38 1GM Tuesday September 15 2020 | the times
Business
Pubs in England and Wales are “van-
ishing” at the rate of 40 a month,
according to official data.
The number of pubs including those
that are vacant or to let fell by 315 to
40,748 in the first eight months of this
year, with 87 closing for good since
trading restrictions were lifted.
According to analysis of the govern-
ment figures by Altus Group, the
property adviser, the pubs that have
“vanished from the communities they
once served” have been demolished or
converted into homes, offices or other
types of property.
At the present rate of losses, 2020
Rio Tinto told to hire an
Australian as its next boss
Emily Gosden
The Australian government has urged
Rio Tinto to hire an Australian as chief
executive after the miner destroyed
ancient Aboriginal caves.
Josh Frydenberg, the country’s
treasurer, made the plea in a call with
Simon Thompson, Rio’s chairman,
after it was announced that Jean-
Sébastien Jacques would step down as
chief executive over the scandal.
“Rio Tinto is one of the great
companies of the world with a proud
Australian history,” Mr Frydenberg told
The Australian Financial Review. “With
the vast majority of its revenue coming
from Australia, it is fitting to once again
see an Australian as CEO, along with
the majority of the board.” He added
that he had enjoyed “a constructive
conversation” with Mr Thompson.
Rio Tinto generates the majority of
its $8 billion annual profits from mining
iron ore in the Pilbara region of West-
ern Australia. In May, it blew up two an-
cient rock shelters that were more than
40,000 years old at Juukan Gorge to
expand an open-cast mine, despite
their designation as of archaeological
significance. An internal review
blamed systemic failures in the com-
pany. On Friday Rio bowed to investor
pressure and ousted Mr Jacques, 48, a
Frenchman who had led the company
since 2016. He will leave by March at
the latest.
Rio faces a battle to restore its reputa-tion in Australia, although it is likely to
be irked by political pressure to choose
a candidate based on nationality.
Analysts say that there is no obvious
heir apparent at Rio. Chris Salisbury,
the most senior Australian executive
who is head of the iron ore division, is
leaving over the Juukan Gorge scandal,
along with Simone Niven, responsible
for corporate relations, who has dual
Australian-British nationality. The
only other Australian on the executive
committee is Simon Trott, who has
worked at Rio for two decades and has
been its chief commercial officer since
2018.
Possible external candidates whose
passports fit include Mark Cutifani, the
chief executive of Anglo American. The
62-year-old Australian rebuffed an
approach from BHP last year. Others
mentioned include Graham Kerr, chief
executive of South32, and Tom Palmer,
boss of Newmont, who used to work in
Rio’s iron ore business.
Nev Power, former chief executive of
Fortescue Metals, has been suggested
by analysts, as has Sandeep Biswas, the
Newcrest boss who was born in India
and moved to Australia as a child.
Peter Beaven, outgoing chief finan-
cial officer of BHP, is also seen as a
candidate, but he is South African.
In an interview with The Times on
Friday, Mr Thompson declined to
engage with questions as to whether
the new chief executive needed to be an
external hire or an Australian citizen.Forty pubs still closing every month
looks like being very similar to last year,
when 473 pubs were permanently shut-
tered in England and Wales, equivalent
to just over 39 pubs a month.
However, that is some way short of
the 914 pubs permanently lost during
2018, equal to about 76 a month.
Pubs in England and Wales are
receiving a 12-month business rates
holiday worth £768 million and were
eligible for £558 million in grant fund-
ing as the government took steps to pre-
vent the industry from collapsing.
Robert Hayton, 45, Altus Group’s
head of business rates, said: “These
interventions were crucial to help to
save our pubs, but more targeted
support will be needed. Localised lock-downs will have localised impacts, so
reviews of rateable value are the way to
get more support to where it is most
needed.”
The number of pubs is based upon an
analysis of the local rating lists in
England and Wales maintained by the
Valuation Office Agency, an executive
agency of HM Revenue & Customs.
The rate of permanent closure could
accelerate, according to the British Beer
& Pub Association, which warned that
an £800 million rates bill could be the
“last straw” for thousands more of the
UK’s pubs. The sector’s relief on busi-
ness rates ends in March, leaving pubs
facing an £800 million bill — an aver-
age of £25,000 per pub.Dominic Walsh
T
he quoted
company that
owns
Brighton
Palace Pier
has announced a
redundancy
programme at its late-
night bars business
because of their
continuing closure
(Dominic Walshwrites). Brighton Pier
Group, which also has
a crazy golf business,
said that while it had
reopened the
company’s two food-
led bars — Lowlander
in London and
Coalition in Brighton
—the other ten
remained closed.
It said that the lackof certainty over the
government’s
intentions towards the
late-night sector and
the ending of the
furlough scheme next
month had “resulted
in the bars division
having to terminate
the contracts for those
members of staff for
whom we cannot
currently provide any
prospect of work”.
Almost 200 jobs are
affected by the
redundancy
programme, althoughBrighton Pier calls
time on bar jobs