The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 7 August 2019 *** 29

q

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£$

Rate

1.2169

Change

+0.29¢

£€

Rate

1.0878

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+0.24¢

FTSE 250 18846.20

-2 5. 22 (- 0.13p c)

FTSE All Share 3920.70

-2 3.4 5 (- 0. 59 p c)

FTSE All Share Yield 4.29

+0.03

FTSE Eurotop 100 2810.71

-17.28 (-0.61pc)

Nikkei 225 20585.31

-134.98 (-0.65pc)

EURO STOXX 50 3291.66

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S&P 500 2881.77

+37.03 (+1.30pc)

Nasdaq 7833.27

+107.23 (+1.39pc)

52WkHigh 7790.17

52WkLow 6536.53

Yield 4.50pc +0.03

P/E ratio 14.84 -0.11

52WkHigh 27398.68

52WkLow 21712.53

Markets Currencies

FTSE 100 Dow Jones

p

26029.52

+311.78 (+1.21pc)

Commodities

Gold

p

$1473.90

(£1211)

+9.67 (+0.66pc)

Brent Crude

q

$58.94

(October)

-0.87 (-1.45pc)

Biggest riser

Royal Bk Scot

200 ¾p

+3⅜ (+1.70pc)

Biggest faller

Rolls Royce

759 p

-56.00 (-6.87pc)

Inside

Out of the

left field

The dark

horses in

the race to

succeed

Mark

Carney at

the Bank

Techie

tribes

Billionaire

bosses of

Silicon

Valley

and their

singular

obsessions

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Business

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1,100 jobs at risk in Boohoo’s Millen deal

By Laura Onita and
Yolanthe Fawehinmi

BOOHOO has snapped up
Karen Millen and Coast’s on-
line business for £18.2m,
putting 1,100 jobs at risk.
The upmarket retailers
brought in Deloitte adminis-
trators to handle the sale of
their websites as they wind
down bricks and mortar op-
erations. They have a total of
32 stores and 177 concessions
in the UK, employing 1,100 –

62 have already been made

redundant.

Deloitte said that stores

would stay open for a short

time and the international

business will also trade only

for “the short term”.

The move will let Boohoo

target older, more affluent

customers. The fast-fashion

online retailer mostly sells

cheap clothes to teenagers.

John Lyttle, Boohoo chief

executive, said the purchase

“represents another mile-

stone in the group’s growth

story as it continues to invest

in its multi-brand platform”.

Karen Millen, established

in 1981, was put up for sale

by failed Icelandic bank

Kaupthing in June.

Deloitte’s Rob Harding

said the acquisition “facili-

tates the survival of these

iconic British brands

through an online platform”. 

Boohoo’s shares jumped

4pc to 240p after news of the

deal broke.

Woodford

dumps stake

in Eurocell

By Harriet Russell

EMBATTLED fund manager Neil

Woodford has dumped his entire stake

in Eurocell after the windows and doors

business revealed flat profits and a dou-

bling in its debt at the half-year stage

last week. 

Mr Woodford sold his entire 16pc

holding last Thursday, the same day

that the company blamed Brexit stock-

piling, future lease payments and soar-

ing  capital expenditure for a 55pc rise

in its debt pile to £36.7m. 

It also reported flat profits despite a

15pc rise in sales, due to rising costs, in-

terest charges and taxes. Eurocell man-

ufactures and sells products such as

PVC windows and doors.  

Mr Woodford lowered his stake in

the group from 18pc to just above 16pc

last month. Woodford Investment Man-

agement and Eurocell both declined to

comment. Eurocell shares floated in

2015 at 175p and were at 200p yester-

day. The stock has fallen steadily and

now trades at a 12-month low, valuing

the company at about £200m. 

Mr Woodford has been under pres-

sure to sell assets as he strives to im-

prove liquidity across his shuttered

equity income fund. Investors were

told last week that they would not have

access to cash until December  as he

continues to “rebalance” the portfolio.

His asset fire sale has now topped

£800m  after stakes in media business

Time Out and social video company

Brave Bison were ditched.

Neil Woodford, the

fund manager, has

sold his Eurocell

stake as he continues

to ‘rebalance’ his

portfolio

By Tom Rees

THE US and China lurched closer to-
wards a currency war after the Trump
administration formally accused Bei-
jing of manipulating markets, opening
the door to more economic warfare.
After the worst day of trading on
global markets in 18 months, a tentative
rebound in stocks faltered as tensions

between the world’s two largest econo-

mies threatened to boil over. The US

officially labelled China a “currency

manipulator” for the first time since

1994 after Beijing allowed the yuan to

slide below a crucial mark on Monday

to an 11-year low.

The US Treasury said China had de-

valued its currency to “gain an unfair

competitive advantage in international

trade” as Beijing looks to offset the im-

pact of Donald Trump’s tariffs. China

fired back, saying its accusation would

“damage international financial order

and cause chaos in financial markets”.

Analysts warned that officially label-

ling China a manipulator could be the

opening salvo in an outright currency

war between the world’s two largest

economies. It could provide Donald

Trump with justification to further

punish China but the move is seen as

largely symbolic.

“This could be the first step in the

race to the bottom for currencies,” ar-

gued Michelle Meyer, Bank of America

Merrill Lynch economist. “The US may

see this as opening the door to engage

in foreign exchange intervention in an

effort to weaken the dollar.”

Mr Trump has complained that

weakening currencies, such as the

euro, have given rival economies an

unfair competitive advantage. US in-

tervention in foreign exchange mar-

kets would need to be signed off by the

Treasury and then carried out by the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It

would sell off US government bonds

from the Treasury’s emergency re-

serves and buy foreign currencies.

“The Trump administration’s move

to label China a currency manipulator

may have few practical implications,

but it underscores the speed at which

tensions are now escalating,” Andrew

Hunter at Capital Economics said.

He added that yesterday’s rise in ten-

sions “suggests that a resolution to the

trade conflict is further away than

ever” and will add to pressure on US

central bankers to further support the

economy.

Stock markets have plunged since

Mr Trump shocked markets on Thurs-

day by announcing a 10pc tariff on

$300bn of Chinese goods, breaking a

fragile trade truce. The rout continued

on European markets yesterday as the

FTSE 100 dropped for a sixth straight

day, sinking a further 0.7pc. It has now

lost 6pc in a week.

The US president played down the

economic impact of the sudden escala-

tion in trade tensions, promising to

provide support for American farmers

who were affected.

Larry Kudlow, Mr Trump’s chief eco-

nomic adviser, attempted to calm mar-

kets by insisting the US still expects

trade talks in September to go ahead.

He added that the US president “would

like to continue negotiations” and

reach a deal with Beijing.

US stocks stabilised but the gains on

Wall Street were modest.

‘Brexit-fit’

Rolls fears

disruption

By Alan Tovey and Michael O’Dwyer

THE boss of Rolls-Royce says it is as
“match fit as can be” for Brexit, but pro-
duction could still be disrupted by the
UK exiting the EU without a trade deal.
Warren East, chief executive, raised
the prospect of Rolls not being able to
build the aircraft engines that make up
the bulk of its business.
“We’ve spent £100m on prepara-
tions, such as stockpiling and logistics.
But we cannot guarantee everything.
When you screw together 5,000 parts
to make an engine you have a problem
if you have 4,999 of those parts, but one
missing because a supplier has no con-

tingency plan.” He said Rolls obviously
preferred a trade deal, “as it would give
certainty and a transition period, mean-
ing no imminent disruption”, but said it
looked increasingly unlikely.
Rolls reported the cost of rectifying
problems with its Trent 1000 engines
had risen by a further £100m on top of
the £1.5bn earmarked. Parts of the en-
gine, used on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner,
have been wearing out faster than ex-
pected. Customers have had to change
schedules and ground planes, running
up hefty bills for the FTSE 100 engi-
neer. Rolls hopes to overcome all the
issues by the end of 2021 or early 2022.
In the six months to the end of June,
Rolls reported a 5pc rise in statutory
revenues to £7.9bn with pre-tax losses
£791m, down from £1.2bn last year. Un-
derlying free cash flow – a key metric
for Rolls – was negative £429m, com-
pared with negative £72m last year,
causing shares to dip 3pc.

‘A trade deal... would give

certainty and a transition

period, meaning no

imminent disruption’

US brands China a currency manipulator

Trade conflict boils over as

Trump administration

accuses Beijing of

deliberate devaluation

5m pension savers ‘at risk from scammers’

By Laura Miller

FIVE million savers are at risk of losing
their pension pots to fraudsters who
last year stole almost £15m, the City
watchdog has warned.
Last year victims lost an average of
£82,000 each to pension scams, ac-
cording to figures from Action Fraud,
but a survey has now revealed just how
exposed many are to fraudsters. Two-

fifths of pension savers surveyed by the

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said

they would fall for common tactics

used by criminals. This rose to 60pc

among those searching for ways to

make their retirement pot bigger.

Almost a quarter of 45 to 65-year-

olds said they would discuss their pen-

sion with a cold caller, despite the

phone practice being banned in Janu-

ary after a Telegraph campaign. One in

six of those aged 45 to 54 said they

would be interested in speaking to

companies that claimed to help them

take money from their pension early.

Withdrawing money from a pension

before age 55 is generally not permit-

ted and is punished by HM Revenue

and Customs with a tax penalty of 55pc.

The FCA was recently criticised by

MPs for employing only 10 staff dedi-

cated to combat pension scams.

Captains of industry DreamWorks founder David Geffen (front left) shared a photo on Instagram of a high-powered array

of friends on his yacht Rising Sun in Majorca, Spain. Among the group is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (front right), model Karlie

Kloss (rear, in yellow), her husband Joshua Kushner (rear left) and Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein (far right).

INSTAGRAM

Apple falls out of smartphone Top Three

By James Titcomb in San Francisco

APPLE has dropped out of the world’s

top three smartphone makers for the

first time in a decade after a decline in

sales of its iPhone.

Shipments of the US company’s

smartphone fell by 15pc year-on-year

during the second quarter of 2019, ac-

cording to figures from IHS Markit.

It means Apple, which already sat

behind Samsung and Huawei in unit

sales, slipped to fourth place behind

Chinese company Oppo.

Sales of the iPhone have dropped in

recent months, with Tim Cook, Apple’s

chief executive, saying that owners are

upgrading their phones at a slower rate

and that the price of new models has

put off some potential buyers.

Meanwhile, sales of cheaper devices

running Google’s Android operating

system have increased. IHS Markit said

shipments of the iPhone had fallen to

35.3m, an 11pc market share which puts

it behind Oppo’s 36.2m. Samsung and

Huawei shipped 75.1m and 58.7m

smartphones respectively.

Oppo is not a household name in the

West but is a major player in China. IHS

Markit said global shipments had fallen

by 4pc against a year ago at 331.2m, the

seventh quarter phone sales had fallen.

6pc

How much the FTSE 100 has lost in a

week, falling for a sixth straight day in the

aftermath of Trump’s latest tariff on China

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