share.

The biggest stories direct to your inbox

Kenmare Resources has posted a record ebitda of $298m, with the miner producing a strong haul of ilmenite and zircon products. This has helped the company offer dividends per share of 48 cents, around 15 per cent higher than market expectations. Looking to the future, Peel Hunt is encouraged by expectations the Chinese market recovers through 2023, providing a positive outlook with another strong year of cash generation. It has placed the stock on its buy list, at 670p per share.

Breaking news, exclusives, scoops, interviews, blogs, opinion, sports, life & style, travel and more.

NOON AND NIGHT

DEFYING THE TRENDS “Today’s figure defies the recent downtrend for inflation with price pressures picking up again, returning to a near 40-year high. This is likely to embolden the Bank of England to continue pursuing its rate hiking path.”

VICTORIA SCHOLAR, INTERACTIVE INVESTOR

Connecting the Community

WIN a ticket to the Crypto AM Spring Awakening event

WITH just a week to go until the much-anticipated Crypto AM Spring Awakening event, we’re giving away 10 tickets to our exclusive gathering.

The event – the first of Crypto AM’s series of prominent gatherings across 2023 – will be held at The Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor London, on Thursday March 30.

And you could be there! All you have to do is email us at finance@cityam.com with the subject line ‘Spring Awakening ticket competition’ and begin your message with ‘I should be there at the Crypto AM Spring Awakening because…’.

Give us your reason why it should be you before midnight on Sunday March 26, then we’ll go through the entries on Monday morning and award the 10 best responses with a ticket worth £120.

The theme of this year’s Spring Awakening event will be the ‘State of the Union of Crypto in the UK’ with a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions, networking opportunities and a prestigious three-course networking lunch in the magnificent surroundings of the historic Egyptian Hall.

Six hand-picked panels will tackle some of the key burning issues surrounding the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry today, from central bank digital currencies, regulation and global custody to cybercrime and the right to digital access.

Hosting the Spring Awakening will be James Bowater – Crypto AM founder and editor-at-large – who

believes the current mood of the crypto world presents a vital opportunity for the UK.

“With what we’re seeing going on in the US at the minute, it would appear the industry could well and truly shoot itself in the foot if things continue the way they are with the SEC on such a rampage,” James said.

“It’s time for London to seize the

moment and, as Crypto AM approaches its fifth birthday, relentlessly banging the drum for joinedup thinking from the FCA and the Bank of England, we’re at the crucial point where we can confirm our status as the number one destination for this industry.

Three further exclusive networking events and opportunities to rub

CRYPTO NEWS IN BRIEF

LUNO SHUFFLES ITS MANAGEMENT PACK

INTERNATIONAL cryptocurrency wallet and exchange Luno has undergone a series of strategic changes it says will position the company for its next phase of growth.

Luno’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Marcus Swanepoel is moving into a new role as Executive Chairman while Chief Operating Officer James Lanigan, who has been with the company for five years, is elevated to CEO. Swanepoel will continue to work closely with Lanigan to guide Luno’s vision and strategy while focusing on broadening Luno’s investor base to support the company’s next stage of growth.

CHATGPT WARNS OF OVERRELIANCE ON AI

ARTIFICIAL intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has told a blockchain conference that humans should not become over-reliant on AI or critical thinking and judgement will be eroded. The OpenAI creation was a panellist at the Gillmore Centre of Financial Technology’s conference at Warwick Business School to discuss cryptocurrencies and the role of AI in society.

When asked if people trust technological advancement too much, ChatGPT responded: “AI is only as good as the data and algorithms it’s built on, which can be biased, flawed, or manipulated. Meanwhile, blockchain networks, although inherently secure, are not immune to vulnerabilities. “By placing too much trust in AI and blockchain we risk creating a society that’s overly dependent on technology, susceptible to manipulation, and disengaged from ethical considerations.”

shoulders with some of the UK’s leading lights in the world of digital assets have also been planned for 2023.

These include ‘The Fifth Crypto AM Birthday Party and Summer Unlocking’ on June 21, the fourth ‘Crypto AM Summit and Awards’ from September 26 to 28, and the ‘Crypto AM Christmas Party’ on December 13.

Bitcoin reaping the rewards of a banking crisis

Where next from here? The recent uncertainty in the banking sector threatened to destabilise what’s been an impressive start to the year in the crypto markets, but a potential banana skin seems to have acted more as a galvanising force. Can it continue?

Bitcoin in particular is riding the wave. The crypto market leader experienced one of its best ever weeks of price action last week, closing up 35.8% according to Glassnode. Only 124 trading days in its 14-year history have seen a larger

7-day upside rally, with just 16 of those days coming after 2015.

And the flagship digital asset hasn’t been alone in lighting up green candles. Ethereum and Cardano have also seen impressive weekly lifts in double figures –the latter touching on 14 per cent.

The move comes as the world looks to avert further banking crises. First Republic Bank received a $30 billion lifeline from a consortium of large US banks last week, not long after the closing of Silicon Valley Bank and

Signature Bank. Meanwhile in Europe, troubled Swiss bank Credit Suisse was acquired by rival bank UBS after a $54 billion cash injection by the Swiss central bank earlier in the week.

These measures have restored confidence in the sector to an extent, according to analysts, but many are asking at what future cost to the US economy? Is the Bitcoin price action a flight of capital from central banks to Bitcoin?

Yesterday was a big day for traditional and DeFi markets – and the global

ONECOIN LEGAL CHIEF CHARGED IN US

IRINA Dilkinska, former Head of Legal and Compliance with fraudulent cryptocurrency pyramid scheme OneCoin has appeared before magistrates in the US after being extradited from Bulgaria.

The 41-year-old was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years behind bars.

economy – with the Federal Reserve announcing its latest interest rate hike.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has had to walk the tightrope of bringing down inflation by raising rates without further damaging the economy and the financial sector, as analysts continue to point out.

OneCoin victims are believed to have invested more than $4 billion worldwide in the scam. Its founder – so called ‘Crypto Queen’ Ruja Ignatova – remains on the run.

CARDANO ON THE MARCH

BITCOIN’S recent upward charge may have been stealing most of the crypto headlines, but it’s been popular top five digital asset Cardano that’s been grabbing the lion’s share of uplifts in price. The blockchain’s native ADA token was last night up nine per cent over 24 hours, and 14 per cent over seven days at $0.38 with 24-hour trading volume up 140% at $897.2 million.

FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS HEAD OVER TO CRYPTOAM.IO

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

In London, we have no other option but to break up the Metropolitan Police

ON MONDAY night the Casey Review into the Metropolitan Police confirmed it had found extensive evidence that the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. This should be no surprise to anyone who has been following the long list of scandals that has befallen the force in recent years, of which the murder of Sarah Everard by a senior police officer whose appalling behaviour had long been overlooked by his colleagues and superiors, was the most shameful.

But it’s also not a surprise to anybody who knows the history. There have been so many reports into the Met’s failings, most famously after the Brixton Riots and the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Repeatedly they have found an arrogant organisation whose bigotry fuses with its incompetence in ways that are particularly toxic for women and minorities.

Repeatedly they’ve challenged the force’s leadership to reform the organisation so that it can protect and help all Londoners.

And yet here we are again.

As the saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We’ve been

here too many times to believe that the Metropolitan Police can change. It is a fundamentally ill-conceived and broken institution that must be scrapped and replaced. By abolition I do not mean the type of reforms that Keir Starmer helped to achieve in Northern Ireland, where the Royal Ulster Constabulary was replaced by a successor organisation in the Police Service of Northern Ireland that didn’t have its predecessor’s bag-

gage or biases. Because the problem we face with the Metropolitan Police goes back to the fundamental flaw with the organisation; it is being asked to do too much for too many people.

No other police force in England and Wales is asked to cover an area as large and diverse as London. The Metropolitan Police isn’t just too far removed from the needs of women and minorities, it is too far removed from all Londoners. It does not have the

intellectual bandwidth to tailor its approach to the needs of different areas, instead adopting a one-size fits all approach that pleases nobody. It would be better if different regions of London had their own police force, accountable to the borough councils, that drew its ethos and manpower from the local area.

Such a plan would also have the benefit of cutting the police force down to size. It is not healthy to have more than

Let’s be honest, the financial sector needs to figure out how to get the basics right

RUMBLINGS in the financial sector – from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to Credit Suisse’s merger with UBS – are sending shivers down many spines. The Bank of England assured our banking sector is “safe and sound” - but it may just fall on deaf ears.

The era of ultra-low interest rates and cheap money created malinvestment and vulnerabilities that are now being exposed – from the LDI crisis last September to crypto scams and asset bubbles. We are walking through a field of financial and economic landmines, unsure of what crisis will explode next.

This was not meant to happen. The post-2008 regulatory system was supposed to limit excessive risk-taking, provide necessary stress testing and end the “too-big-to-fail” mentality. Instead, regulators have been forced to offer liquidity to markets and bail out depositors. In the process, they are creating what economists call a moral hazard: encouraging riskier behaviour in future in the knowledge that the

Matthew Lesh

taxpayers will provide a backstop.

These are devilishly complex issues.

If you don’t deliver a bailout, there’s a risk of financial market contagion and economic calamity. If you do, you may just be delaying the inevitable reckoning and creating problems in the future. Nobody should envy those facing this trade-off.

Nevertheless, the financial sector, from the banks to the regulators, has been distracted in recent years. The relentless focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals did not save Silicon Valley Bank from collapse; nor did it ensure proper stress tests for pension funds using LDIs.

In fact, critics highlighted how SVB

had dozens of people working in ESG and dedicated $16bn to the cause –while not having a chief risk manager for most of last year. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse was meant to host an Asian investment conference ironically named “Embracing reality” this week. Reality comes at you hard and fast sometimes.

Banks are not embracing ESG in a vacuum: they are facing heavy regulatory pressure to do so. Just last month the Financial Conduct Authority published a discussion paper on “Finance for positive sustainable change”. This is an extraordinarily radical document from a supposedly apolitical body. It not only floats the idea of embedding sustainability in business objectives but also “positive sustainable change” like diversity and inclusion. It also discusses linking executive pay to these objectives.

These proposals would fundamentally reshape the nature of our socioeconomic system. They would legally entrench partisan political concepts while making managers less account-

able to shareholders and customers.

It could also have significant unintended consequences: it is easy to assess whether a company is delivering a profit, but how do you accurately measure environmental or social impact? It’s almost impossible without clear and universally-accepted metrics. The current lack of such metrics could allow managers to shirk from their responsibilities and encourage poor management or riskier behaviour.

Recent events demonstrate the need for regulators to focus on financial stability, low inflation and economic growth. It is of course ridiculous to claim that ESG is responsible for recent financial shenanigans. But it is difficult to deliver financing for climate projects, or provide loans to underserved communities, when your bank fails. The finance sector must get the basics right - only then it can devote its energy and resources to what comes after.

£ Matthew Lesh is head of public policy at the Institute of Economic Affairs

35,000 police officers in one organisation. That is five times as big as the next largest police force in England and Wales. It encourages them to be insular, retreating into a community apart from wider society, with its own beliefs and preoccupations. That was never the vision for British policing, with the integration of constables into everyday life a key safeguard against them becoming a continental-style gendarmerie. They are after all civilians, not soldiers.

And that retreat from the rest of society is encouraged by the Met being used as Britain’s de facto national police force, tasked with protecting senior officials and leading on anti-terrorism amongst other responsibilities. This arrangement encourages a dangerous ‘warrior cop’ mentality amongst its officers and confuses its leadership about its key process. It also obscures who is responsible for holding the Met accountable, with Home Secretaries repeatedly failing to oversee the force effectively. That is why we go through this endless cycle of scandals causing ministers to commission reports, only for the actions to not be fully implemented.

The Metropolitan Police has had decades to get things right. They didn’t sufficiently change after Leslie Scarman or William Macpherson’s reviews, and they won’t meet the challenge set by Louise Casey this week. Is it really going to take another thirty years until we all realise the Met is never going to reform itself thorough, and needs to be replaced?

£ Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture for the It Could be Said substack

PERFECTLY CLEAR, ISN’T IT?

Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police Commissioner, has refused to call sexism, racism and homophobia in the force ‘institutional’

Ah, central bankers. The most exacting people in the economic profession. President of the ECB Christine Lagarde gave us a riddle for the ages when she said they were ‘neither committed to raising (rates) further, nor are we finished with hiking rates’

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

AI bankers might be better

[Re: Why AI tools, like GPT, are now at the frontline of the City’s talent war?, March 19]

AI innovations like ChatGPT, and more recently GPT-4, provide exciting opportunities for financial firms to solve many of their challenges by delivering better cost and time efficiencies.

They also offer the chance for firms to expand their current touchpoints to reach even more people than they could before, such as those with disabilities.

There are many more use cases for generative AI in the financial industry, such as offering customers a personal assistant in their banking app to ensure bills are paid on time, or to help them

improve their financial situation by analysing income and spend. The opportunities are virtually limitless. But the City needs to keep customers at the centre of their strategy – consumers expect information highly personalised and in their own language. This is reflected in a recent report of ours, which revealed half - 45 per cent - of consumers admit they will not engage with a financial institution if there are no local language options available.

It's important, however, not to prioritise AI over human engagement or vice versa. Instead, financial institutions should deploy a strategy that combines AI, Machine Translation and human expertise. Only then can firms handle high volumes of customer interactions, while demonstrating that they understand the individual.

David Hetling, RWS

PENSIONER IN THE PALACE King Charles told to hold off visit to France

Post-Brexit rules on capital for challenger banks will only hurt the industry more

Karen Bradley

ONE of Britain’s great economic success stories since the global financial crisis has been the emergence of a vibrant and dynamic challenger bank market.

Names never previously seen on Britain’s high streets like Metro Bank and Virgin Money, alongside a re-modelled TSB, were the first warning signs to the top five banks that competition could be a healthy thing and a major priority for government and policy-makers.

That early progress was boosted by the PRA’s new authorisation regime introduced in 2013 encouraging a whole raft of new players and specialist lenders to enter the market.

And with the UK’s focus on developing the country as one of the world’s leading fintech sectors we’ve seen an explosion of neo-banks, like Monzo, Starling and Atom.

Nowhere is the competitive change in the banking landscape more obvious than in the SME lending market. The diversity of new and growing SME lenders such as OakNorth, Allica, Shawbrook and Oxbury is plain for all to see.

New data from the British Business Bank last month revealed that for the first time in living memory, challenger and specialist banks now account for 55 per cent of new SME lending in the UK, more than the previously dominant top five banks combined.

Since the PRA introduced its new banks authorisation regime, new banks’ lending to SMEs has grown by almost 150 per cent.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: BRITAIN, A YEAR ON LOCKDOWN

On this day, three years ago, Britain was plunged into its first lockdown. The word, previously pretty alien to us, became synonymous with the pandemic. It was adorned with various adjectives: we had ‘snap lockdowns’, ‘circuit breaker lockdowns’, ‘partial lockdown’.

Three years on, it is honestly difficult to look at British society and say we are better for it.

Though, of course, not all of this can be blamed on the pandemic. Many of our public services which are now

crumbling were already in a state of disrepair.

The nature of cities has undoubtedly changed, for the better and worse. There is more flexibility in how we live and work, which has certainly come in hand during the recent wave of strikes.

What it has undoubtedly shown is our continued resilience. Scarred as some sectors and our wider economy are, the industrious effort to get back to it is something to be admired.

Having said that, post-Brexit rules are still holding back challenger banks’ ability to grow through a lack of proportionality in our regulatory regime. The current approach makes it impossible for challenger institutions to compete on a level playing field with the big, established banks.

You need only look at the last week of upheaval in the banking world to see the importance of having a competitive landscape. This is a critical moment for the long-term health of the economy.

Plans from the PRA to reform the Basel International banking standards, which govern crucial areas like capital adequacy and liquidity, would be a massive shake up to lending rules in the UK.

Billed by some as an opportunity to unlock the so-called Brexit dividend, the PRA’s consultation runs to a

weighty 400 pages.

But for small firms, these new rules could impede the ability of challenger banks to supply critical finance by requiring them to hold more capital when lending to SMEs.

And there’s confusion as to why capital requirements could be higher for lending secured on smaller firms’ property assets, than for totally unsecured lending – a position that seems entirely illogical.

Analysis from economic experts Oxera, presented to the APPG on Challenger Banks this week, has suggested that up to £44bn of SME lending is at risk of being lost to the economy as a result of the proposed changes.

While the PRA’s primary objective is to ensure the safety and soundness of financial firms, it appears the proposed new rules could actually increase incentives for smaller banks to take on riskier lending.

And if the impact to SME lending is anywhere near the £44bn experts believe it could be, then the new rules would also cut across the PRA’s objective to facilitate competition in the banking market and obligations to take

into account the government’s economic strategy.

Clearly nobody should be arguing for the regulators to simply loosen capital requirements. The recent Silicon Valley Bank debacle vindicates both the Bank of England’s new resolution regime and the PRA’s approach to liquidity rules (which are different and arguably more effective than in the US).

But SVB also demonstrates the importance of rules fully reflecting the risks being regulated.

Regulators and politicians will quite rightly want to consider the issues sitting behind the SVB episode. But those difficulties had nothing to do with the bank’s lending activity, and its failure should not impede future lending for domestic firms.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to show how UK financial services can flourish post-Brexit, to the benefit of a more competitive banking sector, and new firms ready to breathe fresh life in the UK economy.

£ Karen Bradley MP is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Challenger Banks and Building Societies

Proposals from the PRA for challenger banks could deprive SMEs of £44bn

As Emmanuel Macron faces ongoing mutiny over laws to raise the pension age, a prominent French leftie MP, Sandrine Rousseau, has told the King not to visit this Sunday - especially seeing as he’s 74 and still working. Quelle horreur!

EDITED BY STEVE DINNEEN @steve_dinneen

JOHN WICK RETURNS WITH A FOURTH HELPING OF BUBBLE GUM POP-VIDEO VIOLENCE

racking up air miles that even James Bond would be pleased with.

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4

BY STEVE DINNEEN

You could make a strong case for John Wick being a satire.

The first movie took the tropes of an action movie – a relentless, taciturn hero reluctantly dragged back into the underworld, motivated by his love for a dead/kidnapped family member – and reduced them to absurdity by making the trigger for his triple-figure killing spree a stolen puppy.

Now on its fourth “chapter”, the franchise could be described as a satire of action movies that have become franchises. Where once there were a few hundred Russians standing in the way of a dog, now there is a grand network of underground – and, honestly, overground – assassins divided into various clans, all of which serve under one Illuminati-esque organisation referred to as the High Table.

The Table wants to kill John, for reasons that don’t matter, and will spare no expense to achieve this. With few remaining friends, John heads to neonsoaked Osaka, industrial Berlin, rain-swept New York and, finally, Paris,

There have always been echoes of classic Hollywood Westerns to these films and that’s more explicit than ever, with John entering the frame on horseback and the film building towards literal pistols at dawn; I haven’t seen this many cowboy samurais since Kill Bill.

The fight sequences, as ever, are a never-ending series of bubblegum pop videos that bear as much similarity to real-world violence as dressage does to mounted combat. John pirouettes, tangos and waltzes his way through gun fights, knife fights, sword fights and fights that defy easy categorisation, weaving a web of destruction through hotels, galleries, nightclubs and, most impressive of all, the road that rings the Arc de Triomphe, where the traffic is every bit as terrifying as it is in real life.

Director Chad Stahelski, once Keanu Reeves’ stunt double in The Matrix, has always worn his influences on his sleeve – French neo-noir, kung fu movies, grind-house – but is more confident than ever paying homage to his inspirations; and he’s clearly been reading comic books and playing video games.

A blind assassin called Caine, who fights using a kind of echo-location (there’s a great scene involving a series of stick-on electric doorbells), is a nod to Daredevil character Stick, while another baddie recalls Batman antagonist The Penguin. And a brilliantly propulsive scene set in an apartment

Problematic Puccini is back again at the ROH

OPERA

BY TACITA QUINN

The operatic canon offers many examples of the spectacular being mingled with the problematic. In this respect, Puccini is a regular offender.

Despite many of his operas representing the very pinnacle of classical music, there is no denying the blatant orientalism present in the heart-breaking Madam Butterfly. This even tarnishes his last opera, the magnificently dramatic Turandot; perhaps to the point of no return.

Set in ancient imperial China, icy princess Turandot refuses to take a husband unless he can correctly answer the three riddles she sets him. If just one question is answered incorrectly, they are ruthlessly executed. Calaf, the lost prince of Tartary, is the first man to answer them all correctly, but Turandot is still reluctant to accept him as her husband. Calaf proposes that if she can guess his name by dawn he will voluntarily go to the executioner’s block.

Andrei Serban’s 1984 production is in its umpteenth revival, and even if it is undeniably traditional, there is no denying the passion present on stage. This production’s giant masks,

coloured streamers, spectacular costumes and inherent drama have made it a returning audience favourite. Every glint of gold and flash of red adds to the drama of Puccini’s score, which builds to a crescendo of intensity.

The splendour on stage is held up by an exquisite cast. Yonghoon Lee is a compelling Calaf, with his trumpety tenor tugging at just the right heartstrings. Lee sings the famous Nessun Dorma aria with fierce resolve and seemingly endless emotional power.

Anna Pirozzi as Turandot makes the audience shiver with her profoundly chilling soprano, and together the pair make for an impressive match.

Antonio Pappano has waited until now to conduct his first Turandot, but his connection to the piece is undeniable. Fireworks were emanating from the pit, with red hot ferocity, anger and heartbreak flowing through every instrument. Pappano is unquestionably in his element.

It is unfortunate that such a stellar display cannot escape the very evident awkwardness it creates. Hiring white performers in non-white roles does the ROH few favours. Given the clear context of Serban’s production, the obvious objection lingers uncomfortably on stage, and becomes more awkward by the second. Perhaps a new Turandot should be brought to the fore, as this one feels like a past we are steadily leaving behind. One foot out the door, a final look may put it to rest.

block, shot from above, clearly references the 2012 video game Hotline Miami, with John weaving chaotically from room to room, the centre-piece in a joyful kaleidoscope of blood and gunpowder.

Wick himself is now a superhero in all but name – at one point he plummets from a fifth story window onto a parked car, which sets him back for all of 10 seconds before he’s back on his feet, preparing to be kicked down the 222 steps of Paris’s Rue Foyatie.

The first movie was a little over 90 minutes; this one stretches to nearly three hours, which is a long time to ingest this much visual sugar. It’s not hard to spot the fat: there are far too many grandiose exchanges about honour and destiny and legacy, all of which are so silly they could be delivered in a language you don’t speak without losing any of their impact. As I said, at this point it’s essentially a satire.

But Stahelski is the best in the business, and even approaching the three hour mark I was grinning like a loon every time someone was thrown extravagantly from a building or had their bollocks torn off by a dog. For a man who can’t act, Reeves has incredible presence and I genuinely believe there’s no better action hero working in Hollywood today.

There will inevitably be more John Wicks to come and they will inevitably be functionally identical to this one and I will inevitably love them, too.

DIR. BRANDON CRONENBERG

BY VICTORIA LUXFORD

In an industry currently debating its own nepotism, Brandon Cronenberg is setting himself apart from the crowd. The son of legendary director David, he shares his father’s interest in surreal imagery, but takes it in new and interesting directions.

In his third film, Infinity Pool, Alexander Skarsgård stars as James, a writer who escapes to a remote resort with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman). Their marital strife is interrupted by Gabi (Mia Goth), a fan of James’ who invites the couple into her world of debauchery and violence. Things go too far and James is sentenced to death, but with a twist: take his punishment, or pay to watch a clone of him take his place. It’s not one for the fainthearted but if you can stomach what unfolds, an interesting moral tale presents itself, asking whether humans are good by nature or simply afraid of consequences.

After shining in The Northman, Skarsgård delivers another intriguingly complex performance. He works well with Goth, quickly becoming a giant of the genre after his success with Suspiria, X and Pearl. Her grinning, enigmatic presence is the perfect avatar for the seductive uncertainly that awaits in the later acts.

While it’s too extreme for blockbuster audiences, Infinity Pool will satisfy those with a taste for the unusual. It also shows Cronenberg is more than a clone of his father.

TURANDOT ROYAL OPERA HOUSE

INFINITY POOL

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DIR. CHAD STAHELSKI

HOW SUCCESSION BECAME THE DECADE’S MUST-WATCH SHOW

The first episode of Succession, aired all the way back in June 2018, only hints at the Shakespearian epic that would follow. On first watch it seemed a little goofy: Kendall rapping along to the Beastie Boys in the back of his car; cousin Greg puking from behind the eyes of an amusement park mascot. It’s tense and uncomfortable, but recognisably the work of Jesse Armstrong, thus-far best known for wry comedies Peep Show and Fresh Meat.

But when you look back with the benefit of three seasons’ worth of hindsight, it becomes clear that the characters in this malignant media dynasty arrive fully formed – or, more accurately, they arrive already broken.

From the moment we meet him, Kendall Roy, an executive at daddy’s empire Waystar Royco, is already desperately seeking the confidence that might win him the approval of his father, the patriarchal tycoon Logan Roy, be that through motivational music or hard drugs. The same goes for the rest of the clan: Shiv, Roman, Connor, Tom, Gerri, etcetera, etcetera: each one craves nothing more than to please the man they hate and fear.

Over 29 episodes, Succession has revealed itself to be a treatise on familial relationships, a satire of the super-rich, a blistering takedown of media totalitarianism, and a Greek tragedy in the true sense, its cast of hubris-laden characters destined to fail –even perish? –from the moment they appear on screen.

The show seemed to reach a crescendo with the pitch-perfect ending of season two, which closed with Kendall’s public denunciation of Logan, eliciting a pained half-smile from a father who, for the first time, appears to genuinely respect his son.

After that, season three seemed like a gamble –what a perfect way to end

a series it would have been! –but Armstrong et al managed to keep the momentum, and watching the same characters jump through the same hoops was more compulsive than ever. Everything about Succession just feels right, from the theme tune that can now be overlaid over any awkward footage to create an instant meme, to the individual performances, many of which are the result of ingenious casting (Kieran Culkin as the nihilistic sex-pest Roman? Ferris Bueller’s best mate Alan Ruck as Connor?).

And, of course, there is the air of intrigue lent to the affair by the tensions among the cast, which by all accounts would make a pretty good TV show in itself.

Jeremy Strong shot to a kind of infamy following a New Yorker profile in which his co-stars expressed

exasperation and concern over his intense method acting (a term he rejects), while Strong comes across as, at best, a kook and at worst completely untethered from reality.

The parallels between Strong –a hugely ambitious actor who once sought council from Daniel Day-Lewis, but for whom the lead role he so craved had never quite materialised –and Kendall are undeniable, adding a soupcon of voyeurism into the already heady mix.

Meanwhile the Murdochs, the clear inspiration for Logan Roy and his Waystar empire, continue to make headlines themselves, with Rupert this week getting engaged for the fifth time aged 92. He still exerts his influence over hundreds of newspapers and dozens of TV channels, and over the years various of his children –notably Lachlan, Elisabeth and James –have been touted as his potential successor.

When people talk about the best TV shows ever made, the same names invariably crop up: The Sopranos, Mad Men, The West Wing, Twin Peaks. Succession already sits comfortably in that company. It’s the stand-out show in a decade of exceptional television, one that will be watched and rewatched for many years to come, destined to become a cultural and historical artefact –“is that really what the media was like in the 2020s?”.

It seems vanishingly unlikely that Armstrong will fail to deliver a fitting finale for his brilliant, terrible creations. Indeed, this final season could cement Succession as one of the all-time greats.

I go into it with a sense of excitement, trepidation (it really is gruelling viewing sometimes), and genuine dread that it will soon all be over.

£ Succession returns to HBO on Sunday and will stream on Now TV every Monday

It seems vanishingly unlikely that writer

Jesse Armstrong will fail to deliver a fitting finale for his brilliant, terrible creations

With season four of this inimitable comedy-drama finally airing on Sunday, we look back at how it became TV’s hottest thing

Steve Dinneen

How grassroots schemes are helping to rebuild after Grenfell

Ihad mental health problems before Grenfell, witnessing it was a disaster to my life,” says Joseph John, a Grenfell Tower survivor. “I went to the Grenfell Athletic training sessions and was greeted with love. I keep going every week. We won the league. We won the cup, and I have never looked back.”

Almost six years since the fire, Grenfell Athletic remains a vital lifeline for locals. Players don’t need to be good at football, they mainly sign up for the community. It’s been such a success that another club, Minds United FC, launched in 2020 purely for those experiencing mental health problems.

“It’s about staying together as a community, trying to heal from what’s happened and rebuild from the bottom upwards,” says Tia Best, another player for Grenfell Athletic. Continuing the same spirit, Best has launched her own sweets business in the local area to give back to her community.

“My end goal is to have a big, magical shop that kids can look at and go, ‘I’d love to go in there,’” she says. “My goal is to make sweets affordable. You can get sweets from the cinema but I feel like there’s a gap –it’s not really affordable for the community I’m from. That’s the key thing for me.”

Steven Bartlett, one of the dragons from Dragon’s Den, recently met with survivors and members of the community to offer internships and advice. He has supported Tia’s sweets business by making a “massive” order of sweets,

“which was pretty cool,” says Tia. But Grenfell Athletic still doesn’t have a home ground, and speaking to City A.M., Joseph imagines a future version of the club with its own shower block and “proper changing rooms, where kids can play and grow,” as the community continues to heal from the disaster.

Rupert Taylor, founder of Grenfell Athletic, has “certainly seen a rise in people encouraging and inspiring others” by making their own businesses in the area, but the fact remains that the region of Kensington and Chelsea the players live in is under-funded.

“I think there could be much more support from world class businessmen like Steven, people in our community need to look at somebody who inspires them, that reflects them,” says Rupert Taylor, founder of Grenfell Athletic, who supports small businesses in the area.

One piece of recent support has been the gift of two Mercedes-Benz electric vans which drive players to and from matches, and help support the wider community in their entrepreneurial projects. Getting players together before games helps build comradery and team spirit, but it’s challenging to get players together, with bad transport connections and players living in different areas, many without cars.

“These Mercedes-Benz vans are a no brainer really, being a conduit to support the wider community, really being able to uplift some of these

young entrepreneurs who are trying to carve their way in life” says Taylor. There has been “various opportunities” to work with commercial brands over the years since the fire, says Taylor. “We’ve had many opportunities that haven’t felt right, many many opportunities that haven’t felt right,” but it was the late radio presenter Jamal Edwards who recommended to Taylor and Grenfell Athletic that they collaborate with Mercedes-Benz.

During a talk on Grenfell Athletic Taylor had asked whether anyone could hook them up with a minibus.

“Jamal was at the talk and he said, ‘I absolutely can help you with that,’” says Taylor. “He kind of tied us down with Mercedes which was incredible, and I suppose that’s probably the only opportunity that I want to say has worked out well, developed traction and gained legs. We’ve not got two lovely Mercedes-Benz vans.”

For charities working with extremely vulnerable people, deciding whether to partner with corporations is “a really tough line,” says Taylor. “A tough line that I have to face every day from a personal perspective.”

Mercedes-Benz was unable to confirm specifics about how else they will be helping the Grenfell community, aside from free vehicle repairs but say their partnership is ongoing.

Corporate partnership experts say a roadmap for where the partnership is going next is the bedrock of a strong partnership. “The gift of two luxury

vans is a great start, but what comes next?” asks Jonathan Andrews, corporate partnerships specialist at Remarkable Partnerships.

“Are there opportunities for Mercedes employees to volunteer to support the Grenfell community, or could they run a promotion in Mercedes show rooms where they make a donation to Grenfell every time someone books a test drive?”

Angela Kail, director of consulting at NPC, a think tank and consultancy, agrees. “The best relationships are ongoing, and make use of the business’s expertise, networks and brand power to further the charity’s mission,” she says. But Andrews also says the offer is generous, and that there is “no way” the football club would have been able to afford the vans which Taylor says are a lifeline to his team.

“You may get the questions of, you know, is Mercedes-Benz vans milking off the back of a tragedy, where people face trauma? But I suppose that’s something that we’re able to answer in this particular project,” says Taylor. “The proof is in the pudding. We have these vans and we’re really clear on what the vans can do to support the club internally, but what the vans will do externally is even bigger. Supporting young entrepreneurs, supporting people moving their food around. It all helps, it all helps to enrich our community and grenfell athletic is just a conduit for that.”

Organisations like the Grenfell Athletic are helping people to rebuild their lives, says Adam Bloodworth

There could be much more support from world class businessmen and women. People in our community need to be able look at somebody who inspires them

Ed Warner

IN MY FIVE decades supporting Crystal Palace I’ve seen 34 managers come and go (not including caretakers). Some resigned, others were sacked or left by the euphemistic “mutual consent”. One appeared to retire only to be reappointed this week – welcome back Roy!

They ranged from the ‘aargh!’ (Alan Mullery and Steve Bruce) to God (Steve Coppell, four times our leader). Only once have I been filled with a profound sense of sadness at a managerial departure, however, and that was Patrick Vieira’s last week.

I’ve been privileged to meet a good number of those who have sat in the dugout and stood in the technical area at Selhurst Park. Often they have belied their public persona – Sam Allardyce especially.

Vieira, though, is a standout for his decency, humility and dignity. What you see on camera is exactly what you get behind the scenes. Even the kick aimed at the pitch-invading Evertonian who goaded him last season somehow burnished his image as a leader who has what it takes.

Vieira’s image of course includes his ethnicity. With his sacking, the Premier League once again has no black managers. Crystal Palace is located in an ethnically diverse, relatively deprived corner of London. Vieira spoke often of it reminding him of the Paris suburb he grew up in. There have been times this season when nine of the Palace first XI on the pitch have been black. Not because of Vieira, but because that is CPFC and has been for some years. Little wonder that on appointment in summer 2021, although reportedly not the board’s first choice, Vieira seemed emblematic of the club.

None of which of course is sufficient in the football results business. That he has been treated like any other manager on a losing streak says as much. It will be little comfort that in a perverse way it proves that he has broken through a racial barrier that undoubtedly exists and which Vieira himself has spoken so eloquently about.

“It troubles me a lot. It’s difficult for

WHY VIEIRA’S PALACE EXIT HURTS MORE THAN MOST

I think that just shows there is still a long way to go,” he said in February, on being the only black Premier League manager.

OWE IT TO VIEIRA

As an opposition fan I was bewildered when at the end of the 2018-19 season Brighton and Hove Albion sacked Chris Hughton, another rare black manager at the highest level. Very shortly after, I heard Hughton speak with great dignity at a League Managers Association dinner. If ever there was a manager deserving of another crack at the Premier League.

Brighton have been on an upwards

Q&A

By Frank Dalleres

NINETY-FIVE days after the World Cup final in Qatar, England will kick off their campaign to reach Euro 2024 tonight against Italy in Naples.

HOW WILL QUALIFYING WORK?

The 53 nations battling to join hosts Germany at the tournament will be whittled down to 23 via two routes. Twenty teams –the top two from each of the 10 groups –will book their places in a qualifying phase that concludes in November. The final three spots are decided by play-offs linked to the Nations League.

WHO’S IN ENGLAND’S GROUP?

England’s main rivals in Group C are Italy, the reigning European champions who beat them in the final of Euro 2020, but in a tricky twist they also face Ukraine, the highest ranked team from Pot 3 of the draw. North Macedonia should not be written off as whipping boys, having denied Italy a place at the World Cup, while Malta complete the group. After Italy tonight, England host Ukraine at Wembley on Sunday.

AND OTHER BRITISH SIDES?

club made the right decision. Hughton was out of work for over a year until he joined Nottingham Forest in the Championship. Sacked 11 months later, he is now head coach of Ghana. Easy to shrug and say ‘that’s football’, but has Hughton had the breaks he deserves? And if not, why not? If parallel universes exist, I’ve no access to them. We never know whether persisting with a manager would have resulted in a better outcome than sacking them. All parties can only of necessity look forwards, especially when matches come thick and fast. But do clubs ever conduct a rigorous, coldheaded post-change evaluation?

I’d say, as a Palace fan and chair of the club’s charitable foundation, that we owe a great deal to Vieira. For delivering a 12th-place finish in the Premier League last season. And for 12th again so far this time round (albeit on a very poor run of form lately, which explains his departure).

Just as importantly, for the work he did for our foundation and the stature he bestowed on the club. I think now what I thought of Hughton at that LMA dinner back in 2019. If ever a manager deserves another crack… I hope one comes PV’s way very soon.

£ Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com

On paper, Scotland have a difficult draw in Group A, where they face Spain, Norway, Georgia and Cyprus. Wales look to have a chance in Group D, which also features Croatia, Armenia, Turkey and Latvia. Northern Ireland are in Group H with Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Kazakhstan and San Marino. Republic of Ireland fans probably shouldn’t book those hotels in Germany yet, having been placed in Group B with the Netherlands, France, Greece and Gibraltar.

WHERE ARE THE FINALS?

Germany will host the European Championship for the first time as a unified nation next year. It starts on 14 June 2024, with the final on 14 July at Berlin’s 74,000-seater Olympiastadion.

All you need to know about Euro 2024 and how England can get there.

Barca president: English clubs still want a Euro Super League

FRANK DALLERES

LEADING English football clubs are still interested in joining a European Super League despite renouncing the project, says Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur all backed out of the breakaway shortly after it was announced in April 2021.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus remain keen to press ahead with a Super League.

But Laporta envisages a second phase in which Premier League clubs join and he insists that, privately at least, they remain keen.

“My view is that the first step will be a Super League in continental Europe with the best clubs of Europe,” he said.

“We hope that Uefa will agree and be a member of this organisation, because we will have one of the most attractive competitions in the world. We will compete with the Premier League.

“And the second step will be to combine the Super League with the Premier League.

Actually the big English clubs are still interested in the Super League. There

VIEIRA, WHOA-OH OH NO

Why Palace manager’s departure hurt, says Ed Warner

PAGE 25

FLORIDA SUNSET Raducanu out in first round in Sunshine State

are a lot of clubs still interested.”

The European Court of Justice is due to rule in the next few weeks on whether European governing body Uefa’s attempts to quash a Super League are legal.

If it sides with Uefa it will prove another nail in the coffin of the controversial project, but if it rules in favour of Barcelona and the other rebels it will open the door for clubs to launch a Champions League rival.

“There will be a resolution of the court in Luxembourg in April or May and I think after the resolution it

Rice: ‘We

MATT HARDY

will be possible to organise a competition in Europe,” Laporta added in an interview with podcaster Joe Pompliano. “I am confident that we will win. I know that very strong financial institutions are interested in financing the biggest competition in the football world.”

Uefa has said that it does not fear another breakaway, while English sides would also be banned from joining any Super League not organised by Uefa under powers proposed for the new independent football regulator.

British No1 women’s tennis player Emma Raducanu lost in three sets to Canadian Bianca Andreescu at the Miami Open yesterday. The duo –both former US Open champions as teenagers – met in the round of 128 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida. The Canadian beat the Briton 6-3 3-6 6-2 and it’s set to be the last time fans see Raducanu on the WTA Tour until the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in midApril. “Emma played amazingly, she’s an incredible player and I have a lot of respect for her,” said Andreescu, who will play Maria Sakkari in round two.

will use World Cup hurt to win Euros’

ENGLAND’S Declan Rice has urged his side to go “that one step ahead” and beat a top team to win a first major men’s trophy since 1966.

Gareth Southgate’s England are in Naples tonight to face Italy in their opening qualifier for Euro 2024 in a repeat of the Euro 2020 final that they lost on penalties.

After tonight’s match, England’s Three Lions will host Ukraine on Sunday evening at London’s Wembley Stadium.

“Without a doubt, yes,” West Ham captain Rice said when asked if the

World Cup quarter-final loss to France in December will be a motivator from now on.

“I think if we look at ourselves after that France game, we took a lot of positivity from the game, even though we lost.

“As a group of players, there was a real belief in the room that we can compete with the best but it’s down to us now to go that one step ahead and beat a top nation and win a trophy.

“That’s all that is on our minds and starting [tonight by] trying to beat Italy and starting our campaign off well.”

Ivan Toney has been included in the wider squad despite last year being charged by the Football Association with over 200 breaches of their gambling laws – the Brentford striker denies some of the breaches and is yet to face a formal hearing.

If England are to win in the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium –where some have suggested fans could face trouble from ‘ultras’ –they will need to do it without Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount and Nick Pope with the trio not travelling to the country due to injury.

Laporta expects the ECJ ruling to go against Uefa in the next few weeks

TENNIS

FOOTBALL

Foakes adds name to today’s Hundred draft

MATT HARDY

ENGLAND cricketer Ben Foakes has been announced as one of a number of late entrants to today’s draft for the Hundred.

The wicketkeeper-batter joins the likes of India’s Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana, Bangladeshi Tamim Iqbal and Pakistan’s Iftikhar Ahmed in registering for the franchise competition, which is the only major UK sporting event with a draft event.

Among those who have removed themselves from contention are Australia’s Mitchell Starc and South

Shorter balls may be key to McIlroy winning Masters

FRANK DALLERES

RORY McIlroy is considering playing with a shorter golf ball in the hope of boosting his chances of completing the career grand slam at next month’s Masters.

In a bid to curb ever-increasing driving distances at elite level, golf chiefs are giving tournaments the power to make players use Model Local Rule balls which travel around 15 yards less. The PGA Tour is yet to embrace the controversial move but most of the men’s Majors are expected to, so McIlroy is ready to voluntarily use the shorter balls in order to acclimatise.

“For me the major championships are the biggest deal,” McIlroy, who has won every major except the Masters, told the No Laying Up podcast.

“So if the PGA Tour doesn’t implement it, I might still play the Model Local Rule ball because I know that that’ll give me the best chance and the best preparation leading into the major championships.

“This is personal preference and personal opinion at this stage of my career. I know that I’m going to be defined by the amount of major championships that I hopefully will win from now until the end of my career.”

Africa’s T20 captain Kyle Markram.

The Hundred draft will take place this afternoon and will see Welsh Fire get the first pick of those looking for a franchise gig, after the Cardiff-based side finished bottom in both the men’s and women’s competitions last year.

A total of 63 players – 30 men and 33 women – will be drafted into the eight franchises. In the men’s competition, each of the franchises had the opportunity to retain 10 players from last year's squads, with all but the Northern Superchargers and Welsh Fire doing just that.

After today’s draft, each of the

sides will be able to add a further two players to their squads who have impressed during England’s domestic T20 Vitality Blast competition.

Reece Topley, David Willey, Olly Stone, Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson are among the English players available to be picked in this afternoon’s draft.

In the women’s competition, the squads will today be expanded to eight players. After that, teams will be allowed to sign their remaining players on the open market. This year’s Hundred tournament takes place in August.

I’d love Ireland to win the World Cup but I don’t see them going the distance

IREALLY do hope that Ireland win the World Cup this year, but so many bones in my body are telling me they’ll blow it in France later this year. They haven’t lost since last summer – in the first Test of their 2-1 series win against New Zealand down in the land of the long white cloud – and they have just snapped up their third Six Nations Grand Slam. Seemingly then, they’re on a high. But I just don’t see the run continuing all the way through the World Cup. Ironically, if Ireland make it to the final in Paris later this year, I think it would prove to be the easiest game of their campaign.

They have a tough pool – alongside South Africa, Scotland, Tonga and Romania – and then the permutations beyond that are difficult, too.

It also doesn’t help Andy Farrell’s men that they face Scotland in their final pool match before a quarter-final against, likely, New Zealand or France. There is a realistic scenario whereby Scotland still have a shot at making it to the last eight meaning those north of the border would need to throw everything at Ireland to have a chance at qualification.

Furthermore, Romania and Tonga –though unlikely to beat Ireland – will be physical outfits and could injure a number of Andy Farrell’s side.

And for me, so much of the Irish success in the last two months has been channelled through two players: Johnny Sexton and Peter O’Mahony.

Sexton is the messiah of the Irish machine, he’s so smart in the way he runs his side and creates opportunities for others. But his game style is his weakness. England showed how you can target the fly-half and get him hobbling in no time at all, and the likes of Tonga

RUGBY COMMENT

Ollie Phillips

and Romania will prioritise that game plan as they go for a giant killing. O’Mahony has been in and out of the side over the last couple of years but, of late, he’s been undroppable.

At 33, this is likely to be the backrow’s last World Cup but he is a monster and someone I’d be targeting if I were the opposition.

I do not believe Sexton will make the final of the World Cup given the potential run of fixtures Ireland could have in the latter stages, but if his side get that far it could be the simplest game of their entire campaign – potentially against England, Wales, Argentina or Australia.

For me, the writing is on the wall for France to win the World Cup on home soil. They’re looking solid and their loss to Ireland in the Six Nations – one of the greatest matches the Championship has ever seen – could be a blessing in disguise.

Having said that, opening up the tournament against New Zealand on a Friday night in Paris has all of the ingredients to derail the hosts’ charge for the title.

I just want another northern hemisphere side to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy. The north deserves another one.

£ China Sevens head coach Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development and behavioural change. Follow on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

A Masters win would complete a career grand slam