Woodford remuneration
Bonuses scrapped
One of the UK's highest profile fund managers, Neil Woodford, has scrapped bonuses at his firm. Chief executive Craig Newman said he and Mr Woodford had concluded bonuses were "largely ineffective in influencing the right behaviours". He said academic studies suggested bonuses could lead to "short-term decision making and wrong behaviours". A group spokesman added that salaries were increased to account for there being no bonuses, making it cost-neutral for the firm. Time will tell whether Mr Woodford openly agitates for this measure in the companies he invests in.
Every little helps
Sales decline slows
Supermarket data from Kantar Worldpanel breathed life into Tesco's shares this week, with their best day in almost two months. The numbers showed the sales decline at Tesco slowed to 0.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 12 August, the slowest rate of decline in six months. German discounters Lidl and Aldi continued to nip away at the big four grocers’ market share, but Tesco’s market share decline also continued to moderate after positive results last month. Tesco’s shares have now risen by about a fifth since hitting an 18-year low in January.
Sterling orders
Exports improve
It wasn't all good news for the country's manufacturers in August, but it could have been worse. Data from the CBI, the business lobby group, showed a total order book reading of -5 per cent - which is an expression of the difference between the percentage of firms reporting higher than normal orders versus those reporting the opposite. But this was better than the predicted -10 per cent. Furthermore, export order books reached a two-year high (a reading of -6 per cent) thanks to the weakness of sterling making purchases from overseas more attractive.
No-go Govia
More strikes
The embattled train operator Govia, a joint venture between the London-listed Go-Ahead Group and France's Keolis, is to face another strike by its Southern Rail workers, according to the RMT union. The 48-hour walkout will take place on 7 and 8 September and is the latest skirmish in the long-running battle between the company and its workers. The spat emanated from the plan to change the role of conductors on its trains, which would see responsibility for the closing of train doors transferred to drivers.
Freeze or thaw?
Oil supply
The price of Brent crude oil had rallied more than a fifth in the first three weeks of August but things haven't been so chipper in the past few days. The reversal coincides with a Goldman Sachs note warning the production freeze markets had been hoping for - which was helping push up the price - may not fully transpire. It said there would only be a "modest" supply-demand deficit given issues impacting oil output in Iraq, Libya and Nigeria have been partially overcome. As such, the bank views oil fundamentals as "fragile".
Revving up
Mini deal
There might be worries about consumers' discretionary spending in Brexit Britain but UK car dealership Lookers is doubling down. The group has snapped up Knights group, which will mean it will be able to sell new Minis and BMWs to its customers for the first time (it currently sells second-hand BMWs but no Minis). The £27.2m price tag isn't going to move the City's 2016 M&A tally much but is at least a sign of executive confidence and may help the group's shares drive past their pre-referendum level.
Not so challenged
OneSavings robust
The challenger bank OneSavings Bank, the specialist buy-to-let property lender, might have said it was "too soon" to judge the impact of the Brexit vote on the UK economy but the shares rose 17 per cent on the back of hearty first-half numbers. It reported a 36 per cent rise in profits in the first half of the year, while pre-tax profits grew to £64.6m in the six months to the end of June, compared to £47.6m over the same period last year. It increased its loan book and also boosted its equity buffer - known as the common equity tier 1 (CET) - from 11 per cent to 13.3 per cent.
