Tuesday newspaper round-up: Housebuilders, LSE, RBS
More than one in six people working on housebuilding sites across Britain come from other EU countries, rising to half of site workers in London, according to a new report. A survey of 37,000 housebuilding workers across Britain shows 17.7% are from the EU. More than half of those come from Romania, with 12% from Poland and almost 10% from Ireland. – Guardian
Companies would not be forced to appoint workers to their boards and instead be allowed to choose how they intend to heed the views of employees, according to proposals to overhaul boardroom rules. The proposals, to be published on Tuesday, appear to confirm that Theresa May’s pledge to put workers on boards – made during her campaign last year to become Conservative party leader – has been abandoned. – Guardian
Hedge fund billionaire Sir Christopher Hohn is showing no signs of dialing back on his campaign to oust the London Stock Exchange's chairman, ignoring the board's plea for him to back down by issuing a scathing dossier. The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), which is run by Sir Christopher and owns 5pc of the exchange, has drawn up a 14-page document outlining why chairman Donald Brydon should go, ahead of a crucial shareholder vote on the matter. – Telegraph
The pound’s Brexit-induced weakness has helped London attract more visitors than any other European destination this year, despite a spate of terror attacks in the capital. The number of European visitors to London rose by 24pc this year, according to data from online travel agent eDreams, helping the city become the most visited destination in Europe. – Telegrapgh
The Financial Conduct Authority decided not to publish a highly critical investigation into Royal Bank of Scotland’s systematic mishandling of thousands of small and medium-sized companies because it feared being sued for “unfair treatment” by the bank. Despite acknowledging the public interest in issuing its full investigation into the bank’s Global Restructuring Group, the FCA concluded that to do so would expose it to an “unacceptable risk of successful legal action by current/former RBS managers”, internal board minutes seen by The Times show. – The Times
It was staged amid a blizzard of price cuts and blanket advertising, but all those stores that had pinned their hopes on a Black Friday shopping bonanza have been left asking themselves: “Was it worth the effort?” The British Retail Consortium said yesterday that mass discounts meant to entice customers into parting with their increasingly limited cash had led to “meagre” sales growth last month. – The Times