Sunday newspaper round-up: Coal-fired power plants, Metro Bank, Asda
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Sunday 22 Jan 2023
(Sharecast News) - National Grid has called on coal-fired power plants to prepare to supply power on Monday given that temperatures are expected to remain near zero even as wind speeds remain low. The notifications that they should be ready - if needed - were served to three coal units owned by Drax and EdF. The plants had been scheduled to close in September but that decision was pushed back until 2024 due to soaring gas prices in the wake of Russia's war on Ukraine. According to Bloomberg data, UK futures remain at over the twice the level typically seen at this time of the year. - The Sunday Telegraph
Activist hedge fund Caius Capital has taken an £11m or 5% stake in Metro Bank. Since its flotation in 2019 shares of the lender were walloped in the wake of accounting errors linked to buy-to-let loans and commercial mortgages. Caius was founded in 2016 by former employees of Goldman Sachs and Och-Ziff Capital Management. According to sources, Metro's boss, Daniel Frumkin, was not "concerned" about its new shareholders. - The Sunday Times
Asda's owners, the Issa brothers, are studying a tie-up with UK petrol forecourts business EG Group, in a combination that could create a giant worth over £10bn. The merger talks were taking place before £7bn of EG's debt coming due in 2025. The two businesses are jointly owned by the brothers and private equity outfit TDR Capital, both of whom believe a merger would allow the debt to be refinanced on better terms. Nonetheless, a merger was one of several options being looked at by EG's owners. - The Sunday Times
Consumer goods giants including the makers of Heinz baked beans and Head & Shoulders shampoo are under fire for alleged greed and profiteering in the wake of enormous price hikes that have led to bumper profitability. Instead of passing on increased costs to consumers, the companies should use their vast profits to absorb some of those greater costs, critics contend. Over the past year, the price of Heinz tomato soup has soared by 73%, that of Hellmann's mayonnaise made by Unilever by 42% and Procter and Gamble's Head & Shoulders shampoo by 21%. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
The UK will take 15 years more than previously though to reach its target for £1.0trn in annual exports than previously thought. Based on current trends, the Department for International Trade projects that the value of UK exports would not reach £1.0trn until 2035 and that they would fall to £707bn in 2024. David Cameron was the first to make the pledge, anticipating that it would be hit by 2020, later revised to 2030 by Boris Johnson. - Guardian
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