SATAN AND SCARY STORIES ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA FILM … · 8/22/2019 · It would require “hard...

MERKEL TELLSJOHNSON: YOUHAVE 30 DAYSCATHERINE NEILAN

@CatNeilanGERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkelgave the UK a 30-day deadline to devise an alternative to the Irish backstop last night ahead of a dinnerwith Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Berlin.

Johnson said he was “very glad” thatMerkel had “set a blistering timetableof 30 days”.

He added: “I am more thanhappy with that.”

Merkel said she sees“possibilities” for a solution to the dead-lock surrounding theIrish border, with littlemore than two monthsto go until Johnson hassaid the UK will leave the European Union with orwithout a deal.

“I see possibilities [to solve thebackstop impasse] through, for exam-ple shaping the future relationship insuch a way as to address this point ina sustainable manner, and a firmmanner,” she told reporters.

It would require “hard work”,Merkel added.

Noting that the backstop had beenintended as a last resort, only to beused if no solution could be found,Merkel added: “Maybe we can find [asolution] in the next two years, maybewe can find it in the next 30 days.”

Johnson clenched his fist andmouthed: “Yes, come on.”

Reiterating his view that the back-stop should be dealt with as part ofthe future relationship, Johnsonstressed that he felt the issue could

be solved through an alterna-tive arrangement involving

a trusted trader scheme and electronic

pre-clear ing. He told reporters there were

“abundant” options.Johnson’s dinner with Merkel

comes ahead of a lunch with FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macron today.However, the mood in Paris was quitedifferent yesterday.

A no-deal Brexit was seen as themost likely outcome now, a Frenchpresidential aide told AFP.

“The scenario that is becoming themost likely is one of no deal,” said theofficial, who asked not to be named.

“The idea of saying ‘there’s not adeal, so I won’t pay’ does not work,”the official added, regarding the so-called divorce bill.

“There’s no magic wand that makesthis bill disappear,” they said.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Macron saida no-deal Brexit would be of Britain’sown making and not the EuropeanUnion’s, adding that any trade dealLondon cut with Washington wouldnot mitigate the cost of crashing outof the bloc.

“Can [the cost of no deal] be offset bythe US? No. And even if it were astrategic choice, it would be at thecost of an historic vassalisation ofBritain. I don’t think this is what…Johnson wants. I don’t think it is whatthe British people want,” Macron said.

Separately, the UK government willtoday sign a continuity free tradeagreement with South Korea, whichit said replicated as far as possible thecurrent EU-Korea trade deal.

The government said it had nowsigned continuity agreements cover-ing trade worth £89bn, up from £39bnin March, the UK’s original exit date.

NOT SO FAST Government putsHigh Speed 2 project under review

ALEXANDRA ROGERS

@city_amrogersBUSINESS groups leapt to thedefence of the controversial HighSpeed Two (HS2) rail line yesterdayafter Boris Johnson officially kickedoff a review that could see the projectaltered or even scrapped.

Transport secretary Grant Shappssaid the review would be overseen byformer HS2 chair Douglas Oakerveeand prominent HS2 critic LordBerkeley, who would advise the

government as to whether it shouldpress ahead with the railway that willboost links between London and thenorth of England.

The anticipated announcementcomes after months of speculationabout the scheme’s rising costs. Theofficial HS2 price tag is £56bn, butJohnson said last month that it was“probably north of £100bn”.

The review will conclude in autumn.

£CONTINUES ON P3 THE CITY VIEW: P2

Boris Johnson andAngela Merkel had a

working dinner last night

FTSE 100▲7,203.97 +78.97 FTSE 250▲19,207.75 +199.66 DOW▲26,702.73 +240.29 NASDAQ▲8,020.21 +71.65 £/$▼ 1.213 -0.004 £/€▼ 1.094 -0.002 €/$▼ 1.109 -0.001

BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITYNO REST FOR THE WICKETENGLAND AND AUSTRALIAHEAD STRAIGHT INTO THETHIRD TEST P20

SATAN AND SCARY STORIESINDULGE IN THE DARK SIDE OFFILM THIS BANK HOLIDAY P19

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CITYAM.COM02 THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019NEWS

COBHAM DEAL TO REWARDBANKS WITH £200M PAYDAYBanks and other advisers are set tomake more than £200m in fees if the£4bn takeover of Britain’s aerospaceand defence contractor Cobham issuccessfully completed by privateequity group Advent International. Thefee arrangements were set out in docu -ments released yesterday ahead of ashareholder vote on the deal nextmonth.

MANCHESTER CITY TO BUILDNEW VENUE NEXT TO ETIHADManchester City FC is looking to build alarge music and events venue next to itsfootball stadium in partnership withOak View Group, a fast-growing US

arena operator. The English PremierLeague champions want to furtherboost revenues to support their on-pitch ambitions and announced a feasibility study yesterday.

GOOGLE’S DEEPMIND CO-FOUNDER PLACED ON LEAVEThe co-founder of Google’s London-based artificial intelligence labDeepmind has been placed on leave.Mustafa Suleyman is taking a period ofabsence, the company confirmed lastnight. Deepmind is seen as a leadingforce in AI research but has beencriticised over its work with the NHS.

MORE WOE FOR WOODFORDWITH GUERNSEY DELISTINGThe delisting of Sabina Estates from theGuernsey stock exchange has exacerb -ated embattled fund manager NeilWoodford’s breach of fund rules aroundthe proportion of unquoted or “illiquid”stocks held in the portfolio.

ATKINS MAKER TO ACQUIREQUEST NUTRITION FOR $1BNSimply Good Foods, the maker ofAtkins-branded food products, is buyinga privately held food company for $1bn(£825m). The companies said thatSimply Good will buy Quest Nutrition inan all-cash $1bn deal that is expected tocomplete by the end of the year.

SALES AND PROFIT FALLAGAIN AT NORDSTROMSales and profit at Nordstrom slippedagain in the company’s latest quarter.Nordstrom last night reported totalquarterly revenue of $3.87bn (£3.2bn),down five per cent compared with theyear earlier and weaker than Wall Streettargets.

FINANCIAL TIMES THE TIMES THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THE WALL STREET JOURNALWHAT THEOTHERPAPERS SAYTHISMORNING

US WARNS OF TURMOIL IF UNLIFTS IRAN ARMS EMBARGOMike Pompeo, the US secretary of state,has warned that Iran will unleash “newturmoil” if the UN lifts its armsembargoes next year. Speaking at asecurity council meeting, Pompeoaccused Tehran of launching “acampaign of extortion diplomacy”.

MILLENNIALS GET MORE FORTAXES THAN OLDER PEOPLEOlder people are paying more in tax andreceiving a falling share of public spen -di ng, research has found. Millennialsand people approaching middle age areenjoying more benefits-in-kind from thestate than their predecessors despite adecline in the rate of pay rises.

JAMES BOOTH

@Jamesdbooth1THE US FEDERAL Reserve debated cut-ting interest rates more aggressivelyat its last meeting, according to min-utes published last night.

The Fed cut rates by 25 basis pointsat its 30-31 July meeting, amid concerns about a global economicslowdown and trade tensions.

However, two participants called fora greater cut of 50 basis points.

“A couple of participants indicatedthat they would have preferred a 50basis point cut,” the minutes said,with bankers in favour of the moveworried that inflation was too low.

At the same time, policymakerswere united in the desire not to sug-gest they were heading for more cuts.

“Participants generally favoured anapproach in which policy would beguided by incoming information…

US Fed considered furtherinterest rate cuts in July

HOT LAPS Elon Musk’s own Tesla Roadster blasted into orbitwith spaceman on board completes its first loop around the sun

A TESLA Roadster blasted into space by Elon Musk’s Space X has completed its first solar orbit 18 months after its launch. The carwas playing David Bowie’s Life on Mars at lift-off. If the car’s battery is still working, it will have played the song over 150,000times by now. The sports car was launched into space on 6 February 2018 aboard the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

It still makes sense toput the brakes on HS2

APOLICY may be considered well-balanced if it is attackedfiercely by two opposing extremes in the surroundingdebate. Perhaps this is not always the case, but it is areasonable rule of thumb, and it sprung to mind

yesterday after the government announced a quick review of theexciting yet eye-wateringly expensive High Speed 2 project.Former infrastructure tsar and Remain-fanatic Lord Adonis saidthe review was “as stupid as you can get”, while campaign groupStop HS2 screamed that existing work on the link must bestopped immediately “because irreparable damage is being doneright now to unique habitats and ancient woodlands”.Opponents of HS2 pointed fingers at members of the review andadjoining advisory panel who have traditionally supported thescheme, while supporters bemoaned the inclusion of HS2sceptics. For those of a pragmatic perspective, the inclusion ofboth suggests balance and asensible way of ensuring arobust review takes place –neither a whitewash nor ahatchet job. The list of peopleinvolved in the reviewincludes rail gurus,engineers, former businesslobbyists and central bankers, and even ex-John Lewis boss AndyStreet (who is now mayor of the West Midlands). Someopponents of the review have fallen for what economists call thesunk cost fallacy, a belief that one must push ahead with a planin light of previously invested resources. While billions havealready been thrown at HS2, the prospect of a ballooning budgetexpanding towards £100bn cannot be ignored. Each part of theprogramme must be fiscally justified and if there are reasonableefficiencies to be found, then so be it. Taxpayers deserve nothingless. Westminster’s cynics believe the review is a convenient wayfor Boris Johnson to sideline a divisive issue during anupcoming election campaign. They may be right – who knows? –but either way, this review is a good outcome. Impulsivelyscrapping the project would be irresponsible given the UK’sdesperate need for new infrastructure, yet it cannot be allowedto continue with a blank cheque. The review won’t take long,and will hopefully allow the government to make a moredetailed and practical decision on how to proceed.

Follow us on Twitter @cityam

THE CITY VIEW

The prospect of aballooning budgettowards £100bncannot be ignored

and that avoided any appearance offollowing a preset course,” the July minutes said.

Baird investment strategist WillieDelwiche said: “The Fed clearly wantsto be flexible. They are clearly worriedabout some of the global tensionsthat are out there, whether it is tradeor Brexit or some of those interna-tional developments.”

Market reaction to the minutes wasmuted with stocks holding earliergains after their release.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average,the S&P 50 and the Nasdaq Compositeall edged up between 0.8 per cent and0.9 per cent by market close.

Fed chair Jerome Powell is set to givea closely watched speech tomorrowon challenges for monetary policy atan annual meeting of central bankersin Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In July, the Fed cut rates for the firsttime since the financial crisis, lower-

ing its main federal funds target rateby 25 basis points (0.25 percentagepoints) to between two and 2.25 percent, making borrowing cheaper inthe world’s largest economy.

US President Donald Trump hascalled for deeper cuts, eschewing a convention that the sitting presidentdoes not comment on the actions ofthe Fed.

Yesterday evening, before the releaseof the Fed minutes, Trump tweetedthat Powell was “like a golfer whocan’t putt”, adding: “Big US growth ifhe does the right thing, BIG CUT – butdon’t count on him! So far he hascalled it wrong, and only let us down.

“We are competing with many coun-tries that have a far lower interestrate, and we should be lower thanthem. Yesterday, ‘highest Dollar in USHistory.’ No inflation. Wake up Fed-eral Reserve. Such growth potential,almost like never before!”

03THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019 NEWSCITYAM.COM

ALEXANDRA ROGERS

@city_amrogersRYANAIR yesterday lost a legal bid toprevent its UK pilots from strikingthis week, but insisted its passengerswould suffer little disruption.

The budget airline applied for aHigh Court injunction that wouldhave stopped its UK pilots from strik-ing today and tomorrow, meaning theindustrial action will go ahead.

However, it said the “vast majority”of its pilots had volunteered to workon the strike days, allowing it to oper-ate a full schedule from its UK air-ports. But it warned there could besome delays and changes to flights.

“We do not expect significant dis-ruptions on Thursday or Friday, how-ever we cannot rule out some smallflight delays and/or flight changes,”the airline said.

“We are working hard with our pilotteams to minimise any such delays forour customers and their families.”

Ryanair has been locked in a disputewith pilots who are members of theBritish Airline Pilots’ Association

Ryanair fails towin court bid tostop pilot strike

(Balpa) over issues such as pensions, licence insurance, maternity benefit,allowances and the airline’s pay structures.

Ryanair said it was “unreasonable”that the pay of captains “should bedoubled from a current £170,000 perannum to over £375,700 just nineweeks before Brexit, which could severely damage Ryanair’s businessand UK pilot jobs”.

Balpa general secretary Brian Strut-ton said: “Ryanair was foolish to bringthis into the High Court rather thanthe negotiating room. We offered tomeet Ryanair management at Acas tonegotiate a resolution, but insteadthey attempted a legal bludgeon.That’s backfired. However, we areclear that we want to settle the dis-pute and bring about a change inRyanair for the better.

“In the event that Ryanair rejectsour overture and therefore the actionover the next two days does go ahead,we apologise to the passengers whowill be affected. Such action couldhave been avoided if Ryanair adopts adifferent approach.”

UK to review no-deal tariff plansamid oil refining impact worriesJAMES BOOTH

@Jamesdbooth1THE UK GOVERNMENT is re-examining plans to remove tariffson a range of imports in a no-dealBrexit amid worries about thecountry’s oil refining sector.

In the event of a no-deal Brexit,the government currently plans tolift tariffs on the import of petrolbecause of fears prices could jump.

However, the EU has said it willapply a tariff of 4.7 per cent to UKexports, making petrol and other

products refined in Britain lesscompetitive.

Michael Gove, who is in charge ofno-deal planning, told the BBC it wasre-examining the former govern -ment’s tariff decisions.

“The tariff schedule was preparedunder the old government ofTheresa May, we now have a newPrime Minister and it is beingreviewed and will be publishedshortly in its full form,” Gove said.

However, he warned that thereview may not result in any changesto the planned tariffs.

Lobbyists warn that inquiry couldlead to even more delays to HS2CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

The review will inquire whetherproject manager HS2 Limited is stillable to deliver the project, whetherthe line should terminate in Londonat Old Oak Common rather thanEuston, and whether the railwayshould be stopped at Birmingham.

It will also assess the potential forsavings and the cost of pulling thescheme. Approximately £7.4bn has

already been spent by HS2 Limited onearly construction and propertyworks, including major demolitionsand site clearances at London Eustonand Old Oak Common.

Lobbyists including the CBI and theFederation of Small Businesses saidthe review of HS2 could lead to moredelays and further uncertainty.

The CBI’s infrastructure directorTom Thackray said the business casefor HS2 was “clear cut: back it, build

it, benefit from it… The debate hasgone round the houses too manytimes”, adding that phase one of therailway had already created 7,000 jobsin Birmingham.

The Federation of Small Businesseschair Mike Cherry said it was “vital”that HS2 remained on track.

“The stop-start approach to majortrans port investment that has heldour economy back for decades has toend,” he added.

TOTTENHAM Hotspur Football Club is said to be planning to refinance roughly£400m of its stadium debt through bonds issued via a private placement, accordingto media reports. The club’s holding company took out the five-year loan in 2017.

SPURRED ONTottenham planningto refinance debt fornew £1bn stadium


AUGUST GRAHAM

@AugustGrahamCHINESE e-commerce giant Alibaba issaid to have delayed a $15bn (£12bn)Hong Kong listing, scared off byprotests that have rocked the city formore than two months.

There is no formal timetable forwhen the listing will happen, but thecompany may go to market in October, sources told Reuters.

The completion of the listing, whichwill raise between $10bn and $15bn,will depend on if protests die downand market conditions become morefavourable.

Protesters took to the streets over 11 weeks ago, after the local govern-ment proposed a bill which wouldallow Hong Kong citizens to be extra-dited to mainland China.

After the bill was dropped theprotest morphed into a general anti-government, pro-democracymovement. Police have used tear gasagainst protesters, and arrested morethan 700 people.

Hong Kong’s international airportwas closed last week, and the Hang

Protests promptAlibaba to delayupcoming float

Seng index hit a seven-month low.Alibaba is also said to be worried

about how the Chinese governmentmight react to its listing during thetime of upheaval.

Last week, Cathay Pacific’s chief executive stepped down after facingpressure from China over staff mem-bers who joined the protesters.

“It would be very unwise to launchthe deal now or anytime soon,” onesource told Reuters. “It would cer-tainly annoy Beijing by offering HongKong such a big gift given what’sgoing on in the city.”

Preparations for Alibaba’s listing, potentially the world’s biggest equitydeal this year and the largest follow-on share sale in seven years, havebeen underway for some time.

Earlier this year, Altaba, the Yahoooffshoot holding the company’s stakein Alibaba, announced plans to sellup to its entire 11 per cent stake.

Alibaba would want to see this completed ahead of its float to stabilise its US trading volumes beforeinvestors need to adjust to the twoprices that would be available follow-ing a Hong Kong listing.

Deutsche Bank clamps down onhiring amid restructuring effortJAMES BOOTH

@Jamesdbooth1DEUTSCHE Bank is tightening itsprocedures for new hires as itundergoes a major restructuring andheadcount reduction.

According to an internal memoseen by news agency Reuters, anynew hires would need explicitapproval from the bank’s chiefexecutive Christian Sewing, hisdeputy Karl von Rohr and financeboss James von Moltke.

“Hiring will be restricted to

positions that are viewed as criticalto the bank’s success and futuregrowth, with a greater emphasis oninternal mobility and identifyingtasks we can discontinue,” thememo said.

The move is a shift from previouspolicy when subordinates hadgreater say over external hires.

In July, the German banking giantannounced plans to cut 18,000 jobsas part of a €7.4bn (£6.7bn)restructuring programme.

Deutsche Bank did not respond toa request for comment last night.

China confirms the detention of aUK Hong Kong consulate employeeANNA MENIN

@annafmeninCHINA confirmed yesterday that anemployee of Britain’s Hong Kongconsulate is being detained in theChinese border city of Shenzhen forreportedly violating the law.

Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen,had failed to report back to his officeon 9 August after visiting mainlandChina for a meeting.

The British government has saidthat it is “extremely concerned” byreports that Cheng had beendetained.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang confirmedat a daily news briefing that Chenghad been detained for 15 days forviolating public securitymanagement regulations, but gaveno more details about the case.

Geng said that Cheng’s detention

was an internal Chinese matter andnot a diplomatic issue.

“As for Britain’s comments,” Gengcontinued, “we’ve made sternrepresentations to Britain for theseries of comments and actionsthey’ve made on Hong Kong.

“We request they stop makingthese irresponsible statements, stopmeddling in Hong Kong’s affairs andstop interfering in China’s internalaffairs,” he added.

NEVER TOO OLD IMF bosses recommendscrapping age bar for Kristalina Georgieva

THE INTERNATIONALMonetary Fund saidyesterday itsexecutive board hasrecommended theremoval of the agelimit of 65 for itsmanaging director, amove needed forEuropean nomineeKristalina Georgievato be approved forthe job. Georgieva,who has taken a leaveof absence as theWorld Bank’s chiefexecutive officer,turned 66 last week.


HARRY ROBERTSON

@henrygrobertsonTHE UK GOVERNMENT earned £1.3bnmore than it spent in July, official figures showed yesterday, a smaller surplus than economists had expected.

Analysts predicted a £2.7bn surplus inpublic borrowing in the first figuresunder new chancellor Sajid Javid, buthigher spending and lower tax receiptsreduced the gap. It was also considerablylower than the £3.5bn surplus seen inJuly 2018.

The surplus was reduced by rising purchases of goods and staffing costs following the lifting of the one per centpay cap for public sector workers. Receipts were dampened by lower

UK governmentspending surplusnarrows in July

proceeds from the Bank of England’sasset-purchasing programme.

It means the government is set to missthe spending forecasts set by its budgetwatchdog. In its analysis of the figures,the Office for Budget Responsibility(OBR) said central government sendingwas up 6.3 per cent for the year to date,well above its full-year forecast of a 3.3 per cent rise.

“Given the relatively small deficit lastyear, that translates into a 60 per centrise in year-to-date borrowing,” the OBRsaid.

Government spending is set to rise further when new chancellor Sajid Javidpresents his Budget this autumn. Javidhas already announced £2bn of extrafunding for a no-deal Brexit.

Shares slide but loan books growat Onesavings and Charter Court SEBASTIAN MCCARTHY

@SebMcCarthyONESAVINGS Bank and CharterCourt Financial have both reportedhigher loan books for the first halfof this year, as they gear up for a£1.6bn merger aimed at creating aleading specialist lender.

Shares in both groups tumbledby roughly five per cent in trading,as lower net margins and Brexit

uncertainty in the market dentedinvestor confidence.

Pre-tax profits at OnesavingsBank were flat during the first sixmonths of the year, but rose six percent on an underlying basis to£96.9m.

A boost from the professionalbuy-to-let segment and some morespecialist businesses helped todeliver a 10 per cent rise in the netloan book.

“By and large, the bank had agood first half… but the guardedoutlook weighed on the stock,” saidDavid Madden, market analyst atCMC Markets UK.

“The share price has been in adowntrend for four months, and abreak below the 320p region,might bring 300p into play,” headded.

The size of Charter Court’s loanbook jumped 23.8 per cent to £7bn.

City of London update

News, info and offers at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/eshot

A Beastly Adventure: animalstop the bill at Smithfield

Tap for changeThe City of London Corporation islaunching an alternative givingcampaign to help the City’s homelessand rough sleeper population, bydonating money through four newcontactless card points.

You can donate £3 a time tohomelessness charity Beam by tappingdebit and credit cards on contactlessdevices at the City of LondonInformation Centre (St PaulsChurchyard), Barbican Library, TowerBridge Engine Room and Guildhall WestWing reception window.

You can also donate online and Cityfirms can sign up to put devices in theirpremises atwww.cityoflondon.gov.uk/tapforchange

HIS Sunday (25 August) from11am, Culture Mile presentsStreet Party: A Beastly Adventure,

a FREE family event at SmithfieldMarket where animals top the bill.

All London’s animals - past, present orfuture, large and small, rare and familiar- will be taking over the streets aroundthe historic Market for one day only toteach humans the secret ways of theirworld.

Learn how to dance like a bee, look upand watch extraordinary aerialists flythrough the sky, go wild with playfulanimal amusements, or explore how to

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T


TEDDY COWARD

BRITAIN’s property market suffered asharp fall in the number of transac-tions made between June and July, asthe traditional summer slowdownand growing uncertainty over Brexitdented activity.

Figures released by HMRC yesterdayshowed a marked reduction in thenumber of property transactions overthe summer months, with a drop of 8.5 per cent in residential transac-tions between June and July 2019, aswell as a 12.4 per cent decrease sinceJuly last year.

Property experts warned that thedip in deals was in large part down to the mounting uncertainty overBritain’s imminent departure fromthe EU, with buyers and sellers show-ing signs of reluctance over movinghouse.

“These numbers, though a little historic, are disappointing but notsurprising bearing in mind the degree of political uncertainty, de-spite improving affordability andrecord low unemployment,” said Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate

Summer housedeals dip amidBrexit volatility

agent and former Rics chairman.The data comes amid growing spec-

ulation of a possible no-deal Brexit,with Prime Minister Boris Johnsonvowing to take Britain out of the EUby the end of October with or withoutan agreement.

The figures were presented on thesame day as a poll conducted byReuters showed house prices in Lon-don would likely slip by as much as 10 per cent in the ensuing six monthsfollowing a disorderly exit from theEuropean Union.

Kevin Roberts, director of Legal &General Mortgage Club, said that “to stimulate the market, the govern-ment needs to build more housingacross all types of tenure.

“This will provide second steppersand last-time buyers with morechoice and in turn, families can up- ordown-size accordingly.”

On Saturday, The Times reportedthat chancellor Sajid Javid was consid-ering whether to make house sellers,rather than buyers, pay stamp dutytax. He has since dismissed the idea,but says he still plans “bold measureson housing”.

Germany sells negative-yielding30-year bond but demand weakHARRY ROBERTSON

@henrygrobertsonTHE GERMAN government yesterdaysold 30-year bonds with a negativeyield for the first time, but failed todrum up as much interest in the debtas it had hoped.

The country’s finance ministryput €2bn (£1.83bn) of ultra-longbonds up for sale with no coupon, orannual payout.

It sold €869m of the bonds at anaverage price of €103.60, which ishigher than face value. This took the

yield – the interest investors receivefrom the bonds, which movesinversely to prices – to minus 0.11per cent.

Investors will lose money, there fore, if they hold the bonduntil it matures in 2050, showinghow high demand is for safe assetsat a time when trade tensions and aglobal slowdown are rattling nerves.

Michael Hewson, chief marketanalyst at CMC Markets, said it was a“failed auction”, which showedthere was low investor appetite fornegative-yielding long-term debt.

Government admits flawed trackingof EU citizens entering UK since 2000AUGUST GRAHAM

@AugustGrahamMORE people may have entered theUK between 2000 and 2016 thanpreviously thought, it was revealedtoday, as the Office for NationalStatistics (ONS) admitted its netmigration figures were flawed.

Net EU migration in the yearending March 2016 would be 16 percent higher under new measure -

ments, announced yesterday, the ONSsaid. However, the rise is largelycounterbalanced as the ONS said itmight have over-estimated thenumber of non-Europeans enteringthe country.

It is set to reclassify its migrationdata as “experimental statistics”meaning it is still reviewing the newmethods. The new figures push upnet migration figures from aroundthe world by around one per cent.

The revised data shows that296,000 EU citizens entered Britain in2015-16, the last year on record, comp -ared to 267,000 in past estimates.Meanwhile, 89,000 Europeans left.

The revisions mean 288,000 peoplecame to the UK from outside the EU,and 95,000 left in the year endingMarch 2016. The 13 per cent drop islargely put down to Asian students,who stayed for less time than theysaid they would in surveys.

HAMMERSON, which owns a series of shopping centres across the UK – includingBirmingham’s Bullring – has drafted in a new finance chief. James Lenton, a chart er -ed accountant, will take on the role from the start of October.

BULLISH MOVE Shopping centre ownerHammerson appoints a new finance chief


ALEXANDRA ROGERS AND ALEX DANIEL

@city_amrogers @alexmdanielBRITISH Airways’ parent company hasaccused Heathrow of “continuing tomislead people” over the costs of expansion, in an escalation of a warof words between the airport and itslargest customer.

International Airlines Group (IAG)yesterday said it would welcome anindependent assessment of Heath -row’s expansion costs, saying the totalinfrastructure costs promised to theAirports Commission “bears no rela-tion to what Heathrow is now plan-ning to spend, which is significantlyhigher and delivers less”.

Earlier in the day, IAG accusedHeathrow of “treating customerswith contempt,” saying plans to spendbillions on its expansion before getting planning permissionamounted to a “heist”.

Heathrow has claimed the plans can

BA owner slamsHeathrow plansfor expansion

Wework rival Knotel becomes aunicorn after $400m fundingJAMES WARRINGTON

@j_a_warringtonKNOTEL, the flexible workspace rivalto Wework, has achieved “unicorn”status after securing a fresh round offunding worth $400m (£329m).

The New York-based startup baggedthe bumper cash injection in a roundled by Wafra, the investment arm of

Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund.Knotel has attempted to set itself

apart from Wework by offeringflexible space to large businesses,rather than co-working spaces forfreelancers and small firms.

The series C round takes Knotel’stotal funding to $560m and makes itthe newest so-called unicorn – acompany valued at more than $1bn.

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be completed for £14bn, but criticshave questioned that price tag, sayingthe cost could balloon to as much as£30bn.

Pre-planning permission costs wereoriginally pencilled in as £915m, buthave risen to £3.3bn, IAG said.

IAG chief Willie Walsh said: “Heath -row’s on a massive gravy train andwill do everything to protect that.

“The airport is treating customerswith contempt and the CAA [Civil Avi-ation Authority] like puppets.”

But a Heathrow spokesperson saidIAG was using “misleading rhetoric”.

“What will change in the future isthe huge increase in competitionamongst airlines and choice for passengers that we will deliver by expanding Heathrow. We can’t beheld up by IAG simply looking to protect their dominant position andrecord profits.”

Heathrow launched its expansion“masterplan” in June, which said theproject would be complete by 2050.

YOPA NAMES NEW CHAIRAS IT BAGS $16M FUNDINGOnline estate agency Yopa hasnamed industry veteran GrenvilleTurner as its chairman, as itunveiled a new funding round worth£16m. The hybrid agency receivedthe cash injection from existinginvestors Savills and DMG Ventures,the venture capital arm of the DailyMail Group. Turner is former chiefexecutive of Countrywide anddirector at Rightmove.

STARTUP UHURU TO LISTIN LONDON THIS YEAR Japanese software startup Uhuru isto go public in London later thisyear, after opening an office in thecity in 2018. The company raised¥500m ($3.9m) from Softbank lastyear, and also counts Salesforce,Dentsu and Mitsui & Co as investors.Uhuru, a startup that helps to conn -ect products to the cloud, said it willbe the first Japanese listing on thejunior market in more than 10 years.

LONDON’S DEMAND FORTECHIES IS GROWINGLondon has more demand for thosewith emerging technology skillsthan 10 other UK cities combined,new research has found. The UKcurrently has 422,000 professionalswith skills in emerging technologiesincluding data analytics, artificialintelligence (AI), and quantumcomputing, according to researchby Accenture. Of those profess ion -als, 37 per cent (155,000) are basedin London. The report warns of therisk of a north-south divide in thelocation of tech talent emerging.

IN BRIEF

Knotel is attempting to set itself apart from rival Wework


ALEX DANIEL

@alexmdanielORDERS have flooded in during thefirst half at infrastructure groupCostain, despite a historic Oxfordshireproject coming back to bite it morethan a decade on from its completion.

The London-listed construction firmwas forced to pay £9.7m to repair theroof of a high-tech science centre, theNational Synchrotron facility, whichit finished building in summer 2006.

Shares rose 11.42 per cent to 162pyesterday, however, as the firm announced it had gained momentumin winning new work, with morethan £1bn of contract awards in thefirst half.

Pre-tax profit was £8.4m for the firstsix months of the year, a 55 per centdrop on the same period in 2018. Rev-enue was £594.1m, a 21.7 per centdrop year-on-year.

Costain had already warned full-year earnings would be worse than

Costain on trackdespite repairjob profit dent

Your ability to make a PPI claim won’t be back after the 29 August deadline

Watchdog: Make PPI claim nowas 29 August deadline loomingANNA MENIN

@annafmeninTHE FINANCIAL Conduct Authority(FCA) is urging consumers not toleave making PPI claims to the lastminute ahead of next week’sdeadline.

Figures released by the FCA show atotal of £340.4m was paid to cons -umers who had complained aboutbeing mis-sold PPI in June, taking the

total paid out since 2011 to £36bn. The final deadline for making a PPI

claim is 29 August. PPI was designed to cover loan

repayments if the consumer becameunable to do so, due to circumstancessuch as being made redundant orbeing unable to work.

According to the FCA, as many as64m PPI policies were sold in the UK–the majority between 1990 and – butthey were often mis-sold.

expected because of several contract delays on building motorways.

Later start dates for projects such asthe M6 smart motorway and thesouthern section of HS2 were set topush revenue “lower than antici-pated”, Costain said.

Chief executive Alex Vaughan said:“While, as previously announced, de-lays to certain contract start dates andnew awards… we are pleased that thegroup has continued to secure signifi-cant new work during the first half.”

Astrazeneca setback in lungcancer drug trialAUGUST GRAHAM

@AugustGrahamASTRAZENECA took a blowyesterday as it revealed that trialsof a lung cancer drug had not livedup to expectations.

Patients given Imfinzi withtremelimumab did not show betteroverall survival rates than those onstandard chemotherapy, it said.

The drugs were tested on pati -ents in 29 countries with stage fourcancer, a late stage. “We are fullycommitted to a deep analysis of thevast clinical and biomarker datafrom this trial to gain furtherinsights to improve immuno-oncology approaches for patientswith metastatic non-small cell lungcancer,” said Jose Baselga,Astrazeneca’s head of research anddevelopment in oncology.

Lung cancer is the deadliest formof the disease, account ing foraround one fifth of all deaths.

Imfinzi belongs to the immuno -therapy class of treatments thatboost the body’s own immunesystem, and tumours with highlevels of tumour mutationalburden may be more visible to theimmune system. Shares closed up1.9 per cent at 7,412p.

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JAMES WARRINGTON

@j_a_warringtonREAL estate investors Ivanhoe Cam-bridge and Icamap have secured their takeover of Easyhotel, despite protests from founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The bidders, who haveformed a joint venturenamed Citrus UK, saidthey hold or have received acceptancesfor more than 50 percent of the company’svoting rights.

But in a statement released moments beforethe deal was confirmed,Haji-Ioannou, the billionairefounder behind Easygroup, accusedthe pair of trying to “steal the com-pany from under the noses of otherinvestors”.

Easyhotel has previously recom-mended Citrus’ bid of 95p per share,

Stelios seethesas bidders getEasyhotel deal

which values the hotel chain at£139m and represents a 35 per centpremium on its last closing price.

However, this view is not shared byHaji-Ioannou, who has argued theoffer undervalues the firm.

The Greek-Cypriot tycoon said hehas attempted to increase his

stake in Easyhotel from 27.5 per cent to just under30 per cent, but failed to

find sellers at 95p.“This is proof that the

real value of an Easyhotelshare today is well above

Icamap’s offer,” he said. “My messageto my fellow shareholders is to do thesame as me and reject the offer at 95p and hang on in there.”

Shareholders have until 17 Septem-ber to submit acceptances of the offer.

Travellers have reservations aboutHostelworld as cancellations soarTEDDY COWARD

HOSTELWORLD, the hotel-focused online bookingplatform, has reported adrop in revenue for the first half ofthe year, as summer appetite fromholiday-goers disappointed.

Revenues tumbled from €42.6m(£39m) in the first half of 2018 to€38.8m during the first six months of2019.

Gross bookings for the companyfell four per cent, as chief executiveGary Morr ison cited “lower thananticipated demand over the summerperiod”.

He claimed the nine per cent red uction in revenue was a result of“higher than anticipated inflation”and the “full global rollout of the freecancellation product”, which led toits number of cancellations reaching250,000.

Morrison told City A.M.that 2019should be regarded as a “transitionyear”, with improvements in thecompany’s booking experience likely“to bear fruit” by 2020.

It also announced a $3m (£2.5m)strategic investment in Tipi Pty, atech solutions company exclusive tothe hostel market that allows gueststo check-in and download their keysprior to arrival. Shares closed down9.52 per cent at 146.4p. Bookings for Hostelworld fell four per cent and revenue tumbled to €38.8m

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AUGUST GRAHAM

@AugustGrahamTHE BOSS of Gulf Marine Servicesstepped down yesterday, becomingthe third major casualty of the firm’spains as it warned on profit.

Duncan Anderson resigned with immediate effect as the chief execu-tive and director of the board.

He follows the company’s chairmanand chief finance officer out the doorat Gulf Marine, after its share priceplummeted over the last year.

In December, it lost three quarters ofits value after warning it would notmeet obligations to lenders.

The company’s trouble stems fromthe 2014 downturn in the price of oil.

In the five-year run-up to the col-lapse, Gulf Marine and its competitorsinvested in their fleets of vessels thatservice oil rigs. However, after the2014 crash the oversupply meant thatthere were too many ships and notenough work to go round.

After originally saying that 2019would reach similar levels as last year,

Gulf Marine hasjettisoned bossin stormy waters

Gulf Marine was yesterday forced toadmit its $58m (£48m) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,and amortisation (Ebitda) will likelyfall between $45m and $48m thisyear. It had previously forecast flatEbitda for the year.

The company said that 2020 looksbrighter, but that market conditionsare still “challenging”.

Tim Summers, the board’s non-exec-utive chair, will take over as executivechair until a new candidate is found.

Shares closed down 10.22 per cent at 8.08p.

BP and Glencore struggle to selloff contaminated Russian crudeAUGUST GRAHAM

@August GrahamBP AND Glencore are still trying tooffload huge reserves of taintedRussian crude oil several monthsafter problems were discovered.

The UK-listed giants have around600,000 tonnes of the oil, which theyare struggling to sell off, severaltraders told Reuters.

A scandal erupted in April this yearwhen authorities discovered around5m tonnes of contaminated Russianoil, lined up for export to Europe.

The Druzhba pipeline was stopped,cutting off flows to Germany, Polandand Ukraine, among others.

The oil was found to have highlevels of organic chloride, whichhelps to boost extraction, but cannotbe used in refining equipment.

Glencore is stuck with around500,000 tonnes of oil in three tankers,Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, BP unsuccessfully triedto sell its oil at a tender.

It means that they cannot claimcompensation as Russian law requiresthem to sell oil before filing a case.

Nostrum Oil and Gas’ share pricetakes a battering from analyst noteAUGUST GRAHAM

@August GrahamNOSTRUM Oil and Gasstruggled on the marketsyesterday after taking a hit from ananalyst downgrade.

Shares took a battering, falling by22.86 per cent to 27p.

It came as analysts at Berenbergdowngraded the shares from “Buy”to “Sell”, setting a new target price

of 25p from 200p.It came after a disappointing set of

results at the company on Tuesday,with revenue hitting $174.2m(£144m) in the first six months ofthe year, down from $191.5m. Thecompany’s production also fell to31,096 barrels of oil equivalent from32,524 in the same period last year.

Shares had fallen 6.6 per cent onTuesday on the news of the results.

However they took a much bigger

battering after the Berenberg notereached investors.

Analysts said: “Our hope for anoperational turnaround for Nostrumwas based on the 2019 drillingprogramme in the northern area ofthe Chinarevskoye field inKazakhstan, where the company hadpreviously made an encouragingdiscovery. However, one of the twowells has failed to flow atcommercial levels.”

THE UK’s first car vending machine has been unveiled in Spitalfields Market,allowing motorists to snap up a new car via a contactless payment on their phone.The dispenser, built by Auto Trader, offers buyers a single Renault Zoe for £16,000.

SPEED MERCHANT UK’s first contactlesscar vending machine unveiled in London

GULF MARINE

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JAMES WARRINGTON

@j_a_warringtonCITIGROUP and BNP Paribas have beendragged into an ongoing US court caseagainst the chief financial officer ofChinese tech firm Huawei.

The banks have been named in docu-ments published by a Canadian court aspart of extradition proceedings againstMeng Wanzhou, who is currently underhouse arrest in the country.

Meng, who is the daughter of Huaweifounder Ren Zhengfei, has been accusedof bank fraud and breaching US sanc-tions against Iran.

Citigroup and BNP Paribas are amongthe financial institutions that had deal-ings with Huawei and were allegedlymisled by the finance boss. Two otherbanks, HSBC and Standard Chartered,had previously been named in the case.

The court released the documents,alongside a video of Meng’s arrest atVancouver airport in December, aheadof a hearing scheduled to begin on 23 September.

Meng’s lawyers have previously arguedthat the executive was unlawfully arrested. In the newly-released docu-ments, they alleged Canadian authori-ties deliberately delayed her arrest toallow them to collect evidence as part ofa “covert criminal investigation”.

Meng allegedly told a Canadian borderofficial that the company has an officein Iran, which could potentially supportUS claims that the Chinese tech giantengaged in activities there that violatedAmerican sanctions.

When initially asked if Huawei had anoffice in Iran, she initially replied: “I

don’t know,” according to the affidavitby the border agent, who then told herthat it was hard to believe that the finance boss of a multi-billion-dollarcompany wouldn’t know such details.

Meng then allegedly said that “hercompany does have an office in Iran”, according to the document.

The case has proved to be a second

front in an ongoing cold war betweenChina and the US, as tensions rise overPresident Donald Trump’s decision toblacklist Huawei.

Trump has previously suggested hecould intervene in the case to help secure a trade deal with China, leading defence lawyers to argue that Meng’spossible extradition was being used forpolitical purposes.

Meng and Huawei have denied anywrongdoing, while BNP Paribas and Citigroup declined comment on the ongoing case.

BNP Paribas andCitigroup namedin Huawei hearing

Norway is weighing up shifting itssovereign wealth fund from EuropeANNA MENIN

@annafmeninNORWAY is considering shifting thebalance of investments in its $1 trillion (£824bn) sovereignwealth fund away from Europe tofocus more on Asia and theAmericas.

Investor confidence in Europe hasbeen faltering recently as theregion’s economy slows, while

North American equity markets aregrowing faster than European ones.

“This [regional weighting] isexactly the question that we areconsidering now, and we are givingadvice to the [finance] ministryabout regional weighting of theequity reference index, by the endof this month probably,” said EgilMatsen, the deputy governor ofNorges Bank – the country’s centralbank – and the top public official

responsible for the fund.“One of the questions is whether

the current weighting, whetherthere are reasons to adjust that,”Matsen added.

News of a possible shift in strat -egy comes after the fund reportedstrong second quarter resultsearlier, reporting a three per centreturn on investment. The fundearned 256bn Norwegian krone(£24bn) during the period.

ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 THE A10 GLA ROAD (NORTON FOLGATE/ BISHOPSGATE/ SHOREDITCH HIGHSTREET, LONDON BOROUGHS OF TOWER HAMLETS AND HACKNEY AND THECITY OF LONDON) (TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC) ORDER 2019

Transport for London Public Notice

MAYOR OF LONDON

1. Transport for London hereby givesnotice that it has made the abovenamed Traffic Order under section14(1) of the Road Traffic RegulationAct 1984 for the purpose specified inparagraph 2. The effect of the Orderis summarised in paragraph 3.

2. The purpose of the Order is to allowelectrical street works and a craneoperation to take place on NortonFolgate and Bishopsgate.

3. The effect of the Order will be toprohibit any vehicle from:(1) entering or proceeding on NortonFolgate between its junctions withWorship Street and Primrose Street.(2) entering or proceeding onShoreditch High Street in asouthbound direction between itsjunctions with CommercialStreet/Great Eastern Street andWorship Street, local access will bemaintained.(2) entering or proceeding onBishopsgate in a southerly directionbetween its junctions with SpitalSquare and Brushfield Street.The Order will be effective between8:00 PM on 23rd August 2019 and11:59 PM on 8th September 2019 or

until the works has been completed.The prohibitions will apply only duringsuch times and to such extent asshall from time to time be indicatedby traffic signs.

4. The prohibitions will not apply inrespect of:(1) any vehicle being used for thepurposes of those works or for firebrigade, ambulance or police purposes;(2) anything done with the permissionor at the direction of a policeconstable in uniform or a personauthorised by Transport for London.

5. At such times as the prohibition is inforce alternative route will beindicated by traffic signs viaCommercial Street, Leman Street,Prescot Street, Mansell Street, StBotolph Street, Dukes Place, BevisMarks and Camomile Street to normalroute of travel.

Dated this 29th day of March 2019

Andrew SherryCo-ordination and Permitting AreaManagerTransport for London, Palestra, 197Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NJ

Huawei finance chief Meng Wanzhou is thedaughter of founder Ren Zhengfei


Thursday 10th October5.45pm - 9.00pm Meet: Virgin Active Broadgate One Exchange Place, Hackney, London EC2M 2QT

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AISHWARYA VENUGOPAL

TARGET raised its profit outlook forthe year yesterday as its investmentsin same-day delivery and pick-upservices increased traffic to itswebsite and stores in the secondquarter.

The retailer has been spendingbillions of dollars to build out itssame-day services with initiativessuch as Shipt, in-store pickup andDrive-up as customers increasinglyget used to faster deliveries fromrivals Amazon and Walmart.

Target said one out of fivecustomers, who used its same-dayservice in the quarter, was new, with

shoppers collecting their ordersfrom stores within a couple ofminutes of placing them throughthe mobile app or website.

“[The second quarter] could nothave gone better for Target,”Moody’s vice president CharlieO’Shea said.

Target’s same-day services alsodrove more than three-quarters ofthe 34 per cent increase in compar -able digital sales. The robust onlinesales accounted for more than halfof its total same-store sales.

“These options offer speed,convenience and reliability,” Targetchief executive Brian Cornell.

“And as a result, they’re quickly

becoming the fulfillment choicesfor our guests... Most importantly,because these options leverage ourexisting in-store infrastructure,technology and teams, same-dayfulfillment delivers outstandingfinancial performance as well.”

Margins also benefited from abetter assortment of its productsand competitive pricing and comesat a time when Walmart’s marginsdropped 46 basis points in the sameperiod.

“While many… peers struggle tosustain positive traf fic and stablegross margins, Tar get is finding theright balance,” Evercore analystGreg Melich said.

Target raises profit targeton pick-up service boost

UDAY SAMPATH

LOWE’S beat quarterly profit esti-mates yesterday, as the home im-provement chain took advantage ofstrong spring demand and stockedmore equipment geared towardshigh-spending customers.

Its same-store sale rose 2.3 per centin the second quarter ended 2 Au-gust, above expectations of a 1.8 percent increase, according to IBESdata from Refinitiv.

ALEX DANIEL

@alexmdanielIN AN ALREADY turbulent timefor the high street, swathes of theretail sector are ignoring the needto focus on digital technology,despite consumers increasinglyshopping online.

A survey of 100 top retailersfound more than one-third ofbusinesses have no strategy inplace to address developments

such as a rapid consumer shift toe-commerce, which have upendedthe industry in recent years.

Moreover, one in five has notinvested anything in the past 12months in developing the digitalside of their business.

Sam Rutley, managing directorof Pushon, which carried out theresearch, said investing in digitalis “crucial when it comes tokeeping up with rapidly changingconsumer demands”.

Uncertain future for retailersas businesses ignore digital

Lowe’s sales beatforecast on strongdemand in spring

GRUDGE MATCH Trump blasts Danish PM’srefusal to sell Greenland to the US as ‘nasty’

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump yesterday lambasted a statement by Danish PM MetteFrederiksen as “nasty” and “inappropriate”, after she called a US plan to buy Greenland“absurd”. Trump cancelled a trip to Denmark in two weeks’ time as a result of the spat.

Why are you supporting CGD? City Giving Day is a great day to highlight thesuccessful business, community and charitypartnerships that exist. Canary Wharf Grouppartners with many different organisations tosupport the communities close to ourdevelopments and this is the perfectopportunity to celebrate these with our ownstaff.

Which charities do you support?Our focus starts in our own community. As we

We are thrilled to join othercompanies, charities and communitiesto celebrate City Giving Day and hopethat this campaign continues to growat Canary Wharf over the comingyears.

Sir George Iacobescu, Chairman andChief Executive Officer

Supporting City Giving Day

East End Community Foundation helps CanaryWharf Group to direct our support to the areas ofthe community where it is most needed, throughtraining programmes and community events.

CHARITY IN ACTION

JOIN US AND REGISTER NOW AT

WWW.THELORDMAYORSAPPEAL.ORG/CGD

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH @LMAPPEAL #CGD #GoRed#peoplematter

have a presence in Tower Hamlets andLambeth, these are our priority areas; we wantlocal people to feel the benefits that comefrom our developments so support projectsthat support community cohesion, trainingand skills.

How will you celebrate CGD?We are very pleased to be hosting the very first‘Tour De Wharf’ in Canada Place, CanaryWharf, a satellite version of the successful ‘Tourde City’. The iconic One Canada Square towerwill be flashing red, supporting #GORED for theday – to help the LMA raise funds andawareness for the day.

Reuters

Reuters

CITYAM.COM14 THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019MARKETS

CITY DASHBOARDLONDON REPORT BEST OF THE BROKERS NEW YORK

REPORT

THE FTSE 100 rose yesterday asoil majors tracked gains incrude prices and exportersbenefited from a weakerpound, while markets

waited for minutes of the US FederalReserve’s July meeting for signs of fur-ther policy easing.

The blue-chip index added 1.1 percent to close at 7,203.97 points, post-ing its largest gains in nearly threeweeks, with a boost from Shelland BP helping the indexrecover most of the previ-ous session’s losses. Themid-cap FTSE 250 alsorose by the same level,to 19,207.75 points.

BAT, Astrazeneca andother stocks that book amajor chunk of theirearnings in dollars gainedfrom a fall in sterling as investors took little heart fromhints by German Chancellor AngelaMerkel that there might be room forBrexit negotiation as chances of nodeal grow.

NMC Health, a United Arab Emirates-based healthcare provider, climbedmore than four per cent to be amongtop FTSE 100 gainers ahead of today’sscheduled trading update.

The overall mood was cheery aheadof the Fed’s minutes with hopes of

Exporters boostFTSE ahead ofUS Fed minutes

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Upbeat retailreports helpWall St’s rallyWALL Street’s main indices rose

yesterday as upbeat earningsfrom retailers pointed to

strength in US consumer demand,and held gains after minutes from lastmonth’s Federal Reserve meetingshowed policymakers had debated amore aggressive interest rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Averagerose 240.29 points, or 0.93 per cent, to26,202.73, the S&P 500 gained 23.92points, or 0.82 per cent, to 2,924.43and the Nasdaq Composite added71.65 points, or 0.9 per cent, to8,020.21.

Fed chair Jerome Powell isscheduled to speak tomorrow at theJackson Hole, Wyoming, centralbankers’ conference.

Several market strategists said hiscomments at the conclave would offergreater insight on the course ofmonetary policy than the minutesfrom the July Fed meeting givendevelopments since then, includingUS President Donald Trump’sannouncement of tariffs on anadditional $300bn (£247.4bn) worth ofChinese goods.

Shares moved solidly higherfollowing better-than-expected resultsfrom retailers Target and Lowe’s.

Target shares surged 20.4 per centafter the big-box retailer raised itsannual earnings forecast. Lowe'sshares climbed 10.4 per cent after thehome-improvement chain beat profitestimates.

Robust US consumer spending hashelped sto tave off fears of animpending recession.

Concerns about an economicslowdown rose as the yield curvebetween two- and 10-year Treasuriesbriefly inverted last week.

Although the yield curve againbriefly inverted yesterday, it had littleimpact on stocks this time around.

“As long as we have the healthyenvironment in jobs that we haveright now, it’s going to be very difficultto shake people's confidence,” said JJKinahan, chief market strategist at TDAmeritrade in Chicago.

“At the end of the day, if people areemployed, they’re going to go out andspend some money.”

ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS

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Persimmon is trying to shore up its foundations following concerns about the qualityof its new-build homes. The housebuilder reported a 1.4 per cent drop in pre-taxprofit for the first half earlier this week after increasing spending on customer serviceand quality control after a series of complaints. Liberum analysts say Persimmon’soutlook remains good as it continues to benefit from a “strong sales rate” andcustomer satisfaction rates begin to improve. Analysts rated the housebuilder as“Buy” with a target price of 2,800p.

To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to [email protected]

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

PERSIMMON


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lower interest rates in the near-termto cushion blows from a bruising US-China trade war and quell fears of animpending recession.

On US President Donald Trump’sTuesday comments about con-fronting China over trade, Spreadexanalyst Connor Campbell said: “Thatkind of talk puts even more pressureon the Fed to safeguard the American

economy, meaning investors aregoing to be on high alert for

hints.”Merging mid-caplenders Onesavings and

Charter Court Financialgave up five and 4.6 per

cent respectively, after theywarned of the Brexit impact on

housing and credit.“The bank warned it will tighten its

lending criteria on account of the‘macroeconomic outlook’ and thatplayed on traders’ minds,” CMC Mar-kets’ analyst David Madden said.

Ryanair slipped one per cent after aLondon court rejected the Ireland-based budget carrier’s application toprevent some of its British pilots fromgoing on strike later in the week.

CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBSBLUE PRISMRobotic process automationfirm Blue Prism hasannounced that veteranenterprise software executiveEric Verniaut has joined chiefoperating officer. Eric hasalmost 30 years of experiencein technology, specifically inenterprise software,professional services andsolution sales. He will takeimmediate responsibility for overseeing all BluePrism’s go-to-market operations, including sales, fieldmarketing, partner management, globalisation,

customer service and support. He will also focus onBlue Prism’s continued global expansion into theNorth American, European and Asian markets. Ericjoins from SAP, where he was chief business officer forEurope, Middle East and Asia and China. In this role, hereported to the board to ensure top- and bottom-linegrowth of the business, maximise efficiencies anddrive the overall performance of regional sales teams.He was previously at Lawson Software, a mid-market,American-based enterprise resource planningprovider, where he oversaw global sales and services.

DIXAJoseph Smith has been appointed to the newlycreated role of chief revenue officer (CRO) at customer

service technology company Dixa, as it buildsmomentum in key European markets. Joseph bringsover 25 years of global go-to-market experience to therole, having held senior positions with high-growthcompanies such as Hootsuite Media, where he wasgeneral manager international, Qubit, where he servedas CRO and Emailvision, where he held the post ofglobal sales and professional services. He joins Dixafrom innovation intelligence, patent search & IPanalytics software company, Patsnap, where he wasgeneral manager for Europe, Middle East and Asia, theAmericas and Australia and New Zealand. Keylearnings from his time include working withenterprise software companies such as BMC Softwareand CA Technologies.

HSBC GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENTHSBC Global Asset Management has appointed TinaRadovic as global head of credit research. Tina will beresponsible for leading a 44-strong global creditresearch team. The platform was established in 2002and is the foundation of the firm’s fixed-incomeoffering, which currently has $179bn (£148bn) of assetsacross investment grade, high yield and securitisedcredit across emerging and developed markets. Shejoined HSBC Global Asset Management in 2003 and forthe past 10 years has been head of credit researchbased in Paris. Prior to joining HSBC, she was a sell-side credit analyst at Credit Agricole Indosuez andCredit Lyonnais, covering various sectors in theinvestment grade and high yield markets.

To appear in CITYMOVES please email your career updates and pictures to [email protected]

Associated British Foods (ABF), owner of brands including Twinings, Patak’s and –confusingly – Primark, won’t leave shareholders going hungry. Although analystshave trimmed estimates slightly due to sterling’s weakness, record profits at Primarkand a £15m increase in grocery income have boosted the group. Jefferies analystssay Primark’s tendencies not to change prices in the face of rising costs is “resultingin a widening value advantage relative to peers”, rating ABF as “Buy” with a targetprice of 2,950p.

Glasses will have been raised at pub group Mitchells & Butlers this week followingthe news that Greene King had been purchased by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing, in a deal worth £2.7bn. This deal, and the recent £3bn purchase of pubgroup Ei by a private equity firm, are “reminders of the latent value of the asset-intense pubcos”, say Canaccord Genuity analysts. Mitchells & Butlers, which ownsbrands such as Harvester, had the bar raised by analysts, who upgraded it to a “Buy”rating with an increased target price of 400p.

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TOP RISERS

1. Burberry Up 4.50 per cent2. NMC Health Up 4.09 per cent3. Flutter Ent. Up 3.89 per cent

TOP FALLERS

1. Phoenix Group Down 2.43 per cent2. RBS Down 1.41 per cent3. L&G Down 1.29 per cent

BP’s share price boosthelped the FTSE 100recover early losses

15THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019 MARKETSCITYAM.COM

Gold............................................................1504.55 7.95Silver...............................................................17.02 0.10Brent Crude...................................................60.03 0.29Krugerrand.................................................1532.40 11.90Palladium ..................................................1484.00 29.00Platinum .....................................................854.00 10.00Tin Cash Official .......................................16380.00 45.00Lead Cash Official .....................................2045.00 -2.00Zinc Cash Official.......................................2238.00 -12.00

Copper Cash Official ..................................5755.00 -57.00

Aluminium Cash Official............................1762.00 -6.00

Nickel Cash Official..................................16000.00 -150.00Aluminium Alloy Cash Official ..................1250.00 8.00

Cocoa Futures ...........................................2200.00 71.00

Coffee 'C' Futures...........................................96.43 1.18

Feed Wheat Futures ....................................136.00 0.85

Soybeans Futures Continuation Contract...860.40 4.00

AB INBEV .........................................................86.64 0.98 92.71 56.32ADIDAS N .......................................................266.25 5.20 297.95 178.30AIR LIQUIDE ....................................................124.95 2.25 127.20 101.85AIRBUS BR......................................................128.00 1.80 133.86 77.50ALLIANZ .........................................................202.05 1.50 218.70 170.50AMADEUS IT GRP BR-A ....................................68.54 1.36 82.20 58.06ASML HLDG.....................................................196.00 1.74 211.50 130.12AXA...................................................................21.58 0.10 23.99 18.40BANCO SANTANDER ...........................................3.48 -0.01 4.68 3.42BASF N ..............................................................59.14 1.20 81.73 55.72BAYER N ............................................................67.15 1.00 84.35 52.00BBVA ..................................................................4.23 0.02 5.79 4.19BMW ................................................................60.88 0.98 86.71 58.10BNP PARIBAS A ................................................40.61 0.08 55.34 38.14CRH PLC ............................................................29.23 0.71 34.87 26.53DAIMLER N .......................................................42.05 0.60 59.90 40.35DANONE...........................................................80.60 0.66 81.16 59.72DEUTSCHE POST N .............................................29.14 0.50 32.20 23.43DEUTSCHE TELEKOM N ......................................14.84 -0.13 15.88 13.36ENEL N................................................................6.32 0.08 6.62 4.22ENGIE ................................................................13.55 0.06 14.39 11.31ENI N .................................................................13.35 0.21 16.67 12.92ESSILORLUXOTT................................................131.25 2.20 132.30 95.50FRESENIUS .......................................................44.03 0.46 69.76 38.50IBERDROLA ........................................................9.34 0.05 9.36 5.68INDITEX..............................................................27.14 0.81 28.86 21.85ING GROUP .........................................................8.41 -0.08 12.14 8.20INTESA SANPAOLO N ...........................................1.92 0.02 2.47 1.80KERING...........................................................439.05 4.25 539.80 351.70KON AH DEL BR................................................20.89 0.20 24.01 18.60L'OREAL ...........................................................241.10 4.70 257.80 182.00LINDE ..............................................................170.95 0.70 0.00 0.00LVMH...............................................................369.10 13.40 392.65 242.30MUENCHENER RUECKV N ...............................220.60 1.20 228.70 180.50NOKIA ................................................................4.66 0.04 5.76 4.17ORANGE ............................................................13.53 0.03 15.25 13.08ROY.PHILIPS......................................................42.35 0.34 43.67 29.05SAFRAN ...........................................................130.10 3.60 137.20 99.98SANOFI..............................................................77.93 0.87 80.44 71.74SAP I...............................................................109.68 2.38 125.00 84.02SCHNEIDER EL...................................................74.36 1.40 81.36 57.54SIEMENS N........................................................89.38 2.04 114.10 84.72SOCIETE GENERALE............................................22.12 0.02 35.01 20.81TELEFONICA ........................................................5.97 0.02 8.06 5.86TOTAL ...............................................................44.39 0.72 55.39 42.65UNILEVER.........................................................54.94 0.54 55.40 45.30VINCI ................................................................98.52 1.30 98.52 69.98VIVENDI ............................................................25.76 0.24 26.69 20.80VOLKSWAGEN VZ I ..........................................142.34 1.18 163.70 131.02

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EU SHARES

3M ....................................................................161.15 0.14 219.75 155.63ABBOTT LABORATOR........................................84.90 0.36 88.76 64.48ADOBE ............................................................291.53 5.82 313.11 204.95ALPHAB RG-C-NV ..........................................1191.25 8.56 1289.27 970.11ALPHABET-A ..................................................1191.58 8.05 1296.98 977.66AMAZON.COM ...............................................1823.54 22.16 2050.50 1307.00AMERICAN EXPRESS .......................................122.50 1.08 129.34 89.05APPLE .............................................................212.64 2.28 233.47 142.00AT&T..................................................................35.16 0.18 35.44 26.80BANK OF AMERICA...........................................26.93 0.21 31.49 22.66BERKSHIRE HATH RG-B ..................................199.24 1.09 224.07 186.10BOEING CO .....................................................339.99 8.24 446.01 292.47CATERPILLAR ...................................................117.68 1.01 159.37 112.06CHEVRON.........................................................117.88 1.75 127.60 100.22CISCO SYSTEMS.................................................48.77 0.84 58.26 40.25CITIGROUP........................................................63.25 -0.17 75.24 48.42COCA-COLA CO..................................................54.10 0.22 54.82 44.25COMCAST-A .......................................................44.11 0.17 45.30 32.61DOW ................................................................43.28 0.12 0.00 0.00EXXON MOBIL...................................................69.72 0.69 87.36 64.65FACEBOOK-A ...................................................183.55 -0.26 208.66 123.02GOLDMAN SACHS GR.....................................200.68 0.70 245.08 151.70HOME DEPOT .................................................220.40 3.31 220.88 158.09IBM .................................................................134.25 1.25 154.36 105.94INTEL .................................................................47.15 0.55 59.59 42.36JOHNSON & JOHNSO........................................131.53 0.93 148.99 121.00JPMORGAN CHASE...........................................107.61 0.30 119.24 91.11MASTERCARD RG-A ........................................282.01 4.97 283.33 171.89MCDONALD'S ..................................................220.71 2.24 221.93 156.56MEDTRONIC .....................................................107.79 0.88 109.70 81.66MERCK..............................................................86.91 1.26 87.25 66.10MICROSOFT .....................................................138.79 1.53 141.68 93.96NETFLIX ...........................................................297.81 -1.18 386.80 231.23NIKE -B-...........................................................82.74 2.21 90.00 66.53ORACLE.............................................................53.24 0.26 60.50 42.40PAYPAL HOLDINGS..........................................109.82 2.45 121.48 74.66PEPSICO ...........................................................118.61 0.56 119.74 101.06PEPSICO ..........................................................132.34 0.28 135.24 104.53PFIZER..............................................................34.87 0.26 46.47 33.97PHILIP MRRS INT..............................................83.05 0.05 92.74 64.67PROCTER&GAMBLE..........................................119.20 0.30 121.76 78.49TRAVELERS COS...............................................147.04 0.53 155.09 111.08TWITTER ..........................................................42.80 0.51 43.48 26.19UNITEDHEALTH GRO.......................................240.35 0.19 287.94 208.07UTD TECHS.......................................................127.33 0.65 144.40 100.48VERIZON COMM................................................56.59 0.32 61.58 52.28VISA RG-A ......................................................180.94 1.70 184.07 121.60WALGREENS BOOTS.........................................50.90 0.23 86.31 49.12WALMART .......................................................112.02 -0.03 115.49 85.78WALT DISNEY ..................................................135.76 0.63 147.15 100.35WELLS FARGO..................................................45.00 0.32 59.50 43.02

COMMODITIES CREDIT & RATESBoE IR Overnight .........................................0.750 0.00BoE IR 7 days ..............................................0.750 0.00BoE IR 1 month ...........................................0.750 0.00BoE IR 3 months .........................................0.750 0.00BoE IR 6 months.........................................0.750 0.00LIBOR Euro - overnight..............................-0.464 0.01LIBOR Euro - 12 months.............................-0.420 0.01LIBOR USD - overnight ................................2.097 0.00LIBOR USD - 12 months ................................1.949 -0.01Halifax mortgage rate ................................3.990 0.00

Euro Base Rate ...........................................0.000 0.00Finance house base rate .............................1.000 0.00US Fed funds .................................................2.50 0.00US long bond yield........................................2.07 0.03Euro Euribor ..............................................-0.406 0.00The vix index................................................15.80 -1.70The baltic dry index................................2059.00 -8.00Markit iBoxx EUR .......................................249.91 -0.16Markit iBoxx GBP ........................................359.71 0.46Markit iBoxx USD .......................................263.02 0.61

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US SHARES

CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS

BAE Systems . . . . . . . . .565.0 14.4 636.2 443.9Cobham . . . . . . . . . . . . .162.2 -0.3 168.3 96.8Meggitt . . . . . . . . . . . . .621.8 10.2 621.8 458.0QinetiQ Group . . . . . . . .278.6 2.6 312.4 267.0Rolls-Royce Holdi . . . . .784.2 15.2 1023.5 730.0Senior . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202.2 3.6 327.8 185.4Ultra Electronics . . . . .2210.0 24.0 2232.0 1232.0

Bank of Georgia G . . . .1377.0 40.0 1878.8 1310.0Barclays . . . . . . . . . . . . .139.2 0.7 185.2 137.2Close Brothers Gr . . . .1286.0 15.0 1660.0 1227.0CYBG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140.1 -1.5 344.0 132.7HSBC Holdings . . . . . . .598.3 1.4 692.5 591.3Lloyds Banking Gr . . . . .49.5 -0.2 66.6 48.6Metro Bank . . . . . . . . . .274.4 0.8 3050.0 262.8Royal Bank of Sco . . . . .181.9 -2.6 270.4 177.7Standard Chartere . . . .623.0 6.0 736.8 519.8TBC Bank Group . . . . .1280.0 -38.0 1728.0 1242.0

Barr (A.G.) . . . . . . . . . . .619.0 -3.0 975.0 610.0Britvic . . . . . . . . . . . . . .871.0 13.5 956.0 745.0Coca-Cola HBC AG . . .2738.0 47.0 3074.0 2244.0Diageo . . . . . . . . . . . . .3485.5 42.5 3526.0 2523.5

Croda Internation . . . .4728.0 92.0 5447.7 4576.0Elementis . . . . . . . . . . .143.4 4.9 247.8 129.8Johnson Matthey . . . .2845.0 52.0 3673.0 2620.0Sirius Minerals . . . . . . . . .9.3 0.1 37.0 8.1Synthomer . . . . . . . . . .297.4 2.4 532.1 279.8Victrex plc . . . . . . . . . .1998.0 102.0 3408.0 1845.0

Balfour Beatty . . . . . . . .218.0 6.0 296.5 194.2CRH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2670.0 65.0 2735.0 1971.5Galliford Try . . . . . . . . .566.0 8.5 1104.0 512.0Ibstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211.4 1.0 262.0 193.1

Centrica . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64.8 0.3 155.6 64.2National Grid . . . . . . . .856.5 6.2 889.2 748.7Pennon Group . . . . . . .725.2 7.6 792.8 684.2Severn Trent . . . . . . . .2025.0 22.0 2153.0 1770.0United Utilities . . . . . . .777.8 2.2 873.6 682.4

Smith (DS) . . . . . . . . . .332.6 10.4 510.6 292.2Smiths Group . . . . . . .1594.0 29.0 1666.0 1279.5Smurfit Kappa Gro . . .2468.0 64.0 3292.0 1934.0Vesuvius . . . . . . . . . . . .468.2 6.8 662.0 456.4

Auto Trader Group . . . .533.4 8.4 606.0 388.5B&M European Valu . . .350.0 1.9 426.3 278.6Card Factory . . . . . . . . .154.6 1.9 209.0 151.0Dixons Carphone . . . . .106.9 0.2 178.6 104.9Dunelm Group . . . . . . .870.0 4.0 981.0 482.8Inchcape . . . . . . . . . . . .575.0 18.0 701.0 486.6JD Sports Fashion . . . . .616.2 15.8 649.8 318.5Just Eat . . . . . . . . . . . . .788.4 16.4 812.0 533.8Kingfisher . . . . . . . . . . .190.8 2.8 280.0 186.2Marks & Spencer G . . . . .187.1 1.7 299.1 180.4

Marshalls . . . . . . . . . . . .678.5 23.5 690.0 412.2Polypipe Group . . . . . .380.8 -0.8 453.8 307.8

Contour Global . . . . . . .176.2 3.4 231.4 150.1Drax Group . . . . . . . . . .270.0 -0.6 427.2 260.2SSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1097.0 -0.5 1268.5 1008.0

Halma . . . . . . . . . . . . .2001.0 44.0 2094.0 1237.0Morgan Advanced M . .248.6 2.4 354.0 237.0Oxford Instrument . . .1290.0 -10.0 1424.0 842.0Renishaw . . . . . . . . . .3630.0 48.0 5520.0 3460.0Spectris . . . . . . . . . . . .2330.0 34.0 2898.0 1966.5

Aberforth Smaller . . . .1152.0 10.0 1362.0 1114.0Alliance Trust . . . . . . . .803.0 4.0 838.0 672.0Apax Global Alpha . . . .156.5 -0.5 160.0 127.0AVI Global Trust . . . . . .739.0 2.0 781.0 660.0Baillie Gifford J . . . . . . .791.0 -4.0 866.0 663.0Bankers Inv Trust . . . . .940.0 10.0 970.0 766.0BBGI SICAV S.A. ( . . . . . .154.5 1.0 168.0 142.5BlackRock Smaller . . .1390.0 28.0 1490.0 1160.0BMO Global Smalle . . .1354.0 -8.0 1495.0 1220.0Caledonia Investm . . .3035.0 0.0 3110.0 2650.0City of London In . . . . .408.5 5.0 431.5 376.0Edinburgh Inv Tru . . . .548.0 6.0 695.0 535.0F&C Investment Tr . . . .705.0 7.0 737.0 616.0Fidelity China Sp . . . . . .218.5 1.0 250.0 182.4Fidelity European . . . . .247.5 1.5 257.5 202.0Fidelity Special . . . . . . .251.0 0.0 277.0 220.0Finsbury Growth & . . . .931.0 5.0 956.0 740.0GCP Infrastructur . . . . . .126.2 0.2 130.8 122.4Genesis Emerging . . . .761.0 3.0 783.0 615.0Greencoat UK Wind . . . .139.2 0.0 143.2 124.0HarbourVest Globa . . .1694.0 -6.0 1726.0 1326.0Herald Investment . . .1274.0 -2.0 1364.0 1055.0HGCapital Trust . . . . . . .201.0 -0.5 220.0 175.0HICL Infrastructu . . . . . .167.0 2.4 170.1 149.9International Pub . . . . .165.4 2.8 165.6 146.8JPMorgan American . . .478.0 -0.5 494.5 386.5JPMorgan Emerging . .1010.0 4.0 1066.0 759.0JPMorgan Indian I . . . . .718.0 -6.0 790.0 566.0JPMorgan Japanese . . .451.5 0.0 465.0 367.0Jupiter European . . . . .845.0 6.0 895.0 666.0Law Debenture Cor . . .562.0 0.0 624.0 534.0Mercantile Invest . . . . . .195.2 2.6 219.0 168.0Monks Inv Trust . . . . . .923.0 4.0 964.0 710.0Murray Internatio . . . .1168.0 6.0 1208.0 1056.0NB Global Floatin . . . . . .88.4 0.1 93.0 87.6NextEnergy Solar . . . . .120.5 0.0 124.5 108.0Pantheon Internat . . .2290.0 10.0 2330.0 1955.0Perpetual Income . . . .291.0 0.5 364.5 284.5Pershing Square H . . . .1518.0 28.0 1520.0 990.0Personal Assets T . . .42950.0-200.043200.038900.0Polar Capital Tec . . . . .1416.0 12.0 1500.0 1066.0RIT Capital Partn . . . . .2120.0 5.0 2150.0 1892.0Riverstone Energy . . . .650.0 4.0 1282.0 635.0Schroder Asia Pac . . . .443.0 -5.0 469.5 379.0Scottish Inv Trus . . . . . .807.0 5.0 888.0 748.0Scottish Mortgage . . . .539.5 5.5 568.5 441.4Sequoia Economic . . . . .117.6 0.6 117.8 106.0Smithson Investme . . .1252.0 10.0 1278.0 1000.2Syncona Limited N . . . .231.0 2.0 302.5 213.5Temple Bar Inv Tr . . . . .1176.0 8.0 1366.0 1116.0Templeton Emergin . . .779.0 2.0 829.0 649.0The Renewables In . . . .129.0 0.0 133.2 109.3TR Property Inv T . . . . .419.5 0.5 428.0 353.5Vietnam Enterpris . . . .484.0 4.0 484.0 421.5VinaCapital Vietn . . . . .353.0 1.0 356.5 318.0Witan Inv Trust . . . . . . .214.0 2.0 226.4 189.6Woodford Patient . . . . .42.0 -1.8 91.0 40.1Worldwide Healthc . .2810.0 0.0 2915.0 2325.0

3i Group . . . . . . . . . . .1098.0 11.5 1164.5 756.23i Infrastructure . . . . . .292.0 2.0 303.0 237.2AJ Bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383.0 -1.0 477.0 220.0Allied Minds . . . . . . . . . .57.0 -2.0 84.2 37.3Amigo Holdings . . . . . .166.2 14.0 297.5 140.4Arrow Global Grou . . . .208.0 4.6 273.0 167.2ASA International . . . . .373.0 14.0 510.0 320.0Ashmore Group . . . . . .481.6 4.8 542.5 341.2Brewin Dolphin Ho . . .300.0 0.4 366.0 287.6Charter Court Fin . . . . .278.0 -13.5 375.0 228.8City of London In . . . . .420.0 8.0 440.0 360.0CMC Markets . . . . . . . . . .88.0 -1.0 188.4 77.4Coats Group . . . . . . . . . . .74.5 1.8 91.3 69.8Georgia Capital . . . . . .1018.0 -14.0 1260.0 941.0Hargreaves Lansdo . . .1944.5 29.5 2433.0 1633.0IG Group Holdings . . . .540.8 7.4 915.0 474.8IntegraFin Holdin . . . . .394.5 12.0 406.1 269.0Intermediate Capi . . . .1350.0 16.0 1429.0 899.0International Per . . . . . .92.6 -2.3 240.2 91.2Investec . . . . . . . . . . . . .413.9 6.1 561.0 400.7IP Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .58.0 -0.9 131.2 57.5John Laing Group . . . . .380.8 -2.6 402.0 290.0JTC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .358.0 13.0 440.0 287.0Jupiter Fund Mana . . . .343.1 2.7 432.0 287.6Liontrust Asset M . . . . .730.0 -4.0 816.0 532.0LMS Capital . . . . . . . . . . .53.8 0.8 54.6 44.0London Finance & . . . . .38.5 0.0 43.5 37.5London Stock Exch . .6900.0 20.0 7058.0 3867.0Man Group . . . . . . . . . . .168.4 3.8 183.0 126.8OneSavings Bank . . . . .337.8 -17.6 447.4 326.6Paragon Banking G . . . .413.4 0.6 490.0 379.2Plus500 Ltd (DI) . . . . . .744.4 14.4 1797.0 495.0Provident Financi . . . . .376.0 5.9 692.6 356.0Quilter . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127.2 1.0 156.6 110.6Rathbone Brothers . .2240.0 20.0 2634.0 2085.0Real Estate Credi . . . . . .168.0 0.0 175.5 163.0Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31.2 0.1 42.1 27.3River and Mercant . . . .265.0 5.0 330.0 212.0S&U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2000.0 -90.0 2605.0 1767.5Sanne Group . . . . . . . . .537.0 0.0 752.0 450.0Schroders . . . . . . . . . .2727.0 42.0 3210.0 2334.0Standard Life Abe . . . . .239.8 0.5 376.7 224.9TP ICAP . . . . . . . . . . . . .291.0 -1.9 324.5 267.2Walker Crips Grou . . . . .25.0 0.0 39.0 24.0XPS Pensions Grou . . . . .117.5 4.5 178.5 95.0

BT Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .161.8 -1.1 264.7 160.9TalkTalk Telecom . . . . .100.4 0.3 137.0 96.6Telecom Plus . . . . . . . .1216.0 -10.0 1528.0 1010.0

Greggs . . . . . . . . . . . .2004.0 24.0 2476.0 1006.0Morrison (Wm) Sup . . . .181.7 1.5 269.4 176.9Ocado Group . . . . . . . .1242.5 28.0 1435.0 749.8Sainsbury (J) . . . . . . . . .195.8 1.9 341.5 177.1SSP Group . . . . . . . . . . .710.0 14.0 744.4 615.1Tesco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214.3 -1.4 258.2 189.6UDG Healthcare Pu . . . .817.5 5.5 831.5 551.0

Associated Britis . . . . .2277.0 14.0 2638.0 2041.0Bakkavor Group . . . . . .102.6 1.4 189.6 93.3Cranswick . . . . . . . . . .2636.0 42.0 3454.0 2472.0Greencore Group . . . . .208.8 2.9 230.0 162.9Hilton Food Group . . . .950.0 7.0 1088.0 884.0Tate & Lyle . . . . . . . . . . .701.4 5.2 800.4 633.4Unilever . . . . . . . . . . . .5117.0 47.0 5121.0 3931.0

Mondi . . . . . . . . . . . . .1609.0 42.0 2200.0 1510.5

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Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5760.0 112.0 6064.0 3991.0Pets at Home Grou . . . .224.2 0.6 231.8 110.0Sports Direct Int . . . . . .242.2 2.8 389.1 214.0Ted Baker . . . . . . . . . . .960.0 55.0 2378.0 800.0Vivo Energy . . . . . . . . . .117.2 -0.2 148.6 96.0WH Smith . . . . . . . . . .1930.0 13.0 2186.0 1697.0

Assura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69.9 0.6 70.0 52.4Convatec Group . . . . . . .178.7 -1.8 239.0 118.6Mediclinic Intern . . . . . . .313.1 10.1 498.7 293.4NMC Health . . . . . . . . .1936.0 76.0 4058.0 1801.5Smith & Nephew . . . .1945.0 28.5 1945.0 1258.0

Barratt Developme . . . .625.2 2.6 663.0 434.0Bellway . . . . . . . . . . . .2849.0 39.0 3226.0 2419.0Berkeley Group Ho . . .3874.0 47.0 3981.0 3226.0Bovis Homes Group . .1033.0 5.0 1177.0 828.0Countryside Prope . . . .300.0 9.4 353.2 270.0Crest Nicholson H . . . . .352.4 7.2 404.8 296.4McCarthy & Stone . . . . .135.5 0.0 142.7 110.0Persimmon . . . . . . . . .1859.0 12.5 2489.0 1802.5

Admiral Group . . . . . . .2175.0 0.0 2300.0 1932.5Beazley . . . . . . . . . . . . .598.0 14.0 599.0 492.6Direct Line Insur . . . . . .292.4 -0.6 366.5 290.5Hastings Group Ho . . . .177.6 -1.3 274.2 174.0Hiscox Limited (D . . . .1603.0 20.0 1777.0 1418.0Lancashire Holdin . . . .699.5 1.5 725.5 530.0RSA Insurance Gro . . . .535.6 10.8 641.0 496.6Sabre Insurance G . . . .269.0 1.5 294.0 249.0

Aviva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .358.5 0.4 497.0 356.9Legal & General G . . . . . .221.1 -2.9 291.2 220.3Phoenix Group Hol . . . .643.5 -16.0 724.8 544.0Prudential . . . . . . . . . .1416.5 4.5 1814.5 1340.0St James's Place . . . . . .944.8 4.2 1164.5 914.0

4Imprint Group . . . . .2860.0 -10.0 2940.0 1800.0Ascential . . . . . . . . . . . .374.6 4.2 434.8 337.2Bloomsbury Publis . . . .231.0 1.0 243.0 190.5Centaur Media . . . . . . . .39.5 1.5 56.5 34.7Entertainment One . . .438.2 24.6 483.4 336.4Euromoney Institu . . .1320.0 14.0 1412.0 1132.0

Reckitt Benckiser . . . .6225.0 55.0 7155.0 5593.0Redrow . . . . . . . . . . . . .557.0 4.0 674.6 460.8Taylor Wimpey . . . . . . .146.3 1.4 192.3 129.3

Bodycote . . . . . . . . . . . .692.5 28.5 996.0 654.0Hill & Smith Hold . . . . .1130.0 0.0 1306.0 902.5IMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .961.8 22.2 1227.0 870.0Melrose Industrie . . . . .167.6 3.8 233.9 146.3RHI Magnesita N.V . . .4390.0 82.0 5000.0 3318.0Rotork . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308.9 8.1 342.8 235.7Spirax-Sarco Engi . . . .8055.0 205.0 9400.0 5900.0Weir Group . . . . . . . . . .1319.0 24.5 1920.0 1240.0

Evraz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .492.4 -0.6 709.4 442.1Ferrexpo . . . . . . . . . . . .215.8 -3.9 301.3 143.5

BBA Aviation . . . . . . . . .310.0 7.2 324.8 207.0Clarkson . . . . . . . . . . .2390.0 -65.0 2900.0 1878.0Fisher (James) & . . . .2100.0 -5.0 2260.0 1600.0Royal Mail . . . . . . . . . . . .191.1 1.5 489.0 188.4

Future . . . . . . . . . . . . .1074.0 30.0 1248.0 410.0Goco Group . . . . . . . . . .80.0 -0.2 108.0 64.6Haynes Publishing . . . .220.0 0.0 227.0 160.0Huntsworth . . . . . . . . . .94.8 0.2 125.0 81.0Informa . . . . . . . . . . . .866.8 16.6 892.0 605.8ITE Group . . . . . . . . . . . .70.9 -0.3 83.7 56.3ITV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110.6 1.7 167.5 103.6Moneysupermarket. . .365.6 6.5 417.7 264.0Pearson . . . . . . . . . . . .829.0 10.0 1027.5 769.2Reach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94.0 1.0 96.1 54.6Relx plc . . . . . . . . . . . .1958.5 30.0 1978.0 1491.5Rightmove . . . . . . . . . .532.7 12.7 585.1 420.9STV Group . . . . . . . . . . .377.0 17.0 412.0 318.0WPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .956.2 13.6 1301.0 800.4

Acacia Mining . . . . . . . .253.2 0.0 256.6 96.1Anglo American . . . . .1723.0 6.6 2266.0 1464.6Antofagasta . . . . . . . . .819.2 5.0 1022.5 727.2BHP Group . . . . . . . . . .1713.8 -21.0 2049.0 1490.6Centamin (DI) . . . . . . . .139.9 1.3 141.6 79.8Fresnillo . . . . . . . . . . . .667.0 11.4 1027.5 601.0Glencore . . . . . . . . . . . .232.5 2.7 341.5 222.2Hochschild Mining . . . .203.0 0.0 226.0 149.1Kaz Minerals . . . . . . . . .403.2 -6.8 738.4 389.2Polymetal Interna . . . .1105.5 10.0 1107.5 597.2Rio Tinto . . . . . . . . . . .3990.0 -19.5 4976.5 3486.0

Inmarsat . . . . . . . . . . . .579.8 1.6 588.4 362.8Vodafone Group . . . . . .150.9 2.7 176.1 123.3

BP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .498.9 5.5 598.3 485.9Cairn Energy . . . . . . . . .167.0 4.3 244.0 140.0Energean Oil & Ga . . . .1030.0 14.0 1082.0 515.0Premier Oil . . . . . . . . . . .72.3 2.1 143.6 55.6Royal Dutch Shell . . . .2323.5 35.5 2666.0 2213.0Royal Dutch Shell . . . .2309.5 40.0 2705.5 2227.0Tullow Oil . . . . . . . . . . . .215.6 8.9 266.3 165.2

Hunting . . . . . . . . . . . .442.6 4.8 849.0 414.2Petrofac Ltd. . . . . . . . . .401.0 1.9 663.4 381.5Wood Group (John) . . .410.4 -20.0 796.4 389.9

Burberry Group . . . . .2204.0 95.0 2345.0 1623.5PZ Cussons . . . . . . . . . .206.0 1.5 244.0 178.6

AstraZeneca . . . . . . . . .7412.0 143.0 7437.0 5325.0Dechra Pharmaceut . .2986.0 82.0 3128.0 2014.0Genus . . . . . . . . . . . . .2598.0 26.0 2884.0 2098.0GlaxoSmithKline . . . . .1685.0 18.6 1730.0 1418.0Hikma Pharmaceuti .2064.0 37.0 2064.0 1510.5PureTech Health . . . . . .284.0 -8.0 296.0 154.8

BMO Commercial Pr . . .107.8 -1.2 149.4 106.0Capital & Countie . . . . . .197.4 5.7 279.5 184.9CLS Holdings . . . . . . . . .234.5 -1.5 255.0 195.4Daejan Holdings . . . .5490.0 0.0 6190.0 5420.0Grainger . . . . . . . . . . . .237.4 2.6 278.5 205.8NewRiver REIT . . . . . . . .153.8 1.6 265.5 147.6Safestore Holding . . . .643.0 12.5 658.5 499.4Savills . . . . . . . . . . . . . .844.5 0.5 957.0 678.5St. Modwen Proper . . . .401.5 1.5 441.5 365.0UK Commercial Pro . . . .82.0 -0.2 92.7 80.2

Big Yellow Group . . . . .990.5 19.5 1062.0 852.5British Land Comp . . . .490.3 10.3 641.8 468.3Derwent London . . . . .3120.0 46.0 3328.0 2761.0

Great Portland Es . . . . .679.2 13.6 773.6 649.4Hammerson . . . . . . . . .209.0 3.0 492.4 202.9Intu Properties . . . . . . . .33.9 -0.9 201.5 33.3Land Securities G . . . . .753.0 13.0 939.5 735.4LondonMetric Prop . . . .202.4 1.4 215.2 172.7Primary Health Pr . . . . .133.8 1.8 139.0 106.4SEGRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . .761.8 9.6 789.0 585.2Shaftesbury . . . . . . . . . .801.5 15.0 928.5 739.5Tritax Big Box Re . . . . . .145.0 2.4 159.7 129.0Unite Group . . . . . . . . .1047.0 12.0 1076.0 797.5Workspace Group . . . . .834.5 12.5 1075.0 789.5

Avast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379.0 12.6 379.0 229.6Aveva Group . . . . . . . .3944.0 122.0 4170.0 2284.0Computacenter . . . . . .1438.0 38.0 1546.0 952.0FDM Group (Holdin . . . .762.0 3.0 1000.0 734.0Funding Circle Ho . . . . .112.0 -2.0 440.0 99.0Kainos Group . . . . . . . .491.0 -17.0 676.0 360.0Micro Focus Inter . . . . .1621.6 44.6 2491.6 1434.4Playtech . . . . . . . . . . . .384.9 -0.3 532.0 361.8Sage Group . . . . . . . . . .707.8 10.2 820.4 525.6Softcat . . . . . . . . . . . . . .991.5 36.5 993.5 565.0Sophos Group . . . . . . . .395.0 8.6 539.5 298.2

Aggreko . . . . . . . . . . . .793.0 14.6 882.0 691.8Ashtead Group . . . . . .2178.0 60.0 2438.0 1586.5BCA Marketplace . . . . . .241.4 0.0 247.0 178.5Bunzl . . . . . . . . . . . . .2050.0 11.0 2551.0 2025.0Capita . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124.0 3.6 150.2 99.9DCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6782.0 198.0 7390.0 5555.0Diploma . . . . . . . . . . .1489.0 36.0 1634.0 1150.0Electrocomponents . . .576.4 9.0 761.6 480.0Equiniti Group . . . . . . . .201.6 5.1 266.0 186.2Essentra . . . . . . . . . . . .405.8 5.2 473.2 325.4Experian . . . . . . . . . . .2565.0 59.0 2569.0 1728.5Ferguson . . . . . . . . . .6062.0 146.0 6556.0 4749.0G4S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169.2 0.9 252.2 168.1Grafton Group Uni . . . . .715.5 27.5 937.0 630.0Hays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148.2 3.5 212.0 135.7Homeserve . . . . . . . . . .1107.0 15.0 1263.0 849.0Howden Joinery Gr . . . .535.6 6.0 573.4 416.4Intertek Group . . . . . .5526.0 110.0 5962.0 4387.0Network Internati . . . .605.0 8.0 628.0 500.0Pagegroup . . . . . . . . . .444.2 3.2 623.5 415.0PayPoint . . . . . . . . . . . .907.0 -2.0 1118.0 748.0Rentokil Initial . . . . . . . .457.7 8.0 459.5 284.8Robert Walters . . . . . . .526.0 2.0 475.0 814.0Serco Group . . . . . . . . . .142.1 -0.2 147.4 84.1SIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120.0 1.4 153.0 102.2Travis Perkins . . . . . . . .1212.0 13.5 1465.0 970.0

British American . . . .3024.5 44.5 4122.5 2375.0Imperial Brands . . . . .2103.0 21.5 2923.5 1846.8

Carnival . . . . . . . . . . . .3579.0 33.0 5000.0 3412.0Cineworld Group . . . . . .232.5 4.4 323.6 212.0Compass Group . . . . .2084.0 16.0 2110.0 1483.0Domino's Pizza Gr . . . . .234.2 6.1 297.2 221.2EI Group . . . . . . . . . . . .280.8 -1.2 285.0 155.8FirstGroup . . . . . . . . . . .127.6 2.1 128.6 79.3Flutter Entertain . . . . .6684.0 250.0 7290.0 5525.0Go-Ahead Group . . . .2040.0 2.0 2200.0 1480.0Greene King . . . . . . . . .840.6 -0.2 850.0 472.8GVC Holdings . . . . . . . .590.2 3.4 1110.0 507.5InterContinental . . . . .5214.0 49.0 5738.0 3958.4International Con . . . . .420.3 4.4 711.4 413.5Marston's . . . . . . . . . . . .122.6 4.2 124.7 89.9Merlin Entertainm . . . .453.4 0.9 453.4 307.1Millennium & Copt . . . .685.0 5.0 685.0 436.0

Mitchells & Butle . . . . . .334.0 -16.0 354.0 238.0National Express . . . . .427.0 -2.0 438.4 361.4PPHE Hotel Group . . .1770.0 -20.0 1990.0 1495.0Rank Group . . . . . . . . . .152.2 -2.2 183.6 135.0Restaurant Group . . . . .146.0 1.0 221.9 111.9Stagecoach Group . . . .129.0 0.8 177.0 115.5TUI AG Reg Shs (D . . . .789.0 28.4 1474.0 698.0Wetherspoon (J.D. . . . .1567.0 22.0 1582.0 1066.0Whitbread . . . . . . . . .4240.0 3.0 5114.0 3969.0William Hill . . . . . . . . . . .161.1 2.2 265.5 132.3Wizz Air Holdings . . . .3421.0 0.0 3769.0 2329.0

Abcam . . . . . . . . . . . . .1191.0 -6.0 1539.0 1017.0Advanced Medical . . . .317.5 4.5 358.0 260.0Alliance Pharma . . . . . . .69.6 -0.1 95.0 60.0ASOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2268.0 -50.0 6192.0 2107.0Blue Prism Group . . . . .941.0 32.5 2575.0 906.0Camellia . . . . . . . . . . .9750.0-150.0 11750.0 9100.0CareTech Holding . . . . .362.0 -1.0 406.0 325.0Central Asia Meta . . . . . .187.2 2.2 266.5 180.0Clinigen Group . . . . . . .881.5 -10.0 1069.0 721.0CVS Group . . . . . . . . . . .892.0 0.5 1023.0 395.0Dart Group . . . . . . . . . .746.5 6.5 1017.0 709.5Diversified Gas & . . . . . . .97.8 0.6 134.0 96.9Draper Esprit . . . . . . . .449.0 -13.0 625.0 441.0Eland Oil & Gas . . . . . . .120.2 -0.4 134.0 97.0EMIS Group . . . . . . . . . .1120.0 4.0 1242.0 864.0Fevertree Drinks . . . . .2300.0 93.0 3956.0 2070.0First Derivatives . . . . .2390.0 -5.0 4330.0 2050.0Frontier Developm . . .906.0 -27.0 1385.0 740.0Gamma Communicati 1040.0 15.0 1195.0 688.0GB Group . . . . . . . . . . . .571.0 11.0 631.0 410.5Gooch & Housego . . . .1050.0 0.0 1880.0 954.0Hurricane Energy . . . . . .40.9 0.4 60.8 38.9Impax Asset Manag . . .233.5 2.5 295.0 184.0Iomart Group . . . . . . . .353.5 10.5 475.0 308.0IQE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57.5 2.3 104.0 51.6James Halstead . . . . . .508.0 22.0 532.0 367.0Johnson Service G . . . . .169.8 2.4 176.0 113.6Keywords Studios . . . .1565.0 82.0 2065.0 900.0Learning Technolo . . . .125.6 7.6 166.5 62.2M&C Saatchi . . . . . . . . . .215.0 -2.0 394.0 215.0M. P. Evans Group . . . . .672.0 4.0 800.0 637.0Midwich Group . . . . . . .510.0 20.0 685.0 490.0Mortgage Advice B . . .590.0 42.0 720.0 490.0Naked Wines . . . . . . . .266.0 -2.5 420.5 219.0Next Fifteen Comm . . .590.0 -14.0 658.0 469.0Nichols . . . . . . . . . . . . .1780.0 0.0 1880.0 1240.0Numis Corporation . . . .229.0 3.0 422.0 221.5Polar Capital Hol . . . . . .528.0 2.0 644.0 448.0Purplebricks Grou . . . . .128.8 3.6 300.0 90.0Redde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111.4 0.0 196.0 90.0Renew Holdings . . . . . .382.0 -8.0 436.5 333.0RWS Holdings . . . . . . .608.0 13.0 652.0 415.5Scapa Group . . . . . . . . .227.0 -1.0 473.4 157.0Secure Income Rei . . . .438.0 7.0 438.0 371.0Serica Energy . . . . . . . . .111.6 0.0 142.0 74.9Smart Metering Sy . . . .448.8 -5.2 665.0 448.2Telford Homes . . . . . . .349.0 0.0 430.0 267.0Thorpe (F.W.) . . . . . . . . .321.0 -2.0 340.0 248.0Watkin Jones . . . . . . . . .217.5 0.5 232.5 192.2Young & Co's Brew . . .1625.0 2.5 1885.0 1322.5Young & Co's Brew . . . .1130.0 0.0 1275.0 1030.0

Amigo Holdings . . . . . . . . . . . . .166.2 9.2Ted Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .960.0 6.1Entertainment One . . . . . . . . . .438.2 6.0Victrex plc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1998.0 5.4Burberry Group . . . . . . . . . . . .2204.0 4.5Tullow Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215.6 4.3Bodycote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .692.5 4.3NMC Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1936.0 4.1Grafton Group Unit . . . . . . . . . . .715.5 4.0Flutter Entertainm . . . . . . . . . .6684.0 3.9

OneSavings Bank . . . . . . . . . . . .337.8 -5.0Wood Group (John) . . . . . . . . . .410.4 -4.7Charter Court Fina . . . . . . . . . . .278.0 -4.6Mitchells & Butler . . . . . . . . . . . .334.0 -4.6Woodford Patient C . . . . . . . . . . .42.0 -4.0Kainos Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .491.0 -3.4TBC Bank Group . . . . . . . . . . . .1280.0 -2.9PureTech Health . . . . . . . . . . . .284.0 -2.7Clarkson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2390.0 -2.7Intu Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33.9 -2.6

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MAIN CHANGES UK 350

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GILTS

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� �AEROSPACE & DEFENCE

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AIM 50

Tsy 3.750 19 . . . . . . .100.14 0.00 103.2 100.1Tsy 2.000 20 . . . . . . .101.31 0.00 102.4 101.3Tsy 4.750 20 . . . . . .102.26 -0.01 106.3 102.2Tsy 3.750 20 . . . . . .103.34 -0.02 106.2 103.3Tsy 2.500 20 . . . . . .355.42 -0.01 361.4 355.3Tsy 8.000 21 . . . . . . .113.52 -0.03 120.1 113.2Tsy 4.000 22 . . . . . .109.10 0.00 111.1 109.0Tsy 0.500 22 . . . . . .100.34 0.01 100.5 97.7Tsy 1.875 22 . . . . . . .116.76 -0.02 118.3 115.5Tsy 2.250 23 . . . . . . .107.48 0.02 107.9 104.7Tsy 2.500 24 . . . . . .375.92 -0.02 377.1 358.7Tsy 0.125 24 . . . . . . . .115.19 -0.01 115.6 110.9Tsy 5.000 25 . . . . . .125.38 0.06 125.9 122.1Tsy 4.250 27 . . . . . . .131.60 0.12 132.2 122.6Tsy 1.250 27 . . . . . . .139.93 -0.08 140.1 128.4Tsy 6.000 28 . . . . . .150.79 0.13 151.4 140.5Tsy 0.125 29 . . . . . . .133.30 -0.09 133.4 118.8Tsy 4.750 30 . . . . . . .146.10 0.19 147.0 132.1Tsy 4.125 30 . . . . . . .400.10 -0.04 400.3 355.2Tsy 4.250 32 . . . . . . .144.18 0.31 145.3 128.5Tsy 1.250 32 . . . . . . .165.27 0.09 165.4 144.1Tsy 0.125 36 . . . . . . .160.14 0.32 160.5 133.4Tsy 4.250 36 . . . . . .153.20 0.41 154.5 133.1Tsy 4.750 38 . . . . . .168.68 0.50 170.4 144.9Tsy 0.625 40 . . . . . .182.93 0.49 183.5 152.8Tsy 4.500 42 . . . . . .173.29 0.59 175.2 145.9Tsy 3.500 45 . . . . . .155.68 0.69 157.5 128.0Tsy 4.250 46 . . . . . . .177.01 0.72 179.2 145.7Tsy 4.025 49 . . . . . . .184.41 0.74 186.8 150.0Tsy 0.500 50 . . . . . .219.32 0.77 220.6 173.7Tsy 0.250 52 . . . . . . .217.30 0.86 218.8 168.8

WORLD INDICES

FTSE 100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7203.97 78.97 1.11FTSE 250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19207.75 199.66 1.05FTSE All-Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3946.69 42.09 1.08FTSE AIM All-Share. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871.49 5.79 0.67

S&P 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2924.43 23.92 0.82Dow Jones I.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26202.73 240.29 0.93Nasdaq Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . 8020.21 71.65 0.90Xetra DAX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11802.85 151.67 1.30

CAC 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5435.48 90.84 1.70Swiss Market Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9848.11 77.72 0.80ISEQ Overall Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5795.22 101.84 1.79FTSEurofirst 300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478.69 16.74 1.15

Hang Seng. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26270.04 38.50 0.15Shanghai Composite. . . . . . . . . . . 2880.33 0.33 0.01STI Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3123.90 -14.26 -0.45ASX All Ordinaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6572.60 -54.80 -0.83

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HHOLD GDS & HOME CONSTR.

NON LIFE INSURANCE

INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION

GENERAL RETAILERS INDUSTRIAL METALS & MINING

CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS

€/$ 1.1087 0.0012

€/£ 0.9138 0.0018

€/¥ 118.18 0.2443

/€ 1.0936 0.0024

/$ 1.2125 0.0039

/¥ 129.29 0.0562

FTSE 100

7203.9778.97

FTSE 250

19207.75199.66

FTSE ALL SHARE

3946.6942.09

DOW JONES

26202.73240.29

NASDAQ

8020.2171.65

S&P 500

2924.4323.92

FINANCIAL SERVICES

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GET THE MORNING UPDATE,CITY A.M.’S DAILY EMAIL


CITYAM.COM16 THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019OPINION

EDITED BY RACHEL CUNLIFFE

LETTERSTO THE EDITOR

So the POTUS has cancelled his visitto Denmark because there was nointerest in discussing sellingGreenland. Is this some sort of joke?Deeply insulting to the people ofGreenland and Denmark.@HelleThorning_S

Trump is tweeting about peoplecalling him the King of Israel and thesecond coming of God. Just after hetried to buy Greenland. This hasentered Caligula levels of weirdness@ChrisBrosnahan

If you could buy a country, which onewould it be? I don’t think I’d buyGreenland. I think Argentina would befun to own. But perhaps somewherelike São Tomé and Príncipe would bemore manageable, as it would reallyonly be a weekend place.@guywalters

What you really want is one that spansseveral points of latitude, winter in thewarm parts, summer in the cool parts.Coast, too, you don’t want to belandlocked. Quiet neighbours, sothat’s anywhere that borders Russiaout. Chile, maybe.@twlldun

Trump cancelled a trip to the DanishBecause of them making it plainishThat Greenland’s off limitsAnd if you are him it’sEnraging because he is vainish.@twitmericks

Devil fines workfor idle engines

BEST OFTWITTER

FREEDOM of movement willend” if the UK leaves the EUwithout a deal on 31 Octo-ber, according to the gov-ernment. At one level, this

is a statement of the obvious – ina legal sense, free movement is anEU concept.

Under Theresa May’s deal, whichprovided for a transition perioduntil December 2020, free move-ment would, like other provisionsof EU law, have continued. But a no-deal Brexit means no transition,and therefore no free movement.

But that tells us nothing aboutwhat actually happens to EU citi-zens who seek to move here to workor study after the end of October.

Remember, “free movement” isnot really about what happens atthe borders.

No one is planning to stop EU citi-zens with a valid passport from en-tering the UK, any more than westop more than a tiny fraction ofAmericans or Australians. The ques-tion is whether they have the rightto work (as now), to access the NHS,to apply for a National Insurancenumber, and so on.

If not, like people from outsidethe EU who cannot show that theyhave the right paperwork, will theybe subject to the “hostile environ-ment” policy implemented whenMay was home secretary?

This week we learnt that if the newhome secretary Priti Patel has herway, that is indeed the objective.

But the problem with ending freemovement, not just in some ab-stract legal sense but in practice,by making EU citizens subject tothe same rules as those from out-

Patel, in contrast, is no pragmatist –promises made bythe ‘previousgovernment’ are,apparently, nolonger binding

Ending free movement is morecomplicated than Priti realises

JonathanPortes

side the EU, is the existence ofthose EU citizens already here –the same ones who Boris Johnsonand Patel promised would not seeany change at all in their status asa result as Brexit.

These EU nationals had alreadybeen told that, in order to preservetheir rights in Britain, they need toapply for the government’s “settledstatus” scheme sometime beforethe end of 2020. So far about a mil-lion – of the three million or morewho are eligible – have done so.

When that deadline bites, and ap-plications have been processed,there will be a clear distinction be-tween EU citizens who arrived be-fore Brexit and those who arrivedafter. But until then, it will be veryhard – if not impossible – to differ-entiate between them.

If EU nationals arriving here after31 October have different rightsfrom those who are already here,what are employers, landlords andpublic services – accustomed to re-garding an EU passport as all thedocumentation they need – sup-posed to do?

Imposing extra checks would bepractically complex – perhaps im-possible – as well as legally dubi-ous, while not doing so wouldmake a mockery of the new policy.

May herself, and Sajid Javidwhen he was home secretary, pro-posed a pragmatic approach (thepolite term for a fudge) to dealwith this problem.

Under their scheme, EU citizensarriving here after a no-deal Brexitwould be obliged, in due course, toapply for “temporary leave to re-main”, which would give them the

right to work and so on for threeyears, pending the introduction of anew system, after which they’d haveto reapply. During that time, em-ployers wouldn’t have to do any-thing different.

This would hardly have been per-fect, as it meant introducing newuncertainty for people moving herefor jobs and their employers, not tomention obvious issues with themany university courses that lastmore than three years. But it wouldat least have kicked the can downthe road for now.

Patel, in contrast, is no pragmatist.

This solution has been binned –promises made by the “previousgovernment” are, apparently, nolonger binding.

So what’s the answer? The Home Office statement

rushed out Monday in an attemptto reassure pointedly dodged thequestion – presumably because civilservants are currently as clueless asthe rest of us. Or perhaps it’s be-cause those responsible have beendispatched to Singapore, where, ac-cording to news sources, they’vebeen tasked with discovering howwe can better “count people in andout the country”.

At one level, this may end upbeing a storm in a teacup. Con-fronted with the practicalities, thegovernment may revert to some-thing very like the pragmatic Javidsolution, perhaps with a few extralight-touch checks or recordingmechanisms at the border.

But nonetheless, damage willhave been done: to the already frag-ile confidence of our colleagues,neighbours and friends from else-where in the EU, and to the abilityof employers and others to rely onthe government to take seriouslythe impact of its decisions on busi-ness, the economy, and society.

And it will confirm the view ofmany, here in the UK and elsewherein the EU, that the Johnson govern-ment simply doesn’t grasp the prac-tical implications of a no-deal Brexit.

Talk is cheap, but policy by sound-bite costs us all.

£ Jonathan Portes is professor ofeconomics and public policy at King’sCollege London.

IMAGINE you’ve long wanted tosee your favourite band live.Then one day, they announce atour, with a date in your home-town in eight months’ time.

This band hasn’t toured in a longtime, and you know that they al-ways draw in the masses.

What do you do? Buy the ticket, ofcourse – and maybe another for afriend, so you don’t go alone.

Fast-forward six months. Now it’sclear that you will be travellingwith work, or you’ve not been ableto find anyone to go with you. Whatshould happen?

If you can’t make the gig, youshould be able to resell the ticket tosomeone else, at a mutually agreedupon price, on a secure and trans-parent marketplace. That givesother people who weren’t as quickoff the mark when tickets went onsale the chance to go.

This is the essence of the second-ary ticketing market. The transfer-ability of tickets is necessary to

achieve the best results for every-one. Without it, consumers losetheir money, venues lose their val-ued customers, nearby restaurantsand bars miss out on footfall, andyour favourite band performs to asmaller crowd.

In recent years, the resale of tick-ets has come under scrutiny. Trans-parency has emerged as thepinnacle issue in the market, to en-sure that consumers make in-formed purchasing decisions.

This is a positive step forward forthe ticketing industry – the fansmust come first.

Yet what is increasingly clear isthat transparency with respect tothe first sale of tickets – how manytickets are available for sale, atwhat price, and at what time – islacking. Recent media reports havebegun to raise valid questionsabout whether fans are getting araw deal.

We know that when tickets go onsale, they are not all sold at once. In

addition to pre-sale opportunitiesthrough fanclub memberships orhaving a particular credit card, it isan established industry practice inmany markets to hold back ticketsand release them for sale over time.

Increasingly, those tickets heldback from initial sale are beingpriced differently from the ticketssold previously – not necessarily be-cause they are better seats, but be-cause the demand for the showjustifies higher prices.

While that’s how supply and de-mand works in other markets, thelack of transparency and customerawareness around it is concerning.

Ironically, many of the industryplayers calling for transparency andfixed prices in secondary sales areresistant to adopting the same stan-dards for themselves. Transparencyin the ticketing industry must beholistic if the true objective is toput consumers first.

Our position is clear. In our ever-busy lives, choice and transparencyare critical to creating the best pos-sible fan experience. Fans should beaware of their purchasing optionswhen trying to buy a ticket, andthey should have the choice to pur-chase a ticket that is freely transfer-able to meet their own needs.

We believe that fans are bestserved by a safe, competitive, andtransparent ticket market. Organis-ers across the ecosystem should becommitted to this standard to sup-port ticket buyers and sustain ahealthy marketplace.

£Wayne Grierson is general managerEMEA at StubHub.

That’s the ticket: From sale to show, fansdeserve a market built on transparency

Wayne Grierson

FORUM

[Re: Stamp Duty contortions and eco-warriors with private jets – silly season]I have always admired the work of PaulOrmerod. But yesterday, he claimed thatBright Blue recently proposed higher finesfor engine idling, and that citizens canreport those idling to the police. Both arestraightforwardly incorrect.

We propose citizens receiving 25 per centof any fine issued for engine idling in CleanAir Zones if they provide photo and videoevidence of it to the local council, which iswhat happens in New York. This should sitalongside new powers for traffic officers toinstantly apply fines for idling, rather thanhaving to issue a warning first.

Ormerod claims that participating in thiscitizen-based reporting scheme would beatworking for most people. But the standardfine for idling is £20. The minimum wageper hour is significantly higher than £5, so itis nonsense that the scheme would providean incentive to not work.

It feels like you can’t pick up a newspaperthese days without reports of yet moreevidence on the harmful effects of airpollution. Research shows that higherexposure to pollutants such as nitrogendioxide and particulate matter fromvehicles is strongly associated withcardiovascular and respiratory diseases,mental health issues, and even dementia.

Unnecessary engine idling is an offence.The public are sick to the back teeth ofpeople getting away with thoughtless,illegal activity that is so damaging to ourenvironment and health. Ormerod runs aneconomic consultancy. Instead of attackingmy organisation, he should focus on doingbasic research and maths properly.Ryan Shorthouse, director, Bright Blue

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UNTIL relatively recently, cli-mate change was spokenabout as an abstraction.We knew it was a seriousproblem, but most people

put it to the back of their minds. It felttoo distant, too remote. We wouldagree on the need for “action”, nodsagely, then get back to our day jobs.

That time has passed. Climatechange is real and it’s here. Tempera-tures are rising and the weather is be-coming more unpredictable. Cast yourmind back to this summer’s extraordi-nary heatwave, which sent most of Eu-rope darting to the nearest publicfountain or air conditioned building.

We need to start asking practicalquestions. How will we cope with asummer climate that is closer to pres-ent day Barcelona than Barnet? Howwill we deal with increased floodingand extreme weather? What elementsof our society, culture, and infrastruc-ture need an overhaul?

These questions aren’t a thought ex-periment – they’re urgent, and theyneed answers. And this is particularlytrue for my industry.

Workplace architects and developersare having to face our future climatetoday. The offices we build now willbe expected to stand well into thiscentury, probably the next. The cranesin the sky are constructing places ourgrandchildren will live and work in.

The new Guide to Specification fromthe British Council for Offices (BCO)provides an outline for a new way ofthinking. It sets out recommendationsfor how the UK’s workplaces should bedesigned, looking at a range of futurechallenges and opportunities, fromthe fourth industrial revolution tonew thinking around wellness.

For climate change, the Guide hasmany important – and timely – recom-mendations. Overall, it acknowledgesthat we need to build workplacesequipped for a more volatile climate.

Tomorrow’s Britain is going to bewarm. This is a terrifying thought forthose of us working without air con-ditioning. Unsurprisingly, newly builtworkplaces must feature new coolingsystems. But these can’t all rely ondraining power from the NationalGrid – think of the increased fuel useand carbon footprint.

Instead, buildings will need to em-ploy features like chilled ceilings andbeams that use cold water and con-sume far less energy. Workplacesmust also feature improved ventila-tion that makes use of the cleaner cityair that will follow the (hopefully)mass adoption of electric cars.

Depending on their location, someworkplaces will also need to preparefor increased flooding risk. We envis-

age future workplaces being built onplinths, raising workers from thegreat floods below. Others could beprotected by specially designed sur-rounding landscapes that absorbflood damage – a sort of mini-versionof the “Big U” flood defence systemcurrently being built in Manhattan.

And this isn’t just a challenge for ar-chitects and engineers. Property in-vestors can no longer blithely ignorethe issues of climate change. Invest-ment should be focused on buildingsthat are prepared for a new weatherpattern, rather than those that pre-tend change isn’t coming.

Similarly, insurers must begin toaward lower premiums to buildingsthat feature proper climate resilience.This way, developers are incentivisedto plan for our brave new world.

This should all be in addition to in-creased work to limit the effects of cli-mate change. We have a duty to do allwe can to keep temperatures low.

Developers are undergoing a drive toreduce carbon emissions to net zeroby 2050, which can be achieved in allmanner of ways. One ingenious ap-proach is for buildings to generatetheir own energy using solar panelsand, in less dense environments, windturbines. IT and lighting systems canbe designed to reduce energy con-sumption, while buildings can bebuilt with more sustainable materials.

Smarter use of energy can help limitemissions, while better designedbuildings can help prepare for thechange in climate that is alreadyhighly likely. And the offices of tomor-row can lead the way.

£Elaine Rossall is chair of the researchcommittee at the British Council for Offices.

Elaine Rossall

DEBATE

People who are genuinely not wellenough to work into their late 60s needtheir pensions. Increasing the agemakes no allowance for ill-health, eventhough the poorest UK groups havenearly 20 years less healthy lifeexpectancy than the most advantaged.

Further rises would compound thesocial injustice and discriminate againstthe least well-off. Has Britain suddenlybecome so much poorer that it cannotpay our meagre state pensions whichare the lowest in the developed world?

Those healthy and wealthy enough towait past pension age have flexibility toaccrue extra pension, and encouragingworking longer can benefit individualsand the economy. But agediscrimination remains embedded

among employers, retraining schemesare inadequate, and more than onemillion 50-64 year olds want to work butcan’t find employment. Many more areunfit to work before pension age, butget nothing.

Better reforms include raising thequalifying years required for full pensionor allowing ill-health early payments.

£Baroness Altmann is the formerminister of state for pensions.

Should the state pension ageincrease to 75 by 2035, as proposedby the Centre for Social Justice?The happy reality is that we arehealthier and living longer. In 2017, theproportion of the UK population aged65 or over was 18.2 per cent, which isprojected to grow to 24 per cent by2037, when over half of UK adults will beabove 50. But this poses two problems.First, older people are more likely to beunemployed, and second, the statepension becomes unaffordable.

So instead of passing the problemonto the next generation, why don’t wedo something? Raising taxes won’t benearly enough, and compelling peopleto have more children soundsdystopian.

At the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ),we think that the government can doloads to improve employment rates for

over 50s, and once that’s done, it isreasonable to increase the statepension age.

When the state pension age was firstintroduced in the 1940s for anyoneaged 65, life expectancy was 66. Nowpeople can expect to live into their 80s,and we think the state pension ageshould better reflect that.

£Patrick Spencer is head of the workand welfare unit at the CSJ.

How the offices of tomorrowcan prepare for climate change

Investment should befocused on buildingsthat are prepared fora new weather pattern

PATRICK SPENCER

YES

ROS ALTMANN

NO

Certified Distribution from 27/05/2019 till30/06/2019 is 85,617

CITYAM.COM18 THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019FEATURE

OFFICE POLITICS

FOR YEARS, I have been phobicof public speaking. To be hon-est, the speaking didn’t evenhave to be that public – givingan update at a meeting could

start a leg tremor that would takeminutes to abate.

It was a shameful secret, because asan otherwise confident PR I knew itwould be hard for people to under-stand. And working in successfulstartups opened up a world of publicspeaking opportunities, which I qui-etly excused myself from.

But as a woman working in fieldsdominated by high-profile malespeakers, I was becoming increasinglyfrustrated at events where panelslacked diversity.

Of course, by declining spots on pan-els myself, I knew that I was part ofthe issue, so tackling my fear becamemy resolution for 2019.

I alighted on the Stand Up to StandOut workshop, which promised toteach storytelling techniques that youcould use in your career.

The principles were simple buttransformative, and while it kick-started an interest in performing ac-tual stand-up comedy, it also taughtme lessons that can apply to any pro-fessional environment.

With the Edinburgh Fringe Festival finishingon Monday, can comedy help your career?

Learn stand-up to stand out in the office

I have gonefrom being sickat the thoughtof speaking infront of fivepeople tomaking mystand-up debut

PRACTISE ACTIVE LISTENINGIn a typical panic about my turn tospeak, I’ve often been so fixated onwhat I’m going to say that I’ve inadver-tently stopped paying attention to any-thing else. I’ve missed everything fromminutes of meetings to inspirationaltalks, and it’s a bad habit that I wasglad to break out of.

I’m the first to complain about meet-ings, but even the dull ones are betterwhen you actively listen, rather thanworry about what you’re going to say.

TELL YOUR STORY WELLKnowing how to tell a story is at theheart of comedy, but it’s also an amaz-ing tool to get what you want.

From how you “set up” and presenta problem, to how you propose tosolve it, down to the message youwant your audience to take away,knowing how to frame what you want

to say is a cheat code to making astrong case – whether it is for a laugh,a pay rise, or sign-off on a project.

PEOPLE WANT YOU TO SUCCEEDPublic speaking is a deeply emotivething, and the more I have talkedabout it, the more I have realised thateven the most competent people areracked with the same worries as me.

The thing to remember is that, bybraving the mic, you have automati-cally earned respect at what seems tobe universally acknowledged as a

white-knuckle situation. Whether it ison the open mic circuit or at a confer-ence, everyone is willing you to do welland to forgive and forget if you falter.

LIFE AFTER DEATHThe liberating thing about stand-up isthat you cannot predict how you willconnect with people and there will al-ways be those who just don’t get you.Jokes that kill it five times can be deadair on the sixth. But while you mightfeel tumbleweeds, no one will knowthat was meant to be your “mic drop”moment unless you give yourself away.

If something doesn’t land, ploughon. The same applies with corporateconversations – people don’t evenhave to laugh, they just have to listen.

Once you’ve had crickets chirping inresponse to a beloved personal storyabout your childhood in front of anaudience of edgy Shoreditch types, ifno one goes wild for your point, youknow you’ve lived through worse.

In the last eight months, I have gonefrom being sick at the thought ofspeaking in front of five people tomaking my stand-up debut at myfavourite comedian Mark Watson’sComedy Marathon show in the Pleas-ance Theatre, as well as pitching my-self professionally for all those eventsI’ve regretted not doing – all for theprice of a half-day course. Sometimesyour New Year’s resolutions do stick.

£Vix Leyton is head of PR at Carwow.

HA HA HA

Laugh My App OffFree

“Whatever youdo in life, alwaysgive 100 percent. Unlessyou’re donatingblood...” That’s just one ofthe many jokesavailable fromthis app. It canalso send younotificationsthrough the daywith one-linersto put a smile onyour face, andyou could alwayssteal the bestones to use inyour five-minutestand-up act.

Vix Leyton

19THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019 LIFE&STYLECITYAM.COM

EDITED BY STEVE DINNEEN @steve_dinneen

GOING OUT

What springs to mind when youthink of Satanism? For most peo-ple, it’s hooded figures in under-ground rooms worshipping idols ofthe devil, or sects drinking bloodfrom goblets and performing ar-cane rituals on naked bodies.

There’s plenty of that in directorPenny Lane’s new documentary ex-ploring The Satanic Temple, the un-derground religious organisationfounded by Lucien Greaves in 2013,which has grown rapidly in the USsince the election of DonaldTrump. But this is largely satiricalwindow dressing, the documentarytells us. What Satanists really are isa kind of political pressure group,pushing against the dominance ofChristian ideology and campaign-ing for religious freedom and theseparation of church and state.

One of the Satanists intervieweddescribes the group as “the originaltrolls,” and there are plenty oflaugh-out-loud moments as theytravel around America upsettingthe hard right in increasingly in-ventive ways.

The central conflict surrounds TheSatantic Temple’s attempt to get astatue of Baphomet, a kind of goat-devil, installed outside a publicbuilding in Little Rock, Arkansas. Toget the perfect look, they ask thesculptor to model the torso on IggyPop. Their argument is that, as thereis a statue of a scroll depicting theTen Commandments there, otherreligions should have a right to thespace, too.

You can’t help but sympathisewith this group of well-meaningmisfits as they organise litter-pick-ing drives with pitchforks, deliversocks to the homeless and holdcounter-protests against the West-boro Baptist Church.

It’s a genuinely funny and weirdlyuplifting look at one of thestranger sources of modern politi-cal dissent in the US.

With the recent spate of big-moneyStephen King adaptations and theretro-revival following the success ofNetflix’s Stranger Things, it wouldbe easy to write off Scary Stories asjust another algorithmically-gener-ated, mild-horror cash grab.

But that would be doing it a dis-service: it’s a nostalgic, soulful tourthrough horror movie cliche thatmakes up for its lack of originalitywith genuine heart and humour. It’sas warm and fuzzy as a movie featur-ing spiders erupting from a woman’sface can reasonably hope to be.

Adapted from Alvin Schwartz’s1980s tween horror anthology of thesame name, it’s structured as a seriesof overlapping tales of the macabre,set in the grainy 1960s America ofour collective consciousness. It’s allmean jocks and plucky geeks hang-ing out at drive-in movie theatresand walking home through rustlingfields of corn.

It follows four nerdy friends as theyattempt to avoid the town footballhero following a poop-related prankgone horribly right. They end uplocked in the basement of the localhaunted mansion, where they un-cover a hand-written book filled with

gruesome urban legends. When thebook starts writing new stories aboutthe friends, they set out to unravelthe mystery before they becomeurban legends themselves.

It all plays out against the backdropof the Vietnam War and the electionof Ronald Reagan, neatly juxtaposingterrors of the imagination with thosebased firmly in reality.

Directed by Troll Hunter’s AndréØvredal and produced by that mas-ter of the horror fable Guillermo delToro, Scary Stories is a solidly builtmachine, its set pieces a meticulousbalance between genuinely upset-ting and joyously over the top.

The problem is, the books areaimed at braver pre-teens, and withits 15 certificate and decidedly un-child-friendly frights, Scary Stories issimply too scary for its own good. As-suming it’s instead targetting the 30-somethings who read the books aschildren, it’s likely to pass withoutmuch notice in the UK, where the an-thology collection was never reallypart of the cultural zeitgeist.

Perhaps this explains why it’sbeen cast adrift in the dog days ofsummer, rather than being grantedthe Halloween release date it surelydeserves. Given this, it’s hard to rec-ommend Scary Stories as more thana notable curio, a film with plentyof grisly charm that seems destinedto slip between the fright-nightcracks.

FILM

HAIL SATAN?DIR. PENNY LANEBY HELEN CRANE

Robert Icke approaches a classic playthe way a mechanic might approacha motor, breaking it down to its con-stituent pieces, working out whatmakes it tick, and then replacing halfof it with gleaming new parts.

This approach paid dubious divi-dends in his largely hellish revisionof Ibsen’s The Wild Duck last year,but here he dissects Arthur Schnit-zler’s 1912 medical ethics dramaProfessor Bernhardi with the exact-ing hand of a top surgeon.

For a play that runs to almostthree hours (a fact barely worthmentioning in this era of inter-minable productions), it’s incredi-bly dense, ruminating on issues asdiverse as ethics, religion, identitypolitics and internet culture, yetsomehow weaving it all into a co-

herent, magnificent whole.The central conflict arises when

Professor Ruth Wolff, the foundingphysician of a cutting-edge demen-tia research facility, refuses to allowa priest to perform the last rites ona teenager dying from a self-admin-istered abortion. She says the deci-sion was based on her desire to givethe girl a peaceful death, but shedoes little to hide her contempt forthe “outdated” Catholic church, orfor religion as a whole.

Juliet Stevenson is imperious in thecentral role, bringing just a flicker ofwarmth to the hard-nosed Wolff, aformidable intellect who suffers nofools, even if they happen to be med-ical consultants or hospital boardmembers. Her politically naive re-fusal to concede even an inch allowsthe growing scandal to snowball intoa nation-wide controversy.

Icke obsesses over the role identitypolitics has to play in the drama.How much can we read into the factthat Wolff is a secular Jew? Or thatshe is on the cusp of overlooking ablack Christian doctor in favour of

a Jewish woman? Or that she is gay?Nothing, probably, but that’s notthe way a vocal chorus of internettrolls read the situation.

Muddying the waters further isthe play’s blind casting. The priest,for instance, is played by The Thickof It’s “angriest man in Scotland”Paul Higgins (who is white), but isrevealed mid-way through to beblack. Elsewhere, male actors arerevealed to be women and viceversa. Any prejudices uncon-sciously brought to the table are in-geniously turned against us.

Icke refuses to say who’s right inthis whole sorry mess, which de-scends into antisemitic hate crimesand shamings on national TV, onlysuggesting that Wolff is perhapsless wrong. It’s a masterful explo-ration of some of the most hotly de-bated topics of our time, presentedin the unmistakable timbre of oneof theatre’s most exciting voices.This will be Icke’s final play as asso-ciate director of the Almeida – hewill be a difficult man to replace,but what a way to sign off.

THEATRE

THE DOCTORALMEIDABY STEVE DINNEEN

FILM

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARKDIR: ANDRÉ ØVREDALBY STEVE DINNEEN

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CITYAM.COM20 THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019SPORT

SPORT

CAVALEIRO LEADS FULHAMIN MILLWALL THRASHING£ Ivan Cavaleiro scored twice asFulham thrashed Millwall 4-0 in theChampionship last night. Wolvesloanee Cavaleiro netted in both halves,with goals from Anthony Knockaert andAleksandar Mitrovic securing Fulham’sthird successive league win. Brentfordwere beaten 1-0 at Leeds, who wenttop, while Queens Park Rangers lost 3-1at home to Swansea and Charlton drew1-1 with Nottingham Forest.

POPE ON STANDBY IF ROY ISNOT FIT FOR THIRD TEST£England have called up Surreybatsman Ollie Pope as a potentialreplacement for Jason Roy in the thirdAshes Test at Headingley, which startstoday. Pope, who struck 221 not outagainst Hampshire this week, hastravelled up to Leeds after Roy was hiton the head during a net session onTuesday. England captain Joe Root saidhe “fully expects” opener Roy to be fitto face Australia, who hold a 1-0 lead.

TE’O SHUTS ENGLAND DOORBY SIGNING FOR TOULON£Ben Te’o has effectively called timeon his England career after signing ashort-term contract with French sideToulon. Te’o, 32, was left out of EddieJones’s World Cup squad following analtercation with teammate Mike Brownon an Italian training camp. The formerWorcester centre yesterday signed adeal with Toulon until November,making himself ineligible for England,who will not pick foreign-based players.

CHELSEA LOAN ZAPPACOSTATO ROMA AFTER NEW DEAL£Chelsea right-back DavideZappacosta has joined Roma on a six-month loan deal. Zappacosta, whojoined Chelsea from Torino for £23m in2017, only made four Premier Leagueappearances last season. Roma havean option to extend the loan until theend of the 2019-20 campaign, althoughthe 27-year-old has signed a contractextension at Chelsea until June 2022.

JAPAN PIPS CRYSTAL OCEANIN PHOTO-FINISH AT YORK£Japan edged out favourite CrystalOcean to take the JuddmonteInternational Stakes at York yesterday.Aidan O'Brien’s 5-1 shot, ridden byRyan Moore, won the 10-furlong GroupOne event in a photo-finish, withElarqam in third. “Japan has not put afoot wrong his whole life and will justcontinue to get better,” said Moore.

SPORT DIGEST

IWAS lucky enough to be atLord’s on Sunday to see the cul-mination of Jofra Archer’s debutand watching live it felt like Iwas witnessing a once-in-a-gener-

ation bowler operate.Archer is undoubtedly a special tal-

ent. People may have scored moreruns or taken more wickets on theirTest debuts, but I’d struggle to thinkof anyone having such an immediateimpact.

The 24-year-old came into the matchcarrying a whole heap of expectationand he dealt with the pressure in thebest way, picking up where he left offin the World Cup. He appears at homeon the biggest stage and already looksEngland’s best bowler.

Like legendary bowlers MichaelHolding and Andy Roberts, Archer isan imposing presence at the crease.Given a spicy Lord’s wicket he used itto the best of his ability, striking fearinto the Australian batting line-up.

Australia have something differentto think about now and that’s a hugepositive for England going into the

third Test in Leeds today.

BOUNCER TACTICSHeadingley’s pitch typically has agood carry and if the groundsmanleaves a bit of grass on the top Archerwill once again be lively to face.

I don’t think he, or any of England’sother fast bowlers, should get carriedaway with the bouncer though. It is auseful weapon to have, but Test bowl-ing is still mainly about other skills.

Another word of caution: Englandneed to be careful not to over-bowlhim. Archer bowled 44 overs at Lord’s,which was largely due to the delicatematch situation – but you can’t ex-pect him to do that every week.

He was running on adrenaline,

down the slope from the Pavilion Endwith a nice breeze behind him, so itwon’t have taken quite as much out ofhim. But on slower surfaces Joe Rootneeds to limit him to short, sharpspells in order to protect him from in-jury.

MAKE OR BREAKEven more so than the last Test, it’smake or break for England today.They have to win, because if Australiago 2-0 up then the Ashes are goingback with them.

England should be full of confi-dence, so need to get on the front footearly on, keep hold of their emotionsand dictate the match.

The two Tests are close together so

the bowlers won’t have had muchtime to rest. Chris Woakes played inthe World Cup, so has had a heavyworkload, while Stuart Broad is 33now so it can take more time to re-cover.

But they know the conditions well,so should be able to assess them,make plans and execute them.

Although the circumstances of hisabsence are sad, the loss of SteveSmith is a boost which improves theirchances. Take away his runs – 378 ofthem in just three innings – and Aus-tralia are not the same side. Englandsimply must take advantage.

Chris Tremlett is a former England andSurrey fast bowler. @ChrisTremlett33

CRICKET COMMENT

Chris Tremlett

Special talent Archer gives England crucial fear factor

IT’S hardly a new debate – in fact, it’sone nearly as old as the game itself –but Joe Root will still want to nip it inthe bud this week as he returns hometo Headingley.

England begin the third Ashes Testagainst Australia in Leeds today needingto win at least two of the final threegames to regain the urn. Despite the vis-itors’ 1-0 lead, the impact of Jofra Archerand withdrawal of the concussed SteveSmith has left England confident of pro-ducing a turnaround.

If victory in Yorkshire could come cour-tesy of some weighty runs from their cap-tain that would be the perfect scenario,because not for the first time thedoubters – if not yet the internal doubts– are beginning to nag.

The words “captaincy” and “burden”are familiar bedfellows. An internetsearch returns 262,000 results, with justabout every modern day captain, andplenty of previous ones, the subject ofone of cricket’s perennial questions. Roothas the unwanted distinction of beingone of the main focuses of the discussion.

The theory goes like this. Captaincy ofa cricket team tends to be bestowed uponthe team’s best player – and, most often,best batsman. But the added strain itbrings – media duties, player manage-ment, tactics and so on – has the effectof taking away from the previousstrengths of run-scoring.

Root, who succeeded Alastair Cook asEngland’s Test captain in February 2017,has endured such questions before, withthe 4-0 defeat in the 2017-18 Ashes in Aus-tralia and nine-wicket loss against Pak-istan in the first Test of the 2018 summerat Lord’s particular flashpoints.

With England behind in a home Ashesseries and Root averaging 25.75 with thebat in 2019, Headingley represents a piv-otal Test for both the team and its cap-tain.

OUT OF FORMThere is no doubt that Root is currentlystruggling for form. He was dismissedfirst ball by Pat Cummins in the secondinnings at Lord’s to see the end of a re-markable run of zero golden ducks in152 Test innings.

Such a statistical quirk doesn’t tell thewhole story, but the fact he is beingtrapped lbw more frequently – 19 timessince August 2016, as compared to seveninstances in the preceding four years –shows a technical problem to the ball an-gling back into his pads.

His overall Test average, once proudlystanding above the benchmark of 50alongside Australia’s Smith, India’s ViratKohli and New Zealand’s KaneWilliamson, has now dropped to 48.34.

Before he was appointed captain inFebruary 2017 Root averaged 52.80 inTests; since then it is 41.16. It is a notabledifference – and one which has thetongues of fans and pundits wagging.

The records of Root’s predecessors ascaptain show it’s far from an exact sci-ence. Cook averaged 49.94 as captain, asopposed to 46.34 beforehand, while bothAndrew Strauss (40.76 as captain vs 41.04without) and Nasser Hussain (36.04 vs38.10) fared similarly regardless of theadded responsibility. It is only when welook at Michael Vaughan (36.02 with cap-taincy vs 50.98 without) and MichaelAtherton (40.58 vs 35.25) where biggerdiscrepancies emerge.

UNSETTLED BATTING ORDERNaturally a batsman’s form fluctuatesthroughout his career. Cricket is a game

with thousands of variables, with luckone of them. Only Root himself knowswhether the England captaincy really isa burden to him right now.

What’s more likely to have caused Rootunnecessary strife is the unsettled stateof those around him in England’s bat-ting order.

After batting at No4 against Ireland inthe first Test of the summer, Root hasmoved up to No3 to accommodate JoeDenly. Throughout his career Root hasoften spoken of favouring No4 and thefact that in this series, due largely toJason Roy’s failures, he’s been forced tothe crease after just 7.2 and 9.5 overs atEdgbaston, and 1.3 and 4.1 overs atLord’s clearly makes run-accumulationmore difficult.

Having continually tweaked the bat-ting order previously, England coach

Trevor Bayliss is now keen to stick withthe current combination even thoughit’s not producing, and admitted thatRoy – who faces a late concussion test –is “probably” being played out of posi-tion.

“Just because they’re not scoring runsdoesn’t mean it’s not the right or wrongspot for them,” was Bayliss’s explanationon Tuesday. It looks, therefore, like Rootwill continue to make a sacrifice for theteam.

It’s been six years and three monthssince a 22-year-old Root scored hismaiden Test century at Headingleyagainst New Zealand in just his sixthTest.

Considering the balance of the Ashesand his own form, a 17th Test hundredat his home ground this week would bejust as memorable.

England captain comes hometo Headingley with a problemto unload, writes Felix Keith

ROOT’SBURDEN

Root is averaging 25.75in 2019 and is in need ofsome runs before thequestions grow louder

SATAN AND SCARY STORIES ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA FILM … · 8/22/2019 · It would require “hard...

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