The Business Matrix: Monday 21 July 2014

London investors want 20-year plan

More than 400 owners, developers and investors in London property are launching a wide-ranging manifesto calling on the Government to commit to measures including a 20-year infrastructure investment plan for London. The City and Westminster Property Association also wants upgrades to the Bakerloo and Piccadilly Underground lines.

Currency union ‘is a dead issue’

There will be no currency union “of any kind” between Scotland and the UK if the referendum results in a Yes vote, the chairman of a Commons committee insists. Ian Davidson, chairman of the Scottish Affairs Committee said: “The Scottish Government tries to give the impression that a currency union is still a possibility. It is not. This parrot is dead.”

What the Sunday papers said

UK remains top for Euro investment

The UK is still Europe’s most attractive destination for foreign business investment, winning nearly 1,800 new projects in the past year. That was 14 per cent up on the previous year, according to official figures from UK Trade and Investment. Trade Minister Lord Ian Livingston called it “an exceptional year for foreign investment”.

Independent on Sunday

Sky readies £20bn pay-TV coup

BSkyB is finalising plans to create a £20bn European pay-TV giant, boosting parent company 21st Century Fox’s pursuit of US rival Time Warner. Sky is set to seal the takeovers of sister companies in Germany and Italy within the next fortnight. That will provide Fox, which controls Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia, with some €8bn (£6.3bn).

Sunday Times

Monarch seeks £60m injection

Monarch Group, which runs Monarch Airlines and the tour group Cosmos, is in talks with its Swiss owner over a £60m cash injection – the third of its kind in five years – amid tough trading. The controlling Mantegazza family pumped £75m into the business in 2011 and £45m in 2009.

Sunday Telegraph

Millions ‘must get rate rise warning’

Two million homeowners should be issued with “at risk” warning letters when interest rates start to rise, the Resolution Foundation says. It wants the Financial Conduct Authority to order mortgage lenders to contact vulnerable customers immediately ahead of the expected rise.

Mail on Sunday

Regulators to give views on banking

An insight into the Competition and Markets Authority’s views on banking is expected today as executives – including CEO Alex Chisolme – are grilled by the Treasury Select Committee. The regulator said last week it would investigate banks’ lending to small business and their handling of personal accounts.

Results will keep pressure on GSK

Under-fire drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline will offer investors little solace with its second quarter figures on Wednesday. The company is likely to have seen a double-digit fall in profits, largely due to the strength of the pound, but that will not take the pressure off chief executive Sir Andrew Witty.

Vodafone rings up lower revenues

It may be the West’s biggest mobile phone company but Vodafone is finding it increasingly hard to grow. Friday’s first-quarter numbers are likely to show organic revenues fell by some 4.5 per cent worldwide, with India and Spain slowing, although the UK, Germany and Italy are looking better.

UK growth set to stay on track

The most keenly awaited economic statistic for some time arrives on Friday with the first estimate of gross domestic product (or economic growth) for the second quarter. Anything other than a repeat of the 0.8 per cent rise in GDP seen in the first quarter would be a surprise.