Sunday newspaper round-up: The Very Group, Marks&Spencer, Rolls Royce
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Monday 23 May 2022
(Sharecast News) - The Barclay family has revived plans to list its e-commerce empire, The Very Group, during the middle of next year following a decision to postpone its plans in 2021 due to the worsening in market conditions. Very Group generated sales of £2.3bn in 2021 for pre-tax profits of £81.7m, making it one of the UK's largest retailers. The company had been on the auction block in 2017 but plans for a sale were jettisoned after potential private equity buyers balked at the £3bn price tag. - The Sunday Times
Marks&Spencer boss Steve Rowe lashed out at proposals to put in place an online sales tax, labelling them "morally bankrupt". Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Rowe conceded that there was a need for "urgent reform of an unfair and outdated" system that put bricks and mortar retailers at a competitive disadvantage. However, in his opinion "you cannot tax people back to shops". In particular, he criticised the fact that it would make consumers pay more for essential goods. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Auditor KPMG is set to be hit with another fine over its failings in work for aerospace engineer Rolls Royce. According to Sky News, the Financial Reporting Council might be set levy the £4.5m fine as soon as during the coming week. That would follow the £14.4m penalty slapped on the firm this same month on account of its work for outsourcers Carillion and Regenersis alongside three other such penalties during the past year. - Financial Mail on Sunday
The creation of distinct geopolitical blocks in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine could deepen economic misery in the world. Ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, International Monetary Fund head, Kristalina Georgieva, said people in both poor and rich countries would lose if decades of globalisation came undone. Georgieva thus spoke of the largest test for the global economy since the Second World War. She referred to a confluence of calamities that included high food and energy prices, tighter financial conditions, disruptions to supply chains and the threat from climate change. - Sunday Telegraph
The extraordinarily high fuel bills which Britons are facing will last at least another 18 months, the boss of E.ON UK, the country's largest energy supplier, said. That prompted Michael Lewis to call on the government to intervene "very substantially" to help people facing escalating fuel bills. According to the executive, bills could hit £3,000 when the price cap was lifted in October, leaving one in five customers struggling to pay. Lewis added that of E.ON's 8m accounts, 1m were already in arrears and the outfit expected that number to rise by half. - Guardian
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