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Newspaper Briefing informs you of what is happening in the news before the market opens. We believe our Newspaper Briefing is an invaluable tool to set up your trading day, therefore giving you an edge. Our Newspaper Briefing is just the start of our trading day at Guardian. We work with our clients to provide them with information and guidance to enhance their trading decisions. Guardian will provide you with an individual service together with the most suitable and expert advice at a fair and reasonable cost. Ministers refuse to back plan for airport: Ministers have ruled out making any decision on calls for a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary until at least the middle of next year, sources have told The Times. Even then they are unlikely to back the idea because of huge practical difficulties that they do not think can be overcome. Officials have privately slapped down Boris Johnsons campaign for a four-runway airport to the east of London. Green Deal loans likely to prove a turn off: Government Ministers have heralded it as the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War, but their own economists predict the number of homes insulated under the Green Deal will slump, not rise. The revelation could undermine confidence in the programme that Chris Huhne is banking on to deliver efficiency savings and slash bills to cushion households from the rising costs of fossil fuels and wind farms over the next decade. Mr Huhne declared that all the U.K.s 26 million households could benefit from the Green Deal by 2020. The baskets get lighter as shoppers feel the strain: Shoppers have reverted to behaviour seen in the depths of the recession, going shopping more often but buying fewer and cheaper items. Faced with a return of rampant inflation and a teetering economy, shoppers have adjusted significantly by buying more own-label goods and special offers and putting fewer items in their baskets, according to Kantar Worldpanel, the retail analyst. Big companies plan to cut back on office space: Business confidence in Britain has weakened so much that nearly 40% of the countrys top 500 companies are planning to reduce their office space to cut costs. A survey published by Cushman & Wakefield, a global property consultant, shows that about four in ten big companies intend to sub-let property in the next 12 months. Nearly as many, 38%, plan to vacate non-core offices when their leases expire and the overwhelming majority, 93%, expect to have a smaller number of properties within the next three years. A parking spot at your $9 million front door 57 storeys up: If the thought of leaving your flashy car parked downstairs while you retire to your luxury apartment for the night is too traumatic, a $560 million (350 million) Florida development will offer a solution. The 57-storey Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach will enable residents to drive all the way to the front door of the $9 million homes even those on the top floor. Developers to receive 400 million windfall to get Britain building again: Housing developers hit hard by the credit crunch will be offered a slice of a 400 million government fund in an effort to kick-start building projects across the country. David Cameron and Nick Clegg will pledge the money as part of a major reform to tackle a housing crisis in which millions are being forced into cramped conditions because of a shortage of homes. Biomass plant gets backing but future looks bleak: Britains first bank-financed biomass plant for 12 years is set to get the go-ahead after a three-year struggle to raise the cash. David Williams, Chief Executive of Eco2, the company behind the plant, which burns straw to make electricity, told The Times that the tortuous process underlined how scarce credit was for biomass developers. Royal Bank of Scotland , UniCredit, Siemens Financial Services and NIBC are expected to sign off in the next fortnight on 120 million of financing to build the Lincolnshire plant, although completion could be delayed again. WPP staff linked to U.S. senator donations: Individuals and lobbying groups linked to the advertising giant WPP have emerged as some of the biggest backers of Jeff Sessions, one of Americas most hardline Republican senators. Mr Sessions, a junior senator from Alabama, has proved a controversial figure even among some on the right in the U.S. Thomas Cook closes 125 more shops: Thomas Cook is planning to close about 200 of its high-street travel agencies in a move which threatens more than 1,000 jobs. The company had already announced the closure of about 75 shops following its merger with Co-operative Travel, but it is set to add another 125 on Thursday when it unveils the results of a wide-ranging review of its U.K. operations. Pension funds hide 3.1 billion costs, says study: Pension funds are hiding 3.1 billion in annual costs from investors through excessive trading that creates little performance improvements, new research claims. The study by SCM Private, a wealth management company, has found out that U.K. pension funds hold their assets for only nine months on average before they sell them on, creating 0.7% in yearly costs that are not shown to investors and that come on top of actually disclosed fees. Framestore joins colleges to win film contracts: Framestore which boasts Harry Potter and the recent Sherlock Holmes film among its credits, has linked up with two further-education colleges in Bournemouth to do preproduction work in bidding for key film contracts. Framestore will take on graduates from the colleges to avoid having to outsource the work to third parties. Regus and SNCF in mobile office deal: SNCF has agreed a deal with Regus, the serviced office provider, which will install drop-in business centres across its 3,000 train station network as it seeks to cater for the growing trend towards mobile working. The business centres will initially open in six stations Paris Nord, Le Mans, Bordeaux, Nancy, Amiens,and Lille Flandres, with plans to extend the programme to other locations later. Cayman Directors sit on hundreds of boards: A small group of Cayman Islands Jumbo Directors are sitting on the boards of hundreds of hedge funds as demand for independent Directors booms in the Caribbean tax haven. At least four individuals hold more than 100 non-executive directorships each, and 14 have more than 70 each worth as much as $30,000 a year. Zhaikmunai to seek London listing: Zhaikmunai has become the latest company from the former Soviet Union to signal its intention to seek a full London listing that would qualify it for entry into the FTSE 250 index. Frank Monstrey, the companys leading shareholder with a 28% stake, said Zhaikmunai already met the free float requirement of candidates seeking entry to the FTSE indices, with 33% of its shares freely traded. StanChart reduces Eurozone exposure: Standard Chartered has cut its exposure to Eurozone banks and boosted business with Chinese financial institutions because of the European debt crisis, but has not axed credit lines to any specific banks despite fears of a credit crunch, according to the London-based emerging market banks Asia Chief Executive. Iraq oil: fools rush in: Western oil companies are flocking to Erbil, capital of this semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq, to secure exploration and drilling contracts. The prize: a possible 50 billion barrels of oil or 40% of Iraqs proved reserves. Critically, there is no agreement between Baghdad and the regions on a petroleum law and the sharing of resource revenues. Oil company bosses could be walking themselves and their investors into a legal and political minefield. The deal that epitomises the scramble is the $2.1 billion takeover of Kurdistan-focused Genel Energy in September by Vallares, backed by former BP Boss Tony Hayward and financier Nathaniel Rothschild. The government of Kurdistan signed drilling contracts with the U.S. super major last month. The region is said to want to boost its oil output to 1 million barrels a day within five years, from 150,000 a day now. Investment banks: battle of the bulges: The UBS Chief Executive last week outlined plans to refocus the Swiss bank and cut its investment banks assets in half. His plan neatly captures the existential dilemma the industry faces: whether the model that enriched them in the boom years can survive its worst crisis in recent memory. Third quarter numbers from the main European and U.S. banks give a snapshot of their problems. Revenue from Europe, for instance, was down by about a third from a year ago. Equity underwriting has all but disappeared, and the Eurozone crisis has hit profits. But their cost base is stubbornly high often over 80% of revenue. Pay must be cut, or staff culled. And since banks cannot charge more for commoditised services and products, they must exit units that fail to cover a cost of capital of, say, 11-12%. That explains why most investment banks trade at less than their tangible book value Morgan Stanley at a lowly 0.5 times, and Deutsche Bank at a scarcely lustrous 0.7 times. Congress insiders: sharp practice: Fictional characters such as Bud Fox, who whispered those words in Wall Street, or real but larger-than-life ones such as the trader nicknamed Octopussy, go to extraordinary lengths to hide the crime of insider trading. The ones we know about, such as Raj Rajaratnam and Ivan Boesky, are household names because they were greedy enough to get caught. But Americans are suddenly in an uproar over much the same behaviour from even better-known names who have done it openly several of their leading politicians. The reason members of Congress can get away with trading on or passing along market-moving data is that they are not legally required to keep it confidential. Economist Alan Ziobrowski showed that from 1994 to 1998 members of Congress outperformed the market by an astounding 12% a year. Big Four to push Brussels to scrap radical audit reforms: The Big Four accountancy firms have united in a campaign to persuade Brussels to scrap a radical shake-up of the auditing industry which is due next week. Mr Barnier, Europes internal market commissioner, had planned to publish on Wednesday his report demanding the historic break-up of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young for competition reasons. Cranswicks margins should improve: The Company specialises in pork products, and Questor is a fan of the meat during these austerity times. Martin Davey, Cranswicks Chairman, confirmed this trend last week. Pig-meat products have gained an increased share of the U.K. retail protein market, with the versatility and low relative price of pork to other proteins finding favour with the consumer, he said. In the six months to September, pretax profits slipped to 18.5 million from 23.8 million on revenues that were 3% ahead at 393.9 million. The interim dividend was raised to 9p from 8.8p. This will be paid on 20 January and the shares trade without this payment from 23 November. The company refinanced its debt on better terms in March, so financing costs fell by 35% in the first six months of the year. The balance sheet is strong, with net debt at 48.2 million and interest cover of 37.7 times. The shares are trading on a March 2012 earnings multiple of 11 times, falling to 9.8 in 2013. The prospective yield is 4% in the current year, rising to 4.3% next year. Cranswick at 695p. Questor Says Buy. Lamprell a bright prospect in a buoyant sector: Lamprell builds and refurbishes equipment for the offshore oil industry, with a speciality in jack-up rigs. The main operation is in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East, but the group has also recently expanded into Thailand to refurbish jack-up rigs for the wider South-East Asian region. The 680 million market cap company has won $1.07 billion (675 million) in contracts since the start of the year. At the end of October, its order book stood at $1.2 billion, with orders going out until the second quarter of 2014. In the six-months to the end of June, revenues rose 102.6% to $283.6 million, with operating profits up 45% to $41 million. The company issued an upbeat third quarter trading update last week, where it confirmed it continued to see a high level of enquiries. It has shown these enquires can be turned into orders, with an impressive order flow of late. Indeed, a contract for a self-elevating mobile offshore drilling platform unveiled a couple of weeks ago is not accounted for in the backlog figure. Analysts reckon this contract could be worth around $170 million. The shares are trading on a December 2012 multiple of 13.1 times, falling to 9.2 in 2012. The prospective yield is 3%. Lamprell at 259.2p. Questor Says Buy. U.S. defence and welfare cuts loom as super committee deadlocked: The bipartisan committee tasked with reducing Americas $15 trillion (9.5 trillion) budget deficit looks close to admitting defeat as its deadline looms. The committee, created in August, has until Wednesday to report a plan to cut $1.2 trillion from the nations deficit. Failure to do so will trigger automatic cuts to defence and social welfare programmes starting in 2013. Cowdery fails in Phoenix takeover bid: Cowderys Resolution insurance conglomerate said talks about a possible acquisition of Phoenix Group were off. Phoenix has more than 6 million policyholders for whom it manages 68.5 billion of so-called zombie funds. They relate to old life assurance and pension policies sold by household names such as National Provident, London Life and Scottish Mutual. The reported 1.2 billion price would have ranked as one of the biggest in Britains financial services industry since the credit crunch in 2007. Pharmaceuticals struggle to find next blockbuster drugs as R&D costs soar: Deloitte report on worlds 12 largest drugmakers shows average cost of getting medicines to market rose 25% to more than $1 billion. The cost of developing new medicines has shot up while the number of drugs in late-stage development has declined further, underlining the challenges faced by the major pharmaceutical companies. New Star battle continues as it emerges that fund Boss reduced high-flyers to tears: The courtroom battle between two leading figures of the investment world - John Duffield and Patrick Evershed - is embroiling a growing cast of supporting characters, from the glamorous office secretary to one of the worlds most respected female asset managers. It was alleged at a tribunal last week that Stella Selwood was frequently bullied by her Boss John Duffield. Sir Philip Greens Arcadia will deepen the Christmas gloom: As the High Street hopes for the best this Christmas, but prepares for the worst, billionaire Sir Philip Greens Arcadia clothing empire should this week pile on the gloom and announce sharply lower profits. The BhS-to-Topshop group is expected to announce profits of below 150 million in the year to August, down more than 30% on 2010. In 2007, excluding BhS, it made almost 300 million. CBI issues challenge to Osborne as Eurozone crisis knocks business leaders confidence: Fallout from the Eurozone crisis has knocked business leaders confidence, with seven in ten saying the economic outlook has worsened since August. A survey from the CBI, which holds its annual conference, will act as a stark reminder to George Osborne of the challenges facing him when he delivers his Autumn Statement in eight days. Retailers fear terrible Christmas: High-street retailers last month suffered the biggest fall in shopper numbers since the blizzards last winter. They dropped 4.7% as a toxic mix of soaring fuel bills and sluggish wage growth squeezed consumers and the Eurozone crisis sapped confidence, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium. Enterprising trio vying to win professional business awards: Scotlands entrepreneurial dynamism will be highlighted at a dinner in Glasgow next week when the Entrepreneurial Exchange Awards are presented in front of around 600 guests. Organised this year in association with professional services firm Deloitte and media partner The Herald, the event is Scotlands longest-running awards for growth-oriented entrepreneurs. 9.5 million bonuses hit for Hester as RBS shares wilt: Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive Stephen Hester is sitting on a 9.5 million loss on the bonuses he has been awarded, it was reported. The part-nationalised banks share price has almost halved in value since the beginning of the year and closed on Friday night at just 20.57p. Time for a new generation to take reins: NFU Scotland President Nigel Miller will use a seminar at this weeks AgriScot business event at Ingliston to call for a road map to be put in place to better assist those who are the future of Scottish agriculture new entrants. The union has established a New Generation group who are to feed in views and opinions on a range of topics. RBS is sued by pension funds: Royal Bank of Scotland is being sued by a pair of American pension funds over the collapse of brokerage firm MF Global. The Scottish lender is among a host of investment banks including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank accused of making misleading statements about the exposure that MF Global had to eurozone government debt. Warning notes sounded for retailers as Christmas looms: The full scale of the challenge facing Scotlands retailers will be laid bare this morning when figures will show a nose dive in the number of shoppers visiting high streets and retail parks. Businesses gearing up for the anticipated Christmas rush will be shocked to see Scotland lagging behind the rest of the U.K. in terms of footfall as shops pin their hopes on a surge of customers leading up to the big day. Refocusing exports may give U.K. firms 20 billion boost: A new exports strategy focused on delivering products and services demanded by the worlds high-growth emerging markets could give the U.K. economy a 20 billion lift by 2020. In a report published by the CBI and accountancy giant Ernst & Young, business leaders will call on the U.K. government to set out a clear exports strategy with ambitious, achievable performance targets. Improving Scots jobs market leads rest of U.K.: The Scottish jobs market continues to improve ahead of the rest of the U.K., with both permanent and temporary appointments increasing in October, a report published shows. The latest Bank of Scotland study on jobs showed the rate of growth in permanent placements was the fastest since May. Christmas crunch on the cards as late payments hit SMEs: A growing culture of late payments could lead to a Christmas cash crunch for Scottish businesses, forcing some out of business in the January lean period. Research from listed accountancy firm RSM Tenon reveals that 83% of Scottish businesses are having to wait more than 30 days for payment and 16% are having to wait 75 days to be paid for work or goods supplied.

News Archive » CLA and NFU respond jointly to CAP reform ...

CLA and NFU respond jointly to CAP reform proposals

The CLA and NFU have described the release of the European Commission's extensively leaked Common Agriculture Policy Reform proposals as "disappointing and a missed opportunity."

In a joint statement the CLA and NFU said:

 

"The Commission says it wants 'smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for European agriculture'.  Both the CLA and NFU believe very few of the proposals will help meet those objectives and many of them will actually move farming in England and Wales in the opposite direction.

 

"In the last major reform of the CAP in 2003 we started with proposals that were generally helpful but unfortunately our own government implemented them in a way which was unequal for English farmers and hugely over-complicated. We, farmers, landowners and the Government, are still living with the consequences of those mistakes. This time we are starting with unhelpful proposals. The CLA and NFU, along with our allies in Europe, will do everything possible to improve them and remove some of the worst aspects.

 

"Ministers have committed to ensuring that English farmers are not disadvantaged this time, and the CLA and NFU will be looking to them to work with us to avoid discrimination against English farmers, remove the excessive complexity in the current proposals and help farmers become more competitive.

 

"More specifically, in terms of equity, we want to ensure that we have equivalent greening measures throughout the European Union. The purpose of this reform must be to bring the whole of Europe up to the standard of the better-performing countries.

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