NICHOLAS EARL
THAMES WATER will have to plug millions of leaks before it is allowed to scoop up water from rivers to tackle its escalating drought problems.
The Environment Agency has
LAURA MCGUIRE
LONDON’s most-shorted stock tumbled again yesterday, with Ocado’s first quarter trading update failing to impress investors.
The firm’s share price fell around six per cent before paring back losses slightly towards the end of the day.
The grocery delivery and tech firm said it had been helped by some “M&S magic” in the first quarter of the year, as its partnership with the iconic British retailer had seen
revenues creep up 3.4 per cent on the year, compared with inflation running at 10 per cent across the period.
Ocado lost £501m last year as peaking pandemic demand gave way to a cost of living crisis.
Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: “The pandemic turbo-charged Ocado, pumping up hopes the upmarket online retailer was at last living up to its potential and finally on course to start delivering regular profits, only for
these dreams to be dashed as the coronavirus eased.”
Traynor said that a “combination” of consumer shopping habits normalising with the return to the office, the cost of living crisis and soaring inflation led Ocado to a loss at that time.
Despite this, Ocado said that the number of active customers reached 951,000 at the end of Q1, up 13.8 per cent year-on-year.
“We continue to attract more and more customers to Ocado by
investing in great value for customers including our new Ocado price promise and providing unbeatable choice and service,” Hannah Gibson, Ocado retail’s chief executive officer, said.
“This solid 2023 performance will enable us to return to sales growth and profitability,” she said.
According to the latest table from the Financial Conduct Authority, some six per cent of Ocado shares are on loan to short sellers, who benefit from a fall in the share price.
tackle the loss of 630m litres of water per day before it resorts to
The company has published a climate crisis-induced droughts
include new reservoirs, alongside ‘water recycling’ – which Thames
This involves abstracting 75m
analysis of the company’s plans, Thames Water needs to reassess water supplier to do more to fix its leaks.
The report said: “Thames Water leaks more water than any other company... the company (must) invest... to identify ways it could substantially reduce leakage.”
£ CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
BETTER to trust independent analysts or company bosses when it comes to forward guidance? It appears insiders really do know best.
That’s according to a recent study from the University of New South Wales, which suggested so-called ‘star’ analysts –those picked out on
the Institutional Investor AllAmerican analyst team or the European Extel survey –regularly ignored company guidance, and were “typically” no better than analysts who stuck with the company’s guidance.
However, even though star analysts’ forecasts were less accurate when they ignored company
guidance, their impact on the market was greater.
If a star analyst makes a forecast that differs more from company guidance, the study found that share prices reacted 21 per
cent more strongly than if a regular analyst made such predictions. The researchers suggested this was because star analyst forecasts sacrifice accuracy for bringing out new information not yet incorporated into a company’s guidance.
However, Joachim Klement, an (ahem) analyst at investment bank Liberum, believed this was unlikely to be the case. “It is the fame of these star analysts that makes the market move, not the ‘informativeness’ of their forecasts,” Klement said.
“Star analysts think they know better, and investors are worse off if they believe them.”
SO HERE’s a column in defence of the one per cent, which at least is something you don’t see in any other rag, so let’s hope you enjoy the novelty. Worse, it’s arguing that those paid north of £100,000 are being hard done by. A challenging sell.
But, but, but. It is increasingly this paper’s view that most of Britain’s problems could be fixed
by reforming the NHS in the vision of a Swiss or Aussie system, building more houses where people actually want to live and making childcare significantly cheaper by reforming the absurd
CRYSTAL PALACAURUS
way in which it is regulated. The former pair we can park for now. Instead, let’s focus on the latter, which Chancellor Jeremy Hunt attempted to address in his recent budget with two extra years of thirty hours worth of childcare for one- and two-yearolds. In the finest tradition of Westminster, it’s dealing with the symptom not the cause, but as far as it goes, it was welcomed.
Bardwell
Unfortunately, however, there’s a sting in the tail. Like the original policy, it disappears at the point at which one parent goes over the £100,000 salary mark; four years of childcare being ‘worth’ anywhere from £25,000 to £50,000, over the period, and anyone over £100,000 going into a 62 per cent tax rate, according to research, you’re now better off as a young parent earning £99,000
and Pedro
take part in conservation work on the 170-year old dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park
than £140,000ish. The CEBR, an economic think tank, reckons it affects about 55,000 people, mainly in London. Will anyone be overly sympathetic? Probably not. But is it a stupid cut-off that will mean high-flyers voluntarily take themselves out of the economy for a day of the week or more?
Yes. So much for fixing our productivity crisis.
LOUIS
LLOYD’s of London’s war underwriters have begun setting aside cash reserves as they prepare to pay out on a flurry of claims from the owners of ships stuck in Ukraine’s territorial waters. The insurance market is readying itself for a new wave of claims from shipowners that have now become viable following the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, industry experts told City A.M. Lloyd’s has already set aside £1.4bn to pay for claims arising from the war in
Ukraine, including those claims related to the more than 400 internationally owned aircraft that were seized by Russia in March 2022.
The London market’s underwriters are also building up significant cash reserves to pay for claims arising from around 80 ships that have been stuck in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov since Russia’s invasion.
Dozens of ships have been stuck in Ukrainian waters since the start of the war due to the threat of perils such as sea mines.
In its annual report, Lloyd’s said: “Marine war portfolios are currently holding reserves in the 2022 year of account for potential losses that may materialise as a result of blocking and trapping in the Black Sea arising from the conflict in Ukraine.”
Two non-executive directors have quit Liontrust after a row about the chair’s 12-year tenure on the board, just days after another dispute in the asset management industry over corporate governance. The FTSE 250 fund group announced that Emma Howard Boyd and Quintin Price had stepped down.
The airline has defended paying the Kremlin millions to fly over Russian airspace as it prepares to ramp up its UK operations. Air India boss Campbell Wilson compared his airline’s decision to continue flying over Russia with the UK’s purchase of Russian fossil fuels.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
THE SUPPLIER enforced a hosepipe ban for millions of customers across England during last summer’s heatwave, which left customers in Northend, Buckinghamshire without running water.
An Environment Agency spokesperson told City A.M.: “We require further evidence that the direct river abstraction proposal put forward by Thames Water would not have adverse impacts on the environment... We urge Thames
Water to produce this evidence as quickly as possible.”
A Thames Water spokesperson said reducing leakage was “a priority”.
“We are repairing over 1,300 leaks per week – whether they are visible or hidden below ground across 20,000 miles of pipes across our network – that’s one leak every 7.5 minutes,” the spokesperson said. The supplier faces impending enforcement action following investigations by Ofwat and the Environment Agency for unauthorised sewage leaks.
ANDREW Bailey dismissed recent volatility in the banking sector as “testing out” firms although he stressed that officials in the UK remained “very vigilant” for further signs of stress.
Speaking at a Treasury Committee hearing yesterday, the governor of the Bank of England said “there’s been quite sharp moves in markets recently.”
“I would not say those in my estimation are based on identified weaknesses... there’s quite a lot of testing out going on at the moment.”
The governor was referring to significant share price movements at some of Europe’s largest banks, such as Deutsche Bank, which fell nearly 10 per cent last Friday.
The global banking system has been jittery since the collapse of Silicon Val-
ley Bank early in March, although Bailey stressed that the UK financial sector remained secure.
“I don’t think... that any of these features will cause stress in the UK banking system... I don’t think we’re at all in the place we were in 2007-08”.
Bailey argued that the collapse of Credit Suisse was an issue of “viability” of its business model rather than any deeper problems in the sector.
Nor was it a complete surprise. Bailey said the Bank had been involved in contingency planning with Swiss and US regulators since last October. However, he stressed that the Bank remained very vigilant in the face of further signs of stress.
“I do not for a moment want to give you for a moment the idea that we are not very vigilant, because we are. We are in a position of very heightened –frankly –tension and alertness.”
IN FRONTof the questioning (and sometimes questionable) MPs, Bailey at times seemed bemused by market movements in recent days. He was not the only one.
After the collapse of SVB and Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank looked –at least for a moment –like it might be the next to see a difficult Friday turn into a crisis weekend.
There was no obvious catalyst for Deutsche’s difficulties: indeed 2022 was its most profitable year in 15 years and it retains strong fundamentals. But, as Bailey said, nervous markets search for weak links.
So far, UK banks have avoided a market stress test. The Bank has repeatedly affirmed that banks under its supervision are “safe and sound”.
We’ll find out more tomorrow when the Bank publishes its Financial Stability Report.
The report will shed more light on how sound our banks really are and reveal where the Bank is looking for signs of danger.
Expect close scrutiny of how banking difficulties are likely to transmit to the real economy and how the Bank can mitigate those difficulties.
CHRISTOPHER
On the Swiss decision to wipe out AT1 bondholders: “In any resolution we will always abide by the code of hierarchy because that’s a cardinal principle.”
The speed of Silicon Valley Bank’s fall: “In my experience, which goes back 30 years now, it is probably the fastest passage from sort of health to death since Barings”
On whether bank deposits should be guaranteed: “I would not support, and I think this is exactly what Janet Yellen has said, the idea that 100 per cent deposit guarantee becomes the norm.”
TURTLE’S MOUTH*
*THAT WAS MARK CARNEY’S NICKNAME FOR THE CURRENT GOVERNORDORRELL AND JACK BARNETT
CHARLIE CONCHIE
THE CHIEF of the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance has hit back at a move from the US regulator to sue him, branding its civil complaint as an “incomplete recitation of facts”.
The CFTC this week accused the controversial Binance chief Changpeng Zhao, known as ‘CZ’, and operations chief Samuel Lim of multiple breaches of the commodity exchange act, including failing to properly register with the watchdog.
Among the allegations from the regulator were claims the firm helped its customers skirt its own internal compliance controls and failed to implement “basic compliance procedures designed to prevent and detect terrorist financing and money laundering customers”.
However, CZ said in a statement on Monday that the complaint “appears to contain an incomplete recitation of
facts” and said the firm does “not agree with the characterisation of many of the issues alleged in the complaint”.
The move from the regulator marks a significant ramping up of the regulatory crackdown on crypto firms and has the potential to upend the US operations of the world’s biggest crypto exchange.
The CFTC said it was considering seeking financial penalties and even permanent trading and registration bans as potential punishments for the alleged breaches.
CFTC chair Rostin Behnam said the move “demonstrates that there is no location, or claimed lack of location, that will prevent the CFTC from protecting American investors”.
The firm has also been the target of regulatory scrutiny in the UK, with the FCA issuing a consumer warning on Binance in June 2021 and ordering its UK entity to halt all regulated activities.
FTX FOUNDER Sam BankmanFried was yesterday charged with a new indictment as US prosecutors accused the former billionaire of bribing Chinese government officials with $40m in order to unfreeze Alameda Research accounts.
LOUIS GOSS
FRENCH authorities yesterday raided the Paris offices of five major banks –including HSBC, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale – in relation to an ongoing fraud and money laundering investigation.
In a statement, France’s national fraud prosecutor said the raids relate
ANNA MOLONEY
UK PLANS for a government-backed non-fungible token (NFT) have been quietly scrapped just under a year after the “forward-looking” plans were announced.
Economic secretary Andrew Griffith said the Treasury was not proceeding with the planned launch of an NFT “at this time” but would keep the proposal “under review”.
It comes as a climbdown from a government that last April announced the “forward-looking” project as part of a wider package of measures designed to make the UK an international centre for crypto.
to a preliminary investigation into socalled ‘cum cum’ schemes, which was opened in December 2021.
The so-called ‘cum cum’ scandal, separate to the German ‘cum ex’ scandal, is centred around allegations of tax evasion in relation to money owed on dividends. The banks involved did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prices of NFTs –with some such as those in the celebrity-loved Bored Ape series once able to fetch over a million dollars –have plummeted in the wake of the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX last year.
JACK MENDEL AND STAFF
SIR IVAN MENEZES’ tenure at the top of Diageo is to come to an end in June, after the decade-long boss announced plans to retire yesterday.
He will be replaced at the top of the drinks giant by Debra Crew, currently the firm’s chief operating officer and a former US Army officer.
Menezes’ tenure has been marked by a stream of acquisitions and disposals of portfolio brands, with the focus on delivering a premium offering.
Menezes joined Diageo in 1997 through the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997 and has served as chief executive since 2013.
The company is now the number one company by net sales value in Scotch whisky, vodka, gin, rum, Canadian whiskey, liqueurs and
also tequila, in which the firm had no substantial position as recently as eight years ago.
“Ivan leaves Diageo extremely wellpositioned for future growth, and we thank him again for everything he has helped us to achieve,” the firm’s chairman Javier Ferran said yesterday.
“The board has diligently planned for Ivan’s successor, and we are delighted to have appointed a leader of Debra’s calibre to the role.”
Crew was appointed chief operating officer in October of last year, having been president of Diageo in North America for two years before that.
She has previously served on the board of consumer goods giant Mondelez.
Menezes’ leaving present from the British public was the news that Guinness became the UK’s leading on-trade beer for the first time in 2022.
2017 Casamigos $1bn
2019 Seedlip undisclosed
2020 Aviation gin $610m
2021 Chase undisclosed
2023 Don Papa rum $240m
2015 Glenagles undisclosedHotel
2015 Percy fox and Chateau wines $500m+
2022 Archers undisclosed
DIAGEO’S SHARE PRICE HAS RISEN COMFORTABLY AHEAD OF THE FTSE IN MENEZES’ TENURE, WITH CUMULATIVE SHAREHOLDER RETURNS OF 127 PER CENT COMPARED TO 17.3 PER CENT FOR THE WIDER INDEX
NICHOLAS EARL
GRANT Shapps has pledged to tackle the imbalance between gas and electricity costs in household energy bills which are at near-record levels.
He has trailed the policy to the media in recent days, and an announcement is expected at this Thursday’s “Green Day” event when the government outlines its response to the US Inflation Reduction Act. Complex policy matters such as separating renewables and gas prices from the overall price of power through
reforms remain some way off. However, it appears that Shapps is preparing to ditch green levies on electricity bills and shift them onto gas bills.
This ‘carrot and stick’ approach gives the 2.1m households across England and Wales with electric-only heating a £120 saving on their bills.
Shapps is also hoping it will encourage other households to decarbonise with heat pumps and electrify their homes in a shift from gas.
Last year, Liz Truss pledged to ditch green levies to ease household bills, which received a hostile response from
green energy groups with Good Energy’s chief executive Nigel Pocklington slamming the policy as “nonsensical”. Shapps’ plan has received a warmer response from the industry, amid expectations green projects will not be defunded through scrapping the levy, with the question instead over whether they should be shifted onto gas as he suggested, or moved onto general taxation.
Kate Mulvany, senior consultant at Cornwall Insight told City A.M. the UK goal of decarbonising the electricity system by 2035 was at risk without
more incentives for households.
“If as proposed by Grant Shapps, these policy costs are shifted from electricity to gas, electricity bills could be reduced by £100, or even more for some households, but these costs must go somewhere, and it is likely to lead to a corresponding increase in gas bills,” she said, Industry body Energy UK backed Shapps’ call for the levies to be removed from electricity, but argued moving them to taxation was a more progressive position than shifting them onto gas bills.
NICHOLAS EARL
SHADOW energy secretary Ed Miliband criticised the prospect of a new mega gas and oil field being approved in the North Sea, and reaffirmed Labour's position of no new fossil fuel projects if the party wins the next election as he launched the party's £28bn ‘Green Prosperity’ plan in London yesterday.
This is Labour’s response to the US Inflation Reduction Act –a $368bn (£299bn) subsidy pledge for green energy and a rival approach to the Conservatives' energy plans, dubbed “Green Day”, expected to be announced tomorrow.
Labour’s proposals includes an £8bn national wealth fund and a new nationalised energy provider. He promised this new plan would be introduced in the first 100 days of a potential Labour government.
He also took a swipe at the government for allowing the Rosebank oil field to be greenlit.
He said: “The same resources could build the future. The government syphons money to companies making record profits to persuade them to invest in expensive solutions that will not cut bills.”
STARTUP quango Tech Nation said it is in talks to sell its brand to Brent Hoberman’s Founders Forum yesterday as it prepares to wind down at the end of this month.
The start-up network, which was launched in 2011 under David Cameron’s coalition government, announced in January that it would shut its doors after ministers controversially pulled its funding and handed it to high- street lender Barclays.
Tech Nation has been courting potential buyers of its brand since then and yesterday said it had now entered formal talks with Founders Forum, a startup group set up by Lastminute.com founder and serial entrepreneur Brent Hoberman.
A deal would see Hoberman’s start-up group take on the brand of Tech Nation but City A.M. understands that there will be no transfer of staff as part of the current deal terms. The two sides are
understood to be confident of striking a deal on the brand.
“We are very excited to be in discussions with Founders Forum Group, which we think is well placed to build on the legacy that Tech Nation has created over the last 10 years, given their ethos and approach to supporting entrepreneurs at every stage,” said Tech Nation chief Gerard Grech.
Tech Nation declined to say how much it was looking to sell its brand for. A spokesperson for the firm added that Founders Forum are planning on “building on the Tech Nation brand”.
A deal will bring a close to a controversial episode which has drawn the ire of many tech figures. Programmes run by Tech Nation have been a starting point for around a third of so-called tech unicorns (firms worth more than $1bn) created in the UK.
Founder Forum’s Hoberman said that Tech Nation had played an “instrumental role accelerating startup growth”.
THE BILLIONAIRE owners of supermarket Asda are reportedly sizing up an £8bn takeover of global sandwich maker Subway.
According to reports in The Sun, billionaires Mohsin and Zuber Issa are understood to be eyeing up the 44,000strong restaurant chain.
The pair, who gained their notoriety as the founders of forecourt business EG Group, already have Subway
Bellway yesterday said homebuyer demand has started to improve after seeing reservations plunge by nearly 50 per cent due to soaring mortgage rates. The housebuilder group, whose headquarters are in Newcastle, reported underlying pre-tax profits falling 4.6 per cent to £312.1m for the six months to 31 January. It delivered record revenues, up 1.6 per cent at £1.8bn, but saw its private homes reservations rate tumble by 43.8 per cent to 91 a week over the first half in the aftermath of last autumn’s mini budget market turmoil, as well as the end of the Help to Buy scheme. Bellway said it was seeing signs of a recovery in demand helped by a seasonal uplift in the property market .
Despite reporting strong annual profits, shares in John Wood Group fell four per cent yesterday after the Aberdeenheadquartered firm posted what may be its last trading update as a listed company. The British oil field services and engineering firm said its annual profit was at the top end of its expectations, as robust performance at its consulting division and good market conditions in conventional energy helped offset lower margins and staffing costs. Adjusted core profit for the year ended 31 December came in at $385m, compared with its forecast of $375m to $385m. The results come as the company weighs up a fourth buyout proposal from Apollo.
BP and Abu Dhabi’s state oil giant yesterday offered to jointly acquire 50 per cent of Israeli offshore natural gas producer Newmed Energy for around $2bn, making their entry into Israel’s energy sector. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and BP said they intend to form a new joint venture as part of the deal that will be “focused on gas development in international areas of mutual interest including the East Mediterranean.” The gas-rich offshore basin straddling Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon has drawn some of the world’s top energy companies in recent years, particularly as Europe scrambles to secure supplies to replace Russian gas in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
branches at their 6,300 petrol stations globally, which includes 340 filling stations in the UK.
A source close to the brothers told the outlet that the pair believed that Subway had not recognised their “massive growth”.
They said: “EG Group have felt for a while that Subway treated them the same way as other franchise partners and their massive growth hadn’t been appreciated. So what better way to show who’s boss than owning them.”
THREE gambling businesses owned by William Hill will pay a total of £19.2m for “widespread and alarming” social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures, the Gambling Commission has announced.
The settlement is the largest in the Gambling Commission’s history.
WHG (International), which runs williamhill.com, will pay £12.5m; Mr Green, which runs mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7m; and William Hill, which operates 1,344 gambling premises across Britain, will pay £3m.
Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes said: “When we launched this investigation, the failings we uncovered were so widespread and alarming serious consideration was given to licence suspension.
“However, because the operator immediately recognised their failings and worked with us to swiftly implement improvements, we instead opted for the largest enforcement payment in our history.”
Social responsibility failures at William Hill businesses included allow-
ing one customer to open a new account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes, allowing another to open an account and spend £18,000 in 24 hours, and a third able to spend £32,500 over two days – all without any checks.
Anti-money laundering failures included allowing customers to deposit large amounts without carrying out appropriate checks.
A spokesman for 888, which owns William Hill, said: “The settlement relates to the period when William Hill was under the previous ownership and management. After William Hill was acquired, the company quickly addressed the identified issues with the implementation of a rigorous action plan.
“The entire group shares the Gambling Commission’s commitment to improve compliance standards across the industry and we will continue to work collaboratively with the regulator and other stakeholders to achieve this.”
The Gambling Commission said all £19.2m will be directed towards “socially responsible purposes” as part of a regulatory settlement.
The previous largest case was a £17m action against Entain last August.
JAMES SILVER
UNIONS look set to deliver a further blow to embattled Royal Mail bosses with a raft of further strike dates, according to reports.
The Communication Workers Union, which has been in deadlock with the company for months, is expected to announce walkouts after Easter which will once again bring the nation’s postal delivery service to a standstill.
The strikes were first reported by The
August 2022 for “unacceptable anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures”
£7.1M
January 2022, its third fine in four years
£7.1M
March 2023, with the regulator saying customer checks were “superficial and lacked depth and probing”
Guardian, which also said the firm had threatened to declare itself insolvent.
A spokesman said “if we have anything to add to our previous financial statements, we have an obligation to do so.”
The business claims to be losing £1m a day through its Royal Mail division, and many City analysts believe the company may spin off its profitable parcel delivery division if no progress is made on what it says are necessary pay and conditions reforms.
NICHOLAS EARL
GOOD ENERGY is pushing forward with its transition from an energy supplier to a wider green lifestyle company, with boss Nigel Pocklington (pictured) arguing that “heavy differentiation” is a clear route to survival in a market increasingly consumed by the Big Six energy firms.
He told City A.M.: “If we return to a cosy oligopoly, then we risk returning to a cosy oligopoly level of service and pricing. So, I do think challenger propositions can survive – but they have to be well run and we need to learn our lessons of the energy crisis. Size isn’t everything in this and our focus on deep green consumers and the installation and maintenance of green technologies is giving us a different and differentiated position.”
Following Octopus’ takeover of Bulb, around 90 per cent of the market is in the hands of six suppliers again – giving less room to challenger offerings.
However, Good Energy is looking to stand out from the crowd with its shift from
NICHOLAS EARL
THE RECORD earnings of BP and Shell do not reflect the challenges most North Sea oil and gas producers face from the windfall tax, the UK’s leading offshore industry body has argued.
bumper profits of energy giants have been generated from global trading following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the UK footprint being less than ten per cent of their businesses.
could boost generation and potentially ease energy bills.
being purely a supplier to a green lifestyle group – helping people transition to net zero and decarbonise their homes.
Pocklington describes this as being a “supply plus” company.
To this end, the supplier invested nearly £5m in electric vehicle mapping service Zap Map last year and snapped up the heat pump and solar installation business Igloo Works three months ago.
The supplier is now pushing to ramp up smart meter installations – adding 13,000 to its customer base over the past 12 months, which make up 47 per cent of its customer’s meter points.
His comments came as the FTSE AIM All-Share company yesterday announced its full year results, with the supplier reporting a 10.7 per cent increase in gross profits, with earnings rising from £27m to £29.1m. Investors took note, with shares bouncing to finish up 18 per cent on the London Stock Exchange.
Pocklington said Good Energy wants to be a “supply plus” company
PENSION giant Scottish Widows has launched £1.4bn worth of new green funds to inject into companies “helping to resolve nature and climate issues”. Maria Nazarova-Doyle, responsible investment chief at Scottish Widows, said the firm had “an urgent imperative to support the companies attempting to drive the change our planet desperately needs”. It comes amid a wider push from campaign groups to strip out carbon-intensive investment from the UK’s pension cash.
JAMES SILVER
GLOBAL advisory giant APCO Worldwide has picked up Londonbased Camarco to beef out its capital markets communications offering –with boss Brad Staples saying he was “excited” to take on the biggest PR players in the Square Mile.
The deal, in which the almost 50strong Camarco team will be anchored in London but part of a global network, will see APCO take on the traditional
Ross Dornan, market intelligence manager at Offshore Energies UK, told City A.M. that the
This meant they could handle the impact of a windfall tax, while producers hedged in UK markets suffered huge hits to their finances –forcing them to drop projects which
“Some of the global profits from Shell and BP are very eye-catching but I think there has been a misunderstanding out there. Just because they’re UK-headquartered on the FTSE as a PLC, I think people automatically assume that they’re making that money in the UK,” Dornan said.
big boys of Finsbury and Brunswick for financial communications tenders.
It is the latest in a wave of M&A activity across advisory and communications firms, with many wanting to provide a one-stop shop.
Staples told City A.M. yesterday that London was an “unparalleled global financial centre” and said he was “bullish” on the capital’s prospects.
APCO plans to develop its offering in the UK before expanding first to New York and Dubai.
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SUPPORTING ALL MEMBERS OF HIS MAJESTY’S ARMED FORCES
AXA’s UK chief executive Claudio
Gienal is willing to admit he’s a tough boss. Speaking to City A.M., the Swiss exec, who took up his position as the head of Axa’s UK & Ireland business in 2017, is very clear that he doesn’t like “excuses”. He’s also clear that the people around him have to be “honest” and that there has to be real “consequences” for those who fall short.
He said these values, which got him to where he is now, were instilled in him during his upbringing in a small village in the Swiss Alps where he grew up speaking Romansh, a rare local Swiss language, and worked as a cowherder while still in school.
“If you take out 30 cows, you need to bring 30 back,” Gienal says, as he argued the job taught him the importance of accountability at work.
He explained that those early experiences in the mountains of Switzerland also gave him a life-long enthusiasm for healthy living, which he hopes to impart upon his own daughters, as well as giving them a passion for skiing.
Yet for Gienal, health is about more than just physical fitness. Instead, the insurance exec is emphatic about the need for society to place a greater focus on improving mental health.
Axa’s own modelling shows work-related stress costs the UK economy an estimated £28bn a year, largely due to the loss of 23.3m working days as a result of burnout and poor mental health.
The insurance company’s surveys show a higher proportion of British people say they are “struggling” more than in any other country apart from the US.
BAD BEHAVIOUR
Gienal’s love for fitness and the great outdoors, however, is a far cry from some of the loutish behaviour traditionally associated with London’s insurance sector.
The insurance industry’s reputation for laddishness has repeatedly seen the sector hit the headlines for entirely the wrong reasons.
These scandals have seen Lloyd’s of London take a tough approach to inappropriate behaviour, which eventually saw the insurance marketplace ban drinking during work hours in 2019.
In 2022, Lloyd’s hit its own syndicate member Atrium with its largest fine ever, of more than £1m, for tolerating a “culture of unacceptable personal behaviour”, which saw a junior member of staff subject to a “systematic campaign of bullying”.
Gienal argues
there is no place for such behaviour at Axa, and claims his own tough approach to business makes sure people treat each other with “respect”.
The insurance exec has in turn worked to boost diversity within Axa’s UK business. As of January 2023, more than half (56 per cent) of Axa UK’s top executives are women, including all four of the firm’s chief operating officers (COOs).
Having studied environmental engineering at Switzerland’s prestigious ETH Zurich university, the exec suggests his educational background also gives him a greener edge over his peers.
Europe’s top insurers have faced mounting scrutiny over the part they play in facilitating the global fossil fuel industry, through underwriting oil and gas pipelines across the globe.
The insurance exec, however, says his education puts him at the forefront of the sector’s wider push towards net zero, and ingrained the importance of longterm thinking.
Axa itself has vowed to transition into a carbon-neutral company by 2050, in line with the aims of the Paris agreement.
As of 2021, the carbon footprint associated with Axa’s investment portfolio, would lead to 2.6°C of warming if scaled up at a global level, with the firm having cut its emissions by 29 per cent since 2019 – and it has plans to cut even further.
Overhauling the EU’s Solvency II rules –which govern the sums insurers must hold on their balance sheets to protect themselves against bankruptcy – is one of the big talking points in the sector right now.
He, like many other insurance chiefs, agrees that, even if the rules were relaxed, there is currently a lack of investable infrastructure projects in the UK.
In his view, a willingness to compromise would go some way to resolving this drought of projects, by striking a more even balance on the UK’s overly-restrictive planning rules, particularly when it comes to approving renewable energy
“Everyone has to win and everyone has to lose,” Gienal Now, as the world heads into an increasingly volatile and uncertain period, the case for a bit of Genial’s compromise and long-term thinking may be stronger than ever.
ONE OF my favourite business quotes comes, inevitably, from Warren Buffett: “It is only when the tide goes out, that you discover who has been swimming naked.” In the past two weeks it has become clear that the recent rapid tightening of rates has created a strong ebb tide, and that there is an impressive pile of discarded swimwear on the beach.
The casualty list among businesses and banks this past month has been shocking, but most of them have in truth been architects of their own demise.
First there was Silicon Valley Bank, which broke the most basic banking rule of them all –borrowing short and lending long and “failed Banking B1,” as Sir Howard Davies, chairman of Natwest Group memorably commented.
Then Credit Suisse found it could not survive a catalogue of poor credit decisions AND a liquidity crunch.
Finally there have also been a few corporate disasters, most notably Wandisco, which was forced to admit that two thirds of last year’s revenues may be imaginary, which frankly takes some doing.
Lots of people have tried to draw a Nostradamus-shaped line through all the corporate disasters, and the gloomier ones have inevitably
predicted that we are on the verge of another financial nuclear winter. For me, the lessons are different:
£ First, no amount of regulation and oversight will prevent businesses and businesspeople making stupid mistakes. That’s strangely reassuring in a way, although little comfort to the people that backed them.
£ Second, we are living through a period of fiscal stress and there will be more casualties. But there is no sign of the sort of systemic failures that triggered the financial crisis in 2008. By contrast, stronger banks and businesses should be able to seize the opportunities that it throws up.
£Third, UBS has snagged itself one hell of a bargain that would never have been possible in calmer times. It will have to wade through a sea of pain to integrate Credit Suisse and there will no doubt be a trail of litigation and regulatory tussles that last for years. But in the end it has created the world’s largest private bank and one of its largest asset managers for little more than loose change.
Finally, we all continue to have 20:20 hindsight. wonderful if someone someday could predict raking over the coals of
Where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Neil Bennett, global co-chief executive of advisory firm H/Advisors
I am in Paris again, since unlike The King, it doesn’t appear that my visit presented a security risk (at least to anyone other than myself).
On arrival though it seemed business as usual, people scurrying back and forward to offices, cafes open and the Metro trundling underneath the demonstrations.
£ Speaking of the disaster that is Wandisco, I am not going to resort to those cheesy puns, tempting as they are (especially Stayin’ Alive).
Things do look as grim as they can be there and it is hardly an advert for Britain’s technology industry, or for its own internal accounting controls.
When a company starts using phrases like ‘material uncertainty’, shareholders should fear the worst.
But there is one gleam of hope – the company has persuaded
“We are still the City of Light –not fire,” my host explained succinctly. The most noticeable thing is the sudden thinning in the ranks of the tourists outside the Louvre and Eiffel Tower.
As a Londoner, it is hard not to be taken aback by the scale of the upheaval, which is worse than we’ve seen in our capital since the Poll Tax Riots in the
Ken Lever to become interim chairman.
I worked with Ken when he was CEO of Xchanging. He is very much from the do rather than say school of management, clear sighted, diligent and determined and managed to secure a future for that business when it was far from certain. He has his work cut out this time though. It sounds like the business needs a significant injection of funds and a new business model, all in short order.
early nineties. It doesn’t look like it is going to die down soon given that neither side is prepared to compromise (contrary to my confident prediction a few weeks ago) and it is hard to see where that compromise would come from. So they are potentially in for a long hot spring, and even summer.
Somehow in recent years you’ve let go of your soul
Portas sums up what many of us think about John Lewis and adds to the woes facing its chair, Dame Sharon White
It is easy to feel sorry for the English National Opera these days, banished from London by the Arts Council after having its funding cut to zero. The company seems to have resorted this spring to a season of its greatest hits, to show us all what we will all lose if and when it is forced to quit the Coliseum.
Chief amongst these is the revival of its haunting production of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten, the Pharoah that discarded all the Egyptian gods to worship the sun – and paid the consequences.
It is a glorious memorable evening and is on until 5 April, so you just have time to squeeze in a pre-Easter treat. While stocks last as they say.
www.p2pfinancenews.co.uk
THE AMERICANintellectual Noam Chomsky, one of the most popular critics of capitalism, writes that “the real concentration of power is in a fraction of one per cent” of the population: “They get exactly what they want, because they’re basically running the place”.
According to an international survey of 34 countries I commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct for the book In Defence of Capitalism, people in most countries believe that the rich hold all the power under capitalism.
I would like to counter this prevailing perception with three theses:
£1. The rich do exert political influence, but they are nowhere near as powerful as the media, Hollywood movies and some academics with an anti-capitalist bias would have us believe.
£2. That the rich help shape the political agenda, e.g. through lobbying, is not only legitimate in a pluralistic democracy, but important. And it is not uncommon for laws that are in the interest of the rich to also benefit society’s weakest members (e.g. tax cuts and deregulation).
£3. Anyone who believes that rich lobbyists, in pursuit of their own particular special interests, exert too much influence over politics must surely advocate less and not more government, i.e. more capitalism.
After all, the more the state intervenes in the economy (through subsidies and overregulation), the greater the influence lobbyists can exert.
The United States is generally regarded as the country in which the rich exert a particularly strong influence over political developments. But if money alone bought political power, Donald Trump would never have won the Republican candidacy for the US presidential elections in 2016. That honour would more likely have gone to Jeb Bush, who was able to raise far more in political donations. Even Benjamin I Page and Martin Gilens, political scientists and two of the most prominent proponents of the notion that US politics is directed by the rich, concede that “most of the big-money contributors – and most Republican think-tankers and officeholders – supported other candidates”. And: “Trump’s positions went directly contrary to the views of wealthy donors and wealthy Americans generally”.
Furthermore, if money determined political outcomes, Trump would not have won the 2016 election. Hilary Clinton, the Democratic Party and the super PACs that supported her, raised more than $1.2bn for the full cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission. Trump and his allies collected about $600m.
And if money alone could buy political power, then Joe Biden would also not have become President. Perhaps the White House would have gone to the wealthy entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg, who at the time of his campaign for the Democratic candidacy was the eighth richest man in the world, worth $61.9bn according to Forbes. In all likelihood, Bloomberg spent more of his own money (and spent it quicker) on his election campaign than any other candidate in history, namely $1bn in just over three months.
The American political scientist Larry M Bartels has examined the estimated effect of unequal campaign spending in 16 US presidential elections from 1952 to 2012. In only two elections, namely that of Richard
In the fourth of an eight-week series, German historian and sociologist Dr Rainer Zitelmann makes the case that capitalism is the answer to many of the world’s problems –not the cause. This week, he mythbusts the idea that money guides the result of elections.
Nixon in 1968 and that of George W. Bush in 2000, does Bartels conclude that Republican candidates won close elections that they very likely would have lost had they been unable to outspend their Democratic opponents.
But what about the argument that most members of the United States Congress are themselves very wealthy? On this issue, Martin Gilens, who generally criticises the influence of the rich on US politics, concedes that there is no evidence of a connection between their wealth and the political decisions made by members of Congress or the House of Represen-
tatives.
Many people associate “capitalism” with “corruption”. But the view that corruption is particularly widespread in capitalist countries is simply wrong, as confirmed by a comparison of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) with the Index of Economic Freedom.
The countries with the lowest levels of corruption are the same countries that have the highest levels of economic freedom.
And the more governments intervene in economic life, the more opportunities there are to bribe officials.
Anyone who wants to limit wealthy citizens’ unethical or even criminal influence on politics should therefore advocate less not more government.
£ Dr Rainer Zitelmann’s new book, In Defence of Capitalism, has just been published and is widely available.
The countries with the lowest levels of corruption are the same countries that have the highest levels of economic freedom
LONDON’s FTSE 100 was pulled higher by banks clawing back losses yet again yesterday, with Barclays and Standard Chartered initially leading the charge before running out of steam heading into the close.
The capital’s premier index jumped 0.17 per cent to 7,484.26 points, while the domestically-focused midcap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, slipped 0.72 per cent to 18,396.69 points.
Britain’s biggest lenders once again charged the FTSE 100 higher during opening exchanges, marking the second successive day of decent gains for the UK banking sector, although that rally petered out in the afternoon.
Barclays scaled around half a percentage point, as did Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered, and the country’s largest bank HSBC added a shade over 0.1 per cent.
European banks have shouldered the brunt of heavy selling by investors
sparked by the collapse of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank.
Continental lenders clocked a similar day to their London counterparts, with early advances fizzling out and actually swinging into tough losses.
Last Friday, Deutsche Bank shed as much as 14 per cent, but retraced some of those losses on Monday. The German company slipped back into the red again yesterday, shedding around 1.5 per cent.
In France, Societe Generale slipped around one per cent, while in Madrid, Santander was a bright spot, kicking nearly two per cent higher. France’s BNP Paribas was also up marginally.
French authorities raided the offices of several European lenders over suspicions they have dodged tax.
The pound strengthened about 0.4 per cent against the US dollar yesterday after Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey signalled the central bank will look through banking sector volatility and press on with rate hikes if inflation sticks around.
To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com
Analysts from Peel Hunt said AG Barr’s latest annual report represented “a very solid performance”. Like-for-like sales were up 16 per cent against last year, ahead of expectations. The company’s guidance remains unchanged. The analysts noted its strong net cash position should insulate it from rate rises while they forecast earnings to remain resilient from consumer uncertainty. They gave it a target price of 600p and a ‘buy’ rating.
Analysts at Peel Hunt said there were “plenty of levers” for Domino’s to eat up a bigger slice of the market. “Competitive advantages are widening,” they said. The UK is five years behind the US in relation to urban population per store. New stores with five per cent like-for-like sales growth could add an extra £22m in net royalties. They held a ‘buy’ rating with a 375.0p target price.
ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION “There still appears to be an abundance of caution when it comes to driving prices higher, in the wake of the turmoil of last week, helping to keep the FTSE 100 in positive territory”
MICHAEL HEWSON, CMC MARKETS
GOOGLE’S Bard launched last week with the offer to start writing your novel for you. It made my creative heart sink at the latest iteration of AI sucking the joy out of life. I don’t need Bard to start my novel, I have already started it, because I am a writer and, whether published or unpublished, I can’t help myself.
In my book, ‘Freedom to Think’, I explored the ways that information we receive through technological tools affects not only the way we see ourselves, but the way the world sees us, if it sees us at all. A year on from publication, I decided to check how things are going by asking ChatGPT my existential truth “Who is Susie Alegre?”
Like most people, ChatGPT had never heard of me. My ego was bruised despite my PhD by Prior Publication based on publicly available articles, chapters and books dating back to 1998 and writing an FT book of the year 2022. But I accepted that the main training data cut off date was September 2021, before my book came out. So I asked it “Who wrote Freedom to Think?” And that is when it became truly bizarre.
It gave me a pretty accurate synopsis of my book but told me it had been written by Australian biologist Jeremy
Griffiths. Suffering from a wave of imposter syndrome, I checked. He hadn’t written it, though he had written a book called “Freedom” so it was plausible. ChatGPT gave me twenty names in total, none of them me, and only one of them a woman - Dr. Bobbie Stevens, who presumably slipped through the net because both her names could plausibly be a man’s name. None of them wrote a book called “Freedom to Think” despite ChatGPT’s fictitious citations, and some of them don’t appear to exist at all, if Google is to be believed.
When Dr. Jess Wade discovered that only 20 per cent of the biographies of notable people on Wikipedia were women, she started a campaign to write illustrious women scientists and scientists of colour into our collective online consciousness.
Since then, she has created over 1,700 new pages highlighting women and people of colour in STEM. Wikipedia is one of the sources of training data for ChatGPT. But while the incredible potential of AI to boost human endeavour is being hailed around the world, no one is asking
The question is a perennial one. From ancient times we have the cautionary tale of King Midas, who, according to Aristotle, starved to death as a result of his “vain prayer” to turn everything he touched into gold.
The quality of life is influenced by many factors other than money, as we see in data published by the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS surveys people under ten separate headings of which only two - personal finance and the economy - are related directly to money. Others include health, our jobs, where we live, and the environment. The headings themselves are broken down, so there are 44 indicators of well-being.
These are condensed into a single measure of well-being, or happiness. Making this metric the main target of government policy, rather than the purely economic based GDP growth, has attracted support.
But it is this kind of data which gave
rise to the so-called Easterlin paradox, named after Richard Easterlin, of the University of Pennsylvania. In a very influential 1974 paper he showed, using post-war American data, that although at a point in time people with more money reported higher happiness levels than those with less, over time the overall level of happiness did not grow even though incomes did. Between 1946 and 1970, after allowing for inflation average incomes grew by no less than 140 per cent. But reported happiness was flat.
The finding, if correct, did indeed have important implications for public policy.
It also seemed to strike at the very heart of economic theory. In the jargon, a key assumption is that of “non-satiation”. In other words, getting more of everything makes people feel better off – without limit. They cannot be satiated. Economists recognise that this process is subject to diminishing returns. A household buying its first car derives significant benefit. The second car, albeit useful, doesn’t add quite as much as the first. Incomes follow the same pattern, in theory at least.
Nobel Laureates Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman seemed to achieve a partial resolution of the issue, in a paper published in 2010. They split the concept of well-being into two categories. “Emotional”, which refers to the emotional quality of a person’s everyday experience, and “life evaluation”, which measures the thoughts which people have about their life when they think about it.
They found that life evaluation rises steadily with income. Emotional wellbeing, however, seemed to plateau at an
annual income level of around $75,000.
Many interpreted this, wrongly, as showing that incomes above $75,000 did not contribute to happiness at all.
In 2021, Matthew Killingsworth, using a sample of over 1 million experiencesampling reports, was unable to find any plateauing of emotional well-being as incomes rose.
Last month, a joint paper by Kahneman and Killingsworth seems to have resolved the issue: both scientists accept that for most people, higher incomes lead to higher levels of well-being, however the latter is defined. The gains from additional income become less as income rises, but they do not level out.
There is, however, what they term an “unhappy minority”, perhaps 20 per cent of the population whose emotional well-being does indeed plateau.
So, after fifty years of intensive research, it is official. For most people, money can buy happiness.
£ Paul Ormerod is an author and economist at Volterra LLP
why the task of redressing the imbalance in the way the world sees women, is left to one woman, writing for free in her spare time while holding down a full time job in STEM. ChatGPT talks the talk if you ask it about gender bias, but its creators have not put in the time to walk the walk as Dr. Wade has.
I don’t have a Wikipedia page and my time with ChatGPT had made me start to doubt my existence. So finally I asked it to write a paragraph on freedom of thought “in the style of Susie Alegre”. That it could do. I may not exist, but my intellectual work can still be mimicked by an AI. This is simply automated intellectual asset stripping.
Whatever you ask an AI Large Language Model, it will make plausible stuff up. It automates the prejudices of our societies and delivers them with the confidence of a crypto salesman. Sold as a way to improve efficiency and reduce costs, this generation of generative AI is an incredibly energy hungry method of destroying human creativity in already under-valued professions. And with Google advertising for a “prompt engineer” with a salary of between $250,000 and $335,000, it doesn’t seem like much of a bargain.
In December, the Society Of Authors revealed that median author earnings in the UK are £7,000, a drop of over 60 per cent since 2006 in real terms with male writers typically earning 41 per cent more than women. You don’t get much more value for money than women writers - we could, at least, be credited with our own work.
£ Susie Alegre is author of ‘Freedom to Think’ and a human rights barrister
Paul OrmerodChatGPT, an AI chatbot, was launched in November last year
HIS TENTACLES Ed Miliband is not so much taking his cues from the business world as ripping off quotes from their speeches. The shadow energy secretary used a line straight from a speech by Octopus boss Greg Jacksonthat offshore wind is more popular than pizza or beer
ChatGPT automates the prejudices of our societies and delivers them with the confidence of a crypto salesman
[Re: How the UK can make the most of ‘Green Day’, March 27]
Far from ‘draining tax payers dry’, Hinkley Point C is reskilling the UK nuclear industry to benefit Sizewell C and the future nuclear programme, including engaging with 3000 UK suppliers, establishing centres of excellence for welding and electrical skills, training over 1000 apprentices.
Sizewell C will continue this rebuilding of the UK skills base.
All of this work offers a foundation of the future programme, which is additional to and not competing with either Hinkley Point C or Sizewell C.
Julia Pyke Managing Director, Finance
Sizewell C
[Re: Want to be a tech superpower?
Put your money where your mouth
is, March 27]
Nicholas Lyons should be applauded for his £50bn Future Growth Fund proposal. But there are many other challenges to address if we wish to emulate Silicon Valley: we need government R&D funding for university and medical research to be quadrupled. Start-ups needing to scale up must be steered away from debt/loan funding towards easily accessible equity funding. A UK version of Silicon Valley's Y Combinator needs to be established with heavy duty Business Angel players. The UK IPO route needs to become much more attractive. The LSE rules for quoted companies to maintain their listing have become too onerus, costly & restrictive. The shrinking number of quoted companies needs to be addressed. Too many companies have quit the City and it's dysfunctional capital markets.
James Gardner, InvestorHOT on the heels of Jeremy Hunt’s budget, the government will tomorrow set out plans to advance the UK’s green economy with a socalled “Green Day”. And no, it has nothing to do with the band.
Stakeholders from business and civic society are looking for strong signals from government that will re-establish the UK’s credentials as the pre-eminent destination for private investment in the net zero transition. This is all the more indispensable as competition from the US and EU has heated up significantly.
The US Inflation Reduction Act was a game-changing moment. By offering simple, generous tax credits, that single act has transformed the economics for projects across a suite of different technologies, including hydrogen production, renewables deployment, and battery manufacturing. The EU has responded in kind making higher levels of government subsidy available, while China and India are also scaling-up
On the back of the Treasury agreeing an extra £3bn for an NHS pay deal, research from Organise has showed the level of stress on staff, with more than half taking days off work due to stress, and even more considering quitting.
Unsurprisingly, the National Residential Landlords Association has taken umbrage with Michael Gove’s characterisation of “unscrupulous” owners raising rents on tenants.
The trade body said Gove was “whipping up fear”. Yesterday, he dug in, repeating his promise to scrap Section 21 orders - no fault evictions. He said: “No fault evictions can be used to try an get tenants moved out so rents can be jacked up, in the context of the lack of demand overall.”
In fairness to the landlords, rising interest rates have pushed the
cost of mortgages up, but nowhere near what was feared. Buy-to-let landlords are the most at risk of rising rates, because they are more likely to use wholesale funding rather than deposits, which means they are more exposed to interest rate hikes. If landlords’ profits are eroded, they’ll either hike their prices or sell up.
If they do sell, the supply of rental properties will also fall, pushing rents even higher. There will be some rogue landlords, but the problem of rising rents is a systemic one.
their ambition and investment.
The bad news for the UK is that we can’t compete in terms of cash giveaways. But that’s no reason to be downbeat. There are many reasons why the UK should be at the forefront of global investors’ minds for opportunities in the green economy.
We have both ‘talked the talk’ – in setting and legislating for our net zero target – and ‘walked the walk’ - in cutting emissions. Our market-led approach has seen the price of renewables drop, we have expert and trusted institutions like the Climate Change Committee to hold politicians to account, the right weather and geology for several key clean technologies, world-renowned science and research institutions and thousands of
committed businesses eager to hit their own net zero targets. These are assets that others can’t easily match.
According to research from the CBI and Clifford Chance, firms want an approach that takes green technologies from theoretical proposals to bankable projects. Market-based mechanisms like our Contracts for Difference regime have already proven themselves successful in attracting competitive investment. These can be expanded in scale and spread to further technologies.
The private sector needs a rapid increase in the pace at which we deliver projects. Build time for a large-scale offshore wind farm is only a couple of years, but they can take over a decade to deliver thanks to cumbersome planning and consenting processes.
Furthermore, a regulatory approach that prevents grid investment ahead of need significantly delays the connection of low carbon technologies, from energy generation to the electrification of fleet deliver vehicles. Those
both need to be far quicker. They also need to see the agenda is being embraced and gripped across all parts of government. Number 10 and the Treasury should rightly lead, but all departments have a role to play. If government isn’t doing its bit, why should companies? Businesses need more than targets, they need the policies and programmes that will help achieve those targets. A new investment plan for net zero can bring this altogether, outlining levels of funding and what role the private sector has to play in delivery.
Countries with net zero targets now account for 90 per cent of global emissions. The race to protect our climate is on, yes, but so too is competition to capture a share of fast-growing green markets. The UK may have got out of the traps quickly, and it certainly retains a strong hand, but other countries are fast placing their own bets.
£ Tom Thackray is director of decarbonisation at the CBI
The US Inflation Reduction Act was a game-changing moment in green competition
I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS Three quarters of NHS staff considering leaving
WHAT IS IT?
Located on the ground floor of what used to be an office block just behind Covent Garden, Penelope’s is a Spanish-Israeli fusion restaurant with a Berlin vibe. The decor in the 150cover venue is pretty out there, and there’s a DJ playing every evening. It’s not all techno, either: I enjoyed a side of reggaeton with my meal.
Penelope’s is owned by the Hotel Amano group, a Berlin-based hotelier that launched in London last spring with its first boutique hotel. Amano co-founder Ariel Schiff came up with the Spanish-Israeli concept –he grew up between the two countries and says he wanted to bring the flavours of both to life (it’s named after one of his daughters).
The menu offers a range of choices, ranging from starters to mains and even bigger mains, the latter coming in at between £70 and £100. The idea is to share everything, tapas-style but beware of over-ordering –the portions are extremely generous. The gambas locas are excellent, so soft you can cut them with a spoon. They swim in a red, spicy sauce that’s perfect for scooping up with the accompanying focaccia. The lamb breast is good but not mind-blowing; you can tell the meat is high quality but the overall dish is a little on the dry side.
The highlight was the Israeli couscous, which came topped with four gigantic pieces of monkfish tempura and sprinkled with saffron sauce. The tempura was perfect, fried
enough to satisfy but not so greasy as to overpower the delicate fish. This would have been enough but the pork belly was already on its way, along with some patatas bravas. Once again the meat is exceptional, with a beguiling combination of spicy and sweet in the vanilla chilli glaze.
WHAT ABOUT DESSERT?
I had already tapped out by this point but there is plenty of choice, from the signature Baklava cheesecake to a bold crema catalana with mango.
Penelope’s goes big on cocktails, but it’s the wine selection that really caught my eye. There are some very, very expensive bottles but I went for one of the more humble choices –a full-bodied red wine from Israel called Segal Levant; highly recommended.
Book through OpenTable on the Amano Group website at amanogroup.de or call 07442 631181
THAI 101
There is little choice for truly outstanding Thai in London that I’ve discovered but recent months have started to tip the balance. Speedboat Bar and Plaza Khao Gaeng are both fabulous, but for Thai cooking that makes me feel like I’m really in Thailand I turn to Thai 101. It feels like that joint on the backstreet behind the main drag behind the beach in coastal Thailand. The menu bridges Isaan (NE) and Southern Thai cuisines and it’s the best Isaan sausage, soft-shell crab curry, laab, prawns with sator (stinky beans) and mango sticky rice in town.
YI ‘discovered’ this place (London’s second oldest restaurant, I believe) through Fergus Henderson, who referenced it in the first St John cookbook (Fergus’s restaurant is only omitted here because it’s so obvious it should be here). At Sweetings they serve proper English seafood and proper English puds, with proper French wine and proper Black Velvets to a bunch of suited gents who properly look and sound like Mr Banks would, on his lunch break from Mary Poppins. Sit at a counter for almost ludicrously personable service, or in the dining room in the back to feel like an adult in a public school dining room.
I trained at Moro, and remain as family there, but my love of the place is rejuvenated every visit. It explores and juxtaposes Moorish and Spanish cuisines, and offers a masterclass in cooking with understanding and heart. Morito on Exmouth Market offers tiny, scintillating plates of tapas and mezze while Morito on Hackney Road offers a slightly Cretan perspective, and plates that are satisfyingly a touch larger than tapas – a great destination, or a bolt-hole if you visit Columbia Road market nearby.
POPHAMS
Pophams popped up round the corner from my home a few years back, and blew my mind. They take laminated dough to the next level, make excruciatingly precise and wonderful coffee, serve on very nice plates and do very little else (I have yet to try their pasta offerings at lunch). They have even started up a whole other business selling beautiful things to put in your very own beautiful home. While they do more elaborate weekend specials, I always plump for their textbook-and-thensome pain au chocolat, or the naughty-but-nice maple bacon Danish. Then I stroll back to my pub for a pint.
TOFU VEGAN
I eat Chinese food more than any other cuisine (bar Italian at my restaurant Bocca di Lupo, or Louisianian at my Plaquemine Lock) – much of it at Bar Shu (Sichuan heaven), Wong Kei (affordable and fab), Four Seasons (roast meats and dragons whiskers), Royal China (dim sum), Dim Sum & Duck (more dim sum), A Wong, MiMi, Yauatcha, Etles. But everyone knows about them already. So this nod goes out to a genuine surprise for me. I usually can’t abide veggie or vegan food that tries to ape animal protein. Imagine my surprise when I tried my neighbourhood Chinese, Tofu Vegan, and had vegan lamb and vegan chicken that were both as good as the real deal. The future is now.
If you’re out and about in Theatreland, the Amano Hotel is well worth checking out, says Elena Siniscalco
The highlight was the Israeli couscous, which came topped with four gigantic pieces of monkfish
There is a pathway that runs along the coast of the Ligurian Sea, near the Italian city of Genoa, named after Anita Garibaldi, a Brazilian republican revolutionary and wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi.
It is said to be one of the most romantic walks in the world. It’s also a pathway that I’ve spent a lot of time on, eating gelato, jumping off rocks into the sea, and walking between our hotel and whichever restaurant we’ve chosen to eat in,
I first visited this part of Italy on a work trip and have returned every year since, on or around my birthday in August. There’s something so special about this stretch of coastline; sometimes I think I love it so much because it reminds me of where I grew up in Sydney, with its rock pools and coastal walks, but really the main reason I return is for the food – Ligurian basil, Ligurian olive oil and seafood from the Ligurian Sea are second to none.
On one holiday for my birthday, I did my research and booked a restaurant recommended to me by a local guide, who had helped me as a translator on my first trip. With my broken Italian, I booked over the phone and didn’t think about it again until we were getting dressed for dinner.
Google Maps told me it was a 20 minute stroll down the Anita Garibaldi pathway along the ocean. When we got to the restaurant, we saw what can only be described as a shack painted to look like an old German pub – not quite the authenticity or beauty I was looking for in a fancy birthday dinner.
Since we had booked unfashionably early, we were the only ones there and, before the menus arrived, we muttered to each other that maybe I’d made a mistake and it was one of the stunning seafront restaurants that we had just
walked past. But once the menu arrived and I saw a pasta dish with prawns and pistachios – a Sicilian slant on Genoa’s famous pesto – I knew we were in the right place. Now, before I even book flights to Genoa, I make sure I book a table at this restaurant. This is my re-creation of that dish, which is packed full of good olive oil, basil and perfumed pistachios. I use ready-made pistachio butter, but you can make your own by blitzing roughly a cupful of whole nuts in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Paired with delicate strands of tagliolini pasta, this dish is something special.
INGREDIENTS
£ 250g (9oz) dried tagliolini, or other long, thin pasta such as angel hair
£ 1 huge handful of fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp pistachio butter
£ 60ml (4 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
£ 1 tsp sea salt
£ juice of 1 lemon
£ 200g (7oz) raw prawns (shrimp), peeled and de-veined
£ 1 tsp salted butter
£ 2 garlic cloves, crushed freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
£ Cook the pasta in a big pot of boiling salted water following the packet instructions. Just before draining the pasta, scoop out a mugful of the water and save.
£ While the pasta cooks, in a blender or food processor, blitz the basil leaves, pistachio butter, olive oil, salt and lemon juice until smooth.
£ Cut each prawn in half lengthways so that when you twirl the delicate strands of pasta, you’ll be able to get both prawn and pasta on your fork. Melt the butter in a saute pan on a medium heat, add the garlic and prawns and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the prawns turn pink.
£ Pour a little of the pasta cooking water into the basil and pistachio mix and blitz again until combined.
£ Add the drained pasta to the saute pan with the basil and pistachio mix and toss together with the prawns and a little more of the pasta water, if needed. Pile the pasta high on two plates to serve and season with black pepper.
£ This recipe is in Bre’s new cookbook Table For Two –available now
When my boss’s boss asked me to recommend a place to eat for a big anniversary –“somewhere like River Cafe or The Square” –he looked sceptical when I suggested a neighbourhood restaurant in Fitzrovia.
Thankfully he loved it, so I’m still here to bang on about what a great restaurant The Ninth is. It’s a near-perfect little place serving French-Mediterranean cuisine in what might be the most low-key romantic setting in London. Sadly, having become a destinationrestaurant for those in the know, it was forced to close its doors seven months ago following a fire in the kitchen upstairs, which led to extensive damage to the ground floor dining room. It finally reopened this month, which gave me the excuse I didn’t really need to revisit.
I’m not sure what I was expecting but “restoration” might be more accurate than “renovation” –it looks identical to the restaurant I remember, from the artfullycrumbing exposed brickwork to the small bar that greets as when you enter.
And the food is exactly how I remember, too, which is a very good thing. Everything from a snack of whole, crispy artichoke with leek aioli right through to the pain perdu with tonka bean ice cream is spot on –expertly prepared and perfectly plated, confident without being flashy.
Picking the same dish twice usually feels like cheating but the langoustine ravioli, topped with slivers of Merinda tomatoes, is so good I would eat it every night of the week; an absolutely must-order dish. The tuna belly with mojama –the pancetta of the fish world –is also on point.
After a couple of years when too many great restaurants have closed, it’s nice to see one reopen. And if you have an anniversary coming up, I know just the place.
By Steve Dinneen
The capital has a brace of new Michelin two-starred restaurants and four new onestar restaurants, including one that’s only been open four months.
Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal moves into the upper echelons of the London restaurant scene. The guide praised the chef’s “impressive and accomplished” dishes, calling
them “exquisite in appearance and, like a seasoned orchestra, everything on the plate adds its own note of flavour to produce something harmonious and exhilarating”.
The Ledbury was also bumped up to two stars following a big refurb, placing this iconic institution back at the heart of the London dining
scene. “Brett Graham’s close relationship with his suppliers has always been its strength,” said the Guide. “The kitchen then uses its considerable skills to enhance and amplify those stunning ingredients on a set menu that is beautifully balanced and harmonious”.
Gaining a single star this year were Shoreditch’s JapaneseAustralasian Cycene; Clerkenwell’s excellent Italian Luca; Smithfield’s hyper-seasonal British Restaurant St Barts; and Mayfair’s omakase restaurant Taku, which only opened its doors four months before this year’s Guide was released.
A perfect dish for spring, this light pasta recipe is sure to impress, says food writer Bre
It’s that time of year again when chefs find out if they have been included in Michelin’s annual honours list
MID-WEEK racing in Hong Kong switches from Happy Valley to an eight-race programme on the AllWeather surface at Sha Tin.
The majority of bettors will probably have left Sha Tin races last Sunday on good terms with themselves, with a number of well-fancied gallopers obliging on the 10-race programme.
They now face a different test of skill, with so many imponderables associated with racing on dirt, notably whether the track bias will favour gallopers up with the pace or strong finishers. The majority of the eight races look wide-open affairs, and it may pay to
look for some value for money choices throughout the card.
HAVA NAGEELA makes a welcome return to the surface when he lines-up in the Silvermine Bay Handicap (2.45pm) over the extended mile.
This former three-time winner in Ireland hasn’t been seen on dirt since a strong-finishing third to useful Handsome Twelve over the course and distance back in December, with rivals Yes We Can, Royal Bomb and So We Joy finishing in behind. His subsequent form on turf is the best on view, notably when finishing sixth, beaten just over a length by recent Hong Kong Derby winner Voyage
Bubble in February, and chasing home Sunday’s progressive Sha Tin winner Ching, who was in receipt of seven pounds, over a mile earlier this month. With trainer Frankie Lor second behind Benno Yung in the list of most winners on the All-Weather surface this season, and an inside draw of stall one an advantage for a rails-hugging journey, the signs are looking good, especially with actionman Silvestre de Sousa in the saddle. Talking of trainer Benno Yung, who was formerly assistant to John Size, he has saddled nearly half of his 21 winners on the All-Weather surface this current campaign, double that of his
nearest pursuer in the trainers’ table.
Yung saddles four raiders on the card, all of whom can be given chances on recent form, including GUMMY GUMMY, who takes his chance on dirt for the first time in the Tong Fuk Handicap (3.15pm) over six furlongs. This lightly raced Australian import produced his best form to date when overhauled by useful Brave Star in a competitive handicap at Happy Valley three weeks ago.
That form can be upgraded as he suffered a tough journey to get to the front from a wide draw, but nevertheless still producing a quick time and pulled clear of the third placed horse.
The trainer has trialled him three times on the surface since arriving in Hong Kong last September, with two wins and a place, so he looks an ideal candidate to try his luck on dirt. This time, with a low draw in his favour, he should get an easy journey, sitting just off the pace from the start, before hopefully sprinting for glory when turning into the straight.
POINTERS
Hava Nageela 2.45pm Sha Tin Gummy Gummy 3.15pm Sha Tin
TRAINER Dennis Yip hasn’t had much to celebrate in recent weeks, but is certainly capable of causing a surprise when he saddles progressive light-weight GOKO WIN in the competitive Tung Wan Handicap (3.50pm) over six furlongs.
This intriguing contest consists of a dozen contenders who have won 44 races between them in Hong Kong, and includes a former Group
Three winner Computer Patch, and Group Three placed speed-machine Nervous Witness.
Add the likes of All-Weather specialist Campione and four-time course and distance winner Super Win Dragon and you can guarantee this will be run at a blistering pace.
Lightly raced Australian import Goko Win, a dual-winner on the polytrack surface before shipping
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to Hong Kong, finally hit top form with a hugely impressive victory, when scything through the opposition to win in convincing fashion at Sha Tin on turf last month. That form is excellent, having clocked the last 400 metres in under 22 seconds, meaning he finished quicker than smart galloper Supreme Lucky – a winner of three of his last four races – who was rated unlucky
when placing fourth in that contest.
A subsequent dirt trial earlier this month gives more encouragement, with jockey Matthew Chadwick struggling to pull-up the four-yearold to stop being run away with after the winning post.
With Nervous Witness, Campione, with a seven-pound claimer aboard, and useful fast-starter Adios vying for the lead, this should set up
nicely for a strong finisher. Goko Win, even with his penalty, is likely to progress further than his present handicap mark and is capable of using his turbo-charged finish to good effect in the closing stages.
POINTERS
Goko Win e/w 3.50pm Sha Tin
PREMIER League chief executive
Richard Masters has rebuffed claims that the organisation tried to “kick into the long grass” talks over an independent football regulator.
Masters was persistently questioned on the point by MPs at a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing yesterday.
After denying that the expression had been used by anyone employed by the Premier League at a shareholders’ meeting, he was asked to state as much in writing to the committee by chair Damian Green MP.
“I don’t recognise the ‘kick it into the long grass’ narrative. It is true to say that some people felt that [the league was acting that way] – I just don’t
recognise it,” said Masters.
“We haven’t been very successful if we’ve been trying to do that because here we are talking about it.
“There’s a difference between trying to frustrate a process or trying to kill it off, and trying to engage with it properly and trying to make sure your legitimate concerns are heard and addressed.
“It certainly wouldn’t have been said by the Premier League. I can’t recall it; that’s not to say that it hasn’t happened. These meetings are five hours long.
“I categorically tell you that it has not been the policy of the Premier League to work with its clubs to try to kick this into the long grass.
“We have had a strategy of engagement from the outset and we want to
continue to do that.”
Former sports minister Tracey Crouch MP, whose fan-led review shaped proposals for the incoming football regulator, earlier told the committee that she had found attempts to collaborate with the Premier League “challenging”.
“Reports suggest both the EFL and Premier League agree that more money needs to flow through the pyramid,” Crouch said.
“I therefore find it confusing why the Premier League doesn’t support an independent regulator to help ensure that there is more security and confidence in that money going
down the pyramid.”
Pressed on whether the Premier League supported a regulator, Masters said: “I don’t like yes or no answers because there’s always a nuance in between. We’re totally accepting the regulator is happening and we want to make it work. On that basis it is obviously getting to a yes.”
Masters was also contradicted by English Football League counterpart Rick Parry after saying of a beefed-up owners’ and directors’ test:
“We’ve got to get the detail right so that it doesn’t choke off investment but does attract
the right people.”
Parry responded: “Why would it encourage good investors not to take part if we have a proper regulatory system? I think we’ll get better quality owners. We have to make that leap.
“One of the pluses of the independent regulator is that if they have appropriate statutory powers they will be able to do the owners and directors test much more effectively than we can in terms of getting relevant information on the new owners.”
The government confirmed in its white paper last month that it was pressing ahead with plans to form an independent football regulator.
It is expected to focus on ensuring financial sustainability and compliance, but is unlikely to be up and running before next year.
EURO 2022 Golden Boot winner Beth Mead is set to miss this year’s football Women’s World Cup Down Under, England head coach Sarina Wiegman said yesterday.
The 27-year-old Arsenal forward suffered a knee injury (ACL) in November 2022 and is unlikely to be ready to travel down to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July.
“It’s being realistic, and she was very realistic,” said Wiegman.
“What we said now is, she’s not in our plans now, just to really take the time to get back well,” she added.
“If a miracle happens and she goes [through recovery] so fast, we will reconsider it, but at this moment I don’t expect that.”
NEWCASTLE Falcons have denied suggestions that the club’s recent cost-cutting is paving the way to voluntarily drop out of the Premiership next year.
City A.M. has learned of a growing belief in English rugby that the Tyneside team could be looking to ease their financial situation by joining the Championship as part of a wider shake-up of the domestic game.
Newcastle have initiated a major offloading of talent this season, with England international duo George McGuigan and Trevor Davison shipped out, to Gloucester and Northampton Saints respectively, as well as a number of talented youngsters. The club will
also lose Scotland international and club stalwart Gary Graham at the end of the season to French second division side Carcassonne.
To replace them the Falcons have agreed to sign less established players, including some freed up by the administration of former Premiership sides Worcester Warriors and Wasps, as well as others who are lesser known.
Furthermore, it is understood that a number of Newcastle players are out of contract at the end of the season with the club grappling, as many others are, with the need to cut costs and remain within Premiership Rugby’s current £5m salary cap.
The club has made a dramatic cut in season ticket prices for the 2023-24 sea-
son from £294 to £180, which puts them in line with many Championship clubs and cheaper than some second-tier sides, such as Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights.
Newcastle chiefs told City A.M. that they had not had any discussions with Premiership Rugby about voluntarily dropping into the Championship in 2024 or otherwise. Premiership Rugby declined to comment.
The Kingston Park outfit are bottom of the table with three games remaining but can not go down this year as the Premiership has frozen relegation until 2024.
The English game is set to be reshuffled at the end of next season, however, when it has been mooted that the
current 11-team top flight and 12-team second tier could be streamlined to two leagues of 10.
Newcastle, as former English champions and one of the sport’s most celebrated breeding grounds for young players, would have stronger claims than some current Championship sides to being retained in the professional structure.
Newcastle, like many clubs, were heavily reliant on government Covid19 loans during the pandemic. The financial security of the Premiership was thrown into doubt earlier this year when both Worcester Warriors and Wasps entered administration and subsequently were kicked out of the Premiership.
England are in Group D alongside Haiti, Denmark and China and will play their first match on 22 July against Haiti in Brisbane.
The Lionesses’s second match against Denmark will be in Sydney and their third will be against China in Adelaide.
“She’s done really well in her rehabilitation. But if you look at the timescale you normally have with an injury like this she would not make the World Cup,” Wiegman told BBC Sport.
“We had that discussion. We’re not going to push or take risks that will cause this injury again.
“Of course she wants to play, but she knows.”
England face Brazil in the Women’s Finalissima next Thursday in a battle between the defending European and South American champions.
The match at Wembley on 6 April is sold out.
Thereafter the Lionesses will face Australia at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium.
SO OFTEN sports cross-pollinate: sharing ideas from one discipline to another, exchanging mindsets and capitalising on strengths. Rugby is no different.
And while some of the game’s leading lights step into completely different sports – such as Gilbert Enoka, responsible for New Zealand Rugby’s “no dickheads” policy, joining Chelsea – others stay closer to home, as with the influx of rugby league coaches at the highest level of European rugby union.
Steve Borthwick, England’s head coach of four months, is rugby union through and through, but his trusty defence coach Kevin Sinfield played for league powerhouse Leeds Rhinos more than 500 times.
Borthwick’s captain Owen Farrell was brought up in rugby league territory with his father a Wigan Warriors triple centurion. Andy Farrell is now head coach of world No1 side Ireland, who have just won a Grand Slam Six Nations title ahead of this year’s World Cup.
Across the English channel, among the flair and flamboyance of Fabien Galthie and Raphael Ibanez is the gritty and dogged Shaun Edwards, former Wigan Warriors player and Welsh rugby defensive revolutionary.
And over the Severn Bridge in Welsh rugby is Mike Forshaw, a defensive appointment formed in the 1990s by Wigan, Wakefield and Leeds.
There has long been a steady flow of cross-coders making the switch to union but to see a number of them having such a prominent position across some top European nations in a World Cup year is genuinely exciting.
“Generally, union is pretty insular and hasn’t taken in coaches from other sports aside from league, and that is a newer fad,” Sam Larner, a rugby analyst, told City A.M. “Although we might not want to admit it, there are fashions in sport just as there are in clothes.
“As a general rule, league coaches coming into union tend to come as defence or contact coaches – there is more defence in league, typically around 700 tackles per game compared to around 200 in union.
“There was a desire around the early 2010s to create hyper aggressive defences who didn’t want to defend for very long and instead just steal the ball back. That was something Wales and Saracens did effectively.
“The three key elements are attack, defence, and kicking. League attacks, for example, have to be better because you are usually attacking 13 against 12 (one defender deep to return kicks) and no defenders are committed to a ruck so it's 13 attackers on their feet versus 13 de-
fenders on their feet.
“Most of the modern union attacking shapes are transposed directly from league. For example, an incredibly common attack is the X-Ball. That features one attacker running from outside to in and one running from inside, round the back, to the outside. It’s the core of the Irish attack, although they run it in many guises. That is taken pretty directly from league.”
But whether these coaches are actually special remains up in the air for some. A prominent pathway coaching expert told City A.M. that while rugby league backgrounds can lend themselves to suiting union, league itself isn’t a sport that’s as aligned with union as one would think.
The expert said that league has littleto-no contest for possession while union does, and scrums and lineouts don’t hold as much importance in league whereas they do in union. Furthermore,
there’s little offloading in comparison and attackers are further away giving defensive lines time to think.
Effectively, they’re different enough to not make a difference. So what is it about the league coaches that union sides desire? The grit, determination and discipline? The preference to strong defensive lines? An enhanced need for a multi-dimensional kicking game?
Whatever the answer, it’s working for the likes of Ireland and France with Farrell and Edwards respectively.
Ireland in particular have one of the most rounded games in world union. They are attackers and defenders, kickers and catchers, scrummers and line breakers. They’ve got it all, all under a former league legend.
And in France, Edwards has transformed an outfit once famed for its inaccuracy and ill discipline into one who are reliable and ferocious.
“In general, union has taken more from league than it has given,” Larner added. “That’s not going to stop. Farrell is arguably the best head coach in the game and Edwards is arguably the best defence coach.
“We’re bound to see more teams put their faith in league coaches.”
AYRSHIRE. TURNBERRY.CO.UK
In general, union has taken more from league than it has given. That’s not going to stop
Matt Hardy looks at why so many successful international rugby teams have some league influence within their ranks
