Rail industry set for union clash over jobs

Haines, who is leading the team that will set up GBR, said that the Treasury would “lose patience” if costs were not tackled as the industry seeks to wean itself off state support.

Passenger numbers collapsed during the pandemic and are only at about 65 per cent of pre-Covid levels. The Treasury has thrown at least £17 billion at the railways since 2020.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, said: “It’s clear that ‘workforce reform’ is government and industry code for a jobs, pay and pensions massacre, and we are preparing a national fight to defend our members from this mayhem.

“All tactics are at our disposal including national industrial action. There’s a storm brewing — and the RMT is ready for it.”

Camelot explores legal challenge to lottery loss
The operator of the National Lottery is exploring a legal challenge to the decision to award the competition to a rival bidder, questioning the scoring system that was used to crown the winner, writes Sabah Meddings.

Camelot, which has run the National Lottery since its inception in 1994, is understood to be consulting lawyers over the method used by the Gambling Commission, which selected the winner. Last week, the commission announced that Czech operator Allwyn, previously known as Sazka, had been chosen as the “preferred applicant” to run the lottery when the current licence expires in 2024.

It is understood that Camelot’s complaint focuses on a quirk in the process that meant bidders could be marked down if they were deemed “higher risk”. A so-called solution risk factor could wipe up to 15 per cent from the score related to the bidder’s business plan. However, it is understood that the final scores applied a solution risk factor of zero to both Camelot and Allwyn.

“Not only has it been applied at a rate of zero, but it has curiously been applied at precisely the same amount for two entirely separate business plans,” said a source.

Camelot, which has engaged leading QC Lord (David) Pannick, has until Friday to launch its challenge. It has been named the “reserve applicant”.

Julian Knight, chairman of the House of Commons culture select committee, has previously written to the Gambling Commission to raise concerns that Camelot, as the incumbent, may have an unfair advantage over rivals. He had asked the regulator to be transparent in the way it allocates “risk” to the different tenders.

Camelot, which has reportedly written to the Gambling Commission, declined to comment.

Billboard owner goes up for sale
American outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel will this week kick off an auction for its European arm, which includes thousands of digital billboards across Britain, write Sam Chambers and Jamie Nimmo.

The out-of-home advertising company launched a strategic review of its European division in December, including a potential sale that could fetch hundreds of millions of pounds.

The first round of bids are due this week, with deal-hungry private equity firms expected to lead the chase.

Clear Channel, which is being advised by bankers at Deutsche Bank and Moelis, has 33,000 outdoor advertising sites in the UK at bus stops, by roads, on pavements and in shopping centres.

The European business generated more than $1 billion (£760 million) in sales in 2021, with underlying profits of about $50 million. Total sales for the entire company last year were $2.2 billion.

Clear Channel’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange value the entire company at $1.75 billion.

The company is pitching the European business as an opportunity for buyers to capitalise on the growing demand for digital billboards.

An industry source said that rivals such as France’s JCDecaux are unlikely to be among the bidders, given the inevitable competition issues. A break-up of the European business is also a possibility, they said.

It is understood that Ocean Outdoor, the London-listed company that operates the famous Piccadilly Lights in the capital, is not involved in the bidding process.

Ocean is weighing a sale of its own after kicking off a strategic review in November. Last month, the company said it had received “interest and conditional offers” for the business, which is valued at £380 million.

Clear Channel, Deutsche Bank and Moelis all declined to comment.

Stagecoach suitors sweet-talk investors
The boss of National Express has urged Stagecoach shareholders to back its bid over a rival offer from German infrastructure fund DWS, as both suitors step up their efforts this week to woo investors in the Scottish bus operator, writes Jon Yeomans.

Ignacio Garat said a merger of National Express and Stagecoach was “a unique opportunity to create a leader in our home market”.

Garat said National Express would seek to match DWS’s pledges to upgrade Stagecoach’s fleet of buses. “Stagecoach in combination with us would not see less progress in electrification. Our commitment is to electrify our own UK bus fleet by 2030 and we’d want to be as ambitious with the Stagecoach fleet, certainly no later than 2035,” he said.

National Express’s £460 million all-share bid for Stagecoach was gatecrashed by DWS this month when the fund tabled a 105p a-share-bid that values the company at £595 million.

DWS secured the backing of Stagecoach’s board and has also won the support of its biggest investor, Columbia Threadneedle, which has a 17 per cent stake.

National Express chose not to sweeten its offer last week, arguing instead that shareholders would benefit from a long-term rise in its share price.