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Urquhart Castle stands on the banks of Loch Ness near Inverness, Scotland, Britain March 8, 2019. Picture taken March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
March 22, 2019
By Elisabeth O’Leary
INVERNESS, Scotland (Reuters) – Glen Mhor Hotel, a picturesque base for tourists hunting Scotland’s Loch Ness monster, is struggling to find staff for the summer season as workers from the European Union snub Brexit Britain.
While Prime Minister Theresa May battles to win support for her plans to leave the EU, a shortage of migrant workers from the bloc is already threatening Scotland’s economy and upsetting its politics.
Migration is a major source of irritation between London and Edinburgh. It is also one reason behind a new drive for Scottish independence from Britain.
EU migrants account for half the hospitality workforce in the city of Inverness, a hub for the Highlands tourist region popular with golfing Americans and whisky-sipping Europeans.
But local cleaning and cooking staff for the 75-room Glen Mhor are proving hard to find. Unemployment in Inverness stands at 3 percent compared with 4.2 percent in Britain as a whole.
With Brexit looming, the Victorian hotel’s manager, Frenchman Emmanuel Moine, is struggling to recruit.
“Last year I advertised for a chef de partie in a specialist French hospitality newspaper and I got 50 resumes in a few days,” Moine said, in an elegant hotel lounge overlooking the River Ness. “I didn’t get one from the UK.”
Potential staff from the EU are put off by the prospect of tougher immigration rules and a weaker pound reducing the amount of money they can send home in euros.
Sparsely populated Scotland is aging rapidly so labor shortages affect its economy more than the rest of Britain. Stemming the inflow of EU workers, as May’s government plans, will be “catastrophic”, Edinburgh says.
“Severe restrictions on immigration pose a genuine risk to the long-term health of our economy and our society,” Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says.
Home to just 5 million of Britain’s 66 million people, Scotland’s vote to remain in the EU was outweighed by the rest of the country.
Scotland’s working age population will only remain stable over the next 25 years if current migration rates persist, a University of Edinburgh study said. Migrants’ taxes and economic activity help to fund public services in areas where the population is falling.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission projected that if the UK government met its target of reducing net migration to the “tens of thousands”, the Scottish economy would shrink by around one fifth more than the rest of the UK by 2040.
Moine, Glen Mhor’s manager, says the Brexit vote had a “brutal, immediate” impact on his attempt to recruit up to 90 workers needed in the summer. He now pays his cooks 15 percent more than in 2016, the year Britain voted for Brexit.
In Britain as a whole 37 percent of workers in hospitality are non-British EU nationals, the Federation of Small Businesses says. In Scotland that number is 45 percent, and in the Highlands local hoteliers say it is about 50 percent.
SEA CHANGE
In densely populated England, many people voted for Brexit because of fears about migration. But in Scotland foreign workers help offset a birthrate at a 150-year low and keep the rural areas economically viable.
Scots rejected independence by a 10 point margin in a 2014 referendum. But many of Sturgeon’s supporters say plans to end free movement of EU citizens as part of Brexit amount to a huge change in Scotland’s circumstances that necessitates another independence vote.
Thousands of volunteers are planning a door-to-door campaign in support of independence. They hope to win over EU nationals living in Scotland who mostly rejected independence in 2014.
“We’re quite confident it will be the opposite next time around and we’ll get a pretty solid majority of EU nationals,” said Ross Greer, a pro-independence Scottish Greens lawmaker, who is involved in the campaign.
EU migration to Britain has fallen since June 2016, and net migration of EU citizens in the country fell to its lowest since 2009 in the year to September. The Scottish government estimates EU nationals in Scotland have fallen 5 percent to 223,000.
Meanwhile some workers at Glen Mhor are waiting see what Brexit actually means for them.
“This is good place to work, money is good and you can live well on the minimum. After Brexit, I don’t know what to tell you,” says Marta Ofiarska, a 41-year-old housekeeper at Glen Mhor who has been in Scotland for 13 years.
But her 21-year-old daughter went back to Poland after the 2016 Brexit vote and at least 20 of her Polish friends have left Scotland since then.
(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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FILE PHOTO: Drilling rigs are parked up in the Cromarty Firth near Invergordon, Scotland, Britain January 27, 2015. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
March 21, 2019
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil eased away from 2019 highs reached earlier in the session on Thursday, but markets remain relatively tight amid supply cuts led by producer club OPEC and U.S. government sanctions against Iran and Venezuela.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $60.12 per barrel at 0712 GMT on Thursday, down 11 cents, or 0.2 percent from their last settlement. WTI reached its highest level since Nov. 12 earlier in the day, at $60.33 per barrel.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $68.52 a barrel, close to their last settlement after hitting $68.69 a barrel earlier in the session, the highest since Nov. 13.
Crude prices have been pushed up by almost a third since the start of 2019 by supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as well as by sanctions enacted against Iran and Venezuela by the United States.
OPEC’s crude oil output has slumped from a mid-2018 peak of 32.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to 30.7 million bpd in February.
(For a graphic on ‘OPEC oil production’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2FiS2y3)
The U.S. sanctions are also disrupting supply.
“Venezuelan exports to the U.S. have finally dried up, after the sanctions were placed on them by the U.S. administration earlier this year,” ANZ bank said on Thursday.
Iranian oil exports have also slumped. The United States aims to cut Iran’s crude exports by about 20 percent to below 1 million bpd from May by requiring importing countries to reduce purchases to avoid U.S. sanctions.
The OPEC cuts and sanctions have also tightened supply within the United States.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles last week fell by nearly 10 million barrels, the most since July, boosted by strong export and refining demand, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.[EIA/S]
Stockpiles fell 9.6 million barrels, to 439.5 million barrels, their lowest since January.
Part of the drawdown is due to surging U.S. exports, which stood at a four-week average of 3 million bpd, double the amount this time a year ago, according to the EIA.
The rising exports come amid steep growth in U.S. crude oil production, which returned to its record of 12.1 million bpd last week, making America the world’s biggest producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.
(For a graphic on ‘U.S. crude oil production & exports’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2ULQiTd)
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE and Colin Packham in SYDNEY; Editing by Tom Hogue and Richard Pullin)
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FILE PHOTO: Golf – European Tour – Scottish Open – Gullane GC, Gullane, Scotland, Britain – July 14, 2018 South Africa’s Trevor Immelman in action during the third round Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
March 19, 2019
(Reuters) – International captain Ernie Els has named Korea’s K.J. Choi, South Africa’s Trevor Immelman and Canada’s Mike Weir as his assistants for this year’s Presidents Cup in Australia, the PGA Tour said on Tuesday.
Els previously named Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy as one of his assistants for the Dec. 12-15 event at Royal Melbourne, where the biennial competition pits a 12-man team from the United States against a lineup of international players from outside Europe.
Choi, an eight-times winner on the PGA Tour who spent 40 weeks inside the top-10 of the world rankings and is considered Asia’s most successful golfer to date, has competed in three Presidents Cups and served as an assistant in 2015.
“It’s our role as captain’s assistants to bring together players of different nationalities and have them blend well together,” Choi said in a statement. “It’s our role to have them open up to us and help relieve some of the pressure they might feel.”
Immelman, who counts the 2008 Masters among his two PGA Tour victories, competed in the Presidents Cup in 2005 and 2007 and will be making his debut as a captain’s assistant.
“As a fellow competitor, Trevor is as steely as they come and I am sure this attribute will rub off positively onto our players,” said Els. “When I played in the same team as Trevor in 2007, he was one of our most determined players and I know he will contribute to our cause in Australia.”
Weir has competed in five Presidents Cups, including four as a team mate of Els, and will be returning for his second stint as an assistant after serving in the role for Nick Price in 2017.
A former Masters champion, Weir is 13-9-2 as a player at the Presidents Cup and one of five International team members with 10 or more match wins in the competition.
“I grew up playing a lot of team sports and when I made my first Presidents Cup team in 2000 it was really one of the highlights,” said Weir.
“So it’s been special to still be part of the team as an assistant to Nick and now Ernie. We have a long history. We’re basically the same age, we’ve played a lot of golf together so it’s going to be really fun to try to get the Internationals over the line this time.”
The United States have won the last seven editions of the Presidents Cup and are 10-1-1 all-time in the event.
U.S. captain Tiger Woods last month named Fred Couples, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker as his assistants.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
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FILE PHOTO: The offices of Standard Life Aberdeen in Saint Andrew Square Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain February 15, 2019.REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo
March 19, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – Standard Life Aberdeen said on Tuesday that a tribunal has ruled in its favor regarding a dispute over an investment contract it had with Lloyds Banking Group
The tribunal ruled that the bank was not entitled to give notice to terminate the investment management agreements in respect of around 100 billion pounds ($132.61 billion) in assets managed by Standard Life Aberdeen.
Lloyds had argued that an 11 billion pound merger between fund firms Standard Life and Aberdeen triggered the right to review an agreement struck in 2014 for Aberdeen to manage its pension assets on behalf of its wealth and insurance businesses, because it saw Standard Life as a “material competitor” to both.
Standard Life Aberdeen said it was considering the terms of the decision and appropriate next steps.
(Reporting by Sinead Cruise, editing by Huw Jones)
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March 18, 2019
By Justin George Varghese, Rachel Armstrong and Pamela Barbaglia
(Reuters) – U.S. fintech Fidelity National Information Services Inc (FIS) has agreed to buy payment processor Worldpay for about $35 billion, the biggest deal to date in the fast-growing electronic payments industry.
The deal is part of a wave of consolidation in the financial technology sector as firms seek to bulk up on payment systems that are increasingly used for online and high street sales.
“Scale matters in our rapidly changing industry,” said FIS Chief Executive Officer Gary Norcross, who will lead the combined group that will be a global powerhouse in providing the infrastructure for banking and payment systems.
Global payments are set to reach $3 trillion a year in revenue by 2023, according to consulting firm McKinsey, as more people switch from cash to digital payments.
“This was an opportunistic move by FIS and was primarily triggered by the need to stay ahead of competitors,” said a source close to the deal.
The industry’s growth has kept deals for payment systems rolling even as merger moves in other sectors have stalled on concerns about trade tensions and a global slowdown.
U.S.-based Fiserv Inc bought payment processor First Data Corp in January for $22 billion, while Italy’s Nexi plans to list in what could be one of Europe’s biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) this year.
The FIS deal, valuing Worldpay at about $43 billion when debt is included, comes a little more than a year after U.S. firm Vantiv paid $10.63 billion for the payments firm, which was set up in Britain and spun off from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010.
“Vantiv had yet to realize all the synergies from the Worldpay merger but FIS’s offer was too good to be refused,” the source close to the deal said.
FIS and Worldpay combined will have annual revenue of about $12 billion and adjusted core earnings of about $5 billion.
“By acquiring Worldpay, FIS should accelerate its revenue growth, significantly expand its position in the merchant acquiring space and generate many synergies,” said Michael Schaefer, portfolio manager at Union Investment, a Worldpay shareholder.
Worldpay is a major player in card payments, particularly in Britain, while FIS focuses on retail and institutional banking, as well as payments.
BREADTH OF COVERAGE
“You need scale to win at payments processing and this deal certainly gives the two companies incredible breadth of coverage,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Worldpay shareholders will receive 0.9287 FIS shares and $11 in cash for each share held, valuing the company at $112.12 per share, a premium of about 14 percent based on the stocks’ Friday closing, according to Reuters calculations.
Shares in Worldpay, which has provided payment processing services for more than 40 years, were up 10.5 percent at $108.99 and Fidelity’s shares were up 2.2 percent at $111.25 in premarket trading on Monday.
The companies said the deal would result in an organic revenue growth outlook of 6 to 9 percent through 2021, and $700 million of total core earnings savings over the next three years.
The companies said they expected $500 million of revenue savings and aimed to deliver nearly $4.5 billion of free cash flow in three years.
Under the deal, shareholders will own about 53 percent in the combined firm and Worldpay shareholders about 47 percent.
Worldpay’s CEO Charles Drucker will become the executive vice-chairman.
FIS, which has grown through a series of acquisitions in the past 15 years, offering software and outsourcing services banks, asset managers and insurers.
Centerview Partners and Goldman Sachs were financial advisers to FIS, the companies said, adding that Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as FIS’ legal adviser in the transaction.
(Additional reporting by Arathy S Nair, Simon Jessop; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Edmund Blair)
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Aug 24, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando City defender Jonathan Spector (2) kicks under Atlanta United defender Jeff Larentowicz (18) during the first half at Orlando City Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
March 16, 2019
Former Orlando City defender Jonathan Spector is moving overseas, signing a short-term deal for the remainder of the current season with Hibernian, the Scottish Premier League team announced.
Spector, 33, was available after Orlando City declined his contract option for this season. The Chicago-area native played the past two seasons with the Lions, moving into the captain role last season.
“I understand the expectations of the manager and I was able to get a feel for the club having gone to a couple of the home matches,” Spector said, according to the team website. “I’m certainly ready to get going to help the team and the club in whatever way I can.”
Spector is expected to join Hibernian after the upcoming international break.
“Jonathan offers experience, quality and versatility in an area where we haven’t had much cover recently,” Hibernian head coach Paul Heckingbottom said. “He’s made a great impression on everyone since he arrived and it’s easy to see why he’s had the career he’s had.”
Spector not only has played in 36 games with the United States Men’s National Team, he has also played in England for Manchester United, Charlton, West Ham and Birmingham.
Spector played 38 games for Orlando City over the past two seasons, scoring one goal with two assists.
–Field Level Media
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FILE PHOTO: Drilling rigs are parked up in the Cromarty Firth near Invergordon, Scotland, Britain January 27, 2015. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
March 15, 2019
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices were steady on Friday amid support from ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, but weighed down by concerns that an economic slowdown will soon start denting growth in fuel demand.
International benchmark Brent crude oil futures were at $67.16 per barrel at 0029 GMT, down 7 cents from their last close, but still within a dollar of the $68.14 per barrel 2019-high reached the previous day.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $58.53 per barrel, down 8 cents from their last settlement, and also not far off their 2019-high of $58.74 from the previous day.
Despite Friday’s dips, crude has gained around a quarter in value since the start of the year.
“Crude oil continues to grind higher … in response to ongoing production cuts from the OPEC+ group of producers as well as another (output) slump from a blacked-out Venezuela,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Denmark’s Saxo Bank.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-affiliated allies such as Russia – known as the OPEC+ alliance – has pledged to withhold 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in crude supply since the start of the year to tighten markets and prop up prices.
Meanwhile, a political and economic crisis in Venezuela combined with U.S. sanctions against Venezuela as well as Iran, have further tightened oil markets.
Holding crude back crude prices from rising further have been concerns that a global economic slowdown that has gripped large parts of Asia and Europe, and which is showing signs of spilling into North America, will soon dent growth in demand for oil.
“(But), worries about growth and future demand for crude oil remain just worries at this stage,” said Saxo Bank’s Hansen.
Crude oil use by China’s refineries in the first two months of 2019 rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier to a record 12.68 million bpd, official data showed this week.
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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Emergency responders are seen outside Glasgow University, in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, March 6, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media. Lilli Schlossbach/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
March 12, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – A dissident Republican group calling itself the “IRA” has claimed responsibility for recent letter bombs sent to buildings in London and the University of Glasgow.
“The claim was allegedly made on behalf of the ‘IRA’,” British police said.
The group, which calls itself the IRA, is made up of militants opposed to Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace deal.
It is separate and far smaller than the Provisional IRA, which was responsible for almost half of the 3,600 deaths during the 30 years of violence and which disbanded after the peace deal.
(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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FILE PHOTO: Drilling rigs are parked up in the Cromarty Firth near Invergordon, Scotland, Britain January 27, 2015. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
March 12, 2019
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Tuesday, lifted by output cuts led by producer group OPEC as well as healthy demand, although analysts said economic headwinds posed downside risks to crude markets.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $56.99 per barrel at 0012 GMT, up 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement.
Brent crude futures were at $66.76 per barrel, up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch said despite economic headwinds “we still see Brent prices averaging $70 per barrel this year and expect WTI to lag, averaging $59 per barrel in 2019.”
The U.S. bank said this was in part because of strong demand for marine diesel expected from next year as part of new fuel rules coming in place by the International Maritime Organization.
“With diesel yields already maxed out, refiners may need to lift runs in 2H19 to meet rising demand for marine distillates,” Bank of America said.
It added that supply cuts this year by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-affiliated allies like Russia – known as the OPEC+ alliance – aimed at tightening oil markets were also supporting crude prices.
Traders also pointed to the ongoing political and economic crisis in Latin American OPEC-member Venezuela as an oil price driver.
Venezuela’s opposition-run congress on Monday declared a “state of alarm” over a five-day power blackout that has crippled the country’s oil exports and left millions of citizens scrambling to find food and water.
(GRAPHIC: Venezuela crude oil shipments – https://tmsnrt.rs/2NXoYyE)
SURGING U.S. OUTPUT
At least partly offsetting OPEC efforts to tighten the market and disruptions like Venezuela is a surge in U.S. oil supply.
The United States will drive global oil supply growth over the next five years, adding another 4 million barrels per day (bpd) to the country’s already booming output, the International Energy Agency said on Monday.
U.S. oil output, including natural gas liquids and other hydrocarbons, will climb to 19.6 million bpd by 2024 from 15.5 million last year, the Paris-based agency said.
U.S. crude oil output will rise nearly 2.8 million bpd, growing to 13.7 million bpd in 2024 from an average of just under 11 million bpd in 2018, the IEA said, making the United States by far the biggest oil producer in the world.
(GRAPHIC: Russian, U.S. & Saudi crude oil production – https://tmsnrt.rs/2EUHeFO)
(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; editing by Richard Pullin)
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FILE PHOTO: Thibault, barman at the Cricketer English Pub, serves a Brexit draft beer in Paris, France, December 17, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo
March 11, 2019
PARIS (Reuters) – If Prime Minister Theresa May or any other Briton needs some Dutch courage to see them through the fraught final countdown to Britain’s departure from the European Union they need look no further than a Paris pub and its popular “Brexit” beer.
Brewed in Scotland, which voted largely in favor of remaining in Europe, the beer’s hoppy notes give it a deliberate bitterness, said Lomig Fronty, a French barman at The Cricketer pub.
The brewery “wanted to put across its feelings towards Brexit, hence the bitterness of the beer,” Fronty said in between pulling pints. “So that’s what I tell people who don’t want to take it for this reason, it’s actually an anti-Brexit move to buy this beer.”
May faces possible further humiliation in parliament over her Brexit divorce deal this week after failing to win any major concessions from the EU. British lawmakers will decide on Tuesday whether to approve the deal.
With less than three weeks until the March 29 deadline, possible outcomes include a delay, a last-minute deal, a no-deal Brexit, a snap election or another referendum.
The uncertainty is enough to give most drinkers at the British-themed pub near the Gare Saint Lazare a headache.
“Brexit is terrible,” said Rosie, a British-Australian patron of The Cricketer. “But at least the beer is good.”
(Reporting by Antony Paone and Johnny Cotton; editing by Richard Lough and Jason Neely)
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