1 The former chairman of the Post Office lobbied to double the pay of its chief executive even as Horizon compensation schemes faltered and the company descended into chaos. Henry Staunton twice asked ministers in the Department for Business and Trade to increase the pay of Nick Read but was rebuffed, MPs have heard.
2 Rishi Sunak is preparing to overrule Michael Gove, the housing secretary, and offer a string of concessions to Tory MPs on laws to protect renters, prompting claims that he is watering down a manifesto pledge to ban no-fault evictions.
3 Direct Line has become the latest UK-listed company to become the target of a takeover bid from an overseas rival. The FTSE 250 car insurer was put in play after Ageas, of Belgium, made a £3.1 billion bid approach that Direct Line said “significantly undervalued” its prospects.
4 More than £500 million was wiped off the stock market value of St James’s Place after Britain’s biggest wealth manager revealed it was taking a £426 million hit to cover potential refunds to aggrieved customers.
5 Bitcoin rose back above the $60,000 mark for the first time in more than two years amid renewed fervour for the world’s most widely traded cryptocurrency.
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6 School-leaver apprentices at top City law firms are earning salaries of up to £55,000, more than 50 per cent higher than the average national salary. Prospective solicitors who go from school to apprenticeships at Norton Rose Fulbright, an Anglo-American practice, get £28,000 in their first year, rising to £53,000 by the end of the six-year scheme.
7 Taylor Wimpey’s profits almost halved last year but the FTSE 100 housebuilder has seen some “encouraging signs of improvement” in recent weeks.
8 Successive chancellors have been at the sharp end of worsening productivity conditions. Since 2020, they have had an average of £16.2 billion of headroom against their self-imposed fiscal rules to use in their financial statements. Jeremy Hunt is set to be bound by this dynamic next Thursday, with analysts expecting he will have £13 billion to use, probably enough to cut income taxes by 1p.
9 A pioneering mortgage product that does not require a deposit from borrowers had attracted £62 million of applications in its first nine months, Skipton Building Society said, with 484 borrowers signed up.
10 “Inappropriate conduct” by staff in the Middle East contributed towards an unexpected fall in fourth-quarter revenues at Reckitt. Shares in the FTSE 100 consumer goods company fell to a ten-year low.
