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Sunday newspaper round-up: British Airways, G4S, TalkTalk

By Alexander Bueso

Date: Sunday 18 Oct 2020

Sunday newspaper round-up: British Airways, G4S, TalkTalk

(Sharecast News) - British Airways is planning to shrink its presence at London Gatwick Airport as part of a "bounce-back" effort in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. BA, which warned it could abandon Britain's second biggest airport in April, is already operating most of its short-haul flights from Heathrow and has said it will be doing so until next March. - Sunday Telegraph
G4S stepped up its defence against the "opportunistic" and "very highly leveraged" GardaWorld in the latest salvo of the hostile takeover battle for the FTSE 250 security firm. Its board urged shareholders to reject GardaWorld's 190p per share bid again after the Canadian rival made a firm offer to investors on Saturday. It claimed the £3bn offer "significantly undervalues" the "fundamentally re-positioned" company and attacked GardaWorld's debt pile. "We believe that GardaWorld needs G4S in order to realise its aspirations," the board of G4S told investors in response to the offer document. - Sunday Telegraph

The boss of takeover target TalkTalk has launched a blistering attack on rival BT over the rollout of superfast broadband. Tristia Harrison told The Mail on Sunday that BT was putting at risk Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plans to 'level up' the UK with ultrafast internet for every home by 2025. - Mail on Sunday

Boris Johnson and his cabinet must urgently begin anew making the case for preservation of Britain's 313-year-old union with Scotland, if indeed they think it still worth preserving, because if there was a second referendum on the matter tomorrow, they would lose it. - Sunday Telegraph

Three in four homes in some parts of the country are having their valuations reduced by as much as 20% as lenders become increasingly fearful of a sharp fall in house prices. In a clear sign that banks are becoming nervous about rising property prices, valuations - carried out when people apply for a mortgage - are proving to be well below the price agreed by the buyer and the seller. - Sunday Times

Marks & Spencer and its new home delivery partner, Ocado, have been criticised for charging different prices for the same products in store and online. Shoppers have highlighted a pricing lottery on identical goods ranging from eggs to lasagne, with differences of more than 40% between those sold in M&S shops and those sold through Ocado in some cases. Some items are more expensive in stores and some pricier at the online grocery retailer. - Guardian

Morrisons has been winning customers from its rival Asda since the pandemic began, supermarket sources have revealed. Asda underperformed its competitors in the six months to the end of September, clocking up the slowest sales increase in the rush to stockpile food at large stores, according to data prepared for The Mail on Sunday. Asda's market share fell to 14.3 per cent in the six-month period from 15.1 per cent a year earlier. - Mail on Sunday

Philip Day is rushing to piece together a deal that would let the high street tycoon keep his budget fashion business Peacocks, while jettisoning Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM), the chain on which he built his fortune. Nine days ago, Day's EWM Group, which houses Peacocks and other brands including Jaeger, Austin Reed and Ponden Home, filed notice of its intention to appoint administrators, which is due to expire on Thursday. EWM employs about 20,000 people and traded from more than 1,100 outlets before the pandemic. - Sunday Times

A record number of shops disappeared from high streets across the country in the first half of 2020 as the Covid-19 lockdowns hammered the retail sector. A total of 11,120 chain store outlets closed between January and June, while 5,119 opened. The 6,001 net store closures was a record high and compared with 3,509 in the first half of last year. - Guardian

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