Thursday 21 June 2018

Brexit could lead to the loss of 75,000 jobs
and up to £10bn in annual tax revenue, according to the former
chairman of the City of London Corporation, Sir Mark Boleat. JP
Morgan, Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and Goldman Sachs have already
established subsidiaries in other EU countries, or moved part of
their business. “It is no longer contingency planning,” said Sir
Mark.

Walt Disney has trumped Comcast’s rival bid
for 21st Century Fox’s entertainment and distribution businesses
with a $71.3bn offer. Fox said that Disney’s new cash-and-shares
offer, nearly $19bn higher than its $52.4bn all-shares bid in
December last year, was “superior” to Comcast’s. However, the
latter firm is expected to return to the table with a new bid in
the region of $77bn.

Administrators said no Poundland stores were
“definitely” closing after staff at the chain were told “closing
down” sales will start on Thursday. Deloitte, which has appointed
retail consultants Hilco to help with the management of the stores,
also said that the search for a buyer continued. Poundworld has 355
stores and employs 5,100 people.

The European Union will hit back against
Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel by targeting €2.8bn of American
products “from speedboats and motorcycles
to orange juice and cigarettes,” says The Times. Officials from the
EU officials said that they had been “left with no other choice”
but to retaliate. However, the White House is reportedly
considering a European peace offering. 

Daimler says it expects lower earnings as a
result of the trade spat between Washington and Beijing. The German
carmaker has forecast lower-than-expected sales of Mercedes-Benz
due to a tax on the import of US vehicles into China. The Trump
administration plans to tax at least $50bn (£38bn) of Chinese
imports in response to China’s alleged intellectual copyright
theft.

“Don’t come here and talk baloney. I can add up – I am not that
stupid.” Neil Parish, chair of the parliamentary environment
food and rural affairs committee, slams Asda’s chief executive
Roger Burnley over the £12bn merger with Sainsbury’s.

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Oil: $74.29 down -0.60