Opec+ meeting delayed as split over oil production cuts deepens - Financial Times

The Opec+ group has delayed its talks by two days after a deepening split over whether to relax production cuts next month derailed hopes of a quick deal and exposed tensions among key producers.

Oil ministers, who began a virtual two-day meeting on Monday, pushed back the second stage of talks after Opec members failed to agree an extension of the existing cuts deal among themselves, ahead of a planned meeting with Russia and other allies outside the cartel a day later.

The group will now meet again on Thursday to allow more time for discussions, according to people briefed on the delay.

Key members of the alliance, led by Saudi Arabia, have urged caution in unleashing more barrels on to the market as the pandemic still rages. But the United Arab Emirates, the kingdom’s longstanding Gulf ally, has yet to sign off any extension.

The UAE, which came under fire this year for producing more than its allocated quotas, has since cut additional barrels to make up for the extra output. The country is now demanding others that overproduced do the same before it will agree to any extension, a person briefed on the matter said. Nigeria, Iraq, Russia and Kazakhstan are among other countries that pumped more than they should have this year.

“The UAE’s push to make an extension conditional on further commitments to catch up is seen by Saudi Arabia as unreasonable, especially as overall group compliance remains very strong,” said Amrita Sen at consultancy Energy Aspects.

Producers have been buoyed by a rally in oil prices that has lifted Brent crude, the international benchmark, by more than a quarter in the past month to nearly $50 a barrel.

Positive news on vaccine developments has raised hopes among oil producers that demand will eventually return to normal in 2021. But new lockdowns in Europe and rising case numbers in the US still pose a threat in the coming months for some delegates.

“These market conditions of 2020 are likely to continue in the first quarter of 2021 and therefore we should be cautious,” Algeria’s energy minister, Abdelmadjid Attar, told journalists ahead of the private ministerial talks on Monday. “The road to recovery is long and bumpy.”

Opec has worked with Russia and other oil-producing countries outside the cartel since 2016 to stabilise crude prices and bring supply and demand into balance in times of crisis.

The 23-member Opec+ group, which together produces more than half the world’s crude oil, agreed in April to record cuts of more than 10 per cent of global output — or just under 10m barrels a day — with plans to return barrels back to the market gradually as the global economy improved.

Producers have eased the cuts to 7.7m barrels a day, but the scheduled return of a further 2m barrels a day in January has been seen as a step too far for some producers, with global oil inventories swollen and prices stuck between $40-$45 a barrel. That compares with $60-$70 a barrel before the pandemic.

Saudi Arabia, Opec’s de facto leader, has pushed to prolong the existing 7.7m barrels a day of cuts by at least three months.

It is still expected that producers will reach a deal. Still, without an agreement, traders are bracing themselves for the possibility of additional barrels being released into an already well supplied market. The delay risks unsettling oil markets with memories still fresh of the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia in March, which led to a flood of supplies the last time they failed to agree a deal.

Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, warned ahead of Monday’s meeting that he did not expect discussions to go smoothly, indicating a possible split between some of the biggest producers in the group.

“Some are against extending the previous decision [on production cuts] and this makes the work difficult,” Mr Zanganeh told a reporter in Tehran, adding that those countries included the UAE, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Algeria’s Mr Attar later told state press, even as ministerial talks continued, that he saw consensus for an agreement among Opec members to extend the deal by three months.

But people familiar with the group’s thinking said there were still a number of outstanding points to be ironed out, including winning the full backing of countries such as Russia and the UAE.

The Kremlin said on Monday that the differences were not on the same level as earlier this year before a cuts deal was eventually agreed.

Additional reporting by Najmeh Bozorgmehr

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2020-11-30 23:17:00Z
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Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration - BBC News

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Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia has gone into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

The High Street giant has hired administrators from Deloitte after the pandemic "severely impacted" sales across the group.

No redundancies would be announced immediately, it said in a statement.

And Arcadia's stores will continue to trade as Deloitte considers all options available to the group.

All orders made over the Black Friday weekend will also be honoured, the administrators added.

Sir Philip Green's retail empire had failed to secure extra funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.

The group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.

The administration will give Arcadia breathing space from creditors, such as landlords for its shops or clothing suppliers, while a buyer is sought for all or parts of the company. Arcadia executives will still hold day-to-day control over the business.

• Has Topshop boss Philip Green done anything wrong?
• Is my pension ruined if a retail empire crumbles?
• Buyers to 'pick over carcass' of Topshop firm
• Four reasons Topshop is not the brand it once was

Ian Grabiner, the boss of Arcadia, said it marked an "incredibly sad" day for the group.

"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods, has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands," he said.

"Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.

"Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe."

Matt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said that it would be working with Arcadia management to assess all of the options available to the group's brands, which also include Evans and Outfit.

He said Deloitte would rapidly seek expressions of interest and expected to identify one, or more, buyers to hopefully ensure the future of the businesses.

Fashion retailer Boohoo is seen as a potential buyer for some of Arcadia Group's big name brands, such as Topshop. In the past it has bought struggling brands Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Coast.

What's next for Sir Philip Green's retail empire?

The prospects for the 13,000 workers look very challenging. There is a lot of industry chatter that online-only retailers might want to snap up the names that still have some consumer power - such as Topshop and Topman.

But while the likes of Boohoo and Asos may want the brands, they will not want to take on a portfolio of physical stores - which is where most of the jobs are. Other brands like Wallis, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Burton are not considered very relevant to a new generation of consumers.

And what of Sir Philip? His gruff and combative style belies - or is perhaps explained by - the fact he is much more thin-skinned and sensitive than you might think. He will feel this failure personally - but that will be little comfort to the thousands of employees facing an uncertain future with Christmas round the corner and rising unemployment limiting their other job options.

He is also very stubborn. That resistance to change, and insisting he knew best, was at the heart of Arcadia's demise. It's hard to see another act in what has been a career full of drama and controversy.

As many have said, at heart he was not really a retailer - he was a shrewd financier - a money man. The future of retail requires a very different skill-set.

Arcadia was once a darling of the High Street, but long before coronavirus, Sir Philip's brands were struggling against newer, online-only fashion retailers such as Asos, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing.

Julie Palmer, partner at professional services firm Begbies Traynor, said: "While the Covid-19 crisis has undoubtedly accelerated the company's decline, in reality, the writing had been on the wall for Arcadia for some time.

"Its competitors forged ahead with high-profile online propositions that it simply failed to match."

In its most recent accounts for the year to 1 September 2018, Arcadia reported a £93.4m pre-tax loss compared with a £164.6m profit in the previous 12 months. It also said sales fell 4.5% to £1.8bn.

The pandemic did also lead to a huge drop-off in sales as stores had to shut for long stretches.

While the business persuaded its landlords to lower its rents in June, it was not enough to steady the ship.

Job worries

Arcadia's 13,000 workers now face an anxious wait. One store manager told the BBC they felt "angry, sad and disappointed" on Monday.

"I've now got a large team that's all terrified of what's going to happen to them and their futures", they said.

"I am just hoping that something can be done to preserve the brands and the employees' jobs."

Dave Gill, from retail trade union Usdaw, said: "It is crucial that the voice of staff is heard over the future of the business.

"We are seeking urgent meetings [with the administrators] and need assurances on what efforts are being made to save jobs, the plan for stores to continue trading and the funding of the pension scheme."

Adding to the uncertainty facing the thousands of Arcadia staff is an estimated £350m hole in the company's pension fund, which has 10,000 members.

Stephen Timms, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, called on Sir Philip to cover a shortfall in the pension scheme and urged the pension watchdog to fight on behalf of the group's workers.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma tweeted on Monday that the independent Pensions Regulator "has a range of powers to protect pension schemes", and that he would be keeping a "very close eye" on the administrators' report on director conduct.

Sir Philip previously faced controversy for selling off BHS, the former department store chain, for £1 to businessman Dominic Chappell. The following year, BHS went bust with the loss of 11,000 jobs and a pension deficit of £571m.

Sir Philip reached a deal with the Pensions Regulator to inject £363m into that scheme. Meanwhile, Mr Chappell was recently sentenced to six years for tax evasion.

High Street woes

Arcadia is the latest major retailer to have been hammered by store closures during the pandemic.

Competitors Debenhams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, Oasis and Warehouse have all slid into insolvency since lockdown measures were first imposed in March.

The collapse of Arcadia could also affect Debenhams as it is feared it could scupper a sale of the department store chain to JD Sports.

Arcadia is the biggest concession in Debenhams, accounting for about £75m of sales. It sells brands such as Miss Selfridge and Evans across the department store chain.

JD Sports had been closing in on a rescue deal to buy Debenhams, which is currently in administration for the second time in a year.

Debenhams has already cut about 6,500 jobs since May, and now has about 12,000 employees across 124 stores.

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2020-11-30 23:10:00Z
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Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration - BBC News

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Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia has gone into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

The High Street giant has hired administrators from Deloitte after the pandemic "severely impacted" sales across the group.

No redundancies would be announced immediately, it said in a statement.

And Arcadia's stores will continue to trade as Deloitte considers all options available to the group.

All orders made over the Black Friday weekend will also be honoured, the administrators added.

Sir Philip Green's retail empire had failed to secure extra funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.

The group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.

• Has Topshop boss Philip Green done anything wrong?
• Is my pension ruined if a retail empire crumbles?
• Buyers to 'pick over carcass' of Topshop firm
• Four reasons Topshop is not the brand it once was

Ian Grabiner, the boss of Arcadia, said it marked an "incredibly sad" day for the group.

"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands," he said.

"Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.

"Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe."

Matt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said that it would be working with Arcadia management to assess all of the options available to the group's brands, which also include Evans and Outfit.

He said Deloitte would rapidly seek expressions of interest and expected to identify one, or more, buyers to hopefully ensure the future of the businesses.

Fashion retailer Boohoo is seen as a potential buyer for some of Arcadia Group's big name brands, such as Topshop. In the past it has bought struggling brands Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Coast.

What's next for Sir Philip Green's retail empire?

The prospects for the 13,000 workers look very challenging. There is a lot of industry chatter that online-only retailers might want to snap up the names that still have some consumer power - such as Topshop and Topman.

But while the likes of Boohoo and Asos may want the brands, they will not want to take on a portfolio of physical stores - which is where most of the jobs are. Other brands like Wallis, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Burton are not considered very relevant to a new generation of consumers.

And what of Sir Philip? His gruff and combative style belies - or is perhaps explained by - the fact he is much more thin-skinned and sensitive than you might think. He will feel this failure personally - but that will be little comfort to the thousands of employees facing an uncertain future with Christmas round the corner and rising unemployment limiting their other job options.

He is also very stubborn. That resistance to change, and insisting he knew best, was at the heart of Arcadia's demise. It's hard to see another act in what has been a career full of drama and controversy.

As many have said, at heart he was not really a retailer - he was a shrewd financier - a money man. The future of retail requires a very different skill-set.

Arcadia was once a darling of the High Street, but long before coronavirus, Sir Philip's brands were struggling against newer, online-only fashion retailers such as Asos, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing.

Julie Palmer, partner at professional services firm Begbies Traynor, said: "While the Covid-19 crisis has undoubtedly accelerated the company's decline, in reality, the writing had been on the wall for Arcadia for some time.

"Its competitors forged ahead with high profile online propositions that it simply failed to match."

In its most recent accounts for the year to 1 September 2018, Arcadia reported a £93.4m pre-tax loss compared with a £164.6m profit in the previous 12 months. It also said sales fell 4.5% to £1.8bn.

The pandemic did also lead to a huge drop-off in sales as stores had to shut for long stretches.

While the business persuaded its landlords to lower its rents in June, it was not enough to steady the ship.

Job worries

Arcadia's 13,000 workers now face an anxious wait. One store manager told the BBC they felt "angry, sad and disappointed" on Monday.

"I've now got a large team that's all terrified of what's going to happen to them and their futures", they said.

"I am just hoping that something can be done to preserve the brands and the employees' jobs."

Dave Gill, from retail trade union Usdaw, said: "It is crucial that the voice of staff is heard over the future of the business.

"We are seeking urgent meetings [with the administrators] and need assurances on what efforts are being made to save jobs, the plan for stores to continue trading and the funding of the pension scheme."

Adding to the uncertainty facing the thousands of Arcadia staff is an estimated £350m hole in the company's pension fund, which has 10,000 members.

Stephen Timms, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, called on Sir Philip to cover a shortfall in the pension scheme and urged the pension watchdog to fight on behalf of the group's workers.

Arcadia is the latest major retailer to have been hammered by store closures during the pandemic.

Competitors Debenhams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, Oasis and Warehouse have all slid into insolvency since lockdown measures were first imposed in March.

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2020-11-30 22:12:00Z
52781210589559

Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration - BBC News

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Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia has gone into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

The High Street giant has hired administrators from Deloitte after the pandemic "severely impacted" sales across the group.

No redundancies would be announced immediately, it said in a statement.

And Arcadia's stores will continue to trade as Deloitte considers all options available to the group.

All orders made over the Black Friday weekend will also be honoured, the administrators added.

Sir Philip Green's retail empire had failed to secure extra funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.

The group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.

• Has Topshop boss Philip Green done anything wrong?
• Is my pension ruined if a retail empire crumbles?
• Buyers to 'pick over carcass' of Topshop firm
• Four reasons Topshop is not the brand it once was

Ian Grabiner, the boss of Arcadia, said it marked an "incredibly sad" day for the group.

"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands," he said.

"Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.

"Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe."

Matt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said that it would be working with Arcadia management to assess all of the options available to the group's brands, which also include Evans and Outfit.

He said Deloitte would rapidly seek expressions of interest and expected to identify one, or more, buyers to hopefully ensure the future of the businesses.

Fashion retailer Boohoo is seen as a potential buyer for some of Arcadia Group's big name brands, such as Topshop. In the past it has bought struggling brands Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Coast.

What's next for Sir Philip Green's retail empire?

The prospects for the 13,000 workers look very challenging. There is a lot of industry chatter that online-only retailers might want to snap up the names that still have some consumer power - such as Topshop and Topman.

But while the likes of Boohoo and Asos may want the brands, they will not want to take on a portfolio of physical stores - which is where most of the jobs are. Other brands like Wallis, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Burton are not considered very relevant to a new generation of consumers.

And what of Sir Philip? His gruff and combative style belies - or is perhaps explained by - the fact he is much more thin-skinned and sensitive than you might think. He will feel this failure personally - but that will be little comfort to the thousands of employees facing an uncertain future with Christmas round the corner and rising unemployment limiting their other job options.

He is also very stubborn. That resistance to change, and insisting he knew best, was at the heart of Arcadia's demise. It's hard to see another act in what has been a career full of drama and controversy.

As many have said, at heart he was not really a retailer - he was a shrewd financier - a money man. The future of retail requires a very different skill-set.

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2020-11-30 21:08:00Z
52781210589559

Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration - BBC News

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Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia has gone into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

The High Street giant has hired administrators from Deloitte after the pandemic "severely impacted" sales across the group.

No redundancies would be announced immediately, it said in a statement.

And Arcadia's stores will continue to trade as Deloitte considers all options available to the group.

All orders made over the Black Friday weekend will also be honoured, the administrators added.

Sir Philip Green's retail empire had failed to secure extra funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.

The group, which runs 444 stores in the UK and 22 overseas, said 9,294 employees are currently on furlough.

• Has Topshop boss Philip Green done anything wrong?
• Is my pension ruined if a retail empire crumbles?
• Buyers to 'pick over carcass' of Topshop firm
• Four reasons Topshop is not the brand it once was

Ian Grabiner, the boss of Arcadia, said it marked an "incredibly sad" day for the group.

"The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic including the forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands," he said.

"Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the group, in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side.

"Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe."

Matt Smith, joint administrator at Deloitte, said that it would be working with Arcadia management to assess all of the options available to the group's brands, which also include Evans and Outfit.

He said Deloitte would rapidly seek expressions of interest and expected to identify one, or more, buyers to hopefully ensure the future of the businesses.

Boohoo is seen as a potential buyer for some of Arcadia Group's big name brands, such as Topshop.

In the past it has bought struggling brands Oasis, Warehouse, Karen Millen and Coast.

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2020-11-30 20:47:00Z
52781210589559

Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration - BBC News

Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins owner Arcadia has gone into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

No redundancies will be announced on Monday, administrators Deloitte said in a statement.

And Arcadia's stores will continue to trade as it considers all options available to the group.

All orders made over the Black Friday weekend will be honoured, Deloitte added.

Sir Philip Green's retail empire had failed to secure extra funding to pay its debts after sales slumped during the pandemic.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts.

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2020-11-30 20:25:00Z
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Has Topshop boss Philip Green done anything wrong? - BBC News

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Business periodically throws up pantomime villains who vault from the financial pages to the front of the tabloids and become the subject of public vilification.

Edward Heath called Tiny Rowland, the corporate raider, "the unacceptable face of capitalism", Robert Maxwell was excoriated for raiding the Mirror Group pensions, and more recently Jeffrey Skilling, the chief executive of Enron, went to jail for 12 years for enriching himself at the expense of shareholders and suppliers.

Sir Philip Green, the boss (but not the owner) of Arcadia Group, is the latest business leader to be put in the pillory.

It began with his sale of the department store BHS to Dominic Chappell for a token sum in 2015. BHS, which was part of Arcadia, collapsed a year later, leaving a big hole in the pension fund.

PA Media

Sir Philip was accused of having sold the company to Mr Chappell deliberately to avoid the retirement plan liability, a claim he vigorously denied. He later paid £363m to make good the scheme.

The looming administration of Arcadia puts Sir Philip in the firing line again. He will face calls to repair any deficit in the Arcadia scheme, despite he and the company's owner, his wife Lady Cristina Green, having put substantial additional sums into the pension in recent years.

There will also be accusations of his having been a poor manager. While the rest of the fashion retail world was getting out of the High Street and moving online as quickly as possible, Sir Philip was reluctant to take the plunge, and eventually laid low by the fatal combination of the internet and pandemic-related shop closures.

But has he actually done anything wrong? Lawyers will argue that the company - not its owners - is the legal entity responsible for maintaining the financial health of the pension scheme.

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As far as is known, Arcadia did not ignore any directions from the pension regulator to mend the pension, and indeed received an endorsement from the Pension Protection Fund for a company voluntary arrangement - a form of insolvency that allows a business to restructure its finances - in June last year.

Several prominent retail businesses have gone into administration in the past two years, but in no case has there been an outcry for the owners to finance pension deficits personally.

There may be no infringement of the law, but what attracts attention to Sir Philip's case is that he and his wife have become immensely rich on Arcadia's back.

In 2005 the company paid Lady Green a £1.2bn dividend, the foundation of the Green fortune. Now that the company has fallen on hard times, should there be a moral duty on the family to help those thrown out of work?

The relevant example here is not Robert Maxwell or Tiny Rowland, but a group of businessmen who were also vilified for their management of a British icon. John Towers, Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards were the "Phoenix Four", who bought MG Rover from BMW in 2000 with the implicit backing of the Labour government and a hefty dowry from the German carmaker.

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They proceeded to enrich themselves to the tune of several million pounds apiece while the company slowly spiralled downwards and eventually collapsed. They did nothing wrong - a government report into the collapse found their behaviour "inappropriate" - but they quietly volunteered to be banned as directors in future.

What the inquiry into MG Rover's demise showed was that ownership means just that. Once sold to the Phoenix Four, the once-great Birmingham carmaker became a piece of personal property to be used as the Phoenix Four saw fit.

The same is true of the Greens and Arcadia. Yet even if there is no legal claim for them to refill the Arcadia pension, they might consider the wider court of public opinion, which is much less forgiving than any judge.

Sir Philip can contemplate whether he wants to be remembered as the man who enriched his family, but left others out of pocket, or as the retail tycoon who put his staff first, even when his empire ran out of steam.

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2020-11-30 16:02:00Z
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