Sunday press review
AO World + Jimmy Choo cruises + Altos Labs
Morning all, hope you are enjoying the weekend. Here is my quick run-through of what I think is interesting in the Sunday papers and is likely to be followed in the days ahead…
Suppliers to online electrical retailer AO World have had their credit insurance cover cut by Atradius, one of the biggest providers, according to The Sunday Times. This is not good for AO World, to put it bluntly. It means the retailer could have to pay suppliers upfront to get products, putting pressure on its cash flow. Credit insurance is meant to protect suppliers from the risk of the company they are supplying going bust and not paying them. I wrote the “credit insurer cuts cover” story many times when I reported on the retail industry – it is a clear sign of a business finding life tough. What happens next depends on how suppliers choose to work with AO. This story is also a reminder of the power of Atradius and the leading credit insurers, who largely operate in the background. Story here.
Interesting feature in The Sunday Times on the lessons about electric cars from Norway, where take-up is well ahead of the UK and the highest in the world. Quiet city streets, underground charging points, free parking and access to bus lanes are some of the key takeaways. The piece is here.
Enjoyed Julian Richer’s column this week. It’s a history lesson on how he, Archie Norman, Nick Leslau and Nigel Wray launched their own Spac 23 years ago. Spoiler alert: It did not go to plan. Column here.
Lots more in the Sunday papers about travel chaos. I will wrap-up all the stories here. The Sunday Times flags that easyJet bosses are off to a five-star hotel in Palma, Majorca, this week for a corporate jamboree (story here), The Mail on Sunday reports on comments by Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary to the Financial Times that plane tickets are too cheap (story here), and The Sunday Telegraph reports that the three rail trade unions could stagger strikes one after another to chaos even more chaos on the train network (story here).
Britain is falling out of love with brown sauce according to The Mail on Sunday. Maybe it’s a northern thing, but no brown sauce in our house would be unthinkable. Story here.
Jimmy Choo cruises. That’s the name The Mail on Sunday has given to a new trend for British holidaymakers to go shopping in Europe for luxury goods and then claim back the VAT when they return home. Thierry Andretta, the boss of Mulberry, is quoted as saying: “More and more, I see people making the most of this. You see them returning from Paris and it’s evident they’ve been on a shopping weekend.” Full story here.
For those feeling a bit gloomy, here is Hamish McRae in the Mail on why the world will get healthier, wealthier and less dangerous between now and 2050. Piece here.
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have told The Sun in an op-ed that business tax cuts are coming later this year. “And in the Autumn, we will bring forward business tax cuts and further reforms to encourage them to invest more, train more and innovate more all of which will lead to higher growth.” The full piece is here.
There are plenty of energy stories in the Sunday papers, which reflects how the topic has gone up the news agenda given soaring household bills. The Mail says that Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is prepared to take a stake in the proposed Sizewell C nuclear plant alongside EDF. That story is here. Meanwhile, The Sunday Telegraph leads its business section on this story that National Grid has told energy providers that it may force factories to ration their energy usage this winter. That story is here. Finally, The Sunday Telegraph also reports that the fracking company Cuadrilla is prepared to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to the local communities where it operates as it battles to lift a moratorium. Story here.
Punchy words from Liam Fox, the Conservative MP, on Boris Johnson’s steel tariffs. “One of the worst decisions taken by this Government.” Fox, remember, was once Johnson’s proposed candidate to lead the World Trade Organisation. Sunday Telegraph story here.
The mysterious Altos Labs, which is thought to be backed by Jeff Bezos and poached Hal Barron from Glaxosmithkline to be chief executive, is expanding in Cambridge and looking for more lab space. Altos says it is working on “cellular rejuvenation programming to restore cell health and resilience, with the goal of reversing disease to transform medicine”. In other words, living forever. Sunday Telegraph story here.
Has Microsoft run out of cloud-computing space in Britain? Sounds like it. Story here.
That’s all for today. Off to Lunch will be back tomorrow with part two of our look at Oxford Science Enterprises and the potential of university spin-outs, quantum computing and a shortage of lab space. You can read part one, an interview with OSE boss Alexis Dormandy, here. Sign-up for a paid subscription to read that in full, contribute to the work of Off to Lunch and attend our forthcoming events.
Thanks
Graham