Wednesday newspaper round-up: Carillion, Amazon, Thomson Reuters
Carillion collapsed as a result of “recklessness, hubris and greed” among directors who put their own financial rewards ahead of all other concerns, according to an excoriating report into the firm’s demise that spreads the blame between board members, the government, accountants and regulators. The company, which managed huge construction projects and provided government services ranging from school meals to prison maintenance and NHS cleaning, slumped into insolvency in January. More than 2,000 people have since been made redundant. - Guardian
Amazon has threatened to move jobs out of its hometown of Seattle after the city council introduced a new tax to try and address the homelessness crisis. The world’s second-biggest company has warned that the “hostile” tax, which will charge firms $275 per worker a year to fund homelessness outreach services and affordable housing, “forces us to question our growth here”. – Guardian
Energy bill payers will be forced to stump up an extra £1.5bn for their energy over the next fifteen years after a tweak to the Government’s auction for low-carbon power subsidies backfired. The National Audit Office said the rule changes made to last year’s auction for contracts to support new, low-carbon power projects mean that energy users will be on the hook for an extra £100m a year. – Telegraph
Thomson Reuters is shifting its $300bn-a-day foreign exchange derivatives trading business from London to Dublin, in a bid to ensure the company can continue to sell services into the European Union after Brexit. The move, to take place before the UK leaves the EU next year, will not result in any jobs being cut in London and the computer systems will remain in London, the company said. More jobs will, however, open up in Dublin. – Telegraph
The United States has threatened the European Union with billions of dollars of import duties if it fails to honour a World Trade Organisation ruling to stop providing illegal subsidies to Airbus. The WTO said in a report yesterday that Britain, Germany, France and Spain also had provided illegal subsidies to the aircraft maker and, like the EU, had failed to comply with a ruling two years ago to stop. The report came nearly 14 years after America brought the dispute to the WTO at the behest of Boeing, Airbus’s closest rival. – The Times
Concerns have been raised over plans by the former director of the Serious Fraud Office to join a law firm that has represented some of the biggest companies he has prosecuted. Legal sources said that David Green, who stepped down as head of the fraud office after six years in March, will have to be “ringfenced” if he joins Slaughter and May, to prevent possible conflicts of interest. – The Times