BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY WE GIVE THE FIERY SAY IT AGAIN, SPICY SAM GOLFING NEW PORSCHE CAYENNE A PRO LOOKS BACK SERIOUS ROAD TEST P24 ON 2019 P27 TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 ISSUE 3,523 CITYAM.COM FREE

Safety issues at Crossrail spiral in 2019 CITY HIGH ON IAN JOHNSTON HIGH-risk incidents in Crossrail construction doubled this year, in a trend that an engineering company contracted by Transport for London (TfL) has described as “worrying”. Crossrail records the number of incidents that SEA OF GREEN could, under different circumstances, have caused death or serious injury. This year, Crossrail workers have been involved in 50 of these incidents in 2019, known as high-potential near-misses. The rate of near-misses rose to a record high of 0.37 per 100,000 hours worked in July and August, almost double the 0.19 rate in July 2018. Jacobs, the engineering company contracted to manage the project, described the high rate of near-misses as “a worrying trend that could have resulted in significant injury”, in reports ANNA MENIN of last week following the election result. 100 made gains of £44bn yesterday. November record, while the S&P 500 and to Crossrail. @annafmenin “It’s absolutely on the mark with what Global markets were further boosted by Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7 per cent and The rate fell slightly to 0.35 we had expected; there has been a lot of comments from the US trade 0.9 per cent respectively. in October but this remains THE FTSE 100 enjoyed its best day in pent-up demand,” said Markets.com representative Robert Lighthizer over the “Choosing to ignore the more eyebrow- far higher than figures almost a year yesterday as analysts’ analyst Neil Wilson. weekend that US exports to China raising elements of the US-China phase recorded in 2018. predictions of a post-election boom “Uncertainty over Brexit has gone and would nearly double thanks to the phase one trade agreement — a healthy dose of Crossrail told City A.M. that appeared to bear fruit. the Corbyn danger has evaporated,” one agreement, which he described as scepticism has greeted the deal — the the increase in the number of Buoyed by a Conservative election he added. “totally done”. markets donned their Santa hats and high-risk incidents had been victory and the completion of a stage one David Madden, market analyst at CMC US equities reached a new high as celebrated their early Christmas present,” caused by failures in US-China trade deal, the UK’s blue-chip Markets, said: “The news relating to markets closed on Wall Street late last said Spreadex’s Connor Campbell. procedure, falling objects and index closed up 2.25 per cent at 7,519p China has boosted mining and oil stocks, night, with tech and healthcare stocks Sterling largely held on to last week’s “energised systems”, referring yesterday. while the Boris bounce is assisting banks, leading the gains. gains despite receiving a knock from to active trains and machinery. The FTSE 250 also edged up almost two house builders in addition to retailers.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average weaker than expected UK PMI data per cent, after significant gains at the end According to the Share Centre, the FTSE climbed 0.4 per cent, surpassing its for December. £ CONTINUED ON P4 Drama at the Royal Opera House: Lawyer attacked designer in row over seat

SEBASTIAN MCCARTHY London Magistrates’ Court heard. days earlier and did so again on 7 several times inside the Covent Feargrieve was hitting me he said @SebMcCarthy The solicitor and barrister lashed October 2018. Garden venue as the performance 'how dare you talk to my wife like out at Engler after the designer The designer said he asked of Wagner’s Siegfried began. this,’” he added. A HEDGE fund lawyer was moved from his seat in Row B into Chandler if he could sit in the seat “I had never seen anybody Feargrieve said he was acting to convicted of assault yesterday after an empty seat in Row A next to next to her, but she said no. looking with so much anger and defend his partner, who claimed punching a fashion designer in a Feargrieve’s partner Catherine He then asked whether she had terror at me,” Engler told City of that Engler had thrown her tweed bust-up at the Royal Opera House. Chandler and moved her coat. bought a ticket for the other seat, London Magistrates’ Court, coat from the seat onto the floor. During a performance of Engler, whose clients include the and Chandler said she had not, so adding that he felt a “constant flow The court heard that Wagner, Matthew Feargrieve struck Countess of Derby, told the court Engler moved into it and moved of blows”. Engler was diagnosed with post- Ulrich Engler at least once in a he had moved into the empty chair her coat. “He was up, leaning over the traumatic stress disorder following dispute over a seat, the City of in the front row at the opera three Feargrieve then punched Engler woman hitting me. While Mr the attack.

FTSE 100▲ 7,519.05 +165.61 FTSE 250▲ 21,920.69 +412.90 DOW▲ 28,235.89 +100.51 NASDAQ▲ 8,814.23 +100.51 £/$▼ 1.333 -0.002 £/€▼ 1.197 -0.002 €/$▲ 1.114 +0.002 02 NEWS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES China’s Xi Jinping tells Hong Kong’s beleaguered leader Carrie Lam she has his ‘unwavering support’ THE CITY VIEW High street discounts are a dangerous drug

ETAILERS love to brag about breaking records, but one they won’t be cheering this Christmas is the prediction Rthat price cuts could potentially top 50 per cent for the first time ever. Amid a fierce fight to woo last-minute shoppers into their stores, high street chains are once again turning to a festive sales bonanza over the crucial trading period. New data from Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte suggests that discounting this Christmas will be deeper than previous years: average pre-Christmas discounting has already reached a record 43.8 per cent this December, while Christmas Eve price-slashing is expected to exceed 50 per cent. After a year of rising costs, waning consumer spending and growing competition, retailers can at least cheer CHINESE President Xi Jinping yesterday offered his support for beleaguered Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, praising her courage Price cuts risk not in governing the Chinese-ruled territory in the “most difficult” times following months of anti-government demonstrations. Xi’s the fact that they now have comments came after Hong Kong police fired tear gas into crowds as protests continued to rage late on Sunday night. some political clarity and an only margins but improved exchange rate. also the reputation But current levels of of retailers discounting tell us that many bricks and mortar firms are Watchdogs aim to No stress: Bank still increasingly desperate to capture our attention. And yet by making us more offers, says lenders can retailers not only risk sacrificing their profit margins but also their reputation. “If one continues to pull that pricing level increasingly deep every year, that’s a difficult trend to turn tighten fund rules withstand worst around,” said Deloitte partner Jason Groves. Such activity seems particularly apparent in mid-market HARRY ROBERTSON contain assets that are hard to sell HARRY ROBERTSON quickly. This has the “potential to be- apparel, Groves said, with fashion chains caught in between @henrygrobertson @henrygrobertson budget and high-end rivals as they look to make their mark come a systemic risk”, the Bank of THE UK’s financial watchdogs yester- England (BoE) said, as funds can lose BRITAIN’s biggest lenders are with big red sale signs. Mid-market clothing, already discounted day proposed that funds with hard-to- money in redemptions without being strong enough to withstand a 30 per cent, could see reductions averaging 55 per cent sell assets should ensure investors able to match it with asset sales. financial earthquake greater than by Boxing Day. cannot withdraw their money at very In a joint statement, the Financial the one that rocked the City in short notice or should offer a lower Conduct Authority (FCA) and the BoE 2008, the Bank of England found There are of course a number of retail groups that have resisted price for their redemptions. said funds need to assess the liquidity yesterday in its annual stress test. the temptation to discount — last week Superdry boss Julian The proposals came as part of a of their assets by thinking about the The UK’s seven biggest banks Dunkerton blasted the “madness” of blanket Black Friday review into the sector following the price discount that might be needed could keep lending even if UK discounting. It is also true that pricing is not the be-all-and-end- failure of the flagship fund run by the to sell them quickly. national income slumped 4.7 per once-lauded investor Neil Woodford, Investors looking to take their cash cent, unemployment surged to all of a retailer’s success — product quality, personalisation and which shone a spotlight on so-called out of the fund should then receive a 9.2 per cent, and world GDP store experience are all levers that can be turned in times of liquidity mismatch. lower price, reflecting the discount dropped 2.6 per cent, Threadneedle difficulty. But as the high street heads for what is set to be its They also came two weeks after needed to sell the assets. The FCA said Street said. M&G was forced to gate its £2.5bn funds could alternatively lengthen The Bank said that the lenders — steepest Yuletide discounting, the question arises: just how deep property portfolio after managers did the redemption times they offer. among them Lloyds, HSBC and can these retailers afford to go? not have enough cash to meet a spike The two financial watchdogs said Barclays — would have to cut in withdrawal requests, in large part they will develop rules next year to dividend payments, staff bonuses due to the difficulty of offloading cover the way redemptions work at and coupon payment on bonds to property assets at the speed required open-ended funds. be able to keep lending in a when a number of withdrawals are The Investment Association said: downturn. The BoE also increased registered at the same time. “We look forward to working with the so-called countercyclical buffer Most open-ended investment funds both organisations to review liquidity banks should keep to protect Follow us on Twitter @cityam offer one-day redemptions but management processes.” lending in a slump.

FINANCIAL TIMES THE TIMES THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THE WALL STREET JOURNAL TECH GIANTS SUED OVER WHAT THE CITY OF LONDON STREET TO FA URGED TO INVESTIGATE AMAZON BLOCKS SELLERS COBALT CHILD DEATHS OTHER BAN PETROL AND DIESEL CORRUPTION CLAIMS FROM USING FEDEX DELIVERY Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell and Tesla Petrol and diesel cars will be completely The Football Association (FA) was under Amazon is blocking its third-party have been sued by a human rights PAPERS SAY banned from a city centre road under pressure to open an investigation last sellers from using Fedex’s ground group on behalf of families of children plans for Britain’s first 24-hour zero- night after two agents and a coach were delivery network for Prime shipments, killed or injured while mining the cobalt THIS emission street. Motorists of pure convicted of bribery in a criminal trial. citing a decline in performance heading in the Democratic Republic of Congo combustion engine cars will face £130 The former sports minister urged the into the final stretch of the holiday that is used in their products. In the MORNING fines for entering the Beech Street, governing body to examine accusations shopping season. class-action lawsuit, International which runs under the Barbican estate in that some of England’s highest profile Rights Advocates claims the companies the City of London, where levels of toxic managers had accepted “bungs”. RENAULT CHIEF CALLED FOUL “aided and abetted” a supply chain for air regularly exceed the legal limits. ON NISSAN’S GHOSN PROBE cobalt — a metal critical for APPLE FACES SHAREHOLDER Three days before he lost his job in smartphones and electric vehicles — TURKEY TO SHUT NATO BASE VOTE ON CENSORSHIP October, then-Renault chief Thierry that forces children to work in IF US IMPOSES SANCTIONS Apple could be forced to justify why it Bollore demanded an independent dangerous conditions in the DRC. demonstrator during a peaceful protest Turkish President Recep Erdogan complies with Chinese government’s audit of Nissan’s investigation into in Ahmedabad yesterday against the yesterday warned that he may shut censorship efforts after failing to block a Carlos Ghosn, citing concerns the probe UNREST GROWS OVER INDIA Indian government’s citizenship bill, down the main Nato airbase in Turkey, shareholder vote on its human rights was tainted by conflicts of interest, CITIZENSHIP LEGISLATION which gives non-Muslim migrants a fast- as increasingly toxic relations imperiled policies. It has blocked apps that allow according to a letter by Bollore. Nissan Gujarat police officials detained a track to citizenship. US nuclear bombers in the region citizens to bypass Beijing’s censorship. rejected the demand by Bollore. CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS 03

PLANE SAILING British Airways’ ongoing strike threat fades as pilots agree pay deal Boeing halts all Pre-Christmas production of discounting hits its 737 Max jets POPPY WOOD @poppyeh BOEING yesterday announced that it will halt production of its all-time record grounded 737 Max jet in January, after the US aviation regulator said it would not approve the SEBASTIAN MCCARTHY of minus 0.9 per cent over the week. aeroplane’s return to service @SebMcCarthy Footfall is anticipated to peak on before 2020. Super Saturday — which falls on the The decision was made by CHRISTMAS Eve discounting could 21 December — at plus 10 per cent BRITISH Airways pilots yesterday voted to back a deal with the airline in an ongoing Boeing’s board late last night after top 50 per cent for the first time ever, higher than the Saturday before. dispute around pay that resulted in a mass walkout in September. Pilots voted a two-day meeting. The firm will as retailers scramble to woo last- It is also expected that footfall will nearly nine to one for the deal, which included new upgrades to working conditions. not lay off any employees during minute shoppers in the crucial be higher than on the same Saturday the production freeze, it said. trading period. last year, with an increase of three per The best-selling Boeing plane has Average pre-Christmas discounting cent, however, this increase looks been grounded since March after has already reached a record 43.8 per strong as it comes on the back of an two fatal crashes in Indonesia and cent this December, minus 0.2 per annual drop of 4.4 per cent last year. Eurozone economy suffers worst Ethiopia that killed 346 people. cent deeper than the same time last “Retailers have faced a challenging Until yesterday’s ruling, Boeing year, according to analysis of more year, as consumer confidence has con- had continued to produce 737 Max than 800,000 online and in-store tinued to fall amidst macroeconomic jets at a rate of 42 per month, even products by Deloitte yesterday. uncertainties. In addition, the intro- spell since 2012 amid weak year though deliveries remain frozen The Big Four accountancy firm has duction of Black Friday in recent years until regulators approve the predicted that price cuts could exceed means consumers have also come to JOE CURTIS 50.6 on IHS Markit’s Flash Eurozone aircraft to return to operation. 50 per cent on the night before Christ- expect an increasing amount of pre- @joe_r_curtis purchasing managers’ index (PMI) The move will likely hit the mas, adding to this season’s steep dis- Christmas discounting,” said Jason Composite Output Index yesterday. firm’s global supply chain and land counting after a record Black Friday Gordon, lead consumer analytics THE EUROZONE’s economy is stuck Anything below 50 represents a a punch on the US economy. Supply promotional period. partner at Deloitte. in its worst spell in six years, contraction. chains are already squeezed as a The prediction came on the same He added: “The result is a blending economists warned yesterday, after While services sector figures in the result of record demand. day as Springboard revealed that an of promotions, one seeping into the it failed to gain momentum at the Eurozone PMI hit a four-month high Boeing’s shares took a four per anticipated lull in trading post Black next, and a steady price decline rather close of 2019. at 52.4, manufacturing’s recession cent hit at market close yesterday, Friday came to pass, with a drop in than a steep Boxing Day drop, remi- Output barely increased in deepened over the month, falling and fell a further one per cent footfall across UK retail destinations niscent of Christmases past.” December, registering a score of just from 47.4 in November to 45.9. after hours.

By the side of business in London

Working with the business, we supported Jude’s Ice Cream with the finance to build a new dairy and increase their expected annual turnover by 50%.

By the side of business 04 NEWS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM Former Serco directors charged with fraud over eletronic tagging contract ANNA MENIN and false accounting in relation to forward to the opportunity of @annafmenin representations made to the Ministry clearing his name”. of Justice between 2011 and 2013, the Serco was fined £19.2m in July as THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) has SFO said. part of a deferred prosecution deal charged two former Serco executives Woods has also been charged with after it overcharged the Ministry of with fraud and false accounting as false accounting in relation to the Justice for an electronic tagging part of an investigation into the 2011 accounts of Serco subsidiary contract. outsourcing giant’s electronic Serco Geografix. The SFO said it could At the time Serco said it was tagging contract. not comment on the charges as the “mortified” by the case, and said Nicholas Woods and Simon investigation is still active. Serco Geografix had taken Marshall yesterday were both charged A solicitor for Woods said he responsibility for three offences of with fraud by false representation “denies the allegations and looks fraud and two of false accounting.

TheAshley controversial founder was toasting considers revenue and profit growth yesterday bonus giveaway amid rates alarm

JESS CLARK October, with gross revenues increas- @jclarkjourno ing 14 per cent to £2.04bn. Sports Direct — which will be re- SPORTS Direct shares soared over 30 branded as Frasers Group after a vote per cent yesterday as the retailer yesterday — said it was likely that posted a jump in profit and said it more House of Fraser stores would was beginning to see the “green close next year, although Ashley shoots of recovery” at House of Fraser. refused to disclose the number of Owner Mike Ashley said that he was branches that might be affected. considering introducing an employee Ashley, who has come under fire share bonus scheme for full-time from politicians in the past for employees. “We would like to have a working practices at his retailers, £100m pot,” he said. used the results as a chance to hit out Ashley added: “We would probably at Westminster. like to see 50 millionaires and 500 He described the business rates sys- people get £100,000 each.” tem as “broken and unworkable” and He said he was considering putting warned that some of his stores would such a scheme to investors at the shutter in “months, not years” if the firm’s next annual general meeting. issue was not addressed. Sports Direct’s share price surged Prime Minister Boris Johnson prom- 31.2 per cent to 472.2p as the com- ised a fundamental review of the sys- pany posted a jump in profit in the tem in his successful Conservative first half of the year. manifesto. Sports Direct said the profit hike “These are people’s jobs, and these was driven by an increse in premium are serious issues,” said Ashley, calling lifestyle sales due to new Flannels the system “unintelligible”. stores and a full-period contribution “Why don’t we give old Boris a call from House of Fraser. this afternoon and say ‘if you can do Profits before tax increased 160 per things quickly, why can’t you sort the cent to £193.4m in the 26 weeks to 27 rates out?’” he added. Crossrail warned about fatigue CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE In March, a worker was involved in a serious near-miss, in an incident in- A spokesperson for Crossrail said: “The volving a train and a mobile platform. Crossrail project has a good safety That month, Wild reported that record and we continue to see an im- near-misses and injuries had reached proving trend in safety performance their highest level in over a year. by our contractors following a decline Contractor Jacobs also speculated in performance earlier this year.” that tiredness may be to blame, saying Correspondence between the Lon- that it was “observing some signs don Assembly Transport Committee of ‘programme fatigue’” among and Crossrail chief Mark Wild showed construction workers. that Crossrail held a “special health Crossrail launched a review into and safety meeting” with contractors contractor fatigue in July, after a scaf- in December 2018 to discuss increases folder fell and bruised his leg and the in high potential near misses. near-miss rate peaked. However, the near-miss rate contin- Unite assistant general secretary Gail ued to rise throughout the year, as the Cartmail said the figures were “dis- railway became operational. turbing but not surprising”. TRADING 06 NEWS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM Sadiq Khan turns on Corbyn after election debacle

STEFAN BOSCIA as leader and deputy leader respec- @Stefan_Boscia tively. Long-Bailey is known to be a favourite of shadow chancellor John THE FALLOUT from Labour’s historic McDonnell. election defeat continued yesterday, as Writing in the i, Khan said that “no London mayor Sadiq Khan urged Je- amount of spin can even begin to de- remy Corbyn to step down “quickly.” flect from the disaster of losing the Khan criticised the Labour leader for fourth election in a row following a his role in the party’s landslide defeat, decade of damaging austerity by the saying much of it had to do with him governing party”. not being “credible”. “If we are truly honest with our- Despite the official leadership con- selves, Labour simply did not put for- test not kicking off until January, the ward a credible candidate for prime race has already descended into acri- minister or a believable set of priorities mony, with shadow foreign secretary for governing,” he added. Emily Thornberry threatening to sue Khan spent the days leading up to outgoing MP Caroline Flint. the election campaigning alongside a Flint alleged the re-elected Thorn- number of Labour candidates in Lon- berry had told her: “I’m glad my voters don and on election day called on all aren’t as stupid as yours” — a claim Londoners to vote for the party to en- Thornberry vigorously denies. sure a “fairer, more equal city for all Reports last night suggested Corbyn Londoners”. allies Rebecca Long-Bailey — the But yesterday he said Corbyn should shadow business secretary — and An- resign “quickly”, adding: “But the gela Rayner — the shadow education changes we have to make do not end secretary — were lining up a joint bid with his leadership”.

Morgan has been made a life peer in the House of Lords as part of the change Nicky Morgan keeps culture role in Tories’ first cabinet reshuffle ANDY SILVESTER due course. @silvesterldn Speculation was growing last night that Zac Goldsmith, who had NICKY Morgan sensationally retained been an environment minister, her role as culture secretary last night could also take up a seat in the Lords despite standing down as a member to continue in that role despite of parliament before the election. losing his Richmond Park seat to the Morgan had been the Conservative Liberal Democrats. MP for Loughborough but opted not A wider reshuffle is expected in to stand for re-election. February. Johnson and his chief aide However, she will now be made a Dominic Cummings are believed to peer in the House of Lords in order be planning a wider reorganisation to take up the role she was first of Whitehall, including the merger appointed to in the summer. of departments and the In a small reshuffle of government appointment of so-called ministers last night PM Boris technocrats into civil service Johnson also appointed Carmarthen departments. MP Simon Hart as Welsh secretary. Johnson is understood to be Nick Hurd was formally removed looking at rolling the functions of from his office as minister for the Department for International London, having also stood down as Development into the Foreign and an MP. A replacement has not been Commonwealth Office, and to announced but City A.M. understands abolish the Department for Exiting that the position will be filled in the European Union. CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS 07

FUEL THROTTLE Aramco hits $2 trillion as market value rises for a fourth session

SHARES in Saudi Aramco continued to rise for a fourth day in a row yesterday, with the firm’s value topping $2 trillion (£1.5 trillion) as shares hit 38 riyals (760p). Demand looks set to rise further when Aramco is added to global indices this week. Nightmare goes on for Tullow as shares fall again

EDWARD THICKNESSE At the beginning of the year man- @edthicknesse agement announced that production 10.18% could hit 100,000 bpd in the second TULLOW Oil’s nightmare half of 2019. December continued yester- The firm was dealt a double blow in day after shares dropped over 10 per November when problems with its cent, a week after the oil explorer lost Ghana drilling operations, which led more than £1bn of its market value. to a reduction in output, were com- Shares closed at 60.9p, having pounded by a heavy crudes find at a opened at 67.8p. Last week shares had new site off the coast of Guyana. staged a slow comeback, having previ- Last Friday analysts at S&P Global ously fallen as low as 39.9p. Ratings downgraded Tullow’s credit The earlier plunge followed the rating to “B” from “B plus” after the resignation of chief executive Pat Mc- production guidance cuts. Dade, who quit along with explo- Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at ration director Angus McCoss, after Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Tullow’s the company cut its production guid- shares have been hit by the combina- ance for the coming years. tion of target price downgrades by The Africa-focused firm said that analysts and, more significantly in total oil production for 2019 would our opinion, a cut to its credit rating now be 87,000 barrels per day, down by S&P. from an earlier forecast of 89,000. “The question now is whether Tul- However, next year’s production is low can generate sufficient cash to predicted to average between 70,000 cover its liabilities in the short term. and 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), The firm is now extremely exposed to while over the next three years it the oil price and it may hinge on expects an average of 70,000 bpd. whether we see a bounce or not.”

IN BRIEF GRESHAM HOUSE ENERGY ENERGY MARKET SET FOR FUND ADDS TO PORTFOLIO RECORD YEAR OF SWITCHING Gresham House Energy Storage Fund The amount of customers who have (Grid) yesterday announced that it had switched energy supplier this year is on bought two of the UK’s largest battery track to be the largest ever, according to storage facilities as it continues to new data from industry body Energy expand its portfolio. The two facilities, UK. So far this year 5.8m people have in Kent and Cumbria, have a combined changed provider, matching the record capacity of 50 megawatts and were number of customers who switched in bought from VLC Energy for £29.2m. the whole of 2018. The trade body The acquisition increases the total reported that 502,817 customers capacity of operational utility-scale switched in November, up 1.2 per cent battery storage projects in the fund’s on the same month last year. The investment portfolio to 125 megawatts. figures showed that almost a third of Grid also announced that it would the switches – 159,409 – were from purchase a 49 megawatt project at the large suppliers to small and mid-tier Red Scar business park in Preston, providers, suggesting that Big Six which is currently being energy suppliers are still struggling to commissioned. The fund is also set to stem the flow of people looking increase its capacity by another 105 elsewhere for services. Over the last five megawatts next year, with three further years the number of customers storage projects earmarked for switching providers a year has almost purchase. doubled in total.

CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS 09

YACHT THE HELL? More 100-metre long superyachts being built than ever before First Group shareholder voices his support of firm’s sale of US branch ARCHIE MITCHELL American assets. of their investments. “The shares “Today is a victory for the should reflect the true value of the A MAJOR First Group shareholder shareholders, because at least they breakup right now,” he said. has welcomed the firm’s decision to get transparency into what the First Group has come under consider a sale of its US businesses. company’s intentions are,” said increasing pressure from Tchenguiz The transport giant yesterday said shareholder Robert Tchenguiz, and other investors including Coast it has appointed advisers to review who owns a 4.7 per cent stake in the Capital Management to sell off its US its US school bus and public transit transport firm. divisions, which include First arms, adding that it will “explore all He added he hoped divesting from Student and First Transit. options” a month after a sinking the US would boost First Group’s First Group’s share price climbed share price pushed two big investors market cap to the extent that 5.9 per cent to 125.4p following to urge it to dump its North shareholders could realise the value the announcement. REV OCEAN THE NUMBER of 100-metre-plus superyachts currently being built is at its highest in history, with 21 of the mammoth vessels under construction. According to research, the total number of superyachts — boats over 24 metres long — being built is 807. Thomas Cook’s Introducing: failure left £9bn The Artful Trader Confidence uncovered in net liabilities The Artful Trader podcast series comes to the UK. Being a trader takes confidence: in the markets; in your ALEX DANIEL group were wound up on 8 November. strategy; in yourself. Join us as we uncover confidence with @alexmdaniel The Official Receiver will report sepa- rately about them “in due course”. former tennis grand slam champion Pat Rafter, author and THOMAS Cook collapsed with total li- Thomas Cook’s eye-watering liabili- abilities of £9bn, it emerged yesterday, ties come to even more than those of inspiration behind TV show ‘Billions’, Denise Shull, industry making the immediate financial toll outsourcer Carillion, which collapsed of the company going bust even in early 2018 owing £7bn in total. disruptors and more. greater than that of Carillion’s col- The notice to creditors showed that lapse in early 2018. only between £176m and £244m has In a report on the failure released been recouped through selling off yesterday, it emerged that the travel Thomas Cook assets such as retail operator owed £585m to customers outlets, aircraft landing slots, intellec- and £45m to employees when it hit tual property rights, subsidiary and theartfultraderpodcast.com the wall. joint venture businesses and the Meanwhile, £5.7bn was owed to collection of currency and cash from other group companies, and £1.7bn agency branches. was owed to banks and other lenders, The report showed that directors according to the Insolvency Service. put the group’s financial deteriora- “The position regarding intercom- tion down to certain factors, includ- pany trading, assets and liabilities is ing customer uncertainty caused by still to be fully determined,” senior of- Brexit, hot UK weather in the sum- ficial receiver and liquidator David mer of 2018 and a reduction in de- Chapman said. mand across the firm’s geographical The report only refers to 26 Thomas trading areas. Cook Group companies which were The report also cited increased chal- wound up on 23 September. lenges from online competitors in di- A further 27 UK companies in the rectors’ listed reasons for the collapse. South Western rail strikes set to continue until end of December Trade your way ALEX DANIEL Now, it looks set to drag on until Spread betting & CFDs: @alexmdaniel the end of the month, after union sources told City A.M. there is no plan FX | Indices | Cryptos | Commodities | Shares STRIKES across one of London’s to get back around the table this busiest railway networks are week. That would make it the longest increasingly likely to run for the rail strike in history, after already whole of December, after the process having caused misery for Londoners of arranging peace talks between and commuters across the south west union bosses and South Western for more than two weeks. Railway has stalled. The union and South Western had Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money The 27-day rail strike called by the previously been trying to set a date rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/ Rail, Maritime and Transport for negotiations which could end the or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread Workers (RMT) Union has caused strike under the auspices of bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. chaos for the first 16 days of conciliation service Acas, but that December. process has come to a halt. 10 NEWS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM Ofwat orders water firms to cut average bills by £50

JOE CURTIS Under the plans, average bills Although they are all expected to AND EDWARD THICKNESSE would drop by 12 per cent before complain to the Competition and @joe_r_curtis @edthicknesse inflation. Markets Authority, the response Northumbrian has been tasked has been reserved so far, with WATER firms must slash the aver- cutting its average bill by over a companies keen to stress the strides age bill by £50 by 2025, regulator quarter, from £429 to £319 in they have already made. Ofwat insisted yesterday as it set 2024/25, while Hafren Dyfrdwy, Sev- Peter Simpson, chief executive of out plans to improve the utility ern Trent’s Welsh subsidiary, must Anglian Water said: “We are confi- providers’ performance. only reduce bills by three per cent. dent about the plan submitted and The demand forms part of a mas- Speaking to City A.M., Ofwat direc- worked very closely with our cus- sive £51bn investment strategy for tor David Black, who headed up the tomers and stakeholders, to ensure water companies under Ofwat, in- price review process, described the that our programme of work up to cluding a goal to cut the amount of plans as “readily achievable.” 2025 was going to deliver the right water lost to leaks by 16 per cent. He added that the challenge for outcomes for our customers, our Anglian Water has faced scrutiny as thousands have had no water in Leighton Buzzard “Water companies need to crack utility providers would likely be in region, and our environment.” on, turn this into a reality and trans- improving their services packages. Industry trade body boss Christine form their performance for every- The regulator shocked the indus- McGourty said: “[The] announce- ANNOUNCEMENTS one,” Ofwat chief executive Rachel try in July by rejecting all but three ment is a highly important one as Fletcher said. water providers’ business plans for the industry looks to deliver for cus- Ofwat will implement the new 2020 to 2025. tomers and for the environment, LEGAL AND PUBLIC NOTICES plan in April 2020, as it seeks to re- Yorkshire, Anglian, Northum- today and in the future... Compa- duce pollution incidents by 30 per brian, Southern and Thames Water nies will now take time to work CITY OF LONDON cent and get water firms to set aside are thought to be facing the worst through all the details as they con- over £1bn to deal with flooding. of the fallout from the decision. sider the implications of this.” 1RWLFH LV KHUHE\ JLYHQ WKDW WKH &RPPRQ &RXQFLO RI WKH &LW\ RI /RQGRQ DV WUDIÀF DXWKRULW\ IRU WKH undermentioned streets made several orders on 12 December 2019 under Section 14(1) of the Road 7UDIÀF5HJXODWLRQ$FWDVDPHQGHGE\WKH5RDG7UDIÀF 7HPSRUDU\5HVWULFWLRQV $FW7KH HIIHFWRIWKHVH2UGHUVZLOOEHWRSURKLELWYHKLFOHV RUSHGHVWULDQVZKHUHVWDWHG IURPHQWHULQJWKHVDLG URDGV ANNOUNCEMENTS Poultry (Mansion House Street to Grocer’s Hall Court) ---- Utility Works )URPDPRQ0RQGD\-DQXDU\WRSPRQ6XQGD\)HEUXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWH:%YLD 4XHHQ9LFWRULD6W&DQQRQ6W 1HZ&KDQJH(%YLD1HZ&KDQJH&DQQRQ6W *UDFHFKXUFK6W LEGAL AND PUBLIC NOTICES Cheapside %RZ/DQHWR1HZ&KDQJH ---- Utility Works )URPDPRQ0RQGD\-DQXDU\WRSPRQ0RQGD\-XO\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWHYLD:%YLD4XHHQ CITY OF LONDON 9LFWRULD6W&DQQRQ6W 1HZ&KDQJH(%YLD1HZ&KDQJH&DQQRQ6W *UDFHFKXUFK6W FORUM Whittington Avenue (Leadenhall Street to Leadenhall Market) ---- Building Site The Tories THE PLANNING ACTS AND THE ORDERS AND REGULATIONS MADE THEREUNDER )URP DP RQ7XHVGD\  -DQXDU\ WR SP RQ 0RQGD\ $SULO  $OWHUQDWLYH URXWH YLD This notice gives details of applications registered by the Department of The Built Environment /HDGHQKDOO6W%LOOLWHU6W)HQFKXUFK$YH/LPH6W /HDGHQKDOO3ODFH Code: FULL/FULMAJ/FULEIA/FULLR3 – Planning Permission; LBC – Listed Building Consent; Salisbury Court ((Fleet St to Salisbury Sq), Salisbury Square (Salisbury Crt to Dorset Rise) Dorset must Rise (entire length) ---- Utility Works TPO – Tree Preservation Order; OUTL – Outline Planning Permission DPRQ0RQGD\-DQXDU\WRSPRQ6DWXUGD\-DQXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWHYLD6DOLVEXU\ tackle &UW)OHHW6W%RXYHULH6W7XGRU6W 'RUVHW6W3DUNLQJED\VWREHVXVSHQGHG 1 - 12 Long Lane, London, EC1A 9HF The Counting House Public House, 50 Holborn *UD\·V,QQ5RDGWR%URRNH6WUHHW ---- Utility Works domestic 18/01020/FULMAJ Cornhill, London, EC3V 3PD DPHDFK6DWXUGD\WRSPHDFK6XQGD\IURPWR-DQXDU\WR-DQXDU\ WR)HEUXDU\ Demolition of existing buildings and structures 19/01233/FULL $OWHUQDWLYHURXWH(%YLD*UD\·V,QQ5G&OHUNHQZHOO5G5RVHEHUU\$YH)DUULQJGRQ5G)DUULQJGRQ issues to basement level and construction of a 10 ,QVWDOODWLRQRIWKUHHÁDJSROHV 6W/XGJDWH&LUFXV)OHHW6W)HWWHU/Q1HZ)HWWHU/Q +ROERUQ&LUFXV VWRUH\ RIÀFH EXLOGLQJ ZLWK EDVHPHQW DQG ORZHU Fenchurch Street /OR\GV$YHQXHWR$OGJDWH --- Mobile Crane alongside EDVHPHQW &ODVV %  >VTP *($@ ZLWK Ashley Building, Middle Temple Lane, SPHDFK)ULGD\WRDPHDFK0RQGD\IURP-DQXDU\WR-DQXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWH(%YLD retail (Class A1/A3) [842sq.m GEA] at ground London, EC4Y 9BT 0LQFLQJ/Q*UHDW7RZHU6W%\ZDUG6W7RZHU+LOO0LQRULHV*RRGPDQ·V

CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS 13 Pearson secures Home Kier appoints new chairman Office contract to give in tough year

ARCHIE MITCHELL

English language tests CONSTRUCTION firm Kier has appointed a new chairman after a JAMES WARRINGTON accepted by the Australian and New turbulent year to date that has seen Zealand governments for all visa the struggling outsourcer’s market @j_a_warrington applications, as well as by 98 per cent cap fall more than 75 per cent. PUBLISHING and education firm Pear- of UK universities. The deal will add 165 cinemas and 1,695 screens to Cineworld’s portfolio Matthew Lester will step down son yesterday said it has won a Home Despite the announcement, shares from the board at Barclays to take up Office contract to provide English lan- in Person dropped as much as one the role in January, replacing guage tests for people seeking to work per cent yesterday, bucking a wider Cineworld set to buy Canadian outgoing chairman Philip Cox. or live in the UK. upward trend for the FTSE. His appointment comes during an The FTSE 100 company said it has se- “We are proud that the UK govern- attempted turnaround in which Kier cured a deal lasting a minimum of ment joins the Australian and New operator in $2.1bn acquisition has announced 1,200 job cuts and the three years to provide Secure English Zealand governments in recognising sale of non-core divisions, including Language Tests (SELTs), which are this test for visa applications, along- property and environmental services. used for visa, settlement and citizen- side thousands of leading universities JESS CLARK of next year. Lester said: “I am delighted to be ship applicants to demonstrate a cer- across the globe who already accept it Cineworld said the acquisition, joining Kier as its chairman. I look tain level of ability in English. for study purposes — including most @jclarkjourno which values Cineplex at CA$34 per forward to working with the board to Pearson won a similar contract with UK universities,” said Rod Bristow, CINEWORLD yesterday agreed to buy share, will create annual pre-tax deliver the group’s strategic priorities the Australian Home Office in 2014, president of Pearson UK. Canadian operator Cineplex for combination benefits of $130m by and in continuing to build the and the division has now become a “Our new English language test PTE $2.1bn (£1.57bn). the end of 2021. foundations for its future.” key area of growth for the company. Home has also been accepted by the The deal, which will add 165 The cinema chain’s largest Lester was the chief financial The Pearson Test of English (PTE) UK government for those who need to cinemas and 1,695 screens to shareholder Global City Theatres, officer of Royal Mail and has held pulled in revenue of £77m last year, prove their speaking and listening Cineworld’s portfolio, is subject to which holds an approximate 28 per senior finance positions at Diageo. up from just £14m in 2015. skills when applying for family visas, shareholder approval and is cent stake, has agreed to vote in Kier’s share price rose 5.8 per cent The digital test is currently for instance,” he added. expected to complete in the first half favour of the acquisition. to 96.3p on the announcement. SPD’s Huawei plan puts German coalition at risk

JAMES WARRINGTON However, the conservative dictate that suppliers from Chancellor is facing a backlash from countries where “state influence @j_a_warrington coalition colleagues, as well as without constitutional supervision, GERMAN Chancellor Angela members of her own party, who manipulation or espionage cannot Merkel’s coalition have called for a fiercer be ruled out” would be government could be clampdown on the “categorically excluded” from all plunged into further controversial Chinese parts of the network. conflict today as the tech firm. However, SPD members will today Social Democrats hold an internal vote on the plans (SDP) vote on a German Chancellor following objections from the proposal to block Angela Merkel has been government. Huawei from the met with SPD backlash Despite growing political country’s 5G pressure, Germany’s three major network. The SPD and Merkel’s operators — who are all Huawei The government has Christian Democratic customers — have warned a ban announced plans to Union last week agreed a would slow down the rollout of 5G. toughen up scrutiny of plan that would make it more Last week Telefonica Deutschland, telecoms suppliers, but has stopped difficult for Huawei to take part in the country’s second-largest short of excluding any country Germany’s 5G rollout. telecoms firm, chose both Huawei or company. The proposals, seen by Reuters, and Nokia to build its network.

IN BRIEF UBER PREPS $400M SALE OF POST OFFICE WORKERS WIN DEPARTMENT STORE CHAIN INDIAN DELIVERY BUSINESS MAJOR HIGH COURT RULING BEALES IN FINANCING TALKS Uber is said to be in talks to sell its Hundreds of former Post Office Iconic department store chain Beales Indian food delivery business to local employees yesterday won a major is said to have drafted in advisers as it rival Zomato in a deal worth roughly victory in their ongoing legal battle with looks to explore potential refinancing $400m (£299m). The ride-hailing giant is the firm after the High Court ruled in options. looking to offload Uber Eats in India to their favour. More than 550 The 138-year-old company has called Zomato as part of its plan to reach subpostmasters at the Post Office first in KPMG to head up a review which profitability by 2021, according to filed a lawsuit against the company in could involve it exiting a number of several media reports. One source told April 2016 over accusations of fraud, stores, according to Sky News. Sources the Financial Times the move followed theft and false accounting after using told the broadcaster Beales wanted to Uber’s disappointing initial public the firm’s Horizon IT system. Many negotiate rent reductions with some of offering earlier this year, which had left workers were left bankrupt and the owners of its 22 UK stores. A the company needing to “think about imprisoned over the allegations. statement about the strategic review is burning cash”. “Uber needed to be one Yesterday, a High Court judge ruled that expected to be made today. The chain or two in India otherwise it would pull the Horizon accounting system that the is thought to be keen to explore debt- out. I don’t think the brand will continue subpostmasters had been forced to use raising options that would help it in India,” the person said. Shares in was not “remotely robust”. Justice speed up its restructuring. The review Uber were up 5.5 per cent yesterday to Peter said an early version of the IT of the business comes after a turbulent $30.05. Zomato was founded in India in software was riddled with severe period of trading for many of Britain’s 2008 and has secured backing from Ant defects that led to a “significant and best-known retail names. In the last 12 Financial, a fintech affiliate of the material risk” of branches sufferings months a number of major high street Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba. It is from “bugs [and] errors”. Post Office chains have collapsed into India’s second-largest food delivery firm chief executive Nick Read said the administration or embarked on behind Swiggy. A Zomato spokesperson postal firm was taking measures to put controversial cost-cutting measures said the firm did not comment on “postmasters and our customers at the amid rising costs and growing speculation. centre of the business”. competition. 14 NEWS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM LONDON’S BUILDING (BUT NOT VERY WELL)

2019 has been a bumper year for delays, cost overruns and stinging criticism of some of London’s biggest infrastructure projects. Alex Daniel finds out what went wrong

ORIS Johnson “loves infra- the pavement for most people, more But this is Europe’s biggest infra- HIGH SPEED 2 organisers were unable to raise the structure”. At least, that’s than a decade after it was signed off. structure project. Sooner or later, HS2 seems to grow more expensive by necessary funds to carry on, and the what the Prime Minister said The list of delays is staggering. First Khan may well have to look at the the minute. The ambitious rail line plug was pulled in 2017. In its place is Bwhen he was asked about the it was pushed back to autumn 2019; work going on beneath the surface. will one day connect London to Birm- a £43m black hole in public coffers — HS2 rail project on the cam- then, to December 2019; then again, ingham, Manchester and Leeds. Or at part of the eye-watering £53m final paign trail earlier this month. to late 2020; and then once more, BATTERSEA POWER STATION least, that is what bosses hope. cost of the failed project, revealed And it is just as well. Because some when Crossrail boss Mark Wild said Another conundrum for London A final decision is yet to be made. earlier this year. of London’s biggest infrastructure there was no chance of it opening in authorities is an extension of the And last month, a leaked draft of the The Garden Bridge Trust, which problems are creaking at the seams. 2020. Now, the official message is that Northern Line to the landmark rede- government-commissioned review managed the project since November If the PM were not so keen on building the line will open “as soon as practi- velopment at Battersea Power Station, into the project cast yet more doubt on 2015, has subsequently been accused things, managers might be getting cally possible” in 2021 — City A.M. which is running at least a year late. how much it will actually contribute of “squandering public money” on the twitchy. encourages readers to believe it when It was hoped the line would be ready to the UK. HS2 was supposed to pro- ill-fated venture. In fact, 2019 has been a blockbuster they see it. next year. Now? September 2021 at the vide a cost benefit to the taxpayer of To boot, a recent report from the Lon- year for things going wrong on some And as it turns out, time is money. very earliest. £2.30 for every £1, but that has now don Assembly shed light on the bad of the capital’s most high-profile — Last month, it emerged that costs had And above ground, things are not dropped as low as £1.30, according to spending choices that allowed the and high-risk — projects. Crossrail, spiralled to as much as £18.3bn — looking much better. In March, it review chairman Douglas Oakervee’s bridge to get as far along the road as it Battersea Power Station and HS2 have £2.35bn over budget. Of course, the re- emerged the £9bn project — which estimates. did. It included the decision to award all faced soaring costs and mounting ceived wisdom surrounding Crossrail will create 25,000 new jobs and 20,000 Even Boris Johnson recently admit- £21.3m of construction contracts delays. Meanwhile, the failed Garden is that, despite it all, the project will new homes — was so far behind its ted HS2’s £88bn price tag, revised up- before planning permission had been Bridge, once beloved by Johnson, more than pay for itself in the long- plans that hundreds of people who wards from £55.7bn in 2015, would granted, £400,000 on a gala dinner has been the subject of even more run, with the benefits to Londoners bought flats there will be allowed to likely break the £100bn barrier. and £160,000 on its website. Transport derision than in previous years. far outweighing the harm caused by reclaim their deposits and walk away. Meanwhile, it is unlikely to be fin- for London was ordered to give more As 2019 draws to a close, City A.M. the sky-high bills and jarring delays. Battersea Power Station is vast ished in its entirety before 2040. That than £5m to the Trust to pay back dis- takes a look back at some of the “The Jubilee Line extension suffered enough to envelop St Paul’s Cathedral. was also revised up by seven years over gruntled donors including Bloomberg, key moments in the life of London’s similar issues,” wrote Emma Long in London authorities will hope that, the summer. Britain will have had four Glencore and Royal Mail. most troubled schemes. City A.M. last month. “Almost doubling despite recent hiccups, it does not new governments by then (or possibly One donor paid £3,200 at auction for in cost during the six years it took to grow into an even bigger problem in more than 10, based on the current the privilege of playing table tennis CROSSRAIL complete, the project was at first the coming years. rate of change). Any one of them could with Boris Johnson. They got their In an alternate universe, Londoners deferred by a year, then another chuck the project on the scrapheap. money back. As for the British tax- are getting the tube directly from two months. Eventually the first payer? Absolutely not. Woolwich to Heathrow terminal five phase opened in May 1999, with the GARDEN BRIDGE in less than an hour. That is how long entire line opening later that year.” Garden Bridge was meant to have the BODGE THE BUILDER? it will take on the Elizabeth Line, “Though the project earned serious utopian charm befitting a city still in It’s not all bad. Work will finally start according to Crossrail’s journey plan- criticism at the time, where would we a state of euphoria after London’s on the desperately needed Silvertown ner tool — handily placed on the be without these stations now?” 2012 Olympic triumph. The brainchild Tunnel link next year. But in a capital chronically delayed infrastructure Nevertheless, the expense has Khan may well of Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna whose economy runs on smart deci- project’s website. proven a growing headache for Khan, Lumley, it was envisaged as a traffic- sions, tight budgets and creativity, the Snap back to reality, however, and who has been accused of being too have to look at the free link across the Thames brimming record on infrastructure projects is that tool — though very much real — hands-off with the project. with trees and flowerbeds, offering dire. Businesses will hope that the is incongruous. After years of hitches, His response to that claim in May? “I work going on views of the City from the South Bank. next decade leaves the capital with a budget overruns and managerial don’t get to see the ducks’ legs. I get to beneath the But this is 2019. Times have darkened. smoother ride on London’s biggest changes, Crossrail remains nothing see the ducks moving swiftly across There is no bridge. projects than the previous 10 years more than an abstract concept below the lake.” surface Eventually, it became clear that the have provided. CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 19 DECEMBER 2019 LIFE&STYLE 15 TRAVEL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

ountains have loomed large in mankind’s collective imagination for centuries; Mtheir colossal, towering THE ENCHANTING form a constant reminder of our own ephemerality. Rising ma- jestically from powder blue horizons they provoke a dual sense of both un- attainable awe and an irrepressible desire to conquer. It’s this subsequent ISLAND OF TAIWAN exploration of the sublime that lures us through the cloud-topped peaks, where the dazzling vistas offered at summits serve as a constant reminder that the journey is always worth it, in spite of adversity. That’s why more of us than ever are donning hiking boots and setting off in search of the un- known, and why Taiwan has become a must-visit for every discerning ad- venturer. A spectacular state in East Asia reachable by direct flights from the UK, Taiwan is an island blessed with enchanting natural beauty. With a spine of jagged spikes cutting through its centre, it’s home to nine national parks, 13 national scenic areas, and more than 200 peaks, which soar skywards past the 3000- metre mark. Each area boasts its own unique geographical features, which range from tropical forests and walled gorges to dramatic sea cliffs and abundant wildlife — small won- der that when Portuguese sailors first sighted the uncharted island they noted it on their maps as Ilha For- mosa or the ‘beautiful island’. It’s this wildly intoxicating land- scape, created by a tussle between two merciless tectonic plates, that’s proven to be the biggest draw for in- ternational hikers. They come in hope of scaling mountainsides, careering down canyons, and spotting as much indigenous wildlife as possible along the way. And what they often discover on arrival is that all this natural won- der is totally accessible, thanks to well marked hiking trails that crisscross the island and a world class trans- Hehuan Mountain portation network that delivers them directly to the foot of the giants, or in the case Mt. Hehuan, right into the Taiwanese middle of it. In fact, even the island’s indigenous people highest peaks can be reached by bus from the coastal flatlands, and many can even be seen from the capital city of Taipei. One such mountain is Xueshan, or Snow Mountain as it’s known. Meas- uring 3,886m above sea level, Xue- shan registers as Taiwan’s second highest peak and on a clear day when the sun bursts down from above, it’s visible from the hills surrounding Taipei. Because of its stature, Xueshan is loved by both locals and tourists alike, making it one of the island’s most popular hiking destinations. Ar- riving at the summit of this particu- larly beautiful mountain takes two days and is widely considered the quintessential Taiwan hike — those Alishan looking for a jam-packed taster of the island’s exceptional outdoor offerings find it by the bucketload here. summit, particularly at daybreak and to go in search of adventure on two an intrinsic part of every visit to the 2000 artefacts. Elsewhere and many make haste for dawn. wheels are also well catered for — island. For comfortable stays, there’s Indeed, Taiwan has an abundance to Yushan, keen to secure the accolade And, while it’s perfectly geared up that’s why the island has earned a jus- a fabulous selection of hotels, inns, explore, and with the second Euro- of having scaled Taiwan’s tallest peak. for mountaineering, those who prefer tified reputation as a cyclists’ para- and B&Bs lining each hiking path, for pean branch of the Taiwan Tourist Measuring at 3,952m above sea level, dise. A series of both simple and example, while for authentic experi- Board opening in London at the end Yushan’s snow cover in winter has challenging routes wind through the ences, there are plenty of wild camp- of December, it’s more accessible earned it the nickname of Mt. Jade, island’s dazzling scenery, showcasing ing spots to pitch the tent and spend than ever. Take the opportunity to primarily because its peak glistens be- a mesmerising juxtaposition between the night stargazing. The island is dive into its gastronomy, culture, neath the frozen ice like a sparkling coast and cliffside, sea and mountain. also peppered with naturally occur- communities and nature and emerge green gemstone. Despite its size, A big sense of community among cy- ring hot springs, perfect for easing enriched. This one-of-a-kind destina- Yushan can be hiked relatively easily clists also pervades here — many Tai- tired legs, either in a state of seclu- tion really is a true Ilha Formosa. by hikers of all levels (with the rele- Reachable by wanese are keen cyclists themselves — sion or total luxury. And of course, it’s vant permits obtained in advance) direct flights from and that makes for a safe, adrenalin- also home to 16 tribes of Taiwanese £ Read more online at: www.taiwan.net.tw which adds to its popularity. Never- fuelled cycling experience that few indigenous peoples — some with his- theless, it’s a mountain that manages the UK, Taiwan is ever forget. tory dating back as far as 5,000 years £ Or why not visit us at our new office to retain indescribable magic — be- Aside from the high octane activi- — whose unique cultures can still be opening in London on the 17th December cause of its altitude, for instance, an island blessed ties that thrust visitors into the beat- experienced either in 2019. Taiwan Tourism Bureau UK Office, clouds often collect in the surround- with enchanting ing heart of Taiwan’s scenery, a person, or at places like the Shung Ye 5th Floor, Bowman House , ing valleys and that makes for some wealth of options exist to slow the Museum of Formosan Aborigines, 29 Wilson Street, truly breath-taking vistas from the natural beauty. heart rate, so relaxation also becomes which has a collection of over London EC2M 2SJ 16 NEWS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM PARTNER CONTENT STREAM TEAM Twitch sued for £2.1bn by Russian company STREAMING service Twitch is THE GLASS IS being sued by one of Russia’s biggest internet companies over pirate broadcasts HALF FULL of English Premier League games. Rambler Group alleges its broadcasting rights were breached by the service more than 36,000 times between August and November. Twitch’s lawyer has called Rambler’s case “unfounded”. Franco Manca expansion slices owner Fulham Shore’s profit

ARCHIE MITCHELL 10 new restaurants in the next finan- openings as well as increased cus- cial year. tomer numbers in our restaurants.” FRANCO Manca owner Fulham The company paid out £1.3m in Franco Manca serves sourdough LONDON CITY AIRPORT Shore yesterday revealed that profit interest on bank loans and overdrafts pizza and has spread from rapidly halved in the six months to the end for the period. But it said its debt pile from a stall in Brixton village to over of September, despite higher revenue “remained at a manageable level as 51 restaurants across the country. Robert Sinclair,Chief Executive as it continues to expand. planned” of £8.8m, down slightly The chain has proved more of London City Airport The restaurant chain owner saw from 2018’s £8.9m. resilient to difficult high street trad- profit before tax sliced in half from Fulham Shore counted £1.7m in ing that has claimed Jamie Oliver’s £1.5m last year to just £743,000 in its cash on hand at the end of Italian restaurants and knocked latest half-year period as it poured September and said “a modest divi- Pizza Express to its knees. money into opening six new Franco dend will be considered by the The UK’s top 100 restaurants lost ow do you sum up a year like City is fit for the future – able to serve Manca pizzerias and one new outlet board” at the end of its financial £93m in total over the last year com- H2019? It would be easy to more passengers and, crucially, the of the Real Greek. year, though investors will not see an pared with a profit of £37m a year dismiss it as a year of gridlock next generation of cleaner, quieter The dent to earnings came despite interim payout. earlier, research by UHY Hacker over Brexit, threats to our security aircraft. a 9.3 per cent year-on-year jump in Fulham Shore chair David Page Young has shown. and way of life, and businesses revenue to £36m. said: “The performance was driven Fulham Shore shares fell 3.1 per having to deal with some It plans to open between eight and by seven successful new restaurant cent to 10.9p following the update. unfavourable headwinds. But I’m more optimistic about what the country has achieved this year. For all the political and economic uncertainty, unemployment is at its There is good ANNOUNCEMENTS lowest level for 45 years, businesses reason to be NEWSLETTERS continue to invest, showing LEGAL AND PUBLIC NOTICES confidence in Britain’s fundamentals, positive about our and international visitors have long-term arrived in their tens of millions. That The biggest CITY OF LONDON is not to say that there are not prospects and 1RWLFH LV KHUHE\ JLYHQ WKDW WKH &RPPRQ &RXQFLO RI WKH &LW\ RI /RQGRQ DV WUDIÀF DXWKRULW\ IRU WKH pressing needs facing our society, but stories direct undermentioned streets will make several Orders on 27 December 2019 under Section 14(1) of the place in the world. 5RDG7UDIÀF5HJXODWLRQ$FWDVDPHQGHGE\WKH5RDG7UDIÀF 7HPSRUDU\5HVWULFWLRQV $FW there is good reason to be positive to your inbox 7KHHIIHFWRIWKHVH2UGHUVZLOOEHWRSURKLELWYHKLFOHV RUSHGHVWULDQVZKHUHVWDWHG IURPHQWHULQJWKH about our long-term prospects and VDLGURDGV place in the world. Many people say we are a barometer Salisbury Court (Fleet Street to Salisbury Square) ---- Mobile Crane The UK Government became the for the success of the City so these DPWRSPHDFK6DWXUGD\IURP)HEUXDU\WR)HEUXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWHYLD)OHHW6W%RXYHULH first country to commit to a 2050 results also reflect London’s enduring 6W7XGRU6W 'RUVHW5LVH$IIHFWHGSDUNLQJED\VWREHVXVSHQGHG5HPDLQGHURI6DOLVEXU\6TXDUHDQG target for net-zero carbon and UK appeal and show we remain an 'RUVHW5LVHWREHPDGHWHPSRUDU\WZRZD\IRUDFFHVV innovation continues to thrive, with outward looking and truly global city. Threadneedle Street 0DQVLRQ+RXVH6WUHHWWR%DUWKRORPHZ/DQH ---- Carriageway Works everything from vegan sausage rolls So, what does 2020 hold? While I am DP6DWXUGD\-DQXDU\WRSP6XQGD\-DQXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWH(%YLD/RPEDUG6W.LQJ :LOOLDP6W *UDFHFKXUFK6W to energy-tech companies like Igloo, no clairvoyant, the result of Prince’s Street (Lothbury to Mansion House Street) ---- Carriageway Works who have disrupted the sector to Thursday’s General Election looks DP 6DWXUGD\  -DQXDU\ WR SP 6XQGD\  -DQXDU\   $OWHUQDWLYH URXWH 6% YLD /RWKEXU\ make our homes more energy likely to clear the political fog that *UHVKDP6W.LQJ6W 3RXOWU\ efficient. has engulfed Westminster. We at Old Bailey %LVKRSV·V&RXUWWR6W*HRUJH·V&RXUW ---- Mobile Crane I’m proud to say that 2019 has been London City Airport, like all of the DPHDFK6DWXUGD\WRSPHDFK6XQGD\IURP)HEUXDU\WR)HEUXDU\ )HEUXDU\WR)HEUXDU\ a year of success for London City readers of City AM, want to support $OWHUQDWLYHURXWH1%YLD/XGJDWH+LOO$YH0DULD/Q:DUZLFN/Q 1HZJDWH6W6%YLD Airport and we will finish the decade the Government, collaborating on 1HZJDWH6W:DUZLFN/Q$YH0DULD/Q/XGJDWH+LOO 2OG%DLOH\ with more than 5 million passengers matters of critical national Artillery Lane %LVKRSVJDWHWR6DQG\·V5RZ ---- Building Maintenance in a year for the first time in our importance – like ensuring we have )URPDP0RQGD\)HEUXDU\WRSP6XQGD\0DUFK$OWHUQDWLYHURXWHYLD%LVKRSVJDWH 0LGGOHVH[6W:LGHJDWH6W 6DQG\·V5RZ history. To give you some context, the infrastructure to meet demand Great Winchester Street there have been 74 days this year and customer expectations. This is GET THE  -XQFWLRQZLWK2OG%URDG6WUHHW ---- Utility Works DPRQ0RQGD\-DQXDU\WRSPRQ)ULGD\-DQXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWHYLD2OG%URDG6W where we served over 18,000 essential if we are to create a country MORNING /RQGRQ:DOO *UHDW:LQFKHVWHU6WRU*UHDW:LQFKHVWHU6W/RQGRQ:DOO0RRUJDWH6RXWK3ODFH passengers and 12 days with over where businesses can thrive and from %ORPÀHOG6W/RQGRQ:DOO:RUPZRRG6W%LVKRSVJDWH7KUHDGQHHGOH6W 2OG%URDG6W5HPDLQGHU 20,000. And that is with more or less which communities can benefit. UPDATE, CITY RI*UHDW:LQFKHVWHU6WWREHPDGHWHPSRUDU\WZRZD\IRUDFFHVV the same infrastructure that we had As we enter the twenty-twenties, A.M.’S DAILY Great Winchester Street -XQFWLRQZLWK/RQGRQ:DOO ---- Utility Works when we opened in 1987, handling there are reasons to be very DPRQ)ULGD\-DQXDU\WRSPRQ6XQGD\)HEUXDU\$OWHUQDWLYHURXWHYLD*UHDW:LQFKHVWHU 6W2OG%URDG6W /RQGRQ:DOO5HPDLQGHURI*UHDW:LQFKHVWHU6WWREHPDGHWHPSRUDU\WZRZD\ 133,000 passengers in the first year. optimistic about Britain continuing to EMAIL IRUDFFHVV And we will enter the next decade be a force for global good. having achieved carbon neutral I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing (QTXLULHVWR7UDIÀF0DQDJHPHQW6HUYLFHVRQ status for the airport’s operations, and rejuvenating festive period and a having already reduced the carbon prosperous new year. &DURO\Q'Z\HU%(QJ +RQV  'DWHG 17 December 2019 emissions we control by more than '06&0,/7)&,+7 30% in the last five years. This has 'LUHFWRURIWKH%XLOW(QYLURQPHQW been done at a time when the airport £ If you are interested, or want to CITYAM.COM/ has grown by more than 40% and we know more, please visit: NEWSLETTER are investing now to ensure London www.londoncityairport.com CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 MARKETS 17

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HOLLYWOOD BOWL US-China deal and P 280 Wall St indices 270 275 16 Dec 260 hit new highs 250 Brexit hope turbo ALL Street stocks notched 240 Wrecord closing highs yesterday 230 as cooling trade tensions between Washington and Beijing and upbeat economic data from China charge UK shares 10 Dec 11 Dec 12 Dec 13 Dec 16 Dec boosted investor sentiment. The Dow surpassed its November It’s looking like growth across all lanes for bowling operator Hollywood Bowl, who closing high, while the S&P 500 and are making striking progress, with a special dividend issued for the third Nasdaq marked record closes for the consecutive year. With big plans for the new year, including a new bowling centre third straight session. The Dow Jones RITISH shares continued to Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct leapt 31 in York, Liberum analysts reiterate a “buy” rating with a target price of 265p. Industrial Average rose 100.51 points, power higher yesterday as a per cent, its biggest ever one-day gain, or 0.36 per cent, to 28,235.89, the S&P preliminary US-China trade after the retailer forecast core earnings 500 gained 22.65 points, or 0.71 per Bdeal and hopes of an orderly growth of as much as 15 per cent this VAN ELLE cent, to 3,191.45 and the Nasdaq Brexit after UK Prime Minister financial year . Composite added 79.35 points, or 0.91 P Boris Johnson’s election victory saw in- Tullow Oil dropped 10 per cent after 45 per cent, to 8,814.23. vestors flock to perceived riskier assets ratings agency S&P Global cut its long- Shares of United Health Group and such as equities. term credit rating. 39.72 Amgen jumped after Goldman Sachs The benchmark FTSE 100 soared 2.3 16 Dec added both companies to its 40 per cent, its biggest one-day percentage FTSE “conviction list”. United Health shares gain in nearly a year, while the mid- rose 2.3 per cent, and Amgen shares cap FTSE 250 surged 1.9 per cent and 7,600 P moved 2.7 per cent higher. hit a new all-time high. Boeing shares fell 4.3 per cent, 7,500 35 Both moves followed hefty gains in 7,519.05 limiting gains on the Dow, on reports the previous session. 7,400 16 Dec that the aeroplane maker was Markets breathed a sigh of relief after 7,300 10 Dec 11 Dec 12 Dec 13 Dec 16 Dec considering whether to cut or halt production of its grounded 737 Max US trade representative Robert 7,200 Lighthizer said a phase one trade deal Piling firm Van Elle has had to rely on its deep foundations of late, due to a aircraft. with China was “totally done,” boost- 7,100 subdued rail market, but it’s yet another stock that could benefit from the General The S&P 500 posted 77 new 52-week ing trade-exposed UK stocks including Election. With clarity on HS2 expected early in the New Year, Peel Hunt analysts highs and the Nasdaq index recorded HSBC, Burberry and miners. 10 Dec11 Dec 12 Dec 13 Dec 16 Dec think there could be a pick up in activity: they say “hold”, with a 40p target price. 225 new highs and 54 new lows. CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS

MIRA and advisory services and joins MIRA from PwC where been instrumental to its success and continued ROXI Macquarie Infrastructure and she was most recently head of energy, utilities and expansion over the last year. He has significant Music streaming and entertainment firm Roxi has Real Assets (MIRA) has resources. Leigh Harrison, head of MIRA in Europe, the experience in the consumer finance sector. Prior to appointed advertising and media industry veteran announced the appointment Middle East and Africa, said: “Utilising Anna’s deep joining Future Finance, he held vice president roles at Rupert Howell as independent non-executive of Anna Elmfeldt as managing understanding of Nordic markets and significant Goldman Sachs, where he ran the Speciality Finance chairman. Rupert has previously served various senior director and head of Nordics. experience in the infrastructure sector [will] further Group, and UBS, where he worked in the Student Loan roles such as managing director and executive director In her new role Anna will be grow our local investment portfolio and relationships.” Group. He also founded and ran White Pine Advisers, a of ITV, and executive director of Reach. Roxi’s responsible for identifying new corporate advisory firm focused on the speciality shareholders include Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow investment opportunities in FUTURE FINANCE finance sector. Jeffrey commented on his and Alesha Dixon. Rob Lewis, founder and chief the Nordics for MIRA’s suite of Private student lender Future Finance has announced appointment: “Future Finance plays an incredibly executive of Roxi, said: “With his extensive branding infrastructure and real asset the appointment of Jeffrey Jackson as its new chief important role in enabling access to higher education and media experience, we are excited to have Rupert funds. She will also oversee executive, subject to obtaining the necessary for students who might otherwise not be able to afford join the management team at Roxi. His expertise in asset management activities and engagement with regulatory approvals. Jeffrey is promoted from his role it. With over £100m lent [so far]... I look forward to publishing, technology and entertainment spheres... stakeholders for MIRA across the region. Anna has as group chief financial officer and head of capital working with our excellent team to build on our many makes him a perfect chairman for Roxi as we prepare more than 17 years of experience in corporate finance markets. Jeffrey joined Future Finance in 2018 and has successes to date.” for growth and flotation.”

To appear in CITYMOVES please email your career updates and pictures to [email protected] NEWS Hargreaves Lansdown hires former Private equity funding Schroders executive to firm’s board to fall after record year ANNA MENIN asset management and investment Schroders’ sales and client service ANNA MENIN including Blackstone, Leonard Green @annafmenin experience, adding further breadth to activities worldwide. @annafmenin and KKR raised record sums. the knowledge base and skills of the Troiano will seek election by The total sums for 2020 could drop HARGREAVES Lansdown has recruited group board.” said Hargreaves chair Hargreaves Lansdown’s shareholders PRIVATE equity fundraising next year below this mark, according to analyst Schroders’ global head of distribution Deanna Oppenheimer. at the company’s annual general may fall below the record levels seen Dylan Cox. But if such a drop does John Troiano to join its board as an She added that Troiano’s meeting on 8 October 2020. in 2019 as large firms shift their focus occur, it doesn’t mean the sector is independent non-executive director. appointment “reflects the ongoing The financial services firm has on to capital deployment, analysts slowing down or that “allocations Troiano will join the board when he focus we have in ensuring strong courted headlines recently after its have predicted. have cooled”, Cox added. retires from Schroders at the end of governance.” billionaire founder Peter Hargreaves Firms will also try to hold on to Instead, fundraising totals may fall 2019, after 38 years as global head of During his tenure at Schroders, donated £1m to the Conservative some of their top performing assets while large firms focus on allocating distribution at the firm. Troiano worked across the firm’s party ahead of last week’s General for longer in 2020, according to a the record capital raised in 2019, as He will also join the board of retail and institutional divisions. Election. Hargreaves’ donation was note from private equity data firm well as embarking on new fundraising Hargreaves’ subsidiary asset managers In his role as global head of the largest given to the Tories over the Pitchbook. efforts that may not close until 2021. Hargreaves Lansdown Fund Managers distribution he oversaw the election campaign. Private equity fundraising in Europe “While 2020 private equity fundrais- and the group’s board risk committee. responsibility for the design and Hargreaves Lansdown’s shares were has already set an annual record in ing is sure to be strong... there are “I’m delighted to welcome John to implementation of business strategy up seven per cent to 2,088.66p at the 2019, with $342.9bn (£257.1bn) raised currently few funds in the market tar- the group board. [He] brings global globally and the oversight of bell yesterday. by mid-November as large firms geting more than $10bn,” said Cox. 18 MARKETS TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM

FTSE 100 FTSE 250 FTSE ALL SHARE DOW JONES NASDAQ S&P 500 /€ 1.1968 Ä 0.0024 €/$ 1.1139 Ã 0.0012 7519.05 21920.69 4183.97 28235.89 8814.23 3191.45 /$ 1.3330 Ä 0.0018 €/£ 0.8356 Ã 0.0017 165.61 412.90 88.94 100.51 79.35 22.65 £ /¥ 146.19 0.3300 €/¥ 122.17 0.5400 ÃÃÃÃÃÃ ÃÃ Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low GILTS ELECTRICITY Templeton Em Mkts .....810.0 9.0 829.0 670.0 JD Sports Fashion ...... 810.0 27.2 810.0 318.5 Signature Avi ...... 324.9 0.0 406.0 266.2 Hiscox ...... 1398.0 28.0 1777.0 1213.0 Softcat ...... 1157.0 45.0 1176.0 565.0 AIM 50 Vietnam Enterprise ..... 470.0 -2.5 509.0 421.5 Just Eat...... 790.0 0.0 812.0 570.6 RSA Ins Gp ...... 575.6 5.4 597.0 496.7 Sophos ...... 550.2 -0.8 577.0 298.2 Tsy 4.750 20 ...... 100.92 -0.02 104.8 100.9 Contour Global...... 208.0 0.0 222.5 159.1 LEISURE GOODS Abcam ...... 1410.0 29.0 1500.0 1017.0 VinaCapital Vietna ...... 333.0 1.5 357.5 323.0 Kingfisher...... 224.0 2.1 266.2 185.9 OIL & GAS PRODUCERS SUPPORT SERVICES Tsy 8.000 21...... 110.85 -0.12 117.9 110.8 Drax Gp ...... 322.0 8.6 413.8 251.0 Games Workshp ...... 5890.0 200.0 5890.0 2800.0 Advanced Medical ...... 272.0 5.0 354.5 225.0 Witan Invest ...... 229.0 6.0 229.0 189.6 Marks & Spencer ...... 228.9 5.3 303.2 163.9 Tsy 2.500 24 ...... 358.77 -1.01 377.9 358.8 SSE ...... 1459.5 44.0 1459.5 1008.0 LIFE INSURANCE BP ...... 468.0 5.5 582.5 462.4 Aggreko ...... 855.8 25.8 855.8 693.2 Wwide Healthcare ....3095.0 65.0 3095.0 2325.0 Next ...... 7340.0 150.0 7340.0 3991.0 Alliance Pharma ...... 78.4 -0.7 80.4 60.0 Tsy 5.000 25 ...... 122.39 -0.29 126.0 122.4 ELECTRONIC & ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT Cairn Energy...... 191.3 4.3 213.8 140.0 Ashtead Gp ...... 2385.0 72.0 2450.0 1586.5 FIXED LINE TELECOMMUNICATIONS Aviva ...... 428.0 12.2 438.8 352.3 ASOS...... 3000.0 10.0 4066.0 2107.0 Tsy 4.250 27 ...... 127.75 -0.33 132.8 125.2 Pets at Home Gp ...... 282.4 2.4 283.0 113.3 Energean Oil & Gas ...... 923.0 0.0 1082.0 594.0 Babcock Intl Grp...... 641.0 9.6 641.0 416.7 Halma ...... 2146.0 72.0 2151.0 1301.0 Lancashire Hldgs ...... 768.5 16.0 768.5 561.5 Tsy 6.000 28 ...... 145.76 -0.41 152.1 143.1 BT Gp ...... 207.0 5.3 250.1 158.9 Sports Direct Intl ...... 472.2 112.2 472.2 214.0 Premier Oil ...... 93.4 -1.7 106.2 55.6 Blue Prism ...... 1037.0 62.5 1472.0 788.0 Morgan Advanced ...... 322.6 7.0 322.6 232.4 Legal & General ...... 317.7 12.4 317.7 216.7 Bunzl ...... 2100.0 39.0 2551.0 1943.0 Tsy 4.125 30 ...... 373.58 -2.20 404.2 364.2 Talktalk Telecom ...... 112.0 7.0 126.5 96.5 Vivo Energy ...... 129.4 0.4 139.5 111.4 Royal Dutch Shell A....2175.5 23.0 2612.0 2144.5 Camellia ...... 8975.0 25.0 11750.0 8600.0 Oxford Instruments .. 1534.0 18.0 1626.0 853.0 Phoenix Gp ...... 752.0 22.8 752.0 555.0 Capita ...... 183.0 7.5 183.0 99.9 Tsy 4.250 32...... 138.54 -0.49 146.4 132.4 Telecom Plus ...... 1522.0 36.0 1528.0 1130.0 Watches of Switz ...... 320.0 0.0 338.8 270.0 Royal Dutch Shell B ...2160.0 24.5 2622.0 2126.5 Caretech Holdings ...... 401.0 3.0 405.0 325.0 Renishaw ...... 3998.0 14.0 4670.0 3232.0 Prudential ...... 1442.5 54.5 1790.0 1279.5 DCC ...... 6576.0 106.0 7496.0 5750.0 Tsy 4.250 36 ...... 146.09 -0.61 155.7 137.5 FOOD & DRUG RETAILERS WH Smith...... 2574.0 64.0 2574.0 1697.0 Tullow Oil ...... 60.9 -6.9 250.0 39.9 Spectris ...... 2944.0 30.0 2944.0 2188.0 St James Place ...... 1199.5 51.0 1199.5 913.6 Diploma ...... 2026.0 51.0 2026.0 1150.0 Central Asia Metals ....220.0 0.0 266.5 180.0 Tsy 4.750 38...... 160.51 -0.74 171.8 150.0 HEALTH CARE EQUIPMENT & SERVICES OIL EQUIPMENT & SERVICES EQUITY INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS Greggs ...... 2244.0 72.0 2476.0 1257.0 Std Life Aberdeen ...... 325.8 10.8 325.8 231.1 Electrocomp ...... 691.8 20.4 729.8 480.0 Clinigen Group ...... 888.0 22.5 1069.0 721.0 Tsy 4.250 46 ...... 166.75 -1.04 181.0 151.7 Convatec ...... 191.0 -0.2 202.8 118.5 Equiniti ...... 216.2 5.2 236.2 186.2 3i Infrastructure ...... 295.0 0.0 306.5 253.3 Morrison (WM) ...... 202.1 6.2 245.8 176.9 MEDIA Hunting ...... 409.2 7.2 657.0 363.8 CVS Group ...... 1092.0 29.0 1105.0 395.0 AEROSPACE & DEFENCE Ocado Gp ...... 1259.5 20.0 1435.0 749.8 Mediclinic Intl ...... 411.6 7.8 411.6 293.4 Petrofac ...... 401.0 7.7 559.0 381.5 Essentra ...... 449.0 6.0 449.0 325.4 Aberforth Smlr Cos ..1546.0 62.0 1546.0 1114.0 4imprint ...... 3070.0 10.0 3130.0 1800.0 Dart Group ...... 1661.0 82.0 1661.0 709.5 Sainsbury(J) ...... 229.5 6.3 293.9 177.1 NMC Health ...... 2585.0 121.0 3000.0 1801.5 Wood Gp(J) ...... 389.9 16.7 598.6 319.6 Experian ...... 2507.0 60.0 2631.0 1843.0 BAE Systems ...... 581.4 6.8 588.2 443.9 Alliance Trust ...... 830.0 12.0 838.0 672.0 Ascential ...... 363.4 2.6 411.0 319.0 Diversified Gas & Oil ....101.5 -0.5 116.5 97.0 SSP Group ...... 671.0 11.0 721.0 608.0 Smith & Neph...... 1771.0 36.5 1990.0 1396.0 PERSONAL GOODS Ferguson ...... 6690.0 38.0 7004.0 4800.0 Cobham ...... 163.7 0.3 168.3 96.8 AVI Global Trust...... 775.0 9.0 781.0 660.0 Auto Trader Gp ...... 596.8 23.0 606.0 436.2 Draper Esprit ...... 497.0 11.0 548.0 410.0 Tesco ...... 258.9 7.6 258.9 189.6 UDG Hlthcare ...... 799.0 -3.5 832.5 551.0 G4S ...... 221.5 5.6 234.3 168.3 Meggitt ...... 669.8 12.8 669.8 458.0 Baillie Gifford Japan ...822.0 3.0 840.0 663.0 Burberry Gp...... 2169.0 49.0 2345.0 1623.5 Entertainment One ...... 557.5 0.5 589.0 336.4 Hays ...... 182.6 5.2 182.6 135.7 Eland Oil & Gas ...... 165.8 0.4 165.8 101.0 QinetiQ ...... 354.0 0.0 354.0 267.0 Bankers InvTst ...... 977.0 11.0 977.0 766.0 FOOD PRODUCERS HOUSEHOLD GOODS PZ Cussons ...... 194.2 -2.4 227.0 178.6 Euromny Inst Inv...... 1280.0 -8.0 1498.0 1132.0 Homeserve ...... 1260.0 15.0 1266.0 849.0 EMIS Group ...... 1118.0 12.0 1242.0 864.0 Rolls-Royce ...... 705.0 18.6 988.4 686.4 BlackRock Smaller ....1694.0 44.0 1694.0 1170.0 Assoc British Foods....2631.0 32.0 2631.0 2041.0 Barratt Devel ...... 774.2 9.2 774.2 439.1 Future ...... 1340.0 -22.0 1572.0 465.0 PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECHNOLOGY Intertek Gp ...... 5690.0 180.0 5962.0 4608.0 Fevertree Drinks ...... 2124.0 34.0 2475.0 1732.5 Senior ...... 186.3 4.5 239.2 174.0 BMO Global Smaller .....146.6 4.5 146.6 122.0 Bakkavor ...... 149.6 1.6 170.0 93.3 Bellway ...... 3888.0 57.0 3888.0 2456.0 Informa ...... 824.2 19.2 892.0 605.8 AstraZeneca ...... 7394.0 177.0 7580.0 5325.0 IWG...... 419.0 7.4 421.9 199.8 Ultra Electronics ...... 2086.0 -20.0 2252.0 1232.0 Caledonia Inv ...... 3150.0 0.0 3150.0 2770.0 Cranswick ...... 3322.0 62.0 3408.0 2472.0 Berkeley Grp Hldgs ....5214.0 72.0 5214.0 3342.0 First Derivatives ...... 2690.0 -45.0 3555.0 2050.0 ITV ...... 156.5 3.9 156.5 103.6 Dechra Pharma ...... 2790.0 100.0 3036.0 2022.0 Network Int...... 589.0 1.0 628.0 513.0 AUTOMOBILES & PARTS City of London IT ...... 441.0 11.0 441.0 376.0 Greencore Gp ...... 281.8 7.6 281.8 162.8 Frontier Devs ...... 1200.0 -28.0 1254.0 740.0 Bovis Homes Gp ...... 1399.0 39.0 1399.0 831.0 Moneysupermkt.com ...322.7 13.0 417.7 269.8 Genus ...... 3246.0 0.0 3246.0 2146.0 Pagegroup ...... 533.0 13.5 539.0 367.8 Edin Inv Trust ...... 644.0 27.0 652.0 535.0 Hilton Food Gp ...... 1052.0 0.0 1088.0 894.0 Gamma Comms ...... 1295.0 60.0 1295.0 730.0 Aston Martin...... 578.0 21.2 1374.4 399.3 Countryside Prop ...... 474.4 5.6 474.4 277.6 Pearson ...... 653.8 -6.2 1027.5 628.0 GlaxoSmithKline ...... 1764.2 39.2 1782.0 1436.0 Paypoint...... 1000.0 14.0 1118.0 748.0 European Opp ...... 831.0 12.0 875.0 666.0 Tate & Lyle ...... 748.0 -1.8 800.4 658.4 TI Fluid Systems ...... 243.5 1.0 243.5 155.2 Hikma Pharma ...... 1917.5 27.0 2200.0 1510.5 Rentokil Initial ...... 442.3 15.8 467.8 319.0 GB Group ...... 755.0 17.0 755.0 420.0 F&C Investment ...... 749.0 13.0 749.0 616.0 Unilever ...... 4630.5 85.5 5324.0 3941.0 BANKS MAIN CHANGES UK 350 REAL ESTATE Sanne Group ...... 725.0 -3.0 752.0 450.0 Gooch & Housego ...... 1335.0 10.0 1527.5 954.0 Fidelity China SPE ...... 222.5 3.5 250.0 183.4 FORESTRY & PAPER Serco ...... 165.0 7.4 165.0 94.5 Hurricane Energy ...... 31.1 -2.1 53.6 29.8 Barclays ...... 192.5 10.0 192.5 136.2 Fidelity Euro Values ....254.5 3.5 257.5 202.0 Risers % Fallers % Assura ...... 78.5 0.5 79.3 52.5 Mondi ...... 1726.0 29.5 1898.0 1510.5 Ã Ä SIG ...... 129.2 1.8 153.0 99.3 BGEO Group ...... 1600.0 27.0 1755.0 1252.0 Fidelity Spec Val ...... 275.5 5.0 275.5 220.0 Sports Direct Intl...... 472.20 31.2 Tullow Oil ...... 60.90 -10.2 Big Yellow Gp ...... 1153.0 -22.0 1192.0 858.5 Impax Asset Mgmt ...... 345.0 -17.5 362.5 184.0 GENERAL FINANCIAL Travis Perkins...... 1692.5 67.5 1692.5 1012.0 HSBC Hldgs...... 585.5 10.9 680.6 552.3 Finsbury G&I Tst ...... 912.0 22.0 958.0 741.0 Talktalk Telecom ...... 112.00 6.7 Virgin Money UK ...... 205.10 -5.3 BMO Comm Prop ...... 120.4 2.4 132.8 106.0 Iomart Group ...... 365.0 1.5 398.0 308.0 TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE & EQUIPMENT Lloyds Banking ...... 67.2 2.9 67.2 48.6 GCP Infra Inv ...... 132.4 0.6 132.4 122.6 3i Group ...... 1107.5 36.0 1184.5 756.2 Computacenter...... 1702.00 6.6 Mitchells & Butlers ...... 447.50 -4.0 British Land ...... 631.0 8.8 638.4 468.3 IQE...... 47.7 -1.7 98.0 41.8 Balfour Beatty ...... 270.40 6.3 Marstons ...... 126.90 -2.4 Royal Bank of Scot ...... 261.0 9.2 270.4 177.7 Genesis Emerging ...... 770.0 9.0 785.0 628.0 Ashmore Gp ...... 503.5 11.5 542.5 356.0 Captl & Count Prop .....260.9 7.1 270.5 184.8 Spirent Comms ...... 221.0 -2.5 223.5 114.6 James Halstead ...... 546.0 16.0 546.0 420.0 Synthomer ...... 345.60 6.3 Big Yellow Gp ...... 1153.00 -1.9 Standard Chartered .....721.2 16.4 736.8 575.7 Greencoat UK ...... 151.2 2.0 151.2 124.4 Brewin Dolphin ...... 375.0 11.4 375.0 287.6 CLS Hldgs ...... 312.5 14.5 312.5 209.0 TOBACCO Hargreaves Lans ...... 2073.00 6.1 Premier Oil ...... 93.38 -1.7 Johnson Service Gp .....199.2 3.2 199.2 114.0 TBC Bank Group...... 1346.0 6.0 1706.0 1150.0 Harbourvest Glb ...... 1760.0 32.0 1786.0 1334.0 Close Brothers ...... 1663.0 38.0 1663.0 1227.0 Daejan Hldgs ...... 5640.0 120.0 6160.0 4715.0 Royal Mail...... 250.50 5.9 Future ...... 1340.00 -1.6 Br Am Tob ...... 3172.0 133.0 3197.5 2375.0 Keywords Studios ...... 1438.0 38.0 1838.0 900.0 Virgin Money UK ...... 205.1 -11.5 220.1 104.4 Herald Inv Trust ...... 1514.0 36.0 1514.0 1055.0 Coats Group ...... 73.8 2.2 91.3 68.1 Derwent London ...... 3970.0 32.0 3970.0 2779.0 FirstGroup ...... 125.40 5.9 PZ Cussons ...... 194.20 -1.2 Imperial Brands ...... 1804.8 39.6 2713.5 1668.2 Learning Tech Gp ...... 133.8 11.4 133.8 62.2 BEVERAGES HICL Infr ...... 171.8 2.4 174.0 156.6 Finablr ...... 210.0 0.6 215.0 140.2 Grainger ...... 306.2 8.4 306.2 205.8 Stagecoach Gp ...... 163.00 5.7 Spirent Comms ...... 221.00 -1.1 TRAVEL & LEISURE JPM American ...... 475.0 7.0 494.5 386.5 Hargreaves Lans...... 2073.0 120.0 2433.0 1633.0 Grt Portland Est ...... 871.0 7.6 871.0 649.4 M&C Saatchi ...... 115.0 5.0 394.0 79.0 Barr (AG) ...... 580.0 5.0 975.0 540.0 Kainos Gp ...... 730.00 5.5 Puretech ...... 276.00 -1.1 JPM Emerg Mkt ...... 1014.0 10.0 1066.0 834.0 IG Gp...... 705.0 9.0 705.0 474.8 Hammerson ...... 310.0 14.2 388.4 203.9 Carnival ...... 3316.0 4.0 4430.0 3056.0 M.P. Evans ...... 741.0 16.0 741.0 612.0 Britvic ...... 916.0 -2.5 1068.0 786.0 JPM Indian IT ...... 737.0 -3.0 790.0 633.0 Integrafin Holdings .....440.5 20.0 440.5 274.3 Crest Nicholson ...... 445.0 11.2 445.0 312.0 RELX ...... 1870.5 66.0 2011.0 1581.5 Land Securities...... 1001.0 -0.5 1001.5 735.4 Cineworld Group ...... 211.2 5.1 321.0 191.0 Coca-Cola HBC AG .....2498.0 20.0 3074.0 2299.0 Majestic Wine ...... 215.0 0.0 318.0 213.0 JPM Japan IT ...... 469.0 -2.0 476.0 367.0 Intermediate Capital .1601.0 39.0 1601.0 918.5 McCarthy & Stone...... 150.3 3.8 158.8 123.5 Rightmove Group ...... 649.0 8.0 649.0 420.9 LondonMetric Prop ...... 231.2 2.2 241.2 172.7 Compass Gp ...... 1861.0 22.5 2138.0 1583.0 Diageo ...... 3114.5 63.5 3625.5 2701.0 Midwich Group ...... 610.0 10.0 633.0 474.5 Jupiter Fund Mngt ...... 418.9 18.6 432.0 289.3 Intl Public Prtnshps ...... 167.0 3.4 167.0 146.8 Persimmon ...... 2826.0 10.0 2826.0 1836.0 WPP ...... 1031.5 8.5 1038.0 800.4 NewRiver Retail ...... 205.0 10.0 246.0 147.6 Dominos Pizza ...... 313.6 7.7 313.6 221.2 CHEMICALS Mortgage Advice B ...... 754.0 38.0 754.0 546.0 Law Debenture ...... 640.0 18.0 640.0 534.0 Investec ...... 457.8 15.8 518.6 395.3 Reckitt Benckiser ...... 6178.0 141.0 6688.0 5593.0 MINING Primary Hlth Prop ...... 153.2 1.8 153.2 108.8 easyJet ...... 1501.0 31.0 1501.0 854.8 IP Group ...... 71.2 3.5 122.0 55.7 Redrow...... 736.0 20.0 736.0 471.6 Safestore Hldgs ...... 777.0 4.5 778.0 506.5 Next Fifteen Comm ...... 487.5 -3.5 658.0 465.0 Croda International ..4910.0 34.0 5375.0 4564.0 Mercantile IT ...... 267.5 7.5 267.5 168.0 Anglo American ...... 2182.5 48.5 2266.0 1666.6 EI Group ...... 283.6 0.4 285.0 176.8 John Laing Gp ...... 369.0 4.4 402.0 321.4 Taylor Wimpey ...... 201.2 1.6 201.2 133.1 Savills ...... 1175.0 23.0 1175.0 678.5 Nichols...... 1585.0 2.5 1880.0 1350.0 Elementis...... 175.6 4.1 197.9 129.8 Monks Inv Tst ...... 950.0 13.0 964.0 710.0 Antofagasta ...... 933.8 4.8 1022.5 738.0 FirstGroup ...... 125.4 7.0 137.5 79.4 London Stock Exch .....7332.0 160.0 7514.0 3908.0 SEGRO ...... 880.8 12.8 894.0 585.2 Johnson Matt...... 2935.0 54.0 3454.0 2665.0 Murray Intl Tst ...... 1244.0 18.0 1248.0 1074.0 INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING BHP Group ...... 1778.4 40.2 2049.0 1563.0 Flutter Ent...... 8926.0 44.0 8926.0 5525.0 Numis Corporation ...... 295.0 6.0 295.0 212.0 Man Group ...... 159.3 2.5 175.2 128.9 Shaftesbury ...... 955.0 4.0 979.5 739.5 Synthomer ...... 345.6 20.4 420.8 279.0 NB Glbl Fltg Rate Inc ...... 91.9 0.5 91.9 87.6 Bodycote ...... 956.0 14.5 956.0 652.0 Centamin ...... 119.7 0.0 152.3 79.8 Go-Ahead Gp ...... 2176.0 50.0 2278.0 1480.0 Polar Capital Hdgs ...... 556.0 20.0 604.0 450.0 Onesavings ...... 452.0 7.0 452.0 313.6 St Modwen Props ...... 480.0 0.0 480.0 373.0 Victrex ...... 2500.0 52.0 2522.0 1845.0 Pantheon Intl Partn ..2480.0 15.0 2480.0 1960.0 Hill & Smith ...... 1505.0 18.0 1505.0 1049.0 Fresnillo ...... 589.4 17.0 1027.5 539.6 GVC Hldgs ...... 894.6 25.4 897.4 507.5 Purplebricks Gp ...... 115.0 0.0 132.0 96.0 Paragon...... 553.5 19.0 553.5 379.2 TR Property IT ...... 476.0 6.0 476.0 353.5 CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS Perpetual Inc & Grth ...339.5 11.0 339.5 284.5 IMI ...... 1200.5 14.5 1200.5 899.0 Glencore ...... 233.3 7.5 340.3 216.9 Intercontl Htls ...... 4995.0 105.0 5738.0 4230.4 Plus500 ...... 855.4 19.2 1647.0 495.0 Tritax Big Box ...... 145.9 1.4 159.7 130.1 Redde...... 108.8 2.2 127.6 100.6 Pershing Square ...... 1414.0 22.0 1570.0 990.0 Melrose Ind ...... 240.0 5.7 240.0 155.7 Hochschild Mining ...... 163.4 7.1 227.0 155.0 Intl Cons Airl...... 640.0 10.6 667.6 413.5 Balfour Beatty ...... 270.4 16.0 295.0 194.2 Provident Fin ...... 455.9 11.3 658.6 356.0 UK Commercial Prop .....91.0 1.8 92.7 79.9 Renew Holdings...... 500.0 5.0 500.0 333.0 Personal Assets Tst ....42250 400 43150 38900 RHI Magnesita ...... 3870.0 32.0 5000.0 3420.0 Kaz Minerals ...... 548.4 13.6 738.4 380.3 Marstons ...... 126.9 -3.1 131.4 90.5 CRH ...... 3015.0 30.0 3015.0 1971.5 Quilter ...... 164.9 5.6 164.9 112.2 Unite Group ...... 1227.0 27.0 1251.0 797.5 RWS Holdings ...... 620.0 -2.0 670.0 450.0 Polar Cap Tech Tst .....1550.0 50.0 1550.0 1066.0 Rotork ...... 339.0 6.2 341.2 237.7 Polymet Int...... 1178.0 13.0 1272.0 772.6 Mitchells & Butlers ...... 447.5 -18.5 470.5 238.0 Galliford Try...... 856.0 24.5 856.0 512.0 Rathbone Brothers .....2145.0 60.0 2540.0 2045.0 Workspace Gp ...... 1186.0 9.0 1186.0 789.5 Scapa Group ...... 224.0 -10.0 403.0 157.0 Renewables Infra Gp ...132.6 1.2 133.2 110.4 Spirax-Sarco...... 8935.0 335.0 9400.0 5900.0 Rio Tinto ...... 4410.0 89.5 4976.5 3643.0 National Express ...... 473.2 11.2 473.2 361.4 Grafton Group...... 917.0 28.5 937.0 630.0 Schroders ...... 3419.0 59.0 3419.0 2385.0 SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES RIT Cap Partners ...... 2165.0 10.0 2180.0 1892.0 Weir Gp ...... 1566.5 45.0 1814.0 1240.0 Sirius Minerals...... 3.5 0.0 24.3 2.9 PPHE Hotel Gp ...... 1930.0 -10.0 1990.0 1620.0 Secure Income REIT ..422.0 2.0 454.0 371.0 Ibstock ...... 295.4 12.6 295.4 193.1 TP ICAP ...... 416.0 14.9 416.0 270.0 Riverstone Energy ...... 416.0 7.0 1118.0 403.5 Avast...... 448.4 15.2 450.8 259.6 Rank Gp ...... 276.0 6.0 276.0 135.0 Serica Energy...... 121.4 -1.6 143.4 103.6 Marshalls ...... 855.0 34.0 855.0 446.0 INDUSTRIAL METALS MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS Schroder Asia ...... 462.0 8.0 469.5 389.0 GENERAL RETAILERS Aveva Gp...... 4614.0 72.0 4614.0 2284.0 Restaurant Grp ...... 161.8 6.8 161.8 111.9 Polypipe Group ...... 546.5 27.0 546.5 315.2 Evraz ...... 390.5 14.2 709.4 341.4 Vodafone Gp ...... 148.3 2.1 165.2 123.3 Smart Metering Sys.....579.0 -1.0 665.0 310.0 Scottish Inv Tst ...... 829.0 -3.0 843.0 748.0 B&M ...... 420.9 11.2 420.9 278.6 Computacenter...... 1702.0 105.0 1702.0 952.0 Stagecoach Gp...... 163.0 8.8 167.0 115.5 DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIALS Ferrexpo ...... 156.9 5.5 301.3 123.0 Telford Homes ...... 349.5 0.0 358.0 267.0 Scottish Mortgage ...... 532.0 9.0 568.5 441.4 Card Factory ...... 169.5 6.2 209.0 150.0 NONLIFE INSURANCE FDM Group...... 1012.0 16.0 1012.0 647.0 TUI AG ...... 990.8 16.4 1213.5 698.0 Thorpe (F.W.) ...... 335.0 12.0 340.0 248.5 Smith (DS) ...... 394.8 8.3 394.8 292.2 Sequoia Econ Infra ...... 116.0 0.0 117.6 108.5 Dixons Carphone ...... 149.0 4.0 150.0 104.9 INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION Admiral Gp ...... 2275.0 73.0 2300.0 1958.0 Kainos Gp ...... 730.0 38.0 730.0 430.0 Wetherspoon (JD) ...... 1653.0 37.0 1653.0 1066.0 Smiths Gp...... 1678.5 59.0 1692.0 1342.0 Smithson Inv ...... 1300.0 24.0 1304.0 1000.2 Dunelm Gp...... 1173.0 36.0 1173.0 503.5 Clarkson ...... 2850.0 0.0 2900.0 1878.0 Beazley ...... 555.0 12.0 628.0 492.6 Micro Focus Intl ...... 1091.8 39.2 2160.0 1004.0 Whitbread ...... 5152.0 191.0 5152.0 3988.0 Watkin Jones ...... 247.5 12.0 247.5 199.0 Smurfit Kappa Gp...... 2844.0 84.0 2844.0 2014.0 Syncona ...... 219.5 5.5 294.0 203.0 Howden Joinery Gp.....685.8 2.0 685.8 416.4 Fisher (James) ...... 2100.0 5.0 2260.0 1700.0 Direct Line Ins ...... 324.6 11.0 366.5 270.5 Playtech ...... 396.3 10.2 457.7 360.5 William Hill ...... 188.4 5.8 205.2 132.3 Young’s Brew NV ...... 1250.0 -10.0 1260.0 1030.0 Vesuvius...... 497.2 13.2 642.0 341.0 Temple Bar IT ...... 1482.0 58.0 1482.0 1116.0 Inchcape...... 687.0 -1.5 688.5 525.5 Royal Mail ...... 250.5 14.0 304.3 188.4 Hastings Gp Hldgs ...... 181.8 3.7 231.6 167.9 Sage Group ...... 742.2 9.8 820.4 567.0 Wizz Air Holdings ...... 3979.0 -34.0 4013.0 2722.0 Young’s Brew-A...... 1620.0 -20.0 1885.0 1322.5 EU SHARES US SHARES Price Chg High Low Price Chg High Low ADIDAS...... 285.80 7.20 296.35 180.10 3M ...... 170.75 1.96 219.50 150.74 AIR LIQUIDE ...... 124.75 1.00 130.80 102.40 ABBOTT LABORATORIES ...... 86.40 0.05 88.74 65.56 ALLIANZ AG ...... 221.20 1.50 223.80 172.16 ADOBE INC ...... 323.80 5.86 317.94 205.16 AMADEUS IT GROUP ...... 72.78 0.12 72.76 42.30 ALPHABET NON VTG-C ...... 1361.17 13.34 1350.27 976.22 ANHEUSER BUSCH INBEV ...... 71.77 1.56 92.71 57.35 ALPHABET-A ...... 1360.70 13.83 1348.49 1116.79 AMAZON.COM ...... 1769.21 8.27 2020.99 1343.96 ASML HOLDING NV ...... 263.00 3.15 259.85 130.88 AMERICAN EXPRESS ...... 123.68 -1.04 128.57 89.50 AXA ...... 24.96 0.18 25.38 18.54 APPLE INC ...... 279.86 4.71 275.15 142.19 BANCO SANTANDER ...... 318.35 8.10 402.00 295.05 AT&T ...... 38.59 0.33 39.63 27.36 BASF...... 68.85 0.47 74.49 56.20 BANK OF AMERICA ...... 34.70 0.26 34.68 22.73 BAYER AG...... 71.59 0.58 72.81 52.53 BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY...... 226.85 1.48 225.92 187.76 BBVA ...... 5.05 0.10 9.56 4.19 BOEING CO ...... 327.00 -14.67 432.69 294.16 BMW ...... 75.89 0.02 77.75 58.70 CATERPILLAR INC ...... 145.36 -0.17 148.16 113.38 BNP PARIBAS ...... 53.20 1.15 52.05 38.55 CHEVRON ...... 119.36 1.40 126.54 100.99 CRH ...... 3015.00 30.00 3015.00 1971.50 CISCO SYSTEMS ...... 45.98 0.68 58.05 40.28 DAIMLER ...... 50.86 0.23 59.31 40.53 CITIGROUP ...... 76.91 0.52 77.05 49.26 DANONE ...... 73.90 0.52 82.00 60.28 COCA-COLA CO ...... 54.42 0.00 55.77 44.69 DEUTSCHE POST AG ...... 34.91 0.28 34.62 23.72 COMCAST ...... 43.53 -0.05 46.97 33.07 DOW ...... 54.17 0.89 66.65 40.71 DEUTSCHE TELEKOM ...... 14.88 0.12 16.25 14.10 EBAY INC ...... 35.40 -0.08 41.57 26.14 ENEL ...... 6.94 0.01 6.98 5.01 EXXON MOBIL ...... 70.00 0.77 83.38 65.51 ENGIE...... 14.64 0.06 15.12 12.02 FACEBOOK ...... 197.92 3.81 204.87 174.60 ENI ...... 13.62 0.02 15.94 13.04 GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP ...... 228.04 3.04 226.05 156.35 ESSILORLUXOTTICA ...... 128.75 0.00 128.75 128.75 HOME DEPOT INC ...... 215.53 1.45 238.85 158.14 FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE ...... 66.18 0.22 76.32 56.64 HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL ...... 176.40 -0.58 182.01 124.83 IBERDROLA ...... 9.08 0.08 9.54 6.02 IBM ...... 134.13 -0.08 151.36 107.57 INDITEX ...... 31.10 0.55 32.37 2.55 INTEL ...... 57.70 -0.09 58.90 43.46 ING GROEP NV...... 10.86 0.16 12.05 8.34 JOHNSON & JOHNSON ...... 141.79 0.41 144.24 122.84 INTESA SANPAOLO...... 2.35 0.02 2.38 1.83 JPMORGAN CHASE & CO ...... 137.34 0.53 138.02 92.14 KERING ...... 578.60 16.60 562.00 380.70 MASTERCARD INC ...... 296.96 0.87 296.09 174.65 MCDONALD’S ...... 197.88 0.76 221.15 170.28 KON KPN NV ...... 2.62 0.01 2.96 2.47 MEDTRONIC ...... 114.54 1.02 113.52 82.45 L’OREAL ...... 261.20 4.90 265.00 195.25 MERCK & CO ...... 89.29 0.10 89.57 71.15 LVMH MOET HENNESSY ...... 409.70 5.90 408.65 243.65 COMMODITIES TOURIST RATES MICROSOFT ...... 155.53 1.00 154.53 94.13 MUENCHENER RUECKVE ...... 265.20 1.30 263.90 186.25 NETFLIX ...... 304.21 5.71 385.03 233.88 NOKIA ...... 21.88 0.00 21.88 21.88 Gold ...... 1478.10 +5.70 Copper Cash Official...... 6153.75 +57.75 Canada ...... 1.6754 New Zealand ...... 1.8886 NIKE INC ...... 98.81 1.04 97.77 67.53 ORANGE ...... 13.35 0.07 15.01 13.15 Silver (Pence) ...... 1693.50 +7.00 Aluminium Cash Official ...... 1763.00 +8.25 Croatia ...... 8.0726 Norway...... 11.51 ORACLE ...... 53.99 -0.52 60.15 42.69 ROYAL PHILIPS ...... 42.84 0.33 44.34 29.10 Silver (Cents) ...... 1265.00 -15.00 Nickel Cash Official ...... 14140.00 +335.00 Czech Republic ...... 28.14 Poland ...... 4.5143 PAYPAL HOLDINGS ...... 109.57 1.92 121.30 96.64 SAFRAN ...... 141.55 -3.20 149.90 100.70 Krugerrand ...... 1492.99 +9.35 Aluminium Alloy Cash Official ...... 1420.00 +35.00 Denmark ...... 8.5389 Singapore ...... 1.692 PEPSICO ...... 137.06 -0.88 140.28 118.61 SANOFI ...... 90.60 1.45 89.15 72.24 Brent Crude ...... 65.22 +1.02 Natural Gas ...... 35.17 -2.97 Hong Kong ...... 9.8939 Sweden ...... 11.98 PFIZER INC ...... 39.14 0.81 44.40 34.24 SAP SE ...... 124.72 0.56 124.38 85.79 Platinum ...... 933.00 -7.00 Tin Cash Official ...... 17197.50 +17.50 Iceland ...... 145.63 Switzerland ...... 1.2533 PROCTER & GAMBLE ...... 125.56 0.09 125.47 87.36 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ...... 93.74 1.24 92.50 57.58 British Sovereign ...... 348.85 +2.14 Zinc Cash Official ...... 2278.50 +50.00 India ...... 83.66 Turkey ...... 7.4402 TRAVELERS COMPANIES ...... 136.18 0.52 154.83 112.63 SIEMENS AG ...... 119.90 2.12 117.94 85.00 Lead Cash Official ...... 1933.50 +14.50 White Sugar ...... 355.30 +1.00 Israel ...... 4.2027 United States ...... 1.2778 TWITTER ...... 30.97 0.58 45.42 28.89 UNITED HEALTH GROUP ...... 292.03 6.55 285.48 215.26 SOCIETE GENERALE...... 30.76 0.47 30.30 21.13 UNITED TECHNOLOGIES ...... 149.46 0.39 149.41 102.06 TELEFONICA SA ...... 6.85 0.12 9.18 5.94 WORLD INDICIES VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS ...... 61.23 0.42 61.23 53.05 TOTAL ...... 48.28 0.46 52.27 43.18 Price Chg %Chg Price Chg %Chg Price Chg %Chg Price Chg %Chg VISA ...... 186.24 1.10 185.74 168.86 UNILEVER NV ...... 54.99 0.81 57.56 46.03 FTSE 100...... 7519.05 +165.61 +2.25 S&P 500...... 3191.45 +22.65 +0.71 CAC 40 ...... 5991.66 +72.64 +1.23 Hang Seng ...... 27508.09 -179.67 -0.65 WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE...... 57.80 -0.08 76.05 49.29 VINCI ...... 99.22 0.96 102.40 70.50 FTSE 250 ...... 21920.69 +412.90 +1.92 Dow Jones I.A ...... 28235.89 +100.51 +0.36 Swiss Market Index ...... 10541.67 +112.40 +1.08 Nikkei ...... 23952.35 -70.75 -0.29 WALMART ...... 120.54 0.25 120.98 85.82 VIVENDI ...... 25.43 0.22 26.42 20.97 FTSE All-Share ...... 4183.97 +88.94 +2.17 Nasdaq Composite ...... 8814.23 +79.35 +0.91 ISEQ Overall Index ...... 7213.99 +24.97 +0.35 STI Index ...... 3206.09 -7.96 -0.25 WALT DISNEY CO ...... 148.46 2.08 151.64 100.35 VOLKSWAGEN AG ...... 182.24 -1.06 183.46 136.26 FTSE AIM All-Share ...... 929.45 +11.74 +1.28 Xetra DAX...... 13407.66 +124.94 +0.94 FTSEurofirst 300 ...... 1628.63 +21.09 +1.31 ASX All Ordinaries...... 6952.30 +107.70 +1.57 WELLS FARGO & CO ...... 54.22 0.43 54.46 43.38 CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 FEATURE 19 INVESTMENT MAKING A MORTGAGE OUT OF A MOLEHILL Rod Lockhart explains why pension funds are putting money into property debt

HEN the Alternative Credit Council recently predicted that the Wglobal private debt mar- ket will be worth in ex- cess of $1 trillion by the end of 2020, some might have called the claim a little audacious. Only seven years ago, less than £1 in every £10 lent in the UK came from an alternative lender. Today, alternative lenders account for more than a quarter of the total UK lending market. It isn’t a fad, it is the new status quo. A summer survey of over 550 Euro- pean institutional investors said that private debt would be one of their favoured investment asset classes in the next three years. The conditions for alternative credit’s growth in the UK property market specifically couldn’t have been better. It has come at a time when property finance from mainstream or high street banks is severely restricted. The banks that provided loans before 2008 have only returned to narrow parts of the property finance market, and with less than convincing enthusi- asm. Cue thousands of creditworthy small and medium-sized property in- vestment and development compa- nies struggling to source the finance they need to finance their assets and grow their businesses. Add to that the sheer volume of out- standing loans that are due to mature and will require refinancing. Take, for instance, the commercial real estate market. In Europe alone, there are an estimated €500bn of loans due to refinance in the next four years. Without the traditional lenders there to offer new loans, alter- native lenders have a big gap to fill. But it’s the surge in interest from a widening global pool of investors that’s putting this alternative invest- on the radar of our pension funds looks really attractive on a risk-ad- Your traditional direct property eq- complements both parties’ goals. ment option so firmly on the map. and insurers? justed basis. uity position might last as long as a Borrowers get finance on terms that The appetite from institutions like Simply put, property equity invest- Pension funds and insurers are also decade to defend against cyclical work for them, and direct lenders pension funds and insurers has ments are not as attractive as they influenced by how short-term prop- downturns in capital values and to achieve astonishingly high repeat bor- ramped up exponentially. One of the once were. We’re observing a marked erty debt investing can be, adding offset high transaction costs. Even in rower rates and lower than average ar- UK’s largest pension funds, RPMI shift among investors from direct greater liquidity to their portfolios. institutional property investment rears rates: testaments to a formula of Railpen, announced this summer property equity investments to the funds, the minimum hold will be for lending that really works, and pro- that it is boosting its direct lending al- private debt route. no less than seven years. But shorter- vides confident signals to investors location (on behalf of its 350,000 UK As this extended economic cycle term direct lending permits more that the credit quality is high. railway industry pension holders) to continues, the capacity for growth in flexibility; investors recoup their cap- However, we’re not there yet. Dutch as much as £4bn. property investments is tailing off. ital and recycle it sooner as opportu- non-bank lenders have been shaking The constant hunt for yield is, un- Furthermore, with yields in most sec- nities and markets evolve. up their mortgage market for years, surprisingly, a predominant driver to tors at all-time lows and rental Perhaps the most impactful — and and the Netherlands is home to myr- private debt. In this lower-for-longer growth prospects for the residential The Netherlands exciting — driver is what institutional iad tales of how direct lending has interest rate environment, the search and commercial sectors also being rel- investors like about direct lenders’ transformed institutional investing. for income is a perennial preoccupa- atively limited (according to the Of- is home to myriad evolving models. But at a time when every investment tion for investors. Plus, with equities fice for National Statistics, rents grew tales of how direct The faceless bank mortgage or the decision counts, it’s encouraging to at high valuations, new equity issues by just 1.3 per cent in the year to Oc- transactional approach of a hedge see the diversification and ambition underperforming, and bond yields tober, while CBRE reports that com- lending has fund or private equity lender are fast of UK pension managers to try the al- hitting historic lows, private debt has mercial rents are flat), the outlook for losing favour. Direct lenders and ternative. More often than not, it’s become the light at the end of the returns from property is modest. transformed property finance borrowers are strik- better than the norm. tunnel for yield-hungry allocators. When these are compared with the institutional ing up a new, more sustainable way But what, beyond yield, is putting returns generated by property debt of working: a more specialist, rela- £ Rod Lockhart is head of capital markets property debt investment so firmly positions, property debt investment investing tionship-managed experience that and fund management at LendInvest. 20 OPINION TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM FORUM EDITED BY RACHEL CUNLIFFE LETTERS Tax, crime, and the NHS: How TO THE EDITOR If you’re going Boris became the heir to Blair through hell...

The Conservative manifesto contained a OLITICS is the art of win- more vivid: 50,000 more nurses and and singing along to the D:ream promise of “investment in clean energy ning and keeping power. 50m more GP appointments. Bruce track “Things can only get better” — solutions and green infrastructure to New Labour understood The point about these numbers, Dear the pop anthem of New Labour. reduce carbon emissions and pollution”. Pthis. They were the greatest of course, isn’t their accuracy. They Like a victorious Roman general, This promise is unusual in two ways. election-winning machine are meant to be memorable ear- Johnson made his celebratory First, unlike many other previous of modern times. worms, lodging in your head and speech in New Labour’s captured promises that somehow don’t quite But to the Corbynistas (Old Ben- nagging away at your beliefs. That’s citadel (Blair’s Sedgefield con- materialise, this is one that we absolutely nite Labour revived), New Labour why they’re big and round. stituency, which fell to the Tories). In have no choice other than to deliver. are the enemy of true socialism. Je- Johnson’s pledges also went large that speech, he deliberately echoed Second, again unlike other promises, remy Corbyn’s Labour want noth- on “millions” of pounds for Blair’s words, calling his govern- failure to deliver on this one will have far- ing to do with New Labour’s schools. Again, the echoes of New ment “the servants of the people”. reaching deep consequences for all of us. people, policies, or campaigning Labour resound. Their focus-group- The Tory message is clear: we are We need a government which is capable techniques. driven priority was, of course, “Ed- the heirs to Blair. We are New of looking past the more immediate Unfortunately for the Cor- ucation, Education, Education” — Labour now. political issues and brave enough to focus bynistas, Boris Johnson’s Conserva- and they promised big investments This insight will shape the way on challenges that seem less immediate tives have no such aversion. They to cut class sizes. Johnson governs. Because the Con- but are of greater consequence. History studied New Labour’s style and ap- Everyone’s been to school and servatives have realised that you teaches us many things, but one lesson in peal very closely. What they everyone gets ill. Education and can combine New Labour’s focus on particular springs to mind: that we are a learned was key to their election health are eternal priorities for vot- voter priorities with a radical, right- nation which, under the right leadership, victory and to the fall of the red ers. New Labour and the 2019 To- The Corbynites wing agenda. can achieve really great things. Looking at wall. Just as Tony Blair once did, the ries recognised this, and responded should study New You can, for example, deregulate the challenges of developing clean energy Tories have used the ideas of New simply and directly — unlike Cor- the tech sector, have a bonfire of sources and cutting emissions, we can but Labour to crush Old Labour. bynite Labour’s million-policy man- Labour — even procurement rules and planning hope that history repeats itself now. First come the focus groups. Like ifesto which buried voters in detail. those we hate law, “privatise” the BBC, and make It’s a brave new political world we are all New Labour, Dominic Cummings The pledges of New Labour and overseas aid serve the objectives of entering, and we still have a things to iron starts with voters in small groups. Johnson are also uncannily similar have something realpolitik, provided you deliver out, but movement in any direction must He asks them what their priorities on tax and crime. They both prom- to teach us enough on the electorate’s domes- be welcomed. Standing still for long are. Then, from a Tory angle, he fo- ised much tougher sentencing, and tic priorities: health, crime and periods doesn’t do anyone any good at all, cuses on those priorities — and no rise in income tax for five years. low taxes. and that may be a factor in why we saw the nothing else. Message discipline was at the If you get these right, then most election results we did last week. Just like New Labour in all of its heart of New Labour. Ministers fa- people (within reason) don’t care Churchill said: “If you’re going through elections, the Conservatives con- mously got daily texts from Peter Conservative campaign stole New what else you do. hell, keep going”. That is a quote that is on verted their focus group responses Mandelson’s team telling them Labour’s lines. Johnson and Cum- These are the lessons that New the wall of our factory, and it seems to be into a short list of “pledges”. that day’s line. mings talk constantly about “the Labour taught from the centre-left, one that can be fittingly attributed to our Most people find policy boring. So The Conservatives have taken people’s priorities”, just as Alastair and which Johnson will now apply Prime Minister too. I think we all hope that, don’t drown them in it. Show them message discipline to new heights, Campbell once did. They also echo from the right. when it comes to tackling climate change, just a few things you know move repeating “Get Brexit Done” like Blair’s ideas about the need for a dy- As for the Corbynites, they should the Prime Minister will take another of them deeply. broken Sat-Navs. Teeth-grindingly namic free market economy to pay study New Labour. Even those we Churchill’s quotes to heart: “never worry Johnson’s pledges and those of annoying it might be, but it worked for the public sector. hate have something to teach us. about action, but only about inaction”. New Labour in 1997 are remarkably triumphantly. Rather than risk But there is more. The Conserva- They might learn about the politics David Bowen, CTO and founder, Logicor similar. Both made simple, memo- going off message, Johnson hid in tives have celebrated their victory by of power, rather than pursuing the rable promises about Britain’s secu- a fridge. As Mandelson long ago using New Labour imagery like the pointless politics of protest. lar god: the NHS. New Labour recognised, it’s better to look mad spoils of war (for many of them, 2019 promised to treat an extra 100,000 than to mar the message. is long-awaited revenge for 1997). £ Bruce Dear is head of London real BEST OF patients. Johnson went bigger and Words matter in politics. And this They have been tweeting, dancing estate at Eversheds Sutherland. TWITTER When the Conservatives gain voters, it’s a sign of their Electoral Virility and capacity to the Win the Battle of Ideas .... when Labour gains voters it’s proof that they’ve forgotten what it *means* Domestic challenges have been piling up to be Labour — logically they’ve *just got* to be betraying someone. — now the government must tackle them @MariosRichards “We have to learn the lessons of Thursday”. “So will you now drop your T MAY have seemed like a life- of which are sorely needed. How- official independent migration opposition to Brexit”. “No”. That time, but the six-week election ever, it was lukewarm on HS2 and Jasmine agency that can respond to eco- Labour fightback in full. campaign period has finally airport expansion. Whitbread nomic need. @DPJHodges Idrawn to a close. And at the end Major infrastructure projects like But it must also recognise that of January, the UK is set to leave these can be transformative for not all the labour we need is highly It’s very strange how some people the EU — at the fourth attempt. local and national economies paid, and that the salary threshold think it’s unforgivable that Lisa Nandy With a thumping majority, the alike, as they crowd in jobs, supply proposed previously, under Theresa spoke at a Blue Labour event, but Prime Minister should face little chains and housing, as well as May, was set too high. Businesses they wouldn’t have a single criticism challenge in getting his withdrawal sending a signal that the UK is know that they must do more to said about Jeremy, despite his agreement through parliament open for investment. more to train the workforce of the abysmal record of sharing panels with later this week. For the South East, the absence of tional housing crisis, particularly future, but we need a managed truly awful people going back 30 years For businesses, the key concern Crossrail 2 from the manifesto com- stark in London and the South East, shift, not a cliff edge. @AM_HC has moved on to ensuring that we mitments was lamentable — all the and felt across the country. If we fail to get these big things do not run the risk of crashing out more so given that Boris Johnson, as Solving it requires more invest- right, business confidence will con- To beat Northern woman Boris of the EU without a deal at the end mayor of London, helped to launch ment — an additional £8.6bn is re- tinue to slump, even if our Brexit Johnson it’s clear that Labour needs... of 2020, and working towards the the business case for the scheme. quired to meet the capital’s destination becomes more certain. oh, hold on. closest possible future trading rela- Yes, Crossrail is running behind housebuilding target alone — and A firm commitment to boosting @iainmartin1 tionship with the EU. schedule, but this is a scheme of more land. Reform of the planning infrastructure, building more But the government cannot and such national importance that the system is critical, as is backing the homes, and putting in place a fair Sure the BBC made mistakes and must not do this to the exclusion of benefits will be felt for decades. Planning Inspector’s recommenda- and managed immigration system cock-ups — navigating a world of fake everything else. Domestic issues Meanwhile, Crossrail 2 has the sup- tion on locally-led reviews of the will enable not just London but the news is hazardous — but the Corbyn have been piling up for years, and port of businesses up and down the green belt. whole of the UK to hold on to our left and Johnson right alike are now need to be tackled. country, and it is vital that the gov- To deliver the infrastructure and place at the top of international combining to wound a great First, infrastructure. The Conser- ernment shows its commitment to homes our country requires, we rankings and continue to be a institution, maybe fatally. If it goes vative manifesto made welcome projects like this that put us ahead need the right skills. The govern- world-class global player. down Britain will be the poorer — a commitments on developing giga- of the game. ment has committed to a points- civilisational disaster. bit connectivity and delivering Second, housing, on which the based immigration system and, £ Jasmine Whitbread is chief executive @williamnhutton Northern Powerhouse Rail — both manifesto was vague. There is a na- encouragingly, sees the need for an of London First. CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 OPINION 21

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS › E: [email protected] COMMENT AT: cityam.com/forum :@cityam Business must learn and adapt DEBATE Is it time for a review of the in this age of political renewal licence fee and how the BBC HORSE, a horse, my kingdom This is not just about biding time. for a horse.” As history buffs Michael The stock of the commercial world is structured? will know, the Battle of Hayman also needs to rise. Like this new gov- ABosworth Field didn’t work ernment, the challenge for business is out well for Richard III, and not just demonstrating competence, In a perfect world, the BBC licence fee with it the last of the titanic struggles but about conveying compassion in structure could remain as it is, and the of the War of the Roses. its actions. The emerging renewal BBC would produce brilliantly Described by Shakespeare as “the project of government will be an im- entertaining content and unbiased YES one big battle”, this event was to fi- portant mirror for business to take a news coverage at affordable costs. nally settle the hostilities between im- good look at its own position as a pos- But, unfortunately, the world isn’t JAMIE WILLIAMS placable foes, to set the country on a cuse it of betrayal, so look forward to itive force for change in society and, perfect. All great things need to adapt very different path, and in so doing to seeing his team work flat-out to come most importantly, to get involved. and evolve to stay fresh and relevant, is now on the Prime Minister’s to-do-list. go on to change everything — starting good on their promise to protect the That will take many into new terri- and the BBC is no different. If these trends continue, the BBC with the end of the Middle Ages, a NHS from their very first days in office. tory, where profit lives alongside pur- The Beeb is a well-loved institution surely can’t survive on its current gloomy, miserable and treacherous For the commercial world, a singu- pose as a measure of success. This will and for good reason, but consumers of licence fee model and compete with period of history. lar focus presents potential chal- fast become the new normal, the gen- BBC content are getting older, and other broadcasters. Brexit, while not a bloody medieval lenges. Business is not the priority and eral and expected measure of quality: across the UK the love is being lost. Less As with other national broadcasters civil war, has been a divisive and decid- hasn’t been for some time. On the the ability to contribute to the im- than half of 16–34 years olds now around the world, at some point edly uncivil battle. Seemingly endless election trail, it proved to be to the provements of people’s lives. consume BBC content on a weekly working with advertisers or moving to a and with no side having the strength Conservatives what Voldemort was to The political labels may be the same basis, licences are being cancelled in subscription service may be the answer. to settle it, it had, until last week, be- Harry Potter characters: that which but this is a very different govern- record numbers, and according to come a permanent feature of our lives. must not be named. ment than the one we had last week. YouGov two thirds of the UK want the £ Jamie Williams is managing partner But the debate on Brexit is now an Businesses themselves were reluc- It will spend more, so don’t expect tax licence scrapped — which is likely why it at the advertising agency isobel. age that has also ended. The airwaves tant to express a view despite the cuts. It will invest heavily in the Mid- may still stubbornly suggest differ- stakes. In turn, one of Labour’s most lands and the North, so don’t hold ently, but this election really did set- successful tactics was to characterise your breath for the South West trains tle the question of should we stay or the business scene as one of brutal bil- line upgrade anytime soon. And it First, the BBC is, for the most part, should we go, and more besides. lionaires and ailing corporations will focus on social priorities first, so impartial. You can tell this from the way We leave the era of government de- ready to be nationalised. you’ll be waiting a while for eulogies it got hammered by both the main fined by deadlock and enter into one The assumption by many businesses on the power of the free market. parties for its election coverage. NO where it will be defined by decision. is that this will change now a familiar The Renaissance replaced the Mid- Second, the BBC does things no other We have not seen such power in the friend has been returned to power. But dle Ages and ushered in a vibrant pe- broadcaster does. You might not listen KEVIN CRAIG hands of those who would govern since they may have to think again as the so- riod of social and economic rebirth. to it, but the World Service is valued by Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. cial and societal priorities define the Whether Boris Johnson can prove millions around the world for providing Dancing bring the nation together and For both, landslide victories led to early days of this new administration. himself to be the new renaissance impartial news which cannot be register over 10m viewers — a massive similar world views: the need to man is yet to be seen, but a political censored. It is an antidote to fake news, feat in the age of streaming. The BBC is change and to renew. Business as rebirth of Conservative government and is investing in local journalism when not perfect, but it’s part of what Britain is usual was the early enemy. Ripping up This is not just about through national renewal is his goal. local papers are dying on their feet. and who we are. Our new government the rule book and challenging vested biding time, the stock That’s going to need a cavalry, and Don’t forget the unique work that BBC has many priorities. Damaging the BBC interests was the name of the game. business is the horse that will be led Voice is doing leading technological through an unnecessary licence reform And it’s likely that things will be sim- of the commercial to water. The question is, will it drink? developments, with a dedicated team of ought not to be one of them. ilar for Boris Johnson’s new govern- world needs to rise journalists supplying news to the major ment. It will be aware that there will £ Michael Hayman MBE is co-founder of smart speaker platforms — Amazon £ Kevin Craig is founder and chief be a queue of detractors ready to Seven Hills and co-author of Mission: How Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant. executive of communications agency pounce at the first opportunity to ac- the Best in Business Break Through. Last weekend, we saw Strictly Come PLMR (www.plmr.co.uk).

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Our series on AI, Blockchain, Cryptoassets, DLT and Tokenisation PARTNER CONTENT

CITY A.M.’S s the European commission pushes out its fourth AML di- CRYPTO INSIDER rective, it appears that banking Aconglomerates will soon have full regulatory approval to JAMES BOWATER offer Bitcoin and cryptocurrency custo- dial services to their clients. elcome to the last edition of Crypto AM The recent report posted by regional fi- Wfor 2019. Last night I hosted the London nancial news publication Handelsblatt, Blockchain Forum Christmas Keynote revealed that in 2020, German banking Supper at Smith & Wollensky which was attended institutions will be able to manage cryp- by 160 members of the AI, Blockchain and DLT tocurrencies for their clientele. The community with several guests flying in from overseas. The general newly enacted legislation will effectively mood about 2019 is that it was the year of great expectations for the allow banks to receive, store and sell dig- industry which failed to materialise. This sentiment was echoed at ital assets like bitcoin, Ethereum and the SwissBorg (see Spotlight) wealth app launch announcement other digital assets which pass European event in London, also yesterday, where there was overall regulatory scrutiny. Among other agreement that regulation is vital. things, this fourth EU money launder- Even the crypto market was feeling depressed since last week’s ing directive highlights the fact that edition with Bitcoin (BTC) at the time of writing was trading at “electronic money products are increas- US$7,118.86 / GB£5,431.27; Ethereum (ETH) is at US$141.43 / ingly considered to be a substitute for GB£106.23; Ripple (XRP) is at US$0.2129 / GB£0.1594; Binance (BNB) bank accounts.” As per the report, the re- is at US$14.24 / GB£10.68 and Cardano (ADA) is at US$0.03602 / moval of the “separation bid”, will allow GB£0.02703. Overall Market Cap is at US$194.78bn / GB£145.81bn banks to directly handle cryptocurren- (data source: www.CryptoCompare.com) cies without using a third-party custo- My general feeling is that there is still a hangover from the dian, which is to say that German banks damaging impact of the space attracting scammers taking will be able to offer cryptocurrency so- advantage of an unregulated environment. The good news is that lutions alongside bonds, equities and the vast majority of these bad actors have now either exposed and traditional stocks. BITCOIN GETS those that haven’t been are now retreating or realising that there is now way too much scrutiny to take jail term risk. Certainly in the A PUSH FOR ADOPTION UK the distraction and uncertainty from the polarising topic of Taking a bird’s eye view, it would seem Brexit took its toll making it doubly difficult for those in financial that while custodian solutions are in di- THE BANKING raise mode. The lack of clear regulation from the financial rect conflict with the spirit of cryptocur- authorities for much of the year meant that the much anticipated rencies and Bitcoin in particular, the wave of STO (security token offerings) didn’t really materialise. The partial merging of cryptocurrencies NOD OF APPROVAL net effect being that only the strongest and careful of projects with conventional banking and tradi- survived Crypto Winter. tional finance could arguably be good Despite this damp squib the outlook for 2020 looks and feels a lot for the nascent industry. Irrespective of stronger. The Libra Effect which is the knock on effect of Facebook’s one’s personal opinions, it comes as no announcement of its global cryptocurrency has played a major in surprise that age-old calls for “institu- Designed by CRITICS HAVE THEIR SAY a fee, they run the risk of returning a moving things forward from a regulatory. The central banks were tional adoption” are finally coming to Phill Snelling, That being said, it’s not all sunshine and total loss to their clients, without them shaken to the core by the announcement with a knee jerk reaction fruition, with custodial services giving Bowater Media roses in the crypto-verse, as some experts knowing what they are getting into.” Put by many calling for an outright ban at worst and at best strict the go-ahead for traditional money to remain unconvinced about the merits of simply, this speaks to the likelihood of regulatory control. Since the announcement, China, Germany, come flooding into the space. To this this alleged pro-crypto move by the Ger- banks selling a product or services with- Ukraine, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are in the process of or have end, thought leaders and market ana- man central bank. In fact, critics are ar- out necessarily divulging the full risks delivered usable legislative frameworks for the use of Crypto and / lysts have long touted the financial guing that it is a bad idea to allow banks associated with it. or Digital Assets. It certainly feels to me that 2020 will be a positive ‘transitionary period’ where “old meets to directly sell crypto services to cus- year where institutional adoption can legitimately take place. new” and where two worlds mingle in a tomers. According to Niels Nauhauser, DEUTSCHE BANK AND To sign off, I would now like to take the opportunity to wish all more profound and tangible manner. banks are too aggressive in targeting OTHER EUROPEAN WOES Crypto AM readers a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a This inevitable meeting is also set to take new customers and cryptocurrency of- It’s no secret that the German prized Happy New Year. I would also like to say a massive thank you too place amidst stubborn reports of a loom- ferings may result in a significant down- jewel has been struggling ever since its for the continuing support of Lawson, Jens and Harry at City AM ing generational wealth transfer the side. He stated: “Basically, banks sell a peak back in 2007, from which its stock Media Group. Finally, last but not least, thank you to Bridie Wilson, likes of which the West has never seen. variety of financial products if the com- has plummeted 94%. While there’s Taylor Campbell and Phill Snelling without whom this double page Indeed, the clock is ticking and the mission is right. If they are allowed to plenty of blame to go around the Ger- spread could not happen! game is on. sell cryptocurrencies and keep them for man boardroom for its dismal perform-

The SwissBorg Wealth App is coming soon which as a native mobile app , users can also buy, sell and exchange digital assets Crypto A.M. shines using fiat currencies. The app has been built with the least tech-savvy user in mind, to make diversified and automatically re- its Spotlight on balanced crypto portfolios accessible to all. We decided to pre-launch our feature product with a mobile app (available on both iOS and Android) SwissBorg SwissBorg Community app. A fun, easy to use, educational game that lets you predict the imilar to the Dot.com bubble, 99% of individualism, greed, exclusiveness, and price of Bitcoin, and earn it, without taking SICOs will fail and eventually go to zero fears while raising trust, fulfilment, any risks. The more points you earn, the according to the majority of global inclusiveness, and freedom. higher your rank and chance to win Bitcoin analysts. Having said that, the “blockchain The old world of finance is a members- and CHSB tokens. The app provides the brothers” from SwissBorg including Cyrus only club we want to open it to the public. players with a Daily Bitcoin Analysis, Fazel, Anthony LeSoismier and Alex Fazel We believe in a world where technology and educational articles and videos as well as are proud and confident stressing that finance merge to allow all individuals to free machine learning sets to help players SwissBorg is “very close to defying the collaborate towards realizing their dreams. make smarter decisions. odds…” Swissborg is looking to achieve this by We have more than 65k community of SwissBorg’s objective is to enable the offering access to its institutional grade active players and growing, who’ve made creation of a community-centric financial more than 1Million forecasts. Continuing ecosystem that ultimately allows with the community theme, Alex Fazel, individuals to control their own wealth. SwissBorg’s Head of Communications, has Founded on the fundamental values of created and hosts ‘Cryptonites’ a Youtube Blockchain: fairness, accessibility and trust, Left - Alain Schibl, Advisor of SwissBorg based series designed to educate and SwissBorg is building a crypto wealth Right - Alex Fazel, CMO of SwissBorg entertain those interested or vested in the management platform made in Switzerland We have more than crypto and Blockchain space. It has so far but owned by the world. 65k community of run for two seasons with a dream team line- Coming from a background in the technology called the “Smart engine”. liquidity in milliseconds). Another up of interviews that included some of the traditional world of finance and banking we active players and The Smart Engine provides best execution outstanding feature will be the ability to most passionate and colourful figures in the created SwissBorg to disrupt an industry growing, who’ve by successfully syncing with 4 of the top create new fiat-to-crypto trading pairs that field. that we saw as elitist and unfair. We created crypto exchanges: Binance, Kraken, LMAX, do not exist in the market as of today. These SwissBorg because we believe in an made more than HitBTC. Best execution would allow the new fiat pairs allow the user to save precious For further information please visit investment world that eliminates 1Million forecasts exchange of cryptos at the best price and time and money in one simple click. https://swissborg.com CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 FEATURE 23

E: [email protected] @CityAm_Crypto In association with

for a European banking and capital mar- CRYPTOCOMPARE MARKET VIEW kets union is so far away as to magnify headwinds for the entire bloc. Now that the ECB is dead set on lowering already negative interest rates even further in- Bitcoin Development stead of raising them as markets had an- ticipated, banks are now the is Getting Funded worst-performing sector in all of Europe, with Deutsche Bank at the helm of this his week the price of Bitcoin follow proper security procedures. race to the bottom. dropped from $7,500 to less than VeChain’s price had been rising this T$7,100 as it continues on a month as it was announced that AN UNSETTLING downward trend since July, when it was Microsoft was looking to use its TRUST-FACTOR trading close to the $13,000 mark. The blockchain to develop a card game called Having arisen as a consequence of the largest altcoin Ethereum dropped from “Arena of Death.” Its blockchain allows 2008 financial crash, bitcoin will have to $150 to little over $140, as it follows BTC players to actually own their own cards, periodically re-instantiate its commit- in a downtrend from $300 in July. without dealing with private keys or ment to the original goal of financial Despite the lackluster price cryptocurrency exchanges, as on VeChain freedom and peer-to-peer electronic performance, bitcoin development is there’s no need to own crypto to own cash. Indeed, the question of whether gaining support. The payments firm collectibles. bitcoin is sufficiently decentralised will behind the popular Cash app, Square, Finally, Ethereum has seen its Google always loom over our shoulders, and has funded a pseudonymous Bitcoin search interest hit a near three-year low. while it’s inevitable for traditional fi- developer going by ‘ZmnSCPxj’, who’s Google Trends data shows that on a nance to board this train, entrusting the known for his work on scaling Bitcoin. scale of 0 to 100 it’s currently at a 6, same institutions who delivered the The VeChain Foundation, a non-profit down from a 30 registered in July 2019 2008 financial crash with your hard- organization supporting the VET when it was at $300, and from a 100 earned money doesn’t sound all-too-at- cryptocurrency, saw a wallet that was set registered in December 2017 when it tractive a proposition. In fact, this to be used to buyback tokens get was at its all-time high close to $1,400. further embeds reservations about true compromised, with the hacker stealing While searches for Ethereum are down, decentralisation and by extension, bit- 1.1 billion VET tokens (worth $6.5 searches for the Brave browser and coin’s antifragile properties. That said, million). The breach is being investigated, other projects that run on the Ethereum the need for custodial solutions will al- but it’s believed a team member didn’t blockchain have risen. ways exist, especially within an ecosys- tem that has barely scratched the surface in terms of user-experience, basic functionality, ease of access, next- of-kin services and plethora of other fa- CRYPTO A.M. INDUSTRY VOICES cilities which currently aren’t offered without third party involvement. The question is: will this benefit Bitcoin and cryptocurrency more broadly in the ance, the former investment banking ing the financial crisis, bank shares in long run? Only time will tell. What if the future bank is nothing giant is hardly alone in its most recent the region haven’t had any significant rout. Whether it’s Spain’s Bankia SA, performance run as opposed to their US £Chris Attard, Head of Media Banco de Sabadell SA or Italy’s UniCredit peers which saw shares soar near seven- Operations for the AIBC Malta Summit, more than a digital wallet? SpA, lenders across Europe are trading fold. Then again, the $22 trillion debt-fu- in conversation with James Bowater. at historic lows. Commerzbank AG hit a elled US economy has problems of its Chris’s LinkedIn is ack in the day, when I ran innova- borrowing and lending. new low just recently, showing im- own to deal with. http://linkedin.com/in/christopher- tion teams in banks, we always The combination of DeFi and mense challenges CEO Martin Zielke Of course, there are a whole slew of attard-b06531101 Btalked about the dawn of a ‘digital blockchains provides resiliency and in- faces in his fourth year leading the em- reasons aside from interest rates which bank’. It always looked like a traditional dependence for the issuer of an asset, battled German lender. speak to Euro-region underperfor- IMPORTANT INFORMATION: THE VIEWS bank but with fewer people and no which is important, especially in a world Their financial plights highlight the mance, such as the tens of billions in AND OPINIONS PROVIDED BY CITY A.M.'S paper. Now at the helm of Trustology, of electronic payments, where cen- impact of the recent reversal in expecta- misconduct charges and Europe’s snail’s CRYPTO INSIDER AND IN THE CRYPTO immersed in the world of blockchain tralised services can go down. More and tions for interest rates, which threat- pace response to the 2008 financial cri- A.M. SECTION SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS and securing cryptoassets, I see an en- more decentralisation on the other ened to prolong European lenders’ lost sis, which left banks struggling away INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE. tirely different future. hand means more resilience. Decen- decade indefinitely. Indeed, even 10 with toxic good-for-nothing assets. ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR What if tomorrow’s digital bank is not tralised systems are therefore better, as years after markets bottomed out dur- On top of that, the unfinished project FINANCIAL ADVISOR. a bank at all? Instead, it is an unbundled they offer exponential improvement. set of services accessed via an aggregator For example, when an electronic trans- platform such as a wallet where users se- action cannot be completed due to a sys- cure their keys in their wallets, and then tem error, you cannot pay for things, use them to manage their assets. Hence, and this could lead to people not being what the browser is to the Internet and able to buy food and other key necessi- what the bank is to traditional finance ties. This wouldn’t be possible in a de- BLOCKCHAIN THEATRE is what the wallet then becomes to the centralised ecosystem. blockchain, and to the future of finance. DeFi also becomes interesting for Troy Norcross, Co-Founder Blockchain Rookies Blockchain, cryptoassets and wallets global liquidity. The Euro tried to be- have come a long way in less than a come Pan European, but it still doesn’t decade. We’ve weathered scandals, work, and remains very national and re- hen enough shareholders, projects where blockchain adds real anyone can tell quickly if the project is hacks and swings of extreme volatility gional. DeFi applications, on the other customers or senior leadership value understand the difference real, an experiment in learning, or just to usher in better, smarter user inter- hand, are genuinely global and interna- Wteam ask the question, "What between a real blockchain project and blockchain theatre: faces, increased security, speed and reg- tional from the outset. are we doing with blockchain?" there one where there is no underlying need. 1.) Who are the different companies ulatory measures, and smart contracts. When people gain confidence in the are numerous possible responses. One The biggest give away for blockchain who will be working together on this Now there is the rise in decentralised fi- new products, and see that they don’t of those is to call the Innovation theatre projects is that there is only a project? And have you started working nance (DeFi) applications set to gain fail, there will be a slow ramp up. After Department and ask them to do some single enterprise involved. The real on a model for governance, standards more traction in 2020. this we can have more liquidity and Blockchain Theatre. value comes when there are multiple for information and distribution of the If you want to borrow, then CDP your things become interesting because Blockchain Theatre projects are those companies, agencies or organisations data? ETH with MakerDAO to mint DAI stable global liquidity could be much larger where there is no genuine need for working together and agreeing on a 2.) How do you describe the key coin. If you want to lend money, use than traditional liquidity pools. As it blockchain and where the primary single source of truth for shared data. business benefits for implementing this Compound Finance. If you want to goes global and becomes trustworthy, objective is to generate When companies make fake solution using blockchain? hedge, use UMA project. If you want a more liquidity will flow there, and at- communications internally or blockchain projects suitable for press If there is only one enterprise or simple way to go long on an asset and tract more liquidity. All of this will be en- externally that the company is actively releases, it can detract from not only institution, they don't need governance lend it, let your wallet mint and lend abled by decentralisation. doing something with blockchain. the company but also from blockchain or standards - and they don't need DAI with a single action. Anything is pos- To enable mass adoption of DeFi we While helping the internal teams to technology. blockchain. If there is no business sible with the applications available must continue focusing on building an get up to speed on the technology, Even those who are not enterprise benefit defined, it is just blockchain. today. ecosystem that is safer, faster, and easier unfortunately, blockchain theatre blockchain professionals can sense The world needs more blockchain and to use. Until then, the industry can only projects can do more harm than good. when a project is contrived. Armed Get in touch with us: decentralisation in the future. We are address enthusiasts. We believe that the Companies actively working on with a couple of basic questions, [email protected] / Twitter big believers in DeFi, which is evolving best way to offer this is through a custo- quickly as many start to recognise the dial wallet. We see wallets somewhat potential role cryptoassets will play in like the internet browser for the global trade. Now that new crypto inno- blockchain. It holds the key to our vation is stemming from open source crypto future. software that essentially extends the function of the internet by allowing Alex Batlin, CEO and Founder of peer-to-peer value transfer, more and Trustology more members of the private sector are For further information visit also realising its potential in trading, https://trustology.io/ 24 LIFE&STYLE TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM MOTORING BY MOTORINGRESEARCH.COM FOR CITY A.M. CAYENNE SPICE Is the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe a contradiction in terms? Or the answer to every motoring need? Tim Pitt adjudicates

here are two schools of about the Cayenne Coupe already, PORSCHE CAYENNE An analogue rev counter front-and- don’t need. From experience with thought here. For some, SUV but assuming you haven’t ‘had COUPE TURBO centre is also a pleasingly traditional other Porsche models, though, rear- coupes are a contradiction enough of experts’, here are a few touch, but everything else about the axle steering (£1,448) is a worthwhile in terms. They are off-road- thoughts from me. PRICE: £104,729 Coupe’s interior feels futuristic. investment. It makes for improved T 0-62MPH: 3.9 SECS ers that rarely (if ever) ven- Firstly, how it looks. The Cayenne Rather than physical switches, many manoeuvrability around town and ture beyond tarmac. They aspire to Coupe is just that: a restyled version TOP SPEED: 177MPH of the touch-sensitive controls are better stability at speed: both impor- dynamism, yet are blunted by bulk of Porsche’s full-size 4x4, with a racier CO2 G/KM: 258G/KM concealed beneath gloss-black veneer, tant in a large SUV. And it helps make and a high centre of gravity. And they roofline and more bulbous bottom. MPG COMBINED: 20.8MPG like a Bang & Olufsen hi-fi. The large the Cayenne Coupe the most driver-fo- diminish the ‘utility’ of a Sports Util- Look closer and you’ll spot the mildly touchscreen looks crisp, and syncs ef- cused car in its class. ity Vehicle for a sleeker silhouette. stretched wings, steeper rake for the fortlessly with your phone, while the Select one of the sportier drive Then again, an arsenal of technol- windscreen and active rear spoiler, THE VERDICT digital dials can display the naviga- modes and body control is iron-fisted, ogy lends most such cars an agility which pops up above 55mph. While tion map. Note the chunky grab han- the Porsche hugging the road with that belies their bulk. Their high driv- hardly beautiful, it’s the best take on DESIGN hhhii dles on the centre console, too. Your steely focus. Its steering is nuanced ing positions and rangy suspension Porsche’s ‘911 in platform shoes’ aes- PERFORMANCE hhhhh passenger may be needing those... and direct, while its brakes – £4,217 arguably suit our crowded, crum- thetic yet. Certainly prettier than the PRACTICALITY hhhhi Particularly if the word ‘Turbo’ is on ceramic-composite discs here – are bling roads. And they are still amply rival X6 or Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe. VALUE hhhii the tailgate. This is the flagship progressive and mighty. Sitting so practical for family life, despite some Inside, the rear seats are fixed Cayenne Coupe – at least until the high, you’re never totally immersed concessions to style. 30mm lower to compensate for that even quicker Turbo S E-Hybrid arrives in the action, but this is the closest an Like a certain political debate, there drooping roof, while boot capacity – and packs a 550hp 4.0-litre V8 and SUV gets to a sports car. seems to be no middle-ground. But shrinks by a modest 145 litres versus eight-speed PDK auto gearbox: good Me? I’d go for the Porsche Panamera whichever side of the fence you sit on, the standard Cayenne (to 1,680 litres which limits you to four seats, costs for 0-62mph in a ferocious 3.9 sec- Sport Turismo estate, which is pret- high-riding coupes are here to stay. In- in total). Four individual chairs are £7,482 and saves just 22kg – negligi- onds, plus 177mph flat-out. Prices tier, nearly as practical and even more deed, given BMW launched the X6 in standard, with a three-person rear ble on a 2,275kg SUV. On the plus start at £104,729, with my test Turbo engaging to drive. But you’ve already 2007, it’s a wonder Porsche took 12 bench a no-cost option. side, the carbon fibre roof and retro costing a hefty £127,354 after options. made up your mind, right? years to join this very profitable party. My car had the optimistically 911-style houndstooth trim are in- Many of those extras, such as the You’ve probably made up your mind named ‘Lightweight Sport Package’, contestably cool. tinted taillights (£590), you really Tim Pitt works for motoringresearch.com NOT CONVINCED? CHECK OUT THESE ALTERNATIVES...

AUDI SQ8 TDI VORSPRUNG BMW X6 M MERCEDES-AMG GLE 63S COUPE PRICE: £104,240 THE VERDICT: PRICE: £93,530 THE VERDICT: PRICE: £98,840 THE VERDICT: 0-62MPH: 4.8 SECS DESIGN hhhhi 0-62MPH: 4.2 SECS DESIGN hhiii 0-62MPH: 4.2 SECS DESIGN hhiii TOP SPEED: 155MPH PERFORMANCE hhhhi TOP SPEED: 155MPH PERFORMANCE hhhhh TOP SPEED: 155MPH PERFORMANCE hhhhh CO2 G/KM: 205G/KM PRACTICALITY hhhhi CO2 G/KM: 258G/KM PRACTICALITY hhhhi CO2 G/KM: 278G/KM PRACTICALITY hhhhi MPG COMBINED: 36.2MPG VALUE hhhii MPG COMBINED: 25.4MPG VALUE hhhii MPG COMBINED: 23.7MPG VALUE hhhii CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 FEATURE 25 OFFICE POLITICS

are not necessarily inclusive. Initiatives introduced to encourage Dear Santa... diversity and inclusion, and support for mental health also need to extend to the Christmas party, so staff feel re- warded and welcome. For example, even if the working day is tight, con- please no sider lunchtime events so that staff BRAIN who have to juggle family life with TRAINING work don’t have to leave early or skip the party entirely. more office Deus Ex GO Other alternatives include a culi- Free nary class, dinner at a restaurant, or an inspirational talk given by a key Looking for a figure in your business sector, or even politics? puzzle game to a mindfulness session. These could all sink time into be alcohol-free events too. this Christmas? Look no further MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT The workplace in December can be a full of than Deus Ex GO. How can you reward employees and Based on the make them feel valued, as well as pos- landmines — here’s how to keep the peace sci-fi video game itive, for the challenges in the New franchise Deus Year ahead? Make sure that develop- Ex, this game has ment reviews are in the diary, and as- HRISTMAS can be difficult for Matthew Have compassion portantly, have compassion and un- you solving sess whether you’re doing enough to some, personally as well as and don’t put derstanding, and don’t put pressure puzzles by make sure that employees’ concerns professionally, but there is a Kay pressure on on people to enjoy Christmas. There guiding secret are listened to, and that they are get- Clot that an organisation can people to enjoy are many reasons why people don’t agent Adam ting support where needed. do to ease pressure and show Christmas want to celebrate the holidays. Jensen through For example, can you offer more flex- staff that it values their hard work. But equally, make sure that no one grids patrolled ible working options? Are you doing So how can you sweep away those feels like an outsider. After all, Christ- by enemy guards enough for wellbeing? This year, we cobwebs, “deck the halls”, and help mas is a time of generosity. and robots. It held a series of events for our contract mitigate the potential for office poli- Why not hold a fundraising event in- has stunningly lawyers around topics to help them tics this festive season? ternally to raise money for charity good-looking personally — these included mindful- gether? Mix up those in different de- and boost spirits? A promise auction, graphics for a ness, sleep, and imposter syndrome. IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL partments when choosing teams — for example, can encourage everyone mobile game, Whatever internal politics or per- TIME OF THE YEAR this bonding will boost internal net- to do kind gestures for their col- and with over 50 sonal dramas are stopping your office How can you bring together everyone working. And the number one rule? leagues — as well as being fun. levels to solve it from feeling festive, it’s worth re- during a period of high political ten- No squabbling allowed, unless it's should keep you membering the iconic line from Mir- sion, without an angry debate in your over the last mince pie. ROCKIN’ AROUND THE entertained until acle on 34th Street: “Christmas isn’t office following the results of the CHRISTMAS TREE January. just a day, it’s a frame of mind.” General Election? ’TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY Even if drinking and dancing all night Why not hold a Christmas quiz to There are some who may struggle to long or a golf day is what some staff £ Matthew Kay is the managing director of distract and bring your team to- join in with the Christmas spirits. Im- want for their Christmas party, these Vario from Pinsent Masons. 26 SPORT TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 CITYAM.COM SPORT FESTIVE Jurgen Klopp’s Reds face a testing period, with two cup ties in two days FIXTURE this week, writes Michael Searles

IVERPOOL will play Aston Villa tonight in the EFL Cup quarter- final less than 24 hours before they are due to play in the Club PILE-UP World Cup semi-final half-way Lacross the world in Qatar. It means Jurgen Klopp’s side will have played three games in the space of five days following Saturday’s 2-0 win over Watford. They have been granted permission by the English Football League to field a team “that is largely consistent with those that have participated in earlier rounds of this season’s competition” in tonight’s tie. Liverpool will likely field a number of younger players as they have tended to in the competition and will report- edly be led by under-23 coach Neil Critchley, with Klopp taking his senior squad to Qatar for the Club World Cup. Even youngsters Neco Williams and Curtis Jones have travelled for the tournament, while the injured Dejan Lovren has been left behind. It is the 16th edition of the annual years are favourable, it would clash Villa have tended to rotate the world football and build the brand. Club World Cup which involves the with the African Cup of Nations, leav- LIVERPOOL’S FIXTURES squad in this competition them- Their participation will also leave winners from the six continental com- ing players like Mohamed Salah and selves, blending a mix of first-team them with a game-in-hand in the Pre- petitions plus the host nation’s league Sadio Mane unable to play in what Tonight, 7:45pm: Aston Villa at Villa talent with periphery personnel but mier League run-in after their clash winners. would be a blow to Liverpool. Park, EFL Cup quarter-final this time around they may smell with West Ham this weekend had to Champions League winners Liver- None of that will help Klopp now, Wednesday, 5:30pm: Monterrey at blood and opt to put out their be postponed, adding to the growing pool and Copa Libertadores winners however, as he endeavours to fight for Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, strongest possible team, handing a number of fixtures they are set to Flamengo will both join in at the semi- trophies on multiple fronts. Qatar, Club World Cup semi-final first start in the competition to cap- play this season. final stage, playing Mexican side Mon- Despite Liverpool being given the all- 21 December, time TBC: Flamengo or tain and creative hub Jack Grealish, Should Liverpool’s youngsters pull terrey and Saudi Arabian outfit clear to play a team largely consistent Al-Hilal, Khalifa International Stadium, with the chance to play in a cup semi- off a miraculous win in tonight’s EFL Al-Hilal respectively after they won with previous round, they will be Doha, Qatar, Club World Cup third-place final a real possibility. Cup tie then Klopp’s men will also their second round ties on Saturday. without the likes of James Milner, Alex play-off or final It would be a first domestic defeat have to play a two-leg semi-final in However this seven-team, largely un- Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Boxing Day, 8pm: Leicester City at the of the new season for the Reds should January as well as the FA Cup third- competitive affair, is set for an up- other senior squad members to have King Power Stadium, Premier League they lose, but they clearly have their round tie with Everton. grade from 2021, with Fifa President participated in the EFL Cup so far, as 29 December, 4:30pm: Wolves at sights set on bigger trophies than the The congestion has left Klopp frus- Gianni Infantino announcing plans to well as Jones and Williams. Anfield, Premier League EFL Cup this campaign as they sit 10 trated at England’s lack of winter expand it to a 24-team competition It means Liverpool’s fate in the com- points clear at the top of the Premier break and the Christmas-January pe- earlier this year. petition will lie entirely in the hands League table. riod looks set to be decisive to Liver- There are set to be some teething is- of the under-23s, with Harvey Elliot Premier League 2 table and drawing However, their inability to compete pool’s hopes of ending their Premier sues, though, with Infantino looking and Rhian Brewster among the more 1-1 with Chelsea and losing 4-0 to Tott- for this cup in an appropriate man- League drought. to incorporate six South American talented youth players tasked with tenham on their previous two outings. ner raises serious questions of the They return to action in the league sides and eight European teams. Thus competing for a place in the semi- Tonight they will come up against a conflicting calendar scheduling. on Boxing Day against second-placed far the European Clubs Association final. Villa side that has already claimed two While the Club World Cup lacks the Leicester, but will still be in first place has declared its intent to boycott the So far this season Liverpool’s under- top-flight scalps in the competition, prestige of the Champions League, it whatever happens this weekend by new format altogether. 23s have not hit the heights of their beating Wolves and Brighton in previ- is still a rare opportunity to become virtue of the cushion they have al- And while plans to host it every four seniors, sitting seventh of 12 in the ous rounds. the undisputed best club side in ready built up. English clubs have tough tasks in Champions League last 16

four contenders will understandably If Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and desliga. Bayern reacted to the draw by With rumours about Guardiola’s No friendly ties for view the knockout ties differently, be- Roberto Firmino can pick up a few muting the words “Drogba” and long-term future at City continuing cause not one of them has been away goals to take back to Anfield in “2012” on Twitter, to try and forget to swirl, this tie will be a proper test Premier League blessed with a friendly opponent. the second leg then Jurgen Klopp’s the Blues’ famous comeback in the of his credentials. side will be confident of progression. final, but Chelsea will have to take a contenders in the ATLETICO V LIVERPOOL big scalp to progress. TOTTENHAM V RB LEIPZIG The defending champions face the CHELSEA V BAYERN MUNICH On the face of it Spurs have landed knockout stages, daunting task of getting past Diego Chelsea came through the most com- REAL MADRID V MAN CITY the best draw out of the English Simeone’s rock-solid Atletico Madrid petitive group at the expense of last With Manchester City 14 points be- clubs, but Jose Mourinho will know writes Felix Keith in the last 16. year’s semi-finalists Ajax, so they hind Liverpool in the Premier League, that is not necessarily the case. Liverpool have fond memories of should be well up to speed with what Pep Guardiola’s season is now all Led by Julian Nagelsmann and pow- N recent years, the Champions their last trip to the Wanda Metropol- it takes in Europe. about the Champions League. ered by Timo Werner’s 16 goals and League last 16 draw has thrown itano – the venue for June’s Champi- With recruitment possible in the Guardiola has not won the compe- five assists this season, Leipzig are un- up familiar fixtures, with Eu- ons League final triumph over January transfer window after their tition since 2011 with Barcelona, and beaten in their last 10 games across rope’s best club sides getting Tottenham – but they know they will ban was lifted, Frank Lampard’s side if he is to change that he will have to all competitions and are flying at the used to facing each other every have to be at their best to break down may have strengthened by the time beat the most successful coach of re- top of the Bundesliga. Iseason. Not this time around Atleti’s defence on 18 February. they meet Bayern Munich. cent times in the competition. Spurs were beaten home and away though, with fresh and fascinating Simeone’s side are not enjoying Bayern have been a strange side this Zinedine Zidane has never faced by Bayern in the group stages, ship- ties being drawn in Nyon, Switzer- their strongest season, sitting fifth in season. The German giants were the Guardiola as a coach, but his Real ping 10 goals, and are yet to tighten land on Monday. La Liga, but their signature tight back only team to win all of their sixth Madrid side won three successive ti- up their defence since Mourinho’s ar- Fascinating they may be to the neu- line remains, with a league-best 10 Champions League group games, but tles from 2016 to 2018 and are vying rival. An intriguing tie awaits for tral, but fans of the Premier League’s goals conceded in 17 games so far. are fifth in a highly-competitive Bun- with Barca for dominance in La Liga. Spurs in February. CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2019 SPORT 27

CITY’S ARTETA CLOSE TO DERBY DRAWN Zaha fires Palace level to deny Brighton at Selhurst ARSENAL AGREEMENT SPORT DIGEST £ Mikel Arteta has moved a step closer to succeeding Unai Emery as WALES’ HOWLEY BANNED Arsenal manager after the club held FOR BETTING ON MATCHES talks with the Manchester City £ Former Wales backs coach Rob assistant. Arteta spent time with Howley has been banned from rugby Gunners managing director Vinai for 18 months for betting breaches. Venkatesham and director of football Howley, 49, made 363 bets on rugby operations Huss Fahmy after Arsenal’s union, featuring 1,163 matches 3-0 defeat by City on Sunday. The between 14 November 2015 and 7 former Arsenal midfielder was September 2019. His suspension has considered for the job before the club nine months suspended and is appointed Emery in May 2018, but backdated to his withdrawal from now looks likely to secure his first Wales’ World Cup team in September. managerial job. Arteta, 37, has also drawn interest from Everton, who STOKES TO MISS ENGLAND sacked Marco Silva on 5 December, TWO-DAY WARM-UP GAME but the Toffees have made ex-Napoli £ Ben Stokes will miss England’s first boss Carlo Ancelotti their first choice. warm-up game against South Africa Invitational XI after winning BBC’s UNITED DRAW BRUGES AS Sports Personality of the Year award. GUNNERS GET OLYMPIACOS Stokes will arrive in South Africa today, £ Manchester United have drawn too late to take part in the game, but Belgian side Bruges in the last 32 of Jimmy Anderson should feature after the Europa League. United, who won returning from a calf injury. the competition in 2017, will travel to Bruges on Thursday, 20 February FREEMAN TRIBUNAL MAY before the return leg a week later. This NOT FINISH UNTIL OCTOBER year’s beaten finalists Arsenal have £ The medical tribunal of ex-British been paired with Greek team Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Olympiacos while Wolverhampton Freeman may not finish until October Wanderers will face Spain’s Espanyol. 2020 after being adjourned on medical Celtic play Copenhagen and fellow grounds yesterday. Freeman, who Scottish Premiership side Rangers face could be struck off after accepting 18 Wilfried Zaha smashed in a brilliant equaliser to earn Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw against rivals Brighton in the Premier League last night. Portuguese club Braga. Dutch side of the 22 charges against him, Brighton dominated the injury-hit hosts at Selhurst Park and Neal Maupay found the top corner to put them ahead after 54 minutes. But the Ajax play Spain’s Getafe, while five- withdrew due to ill health. The hearing visitors didn’t take their chances and Zaha wriggled free and hammered home to level it and extend Palace’s unbeaten run to four games. time winners Sevilla face Cluj. should restart in late April or May 2020. Koepka and McIlroy inseparable after brilliant 2019

GOLF to it again. The women’s team compe- COMMENT tition was out of this world and the last hour was good as any Ryder Cup I’ve ever seen. Sam But being at The Open made a real Torrance impression on me. It is something I will never forget: the perfect story, with an Irishman winning his first Major in Northern Ireland. The tournament is the pinnacle for OLF HAS enjoyed another European players and the way Lowry great year and with 2019 did it was phenomenal. drawing to a close it is time Gfor me to look back on its SPECIAL MENTION stand-out protagonists, mo- The FedEx Cup was over by the end of ments and more. August this year and that really helped the end of the European Tour PLAYER OF THE YEAR season to reach a dramatic climax. This is a tricky one, but the world With no American events to play in, rankings don’t lie: Brooks Koepka (pic- the world’s biggest players were free tured left) and Rory McIlroy are No1 compete elsewhere and their involve- and No2 for a good reason. Both have ment helped enhance the back end of been remarkable in their own ways. the European Tour. You can’t fault McIlroy’s season. He has been brilliantly consistent, win- PREDICTION FOR 2020 ning four events as well as the FedEx I think next year could be the one Cup – and $15,000,000, the biggest where we see Europe’s top two players prize in the sport. take over. Koepka missed the Presi- The Northern Irishman enjoyed a dents Cup last week because he is re- great season, winning big events – the covering after having stem cell Players Championship, Canadian procedure on his knee, so he Open, Tour Championship and the might take a while to get up to WGC-HSBC Champions – but he did speed. not manage to add to his four Majors. That could leave the way open Koepka, meanwhile, won the PGA for McIlroy and Rahm in the Ma- Championship for the second straight jors. Both have enjoyed brilliant year to become the first player since years and I think they can cash Tiger Woods in 2007 to successfully de- in next year. fend his title at the American Major. Finally, I believe Padraig Har- It comes down to consistency against rington will prove to be a big-occasion play and I can’t separate fantastic captain for Eu- them, so the two are tied as my players Rahm is a super impressive individ- derful moment which sealed Europe’s Shane Lowry rope at the Ryder of 2019. ual. The way he birdied the 18th hole first win since 2013. won The Cup in Whistling in Dubai to seal the season-ending tri- However, for me there is simply no Open Straits next Sep- BREAKTHROUGH PLAYER umph showed just how calm he is beating Shane Lowry at The Open. I tember. Next year is This category is much easier. It has to under pressure. was commentating at Portrush and certainly looking be Jon Rahm. Many times this year I’ve I am backing him to take the next the atmosphere was so special. bright from a Euro- written of my admiration of the step and win a first Major in 2020. Lowry’s long celebratory walk up to pean perspective. Spaniard, whose star has risen so the 18th green, knowing he had much over the last 12 months. BEST MOMENT sealed the win, was extraordinary Sam Torrance OBE is Like McIlroy, the 25-year-old claimed First of all I have to give a mention to – as was the margin of his six-shot a multiple Ryder Cup- four events over the year, with victory Europe’s win at the Solheim Cup in victory. winning golfer and at the DP World Tour Championship September. The closing stages were so media commentator. last month sealing the European dramatic and Suzann Pettersen’s win- FAVOURITE TOURNAMENT Follow him Tour’s Race To Dubai crown. ning birdie putt at the 18th was a won- The Open beats The Solheim Cup @torrancesam