Tuesday 18 April 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

ANDREW GRIFFITH THE CITY MINISTER ON HOW LONDON CAN EMBRACE CHANGE P18

APOLLO’S LONDON MISSION

PRIVATE EQUITY GIANT DOUBLES DOWN ON THE CAPITAL

CHRIS DORRELL AND NICHOLAS EARL

PRIVATE equity powerhouse Apollo stepped up its London efforts yesterday with two eye-catching stock market moves and the announcement of a new West End hub.

First, Wood Group –the oilfield services and engineering firm –said it had opened the books to Apollo after the New York-headquartered firm made a fifth bid for the company, totally £1.7bn.

Then hours later the embattled retailer THG, which has had a torrid time on the public markets since listing in 2020, confirmed that it had received a non-binding, “highly preliminary” proposal from Apollo.

All that came on the same day the

RUNNING THE NUMBERS CAN YOU MAKE SUNAK’S MATHS ADD UP?

firm announced a new, four-floor European ‘hub’ to be located at the heart of the West End, in the new Soho Place development off Tottenham Court Road.

It adds up to a significant uptick in Apollo’s presence in the capital, with boss Marc Rowan saying “London is a global financial hub [and] we have assembled a growing, diverse and highly talented team.”

Wood Group, whose board said yesterday it still believed in the firm’s strategy, said that after “feedback received from Wood shareholders” it would engage with Apollo “to see if a firm offer can be made on the same financial terms as the Final Proposal”. Investors appeared to bet a deal would be forthcoming, with shares up seven per cent, adding to a 60 per cent jump since

the start of the year and the first indications of Apollo’s interest.

The decision to open the books to due diligence gives Apollo another month to confirm a final offer.

THG, meanwhile, said it was responding to “press speculation” about an offer, though Apollo’s name had not been mentioned in a weekend Mail on Sunday report.

THG’s controversial boss Matt Moulding described the process of listing in London as having “sucked from start to finish” in an interview last year. The share price shot up by more than 40 per cent on yesterday’s news, though still sits 88 per cent down on its original float price.

The bids will play into a wider narrative that the UK market remains underpriced, with a host of take-private deals over the past two to three years.

‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ Ad mogul

Sir Martin Sorrell stoic as ever after revealing cancer treatment

ADVERTISING tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell yesterday revealed he had had keyhole surgery to remove a tumour in February but has made an “excellent recovery”.

The City grandee, who is currently executive chair at S4 Capital, said he would be undergoing “preventative treatment” over the coming months but otherwise was almost back to “business as usual”.

He would reduce his travel schedule for a few weeks, however, he conceded.

“My doctors have advised me that during this treatment, I should be able to work as normal most of the time, fully engaging with the company and our excellent executive team,” he said.

The British businessman founded S4 capital in 2018 after leaving WPP, a firm which he grew from basket maker to the world’s largest advertising agency over 33 years.

Price of a cheese sandwich soars 80 per cent as inflation remains red hot

BRITS are yet to receive a break from soaring food prices as the price of cheddar cheese, sliced white bread and porridge oats are up to 80 per cent more expensive than a year ago.  As inflation reached record highs

due to the war in Ukraine, consumers were forced to fork out more for kitchen staples such as cheddar cheese which has increased by an average of 28.3 per cent –and up to 80 per cent at some supermarkets –over the past year, according to data from consumer platform Which?.

The analysis covered the average price of the products in the three months to the end of March 2023 compared to the same period last year.

As rising transport and packaging costs

made imports more expensive, the price of sliced white bread rose an average of 22.8 per cent.

Head of food policy at Which?

Sue Davies said the latest figures

painted a “bleak picture”.

The annual food inflation rate in February rose to 18.2 per cent.

Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, told City A.M. he didn’t expect food inflation to return to its pre-pandemic rate until “late next year”.

LAURA MCGUIRE

CITY A.M. REPORTER

Bargain hunters? Perhaps, but that’s no reason for City to panic

LEGEND has it that Paul Revere, the horse-riding US independence campaigner, warned his fellow Bostonians of the arrival of colonial troops in 1775 with the cry: “The British are coming, the British are coming!” One is minded to imagine the Lord Mayor of the City of London doing similarly in 2023 – because the Yanks are definitely on the march.

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY THE CITY VIEW

Yesterday, three potential deals,

at various stages, made the headlines – Apollo’s bid for Wood Group which appears well-set, the same group’s feeling up of THG which appears a little less of a sure thing, and CVC’s bid for Network International, the FTSE250 dwelling Dubai payments

firm. There is one way of telling this story – that woefully underpriced London capital markets are providing easy pickings for corporate, private equity raiders from the US, even with sterling starting to look a little healthier. There is an alternative tale, however. For all the talk of Big Bang recently, triggered by the sad death of Nigel Lawson, much of the City’s advance in that period was not due to regulatory

changes but the arrival of hardcharging, dynamic American operations delivering a shake-up to a Square Mile that needed just that to compete with other global financial centres. In a sense, this view holds that the raft of takeprivate deals are a glorious example of creative destruction –because private equity outfits don’t put the cash in unless they think there’s additional, untapped value to extract. The truth, as with most things,

CONFLICT OF INTEREST? Rishi Sunak is under investigation for possible failure to declare interest in childcare business Koru Kids when questioned by MPs last month

THE PM is being investigated by Commons Standards Commissioner who looks at evidence to determine whether MPs have broken rules of conduct.

An investigation was opened into Sunak on 13 April, an update to the parliamentary website now shows. The investigation is in relation to paragraph six of the code. A Downing Street source told PA the investigation relates to the shares his wife, Akshata Murty, holds in a childcare agency that will be boosted by the spring budget.

Sunak has faced questions over not mentioning his wife’s links to the firm, Koru Kids, when questioned by MPs on his childcare policies during an appearance at the liaison committee last month. The PM has reportedly written to the chairman of the liaison committee, Sir Bernard Jenkins.

Bank of England to shun interest rate hike for first time since November 2021

ACCORDING to a survey by Bloomberg, more than half of City economists suspect Governor Andrew Bailey and the rest of the monetary policy committee (MPC) – the nine strong group that sets official rates in Britain – will end their aggressive rate hike cycle of 11 straight increases next month.

Inflation has raged for over a year, peaking at 11.1 per cent and is still running at more than 10 per cent, forcing Bailey and co into the sharpest batch of rate increases since the 1980s, taking them to a post-financial crisis

high of 4.25 per cent.

The full effects of those rate increases have yet to feed through to the UK economy and dent inflation, which unexpectedly jumped to 10.4 per cent in February. As a result, more than half of economists reckon the Bank will pause heaping more pain on household and businesses’ finances on 11 May for fear of doing more damage than is necessary to get inflation back toward its two per cent target.

Wednesday’s figures are also tipped to be the start of a sustained inflation fall throughout 2023, with Office for Budget Responsibility officials project-

ing it to stumble to around three per cent by Christmas.

A big unwinding in international energy prices, after they surged to record highs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is expected to yank inflation lower in Britain and across rich economies.

Wage increases, hovering around historically high levels of seven per cent for many months, are also poised to trim as businesses rein in hiring intentions in response to the UK’s economic slump. Some have warned that recent stronger-than-expected GDP data could keep inflation elevated.

probably lands somewhere in the middle. Should all three bids get over the line, then it would be another blow to the prestige of London’s capital markets. But in that truth lies another one: it is only the loss of firms that will force the hand of governments and regulators to bring our capital markets into line with modern firms’ needs. With progress on that goal achingly slow, perhaps another wake-up call is required.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

DEPOSITORS PULL $60BN FROM THREE US BANKS AS APPLE RAISES PRESSURE Charles Schwab, State Street and M&T suffered almost $60bn in combined bank deposit outflows in the first quarter as customers continued to pull their money in search of higher returns.

THE GUARDIAN ENERGY FIRMS TO BAN FORCED PREPAY METERS IN HOMES OF OVER-85S

Energy suppliers have agreed to a ban on forcible installing prepayment meters in the homes of customers over 85 as part of a new code of conduct, the Guardian can reveal.

THE TELEGRAPH

ELON MUSK DELAYS SPACEX STARSHIP ROCKET LAUNCH

Forty seconds before take off, Twitter CEO Musk halted the launch of the world's largest rocket, Starship, after a technical issue. A frozen pressurant valve forced the billionaire to put the rocket’s launch on hold for 48 hours.

FTSE chiefs ditch UK recession bets as optimism rebounds

JACK BARNETT

MONEY managers at Britain’s biggest companies have signalled a sharp increase in confidence in the UK economy, a survey out yesterday shows, in a further sign the country is on course to dodge a recession.

Chief financial officers of top UK corporates notched a net positive 25 per cent confidence rating in Deloitte’s first quarter CFO survey.

That number is up from a negative 17 per cent just three months ago, when warnings of the country being on track to suffer a

sharp recession abounded.

Deloitte questioned 64 CFOs, including 11 in charge of the finances of FTSE 100 companies.

A big reduction in firms’ energy bills and a moderation in strong pay growth has eased pressure on balance sheets, yanking confidence higher. Confidence seems to have quickly rebounded after the financial market turmoil in March.

Not long ago the Bank of England and Office for Budget Responsibility were forecasting a recession in the UK this year. Both organisations have canned those bets.

JACK BARNETT

Ping An to vote for HSBC breakup at next AGM

CHRIS DORRELL

PING AN has thrown its weight behind proposals from investor Ken Lui to break up HSBC ahead of the bank’s AGM in early May, according to Reuters.

The Chinese insurer will vote in favour of resolutions calling for the bank to lift its dividends and for it to provide regular updates on the demerger of its Asian business.

The proposals demand HSBC report every quarter on a plan to increase the bank’s value through “structural reforms” including on “Asia businesses”.

On dividends, Lui’s proposal demands HSBC hold its annual dividend at more than $0.51 per share as long as there are “sufficient distributable profits”.

Ping An holds around an eight per cent stake in HSBC, making it one of the bank’s largest shareholders. HSBC has faced intense pressure from its share-

holders in recent years to break up the bank, with shareholders arguing that HSBC’s global divisions hold back its Asian business.

In 2022, HSBC’s Asian business contributed $13.7bn (£11.1bn) to the bank’s $17.5bn total profit. The European business saw a $415m loss.

In recent years, HSBC has withdrawn from retail markets in the US, Canada and France, although the bank’s plans to sell its French retail business faced problems last week after rising interest rates forced the buyer to stump up more cash.

When British regulators prevented banks from handing out dividends in the pandemic, it starved Asian shareholders and provoked a backlash from retail investors in Hong Kong.

HSBC announced large payouts at its last set of quarterly results including a $0.21 special dividend in an attempt to assuage its shareholders.

Jes Staley stepped down as Barclays CEO in 2021 after Epstein-link allegations

Barclays board secure backing of influential shareholder group ISS

JACK BARNETT AND CHRIS DORRELL

INSTITUTIONAL Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended Barclays shareholders re-elect all of its board members, but admitted that “questions may be posed” over the board’s decision to back disgraced exCEO Jes Staley between 2019 and 2021. Yesterday, the bank announced it

UK won’t follow suit after EY US cuts 3,000 jobs

BEN

LUCAS

EY’s US unit yesterday announced that it will cut some 3,000 jobs after the Big Four accounting firm dropped its plan to separate its consulting and audit divisions.

EY’s global executive committee announced last week that it had ditched its break-up plan, following opposition from the US unit.

EY’s US unit said that after “assessing the impact of current economic conditions, strong employee retention rates and overcapacity” in parts of the firm, it has decided to go ahead with layoffs.

will cut more than 100 investment banking jobs, according to Sky News’ Mark Kleinman. The layoffs will be spread across countries and divisions.

2022 was a very difficult year for investment banks. ISS argued that it was too soon to make a judgement on the board’s actions regarding Staley, who faces serious charges. The bank hosts its next AGM on 3 May.

“We have made the difficult business decision to separate approximately 3,000 US employees, representing less than five per cent of our US workforce,” EY US said in a statement emailed to City A.M. But it said the decision was not linked to the failed split.

A spokesperson for EY’s UK unit also told City A.M. that it would not be cutting any jobs, despite reports last week. “The announcement is specific to EY in the US. There are no similar plans in the UK,” the spokesperson said.

AA shareholders consider selling major stake

GUY TAYLOR

THE AA’s shareholders are considering the sale of a significant stake in the firm, according to a report by Sky News’ Mark Kleinman.

Major investors Towerbrook

Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus have hired Goldman Sachs to advise on the deal, which could result in three shareholders taking an equal slice of the company.

Analysts told Sky News that the two firms could value the road recovery group at over £2.5bn including debt, although the exact valuation is currently unclear. Talks are yet to formally begin, and both Towerbrook and the AA declined to comment when contacted by City A.M.

The AA, which is due to release its full year results later this week, is one

of the biggest financial services firms in the UK, with nearly 13m customers. In 2020, it signed off on a takeover deal with Towerbrook and Warburg in January 2021, after struggling with over £2.6bn of debt.

The breakdown specialists reported that last year, it had reduced net debt by £344m to £2.3bn.

After the company was taken private two years ago, the company’s management was significantly altered. Former Lloyds Banking Group executive Jakob Pfaudler is now the firm’s CEO, with Rick Haythornthwaite, the former Centrica chair, acting as its chairman. The company was previously merged with travel insurance company Saga, under Acromas. In 2014, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange by Acromas through an IPO.

Labour MP faces complaint after hinting short seller has Russia ties

A ROW between short seller Viceroy Research and Labour MP Liam Byrne escalated yesterday after the short seller lodged a complaint with parliament after Byrne suggested that the firm has ties to the Kremlin. In a parliamentary debate last month, the MP called for an investigation into “the activities of short-selling attack group Viceroy Research and its leader Fraser

‘Sleepless nights’ for Google boss who reveals fears of harmful advances in AI

ABBY WALLACE

GOOGLE chief Sundar Pichai said the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence keeps him awake at night as he admitted society is not fully prepared for its advancement.

In an interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley for the “60 Minutes” programme, which aired on Sunday, Pichai said the technology could be

BoE: Stablecoins need ‘high quality’ backing

CHRIS DORRELL

STABLECOINS could improve efficiency in the payments sector but need to be backed by “highquality and liquid assets” to meet the Bank of England’s regulatory standards, deputy governor Jon Cunliffe said yesterday.

In a wide ranging speech on the state of the payments sector, Cunliffe detailed the Bank’s work to ensure new forms of money are robust and uniform.

Perring”, adding that Perring was “not an infrequent visitor to Moscow”.

Perring yesterday lodged a complaint with the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle.

“Byrne was set up to make easily demonstrably false and criminal statements,” Perring said in the complaint, seen by City A.M.

Byrne’s remarks have “encouraged hate speech against me,” he said. Byrne was contacted for comment.

He said most stablecoins, a form of digital currency pegged to a ‘stable’ reserve asset like the US dollar or gold, would fail to meet the Bank’s standards for “robustness and uniformity”. To meet these expectations, stablecoins will have to be backed by deposits at the Bank or “highly liquid securities”, or a combination of both.

He argued that any stablecoin should be restricted to payments rather than maturity transformation, the process of borrowing short-term funds to make long-term investments.

In February, the Bank launched a consultation on a digital pound, dubbed ‘Britcoin’, arguing that it was “likely” to benecessary.

harmful if it is not deployed correctly.

“We don’t have all the answers there yet and the technology is moving fast.” He also called for greater governmental scrutiny of the technology, similar to the frameworks for regulating nuclear arms globally.

Pichai admitted he did not fully understand the technology but stressed the breadth of its impact. His comments come despite Google’s

recent launch of AI chatbot, Bard. Asked whether he thought Bard was safe for society, Pichai said advanced versions of Bard would undergo further testing. However, the company is reportedly working on a new search engine powered by AI. Overall, Pichai described his attitude as optimistic though he fears a “mismatch” between pace of tech advances and societal adaptations.

BEN LUCAS

Sundar Pichai: ‘We all have to be responsible in each step along the way’

Shares in Royal Mail owner jump after pay deal reached with union

ABBY WALLACE

SHARES in Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, closed up almost seven per cent yesterday after the company reached an agreement with striking workers.

In a joint statement released yesterday, Royal Mail and the CWU announced they had reached an

agreement “in principle”.

“The proposed agreement will now be considered by the executive of the union before being voted on by the membership,” the statement added.

Royal Mail and the CWU said the content of the agreement would be made public once it is ratified by the union’s executive committee. That decision will be made later this week.

The agreement, if accepted by the

union, would likely bring the dispute over pay and working conditions to an end after a year of strikes. Royal Mail workers have walked out several times over the last year, hampering the company’s postal service, especially at Christmas. The service had warned that more industrial action could have pushed it into administration. It said strikes have cost the company £200m.

Amazon workers to continue strike in ongoing row

ABBY WALLACE

AMAZON workers are taking part in fresh strikes at a warehouse in Coventry in an ongoing dispute with the tech giant – which doesn’t recognise the union – over pay.

GMB members are downing tools for three days from 16 to 18 April as they call for hourly pay to rise to £15. The union has also announced that members will strike from 21 to 23 April.

Amazon workers at the Coventry Fulfilment Centre who are part of GMB made history in January when they became the first Amazon workers in the UK to take part in strike action against a 50 pence per hour pay rise offer.

Of the newish wage of £10.15 an hour, Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser at GMB, told City A.M.: “People just can’t live on it. [Workers] can’t pay their bills, a lot of them are using food banks and they’re worried about being evicted.”

Members previously took strike action across February and March. Monday marks the 10th day of industrial action

at the warehouse. There are now 600 members at the warehouse, up from 300 members when a consultative ballot took place last September, according to GMB.

“We had about 150 workers turn up on the picket line today,” Gearing said.

Amazon said: “We regularly review our pay to ensure we offer competitive wages, and recently announced another increase for our UK teams. Over the past seven months, minimum pay has risen by 10 per cent and by more than 37 per cent since 2018.” The company does not recognise the GMB union.

The union is also balloting members at five other sites. Gearing explained the union’s next step is to apply to the UK’s Central Arbitration Committee, which oversees workplace disputes, for official recognition from Amazon if half Coventry’s 1,300 workers joined the union.

SONIC GUNS FOR RED Owner Sega calls the £625m Angry Birds bid a “friendly takeover”

RECRUITER PAGE GROUP SEES PROFITS SLUMP

Recruiter Page Group yesterday cautioned over ongoing tough trading as first-quarter gross profits slumped by nearly 10 per cent in the UK. Page added it was also seeing challenging trading conditions continue in Asia and North America, where gross profits tumbled by 21 per cent and 14 per cent respectively in the quarter. Overall, group gross profits dropped 2.4 per cent in the first quarter. Chief exec Nicholas Kirk said: “The challenging conditions we saw towards the end of 2022 continued into 2023, with lower levels of both candidate and client confidence resulting in delays in decision-making and candidates being more reluctant to accept offers.” Temporary recruitment outperformed permanentas clients sought flexibility, he also noted.

ASHMORE CHIEF REMAINS BULLISH AS ASSETS FLATLINE

Ashmore yesterday reported assets under management as broadly stable in the most recent quarter despite high interest rates and ongoing market turbulence. The London-listed asset manager reported a total increase of funds under management of just one per cent for the quarter ending on 31 March, to a total of £46.4bn ($57.7bn). Chief executive Mark Coombs said higher interest rates had caused “stresses in the banking system”, but remained bullish as he noted market conditions could benefit from any potential cut in interest rates and drop in inflation. Net inflows were $1.6bn while outflows totalled $1.1bn, the company reported. Market volatility and interest rates have seen other Londonbased investors report sharp falls in assets.

Amazon does not currently recognise the GMB union

SEGA Sammy, the Japanese video game company behind Sonic the Hedgehog, has offered €9.25 per share for all outstanding shares in Rovio, which makes Angry Birds, in a move that would hand Sega more than half of a global gaming market worth $263.3bn by 2026.

IN BRIEF

Getting a train over the May bank holidays?

SERVICE CHANGES:

28 April to 1 May and 27 to 29 May

Most of the rail network remains open, however some services will be affected as we make improvements to the railway. So, be in the know before you go.

THE NOTE BOOK

A fintech census is a sign of the times

AFINTECH census is a sign of the times. The backslapping was less jubilant and the discussion was more muted at this year's Innovate Finance Global Summit, but it was admirably hard to tell what a rollercoaster fintech firms have been on over the past year.

‘Fintech leading through change’ was the tagline of yesterday’s annual gathering at the Guildhall. ‘Change’ may be an understatement for the tumult that has rocked the sector in the past few months, but the positivity remained.

Firms said they were back to focusing on growth. Regulators struck a cautious but still proinnovation tone. Venture capitalists said the dramatic correction in the market had been a necessary and healthy one. Discipline had returned, they said, the sector had been given a reality check and the industry had got back to the fundamentals.

SHALLOW POOL

But perhaps the most notable sign of the times was the sharp tone-shift in the announcement from the government’s City ministers from one year ago to today.

In 2022, John Glen had marched onto stage and launched proud and full-throated support of the UK’s crypto sector with plans for a government-issued NFT.

Griffith’s treat for the packed crowd this year? A census. A statistical deepdive into exactly what the sector is made up of and who runs it.

“That’ll be very useful actually. I’m glad someone else is doing it though,” one investor told me.

“It was a bit of a hamburger without the meat,” said another punter on his way out of the Great Library.

While he may not have set the world alight, Griffith can perhaps be assured that he won’t end up forced to quietly shelve his census in six months’ time when it’s gone out of fashion.

Our investment editor Charlie Conchie tells us what’s what in fintech from day one of the

Innovate Finance City Summit

AI WE IN A BUBBLE?

Zopa Bank is a firm that is never far from talk of an IPO. The UK digital lender has become something of a darling among investors and customers with a more steady approach to growth than its peers and a more juicy interest rate for savers.

Winning the listing of the firm would be a boost for London’s markets that are lacking in big name fintechs. However, speaking with City A.M. yesterday, boss Jaidev Janardana (pictured) would still not commit to the capital, pointing to alluring and deeper pools of capital in other, unspecified shores.

£ Open banking can be a divisive topic in financial services. Fintech firms tell regulators to hurry up, banks keep relatively quiet, and regulators say they’re moving as fast as they can. But yesterday, the City minister insisted this was “the year of delivery”. That came just as the joint regulatory oversight committee overseeing the space announced a key update in its implementation. It may not catch the mainstream headlines, but it will curry favour among fintechs.

Regulators set out new roadmap for open banking in good news for fintech

CHRIS DORRELL

REGULATORS yesterday set out their plans for the next stage of open banking in a bid to push innovation and competition in the sector. Under the proposals, a new longterm regulatory framework will be established to secure the “existing achievements” of open banking and “unlock its future potential”.

As part of the plans, a new body will be created to help oversee the next phase of development, replacing the Open Banking Implementation Entity.

Regulators said that success in the next phase would be measured by “greater innovation, lower prices or costs and improved quality of services” thanks to competitive pressure.

City minister Andrew Griffith welcomed the measures: “Britain leads

the pack in open banking… but we can’t sit back and put our feet up. Today’s plan will deliver a new generation of products and services, making banking more accessible and convenient for millions of people.” Launched in 2017, open banking is an attempt to boost competition in retail banking by forcing high street lenders to open customers’ data to trusted third-party firms.

The frenzy of excitement around AI at the moment might seem disconcertingly familiar to some burnt Web3 investors. Cash has poured into the space, valuations are on a different trajectory to the rest of the market, and investors are keen not to miss out.

The sense from investors yesterday, though, was one of caution. Three fintech investors spoken to by City A.M. said they were calling in summer support from interns and new employees to scope out just how AI will impact fintech before making any rash decisions. Even with that AI caution among investors, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was not waiting around. Speaking yesterday, the watchdog’s data, information and intelligence chief Jessica Rusu said the FCA was already a leader in rolling out AI two years ago. “We've carried out extensive work to understand AI and consider its regulatory implications, as well as utilising AI methods to identify bad actors,” she told the Summit.

Britain’s early adoption of open banking has been a boon to the fintech sector

THERE’S

YOU YOU , THEN THERE’S

London pair defy odds to grow clothing company

NWANNEMaduanusi was on the bus when she had the idea that would become Simply Asoebi. “I used to make earrings and thought, ‘oooh it would be nice to include my earrings inside asoebi packages’”, she says. So she then messaged her friend, Moyo Castano, and they decided to go into business together.

“Asoebi” is a Yoruba word that translates as “family cloth”. Guests at Nigerian weddings wear the colourful fabric which often serves to identify the two families present, such that one could be clad in red and the other wearing, say, blue.

Before the two women started their business, sourcing asoebi in the UK meant buying poor quality fabrics in bulk and meeting large numbers of people to personally take payment.

“There’s still unsold fabric from my sister’s wedding in my parents’ house to this day”, says Moyo, and she once came across an impressive glittery fabric only for the sequins to fall off when she picked it up. The shopkeeper told her to “just put hairspray on it”. And that was after making several unsuccessful trips to the local market. No wonder that people have even been known to fly to Nigeria to find asoebi.

Simply Asoebi takes the pain out of the process. It sources, sells and delivers premium fabrics on behalf of the bride and groom, setting up a personalised website so wedding guests can easily pay online. “There’s no involvement in the logistics from the bride and groom”, says Moyo.

Starting a business is not easy. Almost 60 per cent of businesses fail in their first three years, according to

Beauhurst, a consultancy. Simply Asoebi has made it to three and a half, thanks to the pair’s dynamism. Moyo is the kind of person “to worry that it’s all going to go up in flames”, she says, but had the fortune to partner with Nwanne, someone who is “driven and ready to go and brings me out of my shell”. And Nwanne says she benefited from Moyo saying, “‘let’s do some market research, let’s see if people actually want this.’” The two planned for a year before incorporating their company.

They have had help along the way. The founders of Saint Aymes, which bills itself as “the prettiest cafe in London”, told them very early on about the importance of social media and a consistent brand, for example. They reached out to the founder of Nubian Skin, a hosiery brand specialising in nude undergarments for women of colour, for advice. A fellow female business owner, speaking at an event on securing finance, told them “‘you need to speak about your business wherever you can’”, says Nwanne.

They also helped themselves by deciding early on to bank with Tide. “We had Tide before we had our first customer”, says Nwanne. Just a week’s research and it was clear that Tide stood out. “It’s definitely small-business friendly”, says Moyo.

“Any payments we make, they all go through the business account, any invoices that we make, they go through Tide as well, any last minute purchases and we just send them a payment link through Tide, because that’s faster”, says Nwanne. The intuitive interface makes it easy to see when payments are late, crucial for

small businesses that often have cash flow problems. Helpful, too, that the Free Plan, which Moyo and Nwanne use, comes with no monthly fees.

THE PERSONAL TOUCH

Tide also has “a personal touch”, says Nwanne. The platform supported them after a contractor invoiced them for a website he never made, se-

curing their money within two months and keeping them informed throughout the process. “That kind of support is really important for a small business”, she says. “I don’t know if with a bigger bank you’d even know who you were talking to.” Tide even lets its customers vote on which features should be tested and deployed in future, she says.

Moyo and Nwanne advise budding entrepreneurs to bank with Tide. And “if you’re actually serious about starting a business, start at the most daunting part”, says Nwanne. Friends who want to start businesses often start with “the fun stuff” like the packaging and leave the trickier aspects like market research and talking to manufacturers for later.

Nwanne, left, and Moyo, right, working at their London studio

Looking to the future, they want to give their online business a physical presence. “Our biggest vision for the business is to have that bricks and mortar showroom”, says Moyo. It would be “awesome” to make brides feel special with tailor-made asoebi and dresses, she says. Moyo and Nwanne are also fundraising to improve their website and want to in-

Supporting Black female business owners is crucial

By Heather Cobb, SVP Member Engagement at Tide

ARECORDnumber of women are now starting businesses – all-femaleled companies accounted for 20% of new UK businesses started in 2022, up from 16% in 2018. However, a troubling fact still stands: three times more women than men told us that gender was a barrier to launching their businesses.

For ethnic minorities, Black women in particular, the challenges faced are harder than most. We surveyed Tide members of all gender and ethnic backgrounds to understand their experiences when starting a small business. Almost 2,000 responses later, and the data shows that over half (53%) of women across the UK found it challenging to start a business. Of that, more than 2 in 3 (68%) Black female business owners found the process of launching a business challenging. That’s almost a fifth higher than their white and Indian counterparts (49%).

THE BENEFITS BEYOND ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION

crease the personalisation they can offer their customers.

Tide will be with them on their journey. “One thing that we’ve seen with Tide is that they’re constantly evolving”, says Nwanne. Payment links are one new feature that have been particularly helpful. “As they progress and we progress, that's definitely a relationship we want to continue. They’ve

been with us from the beginning.” Besides, says Moyo, “there’s still a lot of things that we haven’t tapped into yet”, such as automatic invoice-chasing, available on Tide’s other plans. Taking away the stress of running a business so that Moyo and Nwanne can take away the stress of planning a wedding, Tide gives them the time to get more joy out of their business.

A third (32%) of Black women reported not having access to finance (investment, loans or financial support) as the top challenge to launching a business. This was followed by lack of selfconfidence and not having enough sector-specific knowledge of the business area that they were setting up in.

It takes admirable tenacity to start a small business when the odds are against you. As a society, there’s still a long way to go in levelling the playing field so Black women, and other

underrepresented groups, can start their entrepreneurial journeys on the same footing as everyone else.

Supporting Black women-led businesses further enhances the benefits that small businesses bring to the UK. Beyond financial contribution, they fuel innovation, bring different perspectives, diversity of thought and lived experiences to our ever-growing business community – all of which fosters inclusivity.

Take Simply Asoebi for example.

Founded by two Black female entrepreneurs, Moyo Castano and Nwanne Maduanusi, they source high quality, unique fabric traditionally worn at events in African countries for diaspora communities in the UK. By simply doing what they love, they help those with African heritage celebrate their culture no matter where they are. We’re proud to support them as pioneers in the business community, and as Tide members.

At Tide, we’ve welcomed over 110,000 women to our platform, exceeding our 100,000 target almost a year early. But our work doesn’t stop here. We’re working on our new UK commitment, which will be announced later this year. We want to provide further support to help our members – especially those from underrepresented groups – expand their networks, improve their operational know-how, secure finance and reach their full potential.

Quiz shares take a dressing down as fashion retailer sounds warning

LAURA MCGUIRE

SHARES in high street retailer Quiz took a 19 per cent hit yesterday after the partywear brand revealed sales had fallen over the past two months.

The retailer blamed high inflation and a knock in consumer confidence for a dip in like-for-like revenues during the first two months of the year.

The clothing brand sounded a note of optimism, however, stating its trading remained consistent with

that of pre-pandemic levels, with revenue up 17 per cent to £91.7m during the year ending 31 March 2023.

Ahead of its full year results in July, the Scottish brand, which has 62 stores across the UK, also anticipated a rise in profits, from £2m up from £0.8m on the previous year, helped by consumers returning to the high street post-pandemic.

However, Quiz sounded a warning that an increase in the cost in living may reduce sales over the coming

Retail groups call for reform to business rates

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

RETAIL and hospitality groups have called for urgent reform of business rates, which are contributing to shop closures and job losses.

“Retail accounts for five per cent of the economy but pays more than a fifth of business rates,” Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium chief executive, said. “The overall industry tax take is unsustainably high. There must be a permanent freeze of business rates and a cut to the multiplier in the long term.”

UKHospitality chief Kate Nicholls agreed, saying: “Reform of business rates, further action to tackle energy costs and suppliers, and a reduction in the burden of red-tape and other operating costs are all vital.”

Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West End Company, joined calls to review business rates saying: “It is time for a future government to make a bold move to reform or replace business rates.”

She also called for “targeted sup-

port” including introducing longer Sunday opening hours in the West End and reviewing the UK’s visa system to tackle workforce shortages.

Labour has pledged it would cut business rates for small firms by increasing the rates relief threshold, if in government, paid for by raising digital services taxes on giants like Amazon.

Leader of the party Keir Starmer said: “Britain’s businesses already give so much to our economy, and hold a huge amount of potential and promise just waiting to be un-

months ”reducing its visibility for the 2024 financial year”.

Tarak Ramzan, chief executive of Quiz, said: “The group delivered a good performance in FY23 achieving revenue growth across each of its channels reflecting the strength of Quiz’s trademark dressy and occasion wear product offering,”

“Whilst the external trading environment is expected to remain challenging in the near term, we remain highly confident in the group’s long-term prospects.”

PLEASE, ALLOW ME Asda to use self-driving cars for deliveries

locked, but they’re being held back by 13 years of Tory economic failure.

Greg Hands, Conservative Party chairman, commented: “Labour have abandoned their pledge to abolish business rates. The only position they remain committed to is more unfunded, uncosted spending pledges.”

“We have a £13bn package in place now to support firms with the cost of business rates,” Hands said.

Pretty Little Thing founder Kamani steps down to ‘build new brands’

LAURA MCGUIRE

UMAR Kamani, the founder and chief executive of Pretty Little Thing, is stepping down from the fashion brand after 12 years at the helm.

Kamani, 35, who founded the business in 2012 with his brother in his home town of Manchester, yesterday said he was leaving the

£3.8bn company to explore new challenges and “build new brands”.

The brand is currently on the hunt to find a replacement for Kamani.

Pretty Little Thing’s growth has been largely attributed to its ability to bring on board younger consumers through deals with celebrities and social media stars such as Love Islander Molly Mae, who was

appointed creative director in 2021. In 2020, Pretty Little Thing was fully bought by rival Boohoo, owned by Kamani’s father Mahumd, in a deal worth an estimated £269.8m. Shares in Boohoo, which have taken a post-pandemic hammering amid a cost of living crisis and the reopening of high street retail, were lifted five per cent yesterday.

Restrained consumer budgets have dented sales at partywear brand Quiz

is launching the scheme in partnership with Wayve, a developer of artificial intelligence for self driving cars, and the pair will use Jaguar I-Pace electric cars for the trial. The supermarket said 72,000 households in London would be randomly selected to have their order delivered in a self-driving vehicle. Shoppers at Park Royal in West London will be first to experience the technology.

Retail and hospitality groups complained of “unsustainable” rates

OPINION

How the music industry is scratching its head over AI tunes Elena Siniscalco P18

ANNOUNCEMENTS

LEGAL AND PUBLIC NOTICES

CITY of LONDON

undermentioned streets made several Orders on 13 April 2023 except Philpot Lane and Lloyd’s Avenue which have been amended and, Fenchurch Buildings (order made on 28 April 2022) and Finsbury Circus (order made on 9 June 2022) which have been extended under Section 14(1) of Act 1991. The effect of these Orders will be to prohibit vehicles (or pedestrians where stated) from entering the said roads.

Chancery Lane (Junction with Fleet Street) ---- Utility Works

From 8am on Monday 24 April to 6pm on Sunday 30 April 2023. Alternative route: W/B via Strand, Aldwych, Kingsway, Remnant St, Searle St, Carey St & Chancery Ln. E/B via Fleet St, Fetter Ln, New Fetter Ln, Holborn Circus, Holborn, High Holborn, Kingsway, Remnant St, Searle St, Carey St & Chancery Ln. Affected parking bays shall be suspended.

Cooper’s Row (Junction with Crosswall & Crutched Friars) ---- Utility Works

From 9am on Saturday 29 April to 4pm on Sunday 30 April 2023. Alternative route: via Great Tower St, Byward St, Tower Hill, Minories & Aldgate High St.

Cornhill (Bishopsgate to Bank Junction) ---- Utility Works

From 9am on Saturday 29 April to 4pm on Sunday 30 April 2023. Alternative route: W/B via Gracechurch St & King William St.

Crosswall (Junction with Crutched Friars) & Crutched Friars (Junction with Crosswall) & Seething Lane (Pepys Street to Crutched Friars) ---- Mobile Crane

From 8am each Saturday to 6pm each Sunday from 15 April to 23 April 2023. Alternative route:

from Mark Ln via Great Tower St, Byward St, Tower Hill, Minories, Fenchurch St, Aldgate & Lloyds Avenue or via Minories, Aldgate, Fenchurch St, Mincing Ln, Great Tower St, Byward St & Trinity Square. Mark Lane & remainder of Hart St to be made temporary two-way for access.

All parking bays in Crosswall shall be suspended. Affected parking bays in Mincing Ln shall be suspended to facilitate the diversion route.

Fenchurch Buildings (Entire Length) ---- Building Site

Extended until 6pm on Sunday 31 December 2023. Alternative route: None

Fetter Lane (Junction with West Harding Street) ---- Mobile Crane

From 8am to 6pm on Saturday 22 April & Saturday 13 May 2023. Alternative route: S/B via Holborn Circus, Charterhouse St, Farringdon St, Ludgate Circus & Fleet St or via Holborn Viaduct, Newgate Street, Warwick Lane, Ave Maria Lane, Ludgate Hill, Ludgate Circus & Fleet St. N/B via Fleet St, Ludgate Circus, Farringdon St, Charterhouse St & Holborn Circus or via Fleet St, Chancery

Ln & High Holborn.

Finsbury Circus (West Side of Finsbury Circus to Moorgate) ---- Building Site

Extended until 6pm on Wednesday 31 January 2024. Alternative route: None

Gutter Lane (Gresham Street to Carey Lane) ---- Utility Works

From 8am on Monday 29 April to 6pm on Sunday 30 April 2023. Alternative route: via Gresham St, Foster Ln, Cheapside, Wood St & Gresham St.

Lloyd’s Avenue (Fenchurch Street to Crutched Friars) ---- Mobile Crane

From 8am to 6pm each Saturday on 29 April & 13 May 2023. Alternative route: via Fenchurch St, Mincing Ln, Great Tower St, Byward St, Minories & Crosswall. All parking bays in Lloyds Ave shall be suspended.

New Street Square (Little New Street to Thavies Inn) ---- Mobile Crane

From 9am to 7pm on Saturday 29 April & Saturday 13 May 2023. Alternative route: via New Fetter Ln, West Harding St, Pemberton Row, East Harding St & Printer St. Pageantmaster Court (Ludgate Hill to Pilgrim Street) & Pilgrim Street (Pageantmaster Court to Cul-De-Sac) ---- Mobile Crane

From 10am each Saturday to 8pm each Sunday from 29 to 20 April & 13 to 14 May 2023. Alternative route: via Ludgate Hill, St Paul’s Churchyard, Godliman St & Carter Ln. Pilgrim St between Ludgate Hill & Ludgate Broadway shall be reversed to facilitate access.

Philpot Lane (Junction with Eastcheap) ---- Utility Works

From 7pm on Tuesday 25 April to 5am on Wednesday 26 April 2023. Alternative route: via Eastcheap, Rood Ln & Fenchurch St. Rood Lane to be reversed to facilitate diversion route. Remainder of Philpot Ln up to the closure point to be made temporary two-way for access.

Stonecutter Street (St Brides Street to Farringdon Street) ---- Mobile Crane

From 7pm each Friday to 10pm each Sunday from 28 to 30 April & 12 to 14 May 2023. Alternative route: None.

Sun Street (Wilson Street to Appold Street) ---- Mobile Crane

From 6am each Saturday to 10pm each Sunday from 29 to 30 April & 13 to 14 May 2023. Alternative London Wall, Wormwood St, Bishopsgate, Primrose St & Appold St. W/B via Appold St, Primrose St, Bishopsgate, Wormwood St, London Wall, Moorgate, South Place & Wilson St. All parking bays in Sun St shall be suspended.

Threadneedle Street (Junction with Bartholomew Lane) ---- Utility Works

From 8am on Monday 1 May to 5pm on Friday 5 May 2023. Alternative route: from Lothbury via left turn from Throgmorton St into Bartholomew Ln shall be banned.

Exxon to face challenge from investors at AGM over climate disclosures

NICHOLAS EARL

EXXON Mobil is facing fresh scrutiny from investors over its climate ambitions at its upcoming AGM next month.

Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) and Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) have co-filed a shareholder resolution, calling on the energy giant to provide more disclosures on potentially stranded assets post-energy transition.

The two investment groups are requesting Exxon’s board reveals whether their asset retirement obligations (ARO) are in line with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) net zero emissions targets.

Oil and gas companies are legally required to decommission long-lived tangible assets at the end of their useful lives – known as AROs.

As the lifespan of oil and gas infrastructure is being shortened amid the low-carbon transition, there is a growing chance companies risk holding stranded assets with expensive decommissioning costs.

Given the uncertainty around the lifespans of assets in midstream and downstream segments such as refineries, pipelines and wells, most oil and gas companies have only recognised upstream AROs.

While this is permissible under accounting rules, LGIM and CBIS argue this does not provide investors with the full information to assess the company’s climate plans.

The two parties believe the disclosures they are seeking will provide insight about how Exxon estimates AROs in financial statements and the effects of IEA net zero obligations.

Michael Marks, head of investment

stewardship at LGIM, said: “By filing this proposal, we are seeking greater clarity into the costs associated with the retirement of Exxon’s assets, in the event of an accelerated energy transition. We believe such level of disclosure is imperative for investors to better evaluate long-term risks and economic viability of the business in a carbon-constrained future.”

John Geissinger, chief investment officer at CBIM, said: “The company’s disclosures still give investors little insight into how retirement costs might accelerate and how large they might be... Investors are simply asking: what is the total cost of meeting these liabilities?”

A spokesperson for Exxon said: “We respect that our shareholders may have viewpoints and perspectives that differ from management and the board, and we always consider their feedback.”

Ian Hughes Director, City OperationsEnvironment Department

Dated 18 April 2023

APPLICATIONS for renewable projects could soon be assessed on their contributions to the wider green industry, rather than just their ability to deliver low-cost energy generation, in the latest proposals from the government to shake up the sector and encourage investment. While offshore wind and solar projects are currently awarded contracts on the basis of low-cost generation, putting downward pressure on prices, the government is now seeking evidence on reviewing applications based on ‘non-price’ factors such as supply chain sustainability and contribution to closing industry skills gaps.

Energy boss: Open up National Grid to private competition or fail to meet targets

NICHOLAS EARL

NATIONAL Grid’s electricity network should be opened up to competition from private firms to speed up connections for new projects, the boss of a leading clean energy firm has argued.

Andy Willis, chief executive of Kona Energy, told City A.M. renewable companies looking to connect their projects to the grid should not be “at the mercy of their procurement times” and “how much engineering resources those companies have”.

“If we could open up competition in those networks to allow private

companies to build some of that infrastructure – it should lead to greater efficiency and acceleration of a lot of these projects,” he said.

National Grid operates as a monopoly for transmissions, with energy companies having to wait for the company to connect them to the UK’s grid. It oversees the entry queue for thousands of starter projects every year, but its system has been slammed as obsolete – with

the Transmissions Entry Capacity queue operating on a first-come first-serve basis, regardless of the viability of any project.

Octopus Energy Generation chief Zoisa North-Bond told City A.M. the system was “holding back” renewables, with the UK now having one of the largest grid connection queues in Europe.

A National Grid spokesperson said it was “committed to connecting projects to the grid as fast as possible” and that it was working with industry to introduce new ways to speed up the process.

BREEZY DOES IT Low-cost energy generation may no longer be winning factor for renewable auctions under overhaul

Willis thinks competition will speed up projects

INFLATION SLIDING AND TOUGH BOE MEANS BETTER DAYS FOR THE POUND

HOPE is not a strategy,” Jordan Rochester, a wonk at Japanese investment bank Nomura, said last September, referring to politicians’ attempts to revive the pound after it plummeted to its lowest level ever against the US dollar following Liz Truss’s tax cutting mini budget. A lot has changed since then.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt raised taxes and cut spending by £55bn in November –reversing pretty much everything Truss stood for – then injected a £20bn boost into the economy at the budget last month. The Bank of England has now signed off on 11 straight interest rate increases, sending them to a post-financial crisis high of 4.25 per cent.

Truss has been consigned to the fringes of the Conservative Party having previously held the keys to Number 10. The same goes for her (first) chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. Sterling has undergone somewhat of a change in fortunes too. It is among the best performing currencies in the rich world so far this year, strengthening around 2.5 per cent against the US dollar.

Cast your mind back to the weeks after that haphazard mini budget: the City’s best and brightest were warning that the pound was on track to fall below parity with the greenback and settle there for years to come.

Nomura was first out the block, calling for the pound to sink to $0.95, mainly because of the UK’s enduring, gaping trade deficit that would have been worsened by Truss’s £45bn of unfunded tax cuts. Others followed.

“This is a fundamental balance of payments crisis, with politicians hoping it will eventually just calm down,” Rochester said at the time.

That gap hasn’t narrowed much, though it’s tough to yield anything from the Office for National Statistics’ wild data anyway.

“What we can say is the UK has a current account deficit (in 2022 it averaged -3.8 per cent of GDP), but the size and magnitude is anyone’s guess,” Rochester points out. When a country’s imports persistently top the value of its exports, it suffers from strong downward pressure on its currency.

A relatively slimmer supply of UK exports within the international trade network means investors have little use for pounds.

WHAT I’M READING

Businesses will sack staff at a quicker rate as the year progresses due to consumers slimming spending in response to the Bank of England’s series of interest rate hikes. Those moves are poised to loosen the jobs market and help bring wage growth – which raged for most of last year – down, according to a note to clients from Goldman Sachs analyst James Moberly. Watch out for today’s pay figures from the Office for National Statistics. The City reckons the three-month average rate of wage increases trimmed to 6.2 per cent from 6.5 per cent. That is still far below inflation, mind, but could provide some evidence to convince the Bank to end its interest rate hike cycle on 11 May.

of sterling-denominated assets’ returns is poised to ease in 2023, raising incentives to hoover up UK stocks and bonds.

Bank governor Andrew Bailey and co’s aggressive fight against inflation – still in the double digits at 10.4 per cent – has made UK debt a bit more attractive compared to the US and European equivalents.

Yields on the 10-year gilt are a bit higher than returns on the 10-year treasury.

“If one is of the view that the Fed is done with rate hikes (as we are), then GBP/USD climbing above 1.30 this year may look to be a reasonable near-term target,” Rochester said.

Most reckon we’ll get another 25 basispoint increase from the Bank next month.

Undoubtedly the biggest contributor to sterling’s reversal has been the removal of the so-called “moron premium” that markets priced in after Truss’s blazing taxcutting agenda.

Fiscally, Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are bean counters. They want the books balanced, which will improve the UK’s inflation and financial outlook.

Usually this situation somewhat corrects itself by making a country’s exports more competitive, raising incentives to buy an exporting country’s currency to purchase its goods. Britain has not really benefited from that dynamic, which some blame Brexit for.

Now Nomura thinks sterling will hit $1.30 this year and $1.40 in 2024. Good news for British holidaymakers bound for New York. It should be noted that those levels are below sterling’s long-run average. The same can be said for its performance against the euro, which it is broadly unchanged against

this year.

But still, sterling is on a sunnier path than expected. Why? For similar reasons that the UK economy is outperforming the gloomy predictions at the turn of the year.

Britain’s terms of trade with the rest of the world is looking much healthier, helped by collapsing energy prices. That means it won’t have to keep borrowing such large sums of cash denominated in other currencies to buy foreign products.

That should also help bring inflation down quickly this year, meaning the huge erosion

Nagging away in investors’ minds, though, is the country’s awful growth trajectory. It needs to be tackled or the pound will eventually morph into an emerging markettype currency.

Here is where the inflection point lies for politicians. Be too gung-ho with the UK’s public finances, and you risk a run on the pound. Do nothing to tackle the growth outlook, and you risk providing no incentive for people to throw much cash into the country.

Borrowing to invest in the country’s creaking infrastructure could be the answer. Targeted tax cuts as well.

An election looms in 2024, allegedly. There will be tough trade offs for whoever wins.

City A.M.’s economics editor Jack Barnett takes a deep dive into the state of the economy in his weekly column

Adding up? Business groups give verdict on Sunak’s maths mission

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

BUSINESS groups say Rishi Sunak’s focus on maths is a “welcome” measure to plug key “skills gaps” as Britain goes for growth, despite concerns over a lack of teachers.

The Prime Minister has unveiled plans to transform the UK’s approach to maths education, including an expert advisory group, maths hubs and a new primary teaching qualification.

“Founders regularly tell us sourcing people with the right tech skills is a critical challenge to growth,” Camilla de Coverly Veale, from the Coalition for a Digital Economy, said.

“We have to tackle this challenge from different angles and at different stages in the talent pipeline – so this new focus is very welcome”.

James Watkins, from the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry told City A.M. the PM’s commitment on maths to 18 was still on the agenda.

“London desperately needs a skills system that works for businesses and learners alike and for this

Put yourself to the test

Rishi Sunak's swimming pool is 40 feet long. Assume the depth of the pool is 8 feet and the width is 6 feet. What is the total volume of the pool?

Time to keep regulators in check, say MPs

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

we need to develop flexible and agile training programmes,” he added.

More than 40 per cent of larger businesses were most likely to have skills gaps in data handling, analysis and problem solving, according to a LCCI survey.

Institute of Directors policy advisor

Alexandra Hall-Chen also welcomed the ambition to boost the UK’s numeracy rate, currently in the bottom half of the OECD skills ranking.

“Numeracy skills are essential to success in the workplace,” she said.

But Matthew Lesh, from the Institute of Economic Affairs, warned against “forcing disinterested students” into balancing quadratic equations.

“Extending compulsory maths education is no silver bullet for economic growth,” he said. “The UK has some of the top universities in the world yet has experienced stagnant growth for the last decade.”

Practical restraints have also seen the policy criticised, with National Education Union’s joint general secretary Mary Bousted arguing there were not enough teachers to deliver Sunak’s “laudable aim” for maths to 18 for all English pupils, an obstacle Sunak has himself acknowledged.

The Conservative party won 14m votes in December 2019 on a polling share of 43 per cent. Currently, the party is at 26 per cent in the polls. To the closest 100,000, how many votes does this suggest the party would lose if an election was held today?

Labour leader Keir Starmer's side Arsenal have given away two two-goal leads in recent matches, against Liverpool and West Ham. Assume the likelihood of doing so in one match is around 1 in 25, or 0.04. What is the probability of doing it twice in a row?

If Labour HQ spend £250,000 on advertisements ahead of the local elections, and 1/8th of those are ads attacking the Conservative’s record on crime and 1/6th attacking the Conservative’s record on health, how much did they spend on attack ads (to the nearest two decimals)?

TORY MPs have warned of powerful regulators operating “largely unchecked” who, they claim, are holding back the UK’s economy and “directly hindering” the country’s growth prospects.

The backbench Regulatory Reform Group has called for increased parliamentary oversight of the UK’s regulators – from water and energy watchdogs Ofwat and Ofgem to banking supervisor the Financial Conduct Authority.

Hitchin and Harpenden MP Bim Afolami, who founded the group in November 2022, said:

“Unaccountable regulators are directly hindering the UK’s growth prospects. Regulators have the potential to be key drivers of the government’s long-term ambitions for the UK, not to mention enablers of economic growth, but without adequate oversight from parliament, this potential has been lost.”

In a report, the nine-strong group said regulators now wielded huge power over the UK’s economy and society, but faced little democratic scrutiny of their decisions.

Lord Tyrie, the former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, said: “Too many decisions – taken by powerful, anonymous quangos, and affecting millions of people – go scarcely scrutinised and inadequately explained.”

CITY of LONDON

The PLANNING ACTS and the Orders and Regulations made thereunder

This notice gives details of applications registered by the Department of The Built Environment

Code: FULL/FULMAJ/FULEIA/FULLR3 – Planning Permission; LBC – Listed Building

Consent; TPO – Tree Preservation Order; OUTL – Outline Planning Permission 10 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7JD

22/01244/FULL

The refurbishment and extension to the host building, including the erection of a single storey roof extension (use class E), a roof terrace, refurbishment to the existing entrance, hard and soft landscaping and cycle parking provision. RECONSULTATION

DUE TO REVISED PLANS.

Exchange House, 12 Primrose Street, London, EC2A 2EG

23/00285/FULL

Creation of external terrace at roof level including demountable pergola structure, external seating and works to facilitate access.

Rector’s Flat, St Mary Le Bow Church, Cheapside, London, EC2V 6AU

23/00301/FULL

extension, garden room and pergola at second alterations and the installation of roof level plant and associated enclosures.

411 Lauderdale Tower, Barbican, London,

EC2Y 8NA

23/00329/LBC

including the insertion of false ceilings, removal and insertion of new stud walls and the increase in height of internal doors.

Chancery House, 53 - 64 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS

23/00332/FULL

Installation of three removable stainless steel bollards to the North of Chancery House.

382 Lauderdale Tower, Barbican, London, EC2Y 8NA

23/00342/LBC

Internal alterations to bedrooms including blocking up an existing opening, insertion of a new doorway in a non-structural wall and general refurbishment.

You may inspect copies of the application, the plans and any other documents submitted with it on-line or telephone 020 7332 1710.

Anyone who wishes to make representations about this application should do so online: Any observations must be received within a period of 21 days beginning with the date of this notice (unless otherwise stated) and will be taken into account in the consideration of this application.

In the event that an appeal against a decision of the Council proceeds by way of the expedited procedure, any representations made about the application will be passed to the Secretary of State and there will be no opportunity to make further representations.

Sunak hopes his maths drive will boost growth

“If City lose some momentum, however, it could weigh heavily during a packed fixture schedule. If Arteta can engineer a draw, it could be Arsenal’s best point of the campaign.”

TREVOR STEVEN ON WHY THE TITLE DECIDER BETWEEN CITY AND THE GUNNERS IS A MUST-WIN FOR PEP GUARDIOLA’S SIDE PAGE 23

CITY DASHBOARD

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

LONDON REPORT BEST OF THE BROKERS

To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com

FTSE 100: THG surges while miners edge London index higher

LONDON’s FTSE 100 kicked off a fresh week in muted fashion yesterday, inched higher by investors snapping up shares in mining giants, while THG skyrocketed more than 40 per cent on mounting takeover rumours.

The capital’s premier index added 0.1 per cent to close at 7,879.52 points yesterday, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more responsive to sentiment toward the UK economy, climbed 0.23 per cent to 19,286.90 points.

Strong advances for big industrial companies pushed the FTSE 100 higher in the City in the morning, with appetite toward the sector fortified by a better outlook for demand for raw material prices on expectations of a Chinese economic growth spurt.

Rio Tinto jumped more than two per cent during morning exchanges, al-

though gains trimmed, leaving the miner up more than 1.5 per cent.

British retailer THG surged more than 40 per cent after news emerged that US private equity firm Apollo had tabled a takeover offer. Analysts have said a weak pound has made UK companies attractive investment prospects.

Britain’s largest supermarket Tesco climbed more than one per cent and to near the top of the FTSE 100, while fund manager Abrdn anchored the index, shedding more than 2.5 per cent.

Barclays also closed down over two per cent after reports of layoffs in its trading arm.

The pound notched one of its worst days against the US dollar in a long time, weakening around 0.45 per cent against the greenback, likely on a resurgence in expectations that the Fed will back another interest rate at next meeting on 3 May.

The biggest stories direct to your inbox

Dr Martens said it expects higher costs associated with its LA distribution centre to impact its full year results. Peel Hunt reiterated its ‘add’ recommendation for the cult footwear brand, with a target price of 250p. “With warehouse challenges coming on top of a weaker trading environment, we see little chance of re-rating here until management proves the business is back on an even keel,” Peel Hunt said in a note.

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

Renold’s shares jumped 11 per cent yesterday after it said it expects underlying trading profit for the year to be “materially ahead” of previous expectations. Peel Hunt welcomed the “improving momentum” in the firm, which supplies industrial chains and power transmission products, and continued its ‘buy’ recommendation, with a target price of 49p.

LONDON MARKETS MINING FOR GOLD “Stronger commodities have lifted stocks like Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BP towards the top of the UK index ahead of China’s closely watched economic growth figures on Tuesday.”

VICTORIA SCHOLAR, INTERACTIVE INVESTOR

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

Artificial intelligence is transforming our music, starting with Kanye West

cently filed a lawsuit against Stability AI here in the UK, accusing it of copying and processing millions of its images without a licence. Stability AI is behind the art tool and image generator Stable Diffusion, and Getty said without its pictures the tool wouldn’t have been possible. The results of the lawsuit could set an interesting precedent for the music world too.

SINCE he went on an antisemitic spiral, Kanye West’s music has been accompanied by a bitter taste. But the rapper turned shoe designer has since had his voice co-opted by the masses, singing much loved favourites such as Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen or Hey

There Delilah by the Plain White T’s. All of these have been made by artificial intelligence, using Kanye West’s extensive back catalogue to create a convincing replica of his voice.

AI-generated music has been rocking the industry for years now, with a surge in younger and independent artists experimenting with it during lockdowns, when access to other equipment and studios was almost impossible. Some went in very unconventional directions, with singer Holly Herndon creating a clone of herself through AI that can sing any song in her voice, in any language.

It was thrown under the spotlight again last week, when Universal Music Group asked Spotify and Apple Music to remove music made by AI. The corporation argued that to produce new music, AI borrows from existing content, breaching the artists’ copyright.

AI-generated music can mean pretty much anything. It is covers of existing songs generated by AI; it is beats that artists can use to take inspiration for

their own music production, like with BandLab SongStarter; it’s music you generate by inputting descriptions, through software like MusicLM. The researchers behind the software suggest giving it inputs like “a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff”, but it even creates music to “match” paintings.

In some of these cases, it’s clear where the AI is taking inspiration from, or even copying existing musicand it’s easier to see the potential for copyright breach. In others, it’s much more complex to establish which information the AI was fed. The music industry is scratching its head trying to figure out who should draw the line, and where to draw it.

Legislation is not there yet, and the two sides are hard to reconcile. On the one hand you find the big labels and the artists. In this year's report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the organisation representing the music industry worldwide, many industry types lament that AI systems get their knowledge from vast quantities of copyrighted content and only then develop their “own” IP. They claim the artists producing the material should receive compensation.

On the other hand, AI advocates in the tech industry argue they’re doing nothing wrong. In the US, they’ve been relying on the “fair use” exception in copyright law. As long as the

work is transformative and has no impact on the original song, there’s no problem, they say.

Most countries only protect the copyright of works made by humans; not the UK. Here, copyright protections for work made by AI are accepted. The person responsible for creating the AI is usually considered the author. In this light, you could argue the UK is a friendlier country for tech bros experimenting with music. Yet there’s potential for copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, if the AI reproduces an entire song or a substantial part of it without the licence to do so or a legal exception.

It’s moving fast inside and outside the world of music. Getty Images re-

We have the history to attract investment, now we need the reforms to the City too

IS THE UK the best place in the world for business? Absolutely. For over 400 years, the UK has pioneered developments across financial services, benefiting businesses, consumers and the country at large. And London, as first among equals, has been the beating heart of dynamism, driving us all towards growth and prosperity.

We are a magnet for capital and talent. We’ve got some of the best theatres and museums the world has to offer. We claim seven of the 20 Premier League sides and 18 of the UK’s top universities.

We’re just a short train journey from the European continent. But we also have more daily flights to the US than any other country. No other country on earth combines a seat on the Permanent Council of the UN with membership of Nato, a trade deal with the EU, accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership and being a founder member of the Common-

Andrew Griffith

wealth. More than any other nation, being open and looking outwards for opportunities is second nature to us Brits.

Then there’s our rich heritage. The City of London was established a few years after the Roman invasion and our exchanges and insurance markets are older than many countries.

Since then, we’ve become one of the world’s pre-eminent financial hubs in part because of our English language, our melting pot of skilled international workers, our fortuitous time zone, our common law legal system and our respected independent institutions. Even in a competitive

world, none of these are transient.

At the end of last year, we announced ambitions to reform some of our financial services regulations –the ‘Edinburgh Reforms’. These reforms will benefit the whole of the UK, not just the City. This is not about stripping away sensible protections. But it is about moving towards proportionate and simpler regulation that works for the UK and will help drive growth across the broader economy, supporting families and businesses up and down the country. And this includes the strides we are taking to improve how companies can raise capital in the UK, by simplifying the hurdles to list on our stock exchanges and ensuring more people can have a share in the growth of these companies.

Any talk of diluting these reforms is to misunderstand them. They are here to stay, because they will actually improve the resilience of our financial system by stripping away the bits that hold us back and allow the sector and

regulators alike to focus on the big stuff that matters.

Change always has its detractors. Some have simply been too comfortable as rule-takers in an era of cheap money and are finding it hard to adjust. The environment we are working in has changed dramatically over the last six months, and as businesses reshape their plans for the future, so should our vision of how we want our capital to look.

There is a generation of current and future City leaders who are hungry to see these changes made, to feel the competitive benefits for the UK and who recognise the imperative of economic growth after the costs of Covid and the war in Ukraine.

For them – and for all of us – as we go through the process of reforming our financial services sector there could be no better time than the present and no better place than London.

£ Andrew Griffith is City Minister and the MP for Arundel and South Downs

Yet currently there are many questions and few answers. Where does responsibility lie? Should governments step in and create new copyright legislation tailored to these cases? How to regulate something that travels beyond borders like music when legislation is made nationally?

Some want a third party, possibly overseen by a government organisation, to act as a “licensing house”. It would agree to existing music’s fair market use, and become the repository for all the AI businesses who would know where to go to access licensed material to train their modules. Industry insiders also say there’s talk inside the UK government of a potential “digital watermark” that would help track the content used by AI.

It will be hard to strike a balance. If you play with software like MusicLM even for five minutes, you’re struck by the potential of the technology. But given how much music is intrinsically linked with human emotions and experiences, it’s hard to imagine a world where we all choose AI-made trance beats over the latest single by our favourite songwriter.

Music might be safe for a while; but the battle shaping up between labels and AI startups it’s unlikely to be a particularly friendly one.

CALL ME, MAYBE (OR MAYBE NOT)

Elena Siniscalco

Kanye West’s music has been used to create AI-generated covers of classic songs

Alok Sharma, the former govt minister and Cop26 President, has been accused of the crime of phoning his own employees, while they were working from home.

Senior officials have claimed they were bullied by Sharma, who ‘used profanities’ and insulted their work

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A four day week of multitasking

[Re: A four-day work week won’t save us from the modern day addiction to multitasking, April 5]

A vast number of sectors would find it difficult to adopt a four-day week due to the types of jobs and day-to-day requirements of businesses.

For certain sectors and stages of a business, a four-day week would be beneficial and positioned as a selling point, in particular when attracting and retaining talent, but for many, it would also be impractical. Most of those making this change would likely make a four day week available to everyone to ensure parity, however implementing a blanket decision may encourage work outside of normal hours due to individual

demands, encouraging this multitasking phenomenon. This is counterintuitive to the benefit this change is meant to support.

As the owner of a growth stage technology business, adopting fourday week would not be a simple choice. Most businesses at this stage are still maturing, demands are high, resources stretched and processes still being developed. Once you’re at a certain size and stage, this is easier. But trying to squeeze five days into four could become more stressful, particularly for those workers that need training, development and support.

Businesses need to think carefully about making a big change that would only encourage a higher level of multitasking, as one size does not fit all.

John Paul Caffery RAMP Global

As supermarkets rake in profits, Goldilocks would go hungry on the cost of oats

Sue Davies

PORRIDGE oats, milk, bread and butter are such staples that it’s hard to imagine a British breakfast table that doesn’t include some or all of them each morning. Yet these have seen some shocking price hikes in recent months - illustrating how hard it is for anyone to escape being affected by soaring food inflation.

The food inflation tracker from Which? has measured the prices of everyday groceries across a range of supermarkets in the three months up to the end of March compared with this time last year and found that the average increase in the price of porridge oats would make even Goldilocks blush. At 35.5 per cent, it’s the highest increase of any of the 11 every day food products our experts analysed - and could push them out of budget for already hard-pressed families. Despite some supermarkets reducing the price of milk in recent days, we found that the price of semi-skimmed

As Rishi Sunak’s government hatches a plan to get people vaping instead of smoking, the Dutch are going a different way. The health watchdog in the Netherlands has suggested darker coloured cigarettes to deter smokers.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: WHERE IS ALL OUR FOREIGN AID MONEY GOING?

China might be close to overtaking us on yet one more thing: foreign aid. Or at least that is what David Cameron thinks. The former prime minister warned China is expanding its influence by lending countries huge amounts of money.

Cameron, instead, wants to reform multilateral development banks like the World Bank to get them to make more money by making riskier investments. This will give them more funds to spend in countries which need them,

closing the gap China is filling.

In the UK, we have our own problem with foreign aid: we spend most of it on refugees here in the UK, rather than on help for countries overseas.

New figures from the OECD released last week show the UK is spending more of its aid budget housing refugees than most of the other major donors.

The UK spent 29 per cent - or £3.64bn - of its budget on refugees, in 2022. In comparison, Germany spent 12.8 per cent, the US spent 12 per cent and France 9.4 per cent.

milk has gone up on average by 33.6 per cent. If you found turning on the toaster more economical, then you’d be paying on average 22.8 per cent more for a large loaf of sliced white bread, and on average 24.3 per cent more for the spreadable butter. When it comes to dinnertime, the British staple bangers and mash would see you pay around 13.6 per cent and 13.9 per cent more on average.

These figures will be of little surprise to the consumers who trudge through supermarket aisles each week, carefully trying to manage increasingly tightened budgets. The price of food is one of the main factors driving doubledigit inflation. While they remain the cheapest option, of particular concern in our research was the fact that own-

label budget items, on which millions of low-income families depend to put food on the table, had increased by an average of nearly 25 per cent in March compared to a year earlier.

Several factors go into the pricing of our food. But these price increases are happening at a time when several supermarkets are recording strong financial results. Not everyone can simply switch to another, cheaper supermarket. We need to eat food, so we can’t turn our backs on supermarkets or easily go elsewhere for everyday essentials.

This isn’t a tirade against British businesses doing well. But supermarkets have a role to play in ensuring there is an affordable range of healthy, nutritious food available, especially in the areas of the country where it’s needed most.

This information is easily acessible for supermarkets to target their initiatives. According to our priority places for food index, developed in partnership with the University of Leeds, there

are too many areas where people on low-incomes have little choice but to shop in smaller branches of the big players like Tesco and Sainsbury'swhere value products are in short supply or altogether absent and the prices tend to be higher than in bigger stores.

Pricing, especially unit pricing, also needs to be clearer, more transparent and more consistent, particularly on loyalty card schemes, so shoppers can easily compare prices in-store and with other supermarkets.

This is also a crucial place for politicians. If MPs understand the pressure points in their own constituencies, they can help make sure the right local supermarkets understand the impact they can take on a community level.

The cost of living crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. To mitigate its impact on consumers, industry leaders need to step up.

£ Sue Davies is head of food policy at Which? and its Affordable Food for All campaign

This isn’t a tirade against businesses doing well, but ensuring there is an affordable range

The cost of basic foods has continued to drive inflation

DARKER THE BETTER Light coloured cigarettes ‘make people smoke more’

MOTORING

GOING ROGUE

The Porsche 911 Dakar is riotous fun over rough terrain. But how does this mutant sports car measure up on the road? Tim Pitt drives it.

ASPORTScar with the stance of an SUV. An off-piste explorer equipped for the urban jungle. A tribute to Porsche’s rallying heritage that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The slowest 911 since 1983 and arguably the most fun to drive. The new Dakar is chockfull of contradictions, alright.

Its name is inspired by the world’s most gruelling off-road rally, while the ‘Roughroads’ livery on this press car is a none-too-subtle nod to the Rothmans-sponsored 953 that won the Dakar in 1984. Part-painted, rather than just a sticker set, it’s an £18,434 option – and one that 75 percent of buyers have chosen so far. Dealers can also sell you a roof tent, spotlights, fuel canisters, a Porsche-branded folding spade and much more.

Behind the back axle is a 480hp 3.0litre engine from the 911 Carrera GTS,

which drives all four wheels via a dualclutch DSG gearbox. The Dakar’s suspension is 50mm higher than stock, however, with an extra 30mm of lift available at speeds up to 105mph. It wears bespoke Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tyres, along with a lightweight GT3 bonnet, thinner glass, plenty of underbody protection and prominent red tow hooks. I may be needing those later.

Inside, each 911 Dakar has a numbered plaque, marking it out as one of 2,500 cars worldwide. Ten percent of that total will come to the UK, and a few are still left – if you’re quick and have £173,000 to spare. I twist the ignition toggle and the flat-six fires with a brusque bark. Time to hit the road.

Yes, the road, because while the Dakar can boldly go where no 911 has gone before, I’ll wager most will rarely venture into the uncharted

PORSCHE 911 DAKAR

PRICE: £173,000

POWER: 480HP

0-62MPH: 3.4SEC

TOP SPEED: 149MPH

FUEL ECONOMY: 25.0MPG

CO2 EMISSIONS: 256G/KM

wilderness beyond Google Street View. I’m heading to an army proving ground, where the Porsche will tackle terrain used to test military vehicles, yet here, on the tightly coiled lanes of rural Hampshire, is the test that matters most.

I’ll admit to being a bit cynical about the Dakar, but on the road it simply makes sense. It rides with real finesse, gliding over potholes where a lowerslung GTS would jostle and jolt. The

steering is weighty and accurate, and PDCC adaptive dampers keep body-roll under control. It isn’t outrageously fast – 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds and a tyrelimited top speed of 149mph – but the numbers seem less important here. Indeed, rather than being laser-focused like the GT3 RS or Turbo S you could buy for similar money, the Dakar feels more akin to a classic 911. You sense it move around and breathe with the road, instead of coming into conflict with it. Even the knobbly tyres add to the experience, making the car more playful even at sensible speeds. Elsewhere, the traits that set this 911 apart – loftier suspension, body armour, kerb-resistant tyres – make it well-suited to city life.

If and when you arrive at the rough stuff, the Dakar offers two new drive modes: Rallye and Offroad. The former is fairly rear-biased, allowing you to

drift around on loose sand like a hooligan, while the latter elevates the car to full height for steady, sure-footed progress. Ploughing through kneedeep muddy ruts and wading through water holes feels incongruous – even slightly absurd – in a 911, but you can’t fail to be impressed by the Dakar’s sheer breadth of ability. And no, I didn’t get stuck.

Against the odds, and despite its inherent contradictions, the Dakar has emerged, as my favourite 911 in the current range. Granted, it’s expensive, but who’d bet against a limited edition Porsche holding its value in the longer term? It simply covers so many bases, from rewarding everyday road car to rugged weekend plaything. And apart from anything else, the 911 Dakar is just cool.

Tim Pitt writes for motoringresearch.com

SALON PRIVE LUXURY CAR SHOW RETURNS TO LONDON THIS WEEK

THISweek sees the return of Salon

Privé London, which takes place on the groomed lawns of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. The sister event to the established Salon Privé Concours d'Élégance at Blenheim Palace, the London show brings together the world’s finest hypercars, classics and restomods, showcasing them alongside new models from the likes of Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Taking place on 20-22 April 2023, Salon Privé London will boast a highend shopping village, plus food options that range from snacks to a formal three-course meal.

Demonstrating the breadth of UK

debuts taking place at Salon Privé London, the show includes a first look at the Abarth 500e Scorpionissima electric hot hatchback. At the other end of the scale, the Hennessey Venom F5 Roadster will also be shown for the first time. With a 1,187hp twinturbocharged V8, the American-made roadster is the world’s fastest and most powerful convertible car.

Further highlights of the show include Theon Design's latest restomod Porsche 911, the off-road-ready Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato and the electric Wiesmann Project Thunderball.

One of the major attractions at the

Royal Hospital will be the Concours de Vente. This sees premium dealers from the UK and beyond displaying their cars for sale. Limited to 75 cars, the competition is split into three classes. Class One is up to £250,000, Class Two is between £250,000 and £1 million, and Class Three is for cars costing more than £1 million. Best in class trophies, plus an ultimate Prix d’Honneur for the top car overall, will be awarded.

Tickets for Salon Privé London are available to buy now, priced from £50, including hospitality packages for those who want the full VIP experience.

Lampard happy for Boehly to be in post-match changing rooms

CHELSEA interim manager Frank Lampard insists he is comfortable with the club’s co-owner Todd Boehly playing an active role in the dressing room ahead of Tuesday’s must-win Champions League clash with Real Madrid. Boehly reportedly gave a speech after the Blues’ 2-1 loss to Brighton on Saturday in which he singled out one player for his performances.

“I am comfortable with [Boehly]. For me, there was some criticism of our old owners about not coming – and that wasn’t always true,” said Lampard, who is yet to win in three games since replacing the sacked Graham Potter.

“When an owner is invested in the team, it's his prerogative to get involved how they want.

“I remember being happy that when I was a player you could touch them and high-five them. I have no problems with it, if an owner wants to be positive and wants to speak to the players.

“It can be very regular in the modern day. In fact, it shows passion. That’s what I like.”

Chelsea will need to overturn a 2-0 deficit against the Champions League holders tonight at Stamford Bridge as the Blues look to make the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 2021.

Last year tonight’s opposition beat Chelsea – then under Thomas Tuchel –5-4 on aggregate on their way to winning the title in Paris.

Some have questioned the level of commitment from a number of players within Lampard’s squad but the former Blues player rejected the claims.

“I’m always big in football on personal responsibility as a player and a group,” Lampard added. “It’s something we have to address now going forward and a big part of the game, and we do a lot of work to delve into the data, the statis-

Lampard is in charge until the end of the 2022/23 season

tics and the output of what we put into games.

“It’s not a question of the commitment of players but a way how we work to get better at this level.

“I’m very proud to manage this club. We’ll give everything to go through this tie.

“Every game is a possibility to win. Every game until the last day should be a huge game for us.

“We all want to prove ourselves when we represent Chelsea.”

Napoli host AC Milan in the other of tonight’s quarter-finals as the Serie A leaders look to make the most of home advantage to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit.

CUE CHAOS Protestors cause scene at World Snooker Champs

Two matches at the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield were temporarily stopped yesterday after protestors from Just Stop Oil disrupted play. One protestor mounted the table hosting Robert Milkins and Joe Perry before dispersing orange powder. On the other table a protestor attempted to attach themself to the table hosting Mark Allan and Fan Zhengyi. Both protestors were escorted out of the Crucible Theatre. One table needed to be reclothed while the other saw play resume.

Full circle for Fitzpatrick with playoff win on Harbour Town course ‘I dreamed of playing’

MATT HARDY

IT WAS a full circle moment for golfer Matt Fitzpatrick on Sunday as his win at the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island took the Englishman right back to his childhood.

Fitzpatrick secured his first win since the 2022 US Open after defeating Jordan Spieth at the third playoff golf at Harbour Town on Sunday night.

The pair concluded the regulation 72 holes tied on 17 under par after Spieth played the final round in two shots fewer than Fitzpatrick to force the playoff.

It looked as if the American –

Genge tackle citing could disrupt England’s

World Cup plans

MATT HARDY

ENGLAND’S Rugby World Cup preparations had a spanner thrown into the works yesterday as starting loosehead prop – and recent captain – Ellis Genge was cited for a dangerous tackle in Bristol Bears’ loss to Sale Sharks on Friday.

The 41-cap forward was cited for his hit on fellow England star Tom Curry in the 13th minute of Bristol’s 36-20 defeat and will face a disciplinary panel this evening.

Genge was given a yellow card by referee Luke Pearce but if upgraded to a red card, the prop could miss some of England’s warm-up games

ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Steve Borthwick’s side face Wales twice as well as taking on Fiji and Ireland as they prepare for the showpiece event in France this autumn.

Bristol Bears have two games remaining in this year’s Premiership and are unable to make the playoffs, so any ban beyond two weeks would impact international fixtures.

Low-grade offences for dangerous tackles begin at two weeks while mid-range punishments begin at six weeks – though these can often be halved depending on disciplinary record, admission of guilt, and undergoing a tackling course.

whom Fitzpatrick had fought with for all of Sunday – had bagged the prize in excess of $3.6m but his putt lipped out on the 18th hole before he missed another winner on the second playoff hole.

Fitzpatrick, from Sheffield, used to holiday on Hilton Head Island as a child and the victory in South Carolina was an emotional one for the 28-year-old.

“It’s a course I dreamed of playing when I was young,” said Fitzpatrick.

“I feel like I have been very lucky in my career –I have won a major and now this. This is very special.

“I managed to play it a couple of times with my dad and this one means more than anything.

“Of every single one on the calendar, this is the one that I would want to win the most.”

Fitzpatrick became just the second Englishman to win this event – and claim the Tartan jacket – since Nick Faldo while Spieth came agonisingly close to becoming the fourth back-to-back winner.

“It was a really good round. I got off to a dream start and then just kind of hung in there for a little while and then made a nice putt to get into the playoff, and then played the playoff really well,” said Spieth. “Someone was going to make a birdie. It wasn’t going to be a bogey to lose that playoff the way that we were both playing today.”

Stokes absent from third

game on trot amid injury

MATT HARDY

ENGLAND Test captain Ben Stokes has missed a third consecutive Indian Premier League game for the Chennai Super Kings having suffered a toe injury, raising some concern over whether the talismanic all-rounder will be able to play the entirety of this summer’s Ashes.

Stokes had said he would fulfil his IPL contract – worth £1.6m – despite nursing a long-term knee injury but the addition of a toe problem could cast doubt on his involvement against Australia later this year.

The 31-year-old did travel to Bangalore with his team, however, and

IPL

bowled a limited number of balls in the warm-up.

“I’m not going to lie, it has been very frustrating knowing something has been holding me back from performing as I’d like to,” Stokes previously said of his knee injury following the Test series in New Zealand in February.

“Don’t worry, I'm going to the IPL. I’ve had conversations with Stephen Fleming [head coach at CSK] and he’s fully aware of the situation.”

England are overwhelming favourites for this year’s Ashes amid a resurrection of Test cricket in England thanks to Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum’s revolutionary approach to the five-day game.

CRICKET

RUGBY UNION

MATT HARDY

ATHLETICS

Can athletics be rescued by new docuseries?

WHAT is wrong with athletics? On the surface it doesn’t seem to be a question many are asking but within the sport it’s at the forefront of minds.

Despite the quality of athletes remaining at historically high levels, the need and desire from fans to see them appears to be dwindling.

Poor attendances at the World Championships in Eugene last year, the refusal of the BBC to renew their broadcast deal with UK Athletics, and UKA themselves reportedly just months from potential bankruptcy are all part of the discussion.

It is a sorry state of affairs for track and field in the United Kingdom given how popular athletics was at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and the planned return of the Diamond League

OPINION

FOOTBALL COMMENT

AT THIS stage in a delicately poised Premier League title race you are looking for little signs of where the trophy might be heading, and in the last week Arsenal and Manchester City have provided some.

On Sunday at West Ham, leaders Arsenal put themselves firmly in control with two early goals, only to let that lead go for a second match in a row in an outcome that can be put down to the leaders feeling the heat.

Five days earlier at the Etihad Stadium, City came under severe pressure from Bayern Munich but regained their composure and put the Germans to the sword in the Champions League. It was a show of their pedigree and experience.

A week out from the two teams meeting in Manchester, the champions remain four points behind but have seized the momentum with 10 consecutive victories in all competitions. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, is proving again how good he is at getting the best out of players.

John Stones has been unbelievable in a new role which asks fresh questions of opponents, which is exactly why Guardiola has deployed him there, and Jack Grealish now looks a better player than the one who left Aston Villa.

Squad strength is also coming to the fore. City’s bench is so impressive, not just for their names but their impact. Arsenal’s isn’t on the same level, and William Saliba’s absence from the back four has just disrupted their clockwork-like efficiency.

Depth could yet play a key part in this title race, with City still in the hunt for a treble. They face an FA Cup semi-final this weekend and, barring a sensational second-leg comeback from Bayern on Wednesday, another twolegged Champions League tie.

The upshot is that between now and the last round of Premier League games on 28 May, City are set for 10 fixtures compared to Arsenal’s six. That means two games a week from hereon in, including a likely trip to Brighton in the midweek before the final day.

Arsenal’s visit to City on Wednesday week has naturally been billed as a title decider and they are in urgent

to London this year. So what is going wrong with the sport?

As a spectacle, it is too long and too repetitive. It is exciting for a couple of minutes per day because Usain Bolt or Athing Mu or Caster Semenya or Armand Duplantis are only on the track or in the field for small percentages of any day’s schedule.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson has been vocal in his criticism of the stagnation of track and field of late.

“If you were to design a sport for success in today’s sports market, it would look nothing like today’s track,” he said recently on social media.

“Track must be reimagined for today’s sport and entertainment market. In my opinion championship track (Olympics, Worlds, etc.) needs very little change if any, so I’m going to focus on professional track and field.

“Developing professional track is not the role of federations and they are not equipped for the job. Professional track must be developed by a private commercial entity.”

So change is needed in track and field to ensure the sport is able to compete with rivals on the world stage – both aesthetically and commercially.

Yes, the 100m dash at the Olympic games remains an iconic 10 seconds of

action, but for how long?

Some suggest the sport should become more like horse racing, whereby there are fewer races per day but with increased quality.

Others have suggested that simply making the prize money genuinely life-changing could do the trick.

It appears as if UKA’s solution involves – as it did with the Six Nations rugby – a camera crew and a Netflix-

style documentary to solve its financial woes. The issue with a reliance on that, however, is that faced by tennis doc Break Point: it could be boring. Athletics is in a precarious position. It is a sport built on its history, contested in some form or another for thousands of years, and yet it is just three months from potential extinction in the UK – a country that has produced the likes of Linford Christie, Paula Radcliffe and Mo Farah. If lights, camera and action can save British athletics, then great, but the sport increasingly looks to be edging towards its final wrap if things don’t start getting radical.

TITLE DECIDER IS MUST-WIN FOR CITY

need of a boost before then. You don’t want to be going to the Etihad while scratching around for form.

SPARK

Fortunately, then, they have Southampton at home this Friday as they look to rediscover winning ways and restore some confidence. On paper, the league’s bottom team ought to be perfect cannon fodder for the Gunners.

After two disappointing results, Mikel Arteta’s task is to batten down the hatches and work on rekindling

Between now and the last weekend, treble-chasing City’s are set for 10 fixtures to Arsenal’s six

the team’s spark. I don’t think they’ll be trembling in the dressing room yet and I expect them to pummel the Saints.

While I think City are more likely to win the league from here, the importance of their match with Arsenal shouldn’t be underestimated, and it is they who need to win, not Arteta’s side. If they do, I think Arsenal will struggle to recover from that big a body blow compounding recent setbacks at this stage of the season.

I don’t see them beating City on their own turf, but if a revitalised Gunners

side get a draw it would keep their destiny in their own hands and could give them the confidence to keep their noses in front during a testing run-in that includes a trip to Newcastle. If City lose some momentum, however, it could weigh heavily during a packed fixture schedule. If Arteta can engineer a draw, it could be Arsenal’s best point of the campaign.

Trevor Steven is a former England footballer who played at two World Cups and two European Championships. @TrevorSteven63.

The sport is struggling in a congested market so can lights, camera and action save track and field, asks Matt Hardy

Trevor Steven