📰 Tomorrow's Business 📰 A PR problem for the private equity sharks

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Tomorrow's Business

Published by

Simon English

Senior City Correspondent at The Evening Standard

A PR problem for the private equity sharks

They are sharks. Pandemic plunderers who are responsible for a jobs bloodbath.

They run a broken and exploitative business model which leaves companies at the mercy of secretive tycoons.

This is The Guardian going off on one about private equity. Typical.

Except, wait, it isn’t the Groan at all, it is the Daily Mail – the arch defender of a rich man’s right to do whatever so pleases him, in the name of freedom and for the good of the economy.

This is not a passing blip, this is a full frontal campaign against a £52 billion assault that has left no corner of British business safe.

What’s going on?

Well for one thing the Mail’s excellent Alex Brummer has hated private equity for years, indeed he has a book out called Britain for Sale.

Still, he has to persuade the editor to go for this stuff, and the charming Geordie Greig is many things but crusader against big business is not usually one of them.

If I were in private equity (no one has yet asked) I’d be worried about this. And from a PR point of view I’d be keen to look like I was behaving well.

We’d like to invite you to be our guest at the Tortoise Future of Work Summit tomorrow.

It’s safe to say that the pandemic has accelerated a change in working patterns and it currently seems everyone (including Tortoise) is talking about the return to the office. Can these shifts lead to companies prioritising employee wellbeing, diversity and inclusion? Or will we actually just return to the old normal? We know we will be working longer than our parents did – so what does the future of work really look like? The Future of Work Summit will try and answer some of these questions.

We are delighted to offer you a complimentary place at the event (usually £90 for non-Tortoise members). See the full programme and register here using the code ROXHILLGUEST for free access.

Register here

1) How bad is the ad slump at the Daily Mail? Did any newspapers do well in the pandemic?

2) Are AJ Bell shares totally overvalued?

3) How is Joe Biden going to get his spending plans through Congress? Which UK companies stand to benefit if he does?

4) Does Pets at Home think the pandemic pet boom is over?

UK workers are moving from furlough to freelance, says this from accountancy tool Bokio.

A small majority say this has had a positive impact on their mental health, though most expect to earn less than they did.

Not many people regret going freelance, we read, which doesn’t say much for employers.

See Press Release

Number of the day: £1500

How much it costs to insure a pet

Improved value perception

Translation: Lower prices

See Tweet

1) M&S steps up store closures. Sky News

2) Brussels to open formal antitrust probe into Facebook. FT

3) Dow Jones celebrates 125 years. WSJ

4) GB News sets launch date. Telegraph

Journo move of the day

Alex Sebastian has been appointed News Editor at Interactive Investor. He is currently News Editor at This is Money.co.uk and will assume his new role in August.

PR Moves

Andrew Smith, previously a Director at Cicero Group, is now Head of Public Affairs at Weber Shandwick

Claudia Dalton, previously Associate Vice President at ZPR, Finn Partners, is now an Account Director at Citypress

PR Jobs

Xero is looking for an Editorial Content Manager to join its UK Communications team. They are looking for a copywriter with a strong creative and journalistic mindset, with experience either as a journalist or content-focused PR professional. The role covers a variety of content forms and themes, from product/tech, corporate, internal comms and thought leadership around small business issues. View role

Tavistock, the independent corporate and financial PR firm is hiring for two roles as the business continues to expand across its client sectors. They are looking for a Consultant (Account Manager equivalent) and an Associate on its specialised Real Estate Team. Full job description can be found here.

Deloitte is looking for two assistant PR managers to join its press office and work on fast-moving areas such as financial services, consulting and economics. Candidates should have at least 2-3 years’ experience working in PR. View job

Legal & General are looking for a PR and Social Media Manager. You will play a key role in LGI’s PR & Communications team, acting as a public voice for LGI, helping to promote LGI’s protection (retail & group) and mortgage club businesses to media, consumers and external stakeholders while providing a high-quality service for internal business teams. View job

This year we are highlighting senior PR moves and PR Jobs in our Tomorrow’s Business newsletter. Send through to us any senior hires or roles you would like flagged to our community.

Ian King - Sky News

Guests tomorrow include:

Andy Briggs, CEO, Phoenix Group
Robert MacLeod, CEO, Johnson Matthey
Sue Noffke, head of UK equities, Schroders
Nick Hampton, CEO, Tate & Lyle
Peter Pritchard, CEO, Pets At Home

Squawk Box - CNBC

Guests tomorrow include:

Octavio Marenzi, CEO, Opimas
Robert MacLeod, CEO, Johnson Matthey
Rickard Gustafson, CEO, SAS
Nick Hampton, CEO, Tate & Lyle

Results

AJ Bell, DMGT, Pets at Home, Ted Baker, United Utilities, Tate & Lyle

Trading updates

Aviva

US results

Gap, Dell, Best Buy, Costco, HP

Economics

US President’s budget for 2022

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