Europe edition

EUROPEAN NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR SATURDAY 22 AUGUST / SUNDAY 23 AUGUST 2020

LIFE & ARTS

How football
conquered Paris
Simon Kuper on the rise of PSG

Rebound in Virus hangover Champagne growers

eurozone hit
by Covid spikes
3 Business activity suffers across bloc
3 Renewed curbs impact on services
Martin Arnold — Frankfurt
The eurozone’s economic rebound from
the pandemic is losing steam as a recent
rise in Covid-19 cases across the bloc
triggered local lockdowns and raised
doubts over the strength of the recovery.
The composite purchasing managers’
index for the region, a widely watched
survey of business activity, fell to 51.6 in
August, down from 54.9 in July.
Although a reading above 50 indicates
an expansion in activity, the figure was
lower than most economists expected.
The disappointing data hit the euro,
which fell 0.7 per cent yesterday.
After a historic contraction of more
than 15 per cent in the first two quarters
of this year, economists had expected
the eurozone economy to perform
strongly in the third quarter.
However, a recent resurgence of coro-
navirus infections in many European
countries to levels not seen since May
has damped rebound hopes. Spain has
seen a big leap in cases, leading to fears
that schools may not reopen. Spanish
officials have blamed the speed of the
virus’s return on groups of young people
partying, as well as family gatherings.
“The recovery was undermined by
signs of rising virus cases in various
parts of the euro area, with renewed
restrictions impacting the service sector
in particular,” said Andrew Harker,
attempt to tackle withered demand
economics director at IHS Markit, but
he noted that “manufacturers contin-
ued to post marked increases in output
and new orders”. He added that compa-
nies in the eurozone had continued to
cut jobs, reflecting muted demand.
Activity in both of Europe’s two larg-
est economies fell below expectations,
the sentiment surveys suggested.
France was hit by an unexpected con-
traction in its manufacturing sector
while, in Germany, the services sector
dragged on the economy.
“In France, we are particularly wor-
ried about the pace of job cutting having
increased again in August,” said Moritz
Degler, economist at Oxford Economics.
“In Germany, while the rate of job cuts
eased, both services and manufacturing
employment continued to fall.”
Christoph Weil, an economist at Com-
merzbank, said that the data confirmed
“there will be no V-shaped recovery”.
European leaders say that they are
determined to avoid renewed national
lockdowns that froze large parts of the
economy this year.
By contrast, Britain’s economy recov-
ered strongly in August, according to the
latest PMIs, with business activity
reaching its strongest level in almost
seven years. The flash composite PMI
rose from 57 in July to 60.3 in August. Closed bars and a lack of celebrations during the pandemic has created such a supply glut that
Spain resurgence page 2 much of this year’s grape crop will be left to rot on the vine. Full story, Page 2 — Charles Platiau/Reuters

Kremlin critic Navalny cleared for flight

to Germany after suspected poisoning
Max Seddon and Henry Foy — Moscow tion activists in Russia and has sparked to him but to those around him” and
demands by global leaders for a full that those treating the activist were
Russian opposition leader Alexei Nav- investigation, following a series of con- required to wear protective equipment.
alny is set to be airlifted to Germany for tradictory statements from the doctors Approval for Mr Navalny to fly to a
specialist medical treatment as the treating him. Berlin hospital on a plane provided by
Democratic party unifies country’s most prominent Kremlin Anatoly Kalinichenko, deputy chief private donors was granted late last
behind resurgent Biden critic remains in a coma after a sus- doctor at the hospital in Omsk, in south- night, after Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia
pected poisoning. ern Siberia where Mr Navalny has been made a public appeal to Mr Putin, and
Report & Global Insight i PAGE 4 in intensive care since Thursday, told the European Court of Human Rights
The decision to allow his evacuation reporters that they had found no traces said that it was considering a special
after repeated denials followed a day of of toxic substances in his system, and plea to permit the journey.
Austria €5.00 Morocco Dh55 intense lobbying by his family and sup- that he was “demonstrating a positive Mr Navalny, 44, had been in western
Bahrain Din2.20 Netherlands €5.00
Belgium €5.00 N Macedonia Den240 porters, who argued that remaining in a trajectory” and was “quite stable.” Siberia meeting opposition candidates
Bulgaria
Croatia
Lev8.75
Kn31
Norway
Oman
NKr49
OR2.20
Siberian hospital was a threat to his life “The diagnosis of poisoning will for local elections next month and film-
Cyprus €4.50 Pakistan Rupee450 and that it was being ordered by Russian remain at the back of our minds. But we ing for one of his viral anti-corruption
Czech Rep
Denmark
Kc140
DKr50
Poland
Portugal
Zl 25
€4.50 authorities who did not want the sub- don’t believe the patient was poisoned,” video investigations on YouTube.
Egypt
Finland
E£55
€5.90
Qatar
Romania
QR20
Ron19
stance that had caused his illness to be Mr Kalinichenko said. He fell ill on a flight to Moscow on
France €5.00 Russia €5.00 discovered. But yesterday, Ivan Zhdanov, head of Thursday and collapsed in the plane’s
Germany
Gibraltar
€5.00
£4.00
Serbia
Slovak Rep
RSD520
€4.50 The hospitalisation of president Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Founda- bathroom, before falling into a coma.
Greece
Hungary
€4.50
Ft1590
Slovenia
South Africa
€4.50
R120
Vladimir Putin’s best-known critic after tion, said that a police officer had told The plane then made an emergency
India Rup260 Spain €4.50 drinking a cup of tea in an airport has him that Mr Navalny was poisoned with landing in Omsk.
Italy
Latvia
€4.50
€7.59
Sweden
Switzerland
SKr55
SFr7.50 underscored the threats against opposi- a substance that “poses a threat not only Pattern of Putin’s Russia page 2
Lithuania €5.00 Tunisia Din9.00
Luxembourg €5.00 Turkey TL25
Malta €4.50 UAE Dh25.00
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WORLD|
WEEK IN REVIEW|
Mali opposition celebrates military
coup despite regional condemnation
Mali’s opposition movement celebrated a military
coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita,
as a high-level west African delegation arrived in the
capital Bamako in an attempt to broker a compro-
mise that would reinstall him.
The coup in a country at the centre of the fight
against jihadism in the Sahel has been widely con-
demned by the African Union and western allies.
Ecowas, the west African regional bloc, imposed
sanctions and cut off financial flows.
Opposition groups had organised mass rallies call-
ing for Mr Keita’s resignation all summer and threw
their weight behind the military coup. The junta
promises elections in April and a transition governed
by a part-military but majority-civilian council.
Bannon charged with fraud over
campaign for Mexico border wall
Steve Bannon was charged with fraud relating to a
crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a wall
along the US-Mexico border.
The ex-Trump adviser, one of the architects of the
2016 presidential election victory, was arrested
along with three others involved in the “We Build the
Wall” campaign. It raised more than $25m, which its
leaders told donors would be sent to the federal gov-
ernment to help pay for the wall’s construction. Pros-
ecutors alleged they instead plotted to divert hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars for their own benefit.
Mr Bannon pleaded not guilty to the charges. The
president said: “I haven’t been dealing with him for a
very long period of time, haven’t been dealing with
him at all. It’s a very sad thing by Mr Bannon.”
Demand for dollar funding falls
as global financial system recovers
Outstanding loans via US Federal Reserve
dollar swap lines, $bn
Mar Apr
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Central banks cut short-term dollar funding via Federal
Reserve swap lines from three auctions a week to one,
in a reflection of improvements in the global financial
system. The dollar has dropped 12 per cent against a
basket of currencies since a March peak.
Children in Thailand at forefront of
protests against authoritarianism
Children are at the forefront of a protest movement
in Thailand, raising their hands in a defiant three-
fingered salute that has come to symbolise opposi-
tion to authoritarianism.
Thailand’s conservative culture teaches respect for
elders and deference to protocol and institutions. But
the gesture underscores demands of a restive young
population for a new constitution and reform of the
monarchy which is normally protected from public
criticism by the law. Protesters are bypassing curbs
on free speech with viral, pop culture memes and
using messaging apps to organise “flash mobs”. Chil-
dren have also been tying white ribbons around their
wrists or bags in defiance of authority.
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Trump vs the Valley
Tech titans need to minimise
political risk — GILLIAN TETT, PAGE 13
HMRC warns
customs risks
being swamped
by Brexit surge
3 Confidence in IT plans ‘has collapsed’
3 Fivefold rise in declarations expected
JAMES BLITZ — WHITEHALL EDITOR
A computer system acquired to collect
duties and clear imports into the UK
may not be able to handle the huge
surge in workload expected once Britain
leaves the EU, customs authorities have
admitted to MPs.
HM Revenue & Customs told a parlia-
mentary inquiry that the new system
needed urgent action to be ready by
March 2019, when Brexit is due to be
completed, and the chair of the probe
said confidence it would be operational
in time “has collapsed”.
Setting up a digital customs system
has been at the heart of Whitehall’s
Brexit planning because of the fivefold
increase in declarations expected at
British ports when the UK leaves the EU.
FINANCIAL TIMES
About 53 per cent of British imports
come from the EU, and do not require
checks because they arrive through the
single market and customs union. But
Theresa May announced in January that
Brexit would include departure from
both trading blocs. HMRC handles 60m
declarations a year but, once outside the
customs union, the number is expected
to hit 300m.
Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, London EC4M 9BT.
The revelations about the system,
called Customs Declaration Service, are
likely to throw a sharper spotlight on
whether Whitehall can implement a
host of regulatory regimes — in areas
ranging from customs and immigration
to agriculture and fisheries — by the
time Britain leaves the EU.
Problems with CDS and other projects
essential to Brexit could force London to
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Congressional Republicans seeking to
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April 28 have resisted Donald Trump’s
attempt to tack funds to pay for a wall
on the US-Mexico border on to
Advertising
stopgap spending plans. They fear
that his planned $33bn increase in
defence and border spending could
force a federal shutdown for the first
time since 2013, as Democrats refuse
to accept the proposals.
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May
A Five Star plan?
Italy’s populists are trying to woo
the poor — BIG READ, PAGE 11
adjust its negotiation position with the
EU, a Whitehall official said. “If running
our own customs system is proving
much harder than we anticipated, that
ought to have an impact on how we
press for certain options in Brussels.”
In a letter to Andrew Tyrie, chairman
of the Commons treasury select com-
mittee, HMRC said the timetable for
delivering CDS was “challenging but
achievable”. But, it added, CDS was “a
complex programme” that needed to be
linked to dozens of other computer sys-
tems to work properly. In November,
HMRC assigned a “green traffic light” to
CDS, indicating it would be delivered on
time. But last month, it wrote to the
committee saying the programme had
been relegated to “amber/red,” which
means there are “major risks or issues
apparent in a number ofkey areas”.
HMRC said last night: “[CDS] is on
track to be delivered by January 2019,
and it will be able to support frictionless
international trade once the UK leaves
the EU . . . Internal ratings are designed
to make sure that each project gets the
focus and resource it requires for suc-
cessful delivery.”
HMRC’s letters to the select commit-
tee, which will be published today, pro-
vide no explanation for the rating
change, but some MPs believe it was
caused by Mrs May’s unexpected deci-
sion to leave the EU customs union.
Timetable & Great Repeal Bill page 2
Scheme to import EU laws page 3
Editorial Comment & Notebook page 12
Philip Stephens & Chris Giles page 13
JPMorgan eye options page 18
LAURA NOONAN — DUBLIN
JENNIFER THOMPSON — LONDON
A boastful WhatsApp message has cost
a London investment banker his job
and a £37,000 fine in the first case of
regulators cracking down on commu-
nications over Facebook’s popular
chat app.
The fine by the Financial Conduct
Authority highlights the increasing
problem new media pose for companies
that need to monitor and archive their
staff’s communication.
Several large investment banks have
banned employees from sending client
information over messaging services
including WhatsApp, which uses an
encryption system that cannot be
accessed without permission from the
user. Deutsche Bank last year banned
WhatsApp from work-issued Black-
STOCK MARKETS
Mar 30 prev %chg
S&P 500 2365.93 2361.13 0.20 $ per €
Nasdaq Composite
Dow Jones Ind
FTSEurofirst 300
Euro Stoxx 50
FTSE 100
5902.74 5897.55 0.09 $ per £
20703.38 20659.32 0.21 £ per €
1500.72 1493.75 0.47 ¥ per $
3481.67
7369.52
3475.27 0.18 ¥ per £ 139.035 137.822 £ index 76.705 76.951 US Gov 30 yr
7373.72 -0.06 € index 89.046 89.372 $ index 104.636 103.930 Ger Gov 2 yr
FTSE All-Share 4011.01 4011.80 -0.02 SFr per € 1.069 1.072 SFr per £ 1.244 1.238
CAC 40
Xetra Dax
Nikkei
Hang Seng
FTSE All World $
5089.64 5069.04 0.41 COMMODITIES
12256.43 12203.00 0.44
19063.22 19217.48 -0.80 Oil WTI $
24301.09 24392.05 -0.37 Oil Brent $
297.99 297.73 0.09 Gold $
Jun
WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER
Lloyd’s of Brussels Insurance market
to tap new talent pool with EU base
Lloyd’s of London chose Brus-
sels over “five or six” other
cities in its decision to set up an
EU base to help deal with the
expected loss of passporting
rights after Brexit.
John Nelson, chairman of the
centuries-old insurance mar-
ket, said he expected other
Berrys after discussions with regulators.
Christopher Niehaus, a former Jeffer-
ies banker, passed confidential client
information to a “personal acquaint-
ance and a friend” using WhatsApp,
according to the FCA. The regulator said
Mr Niehaus had turned over his device
to his employer voluntarily.
The FCA said Mr Niehaus had shared
confidential information on the messag-
ing system “on a number of occasions”
last year to “impress” people.
Several banks have banned the use of
new media from work-issued devices,
but the situation has become trickier as
banks move towards a “bring your own
device” policy. Goldman Sachs has
clamped down on its staff’s phone bills
as iPhone-loving staff spurn their work-
issued BlackBerrys.
Bankers at two institutions said staff
are typically trained in how to use new
World Markets
CURRENCIES
Mar 30 prev Mar 30
1.074 1.075 € per $ 0.932
1.249
0.859
1.241 £ per $
0.866 € per £
0.801
1.164
111.295 111.035 ¥ per € 119.476 119.363 Jpn Gov 10 yr
Mar 30
50.22
52.98
1248.80
prev
49.51
52.54
1251.10
insurers to follow. Most of the
business written in Brussels
will be reinsured back to the
syndicates at its City of London
headquarters, pictured above.
The Belgian capital had not
been seen as the first choice for
London’s specialist insurance
groups after the UK leaves the
media at work, but banks are unable to
ban people from installing apps on their
private phones.
Andrew Bodnar, a barrister at Matrix
Chambers, said the case set “a precedent
in that it shows the FCA sees these mes-
saging apps as the same as everything
else”.
Information shared by Mr Niehaus
included the identity and details of a
client and information about a rival of
Jefferies. In one instance the banker
boasted how he might be able to pay off
his mortgage if a deal was successful.
Mr Niehaus was suspended from Jef-
feries and resigned before the comple-
tion of a disciplinary process.
Jefferies declined to comment while
Facebook did not respond to a request
for comment.
Additional reporting by Chloe Cornish
Lombard page 20
INTEREST RATES
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FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020
INTERNATIONAL
Controls reimposed
Spain struggles to contain virus spread
Return to schools at risk as with most cases, the equivalent ratio is Critics say that Madrid and Spain as a daily cases in Spain has already
above 400 and in one it is almost 600. whole must step up efforts to track and
‘Most of the returned to levels not seen since spring.
socialising causes highest Yesterday, the regional government ur­- trace the spread. In Madrid, where more outbreaks Yesterday, the health ministry repor­ted
infection ratio in Europe ged people there to stay at home. than 2,800 new cases were reported yes- we detected more than 7,000 new cases and said 122
“No one should be confused: things terday, there are about 550 trackers. had died in the previous week com-
Daniel Dombey — Madrid are not going well,” Fernando Simón, the “Unless citizens take responsibility, in have been pared with 22 in the week to August 6.
doctor leading Spain’s effort against the terms of staying at home if they have family or Mr Ruiz Escudero emphasised that
Coronavirus is spreading far faster in pandemic, said on Thursday, as he been in contact [with someone infect­- current hospitalisations and intensive
Spain than in the rest of Europe, con- admitted that in some areas of the coun- ed], we could have the best tracking in social care cases are a fraction of the levels at
fronting the country with a race against try the virus was out of control. the world and it won’t be enough,” gatherings, the pandemic’s peak in March and
time to control the outbreak before the National and regional officials largely Enrique Ruiz Escudero, the Madrid April, and that those affected are much
return to school and work next month blame the speed of the resurgence on region’s top health official, said. “Most of when younger than before. About half of all
after the holiday season. uncontrolled groups of youths drinking the outbreaks we detected have been people relax Spain’s new cases are asymptomatic.
Figures from the European Centre for and socialising, as well as gatherings of family or social gatherings, when people He added that the high totals in Mad­-
Disease Prevention and Control, an EU family members, and are warning that relax and think they can’t be infected.” and think rid were partly the result of large-scale
body, yesterday showed that in the pre­- despite months of planning, pupils may With the disease resurgent in a city they can’t be random testing in the worst-hit areas,
vious 14 days Spain had about 145 cases not be able to return to class in full. that has been largely deserted for the rejecting criticism that the region’s cen-
per 100,000 of population. Apart from Dr Simón pleaded for social media beach, the challenge is to avoid a further infected’ tre-right government had been too
Malta, no other European country had a influencers to persuade young people surge in around two weeks’ time, as well quick to relax controls when Spain’s
ratio above 100. Spain compares with of the dangers. “I understand that peo- as during the autumn flu season. lockdown ended on June 21.
ratios of 51 in France and 21 in the UK. ple want to party, but there are lots of As is the case in countries such as But Madrid, along with the rest of the
In three districts of Madrid, the region ways to party.” France and Germany, the number of country, is reimposing some controls.
Alexei Navalny. Attack allegations
Poisoning fits pattern of Putin’s Russia
Opposition activist is latest in Allies of Mr Navalny, who said he was
previously poisoned while serving a jail
a list of Kremlin critics to be sentence last year, claimed doctors’
initial refusal to transfer him to a hospi-
exposed to toxic substance tal in Europe was an attempt to “cover
up traces of the crime”.
Max Seddon — Moscow However, Tatiana Stanovaya, founder
of political consultancy R. Politik, said
As Russian opposition leader Alexei the Kremlin would view the death of Mr
Navalny fought for his life after a sus- Navalny in suspicious circumstances as
pected poisoning, state television pre- a “nightmare scenario” because it would
senter Vladimir Pozner agreed that the be a “dangerous kind of provocation
culprit should be brought to justice. that would spark protests”.
“Not just so that the criminal is pun- Instead, she wrote on the messaging
ished, but so that otherwise western and app Telegram: “Navalny could have
other media do not say it was done on been poisoned by anyone from a long
Putin’s personal orders,” he wrote on the list of ill-wishers. He has garnered hun-
website of Ekho Moskvy radio station. dreds of enemies in the past few years,
“Someone who wants to harm Russia including some hardened individuals.”
400
couldn’t have thought of a better way to Mr Navalny, 44, is best-known for
do it.” organising the largest protest in Russian
300
The attempt to shift blame for the history in 2017 on the back of his
alleged attack on the anti-corruption YouTube videos about corruption. But
200
activist away from the Kremlin indi- he has kept a lower profile recently.
cates the problem that the recent series He declined to campaign against the
100
of poisonings poses for President vote to reset Mr Putin’s term limits, pos-
Vladimir Putin and Russia. sibly extending the president’s rule until
0
Jul Aug The alleged poisoning of Mr Navalny, 2036, in favour of focusing on ousting
who is in a coma after being taken ill Kremlin officials at local levels. Mr Nav-
during a flight to Moscow on Thursday, alny spent the past few days in Tomsk
is the latest in a line of incidents in which meeting supporters and backing candi-
mysterious and untraceable toxic sub- dates standing in elections next month.
stances appear to have been used on Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokes-
critics of Mr Putin. man, said: “We need to wait for the final
Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman alleged tests that will help doctors determine
something had been added to the anti- what caused this. If there’s poisoning
corruption activist’s tea before he and there are appropriate state-
departed from Tomsk airport. His aides ments . . . by law enforcement agencies,
said police told them he was poisoned then there will be an investigation.”
with a “lethal toxin” and had accused Fateful journey: Pyotr Verzilov and anthropologist Ser- lot of time to get back to normal.” He said Mr Putin had been kept
doctors of barring his evacuation to a Alexei Navalny, gei Mokhov, whose wife is an ally Mr Verzilov, who fell ill during a 2018 informed of Mr Navalny’s condition,
hospital in Germany as a stalling tactic centre, poses for of Mr Navalny, defy easy categorisation. court hearing and was later taken to adding if Mr Navalny applied for per-
to prevent the substance being identi- a photo on a bus Police refused to investigate, while doc- hospital, said he believed the Kremlin mission to fly abroad for treatment, the
fied, prior to their consent yesterday. en route to an tors could not identify the substances wanted to intimidate opponents. “Putin Kremlin was “ready to very quickly con-
Western governments have accused aircraft at the involved. “This is really a favourite tool thinks that if you scare off people by sider such appeals”.
Russia of ordering the killing of former airport in for them,” Mr Kara-Murza, who sur- force, like by poisoning me or Navalny, Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow at
spies Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Tomsk on vived two possible poisoning attempts, people will realise they need to behave the Carnegie Moscow Center, said an
Skripal in the UK using military-grade Thursday. He told the Financial Times. “I don’t know and be afraid,” he said. “But you can’t let attempt on Mr Navalny’s life could just
toxins. Mr Skripal and his daughter Julia was later taken how plausible it is after so many cases — them affect you, even though the Krem- as easily be seen as the reality of Mr
survived the 2018 attack in the city of ill on a flight to every time, they say they have nothing lin thinks they will.” Putin’s Russia, where security services
Salisbury, which was carried out using Moscow to do with this, and it just happens that Mr Verzilov believes the circum- can operate with impunity and not be
the nerve agent novichok. Gluchinskiy via AP
people who oppose Putin’s regime keep stances of both his and Mr Navalny’s punished for even egregious oversteps.
Mr Putin has denied involvement in having horrible accidents.” suspected poisonings indicate the “That’s how the system is built:
either, while also hinting that retribu- Mr Kara-Murza, who had to learn involvement of Russia’s security serv- the atmosphere of hatred and the ram-
tion for treason was part of the game for to walk again, said he was helping ices. “Things at that level that make that pant impunity is what facilitates these
Russia’s secret services. Mr Navalny’s family. “It’s a very sadistic much noise can’t happen without the murders,” he said. “The Kremlin is
But the suspected poisonings of jour- method. It’s excruciatingly painful, OK from number one,” he said, referring responsible because it created that
nalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, artist and then if you survive, it takes a to Mr Putin. atmosphere.”
Sour grapes Champagne sector wrangles over price as demand falls
Victor Mallet — Paris Champagne — the region and the wine agreed yield for 35 years. Unless sales with the right levels of sugar and acidity
UK £2.70 Channel Islands £3.00; Republic of Ireland €3.00
— faced challenges even before the pan- pick up, growers selling their crops to the that could make for a vintage year.
Dear Don...
May’s first stab at the break-up
letter — ROBERT SHRIMSLEY, PAGE 12
Despite the promise of an excellent vin- demic. They include the uncertainty champagne houses will also be paid a “It’s looking very good,” said Yves
UK £3.80; Channel Islands £3.80; Republic of Ireland €3.80
Briefing
SATURDAY 1 APRIL / SUNDAY 2 APRIL 2017
tage, champagne producers and the lux- over trade tariffs after Brexit — the UK is year late for 1,000kg per hectare of that Couvreur, a grower and producer who is
THE END
i US bargain-hunters fuel Europe M&A
Europe has become the big target for cross-border
ury groups that own the biggest brands champagne’s biggest single export mar- already reduced total. president of the union of independent
dealmaking, as US companies ride a Trump-fuelled
equity market rally to hunt for bargains across the
HOW DRIVERLESS
OF THE TECHNOLOGY IS
Atlantic.— PAGE 15; CHINA CURBS HIT DEALS, PAGE 17
i Report outlines longer NHS waiting times
A report on how the health service can survive CHANGING AN
ROAD
more austerity has said patients will wait longer for
non-urgent operations and for A&E treatment while AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE Censors and sensitivity
some surgical procedures will be scrapped.— PAGE 4
have decided you can have too much of a ket and will leave the EU single market “It’s a compromise. On the winegrow- winegrowers of Champagne. His group,
i Emerging nations in record debt sales Warning: this article may be
FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 4 2017
Developing countries have sold record levels of
government debt in the first quarter of this year,
upsetting — LIFE & ARTS
taking advantage of a surge in optimism toward
emerging markets as trade booms.— PAGE 15
Credit Suisse Art of persuasion Mystery deepens
i London tower plans break records
How To Spend It
good thing. in January — as well as the threat of cli- ers’ side, of course we wanted a bit representing 400 individual growers,
A survey has revealed that a
record 455 tall buildings are
planned or under construction
in London. Work began on
over disputed painting of Jane Austen
engulfed in
almost one tower a week
during 2016.— PAGE 4
i Tillerson fails to ease Turkey tensions
The US secretary of state has failed to reconcile
fresh tax probe
After weeks of fraught negotiations, mate change. This year, the grape har- more,” said Mr Faivre, who produces split from the broader union in June
tensions after talks in Ankara with President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan on issues including Syria and the
extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen.— PAGE 9
Chic new lodgings
i Toshiba investors doubt revival plan
in Scotland
In a stormy three-hour meeting, investors accused MAGAZINE
managers ofhaving an entrenched secrecy culture
3 UK, France and Netherlands swoop
and cast doubt on a revival plan after Westinghouse
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.— PAGE 16
3 Blow for bid to clean up Swiss image
the cartel of growers and producers this vest began in some Champagne villages about 45,000 bottles per year. “But we because of disagreements over negotiat-
i HSBC woos transgender customers
The bank has unveiled a range of gender-neutral
RALPH ATKINS — ZURICH it followed “a strategy offull client tax
DUNCAN
titles such asROBINSON — BRUSSELS
“Mx”, in addition to Mr, Mrs, Misscompliance”
or but was still trying to
Ms, in a move to embrace diversity and cater togather the information about the probes.
Credit
needs Suisse hascustomers.
of transgender been targeted by
— PAGE 20 HM Revenue & Customs said it had
sweeping tax investigations in the UK, launched a criminal investigation into
France and the Netherlands, setting suspected tax evasion and money laun-
back Switzerland’s attempts to clean up dering by “a global financial institution
Datawatch
(Deposito Legal) M-32596-1995;
week agreed in Epernay, France, to a on August 17, the earliest date in the must not forget that champagne is a col- ing tactics with the champagne houses
its image as a tax haven. and certain ofits employees”. The UK
The Swiss bank said yesterday it was tax authority added: “The international
Terror attacks inwith
co-operating western Europe after
authorities
offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam
Recent reach
itsattacks
notably the message
2011
— of this investigation sends a clear
that there is no hiding place for
The lure of the exotic
were contacted
Highlighted attack byOthers massacre bythose seeking to evade tax.”
local officials Robin Lane Fox on the flair
“concerning client tax matters”. Anders BreivikDutch in prosecutors, who initiated the
of foreign flora — HOUSE & HOME
EU, with Dublin and Luxem-
bourg thought to be more likely
AFP
parts in Germany wereBrussels
while Australia’s revenue department
Norway
said it was investigating a Swiss
Publishing Director, Roula Khalaf;
Norway, the
Dutch authorities said their counter- action, said they seized jewellery, paint-
attacks in Paris
also involved,
and Nice, and
ings and gold ingots as part of their
Brussels suicide
Nice bank.
the while French officials said their
probe;
investigation had revealed “several
sharp cut to the annual grape harvest 300-year history of the sparkling wine. lective enterprise . . . we must think of and his push for a bigger agreed harvest.
homes for the industry. But Paris bombings — have
Mr Nelson said the city won on The inquiries threaten to undermine thousand” bank accounts opened in
bucked the trend
efforts by the country’s banking sector Switzerland and not declared to French
its transport links, talent pool
and “extremely good regula-
tory reputation”.
Lex page 14
Insurers set to follow page 18
to overhaul business models and ensure
customers meet international tax
requirements following a US-led clamp- Publishing Company, The Financial Times Limited,
of generally low
western Europe
tax authorities.
fatalities from
The Swiss attorney-general’s office
Sources: Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre terror incidents in
said it was “astonished at the way this
down on evaders, which resulted in operation has been organised with the
billions of dollars in fines. deliberate exclusion of Switzerland”. It
registered office as above. Local Representative office;
The probes risk sparking an interna- demanded a written explanation from
tional dispute after the Swiss attorney- Dutch authorities.
after a withering of global demand. Production and sales are managed by what will happen in the years ahead.” Mr Couvreur said the champagne
general’s office expressed “astonish- In 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty
ment” that it had been left out of the in the US to an “extensive and wide-
actions co-ordinated by Eurojust, the ranging conspiracy” to help clients THE RISE
Escape OF
the taper ECO-GLAM
trap
EU’s judicial liaison body. evade tax. It agreed to fines of $2.6bn.
How high earners can evade
Credit Suisse, whose shares fell 1.2 per
subject ofinvestigations in the Nether-
lands, France and the UK. The bank said in Paris C/ Infanta Maria Teresa 4, bajo 2, 28016, Madrid. ISSN
Additional reporting by Laura Noonan in
cent yesterday, identified itself as the Dublin, Caroline Binham and Vanessa
Houlder in London, and Michael Stothard
Austen’s descendants insist the Rice portrait depicts her as a girl — see magazine Bridgeman Art Library
a pension headache — FT MONEY
“Champagne is synonymous with a cartel of more than 16,000 growers Given the quality of this year’s grapes, houses were “too pessimistic” about the
1135-8262.
Brussels takes tough stance on Brexit
with Spain handed veto over Gibraltar
390_Cover_PRESS.indd 1 19/01/2017 13:57
UAE: Masar Printing & Publishing, P.O. Box 485100,
partying,” said David Faivre, a third- and 360 champagne houses. Its job is to the decision to leave many rotting in the market, although he was obliged to
ALEX BARKER — BRUSSELS ambitious trade and airline access deals. mise. If Britain wants to prolong its
GEORGE PARKER — LONDON Gibraltar yesterday hit back at the status within the single market after
STEFAN WAGSTYL — BERLIN clause, saying the territory had “shame- Brexit, the guidelines state it would
Living wage rise to pile
pressure on care services
Dubai. Editor in Chief: Roula Khalaf.
The EU yesterday took a tough opening
stance in Brexit negotiations, rejecting
Britain’s plea for early trade talks and
explicitly giving Spain a veto over any
arrangements that apply to Gibraltar.
fully been singled out for unfavourable
treatment by the council at the behest of
Spain”. Madrid defended the draft
clause, pointing out that it only reflected
“the traditional Spanish position”.
require “existing regulatory, budgetary,
supervisory and enforcement instru-
ments and structures to apply”.
Mr Tusk wants talks on future trade
to begin only once “sufficient progress”
Qatar: Dar Al Sharq, PO Box 3488, Doha-Qatar. Tel: +97 generation champagne maker in the vil- ensure quality and to support prices vineyard was especially hard. Growers accept the deal. “I start from the princi-
Senior EU diplomats noted that has been made on Britain’s exit bill and
About 2.3m people will benefit from
today’s increase in the national living
wage to £7.50 per hour. But the rise
will pile pressure on English councils,
which will have to pay care workers a
European Council president Donald
Tusk’s first draft of the guidelines,
which are an important milestone on
the road to Brexit, sought to damp Brit-
ain’s expectations by setting out a
Mr Tusk’s text left room for negotiators
to work with in coming months. Prime
minister Theresa May’s allies insisted
that the EU negotiating stance was
largely “constructive”, with one saying it
citizen rights, which Whitehall officials
believe means simultaneous talks are
possible if certain conditions are met.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary,
reassured European colleagues at a
lot more. Some 43 per cent of care
staff — amounting to 341,000 people
aged 25 and over — earn less than the
44557825
“phased approach” to the divorce proc-
ess that prioritises progress on with-
drawal terms.
was “within the parameters of what we
were expecting, perhaps more on the
upside”.
Nato summit in Brussels that Mrs May
had not intended to “threaten” the EU
when she linked security co-operation
lage of Belval-sous-Châtillon. “And the that are neither so high they discourage say the fine weather has produced grapes ple that a compromise where no one is
new living wage and the increase is The decision to add the clause giving British officials admitted that the EU’s after Brexit with a trade deal.
expected to cost councils’ care services Spain the right to veto any EU-UK trade insistence on a continuing role for the Reports & analysis page 3
price yield chg
£360m in the coming financial year. deals covering Gibraltar could make the European Court of Justice in any transi- Jonathan Powell, Tim Harford &
France: Publishing Director, Jonathan Slade, 46 Rue La
98.87 2.38 0.00
Analysis i PAGE 4 300-year territorial dispute between tion deal could be problematic. Man in the News: David Davis page 11
100.46
98.68
100.45
100.14
102.58
1.21
0.39
0.06
2.99
-0.75
-0.03
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.00 Subscribe In print and online
Madrid and London an obstacle to Brussels sees little room for compro-
World Markets
Henry Mance page 12
Boetie, 75008 Paris, Tel. +33 (0)1 5376 8256; Fax: +33 (01)
whole world isn’t doing that right now.” consumers nor so low they sully cham- happy isn’t too bad,” he acknowledged.
price prev chg
0.66
0.78
-0.36
0.34
0.66
0.78
-0.36
0.34
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
Data provided by Morningstar
www.ft.com/subscribenow
Tel: 0800 298 4708
For the latest news go to
www.ft.com
STOCK MARKETS
S&P 500
Nasdaq Composite
Mar 31
2367.10
5918.69
prev %chg
CURRENCIES
2368.06 -0.04 $ per €
5914.34 0.07 $ per £
Mar 31
1.070
1.251
prev
1.074 € per $
1.249 £ per $
Mar 31
0.935
0.800
prev
INTEREST RATES
0.932 US Gov 10 yr
0.801 UK Gov 10 yr
price
98.63
100.35
yield
2.41
1.22
chg
-0.01
0.02
© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2017
No: 39,436 ★
Printed in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin,
5376 8253; Commission Paritaire N° 0919 C 85347; ISSN
Dow Jones Ind
FTSEurofirst 300
Euro Stoxx 50
FTSE 100
20689.64 20728.49 -0.19 £ per €
1503.03 1500.72 0.15 ¥ per $
3495.59
7322.92
3481.58 0.40 ¥ per £
7369.52 -0.63 € index
0.855 0.859 € per £
111.430 111.295 ¥ per €
139.338 139.035 £ index
88.767 89.046 $ index
1.169 1.164 Ger Gov 10 yr
119.180 119.476 Jpn Gov 10 yr
77.226 76.705 US Gov 30 yr
104.536 104.636 Ger Gov 2 yr
99.27
100.36
99.27
102.57
0.33
0.07
3.04
-0.75
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.00
Sales of champagne, one of France’s pagne’s reputation as a luxury product. Growers said they had seen a good
Frankfurt, Brussels, Milan, Madrid, New York, FTSE All-Share 3990.00 4011.01 -0.52 SFr per € 1.071 1.069 SFr per £ 1.252 1.244 price prev chg
Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Orlando, CAC 40 5122.51 5089.64 0.65 COMMODITIES Fed Funds Eff 0.66 0.66 0.00
1148-2753.
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Dubai Xetra Dax 12312.87 12256.43 0.46 Mar 31 prev %chg US 3m Bills 0.78 0.78 0.00
Nikkei
Hang Seng
FTSE All World $
18909.26 19063.22 -0.81 Oil WTI $
24111.59 24301.09 -0.78 Oil Brent $
297.38 298.11 -0.24 Gold $
50.46
53.35
1244.85
50.35
53.13
1248.80
0.22 Euro Libor 3m
0.41 UK 3m
-0.32 Prices are latest for edition
-0.36
0.34
-0.36
0.34
0.00
0.00
Data provided by Morningstar
Turkey: Dunya Super Veb Ofset A.S. 100. Yil Mahallesi
34204, Bagcilar- Istanbul, Tel. +90 212 440 24 24. biggest exports, collapsed during the This year, with stocks swelling to four recovery in sales of champagne since
Sweden: Responsible Publisher - Christer Norlander coronavirus pandemic as bars and res- years’ supply or more than 1.4bn bot- June, but concerns remain about the
© Copyright The Financial Times 2020. taurants closed and celebrations were tles, the two sides negotiated for weeks possibility of further lockdowns.
Reproduction of the contents of this newspaper in any
manner is not permitted without the publisher’s prior
put on hold. Worldwide sales this year to come up with an acceptable grape “It’s a very seasonal wine in terms of
consent. ‘Financial Times’ and ‘FT’ are registered trade are expected to fall by a third to 200m yield that would give growers enough sales,” said Thibaut Le Mailloux of the
marks of The Financial Times Limited. The Financial
Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation bottles, with a value of about €3.3bn income to cover their costs without Comité interprofessionnel du vin de
regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice: compared with a record €5bn in 2019. pushing down retail prices to a level that Champagne, an industry body, noting
www.ft.com/editorialcode
LVMH, whose brands include Moët & would hurt the champagne houses. that half the sales are usually made in
Reprints are available of any FT article with your
company logo or contact details inserted if required
Chandon and Dom Pérignon, said Finally — the day after picking by more the four months of the year that include
(minimum order 100 copies). champagne sales were down 30 per cent than 100,000 seasonal workers had Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.
One-off copyright licences for reproduction of FT articles
are also available.
in the first half of this year, a period that started — the two sides decided on a max- He added: “We’ll always need cham-
For both services phone +44 20 7873 4816, or email included Covid-19 lockdowns in France imum yield of 8,000kg per hectare, a cut Much of this year’s very good crop pagne to celebrate. What’s not certain is
syndication@ft.com
and all of its biggest markets. of 22 per cent from 2019 and the smallest will be left to rot in the vineyard the mood of consumers.”
22 August/23 August 2020
Lukashenko
targets striking
workers to
stifle dissent
Post-election protests disrupted the regime and
now state-owned groups are key battlegrounds
James Shotter — Warsaw
Max Seddon — Moscow
Late last week, after Belarus’s strong-
man president Alexander Lukashenko
launched a crackdown on protests
against his disputed re-election, Juras
and about 800 other workers at the
BelAZ manufacturing plant in Zhodino
downed tools and walked out in protest.
“They insolently falsified the election
results. Then they dispersed peaceful
protesters. It’s no longer possible to just
sit and be silent when you see how peo-
ple are beaten and maimed,” said Juras.
He added that in Zhodino, a city of
65,000 people about 55km north-east of
Minsk, the capital, security forces had
detained “rows” of people.
As Mr Lukashenko battles to reassert
his authority following this month’s
deeply flawed election and his crack-
down on peaceful protesters, state-
owned companies such as BelAZ, which
account for about 70 per cent of the
country’s $60bn economy, have become
one of the key battlegrounds.
The huge state-owned sector is a
throwback to the Soviet command
economy that dominated eastern
Europe until the collapse of the Iron
Curtain. But while other former Soviet
states in the region went through a
wrenching economic transition in the
1990s and 2000s, Mr Lukashenko, who
has been in power since 1994, set Bela-
rus on a different course.
Instead of overseeing mass privatisa-
tions, he kept the bulk of the economy
under state control. The decision meant
Oil & gas
Turkey hails Black Sea gas discovery
Laura Pitel — Ankara
David Sheppard — London
Turkey has made a big discovery of
natural gas in the Black Sea, president
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed,
hailing the find as a historic step for the
country’s troubled economy and its
energy security.
Mr Erdogan said that exploration by
Turkey’s state-owned petroleum com-
pany had found 320bn cubic metres of
gas — the largest in the country’s history.
He said that he hoped production would
commence as soon as 2023.
“As a country that has suffered prob-
lems for years as a result of our depend-
ence on foreign energy sources, I believe
that we can now look to the future with
greater confidence,” Mr Erdogan said.
He added that Ankara would also
accelerate its efforts to find gas in the
Eastern Mediterranean, where it is
embroiled in a bitter dispute with
Greece and Cyprus over the sharing of
hydrocarbon resources.
Analysts responded to the announce-
ment with caution but said the size of
the provisional find would be significant
if it proved to be commercially viable.
Virus guidelines
Ireland minister resigns over golf dinner
Arthur Beesley — Dublin
An Irish minister has resigned after he
attended a golf dinner for 81 people in
apparent breach of coronavirus guide-
lines signed off just the day before by
the government in which he sat.
Dara Calleary had been agriculture min-
ister in Micheál Martin’s administration
for just a month, having been appointed
after the prime minister sacked the
incumbent — after 17 days — over a his-
toric drink-driving case.
The controversy has sparked public
anger and prompted demands in the
Irish opposition for EU trade commis-
sioner Phil Hogan to consider his posi-
tion, as he also attended the dinner in a
County Galway hotel on Wednesday.
Mr Martin accepted Mr Calleary’s res-
ignation yesterday, saying his attend-
ance at the dinner “was wrong and an
error of judgment”. The taoiseach said:
“People all over the country have made
very difficult, personal sacrifices in
their family lives and in their businesses
that Belarus was spared the economic
shock therapy that Russia and Ukraine
endured, and for years the subsidies to
state-run companies gave Mr Lukash-
enko a loyal support base. But as the
public mood has turned against him
since the election, the same companies
have been a potential point of pressure
for his opponents.
One of the most eye-catching protests
took place at the Minsk Wheel Tractor
Plant on Monday, where a visibly
shocked Mr Lukashenko turned up
expecting a friendly audience, and was
instead greeted with boos and whistles,
and chants of “Resign! Resign!”
But there have also been other strikes
and protests at state-owned groups
across the country, ranging from the fer-
tiliser group Grodno Azot near the
Polish border, to tractor and motor
plants in Minsk. Belaruskali, which con-
trols 20 per cent of global production of
potash, and is a key source of dollar
income for Belarus, was also hit by walk-
outs.
Amid mounting concern over the eco-
nomic impact of the protests — one
presidential aide
claimed this week
it had already cost
the country $500m
— Mr Lukashenko’s
regime has hit back at
striking workers.
Maksim, a loader
driver at BelAZ, said
that company bosses
had simply locked work-
“This is an estimate based on just a
discovery well that will need to be con-
firmed by further drilling of appraisal
wells,” said Ashley Sherman at Wood
Mackenzie. “But it is still likely Turkey’s
largest-ever discovery by some margin,
and the largest ever in the Black Sea —
that has potentially huge implications
for Turkey’s energy supplies and the
‘I believe that we can now
look to the future with
greater confidence’
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president
narrative around the deepwater poten-
tial of the Black Sea.”
Energy imports are the most impor-
tant component of Turkey’s chronic
current account deficit, which has been
a persistent source of financial instabil-
ity over the past decade. Last year, its
energy import bill stood at $41bn. Its
suppliers include Russia, Iran and
Azerbaijan as well as Qatar and the US.
The size of the field, if confirmed,
would be about 40 per cent as large as
Egypt’s supergiant Zohr field that was
to comply with Covid regulations. This
event should not have gone ahead in the
manner it did given the government
decision of last Tuesday.”
Diners including Mr Hogan were
reportedly seated in two partitioned
rooms, but new rules approved by the
cabinet the day before state that “no for-
mal or informal events or parties should
be organised” in hotel restaurants.
Mr Hogan did not apologise in a Twit-
ter statement, saying he attended “on
the clear understanding that the organ-
isers and the hotel concerned had been
assured [by the Irish Hotels’ Federa-
tion] that the arrangements put in place
would be in compliance with the gov-
ernment’s guidelines”.
The affair compounds a rocky start
for the three-party coalition led by Mr
Martin’s centrist Fianna Fáil, which
took office less than two months ago.
It faced criticism over the failure to
include any minister from the west of
the country and the elevation to cabinet
of Mr Calleary, who is from the western
★ FTWeekend 3
INTERNATIONAL
shops with workers inside to stop them from Mr Lukashenko’s regime is helping Belarusian strike, but for that to happen there
from taking part in the protest. him claw back control after the election. President would have to be very strong organisa-
Since then, workers have also been At BelAZ, which has 11,000 staff, the Alexander tion between strike committees,” said
threatened with the sack for participat- protests had dwindled in recent days, Lukashenko Katia Glod, a non-resident fellow at the
ing in strikes. “The plant management with many workers more worried about speaks to Centre for European Policy Analysis, a
in every possible way prevented the losing their jobs if they continued. employees at an think-tank.
gathering of people,” he said. “People are intimidated, threatened agricultural “There has been an attempt to form
Nikita, a stamp operator at the Minsk with lay-offs. Daily meetings are held in plant near one, but it was done too late, it should
Tractor Works, also claimed that bosses workshops and divisions. People are Minsk have been done several days before,”
at his factory would not let workers who told how hard life was in the 1990s and yesterday. she added.
had signed a petition calling for new how they should be grateful to Lukash- Left: a protester But Mr Lukashenko’s opponents have
elections move out of the factory to join enko for what we have now,” explained at Minsk Wheel not given up. Yesterday morning, Svet-
the strike. Juras. Tractor Plant on lana Tikhanovskaya, the main opposi-
“It’s 50:50. Everyone is scared,” he “Most workers support the protest, Monday tion candidate in this month’s election,
said. “There’s no way Lukashenko but they are afraid of losing their jobs. It Nikolai Petrov/BelTA Pool
Photo via AP
urged workers to continue with their
will resign without the workers. is very difficult to find a job in our small strikes, telling them that the fact they
“They need to stop the work- town. And at the factory they pay well,” were being targeted showed they had
ers from striking because if the he added. “scared the dictatorship”.
industrial giants cease produc- Some analysts think that Mr Lukash- Back at BelAZ, Juras said: “It may drag
tion, then he’ll have to go.” enko may now be able to ride out the on, but the point of no return has been
However, in recent days wave of protests — at least in the short passed.” He added: “There is no turning
there have been signs term. back. You cannot forgive what he
that the pressure on “The only thing [that could really [Lukashenko] did to our people and our
strike organisers hurt Lukashenko] would be a national country.”
discovered in the Eastern Mediterra-
nean in 2015.
Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s finance
minister and son-in-law of Mr Erdogan,
said the find would enable Turkey to
eliminate its current account deficit.
The announcement came as Mr
Albayrak and other Turkish policymak-
ers have struggled to combat concern
about the country’s economy, with the
lira hitting record lows against the dol-
lar in August. The currency had rallied
as much as 3 per cent in recent days
after Mr Erdogan hinted at “good news”
and media reports suggested an energy
find as large as 800bn cubic metres.
The lira ended the day down 0.7 per
cent after the Turkish president spoke.
Sinem Adar, a researcher at the Ger-
man Institute for International and
Security Affairs in Berlin, said the tim-
ing of the announcement and hype
around it appeared partly to stem from
the need to create “excitement” to dis-
tract from the country’s economic prob-
lems. It also seemed to be an effort to
bolster Mr Albayrak’s reputation. “He
has been on the spot due to the devalua-
tion [of the lira]. So partially I think it’s
about repairing his image,” she said.
county Mayo, was meant to settle that
dispute.
His resignation comes at a testing
time for Mr Martin as he confronts a
surge in infections “distributed widely”
across the country.
The government on Tuesday imposed
severe limits on public and private gath-
erings and told businesses to allow
remote working where possible. But it
was criticised for the ambiguity of some
guidelines and was later forced to issue
clarifications.
There was also tension inside the cabi-
net over the new restrictions. They were
criticised as incoherent within the Fine
Gael party of Leo Varadkar, the former
taoiseach who is now deputy premier.
Gerard Howlin, who was an adviser to
former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, said the
controversy had raised “serious ques-
tions” about the coalition’s capacity to
govern. He added: “Public health cam-
paigns require public buy-in and public
confidence. Public confidence [is] seri-
ously damaged.”
4 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Trade tension López Obrador

Hong Kong to act against US label demand Mexico’s

Washington’s ‘Made in
China’ rules breach WTO
regulations, says territory
Thomas Hale — Hong Kong
Hong Kong will formally challenge a US
demand that it changes the way it labels
its exports as the city grapples with the
international fallout from Beijing’s
imposition of a tough national security
law on the territory.
Hong Kong’s government said new US
rules — which require that products
exported from the territory to the US are
labelled “Made in China” — breached
World Trade Organization regulations
and that it “will take action” as a result.
Through the WTO dispute settlement
system, members typically seek to
resolve the issue through bilateral con-
sultations. If these fail, the dispute pro-
ceeds to a panel.
“US’s new rule on origin marking of
Hong Kong products disregards Hong
Kong’s status as a separate WTO mem-
ber and violates WTO rules,” a spokes-
person for Hong Kong’s commerce and
economic development bureau said.
The controversy over the US rules
underlines the dilemma facing the Hong
Kong government, which needs to sup-
port the security legislation or risk look-
ing disloyal to Beijing. But it is also keen
to maintain its image as a dynamic
Elections. Virtual convention
financial and international export hub.
Hong Kong has already been hit by a
trade war between China and the US,
which has led to the imposition of tar-
iffs, because the bulk of its exports flow-
ing to the US originate on the mainland.
But the restriction on labelling prod-
ucts made within its borders has sym-
bolic undertones for a territory that has
operated under a semi-autonomous
government since it was handed over to
China from Britain in 1997.
The financial and trade hub has been
buffeted by US-China tensions, which
have deteriorated rapidly following the
introduction of a national security law
in June. This month, the US unveiled
sanctions on 11 mainland and Hong
Kong individuals, including Luo Huin-
ing, Beijing’s top official in the territory,
and Carrie Lam, its chief executive.
The government’s statement on
exports came after Ms Lam said on
Tuesday that she would also take up the
issue of US sanctions with the WTO.
The spat over the labelling of exports
followed a new announcement from the
US government on Wednesday in which
it said that it was suspending three bilat-
eral agreements it had with the Hong
Kong government, including those on
the transfer of sentenced individuals
and fugitive offenders.
An agreement that allowed for tax
exemptions for shipping companies was
also suspended. The Hong Kong govern-
president
ment said this would increase operating
costs and “hamper the development of
faces tough
the shipping sector between Hong Kong
and the US”.
questions
“This certainly is a step backwards,”
said Roberto Giannetta, chairman of the
Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association.
over videos
“We hope that the Hong Kong govern-
ment and US government can sort out Jude Webber — Mexico City
the differences as soon as possible so we
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel
can return to the previous status. This is
López Obrador, was forced on to the
not something that is helping global
defensive after videos emerged show-
trade.”
ing his brother receiving packets of
The Hong Kong Shipowners Associa-
cash from a senior official in his gov-
tion said: “We believe keeping the tax
ernment.
exemption agreement would be in the
interest of both the US and Hong Kong The films have been an embarrassment
shipping sectors.” for a graft-busting president after a
week during which sensational allega-
tions emerged against three of Mexico’s
past presidents and a host of officials
and legislators in connection with a sep-
arate bribery scandal.
During his daily news conference yes-

Democrats showcase unity to rally behind Biden
Presidential nominee’s speech
caps a week when party came
together to take on Trump
Demetri Sevastopulo and
Lauren Fedor — Washington
When Joe Biden accepted the Demo-
cratic presidential nomination on
Thursday, it was 33 years since his first
White House run imploded after being
accused of plagiarising British Labour
party leader Neil Kinnock.
The moment on the final night of the
Democratic convention could not have
been more different. Dogged by attacks
from Donald Trump that he was in cog-
nitive decline, the man the president
dubs “Slow Joe” delivered a speech that
many said was the best of his five dec-
ades in politics.
Chris Wallace, a veteran anchor on
the conservative Fox News network,
said he had blown a “big hole” through
the claim that the 77-year-old former
vice-president lacked the mental acuity
for a presidential race.
“After tonight, Donald Trump will
have to run against a candidate, not a
caricature,” Mr Wallace told his viewers.
The president’s plan had been to
mock his rival for hiding in the base-
ment of his Delaware home and hoping
Mr Biden would worry Democrats with
rickety performances when he
emerged.
But Mr Biden effectively undermined
that strategy with the strong delivery of
a coherent and well-written speech, say-
ing his presidential campaign was not
just about votes, but “winning the heart
and . . . soul of America”.
It capped a four-day virtual conven-
tion that showed how Democrats had
united around a candidate who six
months ago was on shaky ground.
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator
whose failure to rally his supporters
behind Hillary Clinton undermined her
campaign four years ago, used his
speech to heap praise on Mr Biden and
highlight the need for progressives and
centrists to come together to oust Mr
Trump.
Despite concerns about hosting a vir-
tual event, the Democrats were
applauded for a smooth convention that
showcased their diversity — everyone
Joe Biden and from African-American women to
Kamala Harris native Americans and also South Asian
raise their arms Americans who applauded the choice of
as fireworks go Kamala Harris, whose mother was
off at the Indian, as his vice-presidential running
Democratic mate.
Convention on The event was tailored to sell Mr
Thursday. His Biden as a decent man who cared about
wife Jill Biden, the nation more than himself.
far left, looks on Over four nights, the Democrats
with Ms Harris’s pitched themselves as an inclusive party
husband Doug with testimonials from voters repre-
Emhoff, right senting every age group, race, ethnicity,
Andrew Harnik/AP
and geography from across the country.
Rather than having a singular “key-
note” speaker — a slot historically
reserved for a rising star, which memo-
rably propelled Barack Obama to the
national stage in 2004 — they featured
more than a dozen up-and-coming poli-
ticians, including former Georgia gover-
nor candidate Stacey Abrams, speaking
together in a video.
The Democrats also made a concerted
effort to highlight the role of women
within the party with powerful
addresses from Michelle Obama and Ms
Harris, and a personal speech from Jill
Biden about her husband and family.
Wearing a thin gold chain necklace
with charms spelling out V-O-T-E, Mrs
Obama accused Mr Trump of a “total
lack of empathy” in a speech that was
the standout performance on the open-
ing night.
The former first lady, who polls said
was the most popular Democrat to
address the convention, invoked Amer-
ica’s children, saying “kids in this coun-
try are seeing what happens when we
stop requiring empathy of one another”.
To further prosecute the case, her
husband launched his own searing
attack on the president later in the
week: “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into
the job because he can’t. And the conse-
quences of that failure are severe.”
Then came Ms Harris, the first black
‘Donald woman and first Indian-American on a
main party presidential ticket. “I keep
Trump thinking about that 25-year-old Indian
hasn’t woman, all of five feet tall, who gave
birth to me . . . in Oakland, California,”
grown into she said, referring to the baseless claim
the job by Trump supporters that she was not
born in the US, and thereby not eligible
because he to run.
can’t’ The convention also underscored
some Republican concern about Mr
Barack Obama Trump, as several of the party’s former
lawmakers, and Colin Powell, the first
black chairman of the joint chiefs, took
to the virtual stage to endorse Mr Biden.
Cindy McCain, widow of late Senator
John McCain who Mr Trump once said
was not a war hero, narrated a video
about the bond her husband shared
with Mr Biden. When the Republicans
host their convention next week, not
only will no Democrat endorse Mr
Trump, but many high-profile Republi-
cans will not even address the event.
terday, Mr López Obrador said the vid-
eos, from 2015, were a bid by his politi-
cal adversaries to discredit him. He said
there were huge differences between the
videos and Mexico’s unfolding graft
scandal involving the former chief of
state oil company Pemex.
Mr López Obrador said the payments
were campaign contributions from “the
people” to support his political move-
ment and called for a full investigation.
“The aim is to damage the govern-
ment’s image but they won’t achieve
it . . . my conscience is clear,” he said.
He said he had known about the vid-
eos for the past few days but did not
know if the cash had been reported to
the electoral authorities as a campaign
contribution.
Mr López Obrador’s Morena party
began as a grassroots movement, and
the president said he took his own salary
at the time from supporters’ contribu-
tions. But in 2014, Morena won registra-
tion as a political party, enabling it to
receive state funds and making cam-
paign contributions subject to law.
“Any money that is received and is not
declared to the [electoral authority]
INE is illegal . . . even if the origin is
legal,” said Leonardo Núñez González, a
political analyst and researcher at non-
profit Mexicans Against Corruption and
Impunity.
In the two videos published by inves-
tigative journalist Carlos Loret de Mola,
who has uncovered a string of scandals
involving senior officials, Mr López
Obrador’s brother Pío is seen receiving a
bag and an envelope of cash from David
León.
At the time, Mr León — who made the
recordings — was a consultant for the
government of the southern state of Chi-
apas.
After Mr López Obrador took office,
Mr León led the federal government’s
civil protection agency. The president
recently tapped him to run a new state
company he is creating to distribute
medicine, saying the appointment
would stamp out corruption in drug
procurement.
Mr León wrote on Twitter that he
would not be taking up his new job
“until the situation . . . is cleared up”.
The president’s brother has not com-
mented publicly on the recordings.
Mr León wrote of the videos: “My way
of supporting the movement [Morena]
was to collect money among acquaint-
ances for holding rallies and other activ-
ities.” Mr López Obrador said he under-
stood the money was to reimburse sup-
porters for petrol and other expenses.

Ageing Skywalker frames 2020 as battle with the dark side US absentee ballots

Post service chief says election

GloBal Insight
rarely alter the outcome of a presiden-
tial election. But as Hillary Clinton dis-
covered in 2016, they can poison a cam-
Edward paign. The 2020 convention cleared
that hurdle. In contrast to Mrs Clinton’s
Luce Philadelphia convention, Mr Biden’s
was largely free of rancour.
Having picked his sharpest primary
critic, Kamala Harris, as his running
Likewise, the story told by Estela Jua-
rez, an 11-year-old from Florida, whose
mother was deported two years ago,
outshone the formulaic addresses of so
many politicians. “Instead of protecting
us, you tore our world apart,” she said.
The same applied to Ed Good, the 95-
year-old second world war veteran, who
said he would not be voting Republican
Bloomberg, the billionaire former New
York mayor, was given a prime moment
mail is ‘number-one priority’
on the final night. This highlighted the
brevity of congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez’s speaking slot, and the even if they were received before the
absence of others on the progressive
Courtney Weaver — Washington
state deadline. Many Democrats have
US postmaster-general Louis DeJoy
wing of the party. So far it appears Mr called for Mr DeJoy’s resignation, argu-
defended his far-reaching cuts to the
Biden’s doubters have agreed to keep a ing that the cutbacks were an attempt to
US Postal Service yesterday, insisting
lid on their misgivings. His longstanding curb mail-in voting, a practice that Mr
he was not trying to affect the Novem-

T
here had been rumblings
that Joe Biden was lacking a
theme. “Build Back Better”
summarised his post-Covid
plans, but it lacked binary
punch. Light versus darkness more than
meets that test.
It is hard to say whether Mr Biden
gave the speech of his life on Thursday
night, as some instantly declared. After
half a century in politics, it is doubtful
anyone was in a position to judge. But
Mr Biden’s address — and the four nights
of virtual Democratic programming
that preceded it — more than cleared the
low expectations of pandemic cam-
paigning.
“I will be an ally of the light, not the
darkness,” Mr Biden declared. In ordi-
nary times such words would have
sounded corny. But their stark framing,
and the personality of the nominee who
delivered it, somehow captured the
moment.
Will it move the needle? Conventions
mate, Mr Biden had already dealt with
some of that. Bernie Sanders’ warm
endorsement also came in sharp relief
to his begrudging pledge four years ago.
The only prominent former rival who
seemed to have been omitted was Julián
Castro, who cruelly queried in a debate
whether Mr Biden could remember
what he had said two minutes earlier.
For the time being at least, Mr Biden’s
well-delivered address ought to dispel
any mutterings about mental decline.
But the highlight of the convention
was the people no one had heard of. The
thread of moving cameos would have
been hard to pull off in a traditional jam-
boree amid the straw hats and ubiqui-
tous streamers. On the opening night,
viewers reacted most strongly to Kristin
Urquiza, who told of the death of her
Trump-voting father from coronavirus.
He had taken Mr Trump at his word that
the pathogen was not a serious threat.
“His only pre-existing condition was
trusting Trump,” his daughter said.
for the first time in his life, and to the 13-
Mr Biden’s well-delivered
address ought to dispel
any mutterings about
mental decline
year-old Brayden Harrington, whose
stutter drew Mr Biden’s sympathy at a
rally this year.
Among the household names, one of
the few who competed with such tales
was Michelle Obama, whose speech
made it clear that 2020 would be no
ordinary election. “If you think things
cannot possibly get worse, trust me;
they can,” Ms Obama said.
The convention set up two narratives
that will resurface in the coming weeks.
The first is the left’s quiescence to what
they see as a largely centrist platform.
Many did complain that Michael
relationship with Mr Sanders is crucial
to that.
The second is that the Biden cam-
paign wants this election to be about
character. To varying degrees that is
true of all US presidential contests,
which boil down to two people. But in
2020, character will predominate. In his
address, Mr Biden, frequently talked of
compassion, dignity, respect, kindness
and decency. The previous night Ms
Harris, a former prosecutor, said: “I
know a predator when I see one.”
It is hard to imagine any ideology that
could unite the numerous Republicans
who endorsed Mr Biden over the past
four days with Mr Sanders’ socialist fan
base. But when the choice is reduced to
personality opposites — an ageing Luke
Skywalker versus Darth Vader — the
strangest bedfellows fall into line. That
is how the Biden campaign wants Amer-
ica to see this election.
edward.luce@ft.com
ber presidential election at Donald
Trump’s behest.
“As we head into the election season, I
want to assure this committee and the
American public that the postal service
is fully capable and committed to deliv-
ering the nation’s election mail securely
and on time. This sacred duty is my
number-one priority,” Mr DeJoy said in
an appearance before the Senate home-
land security committee.
Mr DeJoy, a former logistics executive
who has donated $1.2m to the Trump
campaign and more than $1.3m to the
Republican party, has come under fire
for mail delays that have been blamed
on his aggressive cost-cutting measures
— including reduced postal worker
overtime, US letter boxes and sorting
machines.
Last week, the postal service general
counsel sent letters to 46 states and
Washington DC warning of potential
delays in processing mail-in ballots,
Trump has repeatedly claimed is rife
with fraud.
Earlier this week, Mr DeJoy
announced he would be suspending the
planned changes until after the Novem-
ber election “to avoid even the appear-
ance of any impact on election mail”.
In contrast with the president’s litany
of attacks on mail-in voting, Mr DeJoy
said he supported the practice and
planned to vote by mail himself this
year. “The postal service will deliver
every ballot and process every ballot in
time that it receives,” he said.
However, Democratic critics, includ-
ing Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the
House of Representatives, have argued
that Mr DeJoy has not gone far enough
to reverse the changes that have already
been made. The House is set to vote
today on $25bn in funds to bolster the
postal service ahead of the election. Mr
DeJoy told senators the service did not
need those emergency funds.
Person in the News page 9
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ † FTWeekend 5
6 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

FT BIG READ. US-CHINA RELATIONS

Washington’s latest sanctions have been likened to a ‘death sentence’ for the Chinese telecoms group,
removing its access to essential parts. Yet that judgment could be premature if Beijing decides to intervene.
By Kathrin Hille, Nic Fildes and Qianer Liu

F
or Guo Ping, chairman of help them.” The question is how.
Chinese technology group Mr Wang contends that money — Bei-
Huawei, Monday was a day like jing’s time-tested approach to the tech
any other. In a speech in the industry — will not do the trick.
southern Chinese city of Shen- “The company declared around
zhen, he painted a rosy picture of how $53bn in cash and short-term invest-
Huawei’s technological prowess and ments in its last annual report, so it has
leadership in 5G telecoms equipment substantial resources. What it lacks
would transform the company’s home- are chips. In the short term, it’s not
town into a global digital showcase city. possible to create a semiconductor
Hours later, that promise was shat- supply chain that does not touch US
tered — shot down by an announcement technology,” he says.
from the US government that it will use Some believe Beijing will force Chi-
the global dominance of American tech- nese chipmakers — which also continue
nology to cut off all supplies of semicon- to rely on US software and equipment —
ductors to Huawei. to supply Huawei. “They can reorganise
In boardrooms and government the domestic chip industry in whatever
offices around the world, the new rules way they like,” says the Taiwanese exec-
sparked frantic discussions about utive. “You could form an intermediate
whether the move would deliver a fatal layer between suppliers and Huawei,
blow to the $122bn company, how and it may be possible to hide your
quickly Huawei might fold, and what tracks a little.”
the collapse of the world’s largest tele- However, such a high-risk scheme, in
coms equipment provider would mean violation of American sanctions, could
for networks in 170 countries that run undermine Beijing’s ultimate aim to
on its hardware. build its own semiconductor industry.
While some analysts spoke of it being Lawyers predict that any Chinese chip-
a “death sentence”, others wondered maker trying to ship to Huawei in viola-
what lengths Beijing would be willing to tion of US rules will quickly be targeted
go to protect a company at the heart of by US sanctions, hampering Beijing’s
recent US-China tensions. quest for technology self-sufficiency.
One European telecoms executive Customers across Europe are already
calls the prospect of the leading supplier weaning themselves off Huawei’s equip-
in the market collapsing “catastrophic”. ment — the result of the political pres-
Networks are already having to shoul- sure exerted by the US. “There is a much
der the cost of reducing the amount bigger risk to using Huawei now due
of Huawei equipment under growing to the microchip sanctions,” says one

Meng Wanzhou,
Huawei’s chief 90% 200,000
financial officer, Of Huawei’s Workers at Huawei
is fighting business will be hit face uncertainty
extradition from by the restrictions after the sanctions
Canada to the US on semiconductors announcement

Is Huawei ‘too big to fail’?

political pressure in western countries
from Australia to the UK. The burden of
a Huawei collapse is most likely to be
felt by incumbent telecoms companies
like BT, Deutsche Telekom and Swiss-
com, argues one executive, given their
use of the Chinese company’s kit in
broadband networks.
But for Washington, this is the climax
of a 15-year battle that began when
Huawei first tried to enter the US
market in the early 2000s.
Observers say the US is now getting
close to a goal that has proven elusive.
“How do you kill Huawei?” asks Duncan
Clark, chairman of China technology
and telecom advisory company BDA, of
the US dilemma. “Like with a worm, you
cut off the head and it keeps going.”
Driven by the belief that Huawei
could enable the ruling Chinese Com-
munist party and its military to spy on
other countries and their companies,
undermine their national security and
steal their commercial secrets, the US
government used every option open to
it. It stopped Huawei acquisitions of
American companies and assets
through its national security review for
foreign investments. It leaned on lead-
ing US telecoms operators not to work
with the company and it conducted a
Congress-led probe into the firm. It pur-
sued a criminal prosecution which put
Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief finan-
cial officer and daughter of its founder,
under house arrest in Canada, awaiting
the outcome of an extradition hearing.
Last year, the administration started
targeting Huawei with sanctions, two
earlier rounds of which proved porous.
This time, industry experts say it is hard
to see how Huawei can wriggle out of
Washington’s noose.
“Handsets and base stations require
semiconductors. These two business
lines make up 90 per cent of Huawei’s
business; without being able to manu-
executive at a leading European tele-
coms company that has used a large
amount of Huawei equipment in the
past. “[Huawei’s struggles] will change
the balance of power. We need someone
like Samsung to step in fast [to supply
equipment],” he adds.
Telecoms companies have started to
A strong facture these products, the company Biden’s record of a less confrontational US companies, or manufactured using ‘A lot of reorganise their plans, particularly for
message, above: would no longer look like Huawei,” says stance towards China. Even the latest equipment from US suppliers such as 5G upgrades. The Chinese company,
Guo Ping, Dan Wang, technology analyst at rules allow for issuance of temporary Applied Materials or LAM Research. people in which has a market share of almost 50
chairman, at a Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm. licences under which chip supplies Taiwan Semiconductor Manufactur- the Chinese per cent of some 4G networks, has
conference held Earlier this week, Mr Wang called the could resume. ing Corp, the world’s largest contract largely lost its role as “primary vendor”,
by the company new US rules a “death sentence”. But those hopes are slim. “A lot of peo- chipmaker on whom most chip design government with companies including BT and Three
in Shenzhen
November hope
ple in the Chinese government are look- houses rely to produce their semicon- are looking turning to Ericsson as an alternative
earlier this year. ing at [Joe Biden’s lead in the] Florida ductors, will stop shipping to Huawei on supplier. But four operators contacted
Below: visitors Death, however, is not imminent. Hua- polls right now. But long-term thinkers September 15. Monday’s additional
at [Biden’s by the Financial Times have yet to draw
check out new wei has been building stockpiles of chips in China understand that the policy restrictions also block supplies of any poll lead]. up contingency plans for a scenario in
Huawei phones
during their
since Washington stepped up the pres-
sure on the company. While industry
space for Biden will be limited,” says
Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the
other chips, be it memory chips from
South Korea’s Hynix or semiconductors
But long- which Huawei collapses, an indication
that some in the industry at least see it
unveiling in experts say that reports about it having European Centre for International Polit- from Dutch company NXP. term as resilient even in the face of the latest
Munich last amassed two years of inventory are ical Economy, who as a trade lawyer pre- “None of these companies is free from thinkers in US onslaught.
year. Most of overblown, they believe that Huawei viously investigated Huawei for the EU. US content, the door is slammed shut,” Many executives at telecoms carriers
Huawei’s has enough chips to keep it going for He adds that any potential honey- says a European trade official in China. China argue that networks would not grind to
businesses are another six months. moon period for Beijing with an incom- Some of the company’s almost understand a halt if Huawei were to collapse, but it
expected to be That would take it past the US elec- ing Biden administration is unlikely to 200,000 employees are putting on a would rob the industry of the ability to
hit by the tion in early November, and the inaugu- last because China cannot reverse the brave face. “We still have a lot of that the easily maintain networks and probably
squeeze on the ration of the next US president. Some key policies and laws which have hard- projects on hand which are not finished, policy space cause significant disruption to custom-
company’s analysts say the possibility that Donald ened western governments’ stance and governmental projects are also ers due to an inability to upgrade soft-
suppliers — Noel Trump, whose administration has against Huawei and China more coming,” says an employee at Huawei for Biden ware from the Chinese company and
Celis/AFP via Getty
zeroed in on China as a threat to Amer- broadly. At its core is Beijing’s national Cloud, who insists the division is viable. will be replace faulty equipment. “It would be
ica, might lose power offers hope to security law, which requires companies But experts challenge such claims. Mr super painful,” says one executive.
Huawei due to Democratic nominee Joe and citizens to assist the security serv- Lee-Makiyama says the cloud business,
limited’ For Huawei, the pain will almost cer-
ices in whatever they may demand and which is much more profitable than tainly be greater. Industry experts say it
which has fed fears of spying. Another Huawei’s devices arm, is in as much is hard to envision how the company
issue certain to irritate relations is Bei- trouble as the rest of the group because could continue running its business in
jing’s move to curb Hong Kong’s auton- the server hardware that any cloud its current form under Washington’s
omy, civil rights and rule of law. services run on needs semiconductors, seemingly watertight sanctions.
Under that scenario, Huawei’s future while much of the cloud software is “The image of Huawei is now so asso-
looks dark. Washington last week American, including databases from ciated with the fear of a ‘Red Peril’ that
stopped rolling over temporary licences Oracle and virtualisation services from they need to make some trades,” says
that allow US companies to sell chips to VMware. Mr Clark, adding that Beijing was cer-
the Chinese group. Rules imposed in tain to have a role in any restructuring.
May, and the additions that followed Building an industry That, ironically, might transform
this week, mean that no company any- Some observers believe the Chinese gov- Huawei into something the US has
where in the world can sell chips to Hua- ernment will step in. “Huawei is too big suspected it to be but the Shenzhen
wei directly or indirectly if they were to fail,” says a semiconductor industry company always emphatically denied: a
designed using software tools made by executive in Taiwan. “Beijing will surely Chinese state company.

Recent years have seen a number of Prensa. The couple had two sons, Daniel Her second marriage was as short- involved with the natural world and

Obituary female artists rise to international

prominence after long decades of sub-
dued careers. Many have exceptional
and Pablo, and lived among a milieu of
Latin intellectuals in Santo Domingo
and Washington DC. She divorced del
lived as the first, however, and Hur-
tado’s stay in Mexico came to an end
after her younger son died of polio and
environmentalism, or echoing the
ancient cultures of the Americas.
By the 1970s, Hurtado’s growing inter-
Indomitable life stories. One of the most surprising
was the Venezuelan-American painter,
Solar in the mid-1940s and moved back
to New York, supporting her young sons
the family moved to California. There
she met and married another artist, Lee
est in feminism also found its place in
her art. Very few people saw her work,

talent, who is photographer, poet and diarist Luchita

Hurtado, who has died at the age of 99.
She began making art in her teens,
by working as a fashion illustrator for
Condé Nast.
In 1946 she married an Austrian Sur-
Mullican, with whom she had two more
sons, Matt and John. The Mullicans set-
tled in Santa Monica in 1951.
or were aware of it. But during the 1970s
and 1980s, mostly at the encourage-
ment of other female artists active on
celebrated at and persisted undaunted through dec-
ades of marriage, motherhood and
realist painter and publisher, Wolfgang
Paalen, who was living in Mexico City.
The demands of family life meant that
during these years Hurtado continued
the West Coast, she occasionally exhib-
ited in group shows.

long last many moves. But Hurtado had to wait

until the age of 98 for her first solo
museum show, which opened at the Ser-
pentine Sackler Gallery in London in
2019, then moved on to the Los Angeles
Luchita Hurtado County Museum of Art in February this
Artist year. Apart from a solo display in the
1920-2020 Woman’s Building in Los Angeles in
1974, and one further exhibition in Los
Angeles in 2016, these were, until now,
her only individual public shows.
Luchita Hurtado was born in 1920 in
Maiquetía, Venezuela, and emigrated to
New York in 1928 with her mother; she
never saw her father again. After grow-
ing up in New York City, her life was per-
ipatetic. She married her first husband,
the Chilean journalist Daniel del Solar,
when she was just 18, while working at
the Spanish-language newspaper La
After Hurtado and her children moved
there to join him, she was immersed in
the lively Surrealist circles that included
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Leonora
Carrington and many others. Her own
paintings from the time reflect Surreal-
ist influences.
Mexico in the late 1940s was a vibrant
centre for American and exiled Euro-
pean artists. Moving between Mexico
City and New York, Hurtado was in con-
tact with an extraordinary range of
painters, writers, photographers and
filmmakers, including Marc Chagall,
Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, André Bre-
ton, Luis Buñuel and Roberto Matta.
She had a talent for friendship and was
always intellectually hungry; her work
from these years shows that eagerness
for new input, new experience.
her art entirely privately, without any
involvement with the commercial gal-
lery system, working only at night while
everyone was asleep. A series of remark-
able self-portraits painted in the late
1960s, displayed at the Serpentine last
year, show the artist looking straight
downwards at her body, over her naked
breasts and belly to her bare feet on a
patterned rug. She was standing inside a
walk-in wardrobe, the only space she
had in which to make her work.
Yet the art continued: a rich outpour-
ing of highly personal drawings, photo-
graphs, paintings that, she later said,
were conjured from “the whole of a life’s
experience”. Their range is wide: in bril-
liant and bold colours Hurtado pro-
duced Surrealist figuration, biomorphic
and geometric abstracts, work deeply
Luchita Hurtado started painting in
her teens and continued for 80 years
The demands of family
life meant that for years
Hurtado continued her
art entirely privately,
working only at night
In 1998, Mullican died. When the
director of his estate was sorting
through Mullican’s work he came across
many other brilliant canvases and
works on paper, signed LH. It was the
beginning of Hurtado’s “discovery” by
the wider international art world.
In 2019, she received the Americans
for the Arts Carolyn Clark Powers Life-
time Achievement Award, and was
listed in Time magazine’s 100 most
influential people. Today, public collec-
tions across the world, including the
Metropolitan Museum and the Museum
of Modern Art in New York, the Ham-
mer Museum in Los Angeles and the
British Museum in London, feature
work from the 80-year career of this
most indomitable of artists.
Jan Dalley
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 7
8 ★
SATURDAY 22 AUGUST 2020
Melting ice is a reminder
of the climate emergency
A Biden victory could help to shift the fight against carbon emissions
The last three weeks have brought
troubling news about ice. Canada’s last
fully intact ice shelf has broken apart.
Tourists in Italy have been evacuated
as huge chunks of glacier ice threaten
to crash down in summer heat. Scien-
tists have reported that Greenland lost
the record-breaking equivalent of 1m
tonnes of ice a minute over 2019 and its
ice sheet has reached a worrying new
normal of sustained loss.
This matters. Melting glaciers and ice
sheets help to drive up global sea levels
and more than 600m people live in
coastal areas less than 10m above sea
level. Little in 21st century history sug-
gests the carbon emissions driving cli-
mate breakdown will ever fall fast. Yet
two developments this year threaten to
shake things up — Covid-19 and the
November US presidential election.
The juddering economic shock of the
pandemic means global fossil fuel
emissions will be at least 4 per cent
lower than they were last year,
researchers estimate. Emissions may
well bounce back as they did after the
last financial crisis in 2008-09. Yet
much has changed since that crisis, not
least the diverging fortunes of clean
and fossil-fuel energy.
Spending on renewable power will
outstrip oil and gas drilling for the first
time next year, Goldman Sachs ana-
lysts predict, a shift driven by widening
differences in the costs of capital. Bor-
rowing rates have risen to as much as
20 per cent for fossil fuel ventures com-
pared with as little as 3 per cent for
renewables. Meanwhile, the dangers of
a more extreme climate have grown
more visible — from devastating Aus-
tralian bushfires to evacuated Italians
— and public concern has grown.
In contrast to the last financial crisis,
public support for tackling climate
change has been undimmed by the
pandemic in some countries. Only 9
per cent of Britons are opposed to
Apple defies gravity in
the wake of pandemic
The technology pioneer has profited from the crisis but battles loom
Apple is a company whose best days
were meant to be behind it. Carl Icahn,
the activist investor, said it was the
kind of company that only comes along
twice in a century, but that did not stop
him selling all his shares four years
ago over concerns about its position in
China. Apple’s market value was then
less than $600bn. On Wednesday, its
market capitalisation hit $2tn — the
first non-state company to do so.
It is a significant milestone, made
even more so by the fact that the sec-
ond trillion — Apple became the
world’s first $1tn company in 2018 —
was added in just the past 21 weeks.
Much of this can be attributed to a fol-
lowing wind — investors have shown a
big appetite for the stock as economies
closed down due to coronavirus and
the world turned to technology to stay
connected. Along with Apple, other
Big Tech stocks such as Amazon and
Facebook have been winners in this
crisis and are the main reason the
S&P 500 index hit an all-time record on
Tuesday.
Mr Icahn, however, was right about
Apple’s special status. Its creations —
the Mac personal computer, the iPod,
iPhone and iPad and now the universe
of service businesses that sit alongside
— are consumer products as important
as Ford’s Model T car and television.
It is hard to overstate what it has
achieved with its iPhone, the device
that launched the mobile computing
revolution. It has consistently defied
the laws of the tech industry where pre-
mium products usually face a relent-
less erosion in profit margins as they
mature, and cheaper rivals eat into
their lead.
Apple has generally been able to pro-
duce ever more expensive versions of
its phone without seeing demand drop
— a remarkable feat given the powerful
technology rivals that are doing their
best to knock the iPhone off its perch.
stronger climate action while 62 per
cent are in favour, a think-tank survey
showed this month. Tellingly, more
than half agreed that “climate is like
the pandemic and that we need to take
action now”.
Some governments are therefore
heeding the International Energy
Agency’s warning that their Covid
recovery plans will “almost certainly”
decide if the world meets its climate
goals. Most green plans are in Europe,
but this could soon change.
Investors are already betting that
Donald Trump will lose the November
US presidential election to his Demo-
cratic rival, Joe Biden, who has a $2tn
green energy plan that he made a cen-
trepiece of his address to the Demo-
cratic party convention this week.
Shares in clean power companies have
soared as Mr Biden’s polling figures
have climbed. A Biden victory could
mean much more than a reversal of Mr
Trump’s ill-advised decision to pull the
US out of the Paris climate accord. Glo-
bal trade could be shaken too.
Mr Biden has vowed to impose car-
bon border taxes on imports from cli-
mate laggards, a measure the EU also
backs. A US-EU carbon club would in
theory pose a formidable threat. Using
the global trade system instead of the
UN to drive climate policy might even
jolt China, the country that more than
any other holds the key to the climate
crisis. Its emissions last year topped
those of the US, EU and Japan com-
bined and its pandemic recovery plans
are worrying.
Despite being a green energy power-
house, China is approving new coal-
fired power plants at the fastest rate
since 2015. This is unfortunate. China
and many other nations must do much
more. Yet, even if the record suggests
they will be hesitant, there is still rea-
son to think that, in this most unusual
of years, business as usual will not last.
Apple’s success in recent years
should also put paid to those who
doubted Tim Cook could match the
legacy of the visionary late Steve Jobs.
Mr Cook may not have come up with a
hit to match the iPhone, but he has
extended the mobile platform into
“wearables” and services, burnishing
the Apple brand and tying customers
to its technology more tightly. Apple’s
push into services now offers recurring
revenue from 550m paying users and
gives the company smoother earnings
and less dependence on the iPhone
upgrade cycle.
There are reasons to be cautious.
Apple’s price/earnings ratio, which at
nearly 35 is at its highest since 2007,
suggests the company’s valuation may
be stretched. Tighter regulation is on
the horizon amid heightened concerns
over Big Tech’s increasing dominance,
with some suggesting these companies
should be subject to the same regula-
tory burden as traditional public utili-
ties. It was noteworthy that in last
month’s evidence session to Congress,
four of the Big Tech chief executives,
including Mr Cook, found themselves
under attack from both sides of the
political divide. The company is also
under fire over its practice of taking a
30 per cent cut of app revenues. The
China challenge, too, looms large: it is a
big market for Apple, both in terms of
sales and as a manufacturing base. The
escalating trade war between China
and the US will hurt.
The $3tn question is, of course, what
next? Apple has managed to defy the
traditional arc of a pioneering business
— innovative products that generate
above-average returns until the leader
is inevitably pulled back to the rest of
the field.
The world would be a poorer place if
in the next decade Apple lost the flair
that has put it at the centre of the digital
lives of more than 1bn people.
FTWeekend
Letters
Black Lives Matter co-founder left me hungry for more details
I was disappointed by the recent Lunch
with the FT (Life & Arts, FT Weekend,
August 15) at which the Black Lives
Matter co-founder, Opal Tometi,
missed the opportunity to apprise your
paper’s worldwide audience of the
objectives of the BLM movement and
the manner in which it aims to realise
them.
She talked instead of the movement’s
“longstanding quest for justice”, but
was weak on specifics. When asked by
the interviewer and her virtual lunch
The war crimes victims
who are still denied justice
Alec Russell (Life & Arts, FT Weekend,
August 15) wrote that the overarching
conclusion of veteran foreign
correspondent Christina Lamb’s book
about women in war was that “for too
long mass rape has been treated as
something of a sideshow when set
against the destruction of a war”. That
is still very much the case. despite what
Mr Russell calls “the landmark in the
development of international justice
. . . with the recognition of rape as an
instrument of genocide in Rwanda”.
Filming an interview recently with
Roy Gutman, a veteran foreign
correspondent of many war zones, he
made the point that journalists need to
be trained to recognise war crimes and
crimes against humanity. Indeed, he
even co-wrote a book to help
journalists do just that.
In Syria, we know about horrific Isis
crimes against women, especially the
Yazidi. But despite the work done since
2011 by the UN Human Rights
Council’s Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on Syria, it was
only in March 2018 that it published its
first report on rape and sexual
violence.
Ronan Tynan
Esperanza Productions
Dublin, Ireland
The silver lining
of addiction
recovery online
Notebook
by Patti Waldmeir
companion, Patti Waldmeir, why the
increasing number of black elected
officials in many big US cities had not
translated into a decline in racial
inequalities, Ms Tometi could manage
only an incomplete reply. “You might
have representation on face value,” she
said. “But if we don’t change the actual
systems . . . ”.
Is she suggesting that the black
mayors have no power, and how
exactly are the “systems” to be
“changed”?
Big Tech is conquering
space, not human desires
Tim Bradshaw writes that “Silicon
Valley has given us the tools to conquer
space. But time is proving a tougher
adversary, even within the tech
companies themselves” (Magazine,
FT Weekend, August 15).
Shouldn’t we rather turn this
around? Technology has conquered
time by processing data and spinning it
around the globe at incredible speed. It
has, however, not much changed the
general human predicament of our
earthly biological existence.
Modern technologies are speeding up
information with the consequences for
the use of space. Whoever has seen the
server farms and the distribution
centres of internet retailers
understands that human desires have
spatial dimensions and the distribution
of consumer goods is done by people.
The delivery cyclists are all about
distance that is mastered by muscle
strength. For the new teleworkers since
the start of the pandemic, space at
home has become the new time at
home.
The irony of opening the hypothesis
with a place name will not have
remained unnoticed among Silicon
Valley denizens.
Tobias Flessenkemper
Düsseldorf, Germany
Addiction has blighted Donna Dibo’s
life. Until four years ago, she was
addicted to heroin. Now, in the midst
of a pandemic that risks pitching
millions more into substance abuse,
she is raising the six-month-old baby
of one drug-addicted family member
while struggling to find treatment for
another.
Still, Dibo — a 39-year-old welder
and mother of five in Youngstown,
Ohio — says the pandemic has been a
“blessing in disguise” for many
recovering addicts. From New York to
Naples, the number of online 12-step
recovery meetings has exploded, as a
glance at the websites of programmes
such as Alcoholics Anonymous and
Narcotics Anonymous shows: the list
of Zoom meetings goes on and on.
I’ve spent much of the past five
months searching for silver linings to
this pandemic, so Dibo’s is exactly the
kind of story I wanted to hear. As the
US begins its sixth month under the
cloud of coronavirus, addiction is
proving to be an epidemic at the heart
of a pandemic. Overdose rates have
risen sharply in many counties, reports
suggest, as isolation, anxiety,
joblessness — and stimulus cash —
have fed drug habits. Legal marijuana
sales have gone up too, which may be
good news for taxes, but the cost in
human terms has yet to be counted.
Lockdown has also meant that
many opioid addicts are sourcing
illicit drugs from unknown dealers or
are using alone — so no one is around
If you are not satisfied with the FT’s response to your complaint, you can appeal
to the FT Editorial Complaints Commissioner: complaints.commissioner@ft.com
She demands access to good quality
education. Yet why has BLM not
worked with the current US
administration to expand charter
schools, which have proven a blessing
to so many black students?
When she was pressed on defunding
the police, Ms Tometi talked vaguely of
shifting funds to social workers and
mental health professionals, despite
the fact that a recent Pew Research
Center poll found that only 42 per cent
of black American adults supported
Nostalgia for place where
Hitler reviewed his tanks
As someone assigned to a tank
battalion in the early 1970s that trained
at both Grafenwöhr and Vilseck, I was
disappointed to learn of the possible
withdrawal of US forces from the area
(“‘Something is ending’: German towns
braced for US military exit”, August 15).
However, local official Ali Zant is
incorrect when he says the area can
now “go back to forests and peace”.
Grafenwöhr was constructed as a small
training area during the first world war,
then grew exponentially in size with
the rise of the Third Reich. A rather tall
yellow tower (the local movie theatre
was called “The Tower” in my day) was
constructed so that Hitler could review
his armoured divisions. Grafenwöhr
and Vilseck are not remnants of a Nato
construction project but rather the
legacy of a military training facility
more than 100 years old.
Larry Davis
San Francisco, CA, US
Now that is the way
to do showbiz satire!
Readers the world over should heed
the FT’s sage advice; watch The Larry
Sanders Show (“BingeWatch: seminal
showbiz satire”, FT Weekend, August
15). Beyond living a life too short, it
to call an ambulance or administer the
opioid overdose antidote Naloxone
that could save their lives.
But that is not Dibo’s story: she
spent the pandemic attending two to
three recovery meetings per day,
compared with two per week before.
“The Covid, it’s either going to make
or break you,” she tells me by phone
as we chew over the conundrum that
some people have thrived during the
pandemic while others have withered.
She recalls fondly that she had time to
watch movies in bed with her three
daughters. “I couldn’t keep up with all
of the meetings during lockdown,” she
says. “I was able to glide through the
pandemic because of them.”
I’ve done volunteer work with
recovering addicts for more than a
decade, and many have told me that,
like Dibo, they have appreciated
having instant around-the-clock access
to what amounts to an online global
network of group therapy sessions.
Some recovering addicts and
alcoholics — even those clean for
decades — tell me they have doubled
or tripled their recovery meeting
attendance during the pandemic.
Many of these existed as physical
meetings before but now attract more
participants; some are entirely new.
Dibo is a graduate of Youngstown’s
“drug court”, where nonviolent
criminal offenders are able to avoid jail
by completing judicially supervised
substance-abuse rehabilitation.
Regular appearances in drug court are
22 August/23 August 2020
Email: letters.editor@ft.com
Include daytime telephone number and full address
Corrections: corrections@ft.com
cutting spending on police.
If anyone is still in doubt about the
movement’s objectives, Ms Tometi told
us that the best thing corporate and
white America could do is not throw
money at black activist organisations,
but “look at where they have power,
look at where they have privilege, and
be in deep commitment to
transforming that space”. What could
be clearer than that?
Richard Pearse
Bethesda, MD, US
was unfair that Garry Shandling’s
professional career slowed after this
pitch perfect piece. It’s a reminder of
Hollywood’s fickleness and the
unpredictable creative process.
Gray Schweitzer
Brooklyn, NY, US
Nice move, Mr Barden
I have enjoyed reading Leonard
Barden’s chess column on Saturdays
for many years now (“How did the
Georgian induce her opponent’s
resignation in just two moves?”, FT
Weekend, August 15). Since the Covid-
19 lockdown, it is the first thing I look
for in Life & Arts.
Of one puzzle this spring, he wrote it
had taken a grandmaster of his
acquaintance an hour to solve. It took
me a month for me to realise I could
sidle the king along twice, as the key to
the solution!
Since then I have happily defeated
Magnus Carlsen two or three times in
Mr Barden’s deftly curated
presentations (albeit it may take me
several days, whereas the current
world chess champion might have had
10 seconds on his clock). I wanted to
thank Mr Barden for the joy he has
given. So Happy Birthday to you, sir!
(Leonard Barden was 91 on Thursday).
Hume Vance
Somerville, MA, US
required but during the pandemic
those happened by Zoom too, says
drug court co-ordinator Amy Klumpp.
“The judge was in a T-shirt in his
basement and he grew a beard during
the pandemic,” she chortles.
Dan Pew, Youngstown drug court
graduate and former heroin addict, is
one of many I’ve spoken to who say the
pandemic has made them grateful to
be recovering addicts. “I’ve connected
with way more people by seeing them
on Zoom meetings,” he says. “This
whole thing has been so double-edged,
it’s great and it’s also horrible.”
His experience of working at a local
rehab facility has led him to believe
that even the $1,200 federal pandemic
stimulus cheques and the $600-a-week
federal unemployment benefits, which
funded many a drug purchase early in
the pandemic, may ultimately have
aided some addicts to hit bottom and
seek help. He saw many relapse during
the pandemic but he also saw some
turn up for detox afterwards.
Now, as many areas reopen for
business, the recovering addicts of the
world are starting to go back to in-
person meetings. But this can no
longer mean hugging and hand-
holding and all the other touchy-feely
aspects of 12-step recovery. Like so
many other things, addiction recovery
may never be the same again. But
with this boom in online recovery
groups, maybe it will be better.
patti.waldmeir@ft.com
22 August/23 August 2020
finance
John
Plender
B
ritain’s Marks and Spencer,
which announced 7,000 job
cuts this week, has been busy
closing stores, as have count-
less other retailers. On both
sides of the Atlantic, hallowed retail
names such as Brooks Brothers, Neiman
Marcus and Debenhams have also fallen
into bankruptcy. Many corporate giants
around the world meanwhile plan to
rationalise office use with a balance of
working at home and hot desking at the
office. Rent arrears are in the billions. In
short, a toxic combination of coronavi-
rus and soaring online sales, the so-
called Amazon effect, have rocked the
commercial property market.
Since property collapses frequently
Person in the News | Louis DeJoy
The postmaster general
with deep pockets
Republican donor is
accused by Democrats of
abetting the president’s
war on voting by mail,
writes Courtney Weaver
W
hen Louis DeJoy was
offered the job of US
postmaster-general, the
Republican fundraiser
from North Carolina
turned to friends for advice.
He “didn’t particularly want” the job,
recalls one of them, Jim Melvin, a
former mayor of Mr DeJoy’s hometown
of Greensboro. But he thought it was one
he could do well at, given his expertise
as a logistics executive. Another, former
North Carolina governor Pat McCrory,
says he encouraged his friend to accept
the position, but “warned him he would
probably catch a lot of heat”. That
turned out to be an understatement.
Since his appointment in June, the 63-
year-old has felt that heat increase from
a simmer to a boil. As President Donald
Trump decries “catastrophic” postal
voting as being rife with fraud and
favouring Democrats, Democratic law-
makers warn that Mr DeJoy, a major
Trump donor, seems to be doing the
president’s bidding by making it harder
for Americans to vote by mail.
Those concerns were exacerbated by
the US Postal Service’s warning last
week that mail-in ballots might not
arrive in time to be counted for the
November presidential election. A cost-
cutting strategy pushed by Mr
DeJoy, which has included reducing the
number of sorting machines and mail-
Covid-crippled property market rings alarms at banks
lead to banking crises, this should ring
alarm bells. Have central banks and
financial watchdogs underestimated
the threat posed by collapsing real
estate prices to the financial system?
Assessing the extent of the damage in
commercial property is tricky because
the market is by its nature opaque, and
valuations are slow to reflect falling
prices when markets plunge. That said,
quoted real estate investment trusts, or
Reits, provide a useful guide.
The Bank for International Settle-
ments, the central bankers’ bank, calcu-
lates that in the US, UK, continental
Europe and Japan the Covid-19 shock
has wiped out Reits’ cumulative valua-
tion gains of the past five years. By com-
parison, stock market indices at the
depth of the crisis in early March lost
only the gains they had made in 2019.
Reits have also lagged behind the stock
market recovery that began in April.
Property deals are being called off.
Property companies are also scrambling
to raise money in bond markets and tap
unused bank facilities. In the view of one
boxes and cutting staff overtime, had
been leading to mail delays.
This week, after days of protests out-
side his homes in Washington DC and
Greensboro and calls for his resignation,
Mr DeJoy attempted a U-turn. He
announced the cost cutting would be
postponed until after the election “to
avoid even the appearance of any
impact on election mail”.
Most of his critics remain unsatisfied.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Demo-
crat, said Mr DeJoy had “admitted” to
her that he did not plan to replace the
mailboxes and sorting machines that
have been removed, or put in place
plans to allow workers more overtime.
Others worry the postal service’s board
of governors will do little to curb the
changes — four of the six men who cur-
rently sit on its board, all Trump
appointees, have donated to the Repub-
lican party and Republican candidates.
For some, Mr DeJoy has become a
symbol of the excesses and cronyism of
the Trump administration: a deep-
pocketed donor who has been elevated
to the head of a 220-year-old institution
of 630,000 people, despite no previous
experience in the postal service.
“Laws exist to ensure that the govern-
ment pursues the national interest —
not the personal political interests of the
president,” said Noah Bookbinder, exec-
utive director of the non-profit Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Wash-
ington, which filed a criminal complaint
against Mr DeJoy on Thursday.
For Mr DeJoy’s supporters, however,
the furore is yet another example of
Trump critics ascribing sinister motives
to normal bureaucratic procedures and
maligning anyone who is seen as being
close to the president.
★ FTWeekend
Opinion
seasoned property expert, innumerable
properties in the US and UK are now
worth less than the debt that was used to
finance their purchase. At the same
time, delinquencies in the commercial
mortgage-backed securities market,
which is mainly centred in the US, are
escalating. Credit rating agencies expect
overall delinquency rates to approach
the same levels that were reached in the
2008 financial crisis towards the end of
the year.
None of this is pretty. Yet there are
good grounds to believe it does not augur
a system-wide threat to financial stabil-
ity. To start with, property crises that
have proved lethal in the past were due to
extreme credit cycles in which the mar-
ket acted as a residual sink for surplus
liquidity. Such cycles create an excess
supply of new developments, causing
prices to plunge. This was the back-
ground to the 2008 subprime crisis, as
well as the late 1980s to early 1990s prop-
erty crises in the US, Europe and Japan,
and the mid-1970s crisis in the UK.
Today, there is less evidence of an
On Friday, Mr DeJoy appeared at a
Senate hearing on Capitol Hill where he
was grilled on the policy changes he has
made at the service, his own position on
mail-in voting and his relationship with
the president and other members of the
administration. On Monday, he will be
in the hot seat again for a hearing in
front of the House of Representatives.
Born in Brooklyn, Mr DeJoy gradu-
ated from Stetson University and
worked as a certified public accountant
in Florida before moving back north
and taking over his father’s small truck-
ing business. Between 1983 and 2014, he
turned the company, New Breed Logis-
tics, into a 7,000-person organisation
with clients ranging from his current
For some, he has become
a symbol of the excesses
and cronyism of the
Trump administration
employer to Verizon, Disney, PepsiCo
and Boeing. In 2014, he sold it to a com-
petitor, XPO Logistics, for $615m.
Along the way he moved the company
to Greensboro, where he and his wife
Aldona Wos, a doctor, became active in
philanthropy and fundraising. Ms Wos
served as George W Bush’s ambassador
to Estonia and, later, as North Carolina’s
health and human services secretary.
The couple has two children.
In the lead-up to the 2016 election Mr
DeJoy emerged as one of the few Repub-
lican donors who was “pretty support-
ive” of Mr Trump, a fellow donor said.
After that, he “steadily moved up the
ranks”, becoming a familiar presence at
imbalance of supply and demand. In the
City of London office market, usually an
excellent barometer of excessive risk
taking, oversupply is not an obvious
problem. Much of the space being built
is under offer or pre-let. The same is
true across most of the developed world.
As for the structural challenge posed
by more working at home, Mike Prew, a
The real estate sector
is a victim of the
virus, debt and
technological change
Jefferies analyst who highlighted retail
property’s problems at an early stage,
argues that Zoom will not do to offices
what Amazon has done to shopping
centres. In the post-coronavirus world,
he foresees softer office rents and
a shakeout in which the losers are
older tall buildings with small lifts and
creaking ventilation systems. This is
FT montage/Getty Images
the Republican National Committee’s
donor retreats, and hosting Mr Trump
for a fundraiser at his Greensboro home,
a 15,000-square-foot mansion nick-
named “the Castle”.
Since 2016, Mr DeJoy has donated
$1.2m to the Trump campaign and more
than $1.3m to the Republican party. He
served as the finance chairman for next
week’s now mostly virtual Republican
convention in Charlotte, North Caro-
lina. Ms Wos has been nominated by Mr
Trump to be ambassador to Canada.
People who know Mr DeJoy describe
him as a straight-talker, less colourful
than some of the more flamboyant
types that dominate the Trump fund-
raising world. “He’s not a backslapper,”
the Republican donor said. “He’s not
one of these overly effervescent smiley
types, but he gets the job done and is col-
legial without being overly bullshit-y.”
Such qualities will be useful as com-
plaints pile up about the delayed deliv-
ery of prescriptions and other vital
postal items in some parts of the coun-
try. The post office’s inspector-general is
examining Mr DeJoy’s policy changes
and compliance with federal ethics laws.
The stake of at least $30m he is reported
to still own in XPO — a USPS contractor
— is also being examined as a potential
conflict of interest.
On Friday, Mr DeJoy seemed unfazed
by the heat, fiercely defending his cuts,
which he said were critical to the long-
term survival of the service. He dis-
missed the accusations of political inter-
ference, adding that the postal service is
“very committed . . . to having a suc-
cessful election . . . the insinuation is
quite frankly outrageous”.
courtney.weaver@ft.com
hardly the stuff of financial catastrophe.
In the meantime, agents LaSalle point
out that across Europe prime office yields
— rental income expressed as a percent-
age of the property’s capital value — have
been relatively stable. The retail sector is
where yields have risen and prices have
fallen most conspicuously.
Yet even in retail, coronavirus has
simply accelerated the pre-existing shift
from bricks and mortar to ecommerce
and technology — as embodied in
Apple’s $2tn market capitalisation this
week. Also striking is that residential
property has been buoyant in the US
despite Covid-19, and also in the UK
where the government has helped with
temporary stamp duty exemption. This
is in marked contrast to 2008.
The key remaining question is
whether banks have sufficient capital to
cope with both a high level of corporate
defaults and distressed property prices.
In fact, their capital has been substan-
tially increased since the last crisis on
the basis of regular stress testing by cen-
tral banks. The severity of these tests
Adult children are taxing
the generosity of parents
society
Camilla
Cavendish
F
amilies have been stretched
into strange shapes these past
few months. Parents have wel-
comed back adult children in
lockdown; kids have missed
granny; singletons have forged “pods”
with random housemates, wishing for
that most unfashionable thing — the
nuclear family.
Even before Covid-19, multigenera-
tional living was on the rise in many
countries, such as the US and UK. Now, a
landmark ruling by Italy’s Supreme
Court has exposed the extraordinary
extent to which some Italians have been
clinging on to mamma, her lasagne and
her washing machine, into their thirties
and forties.
The case concerned a 35-year-old
man who has spent the past five years
suing his parents for money to supple-
ment his job as a part-time musician.
Lower courts had forced his parents to
pay maintenance, and backed his claim
that he could not be expected to take
work beneath his talents. In a blow for
common sense, a female judge has told
him to grow up. She ruled that he should
“reduce his adolescent ambitions”, and
that his parents should not be expected
to take whatever work was going just so
that he didn’t have to compromise.
The ruling is a watershed for a coun-
try that has seen hundreds of thousands
of such cases, and in which two-thirds of
adult children between 18 and 34 still
live at home. Four years ago, a middle-
aged father was ordered to keep paying
for the education of his 28-year-old son
who had dallied over a degree in litera-
ture and then enrolled on a course in
experimental film. The court ruled that
the father must pay for the film course
because it was in line with the son’s “per-
sonal aspirations”.
Where does this sense of entitlement
come from? In the days when every gen-
eration did better than the one before,
there might have been an argument that
the young should have the luxury of
finding themselves. But to make this a
right to parental support is absurd.
Some families have been willing co-
conspirators in dependency: one friend
in Florence attended a recent wedding
where the mother-in-law cut the cake
with the bride and groom. But we should
think twice about remaining centre
stage in our kids’ lives. The Italian Asso-
ciation of Matrimonial Lawyers says one
in three divorce claims are related to the
financial support of adult children.
The coddling of the group dubbed
“bamboccioni”, big babies who are reluc-
tant to leave home, may seem hilarious.
But Italy is also an extreme example of
the diminished financial prospects of
younger generations. The Bank of Mum
and Dad is working overtime in many
countries: and not always on a voluntary
Top reads at FT.com/opinion
3 Bidenomics and the appeal of America’s
new New Deal
Republicans have forgotten it is better to
have a plan than none, writes Edward Luce
9
has varied, being conspicuously less
stressful in continental Europe than in
the US and UK. But even if authorities
do underestimate the damage that fall-
ing property prices could inflict, a size-
able buffer exists; the monetary and
fiscal policy response to Covid-19 also
appears to have put a floor under asset
prices. Panic selling was restricted to a
short period around March.
So a banking crisis, while not incon-
ceivable, does not feel imminent. The
underlying problem in property may
best be seen as an extension of the cor-
porate sector’s wider problem with
excessive debt. After scrambling this
year to raise funds to cope with the
rental shortfall, property companies
remain vulnerable to interest rate or
earnings shocks.
The villain of the story, then, is the
virus and the subsequent lockdown of
economies in response. Rather than a
saboteur, the real estate sector is just
another victim.
john.plender@ft.com
basis. I recently met a British father who
had put down a hefty deposit on a flat for
his two “boomerang” daughters, after
repeatedly coming home from work to
find their live-in boyfriends had drunk
all his beer. Having initially embraced
them after university, he was now brib-
ing them to leave.
So the fact that Bomad is the UK’s
tenth biggest mortgage lender is not as
heart-warming as it may appear. It’s an
elegant way to say arrivederci.
Nations that have failed to stem youth
unemployment, or curb generational
wealth gaps, have also brought this upon
themselves. Student debt is a major fac-
tor in the decision not to fly the nest,
with almost half of young millennials in
America last year saying they planned
to return home after college. But there
seems to be a weakening of the drive for
independence. One survey of American
millennials found that the age at which
they regard it as embarrassing to live
with one’s parents is 28. That’s 10 years
older than I was when my divorcing par-
ents told me I had to stand on my own
two feet.
All this suggests that our concept of
adolescence is out of date. Far from the
traditional five-year window spanned
by the “teens”, some academics argue
that the period of growing from child to
adult should be redefined as running
from the age of 10, when some girls hit
puberty, to 24, the average age of leaving
home in Australia, the US and UK.
Indeed, this fits with longer education
spans, and uncertain job markets.
Bank of Mum and Dad is
working overtime in many
countries — and not always
on a voluntary basis
Paradoxically, one side-effect of Ital-
ian coddling has been to undermine the
family. With so many adult offspring
hanging on to the apron strings, Italy
now has one of the lowest birth rates in
the world.
Just at the moment when it feels as
though family is resurgent, it could be
sowing the seeds of its own collapse. In
2019, 28 per cent of Italy’s 20- to 34-
year-olds were not in education,
employment or training — the highest
proportion in the EU. Unless this is
fixed, the young will not carry the bur-
den of an ageing population.
There are many good things to be said
for la famiglia. The conventional family
unit is often derided. But since the crisis,
families have been quietly and stolidly
making up for failures of welfare states.
While academics point to the risk that
older generations will sit on their grow-
ing relative wealth, many couples have
been shovelling their love, pension
money and housing wealth towards the
young. That’s as it should be: just as long
as the young don’t take it for granted.
The writer is a senior fellow at Harvard
University and advises the UK Department
of Health and Social Care
3 Uber ruling shows the gig economy is
running out of road
It is unreal to charge less for services than
they cost to supply, writes Sarah O’Connor
10
K-shaped rally Big tech groups are thriving
but what about the rest? — MARKETS, PAGE 13
Chief pick for Oslo’s $1tn oil
fund hits fresh political hurdle
3 Parties in united push on Tangen 3 Potential conflicts required to be tackled
Nicolai Tangen, right, with Norwegian central bank governor Oystein Olsen, who told him he was permitted to keep a 43% stake in AKO — Hakon Mosvold Larsen/Reuters
Richard Milne — Oslo
The future of Nicolai Tangen as the next
head of Norway’s $1tn oil fund was
thrown into doubt yesterday as the
country’s political parties united to
insist he could not take on the role
unless he eliminated potential conflicts
of interest relating to his ownership of a
stake in a hedge fund.
After months of drama, all nine par-
ties laid down two requirements for Mr
Tangen to take over on September 1:
that he have no investments or holdings
that appear to create conflicts of interest
that “weaken the trust and reputation”
of Norway’s central bank, or that could
weaken the oil fund’s work on tax and
transparency.
The demands raise questions not just
about the future of Mr Tangen, but also
Norway’s central bank governor Oys-
tein Olsen, who announced the appoint-
ment of the founder of London-based
AKO Capital as head of the largest sover-
eign wealth fund in March.
Sales soar at Home Depot and
Lowe’s as households press on
with repairs and maintenance
Alistair Gray — NEW YORK
Lawnmowers priced at $3,000 are atyp-
ical best-sellers in recessions. But sales
of the Ariens Ikon XD, featuring 20-inch
tyres, a V-twin Kawasaki engine and
ergonomic plush seat, have surged in
the US during the pandemic.
While other industries grapple with a
shaky economy, the home improve-
ment business is booming. Home Depot
and Lowe’s this week reported histori-
cally large rises in quarterly revenues as
housebound Americans spend billions
of dollars more than usual at the two
go-to chains for DIY.
“Most of us are forced to spend more
time at home than we ever have in our
lifetimes,” said Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s
chief executive, presenting a 34 per cent
jump in like-for-like sales. Customers
had been “finding projects around the
house” that they either “hadn’t had a
chance to get to” or “just didn’t notice”
before lockdown.
Craig Menear, chairman and chief
executive of Home Depot, said the pan-
demic had meant “the home has never
Mr Tangen was told by Mr Olsen that
he was permitted to keep a 43 per cent
stake in AKO.
Norwegian politicians on all sides
have criticised this decision. There has
also been concern because many funds
in AKO are based in the Cayman Islands.
Norway and the oil fund have worked
hard to minimise the use of tax havens.
Observers have suggested there are
two possible next steps: either Mr Tan-
gen resigns, or he sells out of AKO.
Mr Tangen declined to comment
yesterday.
The executive board of Norway’s cen-
tral bank and Mr Tangen will meet on
Monday afternoon to discuss whether
they can find a solution.
Jan Tore Sanner, Norway’s centre-
right finance minister who met Mr
Olsen last night, said: “This is a serious
matter that could affect the reputation
and the trust in Norges Bank. All institu-
tions are dependent on trust and credi-
bility, Norges Bank maybe more than
others.”
US duopoly rides the lockdown boom in DIY projects
been more important to the customer”.
Extra time inside also caused more wear
and tear, he noted, increasing the need
for repair and maintenance.
Together, the two companies, which
between them operate almost 4,300
stores, produced $65.4bn in net sales in
the three months to the end of July —
$13.5bn more than the same period a
year ago.
As well as undertaking upgrades, con-
sumers were also repurposing parts of
their homes for work and study, said
Robert Dietz, chief economist at the
National Association of Home Builders.
“There’s been under-investment” in
houses for years, he said. “We’re playing
catch-up.”
Shoppers are splashing out on their
homes in part because they are spend-
ing less elsewhere. The public health cri-
sis has made more Americans unwilling
or unable to eat out or go on holiday,
while demand for clothing has dropped.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of
Moody’s Analytics, said home upgrades
were another sign of a “bifurcated econ-
omy”.
“If you work in industries like discre-
tionary retail, leisure and hospitality, it’s
cataclysmic. But if you’re in other parts
of the economy, you’ve still got a job and
been saving cash. You’re also probably a
little nervous about the equity market,
★ FTWeekend
Government lawyers told Mr Sanner
yesterday morning that he could tell
Norway’s central bank what to do
regarding the appointment of its next
chief executive.
The storm around the appointment is
the biggest challenge to the oil fund’s
reputation in its 24-year history. It has
raised concerns about the independ-
‘We cannot have an
oil fund chief executive
who is a walking
conflict of interest’
ence of Norway’s central bank — which
houses the fund and appoints its chief
executive — as well as potential political
interference in the wealth fund.
Politicians of both the left and right
have argued that trust in both the fund
and the central bank would be critically
weakened if Mr Tangen’s apparent con-
flicts of interest were not addressed.
Retail. Hardware
so housing feels like a pretty good place
to put your money.”
The median US existing-home price
breached $300,000 in July, according to
data published yesterday by the
National Association of Realtors, up 8.5
per cent year on year.
Americans were keen to increase the
“kerb appeal” of their property espe-
cially if they planned to put it on the
market, said Craig Johnson, president of
the Customer Growth Partners consul-
tancy.
At Home Depot, not only did transac-
Americans are spending billions of dollars more on DIY — Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
Capitalism reset US big business struggles
to win over the doubters — ANALYSIS, PAGE 12
“We cannot have an oil fund chief
executive who is a walking conflict of
interest,” said Kari Elisabeth Kaski of
the Socialist Left party.
Mr Olsen said that Mr Tangen
retained “a very strong motivation” to
take the job but declined to comment on
possible solutions other than to say
Norges Bank wanted to “contribute” to
resolving the affair.
He also noted that Norges Bank and
Mr Tangen had signed an employment
contract in May which the central bank
had stated “for all practical purposes”
eliminated the risk of a conflict.
Mr Tangen has said that taking over at
the oil fund is a “dream job”, even
though it will cost him up to NKr70m
($8m) in wealth tax to move back to
Norway, while his annual salary will
only be NKr6.7m.
Critics have asked why Mr Tangen
does not sell his stake or transfer it to the
AKO Foundation, a charitable institu-
tion he set up.
The Top Line page 11
tion volumes increase 12 per cent in the
second quarter but average spending
per customer also rose 10 per cent. Con-
sumers were “trading up” to more
expensive supplies, the Atlanta-based
company said, including stain-resistant
carpets and pressure-treated lumber.
Patio furniture and ride-on lawn-
mowers were among the “big-
ticket”items that were selling particu-
larly well, according to Home Depot.
Yet the renewed popularity of home
improvement is not confined to the sub-
urbs. Lowe’s said demand was robust
Delivery Hero’s Asia plan
draws fire from Seoul
Edward White — Wellington
Song Jung-a — Seoul
Delivery Hero is planning to use the
$4bn acquisition of a South Korean
food delivery start-up as a platform to
take on the country’s biggest ecom-
merce retailer Coupang as the German
group seeks to expand in Asia.
Berlin-based Delivery Hero wants to
take over Woowa Brothers — the com-
pany behind Baemin, South Korea’s
most popular food delivery app — in
what would be one of the country’s big-
gest acquisitions involving a tech group.
But the deal has drawn opposition in
Seoul from smaller delivery operators
and some ruling party politicians. If it is
successful, Delivery Hero, which
already owns Yogiyo, Baemin’s main
rival, would control about 90 per cent of
the online food delivery market.
Niklas Ostberg, Delivery Hero’s chief
executive, sought to allay antitrust con-
cerns, saying in an interview with the
Financial Times that the deal would
mean greater competition in the ecom-
merce market for Coupang, which is
backed by Japan’s SoftBank and consid-
ered the Amazon of South Korea.
“I think this is great for consumers —
essentially we are creating another com-
Travel & leisure
US investors seal €152m deal
to acquire Williams F1 team
Murad Ahmed and Samuel Agini
London
Williams, the Formula One motor
racing team, has been acquired by US
investment group Dorilton Capital in a
€152m deal that secures the British
outfit’s future in the sport.
The last family-owned business in the
global racing series, which was founded
by Frank Williams in 1977 and run in
recent years by his daughter Claire, put
itself up for sale last month.
The decision was a concession that
Williams could no longer remain
independent while competing against
better-funded teams such as Mercedes,
Ferrari and Red Bull.
Yesterday, Williams announced the
sale to New York-based Dorilton Capi-
tal, an investor in industrial and health-
care companies, in a deal that values the
team at €152m, including debt.
The team will continue to compete
under the Williams brand and retain its
UK headquarters and leadership.
“As a family we have always put our
team first,” said Ms Williams, the team’s
deputy team principal.
across the country and sales in urban
areas were stronger than in rural mar-
kets.
Competitors’ difficulties have also
helped. Whereas other retailers were
forced to close during lockdown, Lowe’s
and Home Depot were allowed to stay
open because some of their merchan-
dise, such as electrical gear and water
heaters, make them lifelines in emer-
gencies.
“It’s difficult for a company our size to
grow comparable sales by 35 per cent
without having some significant market
share gain,” Mr Ellison said. Shoppers
were consolidating the number of retail-
ers they visit, added Mr Menear, picking
up more items on a single trip.
While DIY was booming, executives
said consumers were more reluctant to
undertake bigger projects that required
professional installation. “In some
cases, they’re still a little apprehensive
to allow contractors in their home,” said
Mr Ellison. Lowe’s sales rose even more
in the quarter than Home Depot, which
is more reliant on tradesmen.
With the stocks at or near record
highs, Wall Street is trying to gauge how
long both companies can sustain the
momentum, especially as a boost from
Washington’s financial relief to house-
holds begins to fade. The US govern-
ment sent stimulus cheques of up to
22 August/23 August 2020
petitor to Coupang, making sure we
deliver faster than Coupang, which will
force Coupang to deliver faster . . . We
started already with groceries, but we
want to go broader than that, to expand
to anything that can be delivered
quickly,” Mr Ostberg said.
The Korean Fair Trade Commission,
which is assessing the deal, declined to
comment.
The decision facing the KFTC under-
scores the challenging landscape for reg-
ulators as they grapple with local tech-
nological disruption creating new
monopolies and the rising dominance of
US and Chinese tech groups such as
Google, Amazon, Alibaba and Tencent.
Analysts expect the acquisition to be
approved this year but with strict condi-
tions to ensure fair competition.
Park Ju-geun, head of Seoul-based
research group CEO Score, said the reg-
ulator’s decision had been delayed
because the deal had become a thorny
political issue.
The Woowa Brothers acquisition is
important for Delivery Hero as it tries to
leverage the South Korean group to help
boost its footing elsewhere in Asia,
where the company is taking on groups
such as SoftBank-backed Grab and Uber
Eats, as well as Indonesia’s Gojek.
“Making the team successful again
and protecting our people has been at
the heart of this process from the start.
This may be the end of an era for
Williams as a family-owned team, but
we know it is in good hands.”
Matthew Savage, Dorilton Capital
chairman, and Darren Fultz, chief exec-
utive, co-founded their investment firm
in 2009 after previously working as
executives at Rothschild.
Mr Savage said its “patient invest-
ment style” would “allow the [Williams]
team to focus on its objective of return-
ing to the front of the grid”.
The sale comes just a day after For-
mula One agreed a pact, called the Con-
corde Agreement, which ties teams to
the competition for the next five years.
Chase Carey, F1 chief executive, said
the deal would distribute a $1bn pot
derived from television rights, pro-
moter fees and advertising revenues
more fairly among the teams ensuring
more even competition.
However, Williams has decided it
needs further financial support to
return to its historic position as one of
the most successful outfits in F1.
$1,200 to Americans this year, yet Con-
gress is deadlocked over a new round of
support.
Both Lowe’s and Home Depot said the
environment remained highly uncer-
tain and declined to provide financial
guidance for the full year.
For now, there is little sign demand is
falling back to more normal levels.
Home Depot said comparable sales in
the first two weeks of August rose year-
on-year at a similar rate to the second
quarter.
Mr Johnson argued the home
improvement trend had room to run.
Residential fixed investment was less
than 4 per cent in the second quarter
compared with 6 per cent in the boom of
2005, according to data from the Bureau
of Economic Analysis.
Executives are hopeful habits formed
during lockdown will last.
Ted Decker, executive vice-president
of merchandising at Home Depot, said
there had been “questions for years”
about whether DIY would ever be as
popular among millennials and Genera-
tion Xers as it was among baby boomers.
“All generations are engaging,” he said.
“We like the longer-term implications of
this.
“When you start with that first DIY
project . . . you gain confidence and you
take on the next one.”
22 August/23 August 2020
Political knots bind
sovereign funds as
they seek returns
The Top Line
Arash
Massoudi
Raiders who ambushed Wall St brush off slings and arrows
Corporate
person in
the news
Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev
Co-founders, Robinhood
Baiju Bhatt was walking barefoot
around Palo Alto in 2013 when he
realised his new company Robinhood
was on the verge of bankruptcy.
After a meeting with venture
capitalist Tim Draper — sealed by a
promise along with his co-founder,
Vlad Tenev, to forgo a salary — the
start-up was saved.
“I began riding my bike to work
and went to Whole Foods and bought
a bunch of rice and beans, went into
hibernation mode and it was one of
the most creative moments of my
life,” Mr Bhatt said in 2018. “I just
stopped caring if I failed.”
These days Mr Bhatt and Mr Tenev
have little reason to worry about
money. Since founding Robinhood,
the former Stanford University
roommates have built the business
into a discount brokerage valued at
$11.2bn after a funding round
announced this week.
The platform’s value has risen
almost 50 per cent since before the
pandemic as the boom in retail
investing this year thrusts the
company and its founders into the
spotlight.
That is despite a crushing setback
in February and March when the
company’s technology seized up, with
a series of outages stranding users
from the markets during some of the
most volatile days of trading since the
financial crisis.
Angry customers blasted the
company online and overwhelmed its
support facilities, while lawsuits
quickly emerged aiming to recoup
losses — a boon to established rivals
Under the hood Bankruptcy ‘a growth industry’ in US amid mounting distress
Even as bourses hit record highs, large filings are running at a record pace and are on course to surpass levels reached in the financial crisis
US equity markets might be
breaching record highs, but the
state of corporate distress in the
country has never been worse.
Large US corporate bankruptcy
filings are running at a record pace
and are set to surpass levels
reached during the financial crisis.
As of August 17, a record
45 companies each with assets of
more than $1bn have filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to
BankruptcyData.com of analytics
group New Generation Research.
This compares with 38 for the
same period of 2009, and is more
than double last year’s figure of
18 over the comparable period.
The numbers only account for
lead case bankruptcy filings, which
exclude the filings of major
corporate subsidiaries and may
differ from bankruptcy statistics
elsewhere.
In total, 157 companies with
liabilities of more than $50m have
filed for Chapter 11 this year.
Corporate defaults have been led
by oil & gas companies this year as
low crude prices have crippled
many businesses. There have been
33 filings to date. There were only
14 last year.
Retail businesses with assets of
more than $50m have also been
severely affected as 24 have filed
for bankruptcy, a threefold jump on
2019 figures.
“It pains me to say this, but
bankruptcy is a growth industry in
America,” said Ben Schlafman, chief
operating officer at New Generation
Research. James Fontanella-Khan
and Patrick Mathurin
★ FTWeekend
COMPANIES. WEEK IN REVIEW
Nicolai Tangen and Yasir al-Rumayyan
have had tricky summers for different
reasons. Mr Tangen, a successful hedge
fund manager in London, is hoping to
take over as head of Norway’s $1tn
sovereign wealth fund. But a big
political row has broken out over his
alleged conflicts of interest.
Mr Rumayyan, who runs Saudi
Arabia’s $300bn fund, walked away
from a deal to buy Newcastle United
football club from the British retail
tycoon Mike Ashley after struggling to
win approval from the Premier League.
It turns out that years of brazen Saudi
pirating of televised football was not
the way to win hearts and minds.
Both men’s experiences have a
common thread. While state-run funds
are becoming more influential,
managing them is complex.
That will always be the case where
statecraft is mixed with money
management but it adds a massive
‘The such as Charles Schwab and ETrade
that Robinhood has tried to displace.
company is But the incident is now a fading
worth memory. Customers are flocking to
the platform — 3m in the first quarter,
$11.2bn — it’s bringing its user base to 13m.
not a charity, Robinhood has become synonymous
with the boom in retail investing that
that’s for has drawn millions of people to the
sure’ markets — many for the first time —
to join the roaring rally that began in
March and this week pushed the S&P
500 to an all-time high.
As a student Mr Tenev was “bright
and extremely interested” but also
“slightly disorganised”, with bursts of
progress punctuated by distractions,
according to Larry Guth, a maths
professor at MIT who taught him at
Stanford.
Mr Bhatt was a maths whizz but was
also known as a “music expert and an
incredible band leader as part of a
group called The Institute for the
Advancement of Funk and Soul”, said
Josh Constine, an investor at venture
Covid-19 triggers a record wave of US corporate bankruptcies
Cumulative count of US companies with $1bn
or more in liabilities filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
50
2020
40
30
20
10
0 $50m–<$100m
1 10 20 30
Week
Data only account for lead case bankruptcy filings, which exclude the filings of major corporate subsidiaries. 2020 to Aug 17
headache to what is ostensibly their
day job: generating returns, which is
difficult enough even for investors who
don’t have to worry about politics.
From risk-hungry gurus such as
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son to more
conservative ones such as Berkshire
Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, some of
the biggest names in finance this week
gave a glimpse of how their portfolios
have changed from earlier this year.
SoftBank revealed that it had begun
pouring its spare cash into shares in
Amazon, Google and Netflix, following
the investing herd. As the S&P 500 hit
a record high, Mr Buffett’s Berkshire
offloaded some of its bank stakes and
bought shares in a gold miner.
Although they have the same
pressures of juggling high politics and
big money, the Norwegian and Saudi
wealth fund approaches to investing
could not be more different.
The Norwegian fund largely eschews
capital firm SignalFire and friend to
both founders.
The group’s surging value has
confirmed the co-chief executives’
super-rich status, with each reported
to hold stakes in the company worth
more than $1bn. The pair have said
they took inspiration from the Occupy
Wall Street protests, which they
attended while working in New York in
2012. Robinhood often states its aim is
to “democratise finance” by reducing
the cost of accessing the markets.
“We didn’t build Robinhood to make
the rich people richer,” Mr Bhatt told
the FT in 2016. “The mission is to help
the everyman, the rest of us.”
Robinhood makes most of its money
by selling users’ orders to market
makers including Citadel Securities, a
Wall Street titan majority-owned by
billionaire hedge fund manager Ken
Griffin. Citadel makes money on the
difference between the price to buy
and sell the stocks and options, known
as the spread.
2009
2002
Other
years
from
2003
40 50
Source: BankruptcyData.com
active management for something that
looks a lot like an index approach.
Thanks to a market rebound from the
panic drop in the first quarter, the fund
recovered from its worst quarter on
record to report its second-best ever.
But the fund’s leadership added to
the chorus of voices that have warned
of a disconnect between financial
markets and the real economy. It owns,
on average, more than 1 per cent of
every listed company and is very aware
of how damaging a huge market
correction would be to its performance.
Navigating that risk could soon fall
to Mr Tangen, who has built AKO
Capital into an equity hedge fund with
$20bn in assets. If he survives the row
over his appointment, changes in
strategy will be closely scrutinised.
The Saudi fund, meanwhile, is a
relative newcomer to the markets. As
coronavirus fears gripped markets in
March, the PIF took the rare step of
Robinhood co-founders Vlad
Tenev, left, and Baiju Bhatt have
been accused of sleeping with the
Wall Street enemy — Ben Margot/AP
“They’re sleeping with the enemy in
some respects,” said one Wall Street
executive who has often dealt with the
pair. “There is a little bit of an
oxymoron by calling it Robinhood . . .
The company is worth $11.2bn — it’s
not a charity, that’s for sure.”
Jan Hammer, a partner at Index
Ventures who led the group’s first
funding rounds and is a Robinhood
board member, was attracted by the
pair’s idea to target young financial
novices. They wanted to reach a “new
group of people who haven’t engaged
much with financial products or were
disheartened with the world of finance
post the financial crisis”, Mr Hammer
said.
In June the company came under
fire when Alex Kearns, a 20-year-old
student from the suburbs of Chicago,
took his own life after wrongly
believing he had lost nearly three
quarters of a million dollars on an
options trade on the platform. In a
note left for his family he blasted
Robinhood.
Kearns’ death sparked criticism that
Robinhood was encouraging risky
behaviour among young,
inexperienced investors with its sleek
interface, alerts and confetti when
users complete their first trade, and
the founders committed to review
elements of the platform.
“When Baiju and I first started
building Robinhood, people told us we
were trying to achieve the impossible,”
Mr Tenev told the Financial Times.
Pointing to the trading commissions
that dominated the industry until they
disappeared last year in a move partly
attributed to Robinhood, he added:
“Our model has been a catalyst.”
Richard Henderson and Miles Kruppa
157 companies with liabilities
of more than $50m have filed
for bankruptcy this year
US companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
by liabilities
2002
Kmart
Conseco
$50m–<$100m $500m–<$1bn $10bn+
$100m–<$500m $1bn–<$10bn
Lear
2009
General
Motors
$50m–<$100m $500m–<$1bn $10bn+
$100m–<$500m $1bn–<$10bn
2020
JCPenney
Neiman
Marcus
Hertz
$500m–<$1bn $10bn+
$100m–<$500m $1bn–<$10bn
11
The
Norwegian
buying a near $8bn portfolio of US and
European blue-chips from Boeing to
BP, saying it was a “patient investor
and Saudi
wealth fund
with a long-term horizon”.
This week, however, it revealed it
had sold some of these holdings and
approaches
to investing
moved into a few tracker funds.
Saudi Arabia’s opportunistic
approach contrasts sharply with the
could not methodical, careful investing preferred
by Norway and most of its peers. But in
be more other ways, its choices are clearly
different marked by the political considerations
that underpin everything it does.
Companies where the PIF increased
its stake, cruise operator Carnival and
concert organiser Live Nation, are
explained as strategic for development
of the country under Mr Rumayyan’s
boss, Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman. Newcastle United was meant
to be part of that grand plan.
arash massoudi@ft.com
BEST OF
BUSINESS
Apple tops $2tn
3 Apple’s market value hit $2tn this week, just two
years after it became the first trillion-dollar group.
The iPhone maker’s shares have doubled since
their low point in March this year, when panic about
the pandemic swept
Wall Street.
The stock’s surge
came despite various
challenges, including
having to close its
retail stores because
of Covid-19. It is also
under pressure over
its reliance on China
during the US govern-
ment’s campaign
against Huawei, TikTok and WeChat, and has faced
allegations of anti-competitive behaviour.
“Adding a trillion in four or five months — that’s
really quite unbelievable,” said Neil Campling, an
analyst at Mirabaud Securities.
3 The largest container shipping line warned that it
faced a “massive problem” from crew being stranded
on its vessels.
Since the pandemic erupted, crew have faced
problems getting off vessels and home due to closed
borders and a lack of commercial flights.
Maersk chief executive Soren Skou said the com-
pany would create hubs for crew in Manila and
Mumbai where it hired hotels so they could quaran-
tine before being flown on special flights to Denmark
and elsewhere.
His comments came as the group defied a slump in
global trade to report higher quarterly profits thanks
to higher freight rates and lower oil prices.
‘Adding a trillion in four
or five months — that’s
really quite unbelievable’
Neil Campling, Mirabaud Securities
3 US retailer Target reported the biggest quarterly
sales surge in its 58-year history, highlighting that the
shifts in consumer behaviour in the pandemic are
widening the gap between the strongest chains and
weaker rivals.
The group’s 24 per cent year-on-year rise in sec-
ond-quarter like-for-like sales was driven by ecom-
merce but also supported by strong growth in stores.
They outshone robust numbers earlier in the week
from Walmart, which said comparable sales at its US
business rose 9.3 per cent.
During lockdown, big-box chains had a huge
advantage over clothing outlets, department stores
and other more discretionary retailers that were
forced to close.
3 Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy biotech group
Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $6.5bn in an all-cash
deal that expands the largest healthcare company’s
portfolio of treatments for autoimmune disorders.
The deal will give J&J’s drugmaking division Jans-
24% $6.5bn
Year-on-year rise Value of J&J’s
in quarterly all-cash deal to
like-for-like sales buy Momenta
at Target Pharmaceuticals
sen Pharmaceutica access to Momenta’s pipeline of
products, including nipocalimab, a treatment for the
rare muscular disease myasthenia gravis that is also
being tested against other autoimmune disorders.
J&J’s move followed a similar one by French phar-
maceutical group Sanofi, which on Monday said it
had agreed to buy San Francisco-based Principia
Biopharma in a $3.4bn deal.
3 BHP is to shrink its coal business and will consider
selling older oil and gas assets as the biggest mining
group prepares for a lower-carbon future.
After months of speculation and pressure from
investors, the Anglo-Australian company confirmed
plans to exit thermal coal and to dispose of its
80 per cent share in a joint venture with Mitsui
that owns two lower-quality coking coal mines
in Queensland.
12
CEOs’ plans to reset capitalism
bump into reality of pandemic
Washington’s big business lobby group struggles to convince doubters much has changed
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and
Billy Nauman — New York
When stay-at-home orders swept the US
in March, the rubbish stopped piling up
outside shops, schools and stadiums,
slashing $40m from Waste Manage-
ment’s revenues in two weeks.
Jim Fish, its chief executive,
responded not by slashing costs but by
guaranteeing his full-time staff’s pay for
the pandemic’s duration and offering
small businesses a free month’s service
once they reopened.
“The shareholders were kind of sec-
ondary or tertiary in my mind,” he
recalls. “Did I in the back of my mind
know there was going to be a cost to
shareholders? Of course I did, but really
what I was thinking . . . was ‘if I have to
lay off a bunch of people, how are they
going to provide for their families?’”
The waste disposal business is not
known for bleeding hearts, and share-
holders are used to being the top prior-
ity of CEOs. But Mr Fish’s actions
reflected a mood change in corporate
America since the global financial crisis,
which nothing captured more strikingly
than the statement issued this time last
year by Washington’s leading big busi-
ness lobby group.
In it, the Business Roundtable rede-
fined the purpose of America’s corpora-
tions, to emphasise their commitments
to customers, employees, suppliers and
communities. Last on that list of “stake-
holders” were the investors who, under
a consensus tracing back to the 1970s
economist Milton Friedman, had previ-
ously basked in the assumption of
“shareholder primacy”.
The letter was signed by 181 CEOs,
from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to Walmart’s
Doug McMillon. A year on, however,
they are struggling to convince doubters
that it changed much, as the Covid-19
Amazon’s Jeff
Bezos was among
bosses who signed
a letter pledging a
new focus on social
responsibilities
crisis puts unprecedented pressures on
their businesses and an array of inves-
tors, academics and activists argue that
more exacting changes are needed if
stakeholder capitalism is to live up to its
billing.
Accusations of hypocrisy
Roundtable members have faced accu-
sations of hypocrisy during the pan-
demic, with employees accusing
McDonald’s of providing insufficient
paid sick leave, telling Walmart it has
not listened to workers’ safety concerns
and challenging Amazon for withdraw-
ing the hazard pay it initially offered.
Just Capital, which tracks the impact
companies have on society, found the
roundtable statement had brought
mixed results. Companies whose CEOs
signed it performed better than others
in providing everything from paid sick
leave to financial assistance during the
Covid crisis, its study of their public
statements concluded.
Yet it also found, in a poll of 2,000
people, that Americans believe big busi-
ness is falling short of its responsibilities
to workers, customers, communities
and the environment.
Even before the pandemic hit, the
roundtable faced vocal critics. On one
Roundtable members have been accused of hypocrisy, with, for instance, employees arguing that McDonald’s has provided insufficient sick leave — Ron Adar/Sopa/Sipa
BRT members did more for stakeholders
in the pandemic
% disclosing various forms of support
BRT members
Other Russell 1000 companies
0 20
Back-up dependent care
Free PPE
Paid sick leave
Financial assistance
Customer accommodation
Community relief fund
Sources: Just Capital; Diligent Institute
side were Friedman diehards, insisting
that companies should focus on making
money and leave it at that. On the other
were supporters of environmental,
social and governance-themed invest-
ing who worried that BRT members
were just projecting a cuddly image
rather than changing their cut-throat
ways. Either way, shareholders seemed
not to believe they would be taking a
back seat, said Shiva Rajgopal, a Colum-
bia Business School professor. “When
these guys signed the BRT statement,
the stock prices of these firms [did not]
move . . . There was no heartbeat at all,”
he noted.
This scepticism was justified, he
believes, by the companies’ past treat-
ment of stakeholders.
In a study with Aneesh Raghunandan
of the London School of Economics, he
found that roundtable members had
been cited for far more environmental
and labour-related infractions than
‘When these guys signed
the statement, the stock
prices did not move . . .
There was no heartbeat’
★ FTWeekend
COMPANIES & MARKETS
Americans think companies fall short
of their responsibilities
Stakeholders business has a responsibility to/positive % expressing strong support
impact on (%)
Responsibility
40 60 80 Positive impact
0 20 40 60 80 100
Shareholders
Customers
Communities
Workforce health
Workforce finances
The environment
other companies. One BRT defender
noted, however, that most of those other
groups were far smaller than members
such as Apple and CVS.
‘The record is strong’
Anne Simpson, who leads governance
work for Calpers, America’s largest pen-
sion fund, echoed another of Mr
Rajgopal’s critiques: that US companies
had encouraged a “toothless” share-
holder rights regime which made it hard
to hold boards to account for their
stakeholder pledges.
Darren Woods, ExxonMobil’s CEO,
had signed the BRT pledge, she noted as
an example, only for his company to ask
the Securities and Exchange Commis-
sion to shield it from a shareholder vote
on its greenhouse gas emissions.
Josh Bolten, the BRT’s chief executive,
dismissed as “shallow” another critique
that most signatories had not sought
their boards’ clearance before signing
up to its stakeholder pledge. That, the
critics said, suggested executives did not
think it committed them to major
changes.
“Most of the CEOs who signed that
statement believe that that’s the way
they’re [already] trying to run their
company now, so why would they need
Directors in the US are less enthusiastic
about stakeholder capitalism
US Rest of the world
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
‘A company is
more than an
economic unit’
‘This is a
fundamental
change in
capitalism’
to get board approval?” Mr Bolten said. leaders by Diligent, a governance con-
Even if many CEOs saw it as an affirma- sultancy.
tion of their existing priorities, the state- But there is a growing consensus that
ment was still an “aspirational” com- more work is needed to embed stake-
mitment to do more, he said. “If you holder capitalism into boards’ decision
take a fair look at what America’s major making — and to measure its impact.
corporations have been doing [during An investor-backed group from
the pandemic], the record is strong.” Oxford’s Saïd Business School published
Donations of personal protective a framework this week to encourage
equipment, financial commitments to boards to turn their talk of purpose into
civil rights groups after George Floyd’s action. “Purpose has to be more than a
death, pledges to avoid lay-offs and lob- marketing slogan,” the authors said.
bying on behalf of small business suppli- Investor pressure has done more than
ers were all signs of groups “stepping the BRT to focus boards on a broader
up” for stakeholders, Mr Bolten said. purpose, said Harvard Business School’s
Businesses like airlines and hoteliers Rebecca Henderson, author of Reimag-
which are “flat on their backs” have ining Capitalism.
been less able to support stakeholders in But the BRT statement was still mean-
the crisis, though, and an extended ingful, she argued. “A lot of business
recession could still strain pledges made leaders do really seem to have believed
during a bull market. [their job] really was just about maxim-
“You can’t expect companies to ising shareholder value,” she said.
undermine their own financial viability “That’s a disaster, so even changing the
in the name of their stakeholders language is a good thing to do.”
because if there’s no profitable company For Waste Management’s Mr Fish, a
on the other side of the crisis they can’t stakeholder focus can still pay off for
help their stakeholders at all,” Mr shareholders in time. Since the com-
Bolten said. pany took steps to help struggling small
US directors and executives still lag businesses, he said, customer loyalty
their international peers in their belief has soared and its “churn rate” of cus-
that capitalism is fundamentally chang- tomers cancelling their contracts has
ing, according to a poll of 400 business fallen to record lows.
22 August/23 August 2020
Travel & leisure
US demand
for guns and
ammunition
accelerates
ahead of poll
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
New York
Demand for guns and ammunition is
accelerating in the US ahead of Novem-
ber’s election, driven by consumer con-
cerns about protests and civil unrest
and by Americans seeing hunting as a
socially distanced leisure pursuit.
Ammo Inc, an ammunition manufac-
turer based in Arizona, said revenues
had risen 125 per cent to $9.7m in the
three months to June.
“Extraordinary” demand from its
commercial segment, which sells to the
hunting, sports shooting and self-
defence markets, had powered its order
backlog to a record $45m, said Fred
Wagenhals, chief executive.
Mark Hanish, Ammo’s president of
global sales and marketing, said it had
seen intense demand for bullets for
semi-automatic handguns and the
AR-15 “modern sporting rifle”.
“In past [election] run-ups, your tra-
ditional folks who were already gun
owners would purchase more. This is
brand new people.”
He attributed the influx of buyers to
the confluence of the pandemic, the
election, and concern about “civil
unrest”.
Gun sales have spiked in previous
election years but slumped after Donald
Trump’s 2016 election victory as con-
sumers stopped worrying that a Demo-
cratic president could restrict gun sales.
Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic nomi-
nee, has said he would require back-
ground checks for all gun sales and ban
assault weapons sales.
Monthly figures from the National
Instant Criminal Background Check
System show that checks required by
new gun buyers have been running at a
level well above 2016’s level since
March. They hit a record as coronavirus
swept across the US, forcing lockdowns
that cost millions of people their jobs.
That record was broken in June, when
protests reached their peak.
Concern for protection was looming
larger this year than the fear of losing
gun rights, Mr Hanish said. “I don’t
expect people to go back to being com-
placent” should Mr Trump win.
Sturm, Ruger last month attributed
the appetite for its rifles, revolvers and
pistols to concern about protection in
the context of “protests, demonstra-
tions and civil unrest”, and calls to
“defund” law enforcement.
The manufacturer said it had seen a
“staggering” 47 per cent rise in sales of
its products in the first half. Its site car-
ries a warning that demand for many
products “has far outpaced the supply,
especially over the past few months”.
Olin Corp, owner of the Winchester
brand, said this month that its commer-
cial ammunition business had seen its
strongest quarter since 2016.
The National Shooting Sports Foun-
dation polled retailers in July and found
that their firearm sales were up 95 per
cent and their ammunition sales up 139
per cent in the first half compared with
the same period of 2019. Some 40 per
cent of this year’s firearm purchases
were from first-time buyers, with the
strongest growth coming from black
men and women. “There has never been
a sustained surge in firearm sales quite
like what we are in the midst of,” said
Jim Curcuruto, research director.
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 13

COMPANIES & MARKETS

Equities. Diverging fortunes Equities

Malaysian
K-shaped recovery spotlights bourse on
alert as retail
overreliance on tech giants investors
drive bull run
Mercedes Ruehl — Singapore
Hudson Lockett — Hong Kong

Frantic buying by Malaysian retail

investors of hot stocks such as rubber
glove makers has driven trading
volumes on the country’s stock
exchange to record highs, prompting
the bourse to consider steps to curb the
frenzy.
Trading volumes this year for mem-
bers of the FSTE Bursa Malaysia Top
100 index are the highest on record
since the benchmark tracking the coun-
try’s largest stocks was created in 2006,
according to Bloomberg data.
Turnover in the year to date has
already topped last year’s total by 20 per
cent at more than 143.8bn ringgit
($34.5bn).
Much of the surge has come from non-
professional investors, who have driven
45 per cent of turnover, according to
estimates from CLSA.
Individuals were “punting like crazy”,
said Gerald Ambrose, head of Aberdeen
Standard Investments Malaysia,
who likened the trend to the super bull
run ahead of the Asian financial crisis in
the 1990s.
Retail traders had for the past three
years made up less than 20 per cent of
daily volumes, according to Aberdeen.

‘It is the first time in a

S&P 500 smashes record
highs but average stock in the
index is 28% below its peak
Richard Henderson and Eric Platt
New York
US stocks this week hit a record high,
clawing back the losses inflicted by the
coronavirus pandemic. But most of the
companies in the benchmark S&P 500
index had nothing much to celebrate.
The US stock market’s advance this
year has been propelled by some of the
largest companies in America, includ-
ing the likes of Apple and Amazon.
While those tech giants have notched
up a string of new highs alongside
companies that have benefited from the
viral outbreak — groups such as pizza
chain Domino’s and soap maker
Colgate-Palmolive — the majority of
companies in the index are still down on
where they were.
Share prices of a fifth of S&P 500
companies were more than 50 per cent
below their all-time highs yesterday.
The average stock in the index is 28.4
per cent below its peak, according to
Cornerstone Macro, a research group.
The divergence has stoked concerns
that the eye-catching rallies in the S&P
500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq
Composite are masking big strains on
businesses across the country.
“This is really about a handful of
stocks — not at all representing what is
going on underneath the surface,” said
Michael Kantrowitz, an analyst at
Cornerstone.
The gap between winners and losers
since the pandemic struck has led some
investors to describe the rebound as
Most US stock sectors lag the market
Performance from Feb 19 (rebased)
120
100
80
60
40
Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Source: Bloomberg
“K-shaped”, evoking a swift fall followed
by a big divide in fortunes.
“The K-shaped recovery delineates
between the haves and have-nots — the
portions of the economy that do well
with the Covid backdrop,” said Michael
Mullaney, global head of research for
Boston Partners, a fund manager.
Just three sectors have outpaced the
S&P 500 so far this year. Technology
shares are up 27 per cent in 2020,
followed by a 23 per cent gain by con-
sumer discretionary stocks.
But even in the consumer area, the
move higher is attributable mainly to
one company — Amazon.
The ecommerce platform, which is up
78 per cent this year, accounts for 43 per
cent of the consumer discretionary
index.
Its rise helped offset declines by more
than half of the other companies in the
same sector, including cruise operator
Carnival and preppy-style clothing
mainstay Ralph Lauren, which have
both dropped more than 40 per cent.
“People have gotten so used to talking
Consumer discretionary 15.5%
Information technology 13.6%
Communication services 4.2%
Materials 3.0%
Health 2.6%
S&P 500 -0.02%
Consumer staples -0.9%
Industrials -9.3%
Real estate -13.3%
Utilities -15.5%
Financials -21.6%
Energy -34.2%
Aug
Based on Thurs market close
about markets in a monolithic way,”
said Katie Koch, the co-head of equities
at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
“When we say ‘this sector is up’ and
‘that sector is down’, because of this
concentration in markets, it is often an
idiosyncratic move.”
The dominance of titans such as
Apple and Microsoft means “the tre-
mendous equity market rally will
remain vulnerable to the performance
of a handful of companies”, said Seema
Shah, chief strategist for Principal Glo-
bal Investors. “Big tech will need to
continue delivering.”
Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet
and Facebook, the top five companies in
the S&P 500, account for more than a
quarter of the rally since late March and
each reached new highs in August.
Apple is up 60 per cent for the year
and last month won back its crown as
the world’s largest listed company from
Saudi Aramco, the oil group.
The iPhone maker’s $2tn equity value
makes it bigger than the bottom third of
companies in the S&P 500 combined.
The US stock “The discussion du jour is ‘are we in
market rally bubble territory?’,” said Lee Spelman,
is heavily head of US equity for JPMorgan Asset
dependent Management, drawing parallels with
on big tech the dotcom boom, when companies
companies with tiny revenues sometimes soared to
such as Apple huge valuations.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
“What happened in 2000 was the
promise of what was going to be but
[now] these companies are generating
cash flow and profits — they are real
businesses,” she added.
The divergence in the market has
been reflected in the outperformance of
high-growth stocks over so-called value
companies, trading at low multiples of
profits. The S&P 500 growth index has
gained 11 per cent while its value coun-
terpart has fallen 13 per cent from the
previous peak in February.
Companies in the financial industry,
which mostly fall into the value bucket,
have been hit hard by rising provisions
for losses on loans and the fall in interest
rates, which typically squeezes revenue.
Rob Almeida, global investment
strategist for MFS Investment Manage-
ment, the Boston-based fund house,
said the tech companies were not the
principal concern in today’s market
because they have safe profit streams
that can be worth paying up for.
‘The equity Instead, he worries about companies
that loaded up on debt before and after
market the downturn but may struggle to
rally will service those borrowings.
“I’d rather own an expensive asset
remain with some level of cash flow surety going
vulnerable into a down market than owning some-
thing cheap with cash flow uncertainty,”
to a Mr Almeida said.
handful of “If the cash flow isn’t there, as you saw
in 2008, valuation doesn’t matter. That
companies’ asset is going to zero,” he added.
long time here people
see an opportunity to
make a quick buck’
The rush of retail buying has helped the
benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala
Lumpur Composite index to erase
heavy losses incurred during a sell-off in
March, leaving the benchmark down
just 1 per cent for the year.
“It is the first time in a long time here
people see an opportunity to make a
quick buck,” Mr Ambrose said.
Bursa Malaysia, whose shares are up
about 70 per cent this year, said it was
monitoring the situation and had
“various tools” to manage excessive
speculation and irregular trading —
including market alerts and stopping
traders gearing up to purchase stocks
through “designating” securities.
Tushar Mohata, an analyst with
Nomura in Kuala Lumpur, said the
bourse hoped increased retail activity
would continue instead of receding as
with previous surges.
The country’s bull market has run
alongside a global rally for equities,
especially medical stocks. Malaysia
reported this month that its economy
had contracted by the most since 1998
in the second quarter.
Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG in
Singapore, said the speculative frenzy
FastFT was most visible in stocks that had ben-
Our global efited from the crisis, including the big
team gives you four rubber-glove makers — Top Glove,
market-moving Supermax, Kossan, and Hartalega.
news and views, Top Glove has risen 480 per cent this
24 hours a day year with gains at the four glovemakers
ft.com/fastft adding 38.5bn ringgit ($9.2bn) to their
combined market capitalisation.

Asset management Fixed income

Astute calls on soaring volatility put UK bondholders’ bill for change to

Gammon ahead 600% so far this year
Laurence Fletcher
Hedge fund Gammon Capital has
chalked up a 600 per cent gain so far
this year, ranking it as one of the best
performers, because of well-timed bets
on volatility during the virus-driven
crisis.
The New York-based firm, headed by
Michael Mescher, a former Barclays
trader, correctly wagered on soaring
volatility in early March as risky assets
slumped.
The firm also took options positions
that rose sharply as markets rebounded
in the second half of the month.
The returns come in a mixed year for
hedge funds, which on average are down
0.3 per cent this year to the end of July,
according to data group HFR.
Some volatility traders and macro
funds have been able to ride wild swings
to net some of their biggest returns in
years. But others, such as some longer-
term computer-driven funds, have been
caught out by rising volatility.
Mr Mescher said his fund had bought
cheap put options during January and
February when volatility was low.
But as markets seized up in early
March when coronavirus spread, vola-
tility rose rapidly, pushing up the price
of those options.
Mr Mescher held on to his puts and
also bought call options. The calls made
money as markets rebounded in
response to several rounds of stimulus
from the US Federal Reserve, while he
sold some of his puts at a profit in April
and May.
“March was an exceptional environ-
ment. You don’t get a tonne of those,”
said Mr Mescher, who began trading
The firm’s options positions rose
sharply as markets rebounded
derivatives on the floor of the Chicago
Board Options Exchange.
Among his positions now are longer-
dated puts on the S&P 500, designed to
offer protection during the US presiden-
tial election.
The Gammon Tailwind fund, which
began trading at the start of last year,
made the 601 per cent return to the end
of June before fees, according to a letter
to investors. After subtracting fees, the
fund made between about 300 per cent
and 480 per cent, depending on the
share class.
Mr Mescher said that he named the
firm after teaching himself to play back-
gammon, wagering thousands of dollars
in games against colleagues. A gammon
is a term describing a win so large that
the opponent has to pay up double
stakes.
He admitted that he had not fully
realised the connotations of the name —
either the form of raw pork or, in the
UK, a pejorative term to evoke angry
middle-aged men.
“I’m sometimes described as running
Cheap Ham Capital,” he said, adding
that he had no plans to change the firm’s
name.
inflation calculation jumps by £10bn
Tommy Stubbington
The recent collapse in UK interest rates
means holders of inflation-linked
government bonds face an extra £10bn
hit from an impending change to the
calculation for price rises, according to
estimates from one of the country’s
biggest pension investors.
Holders of inflation-linked bonds are
already nervous about the potential
impact of the government’s plan to
switch from the retail prices index,
which tends to exaggerate the pace of
inflation, to a broader gauge of
consumer prices index including
housing (CPIH).
A consultation on that reform —
focusing on whether it should be phased
in from 2025 or 2030 — closed yester-
day. But in addition, the drop in long-
term interest rates over recent months
means the switch from the RPI could
wipe as much as £130bn from the value
of the UK’s £775bn inflation-linked
bond market, Insight Investment said.
Earlier this year, the asset manager had
calculated a hit of £120bn.
The “dramatic” fall in rates “means
investors face even bigger losses if this
goes through,” said Rob Gall, head of
market strategy at Insight.
Scrapping RPI will save the UK tax-
payer £2bn a year in interest payments,
according to the Office for Budget
Responsibility. It could also curb prices
for rail tickets, student loan repayments
and mobile phone contracts that are
tied to the RPI rate.
Investors have known the change was
The ‘dramatic’ fall in
rates ‘means investors
face even bigger losses
if this goes through’
on the way since former chancellor Sajid
Javid confirmed the government’s
intention to scrap the measurement last
September, although its impact is yet to
be fully reflected in bond prices.
Holders of inflation-linked bonds say
the plan to replace RPI with CPIH is
unfair to pensioners because the switch
would reduce future payouts to bond-
holders by linking them to the lower
measure of inflation.
The effects on the value of the bonds
has grown as interest rates fall, accord-
ing to Insight’s analysis.
Investors use a risk-free rate derived
from long-term bond yields to deter-
mine the present day value of cash flows
in the future. The lower the risk-free
returns, the more future payments are
worth in today’s prices.
A switch from RPI is significant
because an unusually large proportion
of UK debt — more than a quarter at the
start of the year — is inflation-linked.
Most of these bonds are held by
pension funds that use them to hedge
their future payouts to pensioners.
A “big three” of Insight Investment,
Legal & General Investment Manage-
ment and BlackRock handles 87 per
cent of this hedging business, according
to XPS, a pension consultancy.
Mr Gall said investors have been
united in demands for some form of
compensation for holders of already
issued inflation-linked gilts during their
recent meetings with Treasury officials.
The UK government has continued to
sell so-called linkers since the changes
were announced and investors have
bought them knowing that some kind of
impact lies ahead.
14 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

COMPANIES & MARKETS

Pension fund job The day in the markets

looks more like a
California nightmare What you need to know
3 Tech-heavy Nasdaq hits another peak
Euro retreats after survey points to faltering regional rebound
while European stocks slide
3 Euro takes a hit after business survey Against the dollar ($ per €)

Billy Nauman suggests shaky regional rebound

3 News of Brexit stalemate sends
sterling into reverse
1.20

Markets Insight Global stocks swung between modest

gains and losses yesterday, with investors
1.18

1.16
digesting a mixed bag of economic data.

B
en Meng’s abrupt departure
from the California Public
Employees’ Retirement Sys-
tem (Calpers) has opened up
one of the highest-profile
investment jobs in the US. But people
close to the pension fund do not expect
Wall Street’s best and brightest to be
beating down the door to try take the
reins of the $405bn-in-assets fund.
Attracting top talent is often hard for
public funds in the US, where the pay
typically pales in comparison with what
a fund manager can make in the private
sector. Yet, Calpers’ problems go beyond
remuneration.
The fund pays better than most. As
chief investment officer, Mr Meng made
about $700,000 a year and was eligible
for a performance bonus of $1m-plus,
according to Calpers.
But for that, the new CIO will enter a
political pressure cooker and face the
mighty task of delivering 7 per cent
returns year after year.
Calpers’ predicament is an example of
a wider crisis brewing in the US pension
market where underfunded public
funds have set unattainable investment
goals that they must hit to pay what they
owe retirees.
The problem is compounded as many
states have banned benefit cuts for
existing retirees. Funds such as Calpers
are also unable to set more realistic
returns targets without triggering huge
contribution requirements that could
squeeze budgets at the cities and states
in which they operate.
Mr Meng, who took over as CIO in
January 2019, stepped down this month,
replaced on an interim basis by Dan
Bienvenue, his deputy.
His exit came shortly after the blog
Naked Capitalism alleged he had not
properly disclosed his own economic
interests, as required by the state of Cali-
fornia. On August 6, Mr Meng told the
Financial Times he had disclosed all of
his financial holdings on the applicable
forms and declined further comment.
Jay Wierenga, communications
director of the California Fair Political
Practices Commission, said the depart-
ment had opened an investigation into
Mr Meng’s disclosures.
However, even before all this came to
light, some Calpers insiders believed Mr
Meng’s days were numbered due to the
fund’s lacklustre performance.
In July, it announced it had returned
4.7 per cent for the previous year. Mr
The gap has now widened
dramatically between
what funds owe and what
they can afford to pay out
Meng also found himself under the
microscope over a decision to exit a so-
called tail risk strategy that provided
insurance against a crash and would
have paid out handsomely in March.
“My read is he was given marching
orders to get 7 [per cent returns] come
hell or high water,” said a person close to
the fund.
Megan White, a spokesperson for
Calpers, said that, while last year’s
return target was missed, the fund “did
beat our benchmark and outperformed
most pensions funds”.
In June, Mr Meng floated a scheme to
lever up the fund to the tune of $80bn to
invest more heavily in private equity
and private debt. That proposition was
met with immediate blowback from a
member of the board and local officials, Raising hopes that the recovery in the
who deemed it too risky. world’s largest economy was still on track 1.14
The CIO had previously announced were numbers showing sales of
an intent to go big on private markets in previously owned homes had surged, a 1.12
2019, which also drew some scepticism. sign “that the housing market has caught
The majority of the board still supports fire . . . despite high unemployment”, said
Mr Meng’s investment plan and intends Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at 1.10
to implement it, said Ms White. Capital Economics.
Mr Meng is not the only investor to But a day earlier, new claims for US 1.08
look for returns in new places — the jobless aid rose to 1.1m last week, having
average US public pension fund’s fallen below 1m for the first time since
1.06
exposure to alternative assets grew from March the previous week.
7 per cent in 1990 to 29 per cent in 2019, “It’s been a mixed week,” said Neil Jan 2020 Aug
according to Morgan Stanley. Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Source: Refinitiv
This shift took place against a back- Miton — “good housing data,
drop of falling interest rates, which disappointing jobs data, which is
forced these investors to start adding probably unsurprising given the steep The PMI numbers indicated that the global markets at MUFG Bank, said the
risk to keep up with future liabilities. recovery we have seen.” fast start to the rebound was slowing, UK faced a “potential grim couple of
It would have been prudent for pen- Wall Street’s S&P 500, which had hit a said ING, with the “positive effects from months ahead”, with its furlough scheme
sions to start cutting returns targets as fresh peak on Wednesday, was flat at reopening economies . . . fading out in ending and UK-EU trade talks in gridlock,
rates dropped but that did not happen. lunchtime in New York, while the tech- the service sector, confirming that the both of which would “limit the scope for
The dotcom bubble of the late nine- heavy Nasdaq Composite hit a new high. recovery will not be V-shaped”. further pound gains from here”.
ties kept things looking rosy for a while. Europe lagged behind US peers, with Sterling also weakened against the A week-long rally in core government
But the gap has now widened dramati- the region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 greenback, having neared a year-high bonds continued with the yield on the 10-
cally between what funds owe and what closing down 0.2 per cent, taking its this week. A 0.9 per cent slide in the year US Treasury falling 1 basis point to
they can afford to pay out over time. losses for the week to 0.8 per cent. pound to $1.3083 coincided with news 0.63 per cent yesterday, having started
The last time Calpers had enough Europe’s single currency came close to that Brexit talks had stalled, with the EU’s the week at 0.71 per cent.
assets to fully cover future payments hitting $1.20 against the dollar on chief negotiator Michel Barnier saying he Concerns about waning demand for
was 2002. Today, it is well behind with a Tuesday, but sank to $1.17 yesterday after “felt as if we were going backwards more crude weighed on oil prices, helping to
funding ratio just above 70 per cent. purchasing managers’ index data pointed than forwards”. send global benchmark Brent down 2.5
Calpers (like many other public to Europe’s recovery losing steam. Derek Halpenny, head of research for per cent to $43.79 a barrel. Ray Douglas
funds) is bringing its investment goal
closer to reality, trimming it from 7.5 per
cent in 2016 to 7 per cent today. More Markets update
drastic cuts will surely be necessary.
Yet as it stands, the new permanent
CIO will be stuck between a rock and a
hard place, just like Mr Meng. Barring US Eurozone Japan UK China Brazil
some incredible investment luck, a radi- Stocks S&P 500 Eurofirst 300 Nikkei 225 FTSE100 Shanghai Comp Bovespa
cal transformation in the interest rate Level 3382.86 1416.57 22920.30 6001.89 3380.68 101147.08
outlook, or a more forgiving goal, it % change on day -0.08 -0.20 0.17 -0.19 0.50 -0.32
might not be long before Calpers is look- Currency $ index (DXY) $ per € Yen per $ $ per £ Rmb per $ Real per $
ing for Mr Meng’s successor’s successor. Level 93.352 1.178 105.955 1.307 6.914 5.612
% change on day 0.602 -0.507 0.009 -0.533 -0.120 -0.719
billy.nauman@ft.com Govt. bonds 10-year Treasury 10-year Bund 10-year JGB 10-year Gilt 10-year bond 10-year bond
Yield 0.641 -0.508 0.030 0.204 2.978 6.826
Basis point change on day -0.400 -1.200 0.540 -2.100 -1.600 10.100
World index, Commods FTSE All-World Oil - Brent Oil - WTI Gold Silver Metals (LMEX)
Level 375.71 43.67 41.55 1927.15 26.92 2983.70
% change on day 0.10 -2.76 -2.85 -2.72 -1.91 -0.89
Yesterday's close apart from: Currencies = 16:00 GMT; S&P, Bovespa, All World, Oil = 17:00 GMT; Gold, Silver = London pm fix. Bond data supplied by Tullett Prebon.

Main equity markets

S&P 500 index Eurofirst 300 index FTSE 100 index
3520 1480 6400

3360 6240
1440
3200 6080
1400 5920
3040
| | | | | | | | |
2880 || | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | || | 1360 || | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | || | 5760 | | | | | | | | | | |

Jun 2020 Aug Jun 2020 Aug Jun 2020 Aug

Biggest movers
% US Eurozone UK
Deere & 5.74 Accor 4.18 Intercontinental Hotels 6.20
Wynn Resorts 4.40 Lufthansa 2.25 Gvc Holdings 5.05
Ups

Ulta Beauty 4.11 Coloplast 1.96 Compass 2.96

Estee Lauder Companies (the) 3.63 Sodexo 1.92 Whitbread 2.83
Nvidia 3.50 Cnh Industrial 1.62 Land Securities 2.29
%
Keysight -5.51 A.p. Moller - Maersk B -4.13 Smith & Nephew -2.36
News -3.95 Saipem -3.50 Dcc -1.92
Downs

Marathon Oil -3.90 Seadrill -2.49 Itv -1.89

News -3.43 Philips -2.14 Coca-cola Hbc Ag -1.85
Apache -3.36 Societe Generale -1.98 Hikma Pharmaceuticals -1.51
Prices taken at 17:00 GMT Based on the constituents of the FTSE Eurofirst 300 Eurozone
All data provided by Morningstar unless otherwise noted.

Wall Street Eurozone London

Apple remained in demand, powering AP Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest Petrofac retreated after Bernstein
further into record high territory, having shipping firm, slipped after JPMorgan Research downgraded the oilfield
crossed above a $2tn market value during Cazenove downgraded to “neutral”. services group to “market perform”.
the week. Forecast-beating results and restored A long-running Serious Fraud Office
“We still believe the stock has a lot of guidance this week from Maersk investigation had left Petrofac in limbo
gasoline left in the tank with an iPhone 12 suggested a strong third quarter but, with upside likely to be limited until it was
supercycle on the near-term horizon,” after that, the outlook becomes less clear, resolved, the broker said.
said Wedbush analysts, whose bull case JPMorgan told clients. InterContinental Hotels led the FTSE
suggested 26 per cent upside. “We would need more reassurance that 100 gainers following a retread of
Apple has a “once in a decade” sales the recent improvement in industry speculation about bid interest from
opportunity over the next 12 to 18 months profitability to sustainable to see further French peer Accor.
with about 350m of the 950m iPhones in upside,” JPMorgan added. “While cash Fellow leisure stocks Whitbread and
use ready to be upgraded, said Wedbush. conversion in the short run will remain Compass rose in response to news that
That makes the iPhone 12 “another strong this is clearly somewhat the UK would loosen travel restrictions on
defining chapter in the Apple growth temporary, with capital expenditure likely Portugal.
story” and “many on the Street are to increase at some point in the future.” Pfizer and BioNTech both climbed
underestimating the massive pent-up EQT fell for a second day as forecast following reports that their coronavirus
demand”, the broker argued. downgrades followed Thursday’s weaker vaccine candidate might be ready for
Foot Locker rose after the retailer than expected results from the money regulatory review by October.
reinstated its quarterly dividend and manager, which showed the effects of Ladbrokes owner GVC led betting
restarted a share buyback programme weaker carried interest and cost inflation. companies higher on Jefferies “buy”
with forecast-beating half-year results. Bank of America repeated advice.
Arthur J Gallacher, the insurance “underperform” advice on EQT, saying Cineworld rose after Jangho, a Chinese
brokerage, slipped after Bank of America earnings risk remained with limited group with interests in building materials
downgraded from “buy” to potential upside. and healthcare, raised its stake in the
“underperform”, saying recessionary Adyen, the Dutch payments company, theatre owner from 4.49 per cent to 5.06
pressures and higher taxes from 2022 was under pressure after its co-founders per cent.
would be headwinds for earnings growth. sold shares to “diversify their portfolio Sandwich maker Greencore edged
Estée Lauder bounced following poorly and reduce single-stock risk”. lower after saying it would pause
received results on Thursday after Netcompany, the Danish IT outsourcer, production at its Northampton factory
Morgan Stanley turned positive, noting led the Stoxx Europe 600 index after after a Covid-19 outbreak in the area,
Covid-19 disruption should prove Deutsche Bank raised its valuation. causing a “modest impact” to 2020
temporary. Bryce Elder Bryce Elder earnings. Bryce Elder
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 15

MARKET DATA

WORLD MARKETS AT A GLANCE FT.COM/MARKETSDATA

Change during previous day’s trading (%)
S&P 500 Nasdaq Composite Dow Jones Ind FTSE 100 FTSE Eurofirst 300 Nikkei Hang Seng FTSE All World $ $ per € $ per £ ¥ per $ £ per € Oil Brent $ Sep Gold $

-0.08% -0.19% -0.20% -0.507% -0.533% -0.91% -2.72%

No change No change
0.11% 0.17% 1.30% 0.10% 0.009%
Stock Market movements over last 30 days, with the FTSE All-World in the same currency as a comparison
AMERICAS EUROPE ASIA
Jul 22 - - Index All World Jul 22 - Aug 21 Index All World Jul 22 - Aug 21 Index All World Jul 22 - Aug 21 Index All World Jul 22 - Aug 21 Index All World Jul 22 - Aug 21 Index All World

S&P 500 New York S&P/TSX COMP Toronto FTSE 100 London Xetra Dax Frankfurt Nikkei 225 Tokyo Kospi Seoul
3,382.86
16,491.90 22,717.48 22,920.30
6,211.44 13,103.39 2,304.59
16,171.06 6,001.89 12,764.80
3,235.66 2,216.19
Day -0.08% Month 3.88% Year 15.71% Day -0.69% Month 2.04% Year 1.12% Day -0.19% Month -4.38% Year -16.78% Day -0.51% Month -1.06% Year NaN% Day 0.17% Month 0.89% Year 10.85% Day 1.34% Month 4.84% Year 17.57%

Nasdaq Composite New York IPC Mexico City FTSE Eurofirst 300 Europe Ibex 35 Madrid Hang Seng Hong Kong FTSE Straits Times Singapore
11,265.08
38,310.82 1,455.10 7,384.90 2,629.45
1,416.57 25,263.00 25,113.84
10,461.42 37,433.30 6,982.10 2,528.54
Day 0.00% Month 5.52% Year 40.52% Day -1.02% Month 3.86% Year -4.42% Day -0.20% Month -3.59% Year -4.28% Day -0.16% Month -6.84% Year -19.76% Day 1.30% Month 0.30% Year -4.19% Day 0.02% Month -3.37% Year -19.38%

Dow Jones Industrial New York Bovespa São Paulo CAC 40 Paris FTSE MIB Milan Shanghai Composite Shanghai BSE Sensex Mumbai
27,771.22
5,033.76 20,454.46 3,380.68 38,434.72
102,293.31 101,147.08 4,896.33 19,695.43 3,325.11 38,140.47
26,652.33
Day 0.11% Month 3.54% Year 6.06% Day -0.32% Month -3.06% Year -0.08% Day -0.30% Month -4.07% Year -9.92% Day -0.36% Month -5.05% Year -5.62% Day 0.50% Month 2.01% Year 17.38% Day 0.56% Month 2.71% Year 2.96%

Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous
Argentina Merval 48593.81 47737.16 Cyprus CSE M&P Gen 68.46 68.68 Italy FTSE Italia All-Share 21526.69 21601.13 Philippines Manila Comp 6005.40 6042.12 Taiwan Weighted Pr 12607.84 12362.64 Cross-Border DJ Global Titans ($) 406.49 405.98
Australia All Ordinaries 6270.70 6271.70 Czech Republic
PX 896.70 889.01 FTSE Italia Mid Cap 34256.96 34330.79 Poland Wig 51920.09 51842.65 Thailand Bangkok SET 1299.26 1296.79 Euro Stoxx 50 (Eur) 3259.75 3273.98
S&P/ASX 200 6111.20 6120.00 Denmark OMXC Copenahgen 20 1318.62 1310.24 FTSE MIB 19695.43 19766.96 Portugal PSI 20 4344.27 4358.47 Turkey BIST 100 1109.88 1126.80 Euronext 100 ID 971.82 972.50
S&P/ASX 200 Res 4698.60 4703.80 Egypt EGX 30 11160.05 11077.11 Japan 2nd Section 6510.35 6506.34 PSI General 3162.30 3168.26 UAE Abu Dhabi General Index 4500.65 4445.48 FTSE 4Good Global ($) 8534.21 8518.29
Austria ATX 2194.90 2199.91 Estonia OMX Tallinn 1175.96 1184.80 Nikkei 225 22920.30 22880.62 Romania BET Index 8725.12 8702.02 UK FT 30 2209.50 2248.80 FTSE All World ($) 375.71 375.35
Belgium BEL 20 3302.92 3337.62 Finland OMX Helsinki General 9860.24 9857.52 S&P Topix 150 1339.76 1336.52 Russia Micex Index 2995.61 2993.69 FTSE 100 6001.89 6013.34 FTSE E300 1416.57 1419.38
BEL Mid 7617.99 7589.63 France CAC 40 4896.33 4911.24 Topix 1604.06 1599.20 RTX 1262.01 1272.81 FTSE 4Good UK 5592.27 5599.10 FTSE Eurotop 100 2676.21 2683.35
Brazil IBovespa 101147.08 101467.87 SBF 120 3878.27 3887.43 Jordan Amman SE 1579.57 1579.53 Saudi-Arabia TADAWUL All Share Index 7842.84 7853.05 FTSE All Share 3352.18 3354.33 FTSE Global 100 ($) 2265.26 2260.08
Canada S&P/TSX 60 989.25 995.77 Germany M-DAX 27266.79 27208.02 Kenya NSE 20 1729.46 1729.46 Singapore FTSE Straits Times 2528.54 2527.92 FTSE techMARK 100 5627.25 5647.46 FTSE Gold Min ($) 2792.95 2776.20
S&P/TSX Comp 16491.90 16606.76 TecDAX 3087.59 3083.28 Kuwait KSX Market Index 6633.44 6603.51 Slovakia SAX 334.32 334.32 USA DJ Composite 9118.47 9106.56 FTSE Latibex Top (Eur) 4440.00 4432.20
S&P/TSX Div Met & Min 460.18 492.59 XETRA Dax 12764.80 12830.00 Latvia OMX Riga 1081.02 1082.02 Slovenia SBI TOP 873.85 - DJ Industrial 27771.22 27739.73 FTSE Multinationals ($) 2406.15 2405.87
Chile S&P/CLX IGPA Gen 20107.87 20127.57 Greece Athens Gen 633.27 636.92 Lithuania OMX Vilnius 766.32 765.99 South Africa FTSE/JSE All Share 55949.92 55629.98 DJ Transport 10943.60 10893.93 FTSE World ($) 667.07 666.82
China FTSE A200 12295.93 12205.53 FTSE/ASE 20 1516.74 1525.61 Luxembourg LuxX 990.96 982.07 FTSE/JSE Res 20 56380.72 56972.65 DJ Utilities 808.04 810.59 FTSEurofirst 100 (Eur) 3613.70 3627.95
FTSE B35 9000.71 8988.96 Hong Kong Hang Seng 25113.84 24791.39 Malaysia FTSE Bursa KLCI 1577.12 1575.38 FTSE/JSE Top 40 51669.18 51380.02 Nasdaq 100 11496.42 11477.05 FTSEurofirst 80 (Eur) 4427.78 4446.24
Shanghai A 3543.47 3525.90 HS China Enterprise 10212.21 10155.81 Mexico IPC 38310.82 38707.24 South Korea Kospi 2304.59 2274.22 Nasdaq Cmp 11265.08 11264.95 MSCI ACWI Fr ($) 569.62 571.95
Shanghai B 244.26 242.34 HSCC Red Chip 4096.70 4074.14 Morocco MASI 10265.78 10293.21 Kospi 200 306.16 301.59 NYSE Comp 12768.78 12859.88 MSCI All World ($) 2389.15 2394.47
Shanghai Comp 3380.68 3363.90 Hungary Bux 36043.56 36180.74 Netherlands AEX 551.37 552.44 Spain IBEX 35 6982.10 6993.30 S&P 500 3382.86 3385.51 MSCI Europe (Eur) 1483.67 1501.74
Shenzhen A 2354.86 2329.49 India BSE Sensex 38434.72 38220.39 AEX All Share 791.97 789.95 Sri Lanka CSE All Share 5382.38 5360.28 Wilshire 5000 34611.02 34658.73 MSCI Pacific ($) 2671.47 2709.65
Shenzhen B 941.59 933.33 Nifty 500 9423.55 9368.75 New Zealand NZX 50 11835.94 11662.16 Sweden OMX Stockholm 30 1753.13 1751.93 Venezuela IBC 498633.72 490779.88 S&P Euro (Eur) 1484.63 1488.67
Colombia COLCAP 1174.12 1161.72 Indonesia Jakarta Comp 5272.81 5295.17 Nigeria SE All Share 25171.32 25136.49 OMX Stockholm AS 693.58 693.85 Vietnam VNI 854.78 848.21 S&P Europe 350 (Eur) 1451.66 1454.38
Croatia CROBEX 2013.05 2011.29 Ireland ISEQ Overall 6398.48 6283.34 Norway Oslo All Share 938.56 939.34 Switzerland SMI Index 10218.20 10229.92 S&P Global 1200 ($) 2638.38 2643.65
Israel Tel Aviv 125 1439.17 1450.24 Pakistan KSE 100 39621.59 39868.55 Stoxx 50 (Eur) 2958.83 2968.56
(c) Closed. (u) Unavaliable. † Correction. ♥ Subject to official recalculation. For more index coverage please see www.ft.com/worldindices. A fuller version of this table is available on the ft.com research data archive.

STOCK MARKET: BIGGEST MOVERS UK MARKET WINNERS AND LOSERS

AMERICA LONDON EURO MARKETS TOKYO Aug 21 %Chg %Chg Aug 21 %Chg %Chg Aug 21 %Chg %Chg Aug 21 %Chg %Chg
ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's FTSE 100 price(p) week ytd FTSE 250 price(p) week ytd FTSE SmallCap price(p) week ytd Industry Sectors price(p) week ytd
traded m's price change traded m's price change traded m's price change traded m's price change Winners Winners Winners Winners
Apple 196.5 488.25 15.15 Astrazeneca 145.3 8437.00 -112.00 Sap Se O.n. 275.0 135.80 -0.74 Softbank . 610.9 6259.00 -7.00 Persimmon 2677.00 5.6 -1.9 Frasers 346.40 22.2 -24.6 Amigo Holdings 17.82 112.6 -74.8 Household Goods 17566.25 1.3 -2.3
Amazon.com 60.7 3277.17 -20.20 Rio Tinto 128.4 4686.00 22.00 Rwe Ag Inh O.n. 258.4 32.54 0.04 Sony 477.4 8284.00 -70.00 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust 930.50 5.1 58.8 William Hill 163.50 21.0 -16.3 Topps Tiles 59.40 16.0 -20.8 Food & Drug Retailers 4291.30 0.7 2.1
Nvidia 59.3 502.65 17.01 Bhp 116.1 1723.60 -6.40 Linde Eo 0,001 226.1 206.20 -0.50 Fast Retailing Co., 226.9 61060.00 420.00 Ocado 2428.00 4.2 92.8 Bank Of Georgia 926.00 11.4 -44.3 Luceco 182.60 16.0 39.4 Equity Investment Instruments 11066.58 0.7 0.7
Microsoft 39.5 213.55 -1.04 Glaxosmithkline 96.4 1515.20 -9.80 Asml Holding 212.5 313.60 1.60 Tokyo Electron 218.9 27975.00 205.00 Ferguson 7390.00 4.1 5.9 Hg Capital Trust 272.50 9.0 4.8 Countrywide 148.40 13.3 -57.5 Real Estate Investment Trusts 2583.36 0.5 -
Facebook 22.4 267.24 -1.77 British American Tobacco 91.7 2526.00 -1.50 Intesa Sanpaolo 193.8 1.81 0.00 Toyota Motor 202.4 7082.00 -2.00 Intercontinental Hotels 4280.00 3.2 -18.1 Watches Of Switzerland 330.00 7.5 -15.4 Kenmare Resources 226.00 10.8 -5.4 Food Producers 6670.24 0.3 -
Advanced Micro Devices 21.7 82.93 0.16 Diageo 79.6 2590.00 -7.00 Allianz Se Na O.n. 188.9 179.22 -1.74 Mitsubishi Ufj Fin,. 201.1 425.70 -1.00 London Stock Exchange 8852.00 2.5 15.0 Apax Global Alpha 160.80 4.8 -9.9 Foxtons 39.00 9.9 -54.0 Travel & Leisure 6504.40 0.0 -
Boeing 15.7 169.34 -0.24 Bp 68.4 273.35 -3.40 Siemens Ag Na O.n. 188.7 115.94 -0.42 M3,. 186.4 6400.00 270.00 Gvc Holdings 786.20 2.1 -14.5 Grafton 706.50 4.4 -21.4 Brown (n) 56.40 8.5 -64.7 Real Estate & Investment Servic 2465.56 0.0 -
Alphabet 11.7 1576.01 -0.25 Hsbc Holdings 68.2 328.15 -0.80 Lvmh 186.1 385.45 2.10 Takeda Pharmaceutical 138.5 4037.00 14.00 Associated British Foods 2000.00 2.0 -22.5 Travis Perkins 1216.50 4.4 -25.3 Studio Retail 250.00 7.5 5.5 General Retailers 2300.13 -0.1 -8.4
Alphabet 10.4 1581.73 -0.02 Glencore 61.8 168.34 -0.44 Daimler Ag Na O.n. 182.8 41.14 -0.83 Familymart Co., 136.6 2258.00 -32.00 Flutter Entertainment 12260.00 2.0 31.9 Provident Fin 189.10 4.2 -59.2 Gem Diamonds 31.00 6.9 -40.5 Pharmaceuticals & Biotech. 17726.43 -0.1 -0.6
Netflix 8.9 492.27 -5.63 Vodafone 59.8 114.26 -1.10 Unilever 165.3 49.16 -0.26 Fanuc 127.6 18720.00 -285.00 Barratt Developments 522.00 2.0 -30.6 Allianz Technology Trust 2455.00 3.4 50.6 Spire Healthcare 90.30 6.9 -36.4 Index - Technology Hardware & Equipment 2275.46 -0.2 14.5
Kingfisher 273.50 2.0 23.6 Puretech Health 272.50 3.2 -14.0 Pendragon 8.50 6.3 -33.7 Support Services 9014.94 -0.2 -4.8
BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's
Reckitt Benckiser 7538.00 1.3 21.6 Coats 56.30 3.1 -24.7 Tt Electronics 183.00 5.8 -24.1 Oil Equipment & Services 4363.45 -0.5 -
price change chng% price change chng% price change chng% price change chng%
Ups Ups Ups Ups Losers Losers Losers Losers
Deere & 202.07 10.97 5.74 Hg Capital Trust 272.50 22.00 8.78 Accor 24.67 0.99 4.18 M3,. 6400.00 270.00 4.40 Standard Life Aberdeen 242.20 -9.0 -27.9 Capita 30.29 -18.0 -82.0 Premier Oil 22.49 -36.9 -77.4 Automobiles & Parts 2842.30 -9.6 -
Wynn Resorts 83.81 3.53 4.40 Calisen 178.15 12.60 7.61 Suez 11.80 0.46 4.05 Jfe Holdings,. 805.00 24.00 3.07 Standard Chartered 391.90 -7.1 -45.6 Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings 58.00 -15.3 -67.0 Rm 202.00 -16.9 -27.3 Industrial Metals 3313.95 -6.4 -
Ulta Beauty 213.85 8.45 4.11 Polypipe 425.00 29.00 7.32 Gjensidige Forsikring 17.91 0.51 2.91 Yahoo Japan 674.00 20.00 3.06 Bp 273.35 -6.6 -43.2 Hochschild Mining 236.20 -13.1 33.9 Dignity 534.00 -16.6 -11.0 Oil & Gas Producers 4193.81 -5.7 -
Estee Lauder Companies (the) 205.47 7.20 3.63 Bank Of Georgia 926.00 61.00 7.05 Lufthansa Ag Vna O.n. 8.62 0.19 2.25 Mazda Motor 664.00 18.00 2.79 M&g 168.00 -6.5 -31.1 Royal Mail 188.90 -11.4 -18.5 Severfield 53.00 -11.4 -36.5 Industrial Transportation 1960.46 -5.6 -
Nvidia 502.65 17.01 3.50 Watches Of Switzerland 330.00 21.50 6.97 Coloplast B A/s 139.74 2.69 1.96 Daiwa House Industry Co., 2793.50 68.50 2.51 Evraz 324.80 -6.1 -20.0 4imprint 2080.00 -9.0 -39.2 Stagecoach 45.00 -11.2 -72.0 Fixed Line Telecommunication 1260.77 -5.5 -
Bt 101.80 -5.8 -48.1 Chemring 234.50 -8.9 -5.3 Tullow Oil 22.47 -10.9 -62.3 Forestry & Paper 16452.83 -4.6 -
Downs Downs Downs Downs
Pearson 578.20 -5.2 -11.0 Equiniti 112.60 -8.5 -46.9 Funding Circle Holdings 80.30 -10.8 -16.9 Health Care Equip.& Services 6352.97 -4.0 -
Keysight 97.15 -5.67 -5.51 Hochschild Mining 236.20 -14.60 -5.82 A.p. M__ller - M__rsk A A/s 1169.80 -55.74 -4.55 Hitachi Zosen 398.00 -9.00 -2.21
Bhp 1723.60 -5.1 -3.7 National Express 137.00 -8.2 -71.1 Int Personal Finance 64.00 -9.7 -60.4 Mobile Telecommunications 2604.05 -3.9 -
News 14.59 -0.60 -3.95 Petrofac 165.20 -9.90 -5.65 A.p. M__ller - M__rsk B A/s 1266.77 -54.53 -4.13 Recruit Hldgs Co Ltd 3755.00 -76.00 -1.98
United Utilities 849.40 -5.0 -11.0 Cls Holdings 198.00 -8.1 -35.9 Superdry 134.60 -9.2 -73.5 Banks 2031.01 -3.6 -
Marathon Oil 5.30 -0.22 -3.90 Aggreko 456.20 -20.60 -4.32 Saipem 1.79 -0.06 -3.50 Ebara 2726.00 -52.00 -1.87
Smith & Nephew 1488.00 -5.0 -18.8 Network Int Holdings 388.20 -8.1 -38.9 4imprint 2080.00 -9.0 -39.2 Electronic & Electrical Equip. 8716.40 -2.8 0.6
News 14.62 -0.52 -3.43 Royal Mail 188.90 -6.10 -3.13 Seadrill 0.34 -0.01 -2.49 Sumco 1439.00 -25.00 -1.71
Royal Dutch Shell 1075.20 -5.0 -52.4 Pets At Home 282.00 -7.5 -1.7 Chemring 234.50 -8.9 -5.3 Gas Water & Multiutilities 4815.72 -2.8 -
Apache 14.25 -0.50 -3.36 Ferrexpo 186.50 -5.90 -3.07 Philips Kon 42.49 -0.93 -2.14 Shinsei Bank, 1174.00 -18.00 -1.51
Royal Dutch Shell 1115.80 -4.7 -50.6 C&c 209.00 -7.5 -49.1 Mitie 35.10 -8.8 -53.0 Industrial Engineering 12624.97 -2.8 -6.1
Based on the constituents of the S&P500 Based on the constituents of the FTSE 350 index Based on the constituents of the FTSEurofirst 300 Eurozone index Based on the constituents of the Nikkei 225 index
Based on last week's performance. †Price at suspension.

CURRENCIES
DOLLAR EURO POUND DOLLAR EURO POUND DOLLAR EURO POUND DOLLAR EURO POUND
Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's
Aug 21 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Aug 21 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Aug 21 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Aug 21 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change
Argentina Argentine Peso 73.5764 0.0512 86.6695 -0.3951 96.1833 -0.4219 Indonesia Indonesian Rupiah 14771.0000 - 17399.5654 -91.4836 19309.5298 -98.1855 Poland Polish Zloty 3.7440 0.0436 4.4102 0.0284 4.8943 0.0323 ..Three Month 0.7650 0.0039 0.9010 -0.0002 - -
Australia Australian Dollar 1.3979 0.0018 1.6467 -0.0066 1.8274 -0.0070 Israel Israeli Shekel 3.4000 -0.0021 4.0050 -0.0235 4.4447 -0.0253 Romania Romanian Leu 4.1095 0.0227 4.8407 0.0015 5.3721 0.0026 ..One Year 0.7652 0.0039 0.9005 -0.0002 - -
Bahrain Bahrainin Dinar 0.3770 - 0.4441 -0.0023 0.4928 -0.0025 Japan Japanese Yen 105.9550 0.0100 124.8101 -0.6444 138.5105 -0.6912 Russia Russian Ruble 74.7576 0.7301 88.0609 0.4015 97.7274 0.4623 United States United States Dollar - - 1.1780 -0.0062 1.3073 -0.0066
Bolivia Bolivian Boliviano 6.9100 - 8.1397 -0.0428 9.0332 -0.0459 ..One Month 105.9550 0.0099 124.8101 -0.6443 138.5105 -0.6912 Saudi Arabia Saudi Riyal 3.7506 - 4.4180 -0.0232 4.9030 -0.0249 ..One Month - - 1.1779 -0.1360 1.3073 -0.0066
Brazil Brazilian Real 5.6118 -0.0407 6.6104 -0.0829 7.3361 -0.0907 ..Three Month 105.9549 0.0098 124.8102 -0.6442 138.5104 -0.6913 Singapore Singapore Dollar 1.3727 0.0043 1.6169 -0.0034 1.7944 -0.0035 ..Three Month - - 1.1777 -0.1360 1.3073 -0.0066
Canada Canadian Dollar 1.3199 -0.0014 1.5547 -0.0099 1.7254 -0.0107 ..One Year 105.9544 0.0088 124.8104 -0.6438 138.5105 -0.6917 South Africa South African Rand 17.1438 -0.1812 20.1945 -0.3208 22.4113 -0.3521 ..One Year - - 1.1770 -0.1360 1.3075 -0.0066
Chile Chilean Peso 788.7300 1.9700 929.0872 -2.5521 1031.0736 -2.6544 Kenya Kenyan Shilling 108.0000 -0.0500 127.2190 -0.7281 141.1839 -0.7836 South Korea South Korean Won 1186.2000 -0.8000 1397.2885 -8.2936 1550.6694 -8.9361 Venezuela Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte - - - - - -
China Chinese Yuan 6.9136 -0.0083 8.1439 -0.0526 9.0379 -0.0569 Kuwait Kuwaiti Dinar 0.3059 - 0.3603 -0.0019 0.3999 -0.0020 Sweden Swedish Krona 8.7935 0.0665 10.3583 0.0243 11.4953 0.0289 Vietnam Vietnamese Dong 23176.0000 1.5000 27300.2509 -141.8189 30297.0627 -152.0310
Colombia Colombian Peso 3820.4800 22.8950 4500.3488 3.4505 4994.3539 4.6875 Malaysia Malaysian Ringgit 4.1790 0.0065 4.9227 -0.0182 5.4630 -0.0192 Switzerland Swiss Franc 0.9125 0.0028 1.0749 -0.0023 1.1929 -0.0023 European Union Euro 0.8489 0.0044 - - 1.1098 0.0002
Costa Rica Costa Rican Colon 592.3800 -2.3750 697.7961 -6.4811 774.3935 -7.0582 Mexico Mexican Peso 22.0125 -0.1825 25.9297 -0.3524 28.7760 -0.3861 Taiwan New Taiwan Dollar 29.3765 -0.0180 34.6041 -0.2032 38.4027 -0.2189 ..One Month 0.8489 0.0044 - - 1.1097 0.0002
Czech Republic Czech Koruna 22.1555 0.1468 26.0981 0.0366 28.9629 0.0456 New Zealand New Zealand Dollar 1.5306 -0.0068 1.8029 -0.0176 2.0008 -0.0191 Thailand Thai Baht 31.5500 0.1000 37.1644 -0.0770 41.2440 -0.0783 ..Three Month 0.8487 0.0044 - - 1.1096 0.0002
Denmark Danish Krone 6.3209 0.0335 7.4457 0.0005 8.2630 0.0020 Nigeria Nigerian Naira 385.5000 -0.8300 454.1011 -3.3703 503.9479 -3.6530 Tunisia Tunisian Dinar 2.7406 -0.0054 3.2282 -0.0234 3.5826 -0.0254 ..One Year 0.8480 0.0044 - - 1.1092 0.0002
Egypt Egyptian Pound 15.9268 0.0223 18.7610 -0.0722 20.8204 -0.0766 Norway Norwegian Krone 9.0486 0.0892 10.6588 0.0496 11.8288 0.0571 Turkey Turkish Lira 7.3450 -0.0030 8.6521 -0.0490 9.6018 -0.0528
Hong Kong Hong Kong Dollar 7.7503 0.0002 9.1295 -0.0478 10.1316 -0.0513 Pakistan Pakistani Rupee 168.3500 -0.1500 198.3085 -1.2203 220.0769 -1.3161 United Arab Emirates UAE Dirham 3.6732 - 4.3268 -0.0227 4.8018 -0.0244
Hungary Hungarian Forint 297.8225 2.6783 350.8210 1.3270 389.3308 1.5394 Peru Peruvian Nuevo Sol 3.5826 0.0070 4.2201 -0.0139 4.6834 -0.0146 United Kingdom Pound Sterling 0.7650 0.0039 0.9011 -0.0002 - -
India Indian Rupee 74.8469 -0.1881 88.1662 -0.6863 97.8442 -0.7447 Philippines Philippine Peso 48.6900 - 57.3546 -0.3015 63.6504 -0.3237 ..One Month 0.7650 0.0039 0.9010 -0.0002 - -
Rates are derived from WM Reuters Spot Rates and MorningStar (latest rates at time of production). Some values are rounded. Currency redenominated by 1000. The exchange rates printed in this table are also available at www.FT.com/marketsdata
UK SERIES
FTSE ACTUARIES SHARE INDICES www.ft.com/equities FT 30 INDEX FTSE SECTORS: LEADERS & LAGGARDS FTSE 100 SUMMARY
Produced in conjunction with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Aug 20 Aug 19 Aug 18 Aug 17 Aug 14 Yr Ago High Low Year to date percentage changes Closing Day's Closing Day's
£ Strlg Day's Euro £ Strlg £ Strlg Year Div P/E X/D Total FT 30 2209.50 2248.80 2229.70 2253.40 2252.90 0.00 3314.70 1337.80 Leisure Goods 34.17 Electricity -9.69 Real Est Invest & Se -21.33 FTSE 100 Price Change FTSE 100 Price Change
Aug 21 chge% Index Aug 20 Aug 19 ago yield% Cover ratio adj Return FT 30 Div Yield - - - - - 0.00 3.93 2.74 Tech Hardware & Eq 30.16 General Retailers -10.32 Mobile Telecomms -22.02 3I Group PLC 909.80 -1.20 Kingfisher PLC 273.50 0.40
FTSE 100 (100) 6001.89 -0.19 5196.84 6013.34 6111.98 7128.18 4.66 1.16 18.45 161.22 5692.76 P/E Ratio net - - - - - 0.00 19.44 14.26 Food & Drug Retailer 2.21 Utilities -10.52 Consumer Services -22.57 Admiral Group PLC 2666 6.00 Land Securities Group PLC 570.80 12.80
FTSE 250 (251) 17577.68 0.46 15219.96 17496.43 17583.39 19205.32 3.69 1.36 19.93 228.67 13863.65 FT 30 since compilation: 4198.4 high: 19/07/1999; low49.4 18/02/1900Base Date: 1/7/35 Electronic & Elec Eq 0.61 Gas Water & Multi -10.77 Industrial Transport -23.48 Anglo American PLC 1857.8 -4.20 Legal & General Group PLC 223.80 1.00
FTSE 250 ex Inv Co (184) 17809.09 0.34 15420.33 17748.35 17850.01 20107.63 4.07 1.32 18.58 204.95 14337.46 FT 30 hourly changes Pharmace & Biotech -0.18 Nonlife Insurance -11.85 Real Est Invest & Tr -23.56 Antofagasta PLC 1080.5 -4.00 Lloyds Banking Group PLC 28.10 -0.04
FTSE 350 (351) 3387.00 -0.08 2932.70 3389.63 3438.55 3965.90 4.49 1.19 18.69 82.81 6403.70 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 High Low Equity Invest Instr -1.48 Industrials -11.98 Media -23.65 Ashtead Group PLC 2690 -24.00 London Stock Exchange Group PLC 8852 16.00
FTSE 350 ex Investment Trusts (283) 3305.80 -0.14 2862.39 3310.29 3360.23 3915.20 4.62 1.17 18.52 82.47 3225.43 2248.8 2217.4 2214.9 2249.2 2399.1 2395.8 2394.3 2414 2426.7 2439.2 2366.1 Household Goods & Ho -2.69 Industrial Metals & -12.30 Tobacco -24.00 Associated British Foods PLC 2000 4.00 M&G PLC 168.00 -1.00
FTSE 350 Higher Yield (150) 2564.51 -0.15 2220.53 2568.43 2619.12 3406.79 7.03 0.99 14.38 89.94 5307.95 FT30 constituents and recent additions/deletions can be found at www.ft.com/ft30 Health Care -2.89 Consumer Goods -13.36 Health Care Eq & Srv -24.07 Astrazeneca PLC 8437 -112.00 Melrose Industries PLC 98.98 -1.02
FTSE 350 Lower Yield (201) 4061.32 -0.01 3516.57 4061.53 4099.36 4214.34 2.05 1.85 26.29 62.73 4791.32 Mining -3.12 Financial Services -14.12 Financials -25.05 Auto Trader Group PLC 556.20 3.00 Mondi PLC 1461.5 10.50
FTSE SmallCap (259) 5082.70 0.33 4400.95 5065.92 5098.51 5413.62 4.35 0.41 55.94 85.60 8011.33 Personal Goods -3.28 FTSE SmallCap Index -14.58 Telecommunications -29.12
FTSE SmallCap ex Inv Co (140) 3872.48 0.34 3353.06 3859.53 3883.45 4344.38 5.39 0.75 24.91 47.77 6393.08 FX: EFFECTIVE INDICES Basic Materials -4.34 Food Producers -16.52 Aerospace & Defense -31.17
Avast PLC 538.50 6.00 Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets PLC 197.15 0.60
Aveva Group PLC 4257 13.00 National Grid PLC 876.60 2.00
FTSE All-Share (610) 3352.18 -0.06 2902.55 3354.33 3401.86 3912.94 4.49 1.17 19.11 81.08 6402.11 Support Services -6.14 Forestry & Paper -17.55 Travel & Leisure -37.05
Aug 20 Aug 19 Mnth Ago Aug 21 Aug 20 Mnth Ago Aviva PLC 281.10 1.10 Natwest Group PLC 111.85 0.25
FTSE All-Share ex Inv Co (423) 3241.21 -0.13 2806.46 3245.35 3293.81 3834.86 4.63 1.16 18.60 80.11 3211.91 Technology -6.40 NON FINANCIALS Index -18.29 Fixed Line Telecomms -44.71 Bae Systems PLC 530.00 1.40 Next PLC 5960 -42.00
FTSE All-Share ex Multinationals (536) 1039.44 0.34 745.95 1035.97 1045.40 1111.71 3.87 1.01 25.54 16.90 2067.26 Australia - - - Sweden - - - Industrial Eng -7.60 Beverages -19.30 Banks -46.35 Barclays PLC 108.00 0.42 Ocado Group PLC 2428 10.00
FTSE Fledgling (94) 8551.85 0.22 7404.78 8532.68 8546.72 9244.09 3.75 1.16 22.95 145.75 17459.48 Canada - - - Switzerland - - - Chemicals -7.65 FTSE 250 Index -19.68 Oil & Gas Producers -47.95 Barratt Developments PLC 522.00 0.40 Pearson PLC 578.20 -2.20
FTSE Fledgling ex Inv Co (44) 9925.64 0.50 8594.30 9876.16 9872.41 10907.82 4.76 2.64 7.96 119.05 19833.68 Denmark - - - UK 78.22 78.21 76.32 Software & Comp Serv -9.06 FTSE All{HY-}Share Index -20.12 Oil & Gas -47.97 Berkeley Group Holdings (The) PLC 4527 -9.00 Pennon Group PLC 1008.5 -5.50
FTSE All-Small (353) 3524.63 0.33 3051.86 3513.19 3534.88 3757.79 4.32 0.45 51.88 59.45 7127.59 Japan - - - USA - - - Construct & Material -9.40 FTSE 100 Index -20.43 Automobiles & Parts -48.03 Bhp Group PLC 1723.6 -6.40 Persimmon PLC 2677 -14.00
FTSE All-Small ex Inv Co (184) 2894.76 0.34 2506.48 2884.89 2902.02 3242.80 5.36 0.81 22.98 35.65 6053.73 New Zealand - - - Euro - - - Life Insurance -21.22 Oil Equipment & Serv -49.52 BP PLC 273.35 -3.40 Phoenix Group Holdings PLC 697.20 -
FTSE AIM All-Share (723) 956.96 -0.05 828.60 957.46 960.43 869.09 1.18 1.28 65.94 4.29 1095.38 Norway - - -
British American Tobacco PLC 2526 -1.50 Polymetal International PLC 1960.5 -6.00
FTSE Sector Indices Source: Bank of England. New Sterling ERI base Jan 2005 = 100. Other indices base average 1990 = 100. British Land Company PLC 360.60 4.60 Prudential PLC 1215 -7.00
Oil & Gas (11) 4345.52 -0.91 3762.65 4385.30 4498.81 8655.64 9.08 1.30 8.48 256.93 4826.10 Index rebased 1/2/95. for further information about ERIs see www.bankofengland.co.uk Bt Group PLC 101.80 -1.30 Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC 7538 -12.00
Oil & Gas Producers (8) 4213.38 -0.92 3648.23 4252.31 4362.81 8388.65 9.03 1.32 8.42 252.79 4851.19 Bunzl PLC 2405 -5.00 Relx PLC 1728 6.50
Oil Equipment Services & Distribution (3) 4376.80 -0.35 3789.74 4392.16 4476.22 8977.66 12.65 0.48 16.64 6.80 3768.76 FTSE GLOBAL EQUITY INDEX SERIES Burberry Group PLC 1404.5 -1.50 Rentokil Initial PLC 529.60 1.40
Basic Materials (22) 6072.16 -0.08 5257.69 6077.12 6275.81 5759.05 5.45 2.02 9.08 214.06 7250.40 Coca-Cola Hbc AG 2018 -38.00 Rightmove PLC 619.80 2.20
Chemicals (7) 13104.85 -0.17 11347.07 13127.12 13354.43 13090.23 2.28 2.75 15.98 181.48 12561.20 Aug 20 No of US $ Day Mth YTD Total
YTD Gr Div Aug 20 No of US $ Day Mth YTD Total YTD Gr Div Compass Group PLC 1163.5 33.50 Rio Tinto PLC 4686 22.00
Forestry & Paper (1) 17953.06 0.72 15544.99 17824.08 18831.37 19623.69 3.01 3.27 10.18 540.55 21870.16 Regions & countries stocks indices % % % retn
% Yield Sectors stocks indices % % % retn % Yield Crh PLC 2977 26.00 Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC 258.30 2.30
Industrial Metals & Mining (2) 3569.66 -0.75 3090.85 3596.78 3806.67 4979.41 12.47 1.60 5.01 453.68 4802.28 FTSE Global All Cap 8861 639.33 -0.2 4.5 0.4
1.9 979.47
2.1 Oil Equipment & Services 32 189.48 -0.3 -0.3 -29.3 314.85 -26.6 5.6 Croda International PLC 5910 - Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1075.2 -7.60
Mining (12) 17611.50 -0.10 15249.24 17629.13 18206.10 16362.65 5.79 1.97 8.75 639.62 11096.07 FTSE Global All Cap 7079 462.39 0.3 7.3 -0.3
0.2 624.68
2.5 Basic Materials 349 522.49 -0.4 -0.4 1.7 879.38 3.9 3.1 Dcc PLC 6636 -130.00 Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1115.8 -7.20
FTSE Global Large Cap 1769 579.66 -0.2 4.4 2.2
3.8 914.63
2.2 Chemicals 159 749.17 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1 1250.96 1.9 2.7 Diageo PLC 2590 -7.00 Rsa Insurance Group PLC 446.00 3.40
Industrials (100) 5276.00 -0.17 4568.32 5285.21 5349.93 5406.04 2.51 1.31 30.54 44.78 5829.72
Construction & Materials (15) 6692.06 0.93 5794.44 6630.46 6752.99 5951.22 2.78 0.38 95.89 99.48 7692.45 FTSE Global Mid Cap 2176 791.46 -0.3 4.3 -4.6
-3.4 1140.16
2.0 Forestry & Paper 20 243.09 -0.3 -0.3 -12.6 458.70 -10.5 3.0 Evraz PLC 324.80 -0.20 Sage Group PLC 735.00 -2.80
Aerospace & Defense (9) 3589.12 0.11 3107.70 3585.29 3643.66 5126.05 3.52 0.69 41.24 56.13 4133.07 FTSE Global Small Cap 4916 829.09 -0.2 5.5 -4.1
-3.0 1149.74
1.8 Industrial Metals & Mining 92 342.96 0.1 0.1 -9.3 578.50 -7.7 3.2 Experian PLC 2764 -16.00 Sainsbury (J) PLC 188.25 -0.15
General Industrials (7) 4241.28 -0.32 3672.39 4255.01 4346.08 4591.30 3.57 1.02 27.51 25.34 5253.81 FTSE All-World 3945 376.95 -0.2 4.4 1.0
2.5 611.11
2.2 Mining 78 823.26 -1.0 -1.0 12.9 1416.04 15.9 3.6 Ferguson PLC 7390 -36.00 Schroders PLC 2920 -10.00
Electronic & Electrical Equipment (10)10293.66 -0.65 8912.95 10360.82 10449.53 9006.09 1.34 1.88 39.81 0.00 9799.20 FTSE World 2592 669.43 -0.2 4.4 0.8
2.3 1456.44
2.2 Industrials 747 446.11 -0.2 -0.2 -0.6 683.49 0.6 1.8 Flutter Entertainment PLC 12260 210.00 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC 930.50 18.50
Industrial Engineering (13) 13623.49 -0.10 11796.15 13637.73 13942.56 13006.04 2.53 1.48 26.76 124.44 17745.94 FTSE Global All Cap ex UNITED KINGDOM In 8559 675.49 -0.2 4.6 1.5
3.0 1016.34
2.0 Construction & Materials 147 542.05 -0.1 -0.1 -2.2 872.33 -0.7 1.9 Fresnillo PLC 1234 -11.00 Segro PLC 967.80 6.20
Industrial Transportation (6) 3010.17 -1.34 2606.41 3051.15 3101.76 3651.23 7.18 0.76 18.28 0.00 3045.19 FTSE Global All Cap ex USA 7086 494.57 0.1 4.0 -4.7
-2.8 826.37
2.8 Aerospace & Defense 37 649.59 -0.1 -0.1 -27.4 980.39 -26.7 2.3 Glaxosmithkline PLC 1515.2 -9.80 Severn Trent PLC 2403 -8.00
Support Services (40) 8558.44 -0.40 7410.48 8592.96 8638.67 8313.77 1.80 2.20 25.32 56.79 9465.26 FTSE Global All Cap ex JAPAN 7512 660.37 -0.2 4.5 0.7
2.2 1021.51
2.1 General Industrials 67 206.24 -0.1 -0.1 -9.5 345.80 -7.9 2.7 Glencore PLC 168.34 -0.44 Smith & Nephew PLC 1488 -36.00
FTSE Global All Cap ex Eurozone 8214 672.57 -0.3 4.6 1.1
2.5 1008.97
2.1 Electronic & Electrical Equipment 142 533.26 -0.4 -0.4 4.8 742.13 6.0 1.6 Gvc Holdings PLC 786.20 37.80 Smith (Ds) PLC 265.30 -3.40
Consumer Goods (42) 17446.07 -0.31 15106.00 17500.33 17721.51 19854.42 4.62 1.64 13.19 477.23 14649.06
FTSE Developed 2167 614.27 -0.2 4.5 1.4
2.9 948.62
2.1 Industrial Engineering 142 865.68 -0.2 -0.2 4.4 1320.80 6.0 2.0 Halma PLC 2211 -12.00 Smiths Group PLC 1422.5 3.50
Automobiles & Parts (2) 2856.86 0.14 2473.67 2852.75 3120.85 4123.31 0.86 2.98 39.04 0.00 2923.19
FTSE Developed All Cap 5630 638.82 -0.2 4.6 0.8
2.2 972.74
2.1 Industrial Transportation 125 815.36 0.2 0.2 7.6 1254.45 8.8 1.7 Hargreaves Lansdown PLC 1690 -20.00 Smurfit Kappa Group PLC 2682 -8.00
Beverages (6) 20491.39 -0.39 17742.84 20571.92 20916.69 27029.74 2.78 1.63 22.04 528.83 15732.99
FTSE Developed Large Cap 880 578.89 -0.2 4.5 2.7
4.2 909.88
2.2 Support Services 87 555.32 -0.4 -0.4 10.0 803.23 11.0 1.2 Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC 2349 -36.00 Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC 10445 -60.00
Food Producers (10) 6740.47 0.07 5836.36 6735.94 6780.30 7090.39 2.64 2.09 18.11 72.81 6242.33
FTSE Developed Europe Large Cap 232 357.48 0.6 2.4 -6.9
-4.7 665.54
3.1 Consumer Goods 535 524.46 -0.2 -0.2 2.8 840.88 4.4 2.3 Homeserve PLC 1337 14.00 Sse PLC 1297 4.00
Household Goods & Home Construction (14)14650.27 -0.23 12685.20 14684.66 14861.49 13175.43 3.54 1.93 14.63 248.94 11744.58
FTSE Developed Europe Mid Cap 355 601.79 0.1 6.3 -4.8
-3.5 978.49
2.4 Automobiles & Parts 126 427.53 -0.1 -0.1 12.3 668.64 13.9 2.0 HSBC Holdings PLC 328.15 -0.80 St. James's Place PLC 987.80 0.40
Leisure Goods (2) 22312.64 0.63 19319.81 22172.96 21937.16 12468.11 2.28 1.06 41.41 182.24 23208.40
FTSE Dev Europe Small Cap 695 809.56 -0.1 6.5 -9.9
-8.6 1269.28
2.3 Beverages 67 642.15 -0.6 -0.6 -9.3 1037.52 -8.0 2.6 Imperial Brands PLC 1253 -12.00 Standard Chartered PLC 391.90 -5.50
Personal Goods (6) 32042.31 -0.60 27744.42 32234.50 32394.29 37177.04 3.18 2.90 10.84 679.19 23823.95
FTSE North America Large Cap 253 745.68 -0.4 5.1 7.0
8.4 1082.33
1.8 Food Producers 131 710.27 0.1 0.1 4.2 1164.51 6.2 2.3 Informa PLC 406.20 3.40 Standard Life Aberdeen PLC 242.20 -3.40
Tobacco (2) 26209.94 -0.21 22694.35 26265.51 26710.11 32954.39 9.31 1.16 9.29 1312.48 20737.97
FTSE North America Mid Cap 411 918.17 -0.5 3.6 -3.0
-1.9 1228.40
1.7 Household Goods & Home Construction 58 556.33 -0.2 -0.2 9.8 886.60 11.6 2.2 Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC 4280 250.00 Taylor Wimpey PLC 120.65 0.70
Health Care (15) 12499.90 -1.08 10823.27 12635.81 12761.45 12371.65 3.37 1.23 24.04 356.21 10825.32
FTSE North America Small Cap 1298 923.41 -0.3 5.5 -3.3
-2.3 1193.68
1.5 Leisure Goods 42 283.59 -0.8 -0.8 17.1 389.54 18.1 1.0 Intermediate Capital Group PLC 1327 2.00 Tesco PLC 227.50 2.50
Health Care Equipment & Services (6) 6416.76 -1.71 5556.07 6528.22 6572.72 8588.83 2.14 1.39 33.62 80.81 5876.83
FTSE North America 664 482.62 -0.5 4.8 5.2
6.5 715.73
1.8 Personal Goods 98 899.21 0.1 0.1 -0.2 1334.31 0.8 1.6 International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. 193.20 2.70 Unilever PLC 4509 -32.00
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology (9) 17664.06 -1.01 15294.75 17844.91 18027.83 16882.43 3.50 1.22 23.39 530.70 13746.41
FTSE Developed ex North America 1503 257.84 0.3 3.8 -5.2
-3.4 463.89
2.9 Tobacco 13 867.18 0.2 0.2 -13.0 2131.47 -9.6 7.1 Intertek Group PLC 5850 -12.00 United Utilities Group PLC 849.40 0.40
Consumer Services (82) 4399.57 1.22 3809.44 4346.54 4388.54 5172.87 3.48 1.51 19.05 55.85 4488.14 FTSE Japan Large Cap 179 391.45 0.0 4.1 -1.3
0.0 544.01
2.4 Health Care 279 650.64 -0.2 -0.2 6.5 997.47 8.0 1.8
Food & Drug Retailers (5) 4457.81 0.76 3859.88 4424.20 4444.09 3760.92 2.99 1.12 29.79 78.41 5602.52 Itv PLC 60.14 -1.16 Vodafone Group PLC 114.26 -1.10
FTSE Japan Mid Cap 327 578.37 -0.2 3.8 -8.0
-6.8 763.41
2.2 Health Care Equipment & Services 96 1250.15 -0.3 -0.3 6.6 1501.38 7.1 0.8 Jd Sports Fashion PLC 684.80 7.00 Whitbread PLC 2398 66.00
General Retailers (25) 2159.63 0.16 1869.95 2156.26 2172.33 2012.41 2.49 2.06 19.47 8.19 2698.42
FTSE Global wi JAPAN Small Cap 843 632.14 -0.1 2.9 -9.1
-7.9 864.70
2.3 Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 183 435.71 -0.1 -0.1 6.1 709.39 8.2 2.4 Johnson Matthey PLC 2295 -23.00 Wpp PLC 602.40 -2.20
Media (17) 7089.51 0.23 6138.58 7073.17 7133.26 8917.49 3.84 1.58 16.46 112.95 4769.58
FTSE Japan 506 162.70 0.0 4.1 -2.7
-1.3 253.18
2.4 Consumer Services 450 624.34 -0.5 -0.5 11.9 872.19 12.8 1.2 Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. 8890 14.00
Travel & Leisure (35) 6369.14 3.09 5514.83 6178.09 6271.39 9273.61 4.03 1.39 17.80 81.59 6535.32
FTSE Asia Pacific Large Cap ex Japan 925 748.31 -0.3 4.8 3.0
4.8 1287.91
2.6 Food & Drug Retailers 67 284.18 -0.3 -0.3 -3.6 427.86 -1.8 2.6
Telecommunications (6) 1611.20 -0.92 1395.09 1626.22 1667.45 2196.66 8.40 -0.44 -27.22 43.50 2178.80 FTSE Asia Pacific Mid Cap ex Japan 836 857.27 0.2 6.2 -1.0
0.7 1415.56
2.8 General Retailers 147 1200.17 -0.6 -0.6 32.6 1612.71 33.2 0.7
Fixed Line Telecommunications (3) 1307.02 -1.04 1131.71 1320.82 1350.75 1981.67 13.67 1.27 5.78 3.51 1432.22
Mobile Telecommunications (3) 2600.11 -0.88 2251.35 2623.31 2692.08 3405.82 6.73 -1.54 -9.67 90.67 3170.18
FTSE Asia Pacific Small Cap ex Japan
FTSE Asia Pacific Ex Japan
1787
1761
566.56
583.17
0.0
-0.3
6.1
4.9
4.3
6.2
2.6
4.5
914.83
2.6 Media
1066.18
2.6 Travel & Leisure
85 384.17
151 415.87
-0.4
-0.3
-0.4 0.0 540.16
-0.3 -19.7 593.64 -18.9
0.7 1.3
2.2
UK STOCK MARKET TRADING DATA
Utilities (8) 6909.08 0.07 5982.36 6904.56 6919.24 6404.46 6.10 0.90 18.18 275.03 9540.49 FTSE Emerging All Cap 3231 770.99 -0.5 3.5 -2.4
-0.4 1262.29
2.5 Telecommunication 96 149.61 0.3 0.3 -6.7 321.62 -3.9 4.5 Aug 21 Aug 20 Aug 19 Aug 18 Aug 17 Yr Ago
Electricity (3) 7575.55 0.37 6559.43 7547.72 7570.17 6470.27 6.13 0.81 20.19 459.42 13886.76 FTSE Emerging Large Cap 889 745.03 -0.6 3.5 -1.7
0.4 1227.85
2.5 Fixed Line Telecommuniations 43 116.34 0.1 0.1 -14.1 280.56 -11.0 5.6 - - - - - -
Gas Water & Multiutilities (5) 6364.47 -0.03 5510.79 6366.16 6378.05 6042.64 6.09 0.93 17.64 212.92 8664.13 FTSE Emerging Mid Cap 889 884.32 0.0 3.5 -9.2
-7.1 1445.38
2.9 Mobile Telecommunications 53 173.04 0.5 0.5 3.7 325.64 6.1 3.2 Order Book Turnover (m) 95.99 45.21 34.44 65.66 28.69 28.69
Financials (308) 3856.68 0.29 3339.37 3845.48 3888.28 4564.04 4.19 0.54 44.22 66.98 4003.42 FTSE Emerging Small Cap 1453 745.78 -0.3 4.1 -1.4
0.7 1170.34
2.7 Utilities 189 298.36 -0.3 -0.3 -6.1 648.51 -3.8 3.5 Order Book Bargains 687432.00 666412.00 752039.00 666036.00 739645.00 739645.00
Banks (11) 2004.28 -0.18 1735.44 2007.84 2052.98 3385.25 6.59 -0.19 -80.33 0.02 1650.75 FTSE Emerging Europe 75 338.58 0.6 4.6 -23.1
-20.5 628.98
5.7 Electricity 132 335.42 -0.1 -0.1 -5.8 718.51 -3.5 3.5 Order Book Shares Traded (m) 1300.00 1117.00 1197.00 1225.00 1307.00 1307.00
Nonlife Insurance (8) 3268.21 0.78 2829.84 3242.83 3288.11 3612.79 4.35 1.43 16.02 77.16 6423.90 FTSE Latin America All Cap 244 663.69 -0.9 -1.1 -32.6
-31.6 1124.95
2.8 Gas Water & Multiutilities 57 299.15 -0.5 -0.5 -6.9 671.58 -4.6 3.5 Total Equity Turnover (£m) 5218.23 3017.56 3736.15 5694.97 3492.83 3492.83
Life Insurance/Assurance (7) 6470.65 -0.09 5602.73 6476.70 6616.69 6691.42 3.71 2.22 12.15 229.31 7326.84 FTSE Middle East and Africa All Cap 327 571.99 -0.1 1.2 -17.1
-14.9 3.6 Financials
984.46 862 219.56 0.0 0.0 -17.0 395.56 -15.2 3.3 Total Mkt Bargains 872933.00 841438.00 931878.00 847001.00 908311.00 908311.00
Real Estate Investment & Services (17) 2310.50 0.67 2000.59 2295.09 2273.87 2339.82 2.39 1.97 21.21 23.01 6615.47 FTSE Global wi UNITED KINGDOM All Cap In 302 285.58 0.2 2.8 -20.1
-18.4 4.6 Banks
540.99 279 154.40 0.4 0.4 -27.7 304.94 -25.9 4.6 Total Shares Traded (m) 6675.00 10359.00 9459.00 11541.00 12408.00 12408.00
Real Estate Investment Trusts (39) 2304.81 0.99 1995.66 2282.24 2229.96 2499.98 4.28 -0.90 -25.97 47.62 3255.67 FTSE Global wi USA All Cap 1775 826.06 -0.4 4.8 4.6
5.9 1.7 Nonlife Insurance
1157.51 74 268.33 0.0 0.0 -13.1 419.61 -11.3 2.4 † Excluding intra-market and overseas turnover. *UK only total at 6pm. ‡ UK plus intra-market turnover. (u) Unavaliable.
General Financial (39) 9359.94 -0.07 8104.47 9366.20 9533.25 9490.29 3.59 0.98 28.49 253.34 12031.30 FTSE Europe All Cap 1431 421.69 0.4 3.5 -7.3
-5.3 3.0 Life Insurance
754.28 56 198.98 -0.2 -0.2 -17.6 353.81 -15.1 3.9 (c) Market closed.
Equity Investment Instruments (187) 11077.72 0.82 9591.84 10987.87 11026.73 10498.70 2.56 1.26 30.88 186.37 6578.36 FTSE Eurozone All Cap 647 410.30 0.4 3.4 -5.7
-3.8 2.4 Financial Services
731.95 211 362.86 0.3 0.3 -2.0 530.63 -0.7 2.0
Non Financials (302) 4071.26 -0.18 3525.18 4078.78 4140.77 4728.12 4.59 1.36 16.02 107.87 6830.57 FTSE EDHEC-Risk Efficient All-World 3945 413.77 -0.3 4.1 -4.4
-3.0 2.4 Technology
619.18 292 452.11 -0.4 -0.4 25.7 578.25 26.7 1.0
Technology (16) 2118.39 0.07 1834.25 2116.82 2127.24 2114.27 3.20 0.09 353.38 27.72 2948.31 FTSE EDHEC-Risk Efficient Developed Europe 587 325.69 0.3 5.5 -3.6
-2.1 2.6 Software & Computer Services
540.48 154 762.10 -0.4 -0.4 25.4 911.14 25.9 0.6 All data provided by Morningstar unless otherwise noted. All elements listed are indicative and believed
Software & Computer Services (14) 2253.37 -0.01 1951.12 2253.59 2262.94 2346.40 3.40 -0.03 -852.79 29.57 3317.24 Oil & Gas 146 243.50 -0.5 1.7 -33.1
-30.6 448.83
5.7 Technology Hardware & Equipment 138 351.66 -0.3 -0.3 26.5 479.13 28.0 1.5 accurate at the time of publication. No offer is made by Morningstar or the FT. The FT does not warrant nor
Technology Hardware & Equipment (2) 5662.99 0.90 4903.40 5612.71 5682.69 3247.80 1.23 3.38 24.02 69.78 7029.68 Oil & Gas Producers 104 229.45 -0.5 0.4 -35.0
-32.5 432.38
5.9 Alternative Energy 10 171.32 -0.4 -0.4 35.4 243.50 37.4 1.1 guarantee that the information is reliable or complete. The FT does not accept responsibility and will not be
Real Estate Investment & Services 161 329.21 0.0 0.0 -10.8 602.14 -8.7 3.0 liable for any loss arising from the reliance on or use of the listed information.
Hourly movements 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 High/day Low/day Real Estate Investment Trusts 81 427.26 -1.8 -1.8 -13.8 929.14 -11.9 4.1 For all queries e-mail ft.reader.enquiries@morningstar.com
FTSE 100 6023.88 6009.66 5999.16 6022.05 6004.70 5984.92 5955.66 5990.20 6001.43 6036.10 5949.01 Real Estate Investment & Services 152 258.63 2.8 2.8 -30.0 463.40 -29.7 4.2
FTSE 250 17577.50 17536.45 17523.30 17523.61 17503.44 17485.05 17378.02 17489.12 17536.91 17595.19 17371.55 The FTSE Global Equity Series, launched in 2003, contains the FTSE Global Small Cap Indices and broader FTSE Global All Cap Indices (large/mid/small cap) as well as the enhanced FTSE All-World index Series (large/
mid cap) - please see www.ftse.com/geis. The trade names Fundamental Index® and RAFI® are registered trademarks and the patented and patent-pending proprietary intellectual property of Research Affiliates, LLC
Data provided by Morningstar | www.morningstar.co.uk
FTSE SmallCap 5071.38 5068.04 5062.11 5061.14 5062.90 5061.47 5054.30 5064.55 5075.07 5082.70 5052.79
FTSE All-Share 3361.75 3354.01 3348.78 3358.98 3350.63 3341.18 3324.54 3343.73 3350.50 3365.96 3321.35 (US Patent Nos. 7,620,577; 7,747,502; 7,778,905; 7,792,719; Patent Pending Publ. Nos. US-2006-0149645-A1, US-2007-0055598-A1, US-2008-0288416-A1, US-2010- 0063942-A1, WO 2005/076812, WO 2007/078399 A2,
Time of FTSE 100 Day's high:09:50:00 Day's Low13:05:00 FTSE 100 2010/11 High: 7674.56(17/01/2020) Low: 4993.89(23/03/2020) WO 2008/118372, EPN 1733352, and HK1099110). ”EDHEC™” is a trade mark of EDHEC Business School As of January 2nd 2006, FTSE is basing its sector indices on the Industrial Classification Benchmark - please see
Time of FTSE All-Share Day's high:09:50:00 Day's Low13:05:00 FTSE 100 2010/11 High: 4257.93(17/01/2020) Low: 2727.86(23/03/2020) www.ftse.com/icb. For constituent changes and other information about FTSE, please see www.ftse.com. © FTSE International Limited. 2013. All Rights reserved. ”FTSE®” is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange
Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under licence.
Further information is available on http://www.ftse.com © FTSE International Limited. 2013. All Rights reserved. ”FTSE®” is a trade mark of the
London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under licence. † Sector P/E ratios greater than 80 are not shown.
For changes to FTSE Fledgling Index constituents please refer to www.ftse.com/indexchanges. ‡ Values are negative.

UK RIGHTS OFFERS UK COMPANY RESULTS UK RECENT EQUITY ISSUES

Amount Latest Company Turnover Pre-tax EPS(p) Div(p) Pay day Total Issue Issue Stock Close Mkt
Issue paid renun. closing BMO Private Equity Trust Int 14.258L 6.647 19.280L 8.990 0.00000 3.81000 - 11.738 14.770 date price(p) Sector code Stock price(p) +/- High Low Cap (£m)
price up date High Low Stock Price p +or- Chrysalis VCT Int 1.918L 0.166 6.700L 0.600 0.00000 1.75000 - 3.232 5.000 07/31 45.00 AIM AEXG AEX Gold Inc 46.50 0.90 53.00 44.00 8235.1
There are currently no rights offers by any companies listed on the LSE. Empyrean Energy Pre 0.000 0.000 0.995L 0.143 0.001L 0.000 0.00000 0.00000 - 0.000 0.000
Holders Technology Int 5.327 6.028 0.090L 0.020 2.130L 1.170 0.00000 0.25000 - 0.249 0.750
JPMorgan US Smaller Companies IT Int 10.149L 33.709 17.650L 57.950 0.00000 0.00000 - 2.486 2.500
Tekcapital Int 2.860 5.402 1.899 4.421 0.026 0.081 0.00000 0.00000 - 0.000 0.000

Figures in £m. Earnings shown basic. Figures in light text are for corresponding period year earlier. §Placing price. *Intoduction. ‡When issued. Annual report/prospectus available at www.ft.com/ir
For more information on dividend payments visit www.ft.com/marketsdata For a full explanation of all the other symbols please refer to London Share Service notes.
16 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

MARKET DATA

FT500: THE WORLD'S LARGEST COMPANIES

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22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 17

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Main Market
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Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s
Aerospace & Defence CloseBrs 1097 -11.00 1663 849.00 6.02 8.59 159.8 Superdry Pl 134.60 -1.60 529.00 60.10 8.54 -0.88 567.4 Pearson 578.20 -2.20 891.40 412.08 3.29 17.01 1828.7 LandSecs 570.80 12.80 1019.5 399.80 6.11 -5.08 2807.5 Hays 116.70 -0.90 186.00 85.25 3.40 11.98 1780.3
Avon Rubber♦ 3590 -20.00 3962.25 1552 0.58 86.29 32.4 DBAG € 30.80 -0.05 42.50 22.20 4.78 -12.25 2.6 TaylorWm 120.65 0.70 237.70 101.00 6.33 5.86 10029.7 RELX PLCX 1728 6.50 2109 1382.86 2.51 22.47 1876.3 LondonMtrc 240.40 4.20 245.40 132.90 3.54 -343.43 879.0 Homesve 1337 14.00 1371 755.81 1.65 42.44 485.4
BAE Sys 530.00 1.40 672.80 428.60 4.26 11.50 3654.3 Hargr Lans 1690 -20.00 2186 1147 1.99 30.62 860.4 TedBaker 95.50 3.10 910.35 59.57 41.35 -0.74 1241.6 Rightmove P 619.80 2.20 710.60 373.10 1.10 31.80 1322.0 McKaySec 188.00 5.00 286.00 136.00 5.43 21.94 11.4 HowdenJny 542.20 2.80 736.80 394.00 2.18 15.58 1335.2
Chemring♦ 234.50 -6.00 367.75 145.80 1.54 18.61 130.4 Indvardn SKr 229.70 -1.40 255.00 167.70 - 39.35 177.4 Vistry Grou 632.50 1.00 1491.8 503.50 9.25 6.24 347.4 STV Grp 221.00 -2.00 455.00 210.00 9.19 5.42 0.5 Palace Cap 188.50 -0.25 347.34 158.37 7.56 -15.97 9.6 Intertek 5850 -12.00 6178 3786 1.73 30.37 148.5
Meggitt 280.20 -1.10 701.80 196.15 6.03 9.90 1296.0 ICG 1327 2.00 1896 452.00 3.77 34.74 329.9 ThmReut C$X 100.93 -0.38 109.99 75.91 2.03 21.98 5.5 PrimyHth 153.40 -0.20 167.60 120.40 3.65 -23.60 1827.7 Kin and Car 63.50 -0.90 112.00 46.00 3.07 -37.13 4.6
Investec 143.90 4.35 388.33 122.55 17.03 8.32 2559.0
Industrial Engineering WPPX 602.40 -2.20 1085.5 450.00 9.96 12.10 1904.8 RDI REIT 86.10 0.90 143.22 41.55 11.61 -3.66 126.9 MearsGp 124.00 -5.00 323.00 74.25 10.08 6.56 89.3
RollsRoyceX 258.30 2.30 858.60 212.10 4.53 -3.74 8010.5
Jupiter 204.20 -4.00 437.80 161.65 8.37 7.62 666.0 Bodycote 580.50 -6.00 975.00 378.40 3.32 11.80 88.5 SEGRO 967.80 6.20 996.60 641.80 2.02 12.27 2120.5 MenziesJ 117.60 0.60 489.50 66.90 17.43 10.89 176.2
Automobiles & Parts Liontrust 1275 5.00 1495 668.50 2.27 53.41 29.0 Castings 368.00 18.00 443.76 274.00 4.04 15.95 1.2 Mining Shaftbry 524.50 14.00 992.50 420.00 3.37 -5.37 412.7 Mitie 35.10 -0.95 85.97 29.35 5.87 6.25 1639.6
FordMtr $X 6.72 -0.12 9.65 3.96 9.47 -8.13 17451.2 LSE Gp 8852 16.00 8893.63 5300 0.72 74.95 529.4 Goodwin 3040 30.00 3668.8 1730 3.16 20.82 0.1 AngloAmer 1857.8 -4.20 2266 1018.2 4.61 8.92 2516.0 Town Ctr 95.00 - 235.94 90.50 12.37 -12.67 37.0 Renewi 22.95 -0.85 45.90 17.66 4.18 -3.37 486.6
M&G Plc 168.00 -1.00 282.30 86.40 - 4.12 5582.5 Hill&Sm 1274 -10.00 1534 844.00 2.54 20.95 90.6 AngloPacif 108.00 -4.60 217.00 98.80 7.41 6.76 865.1 TritaxBBOX 158.10 - 162.40 79.00 4.31 18.87 2993.4 Rentokil 529.60 1.40 578.00 247.70 0.88 34.75 2430.9
Banks IMI 1045 -5.00 1214.5 619.80 3.91 18.50 488.8 AnGoldA R 485.09 -8.76 637.35 209.79 0.35 24.93 1489.3
Man 126.60 0.10 177.10 84.72 5.97 9.12 2029.2 Wkspace 588.00 11.50 1317 420.88 5.77 14.81 195.8 Ricardo 343.00 14.00 846.00 286.93 6.20 10.06 51.3
ANZ A$X 18.38 -0.08 28.79 14.10 7.88 13.07 7446.4 MelroseInd 98.98 -1.02 309.40 72.00 4.80 109.98 8934.1 Antofagasta 1080.5 -4.00 1148.5 575.00 3.30 28.12 1245.6
Paragon 344.60 2.60 555.50 217.00 6.15 7.92 141.2 Real Estate Inv & Services RbrtWlts 430.00 10.00 614.00 214.00 3.53 9.58 0.3
BcoSant 160.36 -7.02 348.40 158.98 9.11 6.69 1542.4 Renold 9.43 - 24.60 4.00 - 6.28 24.2 BHP Group 1723.6 -6.40 1932 939.80 3.94 12.27 6733.8
Providnt 189.10 9.70 492.70 126.87 10.05 5.71 817.1 Cap&Count 127.00 0.60 275.00 121.50 1.18 -17.40 1059.1 RPS 48.05 -0.95 185.60 29.86 20.56 4.67 245.2
BnkGeorgia 926.00 61.00 1845 690.00 6.71 6.08 203.3 RHIM 2654 2.00 4512 1419 6.39 11.15 16.8 BisichMg 65.00 - 128.00 45.00 4.62 6.75 5.0
RathbnBr 1690 -6.00 2470 1194 3.96 34.70 28.8 CLS 198.00 -1.20 322.50 153.00 3.56 5.96 114.1 SIG 33.50 -0.20 134.32 14.38 10.78 -1.66 2555.5
BankIre Grp € 1.82 -0.01 5.51 1.28 8.26 5.40 281.9 Rotork 307.80 3.00 344.70 177.05 1.95 28.50 1196.5 EVRAZ 324.80 -0.20 547.60 200.60 25.64 3.76 1503.6
Record 34.35 -0.15 42.22 25.00 6.70 10.54 91.1 Grainger 318.00 3.40 341.80 189.76 1.63 18.49 905.8 Vp 668.00 -32.00 1040 499.00 4.56 14.47 0.3
BkNvaS C$X 55.69 -0.35 76.75 46.38 6.35 9.24 223.0 Severfd 53.00 -1.00 96.00 53.00 5.28 9.98 750.5 Fresnillo 1234 -11.00 1359.5 456.51 1.18 59.01 1274.5
S&U 1480 -45.00 2500 1420 8.11 6.18 3.6 Harworth Gr 100.00 -2.50 160.22 83.66 0.94 12.66 41.2
BarclaysX 108.00 0.42 192.99 73.04 2.78 9.03 34115.7
Schroder 2920 -10.00 3465 1711 3.90 16.61 149.4 Tex# 73.00 - - - - -4.08 - GlencoreX 168.34 -0.44 264.12 109.76 8.91 -74.32 36701.5 Tech - Hardware
CanImp C$X 97.32 -0.30 115.96 67.52 5.84 10.79 99.9 Trifast 100.00 -4.00 210.00 89.00 4.25 10.10 27.6 Harmony R 101.05 -2.32 126.76 31.06 - -31.19 4107.4 Helical 307.00 5.00 540.00 200.43 3.32 9.68 119.2 SpirentCM 288.50 4.00 309.50 146.81 1.22 30.26 451.1
..N/V 2040 -25.00 2645 1424 5.59 11.60 8.6 HK Land $ 3.86 0.11 6.02 3.46 5.65 45.90 2936.0
HSBCX 328.15 -0.80 633.50 319.45 7.31 22.60 20793.6 Vitec 704.00 4.00 1335 485.98 5.37 15.82 4.2 KAZ Mineral 555.40 -9.00 599.80 256.20 1.37 6.29 1922.6
Shires Inco 217.00 0.50 299.46 157.85 6.08 -4.78 8.2 Lon&Assc 13.00 - 24.20 11.00 1.38 -1.71 11.4 Tech - Software & Services
LlydsBkgX 28.10 -0.04 73.66 25.43 3.99 11.71 111209.9 Weir 1289.5 6.00 1640 608.60 3.64 -9.45 330.9 Petropvlsk 31.10 -0.80 41.60 9.09 - 41.19 19961.2
Strd Life A 242.20 -3.40 338.25 170.30 8.92 27.52 4748.6 MacauPrp 69.50 -2.00 140.00 51.00 - -1.99 22.7 Computcnt 1999 - 2076 900.00 1.59 22.46 84.3
NWG 111.85 0.25 265.00 100.34 1.79 4.97 8463.6
TP ICAP 306.00 1.60 425.00 160.25 5.51 25.71 489.3 PolymtIntl 1960.5 -6.00 2059 990.20 1.92 25.78 1150.8
PermTSB € 0.50 -0.01 1.28 0.43 - -5.30 28.8 Industrial General Rio TintoX 4686 22.00 5152 2954 5.34 12.73 2740.5 Mntview 10800 150.00 12850 8600 3.70 14.88 0.1 MicroFoc 296.30 0.50 1627 270.10 15.21 -1.27 1411.3
WlkrCrip 27.50 - 30.00 18.00 3.31 17.74 2.6 Coats Group 56.30 1.30 80.90 35.90 2.29 11.30 682.7 Raven Prope 30.50 -0.85 51.80 25.80 - 4.07 145.8 NCC Grp 174.00 -5.80 236.00 125.40 2.67 37.02 127.2
RylBkC C$X♦ 97.69 -0.23 109.68 72.00 4.26 12.62 125.6 Troy Res A$ 0.13 0.01 0.14 0.06 - -1.78 580.7
Secure Trus 710.00 35.00 1730 524.93 11.83 4.27 0.0 Food & Beverages JardnMt $X 40.14 0.49 59.68 37.37 4.25 5.35 2749.9 RavenR CNV 87.00 - 110.00 63.00 - - 2.1 RM 202.00 -13.00 310.00 110.00 0.99 12.17 44.3
StandChX 391.90 -5.50 740.80 368.40 1.44 10.10 5732.8 AngloEst 502.00 4.00 680.00 336.00 0.44 16.38 0.4 Jard Str $X 20.00 0.13 33.50 17.81 1.71 5.22 196.9 Oil & Gas RavenR Prf 121.50 - 137.00 75.00 - 136.06 7.0 Sage 735.00 -2.80 794.60 7.32 2.30 24.03 1705.7
..7.375%Pf 117.00 2.75 129.00 93.50 6.30 - 2.0 AscBrFdX 2000 4.00 2730 1554 2.32 22.37 949.8 Macfrlne 94.00 0.80 116.50 61.00 2.49 15.26 407.8 BPX 273.35 -3.40 537.00 222.90 12.06 -20.71 25029.6 Safestre 769.00 10.50 886.89 501.00 2.28 8.68 206.8 SDL 602.00 18.00 658.00 367.00 1.16 28.53 38.4
..8.25%Pf 130.65 7.75 138.95 105.00 6.31 - 0.2 Barr(AG) 414.00 -6.00 663.00 401.00 4.04 15.63 76.1 Smith DS 265.30 -3.40 397.80 244.80 6.11 11.98 4950.4 CairnEng 131.00 -2.80 216.80 57.35 - 8.56 770.0 Savills 823.00 -2.50 1268 620.00 1.91 14.00 86.1 TriadGp 25.50 - 49.00 24.00 11.76 -850.00 2.0
TntoDom C$X 61.97 -0.23 77.72 49.01 4.81 10.97 216.4 Britvic 821.50 -5.00 1079 536.00 3.65 25.83 248.4 Smiths 1422.5 3.50 2246.4 790.00 3.23 57.59 733.0 ExxonMb $X 40.72 -0.60 75.18 30.11 9.06 14.39 11635.8 SiriusRE 75.80 0.30 93.50 44.35 4.00 9.07 509.0
SmurfKap 2682 -8.00 3038 1831 3.16 15.83 200.9 Gazprom PJS $ 4.90 -0.08 8.50 2.55 8.87 7.43 5290.9 Smart(J) 112.50 - 126.00 107.50 2.84 8.09 3.4 Telecommunications
Westpc A$X 17.23 -0.03 30.05 13.47 9.14 14.29 8210.1 CarrsGroup 133.25 4.75 165.00 83.53 3.56 9.66 9.5
Vesuvius 401.80 6.20 514.50 284.00 4.98 13.57 92.2 GeoPark $ 9.29 -0.39 22.53 5.44 0.94 -10.15 44.5 StModwen 317.00 4.00 539.00 296.00 1.14 -6.56 117.7 BTX 101.80 -1.30 212.25 94.68 15.13 4.67 17561.7
Coca-Cola H 2018 -38.00 2933 1393.1 2.39 17.91 445.7
Basic Resource (Ex Mining) GulfKeyst 89.40 -0.60 256.00 47.30 18.13 6.45 464.4 U+I 72.20 1.40 479.33 63.20 8.17 2.26 57.5 TalkTalk 76.00 - 125.50 67.20 3.29 5.76 860.0
Cranswk♦ 3768 8.00 4126 2540 1.50 23.76 64.8 Industrial Transportation TelePlus 1394 10.00 1585 907.00 3.87 30.50 47.7
Ferrexpo 186.50 -5.90 222.70 94.88 5.34 3.61 962.8 HellenPet € 5.26 -0.02 9.60 4.40 14.00 -7.34 21.2 Unite Gp 967.50 7.00 1351 577.00 3.07 -30.71 505.0
Devro 178.00 - 200.00 116.76 5.06 -7.18 131.7 Braemar 144.00 - 241.84 92.00 10.42 10.12 23.9 Vodafone GpX 114.26 -1.10 169.46 92.76 6.71 -41.25 52345.0
Mondi 1461.5 10.50 1794 1156.5 4.74 10.29 897.6 Hunting 174.50 2.00 524.00 148.90 4.33 9.84 136.7 Urban&C 219.00 -1.00 375.00 183.00 1.78 7.13 29.5
DiageoX 2590 -7.00 3633.5 2050.6 2.65 20.19 3054.9 Clarkson 2415 - 3135 1936 3.15 -56.96 17.8 ImpOil C$X 21.69 -0.16 36.99 10.27 3.99 9.80 37.5 Tobacco
Chemicals Grncore 123.90 -2.10 282.20 83.40 5.00 9.53 4761.8 Eurotunnl € 13.01 0.02 17.04 8.62 2.60 47.72 302.4 Retailers
HiltonFd 1196 22.00 1352 711.00 1.82 29.83 16.6 Pharos Ener 14.86 0.15 69.00 10.00 35.23 -2.81 114.7 BrAmTobX 2526 -1.50 3507 34.85 8.04 10.14 3628.4
Carclo 11.60 1.30
20.90 3.05 - -0.43 515.6 Fisher J 1174 -16.00 2190 1100 2.78 16.15 19.3 AA 37.80 0.70 74.00 13.32 5.29 2.76 1466.8
Kerry € 108.60 0.10 126.50 57.62 0.63 36.11 7.7 PJSC Lukoil $ 72.87 0.86 108.45 46.86 6.46 8.22 10.8 Imperial BrX♦ 1253 -12.00 2256 1238.5 16.49 13.88 1421.0
Croda 5910 - 6070 3814 1.52 34.28 207.7 OceanWil 670.00 5.00 1040 509.90 7.65 6.70 2.1 AO World 199.40 -0.40 217.57 46.67 - 538.92 1397.2
PremFds 86.00 - 96.21 17.86 - 15.93 601.8 PremOil 22.49 -3.25 120.70 10.02 - 1.73 54994.7
Elemntis 69.00 -0.80 185.70 18.07 9.00 11.57 1430.9 RoyalMail 188.90 -6.10 258.60 118.86 12.97 11.73 4055.0 Caffyns 270.00 - 450.00 200.00 8.33 -7.18 0.0 Travel & Leisure
REA 59.50 0.75 186.00 25.00 - -1.83 14.8 RylDShlAX 1115.8 -7.20 2417 946.10 13.42 11.37 3761.6
Johnsn Mtth 2295 -23.00 3294 1614 3.78 17.37 515.6 Signature A 268.50 -2.00 407.50 129.40 4.99 88.94 2566.9 Dairy Fm $ 4.15 - 7.17 3.48 5.02 17.49 387.0
StckSpirit 222.50 -0.50 258.06 119.80 3.56 13.56 88.0 ..B 1075.2 -7.60 2419.5 8.89 13.93 10.96 4820.0 888 Hldg 197.00 -2.20 204.50 68.40 3.48 23.09 402.2
Victrex 1924 10.00 2574 1645 3.10 18.66 144.3 Dignity 534.00 -30.00 648.00 210.50 2.95 7.65 157.4
Tate&Lyl 668.20 -3.00 811.40 493.83 4.43 12.83 567.1 Insurance Seplat 51.00 - 130.00 37.30 7.95 3.16 33.7 Carnival 924.40 18.80 3864 581.00 13.19 -2.75 1045.0
Dunelm 1371 5.00 1450 596.50 2.04 24.66 103.3
Construction & Materials Unilever 4509 -32.00 5333 3583.5 3.05 24.87 1271.6 Admiral 2666 6.00 2758 1858.5 3.43 18.01 344.4 TrnCan C$X 64.55 -0.35 76.58 47.05 4.66 14.91 88.7
Halfords 165.20 4.60 202.69 49.42 11.24 7.94 311.0
CompassX 1163.5 33.50 2150 20.62 3.44 17.93 3270.9
Alumasc 77.00 - 133.45 56.54 9.55 14.53 14.9 ..NV € 53.40 -0.20 55.40 45.30 2.87 26.35 7.9 AvivaX 281.10 1.10 439.40 205.70 10.76 4.45 5742.0 Tullow Oil 22.47 -0.96 251.31 7.17 24.07 -0.25 20306.5 Dalata Hote 223.75 5.00 502.00 147.37 3.98 6.29 0.0
Wood Group 219.70 2.30 459.70 100.90 12.06 27.72 1361.6 Inchcape 491.20 7.40 725.00 400.20 5.46 6.27 711.2 easyJet 573.80 19.40 1570 410.00 7.65 9.45 2802.6
Boot(H) 255.00 15.00 351.00 180.00 3.73 9.07 30.4 Beazley 436.60 11.40 634.00 294.20 2.66 13.15 1068.7 JDSportsF 684.80 7.00 890.00 274.70 0.25 27.08 1370.8
CRH 2977 26.00 3119 1500 2.06 17.51 1272.8 Health Care Equip & Services Chesnar 289.50 4.50 350.50 200.00 7.22 5.52 15.6 FirstGrp 40.06 2.06 138.80 25.00 - -2.09 2529.0
ConvaTec 195.30 -1.70 225.80 142.40 2.22 522.19 3429.7 Pharmaceuticals & Biotech Kingfisher 273.50 0.40 279.90 101.00 3.96 683.75 5360.1 Flutter Ent 12260 210.00 12375 68.61 1.60 68.42 329.7
GalfrdT 90.10 -2.90 887.00 90.10 64.37 0.84 421.0 Direct Line 303.90 -0.10 355.00 225.40 6.98 10.41 2112.2 Marks&Sp 109.80 0.80 236.50 73.90 10.02 91.50 4926.6
GNStre kr 434.80 -0.40 447.70 217.40 0.33 45.10 327.8 AstraZenecaX 8437 -112.00 10120 5871 2.63 90.97 1721.8 Fuller A 576.00 -14.00 1250 486.00 3.50 26.33 1.9
KierGp 60.00 - 154.60 58.00 8.17 -0.42 532.8 Eccles prf 153.50 - 167.00 111.00 5.62 - 24.6 Morrison (W 197.15 0.60 210.25 157.55 3.39 13.65 6404.5
Mediclinic 247.80 1.80 419.40 232.40 3.19 -5.71 341.6 CathayIn 1.15 - 3.15 0.26 - -0.54 10.3 Go-Ahead 638.50 6.00 2308.91 390.20 15.99 4.55 93.7
Kingsp € 70.45 5.95 107.30 37.30 0.57 36.93 122.0 Hansard 31.30 - 48.00 22.05 14.22 10.43 1.6 Next 5960 -42.00 7358 3311 2.81 12.71 245.3
Smith & Nep 1488 -36.00 2023 1055.01 1.84 28.82 1447.9 Dechra 3136 22.00 3218 388.00 1.01 112.89 143.6 IntCon Htel 4280 250.00 5297 2161 2.08 27.10 1144.3
Marshlls 647.50 5.00 876.00 505.00 1.96 22.22 74.0 Hiscox 803.00 11.80 1671 635.40 3.97 62.95 434.7 Ocado 2428 10.00 2444 994.01 - -141.57 905.5
UDGHlthC 714.50 1.00 846.00 423.40 1.90 24.83 209.0 Genus 3450 -40.00 3760 2464.6 0.78 289.92 39.1 Intl Cons A 193.20 2.70 684.00 155.10 14.20 -51.98 10862.6
MorgSdl 1290 -8.00 1980 990.01 4.26 8.43 38.4 Lancashire 758.50 6.50 852.50 481.00 1.48 17.32 216.7 Saga 14.92 0.45 60.00 12.51 15.42 -0.53 3745.3
GlaxoSmhX 1515.2 -9.80 1857 1328.19 5.28 14.15 6362.1 MandarO $ 1.59 -0.02 1.85 1.06 1.87 -36.52 64.5
Norcros 146.50 0.50 305.00 119.00 5.94 10.85 23.7 House, Leisure & Pers Goods Leg&Gen 223.80 1.00 324.70 117.30 7.48 7.37 8310.4 Sainsbury ( 188.25 -0.15 236.70 171.19 5.95 32.46 6481.5
HikmaPhm 2349 -36.00 2670 1596 1.39 15.56 430.0 Marstons 47.96 1.76 133.80 18.40 15.64 -5.10 2724.0
Tyman 201.00 2.00 292.00 133.00 6.02 22.21 41.9 Old Mut 56.26 1.46 113.00 42.76 11.17 5.14 3227.6 Studio Reta 250.00 -2.50 255.00 140.00 - 16.71 33.7
BarrttDev 522.00 0.40 979.54 349.40 5.57 7.12 2118.9 Oxfd Bio 808.00 -14.00 897.98 356.73 - -36.56 110.6 Natl Exp 137.00 8.30 485.00 66.30 11.19 4.98 3075.5
PhoenixGrp 697.20 - 806.00 439.60 6.71 81.07 843.7 TescoX 227.50 2.50 332.67 203.70 2.97 23.85 12117.4
Electronic & Electrical Equip Bellway 2387 -50.00 4336 1735.5 6.30 5.64 244.5 RichterG $ 24.60 -0.20 24.80 15.60 1.31 26.23 0.0 PPHE Htl 1065 5.00 2160 700.00 3.29 16.64 10.6
Berkeley 4527 -9.00 5562 3041 0.60 11.31 204.4 PrudntlX 1215 -7.00 1509 682.80 3.97 21.43 3315.3 VecturGp 111.00 -1.00 119.80 59.10 - -32.65 598.4
Dialight 295.00 - 355.00 157.50 - -5.92 0.9 Support Services Restaurt 54.00 -1.30 167.70 20.26 6.61 -6.56 410.2
Burberry Gp 1404.5 -1.50 2340 1017 3.05 47.13 531.1 RSA Ins 446.00 3.40 736.84 321.20 4.75 13.72 2445.9
Discoverie 592.00 10.00 627.98 330.29 1.64 35.88 13.9 Real Estate Aggreko 456.20 -20.60 881.00 285.90 5.94 9.00 884.2 Ryanair Hol 301.00 -1.60 459.13 206.80 6.88 20.76 103.2
Cairn Homes € 0.85 -0.01 1.35 0.60 2.77 13.86 135.7 SagicFin 117.50 - 135.00 87.00 3.43 10.87 0.0
Halma 2211 -12.00 2377 1660 0.71 46.54 431.2 AshtdGp♦ 2690 -24.00 2879 1010 1.51 15.24 694.8 TUI 308.20 14.00 1090 218.00 15.50 -15.83 2549.9
CtrySide 315.60 2.20 544.00 248.80 5.16 9.68 726.0 StJmsPl 987.80 0.40 1777.5 614.00 4.88 35.92 625.4 REITs
Morgan Ad 234.00 -1.00 339.40 168.80 4.70 9.36 126.4 Bunzl 2405 -5.00 2465 1242 2.10 23.01 581.3 Whitbrd 2398 66.00 4462.28 1551.15 3.57 19.25 373.5
OxfordIn 1474 -20.00 1672 724.00 0.72 26.65 30.1 GamesWk 8830 70.00 9562.75 3564 1.76 43.97 86.7 LEISURE Assura 82.00 0.30 88.00 46.80 3.37 24.85 3233.3 Willim H 163.50 4.80 206.80 28.63 6.36 -52.74 6554.2
Gleeson 650.00 -23.00 1010 512.00 5.31 13.87 1.5 BigYellw 1058 9.00 1245.3 630.00 3.18 19.03 197.8 Capita 30.29 0.14 185.25 19.84 - -7.25 8936.2
Renishaw 4682 -72.00 5345 2234.51 1.28 71.59 36.9 PhotoMe Int 46.30 -1.65 105.00 32.50 18.23 5.21 134.9 DCC 6636 -130.00 8558.3 3463 2.15 26.63 151.9
Spectris 2495 -28.00 3072 2058 2.50 12.38 140.6 Headlam 275.00 -10.00 560.00 235.00 9.09 8.14 19.4 BritLand 360.60 4.60 649.40 309.40 6.58 -3.28 2002.9 Utilities
McBride 59.40 -0.10 88.00 45.90 - 16.97 36.3 Media Cap&Reg 70.60 3.60 302.50 63.00 22.66 -0.44 13.9 DeLaRue 153.00 1.00 214.97 36.86 9.98 5.07 462.7 Centrica 45.16 -0.75 95.32 29.10 21.92 -2.54 12112.4
TT Elect 183.00 -2.00 268.00 135.75 3.63 21.79 23.0 Diploma 1935 35.00 2152 1165.21 1.50 34.74 134.9
XP Power 4450 50.00 4635.6 2062.05 1.98 42.38 8.5 McCarthy&S 69.80 -1.70 160.20 36.51 7.74 9.18 267.6 4imprint 2080 -50.00 3540 1067.31 2.67 18.14 16.0 Civitas SH 110.00 -0.60 115.40 74.20 4.82 18.15 432.0 Drax 281.00 3.60 364.60 118.90 5.30 2810.00 424.4
Persimn 2677 -14.00 3328 1367.5 8.78 10.05 791.3 Auto Trader 556.20 3.00 747.00 308.60 1.26 25.19 1212.6 Countrywd 148.40 8.40 399.50 42.63 - -1.30 261.3 DWF Group P 61.50 1.40 143.00 45.00 1.63 18.07 5.7 Natl GridX 876.60 2.00 1073.8 8.90 5.46 23.95 4588.4
Financial General Philips € 42.52 -0.91 46.38 26.92 - 38.58 1727.5 DlyMailA 682.00 -12.00 960.00 538.00 3.50 12.03 32.8 DrwntLdn 2900 20.00 4362 2462 2.34 11.46 358.7 Elctrcmp 690.00 -6.50 731.20 397.30 2.23 19.94 273.4 Pennon♦ 1008.5 -5.50 1589.5 714.20 4.15 36.54 990.5
3i 909.80 -1.20 1189 529.80 4.12 41.17 1117.3 PZCusns 204.50 -3.00 220.50 115.23 4.05 23.00 171.2 Hyve Group 88.50 8.20 3178.79 66.03 21.80 -6.81 1631.2 Great Portl 607.20 5.60 971.80 518.60 2.08 30.36 405.8 Essentra PL 301.00 -1.60 459.13 206.80 6.88 20.76 103.2 Severn Tren 2403 -8.00 2716 1957.5 4.00 36.24 279.9
BrewDlph 248.00 -2.00 377.20 130.00 6.61 15.90 566.0 ReckittBX 7538 -12.00 8191.3 5130 2.30 -19.18 524.9 Informa 406.20 3.40 880.20 326.70 5.51 22.57 2430.7 Green Reit € 1.84 -0.05 1.93 1.30 3.12 13.44 1922.5 Experian 2764 -16.00 2956 1823.5 1.39 46.07 1971.5 SSE♦ 1297 4.00 1703 1057.5 7.11 31.95 2783.6
CtyLonInv 380.00 -12.00 479.52 264.00 7.11 10.11 11.2 Redrow 452.20 -2.20 850.76 293.00 6.86 5.16 592.2 ITV 60.14 -1.16 165.90 50.06 13.30 5.10 14498.2 Hammersn 50.00 0.26 325.30 39.57 51.80 -0.66 4219.6 Ferguson 7390 -36.00 7696 3700 2.13 22.65 282.6 UtdUtils 849.40 0.40 1104 625.00 4.91 54.45 1020.5
Hibernia € 1.18 0.01 1.52 0.75 3.11 13.68 590.5 G4S 141.65 1.00 223.50 69.92 6.85 -24.01 3264.8

AIM
52 Week Vol 52 Week Vol 52 Week Vol 52 Week Vol 52 Week Vol 52 Week Vol
Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s Price +/-Chg High Low Yld P/E 000s
Aerospace & Defence Zytronic 102.50 - 258.50 70.00 22.24 8.61 36.4 House, Leisure & Pers Goods Mining Reneuron 104.00 -3.50 297.50 71.00 - -2.56 131.2 Renew 430.00 2.50 570.00 304.00 2.67 14.66 72.8
Cohort 640.00 - 738.00 416.85 1.42 35.93 3.7 Airea 26.50 - 46.99 18.11 10.57 6.68 24.7 AMC 2.11 -0.29 3.92 0.85 - -8.72 6104.3 Sareum 0.79 -0.02 1.10 0.03 - -19.75 12376.6 Restore 350.00 10.00 560.00 319.36 1.83 26.72 266.2
Financial General Smart Meter 637.00 1.00 742.00 308.00 0.99 180.45 63.4
Velocity Co 16.50 - 44.96 12.00 - -6.60 16.5 Churchll 1040 - 2060 605.00 2.94 12.71 345.8 Arkle Resou 1.05 0.05 1.70 0.40 - -5.17 5697.5 Real Estate
Appreciate 32.30 -0.50 65.00 27.00 9.91 6.62 74.9
Frontier De 2080 15.00 2135 892.00 - 147.52 28.5 BotswanaD 0.68 - 1.44 0.40 - -5.19 10.2 Tech - Hardware
Banks Arbuthnot 710.00 -2.50 1400 600.00 2.25 27.84 1.2
Portmern 374.00 - 928.36 229.59 10.01 6.86 0.7 CentAsiaM 177.00 1.60 233.00 100.20 7.82 8.22 163.7
InlandHms 53.00 2.50 94.40 32.00 4.15 7.16 329.7
Caribbean I 57.50 - 64.45 13.12 - 4.43 1.9 BP Marsh 229.00 - 276.02 133.00 2.08 6.56 1.2 Lok'nStor 585.00 - 740.00 335.00 2.05 55.98 7.6 AminoTech 129.00 - 155.00 100.00 5.63 42.14 29.8
WalkerGb 56.50 -1.00 91.75 22.00 5.43 10.87 42.1 HighldGld 295.00 0.80 314.00 150.00 4.04 8.02 1106.7
Burford Cap 526.40 1.40 987.68 250.43 1.85 7.22 378.2 PnthrSec♦ 205.00 - 400.00 180.00 5.85 -8.87 0.6 IQE 56.00 0.40 76.30 18.86 - -12.42 1034.8
Basic Resource (Ex Mining) Gresham Hou 670.00 7.50 700.00 450.00 0.45 -196.02 19.2 Industrial Engineering Oil & Gas SIR 287.00 0.50 476.00 180.00 5.67 6.07 179.5 Telit Commu 145.60 -6.60 180.66 64.76 - 5.40 127.2
CropperJ 950.00 - 1480 580.00 1.42 18.77 1.1 Leeds 15.50 - 20.00 7.50 - -1.51 0.5 600 Grp 8.00 - 19.20 6.75 9.43 2.64 161.0 BorSthnPet 0.77 - 2.63 0.10 - -3.65 111.4
MattioliWds 695.00 - 865.00 291.00 2.88 21.86 1.1
Retailers Tech - Software & Services
Chemicals MS Intl 117.00 - 216.00 105.00 7.05 21.67 5.1 ClontarfEn 0.48 -0.03 1.98 0.09 - -11.88 200.0
Numis 299.50 9.50 324.00 165.00 4.01 34.83 5.3 ASOS 4975 - 5150 975.20 - 93.34 205.7 BoBlue Pris 1370 23.00 1890 774.25 - -12.85 157.5
Directa Plu 84.00 -1.00 92.00 46.25 - -14.16 32.9 Pres Tech 87.50 - 147.00 70.10 - -9.11 4.1 Egdon Res 2.10 - 6.95 1.50 - -1.47 265.1
PolarCap 524.00 4.00 614.92 282.00 6.30 12.69 46.6 Boohoo Grou 305.20 -1.80 433.50 133.10 - 57.05 10326.2 Eckoh 67.00 -0.50 72.00 40.00 0.91 55.83 44.8
Scapa 117.00 -1.00 295.00 82.50 2.48 -3.67 864.4 Hurricane E 4.70 0.23 50.90 3.84 - 3.66 28236.9
Premier Mit 93.00 - 192.00 65.00 11.18 8.91 47.7 IT PetrelRes 5.60 -0.20 27.00 3.01 - -4.41 468.3
CVS Group P 1205 -14.00 1290 648.00 0.46 69.25 62.8 IDE Group H 2.48 0.03 10.50 1.33 - -1.17 282.0
Versarien P 51.50 -1.75 124.00 12.00 - -21.37 1347.1 Keywords St 2182 -68.00 2274 1069 0.07 174.83 165.3 Ingenta 52.00 -1.50 96.00 40.00 2.88 -6.52 7.4
STM Group 34.00 - 45.00 18.00 6.03 6.03 42.8 Phoenix Glo 9.45 0.53 23.00 5.88 - -3.13 52.0 Support Services
Learning Te 150.80 1.50 174.40 97.00 0.40 95.20 524.6 Iomart♦ 345.00 -10.00 409.00 219.50 2.16 27.38 43.8
Construction & Materials Food & Beverages Rockhop 6.48 -0.08 22.45 4.00 - -1.89 677.8 Begbies 86.00 1.00 117.00 0.63 3.02 26.88 500.2 Oxford Metr 93.50 - 127.40 70.00 1.93 39.62 104.6
Abbey 1400 125.00 1575.28 1060 0.68 12.83 0.9 LEISURE Sound Energ 1.93 -0.12 9.40 0.74 - -1.25 3105.7 Christie 69.00 - 132.00 54.00 4.35 8.37 3.7
Camellia 7175 -175.00 10000 6250 2.01 23.88 0.4 WANdisco 574.00 -10.00 834.00 330.00 - -12.07 5.2
AccsysTch 92.60 1.60 106.62 59.80 - -35.32 21.8 Codemasters 388.00 -2.00 420.00 190.00 - 48.50 199.3 UnJackOil 0.27 -0.01 0.38 0.08 - -13.40 156762.6 Empres 41.00 - 66.00 28.00 4.88 -25.63 9.9
Fevertree D 2071 -146.00 2492.14 888.40 0.75 41.21 438.8
Aukett 2.00 - 3.16 1.30 - 4.35 12.3
FinsbryFd 59.20 - 105.00 50.00 5.91 7.89 174.3 Sumo Group 185.00 2.00 211.95 121.54 - 36.49 83.9 United O&G 2.85 - 4.19 1.00 - -6.09 2979.9 Gattaca 55.50 - 141.50 29.40 - -7.71 2.9 Travel & Leisure
Impellam 257.00 - 407.00 220.10 - 26.22 3.6 Celtic 115.00 - 166.65 85.00 - 11.76 1.3
Electronic & Electrical Equip Nichols 1270 35.00 1780 858.00 0.98 26.60 9.2
Media Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
JhnsnSrv 98.00 0.50 226.00 76.50 3.32 11.81 169.9 ..6%CvPf 127.50 - 170.00 120.00 - - 0.2
CeresPow 561.00 18.00 674.00 172.00 - -183.33 307.9 Health Care Equip & Services Mission Gro 60.00 - 110.00 33.25 3.62 8.40 10.7 Abcam 1285 -19.00 1584 943.00 0.94 61.19 121.0
LonSec 2100 - 2470 1800 3.81 15.46 0.0 ..Cv Pf 245.00 - 339.50 220.00 - - 0.1
Checkit 42.00 - 65.00 22.00 - -4.29 10.3 YouGov 900.00 44.00 910.00 300.00 0.44 63.83 85.6 AllcePharm 73.70 1.30 88.90 52.17 2.05 15.61 471.5
AVO 32.50 - 44.00 20.00 - -3.31 167.9 NewmkSec 1.28 -0.05 1.65 0.60 - 7.01 600.0 Dart 676.50 14.50 1950 182.50 1.51 6.64 329.8
LPA 73.50 - 117.00 56.00 1.50 26.44 7.0 Clinigen Gr 686.00 -14.00 1000.00 350.40 0.98 67.25 225.4
CareTech 439.00 -2.00 502.00 285.00 2.67 19.93 32.0 NWF 195.00 - 218.00 113.00 3.38 12.91 7.7 gamingrealm 23.00 1.00 25.36 4.40 - -14.38 1626.9
ThorpeFW 305.00 5.00 363.32 225.00 1.81 23.92 7.7 e-Thera 13.63 - 23.00 1.25 - -15.66 227.4
Tristel 495.00 20.00 534.00 265.00 1.12 48.96 1200.1 Petards 7.38 - 21.00 3.75 - -21.69 6.0 MinoanGp 1.35 - 2.80 0.68 - -2.21 411.7
Mereo Bio 50.00 -0.50 75.00 13.00 - -1.28 34.9

Investment Companies
Conventional (Ex Private Equity) 52 Week Dis(-) BMO UK HIT 308.00 - 406.00 224.00 - 351.3 -12.3 IPST UK Eq 143.50 -1.00 190.25 104.00 4.60 148.0 -3.0 PolarHealth 238.00 1.00 258.00 163.00 0.88 266.8 -10.8 Conventional - Property ICs 52 Week Dis(-)
Price +/-Chg High Low Yld NAV or Pm Brunner 758.00 3.00 935.00 550.00 2.64 883.7 -14.2 IP UKSmall 390.00 -2.00 640.00 285.17 4.82 471.9 -17.4 PolarFins♦ 103.50 - 154.50 77.20 4.25 117.6 -12.0 Price +/-Chg High Low Yld NAV or Pm
3i Infra 292.50 1.50 317.79 184.96 3.05 249.9 17.0 Caledonia I 2555 -20.00 3195 1920 2.34 3327.1 -23.2 JPM Amer 514.00 7.00 527.50 328.50 1.26 537.8 -4.4 PolarTech 2115 40.00 2290 1041.5 - 2104.0 0.5 Direct Property For queries about the London Share Service pages e-mail
AbnAsianIn 186.50 -1.00 223.00 140.59 4.91 210.2 -11.3 CanGen C$ 27.50 -0.15 27.97 16.22 2.94 42.4 -35.1 JPM Asia 404.00 -1.00 420.00 272.00 3.99 406.5 -0.6 RIT Cap 1846 4.00 2185 1252 1.84 1946.0 -5.1
AEW UK REIT 82.00 2.00 102.10 53.00 9.76 91.4 -10.3 ft.reader.enquiries@morningstar.com.
Abrdn Div I 92.80 - 116.00 66.20 5.80 111.2 -16.5 City Merch 172.00 0.75 199.50 118.00 5.81 185.8 -7.4 JPM Brazil 66.00 - 80.75 35.00 1.21 66.8 -1.2 Ruffer Inv 241.00 1.50 250.00 202.00 0.75 248.9 -3.2
BMO ComPrp 67.20 0.20 123.00 43.50 8.93 124.1 -45.9 All data is as of close of the previous business day. Company classifications
AbnEmgMkts 552.50 - 638.00 420.05 3.85 681.2 -18.9 City Lon♦ 324.50 1.50 448.50 269.00 5.79 327.8 -1.0 JPM China♦ 351.50 17.50 381.16 252.00 0.71 528.7 -33.5 Schroder To 394.00 1.00 407.78 244.00 1.57 398.9 -1.2
BMORealE 64.20 1.20 89.80 38.72 7.79 96.6 -33.5 are based on the ICB system used by FTSE (see www.icbenchmark.com). FTSE
AbnJapInv 600.00 -2.50 653.50 456.00 1.90 719.9 -16.7 CQSNatRs♦ 91.30 -0.90 96.88 49.00 6.13 110.5 -17.4 JPMElct MC 102.50 - 106.00 99.00 0.39 103.4 -0.9 SchdrAsiaP 481.00 9.00 502.00 345.00 2.02 541.1 -11.1
CustdnREIT 89.80 2.80 118.20 76.00 7.32 95.7 -6.2 100 constituent stocks are shown in bold.
AbnLatAmIn 48.60 - 75.00 38.00 7.20 57.5 -15.5 Dun Inc♦ 252.00 -1.00 307.00 180.12 4.94 274.3 -8.1 ..MG 800.00 -2.50 929.85 565.20 2.11 840.0 -4.8 SchdrEurReE 70.80 0.80 120.87 59.00 9.30 120.5 -41.2
GCP Student 136.00 2.80 212.50 90.00 4.55 170.4 -20.2
AbnNewDn♦ 255.00 - 272.00 179.59 1.69 295.9 -13.8 EcofinGloba 166.50 -0.50 188.00 102.63 3.84 167.2 -0.4 ..MI 83.00 -0.50 114.00 64.00 5.60 86.5 -4.0 Schdr Inc 243.00 1.00 320.00 171.17 5.14 247.6 -1.9 Closing prices are shown in pence unless otherwise indicated. Highs & lows
Longbow 76.00 -0.25 99.50 64.19 7.89 96.9 -21.6
AbnNewIndia 407.00 3.00 508.00 296.00 - 494.5 -17.7 Edin Inv 468.00 -2.00 644.00 335.50 6.05 532.8 -12.2 JPM Emrg 1058 4.00 1277.55 706.00 1.32 1149.2 -7.9 SchdrJap 168.50 0.50 203.00 126.09 2.79 202.6 -16.8 are based on intra-day trading over a rolling 52 week period. Price/earnings
SLIPropInc 54.60 1.20 99.30 48.95 8.72 79.9 -31.7
AbnNewThai 412.00 - 650.00 322.00 4.61 477.2 -13.7 Edin WWd 277.00 7.00 287.66 124.60 - 269.9 2.6 JPM EurGth 273.50 1.50 305.00 170.89 3.24 319.6 -14.4 SchdrOrient 233.00 2.00 267.00 151.50 4.38 238.9 -2.5 ratios (PER) are based on latest annual reports and accounts and are updated
TR Prop 358.00 7.00 497.83 197.00 3.85 399.3 -10.3
AbnSmlInCo 263.00 - 350.00 175.00 3.14 315.6 -16.7 EP Global 263.00 - 392.00 214.00 2.09 290.7 -9.5 JPM EurInc 117.75 1.75 166.00 78.80 5.69 138.0 -14.7 SchdrRealEs 31.75 -0.60 58.10 29.40 8.57 59.3 -46.5 with interim figures. PER is calculated using the company’s diluted earnings
Tritax Euro € 1.04 0.02 1.13 0.67 - 1.2 -13.3
AbnStdAsia 975.00 -2.00 1125 696.00 1.44 1145.7 -14.9 EuroAsset 104.00 1.25 112.00 62.40 7.08 113.8 -8.6 JPM EuSm 389.00 -4.00 405.26 209.00 1.72 452.1 -14.0 SchdrUKMd 451.00 -1.00 700.00 271.93 4.10 541.7 -16.7 from continuing operations. Yields are based on closing price and on dividends
Tritax Euro 93.20 0.60 102.00 65.20 - - -
AStd Eqt In 266.50 1.00 427.84 194.36 7.80 300.3 -11.3 F&C Inv Tru 692.00 6.00 789.02 463.00 1.66 749.7 -7.7 JPM Clavr 550.00 -4.00 798.00 446.00 5.14 584.0 -5.8 SchdrUKPubP 28.45 -0.50 40.92 18.89 - 46.1 -38.3 paid in the last financial year and updated with interim figures. Yields are
UKComPrp 67.20 1.20 91.70 47.35 5.48 83.4 -19.4
Abf Sml 850.00 2.00 1547.68 608.25 3.62 977.3 -13.0 FidAsian 346.00 3.00 446.00 243.00 2.54 371.3 -6.8 JPMGblCoreR 109.00 0.50 112.50 70.00 0.69 96.8 12.6 ScotAmer 429.00 -1.00 443.00 243.80 2.75 414.8 3.4 shown in net terms; dividends on UK companies are net of 10% tax, non-UK
Abf Spl Inc 47.40 - 96.35 34.50 8.78 50.3 -5.8 FidChiSpS 315.00 4.00 318.50 180.20 1.22 338.3 -6.9 JPM GEI 114.50 0.50 141.50 82.00 4.45 125.0 -8.4 Scottish In 740.00 2.00 847.00 550.00 3.14 812.7 -8.9 VCTs 52 Week Dis(-) companies are gross of tax. Highs & lows, yields and PER are adjusted to reflect
Alliance 812.00 6.00 880.00 536.00 1.71 855.7 -5.1 Fid Euro 264.00 -0.50 277.00 177.40 3.36 281.7 -6.3 JPM Gl Gr&I 340.00 -10.00 368.00 298.00 3.76 334.3 1.7 ScottMort 930.50 18.50 960.00 449.50 0.34 920.1 1.1 Price +/-Chg High Low Yld NAV or Pm capital changes where appropriate.
AllianzTech 2455 30.00 2485.5 1176 - 2387.2 2.8 Fid Jap 184.00 3.00 186.00 104.25 - 196.2 -6.2 JPM Ind 559.00 3.00 766.00 398.00 - 664.8 -15.9 ScottOrtll 856.00 -10.00 1055 600.00 1.34 999.4 -14.3 ArtemisVCT 19.80 - 51.79 17.00 20.20 20.7 -4.3 Trading volumes are end of day aggregated totals, rounded to the nearest
Art Alpha 284.00 3.00 352.00 205.00 1.76 352.2 -19.4 Fid Spec 183.20 -2.80 280.50 128.16 3.14 199.7 -8.3 JPM JpSm 435.00 -2.00 457.23 275.00 4.14 497.1 -12.5 Seneca I&G 144.75 - 181.89 107.50 4.64 147.1 -1.6 Baronsmead ♦ 67.50 - 79.50 40.00 9.63 70.5 -4.3 1,000 shares.
Asia Dragon 408.00 4.00 438.00 302.50 1.16 467.6 -12.7 FinsG&I 838.00 -1.00 966.00 595.00 1.98 837.4 0.1 JPM Jap 548.00 7.00 553.00 323.00 0.91 598.8 -8.5 Smithson 1494 -8.00 1558 890.00 - 1455.2 2.7 BSC VCT 60.50 -1.50 73.67 54.00 6.61 65.6 -7.8 Net asset value per share (NAV) and split analytics are provided only as a
Aurora Inv 156.50 -2.25 242.00 130.00 2.56 170.2 -8.0 FstPacfic H HK$ 1.79 -0.01 3.41 1.10 6.58 - - JPM Mid 894.00 4.00 1430 598.00 3.30 1037.9 -13.9 StrategicEq 180.00 1.25 259.00 112.28 0.83 240.8 -25.2 ..VCT2 44.60 - 53.00 40.00 6.73 46.9 -4.9 guide. Discounts and premiums are calculated using the latest cum fair net
AVI Global 715.00 -3.00 802.00 459.00 2.31 789.5 -9.4 GenEmer 749.00 18.00 820.00 540.00 1.92 831.7 -9.9 JPM Mlti-As 86.00 - 107.00 63.00 4.65 95.8 -10.2 Temp Bar 728.00 3.00 1495.6 558.00 7.34 821.2 -11.3 Inc&GthVCT 62.50 - 76.50 60.00 9.60 65.5 -4.6 asset value estimate and closing price. Discounts, premiums, gross redemption
AVI JapOpp 99.00 -0.50 119.00 73.29 - 101.5 -2.5 GRIT# 2.75 - 5.50 0.65 - 1.4 96.4 JPMRussian 648.00 -2.00 804.00 404.00 5.40 719.6 -9.9 TempEmerg 812.00 10.00 876.99 570.00 1.97 910.3 -10.8 Nthn 2 VCT♦ 51.05 - 61.90 42.00 7.84 53.5 -4.6 yield (GRY), and hurdle rate (HR) to share price (SP) and HR to wipe out (WO)
Axiom 77.50 -0.50 95.00 68.00 7.74 89.8 -13.7 GoldenPros 63.50 -3.50 75.00 20.00 - 68.3 -7.0 JPM Smlr 247.00 -1.00 325.92 126.00 2.23 281.6 -12.3 Tetragon $ 9.10 -0.02 12.60 6.78 8.01 24.9 -63.5 Nthn 3 VCT♦ 75.50 - 91.00 63.00 5.30 79.2 -4.7 are displayed as a percentage, NAV and terminal asset value per share (TAV)
BG Euro 1150 5.00 1185 594.00 2.70 1187.3 -3.1 Gulf Invest $ 1.16 0.02 1.36 0.85 2.57 1.3 -10.8 JPM US Sml 299.00 0.50 372.18 191.31 0.84 326.0 -8.3 TRIG 134.80 1.00 140.49 95.79 4.90 111.3 21.1 NthnVent♦ 56.50 - 67.00 46.00 7.08 59.2 -4.6 in pence.
BG Japan 816.00 8.00 851.00 514.00 0.43 841.2 -3.0 HAN 164.00 - 950.00 123.77 2.44 260.3 -37.0 KeystoneInv 258.00 - 364.00 161.00 5.27 311.6 -17.2 TREurGth 952.00 2.00 1008 530.00 2.31 1116.2 -14.7 ProVenGI♦ 51.50 - 62.00 44.00 6.80 54.4 -5.3
BG Shin 195.80 1.20 197.60 105.06 - 199.5 -1.9 HANA 172.00 1.00 950.00 125.00 2.33 260.3 -33.9 Law Deb 540.00 3.00 656.00 366.00 3.50 539.7 0.1 TroyInc&G 71.30 - 87.00 58.69 3.88 71.9 -0.8 ProVenVCT 63.00 - 76.00 55.00 7.14 66.0 -4.5 X FT Global 500 company
Baillie Gif 180.50 5.00 206.34 111.00 1.63 192.9 -6.4 Hend Alt 280.00 -1.00 309.00 170.00 1.70 316.2 -11.4 LinTrain £♦■ 1105 - 1640.88 400.00 2.52 1079.3 2.4 Utilico Eme 172.00 0.50 252.00 135.00 4.33 205.6 -16.3 UnicornAIM 136.50 1.00 152.00 104.00 4.76 167.7 -18.6 ♦ trading ex-dividend
Bankers♦ 1016 2.00 1042 689.00 2.08 992.2 2.4 Hen Div Inc 88.50 1.70 96.00 55.47 4.97 91.1 -2.9 Lowland 936.00 - 1489.65 696.00 6.41 1025.7 -8.7 UIL Inv 167.00 -4.00 263.00 109.75 4.49 300.0 -44.3 ■ trading ex-capital distribution
Zero Dividend Preference Shares 52 Week HR
BB Healthca♦ 160.00 - 173.00 98.68 3.03 158.6 0.9 HenEuroF 1227.5 7.50 1350 860.72 2.55 1401.7 -12.4 Majedie 190.50 -1.50 268.00 134.00 5.98 246.2 -22.6 VEIL 426.00 4.00 511.00 288.00 - 463.9 -8.2 # price at time of suspension from trading
HenEuro 1250 5.00 1333.25 804.00 2.48 1418.4 -11.9 Man&Lon 625.00 5.00 704.00 418.00 2.24 631.6 -1.0 Witan 183.60 - 235.50 130.00 2.76 199.4 -7.9 Price +/-Chg High Low SP WO TAV 0%
BH Global 1870 10.00 1950 1460 - 1883.0 -0.7
HenFarEs♦ 314.00 3.00 380.00 236.30 7.20 306.4 2.5 Marwyn Val 105.00 - 134.56 71.00 - 156.8 -33.0 WwideHlth 3480 20.00 3950 2159.52 0.76 3417.0 1.8 Abf Spl Inc 108.00 - 111.00 97.50 -22.4 -59.5 127.3
..USD $ 18.95 - 20.38 15.20 - 19.3 -1.8 The prices listed are indicative and believed accurate at the time of publication.
HenHigh 137.50 1.50 195.00 100.03 7.13 147.6 -6.8 MercantIT 191.60 1.00 279.10 116.68 3.44 204.5 -6.3 UIL ZDP 202 92.50 - 110.90 84.00 -25.6 -29.7 151.5
BH Macro 3470 20.00 3670 2097 - 3223.0 7.7 Conventional - Private Equity 52 Week Dis(-) No offer is made by Morningstar or the FT. The FT does not warrant nor
HenInt Inc♦ 143.50 -0.75 178.00 99.30 4.04 150.8 -4.8 MrchTst 356.00 - 569.00 293.00 7.56 358.7 -0.8 UIL Limited 102.50 -1.00 119.94 73.00 -33.9 -40.6 138.4
..USD $ 35.30 - 42.17 25.40 - 33.5 5.4 Price +/-Chg High Low Yld NAV or Pm guarantee that the information is reliable or complete. The FT does not accept
Hen Opp♦ 853.00 8.00 1130 499.93 3.05 1047.2 -18.5 Mid Wynd 646.00 9.00 682.00 420.00 0.90 622.5 3.8 UILFn20 153.50 - 153.80 132.00 -99.9 -100.0 154.9
BiotechGth 1230 -2.00 1397.44 648.00 - 1233.3 -0.3 responsibility and will not be liable for any loss arising from the reliance on
HenSmlr 798.00 4.00 1104 470.00 2.88 900.9 -11.4 Miton Globa 242.00 - 284.00 180.00 - 254.8 -5.0 BGUSGROWTH 230.00 5.00 233.00 111.00 - 229.7 0.1 UIL Finance 125.50 -1.50 134.50 92.00 -47.5 -63.0 147.0
BlckRCom 61.70 -0.10 74.00 36.20 6.48 71.6 -13.8 or use of the information.
Herald 1678 12.00 1740 877.00 - 1933.3 -13.2 Monks♦ 1134 24.00 1166 618.00 0.16 1082.9 4.7 BMO PvtEq 308.00 -12.50 415.36 219.00 3.70 397.7 -22.6
BlckRFrnt
BlckRGtEur
93.80 0.80 137.84 77.44
441.00 -1.00 456.94 271.14
6.66
1.33
98.8
456.0
-5.1
-3.3 HICL Infra♦ 169.20 - 183.00 107.80 4.85 148.2 14.2 MontanSm♦ 1350 60.00 1375 645.00 0.69 1374.6 -1.8 Electra 175.00 3.00 427.00 121.81 - 372.5 -53.0 Investment Companies - AIM The London Share Service is a paid-for-print listing service and may not be
Highbridge 192.00 - 209.00 154.00 - 235.0 -18.3 Mur Inc 746.00 -6.00 945.34 552.00 4.59 799.8 -6.7 HVPE 1590 -2.00 1870 857.00 - 2007.0 -20.8 fully representative of all LSE-listed companies. This service is available to all
BlckR I&G♦ 160.50 - 214.00 117.00 4.49 172.6 -7.0 52 Week Dis(-)
Impax Env. 354.00 6.00 362.00 226.00 0.85 334.1 6.0 Mur Int 953.00 5.00 1299.5 658.00 5.56 988.8 -3.6 HgCapital 272.50 22.00 275.81 148.40 1.76 236.0 15.5 listed companies, subject to the Editor’s discretion. For new sales enquiries
BlckRckLat 303.00 - 509.20 250.00 8.45 350.1 -13.5 Price +/-Chg High Low Yld NAV or Pm
Ind IT 441.00 -3.50 600.00 264.00 2.95 496.0 -11.1 NewCityHY♦ 47.85 0.15 61.80 22.90 9.30 46.9 2.0 ICG Ent Tr♦ 816.00 22.00 1015 460.00 2.08 1087.0 -24.9 please email stella.sorrentino@ft.com or call 020 7873 4012.
BlckRckNrAm 159.50 -0.25 196.50 106.53 5.02 161.6 -1.3 BB Biotech SFr 64.50 - 67.30 39.55 4.4 - -
IGC 63.30 0.20 80.71 32.20 - 79.5 -20.4 New Star IT 109.00 - 121.25 88.00 1.28 160.0 -31.9 Pantheon In 2145 - 2620 1268.53 - 2865.3 -25.1
BlckRSmlr 1240 -10.00 1806 770.00 2.58 1402.0 -11.6 CrysAmber 87.00 0.50 195.99 50.87 5.7 106.0 -17.9
IntBiotech♦ 734.00 - 816.00 451.00 3.60 732.6 0.2 NorthAmer 222.00 - 315.00 187.50 3.96 251.2 -11.6 PrincssPE € 9.18 -0.08 12.25 6.64 5.94 11.8 -22.2
BlckRThrmt 612.00 5.00 724.00 315.60 1.63 597.0 2.5
BlckRWld 410.00 - 428.50 208.50 5.12 464.1 -11.7 Intl PP 168.80 2.40 171.80 122.80 4.20 147.0 14.8 NthAtSml 2890 -10.00 3570.6 2190 1.04 4151.1 -30.4 StdLfPv 310.50 -1.00 402.00 186.00 4.15 431.2 -28.0 Gresham Hou
Infra India
1030 -
1.55 -0.10
1355 830.00 2.1 1245.3
4.43 0.60 - 22.0
-17.3
-93.0
Data provided by Morningstar
BMO Cp&I 253.00 -5.00 358.00 181.50 4.55 256.6 -1.4 Inv AsiaTr 286.00 2.00 310.50 198.00 3.18 325.3 -12.1 Oryx Int 1015 - 1050 550.00 - 1168.0 -13.1 Discretionary Unit Fund Mngrs 52 Week Dis(-)
BMOGblSmlr 122.00 -1.00 150.00 76.65 1.39 132.4 -7.9 Inv IncGro 228.00 - 308.00 180.59 5.15 263.9 -13.6 PacAsset 266.00 5.00 302.67 198.09 1.13 288.0 -7.6 (1000)F
BMOMgdT 223.00 -1.00 230.00 150.05 - 222.3 0.3 IP EnInc 67.20 0.10 78.00 38.50 7.44 72.4 -7.2 PacHorzn 532.00 4.00 548.00 232.50 - 506.1 5.1 Price +/-Chg High Low Yld NAV or Pm
BMOMgdT 121.00 - 146.00 85.00 4.96 120.6 0.3 IPST BalR 135.00 - 147.60 124.00 - 145.5 -7.2 PerpInc&Gr 231.50 - 346.75 157.20 6.46 255.9 -9.5 Right &ISS 1875 15.00 2341 1251 1.69 1929.0 -2.8
BMO UK HIT 78.00 - 103.00 57.00 5.03 87.9 -11.3 IPST Gbl Eq 182.00 - 218.00 140.00 3.85 185.4 -1.8 PerAsset 45100 100.00 47000 37650 1.24 44589. 1.1
BMO UK HIT 78.00 - 103.00 56.00 5.03 87.5 -10.9 IPST Mngd 101.50 - 104.00 96.00 0.79 105.0 -3.3 4 Guide to FT Share Service
www.morningstar.co.uk
18 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

MANAGED FUNDS SERVICE

Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield

Ashmore SICAV Global Small Cap Equity Fund $ 165.91 - -2.49 0.03 Practical Investment Inc 208.00 224.20 -0.60 3.67

EM Active Equity Fund Acc USD $ 132.68 - -1.74 0.00 Practical Investment Acc 1183.00 1276.00 -4.00 3.67

EM Equity Fund Acc USD $ 117.59 - -1.36 0.00

EM Mkts Corp.Debt USD F $ 87.32 - -0.03 6.76

EM Mkts Loc.Ccy Bd USD F $ 73.92 - -0.54 4.91

EM Short Duration Fund Acc USD $ 116.91 - -0.27 0.00

Aberdeen Standard Capital (JER) Franklin Templeton International Services Sarl (IRL) M & G Securities (1200)F (UK)
PO Box 189, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 9RU 01534 709130 JPMorgan House - International Financial Services Centre,Dublin 1, Ireland PO Box 9038, Chelmsford, CM99 2XF
FCA Recognised Other International Funds www.mandg.co.uk/charities Enq./Dealing: 0800 917 4472
Aberdeen Standard Capital Offshore Strategy Fund Limited Franklin Emerging Market Debt Opportunities Fund Plc Authorised Inv Funds
Bridge Fund £ 2.1012 - -0.0025 1.79 Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp CHFSFr 13.82 - 0.16 10.93 Charifund Inc 1229.61 - -7.74 6.52

Global Equity Fund £ 2.9537 - 0.0010 1.11 Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp GBP £ 8.93 - 0.07 7.85 Charifund Acc 21512.98 - -135.37 6.29

Global Fixed Interest Fund £ 0.9704 - -0.0002 4.18 Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp SGD S$ 19.68 - 0.35 5.43 M&G Charibond Charities Fixed Interest Fund (Charibond) Inc £ 1.25 - 0.00 -

Income Fund £ 0.6126 - -0.0018 2.61 Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp USD $ 15.52 - 0.34 7.55 M&G Charibond Charities Fixed Interest Fund (Charibond) Acc £ 42.52 - 0.01 -
Atlantas Sicav (LUX)
Sterling Fixed Interest Fund £ 0.9043 - 0.0017 2.97 Regulated M&G Charity Multi Asset Fund Inc £ 0.76 - 0.00 -

UK Equity Fund £ 1.7368 - -0.0187 3.15 American Dynamic $ 5858.21 5858.21 64.87 0.00 FIL Investment Services (UK) Limited (1200)F (UK) Kames Capital ICVC (UK) M&G Charity Multi Asset Fund Acc £ 82.95 - -0.30 - New Capital UCITS Fund PLC (IRL)
130, Tonbridge Rd, Tonbridge TN11 9DZ Kames House, 3 Lochside Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9SA Leconfield House, Curzon Street, London, W1J 5JB
American One $ 5688.54 5688.54 82.05 - Callfree: Private Clients 0800 414161 0800 358 3009 www.kamescapital.com www.newcapitalfunds.com
Broker Dealings: 0800 414 181 Authorised Funds FCA Recognised
Bond Global € 1503.93 1503.93 6.58 0.00 Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds (IRL)
OEIC Funds New Capital UCITS Funds
6 Duke Street,St.James,London SW1Y 6BN Kames Global Equity GBP B Acc £ 2.64 - 0.00 0.21
Eurocroissance € 1161.03 1161.03 15.56 0.00 www.dodgeandcox.worldwide.com 020 3713 7664 Allocator World Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 2.12 - 0.00 1.47 New Capital China Equity Fund $ 228.30 - -2.41 0.00
Diversified Monthly Inc B Acc 141.74 - -0.21 4.83
FCA Recognised
Far East $ 1071.54 - 23.59 - American Special Sits W-ACC-GBP £ 14.70 - -0.18 - New Capital Dynamic European Equity Fund € 123.80 - -0.90 0.00
Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds plc - Global Bond Fund
Diversified Monthly Inc B Inc 101.74 - -0.16 4.97

Asset Management
EUR Accumulating Class € 14.66 - -0.02 0.00 Asia Pacific Ops W-Acc £ 2.37 - 0.04 1.34 New Capital Dynamic UK Equity Fund £ 109.71 - -1.14 0.00
Diversified Growth B Acc £ 1.73 - 0.00 2.58
EUR Accumulating Class (H) € 11.19 - 0.00 0.00 Asian Dividend Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.86 - 0.01 3.41
Ethical Cautious Managed B Acc £ 1.39 - 0.00 1.59
Asset Management New Capital Global Alpha Fund £ 113.01 - -0.04 0.00

EUR Distributing Class € 11.62 - -0.01 3.94 China Consumer Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 3.64 - 0.04 0.47 New Capital Global Equity Conviction Fund $ 174.45 - -0.90 -
Ethical Cautious Managed B Inc £ 1.20 - 0.00 1.60
MMIP Investment Management Limited (GSY)
Regulated
EUR Distributing Class (H) € 8.83 - 0.00 4.00 Emerging Asia Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.77 - 0.02 0.99 New Capital Global Value Credit Fund $ 157.16 - 0.01 0.00
Ethical Corporate Bond B Acc £ 2.12 - 0.00 2.69 Multi-Manager Investment Programmes PCC Limited
GBP Distributing Class £ 12.70 - -0.12 4.02 Enhanced Income Fund W-INC-GBP £ 0.76 - -0.01 8.36 UK Equity Fd Cl A Series 01 £ 2012.16 2045.81 -148.51 0.00 New Capital Japan Equity Fund ¥ 1405.45 - -17.19 0.00
Ethical Corporate Bond B Inc £ 1.08 - 0.00 2.69
GBP Distributing Class (H) £ 9.28 - -0.01 4.31 European Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 18.87 - -0.16 1.63 Diversified Absolute Rtn Fd USD Cl AF2 $ 1544.12 - -8.15 0.00 New Capital US Growth Fund $ 390.69 - 3.76 0.00
Ethical Equity B Acc £ 2.24 - 0.00 1.53
Barclays Investment Funds (CI) Ltd (JER) USD Accumulating Class $ 12.54 - 0.00 0.00 Extra Income Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.37 - 0.00 3.43 Diversified Absolute Return Stlg Cell AF2 £ 1460.19 - -8.03 0.00 New Capital US Small Cap Growth Fund $ 173.39 - 0.02 0.00
High Yield Bond B Acc £ 2.92 - 0.00 5.06
39/41 Broad Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3RR Channel Islands 01534 812800 Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds plc-Global Stock Fund
FID INST - Emerging Markets Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.72 - 0.01 0.60 Global Equity Fund A Lead Series £ 1446.38 1451.08 -48.72 0.00 New Capital Wealthy Nations Bond Fund $ 153.96 - -0.16 0.00
FCA Recognised
USD Accumulating Share Class $ 20.63 - -0.17 0.00 Fundsmith LLP (1200)F (UK) High Yield Bond B Inc £ 0.92 - 0.00 5.06
Bond Funds
Fidelity American Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 49.64 - 0.15 0.35 PO Box 10846, Chelmsford, Essex, CM99 2BW 0330 123 1815
Sterling Bond F £ 0.50 - 0.00 - GBP Accumulating Share Class £ 25.66 - -0.45 0.00 www.fundsmith.co.uk, enquiries@fundsmith.co.uk Investment Grade Bond B Acc 197.14 - 0.31 1.51
Fidelity Asia Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 16.05 - 0.16 0.99 Authorised Inv Funds
Algebris Investments (IRL) GBP Distributing Share class £ 17.75 - -0.31 1.66 Investment Grade Bond B Inc £ 1.30 - 0.00 2.26
Regulated Fidelity Cash Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.02 - 0.00 0.66 Fundsmith Equity T Acc 514.76 - 0.49 -
EUR Accumulating Share Class € 26.12 - -0.25 0.00 Sterling Corporate Bond B Acc £ 0.94 - 0.01 2.74
Algebris Financial Credit I EUR € 177.74 - -0.39 0.00 FID Emerg Europe, Middle East and Africa Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 2.03 - 0.00 4.63 Fundsmith Equity T Inc 470.96 - 0.45 -
GBP Distributing Class (H) £ 10.11 - -0.08 1.27 Sterling Corporate Bond B Inc £ 0.35 - 0.00 2.74
Algebris Financial Credit R EUR € 154.97 - -0.34 0.00 Fidelity European Opportunities W Acc £ 4.91 - -0.03 1.12
Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds plc-U.S. Stock Fund Strategic Bond B Acc £ 1.44 - 0.00 3.54
Algebris Financial Credit Rd EUR € 105.56 - -0.23 5.12
Asset Management
Asset Management
Fidelity Global Enhanced Income Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.95 - -0.01 3.86

Algebris Financial Income I EUR € 133.04 - -1.32 0.00

USD Accumulating Share Class

GBP Accumulating Share Class

$ 25.88

£ 30.45
-

-
-0.22 0.00

-0.53 0.00 Fidelity Global Focus Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 29.02 - -0.06 -

Strategic Bond B Inc
Asset Management
£ 1.35 - 0.00 3.54
Marlborough Fd Managers Ltd (1200)F (UK)
UK Equity B Acc £ 2.93 - -0.02 2.34
Algebris Financial Income R EUR € 123.58 - -1.24 0.00 Marlborough House, 59 Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL1 4QP 0808 145 2500
GBP Distributing Share Class £ 18.63 - -0.33 1.15 Fidelity Global High Yield Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 14.74 - 0.00 3.86
UK Equity Absolute Return B Acc £ 1.21 - 0.00 0.00 www.marlboroughfunds.com
Algebris Financial Income Rd EUR € 82.40 - -0.83 4.60 Fidelity Japan Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 4.42 - 0.03 0.69 Authorised Inv Funds
EUR Accumulating Share Class € 28.29 - -0.28 0.00
UK Equity Income B Acc £ 2.32 - -0.01 4.34 Balanced 206.17 206.17 -0.65 0.43
Algebris Financial Equity B EUR € 87.05 - -2.16 0.00 Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 3.71 - 0.02 0.42
GBP Distributing Class (H) £ 10.80 - -0.09 1.56
UK Equity Income B Inc £ 1.45 - -0.01 4.47 Bond Income 52.16 52.16 0.04 3.24
Algebris IG Financial Credit B EUR € 106.10 - 0.11 - Fidelity Multi Asset Income Fund W Acc £ 1.06 - 0.00 2.66 GAM
funds@gam.com, www.funds.gam.com UK Opportunities B Acc £ 2.17 - -0.01 1.11 Cautious Inc 84.78 84.78 -0.20 2.26
Algebris IG Financial Credit R EUR € 105.52 - 0.11 - Fidelity Select 50 Balanced Fund PI-ACC-GBP £ 1.09 - -0.01 0.76 Regulated
UK Smaller Companies B Acc £ 3.81 - -0.01 0.87 Emerging Markets 298.12 298.12 1.49 1.05
Algebris Global Credit Opportunities I EUR € 122.74 - -0.04 0.00 Fidelity Special Situations Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 29.32 - -0.13 3.91 LAPIS GBL TOP 50 DIV.YLD-Na-D £ 96.38 - -0.19 -
ETF Commodity A 72.07 72.07 -0.34 0.00
Algebris Global Credit Opportunities R EUR € 120.79 - -0.04 0.00 Short Dated Corporate Bond Fund Y ACC GBP £ 10.89 - 0.01 3.93 LAPIS GBL F OWD 50 DIV.YLD-Na-D £ 93.22 - -0.79 -
Oasis Crescent Management Company Ltd
European Multi-Cap 513.84 513.84 -2.48 1.14
Algebris Global Credit Opportunities Rd EUR € 120.79 - -0.04 0.00 Fidelity Sustainable Water & Waste W Acc £ 1.01 - 0.00 - Other International Funds
Extra Income 80.40 80.40 0.14 3.56 Oasis Crescent Equity Fund R 11.23 - -0.08 0.71
Algebris Core Italy I EUR € 105.92 - -1.08 0.00 CCLA Investment Management Ltd (UK) Fidelity Sustainable Water & Waste W Inc £ 1.00 - -0.01 -
Senator House 85 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4ET Far East Growth A Inc 227.15 227.15 1.41 0.96
Algebris Core Italy R EUR € 99.27 - -1.02 0.00 Authorised Inv Funds Fidelity UK Growth Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 3.34 - -0.05 -
Diversified Income 1 Units GBP Inc £ 1.54 1.54 0.00 0.03 Global 263.34 263.34 -0.59 0.00
Algebris Allocation I EUR € 96.70 - 0.27 0.00 Fidelity UK Select Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 2.89 - 0.00 2.60
Diversified Income 2 Units GBP Inc £ 1.48 1.48 0.00 0.03 Global Bond Inc 158.49 158.49 -1.57 2.35
Global Dividend Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 2.48 - -0.01 2.72
Kames Capital Investment Portfolios ICVC (UK) High Yield Fixed Interest 69.37 69.37 0.01 3.96
Diversified Income 3 Units GBP Inc £ 1.49 1.49 0.00 0.03
Global Property Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.84 - 0.02 2.14 Kames House, 3 Lochside Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9SA
The Public Sector Deposit Fund 0800 358 3009 www.kamescapital.com Multi Cap Income A Inc 122.93 122.93 -0.29 4.81
Global Special Sits W-ACC-GBP £ 45.60 - -0.02 0.76 Genesis Investment Management LLP Authorised Funds
The Public Sector Deposit Fund-share class 1 ♦ F * 100.00 - 0.00 0.21 Other International Funds Nano-Cap Growth A Acc 178.93 178.93 0.07 0.00
Index Emerging Markets P-Acc £ 1.64 - 0.01 2.29 Property Income B Acc 118.53 118.53 0.02 4.36
The Public Sector Deposit Fund-share class 4 ♦ F * 100.00 - 0.00 0.14 Emerging Mkts NAV £ 7.21 - -0.16 0.00
Special Situations A Acc 1679.01 1679.01 -5.25 0.00 Oasis Global Mgmt Co (Ireland) Ltd (IRL)
Index Europe ex UK P-Acc £ 1.54 - -0.01 2.66 Property Income B Inc 89.11 89.11 0.00 4.47
Regulated
UK Multi-Cap Growth A Inc 353.30 353.30 -0.23 0.13
Index Japan P-Acc £ 1.71 - 0.01 2.23 Oasis Crescent Global Investment Fund (Ireland) plc
Dragon Capital Group UK Micro Cap Growth A 766.00 766.00 0.29 0.00 Oasis Crescent Global Short Term Income Fund I - Class A Dist $ 0.99 - 0.00 2.28
The Antares European Fund Limited 1501 Me Linh Point, 2 Ngo Duc Ke, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Index Pacific ex Japan P-Acc £ 1.56 - 0.00 3.55
Other International Fund information, dealing and administration: funds@dragoncapital.com US Multi-Cap Income 641.32 641.32 -0.40 1.29 Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund $ 32.38 - -0.05 0.50
Other International Funds Index UK P-Acc £ 1.18 - -0.02 4.62
AEF Ltd Usd (Est) $ 596.02 - -23.91 - MFM - Third Party Funds
Oasis Crescent Variable Balanced Fund £ 8.83 - -0.04 0.00
Vietnam Equity (UCITS) Fund A USD $ 19.50 - 0.21 0.00 Index US P-Acc £ 2.60 - 0.00 1.51
AEF Ltd Eur (Est) € 558.09 - -22.38 0.00 Junior Oils 35.61 35.61 0.21 0.00
OasisCresGl Income Class A $ 10.99 - 0.00 -
Index World P-Acc £ 2.10 - 0.00 1.91 Junior Gold C Acc 53.24 53.24 0.03 0.00
OasisCresGl LowBal D ($) Dist $ 12.07 - 0.01 1.04
MoneyBuilder Balanced Y-ACC-GBP £ 0.56 - 0.00 3.80 MFM Bowland 294.29 294.29 5.34 0.69
CCLA Investment Management Ltd (UK) HPB Assurance Ltd
OasisCresGl Med Eq Bal A ($) Dist $ 13.02 - -0.01 0.37
Senator House 85 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4ET MoneyBuilder Dividend Y-INC-GBP £ 1.08 - 0.00 - Anglo Intl House, Bank Hill, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 4LN 01638 563490 Kames Capital VCIC (IRL)
MFM Hathaway Inc 147.26 147.26 -2.15 1.37
Property & Other UK Unit Trusts International Insurances 1 North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland +35 3162 24493 Oasis Crescent Gbl Property Eqty $ 7.56 - 0.09 -
CBF Church of England Funds MoneyBuilder Income Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 14.37 - 0.02 2.98 FCA Recognised MFM Techinvest Special Situations Acc 200.99 200.99 3.00 0.00
Holiday Property Bond Ser 1 £ 0.50 - 0.00 0.00
Investment Inc 1956.88 1965.82 20.48 2.96 Multi Asset Allocator Adventurous Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.82 - 0.00 1.34 Absolute Return Bond B GBP Acc 1138.33 - -0.30 1.61
Holiday Property Bond Ser 2 £ 0.63 - 0.01 0.00 MFM Techinvest Technology Acc 743.29 743.29 2.30 0.00
Investment Acc 4679.96 4701.35 48.99 0.00 Multi Asset Allocator Defensive Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.40 - 0.00 1.21 High Yield Global Bond A GBP Inc 484.35 - -0.09 4.49
MFM UK Primary Opportunities A Inc 375.47 375.47 -0.88 1.69
Global Equity Inc 247.77 248.19 3.79 2.94 Multi Asset Allocator Growth Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.70 - 0.00 1.22 High Yield Global Bond B GBP Inc 1034.14 - -0.19 5.23
Arisaig Partners
Other International Funds Global Equity Acc 432.97 433.71 6.62 0.00 Multi Asset Income Fund W-INC-GBP £ 1.05 - 0.00 4.25 Kames Global Equity Income B GBP Acc 1916.92 - -5.18 0.00
Arisaig Asia Consumer Fund Class A (Ex-Alcohol) shares $ 109.80 - -0.10 0.00
UK Equity Inc 185.19 185.81 2.58 3.48 Multi Asset Allocator Strategic Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.58 - 0.01 1.13 Kames Global Equity Income B GBP Inc 1455.44 - -8.32 3.19
Arisaig Asia Consumer Fund Limited $ 108.35 - -0.11 -
UK Equity Acc 326.26 327.35 4.55 0.00 Multi Asset Open Advent W-ACC-GBP £ 1.46 - -0.01 0.00 Kames Global Equity Market Neutral Fund - B Acc GBP £ 11.69 - 0.04 0.00
Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Consumer Fund $ 14.04 - -0.01 -
Fixed Interest Inc 168.58 169.60 -0.99 3.47 Kames Inv Grd Gbl Bond A Inc GBH 617.97 - 0.61 1.81 Omnia Fund Ltd
Multi Asset Open Defen W-ACC-GBP £ 1.32 - 0.00 0.00
Other International Funds
Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Consumer UCITS € 12.85 - -0.01 -
Fixed Interest Acc 616.55 620.29 -3.61 0.00 Multi Asset Open Growth Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.41 - -0.01 0.00 Global Sustainable Equity B Acc GBP £ 23.17 - 0.03 0.00 Estimated NAV $ 584.11 - 9.49 0.00
Hermes Property Unit Trust (UK)
Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Consumer UCITS STG £ 14.50 - -0.10 -
Property Fund Inc 126.57 130.81 0.07 5.52 Multi Asset Open Strategic Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.38 - -0.01 0.00 Property & Other UK Unit Trusts Global Sustainable Equity C Acc GBP £ 23.47 - 0.03 0.00
Marwyn Asset Management Limited (CYM)
Arisaig Latin America Consumer Fund $ 22.60 - -0.20 - Property £ 6.62 7.11 -0.08 - Regulated
Open World Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 1.77 - -0.02 0.00 Short Dated High Yld Bd B Acc GBP £ 10.57 - 0.00 0.00
EdenTree Investment Management Ltd (UK)
Marwyn Value Investors £ 340.40 - -14.66 0.00
PO Box 3733, Swindon, SN4 4BG, 0800 358 3010 Strategic Bond Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.35 - 0.00 1.87 Short Dated High Yld Bd C Acc GBP (Hdg) £ 10.66 - 0.00 0.00
Authorised Inv Funds
UK Opportunities Fund W-ACC-GBP 217.40 - -1.40 1.26 Strategic Global Bond A GBP Inc 1256.01 - 1.16 2.70
Amity UK Cls A Inc 214.90 - -1.20 1.40

UK Smaller Companies W-ACC-GBP £ 2.22 - -0.01 2.38 Strategic Global Bond B GBP Inc 712.63 - 0.67 3.45
Amity UK Cls B Inc 214.40 - -1.20 2.53
Institutional OEIC Funds
Higher Income Cls A Inc 111.70 - -0.50 5.30
America £ 6.89 - -0.01 0.35
Higher Income Cls B Inc 117.90 - -0.50 5.42 Oryx International Growth Fund Ltd
Emerging Markets £ 5.19 - 0.03 0.46 Other International Funds
CCLA Fund Managers Ltd (UK)
UK Equity Growth Cls A Inc 262.50 - -1.80 1.67
Senator House 85 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4ET Europe (ex-UK) Fund ACC-GBP £ 6.42 - -0.07 0.61 NAV (Fully Diluted) £ 9.10 - -0.52 0.00
Intrinsic Value Investors (IVI) LLP (IRL)
Property & Other UK Unit Trusts UK Equity Growth Cls B Inc 268.00 - -1.80 2.87 1 Hat & Mitre Court, 88 St John Street, London EC1M 4EL +44 (0)20 7566 1210
COIF Charity Funds (UK) Fidelity Pre-Retirement Bond Fund £ 165.60 - 0.50 1.70 FCA Recognised McInroy & Wood Portfolios Limited (UK)
Amity Balanced For Charities A Inc 96.94 - -0.31 4.80 Easter Alderston, Haddington, EH41 3SF 01620 825867
Investment Inc 1703.76 1711.55 -14.20 3.06 IVI European Fund EUR € 22.08 - -0.18 0.00
Global Focus £ 5.43 - 0.00 0.40 Authorised Inv Funds
Amity European Fund Cls A Inc 247.90 - -2.20 1.12
Investment Acc 19258.10 19346.11 -160.54 0.00 IVI European Fund GBP £ 26.49 - -0.24 0.36 Balanced Fund Personal Class Units 5378.90 - -11.90 1.52
Index Linked Bond Gross £ 4.61 - 0.03 0.10
Amity European Fund Cls B Inc 250.30 - -2.20 1.99
Kleinwort Hambros Bank Limited (UK)
Ethical Invest Inc 262.88 264.09 -2.13 3.15 5TH Floor, 8 St James's Square, London, SW1Y 4JU Income Fund Personal Class Units 2605.10 - -9.70 2.87
Japan £ 3.52 - 0.02 0.49
Amity Global Equity Inc for Charities A Inc 135.90 - -0.50 2.52 Dealing and enquiries: 033 0024 0785
Ethical Invest Acc 399.29 401.12 -3.23 0.00 Emerging Markets Fund Personal Class Units 2112.60 - 12.40 1.88
Long Bond Gross £ 1.26 - 0.01 - Authorised Inv Funds
Amity International Cls A Inc 284.40 - -0.80 0.51 Unit Trust Manager/ACD - Host Capital
Global Equity Inc 229.23 229.62 -1.77 2.93 Smaller Companies Fund Personal Class Units 6017.00 - -7.20 1.28
Pacific (Ex Japan) £ 5.05 - -0.01 2.47
HC Kleinwort Hambros Growth A Acc 220.45 - -0.43 1.36
Amity International Cls B Inc 286.90 - -0.70 1.28
Global Equity Acc 404.84 405.52 -3.12 0.00
Select Emerging Markets Equities £ 2.08 - 0.02 0.52
Artemis Fund Managers Ltd (1200)F (UK)
Amity Sterling Bond Fund A Inc 104.90 - 0.00 3.88
HC Kleinwort Hambros Growth A Inc 200.01 - -0.38 1.38
57 St. James's Street, London SW1A 1LD 0800 092 2051 Fixed Interest Inc 141.28 142.13 0.09 3.12
Select Global Equities £ 5.06 - -0.01 0.79
Authorised Inv Funds HC Kleinwort Hambros Equity Income A Inc 85.50 - -0.45 3.06
Amity Sterling Bond Fund B Inc 116.80 - 0.10 3.87
Fixed Interest Acc 952.92 958.70 0.55 0.00
South East Asia £ 6.44 - 0.04 1.31
Artemis Capital I Acc £ 14.37 - -0.07 4.19 HC Kleinwort Hambros Equity Income A Acc 155.79 - -0.83 4.50
Property Inc 108.22 111.85 0.03 5.56
Artemis Corporate Bond I Acc £ 1.08 - -0.01 -
Sterling Core Plus Bond Gr Accum £ 3.12 - 0.01 2.08 Janus Henderson Investors (UK)
HC Kleinwort Hambros Multi Asset Balanced A Acc 169.12 - -0.07 0.81
Local Authorities Property Fd (LAMIT) (UK) PO Box 9023, Chelmsford, CM99 2WB Enquiries: 0800 832 832
UK £ 3.91 - -0.02 - www.janushenderson.com
Artemis European Growth I Acc £ 3.12 - -0.03 3.08 Property 278.61 302.10 -0.96 4.81 HC Kleinwort Hambros Multi Asset Balanced A Inc 159.84 - -0.07 0.81
Authorised Inv Funds
UK Aggreg Bond Gr Accum £ 2.43 - 0.01 1.71
Artemis European Opps I Acc £ 1.12 - 0.00 1.70 HC Kleinwort Hambros Fixed Income A Acc 135.87 - 0.09 3.44
Janus Henderson Asia Pacific Capital Growth Fund A Acc 1237.00 - 12.00 -
Sterling Corporate Bond - Gross £ 2.99 - 0.00 2.30 Milltrust International Managed Investments ICAV (IRL)
Artemis Global Emerging Mkts I Acc 128.71 - 0.40 - HC Kleinwort Hambros Fixed Income A Inc 108.37 - 0.07 3.44
Janus Henderson Asian Dividend Income Unit Trust Inc 90.09 - 0.22 7.54 mimi@milltrust.com, +44(0)20 8123 8369 www.milltrust.com
UK Gilt Gross £ 2.67 - 0.01 - Regulated Orbis Investments (U.K.) Limited (GBR)
Artemis Global Growth I Acc £ 2.88 - 0.00 2.52
Janus Henderson Cautious Managed Fund A Acc 253.40 - -0.40 3.55
British Innovation Fund £ 123.94 - 23.92 0.00 28 Dorset Square, London, NW1 6QG
Sterling Long Corp Bond - Gross £ 3.65 - 0.02 2.70
Artemis Global Income I Inc £ 0.83 - 0.00 3.79 www.orbis.com 0800 358 2030
Ennismore Smaller Cos Plc (IRL) Janus Henderson Cautious Managed Fund A Inc 134.00 - -0.20 3.63
MAI - Buy & Lease (Australia) A$ 123.94 - 21.42 0.00 Regulated
Artemis Global Select I Acc £ 1.40 - 0.01 - 5 Kensington Church St, London W8 4LD 020 7368 4220
Janus Henderson China Opportunities Fund A Acc 1684.00 - 17.00 0.21 Orbis OEIC Global Cautious Standard £ 9.93 - -0.08 0.03
FCA Recognised MAI - Buy & Lease (New Zealand)NZ$ 98.28 - 0.99 0.00
Artemis High Income I Q Inc £ 0.76 - 0.00 5.24
Ennismore European Smlr Cos NAV £ 122.61 - -0.62 0.00 Janus Henderson Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund A Acc 206.60 - 1.60 0.27 Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Standard £ 14.02 - -0.21 0.00
Milltrust Global Emerging Markets Fund - Class A $ 103.38 - -0.24 0.00
Artemis Income I Inc £ 2.06 - 0.00 4.77 CG Asset Management Limited (IRL) Ennismore European Smlr Cos NAV € 136.05 - -0.47 0.00 Janus Henderson European Growth Fund A Acc 240.80 - -1.90 0.88 Orbis OEIC Global Equity Standard £ 17.05 - -0.29 0.00
25 Moorgate, London, EC2R 6AY The Climate Impact Asia Fund (Class A) $ 94.29 - 7.55 -
Artemis Monthly Dist I Inc £ 0.66 - 0.00 3.85
Dealing: Tel. +353 1434 5098 Fax. +353 1542 2859 Janus Henderson European Selected Opportunities Fund A Acc 1805.00 - -18.00 0.18 Orbis OEIC UK Equity Standard £ 6.65 - -0.09 0.00
Artemis Strategic Assets I Acc £ 0.76 - -0.01 0.77 FCA Recognised
Janus Henderson Fixed Interest Monthly Income Fund Inc 22.54 - 0.02 4.06 Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Limited (1000)F (JER)
CG Portfolio Fund Plc
PO Box 311, 11-12 Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 8ZU 01534 845555
Artemis Strategic Bond I Q Acc £ 1.09 - 0.01 2.54
Absolute Return Cls M Inc £ 128.74 128.74 0.14 1.46 Janus Henderson Global Equity Fund Acc 3931.00 - 25.00 0.00 Other International Funds
Artemis Target Return Bond I Acc £ 1.03 - 0.00 - Findlay Park Funds Plc (IRL) Lloyds Investment Funds Limited
Capital Gearing Portfolio GBP P £ 34831.72 34831.72 64.90 0.53 30 Herbert Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Tel: 020 7968 4900 Janus Henderson Global Equity Income Fund A Inc 56.57 - -0.26 3.45
Euro High Income € 1.5490xd - 0.0030 2.55
Artemis UK Select Fund Class I Acc £ 5.11 - 0.00 3.70 FCA Recognised
Capital Gearing Portfolio GBP V £ 169.39 169.39 0.31 0.21 Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Fund A Inc 402.10 - 1.90 -
American EUR Unhedged Class € 121.92 - 0.82 - High Income £ 0.8763xd - 0.0011 3.69
Artemis UK Smaller Cos I Acc £ 14.12 - -0.16 3.06
Dollar Fund Cls D Inc £ 173.19 173.19 0.32 1.81 Janus Henderson Global Technology Fund A Acc 2655.00 - 25.00 -
American Fund USD Class $ 144.37 - 0.26 0.00 Sterling Bond £ 1.6060xd - 0.0020 2.04
Artemis UK Special Sits I Acc £ 5.63 - -0.02 2.74
Dollar Hedged GBP Inc £ 106.38 106.38 -0.17 1.78 Ennismore European Smlr Cos Hedge Fd Janus Henderson Instl UK Idx Opps A Acc £ 0.86 - -0.01 - Lloyds Multi Strategy Fund Limited
Other International Funds American Fund GBP Hedged £ 72.98 - 0.13 0.00 Milltrust International Managed Investments SPC
Artemis US Abs Return I Hdg Acc 112.47 - 0.15 0.39 Conservative Strategy £ 1.2830 - -0.0020 0.00
Real Return Cls A Inc £ 211.12 211.12 0.19 2.08 Janus Henderson Multi-Asset Absolute Return Fund A Acc 143.80 - 0.20 0.79 em@milltrust.com, +44(0)20 8123 8369, www.milltrust.com
NAV € 488.57 - 3.95 0.00 American Fund GBP Unhedged £ 109.87 - 0.58 0.00 Regulated
Artemis US Extended Alpha I Acc 260.71 - 0.93 - Growth Strategy £ 1.7830 - -0.0100 0.00
Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Active Fund A Acc 230.40 - -0.10 -
Milltrust Alaska Brazil SP A $ 67.34 - -2.21 -
Artemis US Select I Acc 253.97 - 0.47 0.19 Aggressive Strategy £ 2.4190 - -0.0150 0.00
Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Distribution Fund A Inc 129.80 - -0.20 3.18
Milltrust Laurium Africa SP A $ 78.83 - -0.54 -
Artemis US Smlr Cos I Acc 271.30 - 0.62 0.02 Global USD Growth Strategy $ 1.7330 - -0.0060 0.00
Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Diversified Fund A Acc 90.16 - -0.04 2.88
Milltrust Singular ASEAN SP Founders $ 126.69 - 2.02 -
Dealing Daily
Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Global Select Fund Acc 256.70 - -1.10 0.00
Milltrust SPARX Korea Equity SP A $ 131.80 - 4.23 -
Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Income & Growth Fund A Acc 180.30 - -0.30 2.47
Milltrust Xingtai China SP A $ 141.92 - -1.06 -
Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Income & Growth Fund A Inc 149.40 - -0.30 2.51

Chartered Asset Management Pte Ltd Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Managed Fund A Acc 284.80 - -0.10 0.45
Other International Funds Equinox Fund Mgmt (Guernsey) Limited (GSY) Foord Asset Management Pictet Asset Management (Europe) SA (LUX)
Regulated Website: www.foord.com - Email: info@foord.com Janus Henderson Multi-Manager Managed Fund A Inc 275.70 - -0.10 0.46 15, Avenue J.F. Kennedy L-1855 Luxembourg
CAM-GTF Limited $ 293445.78 293445.78 1012.19 0.00 FCA Recognised - Luxembourg UCITS Tel: 0041 58 323 3000
Equinox Russian Opportunities Fund Limited $ 168.94 - 4.98 0.00 Janus Henderson Sterling Bond Unit Trust Acc 249.70 - 0.40 1.47 FCA Recognised
CAM GTi Limited $ 864.80 - 72.09 0.00 Foord International Fund | R $ 44.10 - -0.31 -
Janus Henderson Sterling Bond Unit Trust Inc 70.47 - 0.13 1.48 Pictet-Absl Rtn Fix Inc-HI EUR € 112.64 - 0.08 0.00
Raffles-Asia Investment Company $ 1.44 1.44 0.08 2.08 Foord Global Equity Fund (Lux) | R $ 15.41 - -0.03 - Lothbury Property Trust (UK)
Janus Henderson Strategic Bond Fund A Inc 131.70 - 0.10 2.89 Pictet-Asian Equities Ex Japan-I USD F $ 359.96 - 5.10 0.00
Regulated 155 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3TQ +44(0) 20 3551 4900
Property & Other UK Unit Trusts Pictet-Asian Local Currency Debt-I USD F $ 183.71 - -0.84 -
Foord Global Equity Fund (Sing) | B $ 18.75 - -0.03 0.00 Janus Henderson UK & Irish Smaller Companies Fund A Acc 567.50 - -3.50 0.27
Lothbury Property Trust GBP* £ 1867.57 - -24.82 3.23 Ministry of Justice Common Investment Funds (UK)
Foord International Trust (Gsy) $ 43.85 - -0.30 0.00 Janus Henderson UK Absolute Return Fund A Acc 161.80 - 0.10 0.00 Property & Other UK Unit Trusts Pictet-Biotech-I USD F $ 1035.16 - 1.92 0.00
*Net asset value calculation suspended. Indicative valuation for information only.
The Equity Idx Tracker Fd Inc 1630.00 1630.00 -5.00 3.41 Pictet-CHF Bonds I CHF SFr 512.18 - 0.19 0.00
Janus Henderson UK Alpha Fund A Acc 125.10 - -0.70 2.22
Distribution Units
Janus Henderson UK Equity Income & Growth Fund A Inc 418.30 - 0.80 4.29 Pictet-China Index I USD $ 184.98 - -1.39 0.00

Euronova Asset Management UK LLP (CYM) Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF A Acc £ 2.29 2.41 0.00 3.31 Pictet-Clean Energy-I USD F $ 131.17 - 0.21 0.00
Regulated
Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF A Inc £ 0.96 1.01 0.00 3.37 Pictet-Digital-I USD F $ 543.92 - 3.43 -
Ashmore Investment Management Limited (LUX) Smaller Cos Cls One Shares € 50.00 - 0.21 0.00
2 rue Albert Borschette L-1246 Luxembourg Consistent Unit Tst Mgt Co Ltd (1200)F (UK)
Stuart House, St John's Street, Peterborough, PE1 5DD Janus Henderson US Growth Fund A Acc 1550.00 - 7.00 - Pictet-Em Lcl Ccy Dbt-I USD F $ 180.87 - -1.57 0.00
FCA Recognised Smaller Cos Cls Two Shares € 33.03 - 0.12 0.00
Dealing & Client Services 0345 850 8818
Ashmore SICAV Emerging Market Debt Fund $ 90.41 - -0.23 5.62 Pictet-Emerging Europe-I EUR F € 390.86 - -1.66 -
Authorised Inv Funds Smaller Cos Cls Three Shares € 16.63 - 0.06 0.00
Ashmore SICAV Emerging Market Frontier Equity Fund $ 143.54 - -0.05 1.72 Consistent UT Inc 44.60xd 46.23 0.11 1.52 Pictet-Emerging Markets-I USD F $ 721.64 - 8.43 0.00
Smaller Cos Cls Four Shares € 21.37 - 0.08 0.00
Ashmore SICAV Emerging Market Total Return Fund $ 78.19 - -0.34 4.71 Consistent UT Acc 118.80xd 123.30 0.20 1.52 Pictet-Emerging Markets Index-I USD F $ 309.94 - -5.41 0.00
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 19

MANAGED FUNDS SERVICE

Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield Fund Bid Offer +/- Yield

Orbis OEIC Global Equity Standard £ 17.05 - -0.29 0.00 Royal London Sustainable World A Inc 327.80 - 0.40 - Data Provided by
Orbis OEIC UK Equity Standard £ 6.65 - -0.09 0.00 Royal London Corporate Bond Mth Income 93.99 - 0.15 3.58

Royal London European Growth Trust 171.20 - -1.20 0.22

Royal London Sustainable Leaders A Inc 675.60 - -0.40 -

Royal London UK Growth Trust 513.00 - -2.70 2.19

Royal London UK Income With Growth Trust 185.60 - -0.20 4.99 Slater www.morningstar.co.uk
MMIP Investment Management Limited
Regulated
Multi-Manager Investment Programmes PCC Limited
(GSY) Royal London US Growth Trust

Additional Funds Available

278.50 - 0.50 0.01
Investments Unicorn Asset Management Ltd (UK)
PO Box 10602, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 9PD 0845 026 4287
Authorised Inv Funds
Data as shown is for information purposes only. No
offer is made by Morningstar or this publication.

Please see www.royallondon.com for details

UK Equity Fd Cl A Series 01 £ 2012.16 2045.81 -148.51 0.00 UK Growth A Inc 543.18 - -0.21 1.25

Diversified Absolute Rtn Fd USD Cl AF2 $ 1544.12 - -8.15 0.00 Mastertrust A Inc X F 494.00 - -0.23 -

Diversified Absolute Return Stlg Cell AF2 £ 1460.19 - -8.03 0.00 UK Growth B Inc 547.80 - -0.20 2.06
Guide to Data
Global Equity Fund A Lead Series £ 1446.38 1451.08 -48.72 0.00 Mastertrust B Inc X F 445.63 - -0.20 -

Outstanding British Cos A Acc X F 283.22 - 1.32 0.68 The fund prices quoted on these pages are supplied by
the operator of the relevant fund. Details of funds
published on these pages, including prices, are for the
Outstanding British Cos B Acc X F 306.25 - 1.43 1.47 purpose of information only and should only be used
Mirabaud Asset Management (LUX) Polar Capital Funds Plc (IRL) Slater Investments Ltd (UK) as a guide. The Financial Times Limited makes no
www.mirabaud.com, marketing@mirabaud-am.com Regulated www.slaterinvestments.com; Tel: 0207 220 9460 UK Smaller Cos A Inc X F 506.76 - -3.96 1.95 representation as to their accuracy or completeness
Conviction based investment vehicles details available here www.mirabaud-am.com FCA Recognised and they should not be relied upon when making an
Automation & Artificial Intelligence CL I USD Acc $ 14.88 14.88 -0.08 - UK Smaller Cos B Inc X F 498.07 - -3.85 2.75 investment decision.
Regulated
Slater Growth 563.43 563.43 -2.21 0.00
Pictet Asset Management (Europe) SA (LUX) The sale of interests in the funds listed on these pages
Mir. - Glb Strat. Bd I USD $ 118.30 - 0.07 0.00 Asian Financials I USD $ 380.50 380.50 3.16 0.00 UK Income A Acc X F 270.06 - -0.24 3.69
15, Avenue J.F. Kennedy L-1855 Luxembourg may, in certain jurisdictions, be restricted by law and
Slater Income A Inc 113.03 113.03 -0.47 5.22
Tel: 0041 58 323 3000 the funds will not necessarily be available to persons
Mir. - DiscEur D Cap GBP £ 151.31 - -0.52 0.00 Biotechnology I USD $ 33.21 33.21 -0.03 0.00 UK Income A Inc X F 200.15 - -0.18 3.11
FCA Recognised in all jurisdictions in which the publication circulates.
Slater Recovery 264.12 264.12 -0.98 0.00 Persons in any doubt should take appropriate
Marlborough Fd Managers Ltd (1200)F (UK) Mirabaud - UK Equity High Alpha £ 122.22 - -1.47 0.00 Pictet-Absl Rtn Fix Inc-HI EUR € 112.64 - 0.08 0.00 Emerging Market Stars I USD Acc $ 12.67 - -0.20 - UK Income B Acc X F 297.16 - -0.26 3.54 professional advice. Data collated by Morningstar. For
Marlborough House, 59 Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL1 4QP 0808 145 2500 Slater Artorius 230.24 230.24 0.36 0.45 other queries contact reader.enquiries@ft.com +44
www.marlboroughfunds.com Pictet-Asian Equities Ex Japan-I USD F $ 359.96 - 5.10 0.00 European Ex UK Inc EUR Acc € 10.76 10.76 -0.09 0.00 UK Income B Inc X F 220.36 - -0.18 3.46 (0)207 873 4211.
Authorised Inv Funds
Pictet-Asian Local Currency Debt-I USD F $ 183.71 - -0.84 - Financial Opps I USD $ 11.13 - -0.12 2.41 The fund prices published in this edition along with
Balanced 206.17 206.17 -0.65 0.43 additional information are also available on the
Financial Times website, www.ft.com/funds. The
Pictet-Biotech-I USD F $ 1035.16 - 1.92 0.00 GEM Income I USD $ 11.08 - -0.23 0.00
Bond Income 52.16 52.16 0.04 3.24 funds published on these pages are grouped together
Ruffer LLP (1000)F (UK) by fund management company.
Pictet-CHF Bonds I CHF SFr 512.18 - 0.19 0.00 Global Convertible I USD $ 14.95 14.95 0.00 0.00
Cautious Inc 84.78 84.78 -0.20 2.26 65 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ
Prices are in pence unless otherwise indicated. The
Order Desk and Enquiries: 0345 601 9610
Pictet-China Index I USD $ 184.98 - -1.39 0.00 Global Insurance I GBP £ 6.62 - -0.02 0.00 change, if shown, is the change on the previously
Emerging Markets 298.12 298.12 1.49 1.05 Authorised Inv Funds quoted figure (not all funds update prices daily). Those
Global Technology I USD $ 74.90 - 0.57 - Authorised Corporate Director - Link Fund Solutions designated $ with no prefix refer to US dollars. Yield
Pictet-Clean Energy-I USD F $ 131.17 - 0.21 0.00
ETF Commodity A 72.07 72.07 -0.34 0.00 percentage figures (in Tuesday to Saturday papers)
LF Ruffer European C Acc 673.11 - 0.43 0.60
allow for buying expenses. Prices of certain older
Pictet-Digital-I USD F $ 543.92 - 3.43 - Healthcare Blue Chip Fund I USD Acc $ 15.34 15.34 -0.09 0.00
European Multi-Cap 513.84 513.84 -2.48 1.14 insurance linked plans might be subject to capital
LF Ruffer European C Inc 122.96 - 0.08 0.67 gains tax on sales.
Pictet-Em Lcl Ccy Dbt-I USD F $ 180.87 - -1.57 0.00 Healthcare Opps I USD $ 57.20 - -0.32 0.00
Extra Income 80.40 80.40 0.14 3.56
LF Ruffer European O Acc 657.06 - 0.38 0.32 Guide to pricing of Authorised Investment Funds:
Pictet-Emerging Europe-I EUR F € 390.86 - -1.66 - Income Opportunities B2 I GBP Acc £ 2.05 2.05 -0.01 0.00 (compiled with the assistance of the IMA. The
Far East Growth A Inc 227.15 227.15 1.41 0.96 Investment Management Association, 65 Kingsway,
LF Ruffer Equity & General C Acc 448.17 - -2.58 0.51
Pictet-Emerging Markets-I USD F $ 721.64 - 8.43 0.00 Japan Value I JPY ¥ 101.32 101.32 0.41 0.00 WA Fixed Income Fund Plc (IRL) London WC2B 6TD.
Global 263.34 263.34 -0.59 0.00 Regulated Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 0898.)
LF Ruffer Equity & General C Inc 410.70 - -2.36 0.51
Pictet-Emerging Markets Index-I USD F $ 309.94 - -5.41 0.00 North American I USD $ 26.75 26.75 0.02 0.00
Global Bond Inc 158.49 158.49 -1.57 2.35 European Multi-Sector € 122.40 - 0.16 3.27 OEIC: Open-Ended Investment Company. Similar to a
LF Ruffer Equity & General O Acc 437.52 - -2.54 0.20 unit trust but using a company rather than a trust
Pictet-Emerging Corporate Bonds I USD $ 136.84 - -0.04 0.00 UK Absolute Equity I GBP £ 15.47 15.47 0.00 0.00 structure.
High Yield Fixed Interest 69.37 69.37 0.01 3.96
LF Ruffer Equity & General O Inc 405.07 - -2.35 0.22
Pictet-Emerging Markets High Dividend I USD $ 130.48 - 0.96 0.00 UK Val Opp I GBP Acc £ 10.16 10.16 -0.05 0.00 Different share classes are issued to reflect a different
Multi Cap Income A Inc 122.93 122.93 -0.29 4.81 currency, charging structure or type of holder.
LF Ruffer Gold C Acc 350.12 - 18.66 0.00
Pictet-Emerging Markets Sust Eq I USD $ 104.25 - 0.99 0.00
Nano-Cap Growth A Acc 178.93 178.93 0.07 0.00 New Capital UCITS Fund PLC (IRL) Selling price: Also called bid price. The price at which
LF Ruffer Gold C Inc 211.90 - 11.29 -
Leconfield House, Curzon Street, London, W1J 5JB Stonehage Fleming Investment Management Ltd (IRL) units in a unit trust are sold by investors.
Pictet-EUR Bonds-I F € 652.21 - 0.99 -
Special Situations A Acc 1679.01 1679.01 -5.25 0.00 www.newcapitalfunds.com www.stonehagefleming.com/gbi
LF Ruffer Gold O Acc 341.67 - 18.19 0.00 Buying price: Also called offer price. The price at
FCA Recognised Pictet-EUR Corporate Bonds-I F € 220.87 - 0.18 0.00 enquiries@stonehagefleming.com
which units in a unit trust are bought by investors.
UK Multi-Cap Growth A Inc 353.30 353.30 -0.23 0.13 New Capital UCITS Funds Regulated
LF Ruffer Japanese C Inc 147.78 - 2.25 0.30 Includes manager’s initial charge.
Pictet-EUR Government Bonds I EUR € 180.74 - 0.22 - SF Global Best Ideas Eq B USD ACC $ 222.70 - 0.55 -
UK Micro Cap Growth A 766.00 766.00 0.29 0.00 New Capital China Equity Fund $ 228.30 - -2.41 0.00
LF Ruffer Japanese C Acc 317.33 - 4.83 0.28 Single price: Based on a mid-market valuation of the
Pictet-EUR High Yield-I F € 281.02 - -0.07 0.00 underlying investments. The buying and selling price
US Multi-Cap Income 641.32 641.32 -0.40 1.29 New Capital Dynamic European Equity Fund € 123.80 - -0.90 0.00 SF Global Best Ideas Eq D GBP INC £ 257.15 - 1.52 - for shares of an OEIC and units of a single priced unit
LF Ruffer Japanese O Acc X 309.38 - 4.69 0.14
trust are the same.
MFM - Third Party Funds Pictet-EUR Short Mid-Term Bonds-I F € 137.47 - 0.00 0.00
New Capital Dynamic UK Equity Fund £ 109.71 - -1.14 0.00
LF Ruffer Pacific & Emerging Markets C Acc 360.05 - 2.70 1.29 Treatment of manager’s periodic capital charge:
Junior Oils 35.61 35.61 0.21 0.00 Pictet-EUR Short Term HY I EUR € 124.98 - 0.02 0.00 Polar Capital LLP (CYM)
New Capital Global Alpha Fund £ 113.01 - -0.04 0.00 The letter C denotes that the trust deducts all or part
Regulated LF Ruffer Pacific & Emerging Markets C Inc 98.96 - 0.75 1.38 of the manager’s/operator’s periodic charge from
Junior Gold C Acc 53.24 53.24 0.03 0.00 Pictet-EUR Sov.Sht.Mon.Mkt EUR I € 100.11 - -0.01 0.00 capital, contact the manager/operator for full details
New Capital Global Equity Conviction Fund $ 174.45 - -0.90 - European Forager A EUR € 175.20 - 2.34 0.00
LF Ruffer Pacific & Emerging Markets O Acc 351.16 - 2.62 1.01 of the effect of this course of action.
MFM Bowland 294.29 294.29 5.34 0.69 Pictet-Euroland Index IS EUR € 152.74 - -2.21 -
New Capital Global Value Credit Fund $ 157.16 - 0.01 0.00 Exit Charges: The letter E denotes that an exit charge
LF Ruffer Total Return C Acc 485.07 - 0.24 1.39
MFM Hathaway Inc 147.26 147.26 -2.15 1.37 may be made when you sell units, contact the
Pictet-Europe Index-I EUR F € 191.42 - -2.06 0.00
New Capital Japan Equity Fund ¥ 1405.45 - -17.19 0.00 manager/operator for full details.
LF Ruffer Total Return C Inc 314.99 - 0.16 1.41
MFM Techinvest Special Situations Acc 200.99 200.99 3.00 0.00 Pictet-European Equity Selection-I EUR F € 606.18 - -0.12 0.00
New Capital US Growth Fund $ 390.69 - 3.76 0.00 Time: Some funds give information about the timing of
LF Ruffer Total Return O Acc 473.50 - 0.21 1.39 price quotes. The time shown alongside the fund
MFM Techinvest Technology Acc 743.29 743.29 2.30 0.00 Pictet-European Sust Eq-I EUR F € 286.10 - -0.42 0.00 manager’s/operator’s name is the valuation point for
New Capital US Small Cap Growth Fund $ 173.39 - 0.02 0.00 Thesis Unit Trust Management Limited (UK)
LF Ruffer Total Return O Inc 307.30 - 0.14 1.41 Yuki - Co, LLC (IRL) their unit trusts/OEICs, unless another time is
Exchange Building, St Johns Street, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1UP
MFM UK Primary Opportunities A Inc 375.47 375.47 -0.88 1.69 Pictet-Global Bds Fundamental I USD $ 137.58 - -0.62 0.00 indicated by the symbol alongside the individual unit
New Capital Wealthy Nations Bond Fund $ 153.96 - -0.16 0.00 Authorised Funds Tel +18015545191 www.yukifunds.com
trust/OEIC name.
Regulated
Pictet-Global Bonds-I EUR € 192.95 - 0.71 0.00 TM New Court Fund A 2011 Inc £ 16.47 - 0.00 0.03
Yuki Mizuho Umbrella Fund The symbols are as follows: ✠ 0001 to 1100 hours; ♦
Yuki Mizuho Japan Dynamic Growth ¥ 6258.00 - 27.00 0.00 1101 to 1400 hours; ▲1401 to 1700 hours; # 1701 to
Pictet-Global Defensive Equities I USD $ 199.62 - -0.02 0.00 TM New Court Fund - A 2014 Acc £ 16.61 - 0.00 0.03
Private Fund Mgrs (Guernsey) Ltd (GSY) midnight. Daily dealing prices are set on the basis of
Regulated the valuation point, a short period of time may elapse
Pictet-Global Emerging Debt-I USD F $ 464.73 - -1.24 0.00 TM New Court Equity Growth Fund - Inc £ 17.53 - 0.00 0.08 Yuki Japan Low Price ¥ 34645.00 - 595.00 0.00 before prices become available. Historic pricing: The
Monument Growth 18/08/2020 £ 485.29 489.82 0.89 1.62 letter H denotes that the managers/operators will
Yuki Asia Umbrella Fund
Pictet-Global Env.Opport-I EUR € 267.77 - 1.87 - normally deal on the price set at the most recent
Yuki Japan Rebounding Growth Fund JPY Class ¥ 29853.00 - 330.00 0.00 valuation. The prices shown are the latest available
before publication and may not be the current dealing
Pictet-Global Megatrend Selection-I USD F $ 364.57 - 0.27 -
Yuki Japan Rebounding Growth Fund USD Hedged Class $ 1227.42 - 13.64 0.00 levels because of an intervening portfolio revaluation
or a switch to a forward pricing basis. The
Pictet-Global Sust.Credit HI EUR € 164.13 - -0.36 0.00 managers/operators must deal at a forward price on
request, and may move to forward pricing at any time.
Marwyn Asset Management Limited (CYM)
Pictet-Greater China-I USD F $ 886.81 - 15.20 0.00 Forward pricing: The letter F denotes that that
Regulated managers/operators deal at the price to be set at the
Marwyn Value Investors £ 340.40 - -14.66 0.00 Pictet-Health-I USD $ 366.71 - -2.56 - next valuation.

Investors can be given no definite price in advance of

Pictet-SmartCity-I EUR € 211.49 - 1.80 0.00
the purchase or sale being carried out. The prices
appearing in the newspaper are the most recent
Pictet-India Index I USD $ 122.22 - -1.33 0.00 provided by the managers/operators. Scheme
Prusik Investment Management LLP (IRL)
particulars, prospectus, key features and reports: The
Pictet-Indian Equities-I USD F $ 566.44 - 4.70 0.00 Enquiries - 0207 493 1331 most recent particulars and documents may be
Regulated obtained free of charge from fund
Pictet-Japan Index-I JPY F ¥ 18351.60 - 52.51 0.00 managers/operators. * Indicates funds which do not
Prusik Asian Equity Income B Dist $ 161.06 - 1.98 4.86
price on Fridays.
Pictet-Japanese Equities Opp-I JPY F ¥ 11283.40 - 2.33 0.00 Prusik Asia Emerging Opportunities Fund A Acc $ 152.78 - 0.40 0.00 Charges for this advertising service are based on the
number of lines published and the classification of the
Pictet-Japanese Equity Selection-I JPY F ¥ 16162.54 - -18.76 0.00 Prusik Asia Fund U Dist. £ 203.69 - 0.97 0.00 RobecoSAM (LUX) fund. Please contact data@ft.com or
Tel. +41 44 653 10 10 http://www.robecosam.com/
Zadig Gestion (Memnon Fund) (LUX)
Oasis Crescent Management Company Ltd FCA Recognised call +44 (0)20 7873 3132 for further information.
McInroy & Wood Portfolios Limited (UK) Other International Funds Pictet-LATAM Lc Ccy Dbt-I USD F $ 128.69 - -2.02 0.00 Regulated
Easter Alderston, Haddington, EH41 3SF 01620 825867 Memnon European Fund - Class U2 GBP £ 184.46 - -2.34 0.00
Oasis Crescent Equity Fund R 11.23 - -0.08 0.71 RobecoSAM Sm.Energy/A £ 22.58 - -0.28 1.33
Authorised Inv Funds Pictet-Multi Asset Global Opportunities-I EUR € 129.53 - -0.17 0.00

Balanced Fund Personal Class Units 5378.90 - -11.90 1.52 RobecoSAM Sm.Energy/N € 20.88 - -0.23 0.00
Pictet-Nutrition-I EUR € 255.65 - 1.14 0.00

Income Fund Personal Class Units 2605.10 - -9.70 2.87 RobecoSAM Sm.Materials/A £ 192.74 - -2.48 1.62
Pictet-Pacific Ex Japan Index-I USD F $ 431.67 - -8.27 0.00

Emerging Markets Fund Personal Class Units 2112.60 - 12.40 1.88 RobecoSAM Sm.Materials/N € 202.18 - -2.28 0.00
Pictet-Premium Brands-I EUR F € 209.17 - 2.27 - Toscafund Asset Management LLP (UK)
Smaller Companies Fund Personal Class Units 6017.00 - -7.20 1.28 RobecoSAM Sm.Materials/Na € 131.85 - -1.49 1.61 www.toscafund.com
Pictet-Russia Index I USD $ 86.60 - -3.42 0.00 Authorised Funds
RobecoSAM S.HealthyLiv/B € 226.30 - -1.16 0.00
Pictet-Russian Equities-I USD F $ 86.58 - -1.19 0.00 Purisima Investment Fds (UK) (1200)F (UK) Aptus Global Financials B Acc £ 3.17 - -0.04 -
65 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ RobecoSAM S.HealthyLiv/N € 218.41 - -1.11 0.00
Pictet-Security-I USD F $ 338.07 - -0.13 0.00 Order Desk and Enquiries: 0345 922 0044 Aptus Global Financials B Inc £ 2.21 - -0.03 7.05
Authorised Inv Funds RobecoSAM S.HealthyLiv/Na £ 162.85 - -1.08 1.44
Oasis Global Mgmt Co (Ireland) Ltd (IRL)
Pictet-Small Cap Europe-I EUR F € 1403.07 - 10.64 0.00
Regulated Authorised Corporate Director - Link Fund Solutions
Oasis Crescent Global Investment Fund (Ireland) plc RobecoSAM S.Water/A £ 285.28 - -1.78 1.53
Pictet-ST Emerg Local Currency Debt-I USD F $ 103.64 - -0.66 0.00 Global Total Fd PCG A 322.39 - 1.44 0.56
Oasis Crescent Global Short Term Income Fund I - Class A Dist $ 0.99 - 0.00 2.28 RobecoSAM S.Water/N € 250.51 - -1.16 0.00
Pictet-ST.MoneyMkt-I € 137.93 - 0.00 0.00 Global Total Fd PCG B 319.53 - 1.42 0.35
Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund $ 32.38 - -0.05 0.50
Pictet-ST.MoneyMkt JPY I USD ¥ 100705.14 - -2.51 0.00 Global Total Fd PCG INT 315.43 - 1.40 0.14

Milltrust International Managed Investments ICAV (IRL) Oasis Crescent Variable Balanced Fund £ 8.83 - -0.04 0.00
Pictet-ST.MoneyMkt-ICHF SFr 119.66 - -0.01 0.00
mimi@milltrust.com, +44(0)20 8123 8369 www.milltrust.com
Regulated OasisCresGl Income Class A $ 10.99 - 0.00 -
Pictet-ST.MoneyMkt-IUSD $ 146.01 - 0.00 -
British Innovation Fund £ 123.94 - 23.92 0.00 OasisCresGl LowBal D ($) Dist $ 12.07 - 0.01 1.04
Pictet-Timber-I USD F $ 207.86 - 0.01 0.00 Toscafund Asset Management LLP
MAI - Buy & Lease (Australia) A$ 123.94 - 21.42 0.00 www.toscafund.com
OasisCresGl Med Eq Bal A ($) Dist $ 13.02 - -0.01 0.37
Pictet-US High Yield-I USD F $ 179.42 - -0.12 0.00 Tosca A USD $ 277.72 - -5.57 -
MAI - Buy & Lease (New Zealand)NZ$ 98.28 - 0.99 0.00 Oasis Crescent Gbl Property Eqty $ 7.56 - 0.09 -
Pictet-USA Index-I USD F $ 316.15 - 1.00 0.00 Tosca Mid Cap GBP £ 117.51 - -36.63 -
Milltrust Global Emerging Markets Fund - Class A $ 103.38 - -0.24 0.00
Pictet-USD Government Bonds-I F $ 771.08 - 1.73 0.00 Tosca Opportunity B USD $ 177.66 - -59.35 -
The Climate Impact Asia Fund (Class A) $ 94.29 - 7.55 -
Pictet-USD Short Mid-Term Bonds-I F $ 144.82 - 0.00 0.00 Purisima Investment Fds (CI) Ltd (JER)
Pegasus Fund Ltd A-1 GBP £ 28.00 - -8.90 0.00
Regulated
Pictet-USD Sov.ST.Mon.Mkt-I $ 109.70 - 0.00 - PCG B X 259.49 - 1.17 0.00

Pictet-Water-I EUR F € 420.91 - 3.12 0.00 PCG C X 253.73 - 1.14 0.00

Omnia Fund Ltd

Other International Funds

Estimated NAV $ 584.11 - 9.49 0.00

Rubrics Global UCITS Funds Plc (IRL)
Milltrust International Managed Investments SPC www.rubricsam.com
em@milltrust.com, +44(0)20 8123 8369, www.milltrust.com Regulated
Regulated
Rubrics Emerging Markets Fixed Income UCITS Fund $ 136.78 - -0.27 0.00
Milltrust Alaska Brazil SP A $ 67.34 - -2.21 -
Rubrics Global Credit UCITS Fund $ 17.35 - 0.00 0.00
Milltrust Laurium Africa SP A $ 78.83 - -0.54 -
Rubrics Global Fixed Income UCITS Fund $ 183.09 - 0.12 0.00
Milltrust Singular ASEAN SP Founders $ 126.69 - 2.02 -
Q Rubrics India Fixed Income UCITS Fund $ 11.19 - -0.03 0.00
Milltrust SPARX Korea Equity SP A $ 131.80 - 4.23 -
Rubrics India Fixed Income UCITS Fund $ 97.10 - -0.20 0.00
Milltrust Xingtai China SP A $ 141.92 - -1.06 -

Oryx International Growth Fund Ltd

Other International Funds

NAV (Fully Diluted) £ 9.10 - -0.52 0.00

Platinum Capital Management Ltd Ram Active Investments SA Troy Asset Mgt (1200) (UK)
Other International Funds www.ram-ai.com 65 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ
Other International Funds Order Desk and Enquiries: 0345 608 0950
Platinum All Star Fund - A $ 128.52 - - -
Authorised Inv Funds
RAM Systematic Emerg Markets Eq $ 183.95 183.95 -4.15 -
Authorised Corporate Director - Link Fund Solutions
Platinum Global Growth UCITS Fund $ 12.43 - -0.04 0.00 Scottish Friendly Asset Managers Ltd (UK)
Ministry of Justice Common Investment Funds (UK) Trojan Investment Funds
RAM Systematic European Eq € 432.06 432.06 -3.31 - Scottish Friendly Hse, 16 Blythswood Sq, Glasgow G2 4HJ 0141 275 5000
Property & Other UK Unit Trusts Platinum Essential Resources UCITS Fund SICAV USD Class E $ 7.44 - -0.05 0.00 Authorised Inv Funds Spectrum Fund O Acc 241.72 - -0.30 0.24
RAM Systematic Funds Global Sustainable Income Eq $ 118.12 118.12 -1.33 0.00
The Equity Idx Tracker Fd Inc 1630.00 1630.00 -5.00 3.41 Managed Growth ♦ 282.90 - -0.20 0.00
Platinum Global Dividend UCITS Fund $ 53.91 - -0.03 0.00 Spectrum Fund O Inc 229.63 - -0.28 0.25
Distribution Units RAM Systematic Long/Short Emerg Markets Eq $ 104.69 104.69 -1.32 -
UK Growth ♦ 318.00 - -1.60 0.00
Trojan Ethical O Acc 117.57 - 0.09 0.10
RAM Systematic Long/Short European Eq € 137.95 137.95 0.27 -
Trojan Ethical O Inc 117.34 - 0.09 0.09
RAM Systematic North American Eq $ 330.65 330.65 1.62 -
Trojan Ethical Income O Acc 130.87 - -0.57 2.95
RAM Tactical Global Bond Total Return € 154.73 - -0.04 -
Trojan Ethical Income O Inc 114.80 - -0.50 3.01
RAM Tactical II Asia Bond Total Return $ 154.49 - -0.04 -
Trojan Fund O Acc 349.62 - 0.16 0.35

Trojan Fund O Inc 283.13 - 0.13 0.35

Trojan Global Equity O Acc 416.99 - 1.70 0.24

Trojan Global Equity O Inc 344.08 - 1.41 0.24

Trojan Global Income O Acc 130.28 - -0.20 3.07

Orbis Investments (U.K.) Limited (GBR)
28 Dorset Square, London, NW1 6QG Trojan Global Income O Inc 116.30 - -0.18 3.13
www.orbis.com 0800 358 2030
Regulated Trojan Income O Acc 321.65 - -1.59 3.60
RLUM Ltd (UK)
Orbis OEIC Global Cautious Standard £ 9.93 - -0.08 0.03 5th Floor, Churchgate House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6EU 03456 057777 Trojan Income O Inc 167.84 - -0.83 3.62
Authorised Inv Funds
Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Standard £ 14.02 - -0.21 0.00
Royal London Sustainable Diversified A Inc £ 2.35 - 0.00 -
20
Twitter: @FTLex
Bayer:
settling up
Bayer is a science-led company but its
fortunes are being dictated in part by
the law. On Thursday, the German
conglomerate unveiled a $1.6bn
agreement with American women who
alleged they had been injured by its
Essure birth-control device. That came
a few months after the announcement
of a $10.9bn settlement of claims that
its weedkiller Roundup caused cancer.
In both cases, the controversy
originated with acquisitions. Bayer
forked out $1.1bn for Essure-maker
Conceptus in 2013. Its exposure to
Roundup damages came with its $63bn
acquisition of US agrochemicals group
Monsanto in 2018. Other liability cases
have been homegrown.
Big Pharma’s critics argue that legal
challenges over the safety of drugs and
medical devices reflect a flawed testing
system, compromised by a dash for
profits. Companies say they are victims
of a hyper-litigious US legal system.
Lawyers spent $100m on advertising to
potential Roundup plaintiffs in 2019,
says Bayer. It insists Roundup is safe. It
made no admission of wrongdoing or
liability in the Essure case either.
Though Bayer often opts to settle
claims, it is prepared to be robust when
it comes to weaker claims. It had some
early success. In 2003 jurors found in
its favour over the side-effects of a
cholesterol-lowering drug called
Baycol, limiting payouts.
But the potential hazards of that
approach were evident in the Roundup
case, when defeat in three jury trials
opened the door to a lot more claims.
Despite the June announcement, the
agreement is not finalised, with talks
still under way on how to deal with
potential litigation. Investors remain
jittery. The shares, having fallen, are
priced at under 9 times forward
earnings, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Investors should not complain about
payouts for Essure, which have been
provided for in Bayer’s accounts.
Opting to settle provides certainty. The
Roundup case underlines the risks of
tangling with unpredictable juries.
Online groceries:
shop smart
Brits will chow through £211bn of food
by 2022, reckons retail consultancy
IGD, up by a 10th on last year. An
increasingly large share of this, £1 in
every £11, will be bought online.
Retailers are busily lining up their
trucks. Next month Marks and
Spencers begins its foray into online
delivery, courtesy of Ocado. Morrisons
is embarking on a pilot same-day
delivery with Amazon Prime in Leeds.
In the US Walmart is partnering with
Instacart as part of its own attempt to
counteract the might of Amazon,
which owns grocer Whole Foods.
The trouble for retailers is that doing
customers’ shopping and delivering it
to their door is mostly unprofitable.
Food retail margins, at around 3-5 per
cent of earnings before interest and
tax, are low to begin with. Picking out a
customer’s weekly food shop, say 40-
50 items including fresh and frozen
goods, is more onerous than fulfilling
an order for fashion or books.
Specialised transit is required for
perishable foodstuffs.
More online orders magnify these
US housing: bid ADU
Granny flats are on the rise in the US
Number of first-time accessory
dwelling unit listings (rolling 12-month
average, ’000s)
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 Ohio
1998 2005 2010 2015 2019
FT graphic Source: Freddie Mac
The American dream was supposed
to include a detached house with its
own two-car garage and a backyard
for the kids to run around in. Rising
property prices have shattered the
dream for many. America’s
romanticised obsession with single
family homes is wearing thin.
Outside New York City, the US has
largely eschewed dense, multifamily
housing. Dwindling supply and high
costs mean additional living spaces
have had to be fashioned out of larger
houses, offering a separate entrance
and bathroom to create a modicum of
privacy. These “in-law” units or
“granny flats” are often carved out
illicitly. Because they conflict with
local housing regulations their
prevalence has been hard to gauge.
A recent data project from
government-controlled mortgage
costs. All in, consultancy Capgemini
reckons retailers could face net profit
margin erosion of 26 per cent between
2018 and 2021, all else being equal, as
the result of increased order deliveries.
Relying on a mix of centralised
fulfilment centres and smaller ones
located closer to customers helps with
timely delivery but is capital intensive.
China, ahead of UK and US peers on
online shopping, has benefited from
heavy automation, smart fulfilment
technology and low-cost couriers.
Synergies further boost cheap delivery.
Idling couriers at Alibaba’s Ele.me,
which is similar to Uber Eats or
Deliveroo, can be dispatched to deliver
lobster and groceries from Freshippo,
its upscale grocery chain that promises
home delivery in half an hour.
British supermarkets are behind but
they are taking heed. Given the growth
of ecommerce and its unappealing
economics, they have little choice but
to pursue each and every permutation.
Hong Kong/investment
banking: Chinese wall
The US-China divide has spread from
smartphones to financial services.
China’s mainland dealmakers hope
they can seize the moment.
In Hong Kong, where most mainland
companies raise funds, foreign banks
dominate deal flow. Over a quarter of
the market share of equity offerings
has gone to US banks this year.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
top the list. Chinese brokers are league
table laggards.
US sanctions plus deepening Chinese
distrust towards foreign service
★ 22 August/23 August 2020
Pricey states split most family homes
Number of ADUs (’000s)
0 50 100 150 200
California
Florida
Texas
Georgia
Arizona
Massachusetts
Washington
New York
North Carolina
Source: Freddie Mac
finance giant Freddie Mac, using
novel automated text searches of
property listings over several years,
seeks to offer clarity on “accessory
dwelling units”. It found listings for
1.4m ADUs in 2019 — roughly 7 per
cent of all for-sale listings. That
proportion has grown from 1.6 per
cent in 2000.
While large states such as
California and Texas led listings,
smaller states such as Arizona and
Georgia ranked highly too.
Local governments are trying to
promote affordability through
housing density. The pandemic has
forced Americans to think more
about maximising open spaces. In the
long term, the ideal of one standalone
home per family will also need to give
way. The growing prevalence of ADUs
suggests that it already has.
providers could change this. As
protests and Beijing’s national security
law push more people to leave,
mainland Chinese counterparts are
beefing up their operations. While
most international investment banks
have shed front office employees this
year, four of the five fastest-growing
financial groups in Hong Kong were
from mainland China.
It helps that Chinese companies will
make up the bulk of new listings in the
coming year. The securities businesses
of state-owned lenders Bank of China
and ICBC, the country’s largest bank,
have a stronghold on deals on the
mainland. These could grow their
share in Hong Kong. Strong ties with
founders and the added security of its
scale also confer an advantage.
Shares in mainland brokers have
already priced in expectations of
higher fees. Citic Securities is up 30 per
cent. CICC shares have gained three-
quarters from an April low. Even
without additional deals, returns have
been healthy. The latter’s return on
equity of 10 per cent in the year to
March puts it ahead of peers, which
languish in the mid-single figures.
Further ruptures may come. The
investment banking unit of Bank of
China has suggested China’s own
payment system should be used
instead of global payment systems such
as Belgium’s Swift.
As Beijing’s influence grows, expect
its brokers to take a larger share of
deals left on the table by foreign rivals.
Lex on the web
For notes on today’s
breaking stories go to
www.ft.com/lex
Wall Street’s record
run owes a lot to
flattened bond yields
Michael Mackenzie
The Long View
I
t has taken US stocks just six
months to erase the pandemic bear
market, thanks to a rally powered
by big technology companies. The
S&P 500’s taste of rarefied air this
week, with Apple claiming a $2tn
market capitalisation, illustrates that
size certainly matters.
But investors should not ignore the
supportive role played by suppressed
government bond yields and how they
will shape the performance of equity
and credit from here.
A new high in the US benchmark
must be viewed in the context of a vastly
different investment environment from
the one that prevailed back in February.
Today, there is no shortage of head-
shaking about high-flying share prices
and other signs of market speculation,
at a time when there seems little pros-
pect of the pandemic fading away. Nor is
there a viable vaccine on the horizon.
That means the macro backdrop
looks murky, characterised by fears of
heightened job losses.
It is also clear that there is a growing
divide between corporate winners and
losers. Tech stocks are getting bigger in
the S&P, benefiting from people
embracing a digital lifestyle that spans
work and schools to shopping and
socialising. In that sense, it does not
seem to matter that aggregate S&P 500
earnings dropped about one-third
during the second quarter from the
same period a year ago.
Perhaps the most important metric,
though, is the 10-year US Treasury
yield, which sits a full percentage point
lower, at about 0.6 per cent, than it did
in February. That drop in the so-called
risk-free rate bolsters the appeal of
share and credit markets.
The equity risk premium, a measure
of the return over that risk-free rate, has
risen to 6.3 per cent from 5.4 per cent
during the past six months, according to
Goldman Sachs.
An elevated ERP buys time for a
recovery in the S&P’s earnings per
share, which Goldman expects to rise by
about one-third to $170 by the end of
next year. That rebound will be driven,
the bank says, by tech and healthcare
groups, while energy stocks and
financials will “struggle” to restore their
previous earnings power.
Given that healthcare (14 per cent) is
the second largest S&P 500 sector after
tech — which accounts for about 38 per
cent after folding in Amazon, Facebook
and Alphabet — the heavyweights pack
quite a punch. A recovery in profits,
combined with low bond yields, could
well sustain the share market rally.
Naturally, there remains a danger of
economic reality catching up with a top-
heavy equity market as earnings growth
There is no shortage of
head-shaking about high
share prices and signs
of market speculation
fails to match lofty expectations. Such a
prospect was flagged in the latest US
Federal Reserve meeting minutes
released this week.
Some officials noted that the long-
term consequences of the pandemic
could involve “restructuring in some
sectors of the economy that could slow
the growth of the economy’s productive
capacity for some time”.
Most investors like to look well ahead,
anticipating outcomes and trends. So
for some, the current winners of the
pandemic are signalling the start of a
new business cycle, with the rest of the
pack catching up over the coming
months and years.
On that basis, analysts at Invesco say
fund managers should stick with risky
assets.
“We believe that betting long term
against credit and equities now would
be akin to betting against medicine,
science, human ingenuity and the
direction of monetary policy,” they
wrote in a note.
Clearly, more investors are thinking
along those lines, given that industrials
have been outshining tech in August,
while smaller companies have acceler-
ated, pulling away from larger rivals.
True, the Russell 2000 index of small-
caps sits about one-tenth below its
record high from August 2018 but, when
viewed from its March nadir, the bench-
mark has beaten the S&P 500, up 58 per
cent versus 51 per cent.
Small-caps endured a beating when
the pandemic erupted, which is not sur-
prising as they reflect the broader US
economy.
In the Russell 2000, healthcare, finan-
cials and industrials all play a bigger role
than tech — quite a contrast with the
global mega-caps of the S&P 500.
This brings us back to interest rates
and an important observation from
Robert Buckland and the global strategy
team at Citi.
The suppression of nominal and real
bond yields through quantitative easing
has been accompanied by rising expec-
tations of inflation, albeit from low
levels. Typically, higher inflation
expectations boost industrials and
commodity stocks while, in global
terms, the trend tends to favour US and
emerging market equities.
To Citi, this is a sign of investors
seeking hedges against price rises as
corporate dividends can be generally
expected to match inflation over the
long run.
Fanning expectations of inflation by
keeping a firm grip on bond yields is cer-
tainly the objective of central banks for
the foreseeable future. The stock mar-
ket has got that message, loud and clear.
michael.mackenzie@ft.com
Saturday 22 August / Sunday 23 August 2020

The dawn of Impressionism A magnificent collection revealed — PAGE 9

Follow us on Instagram @ft_weekend

executive, explains: “Paris is a city

where you must very quickly achieve
excellence.” Since the club wasn’t excel-
lent, most Parisians ignored it. Early
this century, the Parisian rugby club
Stade Français sometimes drew larger
crowds than PSG.
But the violent deaths of two PSG fans
in 2006 and 2010 changed things.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy — a
PSG fan — decided to eradicate Parisian
hooliganism. Groups of hardcore sup-
porters weren’t allowed to sit together in
the Parc any more. Some “ultras” were
banned. One former leader of a fan
group draws a comparison with the
clean-up of violent English stadiums
after 1990. “The violence in the Parc
declined,” he told me, “but the atmos-

You rarely saw anyone

inside the Périphérique in a
PSG shirt — an item viewed
as irretrievably ‘banlieue’

phere became a bit like England. I pre-

ferred the old ambience, even if it was
an ambience with tear gas at the exits.”

Meanwhile, on November 23 2010,

probably the most consequential meal
in modern football history was eaten in
the Elysée Palace, the French presiden-
tial residence. Around the table were
Sarkozy, Michel Platini, then head of
Europe’s football authority Uefa, and
Qatar’s crown prince Sheikh Tamim bin
Hamad Al Thani. On everyone’s minds
was Fifa’s vote for the hosts of the 2018
and 2022 World Cups, scheduled in
Zurich for nine days after the lunch.
Much of Qatari diplomacy is about
converting money into friendship. With
Saudi Arabia and Iran for neighbours,
Qatar needs allies. France — with a seat

How Paris fell for

fans and mostly ignored the match
itself. Instead, the “white” and ethni-
cally mixed ends of the ground — both
supposedly supporting PSG — chanted
hate songs at each other, or sang, “Oh
PSG, thanks to you we are the shame of
France.” Outside the stadium, on the
on the UN security council, a big mili-
tary, and power inside Fifa — is a useful
partner. The French, in turn, need
friends bearing foreign investment.
Platini had earlier said he would vote
for the US for 2022. He has denied that
Sarkozy’s wishes influenced him, but he
did shift the block of four European

its football team

bourgeois streets of the 16th arrondisse-
ment, normally filled with immaculate
women and tiny dogs, PSG fan scuffled
with PSG fan. Ajaccio flew home almost
unnoticed with a draw.
Jean-Claude Blanc, PSG’s deputy chief
votes from the US to Qatar. That decided
the outcome of Fifa’s vote. A kit com-
pany owned by the Qatar Investment
Authority later gave Platini’s son Lau-
Continued on page 2

wearing shorts and doing silly arm

Paris Saint-Germain once symbolised a divided city, beloved by the ‘banlieues’, exercises, marches his class through
Paris to go and play football. Behind
him, the boys peel off en route. The
ignored by the elite. But with Qatari millions, all that has changed. As the club Parisian elite’s palace gazette, Le
Monde, only launched a regular daily
sports page in 1995 — against the wishes
prepares for this Sunday’s Champions League final, Simon Kuper charts its rise of many of its journalists.
But during the second half of the last
century, the influx of French provin-
cials, Portuguese and north and west

A
fter Paris Saint-Germain
qualified for the first Cham-
pions League final of their
history earlier this week, I
went to see a friend who has
supported the club since his childhood
in a concrete 1970s suburb of Paris. He
and I take our kids to PSG’s home sta-
dium, the Parc des Princes, whenever we
can scrounge scarce tickets. On a good
night in the stands, we have even done
“the Poznan” together — the dance
where you link arms and turn your
backs to the field and jump up and down.
Now, with the peak of his life as a sup-
porter looming — Sunday’s final against
Bayern Munich in Lisbon — he was in a
reflective mood. He admitted to feeling
unease that his club’s rise had been
funded by rich Qatari owners: “It’s like
you cheated at Monopoly and suddenly
you have all these hotels on the board.”
Yet he was relieved by the success,
partly because the alternative would be
more years of mockery from rival fans,
who say, “Even with all this money, you
can’t get past the quarter-finals of the
Champions League.” He felt that PSG
had finally overcome what the French
call, in franglais, “la lose” — “failure”.
And like a true fan, who cannot entirely
distinguish between himself and his
club, he thought this might presage the
end of “la lose” in his own entrepreneur-
ial career.
The popular misconception of PSG is
that it’s a “fake” club, without history or
identity, created by Qatari money and
supported only by glory-hunters and
children. In fact, the club has millions of
longtime supporters, mostly in the
unlovely suburbs of Europe’s largest
Top: PSG fans in Paris
on Tuesday, celebrating
the victory that put their
club into the Champions
League final
Below: former French
president Nicolas Sarkozy,
left, with PSG’s president
Nasser Al-Khelaifi and
PSG sports manager
Leonardo, during a
match last November at
the Parc des Princes
Best Image/Backgrid; Getty Images
metropolitan area. PSG might have been
founded only in 1970, nearly a century
later than many English clubs, but
Greater Paris is a newish creation too. As
with every football club that matters to
people, PSG’s story echoes that of the
place it represents.
The Parisian elite created interna-
tional football: the global authority Fifa
was founded in the city in 1904, and the
World Cup and the European Cup (later
the Champions League) were both
invented there. But as French football
became increasingly proletarianised
during the 20th century, elite Parisians
came to disdain it. François Truffaut, in
his 1959 film The 400 Blows, depicts
football as just another of the horrors
that adults impose on boys. In the film
an absurdly enthusiastic gym teacher,
Africans transformed the region. The
new suburbs grew to dwarf the ancient
city. In 1946 Greater Paris had 6.6m
inhabitants, of whom 2.7m lived inside
the city proper. By 1975 the region’s pop-
ulation was 9.9m. Today it’s 12.2m, only
2.1m of whom live in Paris itself. Con-
struction has been rapid and often hap-
hazard: the exquisitely detailed build-
ing codes of Paris didn’t apply in the car-
bound American-style exurbs. Millions
of banlieusards, uprooted from their
places of birth, needed a common iden-
tity and symbols of community.
PSG’s creation, through a merger of
two clubs, was just the latest attempt to
create a Parisian club with staying
power. The Racing Club and Red Star
clubs had faded after periods in the sun.
Soon the couturier Daniel Hechter
became PSG’s president. He outraged
provincial fans by attending games in
his poshest gear, until he was banned
from football for life after a scandal over
ticketing in 1977.
PSG had a brief flowering in the 1990s,
reaching the Champions League semi-
final in 1995, but then faded. When I
moved to Paris in 2002, football wasn’t
part of the daily conversation, and you
rarely saw anyone inside the
Périphérique ring-road in a PSG
shirt — an item considered irretrievably
“banlieue”. On Bastille Day that year, one
of PSG’s violent fans, Maxime Brunerie,
tried to assassinate President Jacques
Chirac with a rifle.
A few weeks later, I made my first visit
to the Parc, to see PSG play the little Cor-
sican club Ajaccio. The home crowd
ignored the approximately 15 visiting
2 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

Life

A lexicon of I
n between worrying about the rapid
demise of humanity and the planet,
I have found myself thinking a lot
and wire adolescent brains,” says
Grinevich, “and this has been shown for
almost all mammals, including humans.

Life & Arts

about the kiss. While adults with a fully developed
It was early March, back when it brain and advanced social skills might
was still feasible for us all to pretend that be able to better cope with the lock-
everything was going to be fine. I was in down, especially when living as a couple
a bar — remember them? It was crowded or family, young adults might suffer
Like other — remember that? And I kissed a
stranger. We were in a stairwell and it
serious long-term consequences. It is
tempting to speculate that the shift to
brands whose was largely an undignified affair, but the
memory has transcended the mundan-
home office, online schools and virtual
meetings might further exacerbate
stores closed ity of the reality and taken on a new
form in my mind. The ultimate kiss. The
these symptoms or disorders and could
lead to a flood of psychiatric disorders in
last touch. The final contact. a few years from now.”
for much of spring, Across the world, thanks to lock-
down, millions of people haven’t A few months into lockdown, a friend
Vuitton now faces touched anyone else for months. In the
UK, some 7.7m people live alone. And
texted me: “I miss hugging my friends —
I miss smelling their fragrances on their
an inventory glut around 2.2m people, some of whom will
have been solo, were identified at the
necks.” Another, who has a taste for the
poetic, decided to break her lockdown,
Style, page 4 time of lockdown as being especially as if it were a fast, in early June, by hug-
vulnerable, and were advised to shield ging the very same woman who had
completely from others. been her last hug before it all began. It
We parked up for Today, many people remain
untouched, unhugged. Jim O’Connor,
was as if the contact has never been bro-
ken, as if the weeks of solitude and lone-
the night in the who is in his seventies, and lives alone in
Thorpe Bay, Essex, spent 19 weeks alone
liness could be erased by completing the
circle, and going back to the same
compound of in his flat, shielding. “At first it wasn’t
too bad, but after a while you start to
source as before.
Even the committedly untactile have
lose the will.” A young woman who lived noticed a shift; “I certainly spent longer
an old Tibetan nearby brought him food every couple marinated and massaging roast chick-
of days; “I just want to be able to hug ens than I did pre-lockdown so maybe I
caravan­serai her,” he says. “How do you thank some-
one for being so kind without a hug?”
was having some sort of skin break-
Travel, page 5 His only contact involving touch was Touch is the first of the
when a doctor came to take a blood sam-
ple — a needle to the arm — for a Cov- senses to develop in
She tells the story id-19 study. In a past life, he would cud-
dle and kiss his young grandchildren;
infants, detected by an
of the Vertriebene, they were the last people he touched Nanna Heitmann/Magnum Photos elaborate array of receptors
before lockdown. When his grand-
the millions who fled daughter visited recently, they

The magic of touch

remained two metres apart. “On the tel-
Germany’s eastern ephone, she has been asking if I still love
her,” he says.
regions as the Red The actress Shirley Dixon, who is 87,
has been isolating in London. Like
Army advanced O’Connor, her only physical contact
with another person has been medical —
Books, page 7 a CT scan and a blood test. It was a “rude
introduction” back into society and the
world of touch, she says. She has been
keeping herself busy via Zoom church
‘Education and services and while no priest can place a
reassuring hand on a head, and no warm
culture . . . give you a clutches can be extended to wish neigh-
bours well — she has found herself blow-
voice, so privileged ing kisses at the screen.
“I come from a very demonstrative
people keep them family. When my father went down to
the pub, he would kiss us all before he
for themselves’ left, and again when he got back,” she
says. The lack of contact has reminded
Arts, page 10 Dixon of her past as an evacuee during
the war; the same sense of separation
and helplessness.
HP Lovecraft, in his Touch is the first of the senses to
clumsy way, is about develop in infants. It is detected by an
elaborate array of receptors that can
distinguish even the subtlest of differ-
the rot underneath ences, whether between hard and soft,
fast and slow, hot and cool, or all those
the veneer myriad sensations that exist between
those poles. Pleasurable pain. An
Robert Armstrong, intense itch. A dull ache. Skin to brain,
back page brain to skin.
When we are touched, “the brain
Artists, writers and scientists all agree that physical contact is key to
feeling human. So how have we coped in its absence? By Lou Stoppard
releases various molecules including
dopamine, serotonin, endorphins and
oxytocin,” explains Professor Valery
Grinevich, whose research has focused
on the effects of social contact in various
species. “Physical contacts, even if just a
short hug, build trust and shape the way
we perceive and think about certain
individuals. The involved chemicals are
extremely powerful in the way that they
can override potential concerns, doubts
and prejudices.”
When analysing the mental health
effects of lockdown, many point to “skin
hunger”: a physical and mental longing
to touch or be touched. To feel skin
against yours is to feel human and alive
and seen. Sylvia Plath perhaps put in
best, writing in her journals: “Kiss me,
and you will see how important I am.”
This need appears to have a physiologi-
down,” says a lawyer friend who, even
before lockdown, favoured formal, stiff
greetings.
Recently, Joanne Evans, founder of
Skin Matters, a wellness clinic in Hol-
land Park, London, told me she has seen
a spike in requests for massages, along-
side the expected run for facials and
beauty treatments. “People just want to
be touched,” she said.
But touch is loaded. For some women,
a pause on contact, especially in these
tense times for gender relations, has
been a welcome relief. To be a young
woman is to be touched a lot, randomly,
cal basis. Studies conducted by Tiffany
M Field, a professor of paediatrics at the
as if one were public property, there to
enliven the surroundings. Many of us,
University of Miami, suggest that touch
helps to decrease stress hormones, most
through pressure and anger, grow more
assertive as we age, adapting our body
particularly cortisol, and increase
immune function.
language to preemptively combat the
taps and pats and brushes. In 2012, the
Lockdown and solitude have pre- American conceptual artist Adrian
vented us from reaping all the benefits Piper had cards made up, to hand out as
of touch. “The long-term consequences artworks and warnings; “DO NOT
of social deprivation are hard to pre-
dict,” Grinevich says. “Those might
TOUCH, TAP, PAT, STROKE, PROD,
PINCH, POKE, GROPE OR GRAB ME.”
include depression, anxiety, aggression,
increased substance abuse, anhedonia
We are all aware of our touch now, of
the space between ourselves and others.
[the inability to feel pleasure] and lack When the pandemic subsides, what will
of interest in social interactions, as all have changed beyond return? Many will
these disorders have been shown to be be cautious, of course. The hugs that
directly or indirectly modulated by
oxytocin.”
offered comfort now hold the potential
for harm. But many will be lonely, hun-
Teens may be of particular concern. gry for a boost of serotonin and a shroud
“Physical contact and social interaction of support. A sensation that lingers, long
are of paramount importance to shape after the embrace ends.

The rise of PSG

Continued from page 1
rent a job. Laurent has said his appoint-
ment had nothing to do with his father.
Seven months after the lunch, Qatar
Sports Investments bought PSG. The
Qataris had identified the biggest hole in
Europe’s football map: a metropolis of
12m people with just one top-division
club. For comparison, London has six
clubs in the Premier League. Arsenal’s
former manager Arsène Wenger, who
advised the Qataris, calls the purchase
“a no-brainer”.
Since QSI is backed by the Qatari
state, PSG effectively became the prop-
erty of a foreign country. In parallel, the
Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports spent
hundreds of millions buying the TV
rights to French football — in effect, sub-
sidising every club in Ligue 1. BeIN and
PSG moved into a shared office building
on a quiet street in the suburb of Boul-
ogne-Billancourt, just south-west of the
Parc. The young Qatari Nasser Al-
Khelaifi became both president of PSG
and chairman and chief executive of
beIN. He is due to stand trial in Switzer-
land next month, accused of inciting
Fifa’s former secretary-general Jérôme
Valcke to commit “aggravated criminal
mismanagement” by providing him
with “undue advantages”, in connection
with the award of media rights to vari-
ous international tournaments. He has
been cleared of accusations of bribery.
The Qataris have poured money into
PSG. Paris had always had great writers,
painters, musicians and actors. Sud-
denly it had great footballers too. Al-
Khelaifi told me in 2014: “We have a very
clear vision, to be honest. In five years we
want to be one of the best clubs in Europe
and to win the Champions League.”
Ticket prices jumped. In 2016 PSG
upgraded the stadium, more than dou-
bling the number of VIP seats to about
4,500. Tom Sheehan, the project’s archi-
tect, said: “What PSG wanted us to do
was look at how we could breathe the
identity of Paris into the Parc itself.
Paris is a very luxurious destination.
We’ve tried to make the Parc a chic des-
tination.” He likened the stadium’s ren-
ovated VIP entrance to the entrance hall
of Paris’s Opéra Garnier, “where people
come early, to see and be seen”. Young
banlieusards drinking beer and smoking
pot on the surrounding pavements
didn’t fit PSG’s plan.
In effect, chic Paris was reclaiming the
club from the banlieues. The new owners
redrew PSG’s badge, making the word
“Paris” very big, above a large Eiffel
Tower, with “Saint-Germain” in smaller
type underneath. Blanc said, “We are
called Paris Saint-Germain, but above all
we are called Paris.” Sleek men in white
shirts in PSG’s sun-filled offices defined
(in their new “brand book”) exactly
what PSG should stand for: the elegance,
beauty and excellence of Paris itself.
The ultras were eventually readmit-
ted to the Parc, on condition of good
behaviour and to provide atmosphere
with their chants. Even then, many
banlieue fans felt the balance had tipped
too far. Paris proper, with its soaring
The footballing fortunes of Paris Saint-Germain
National league position
Division 1/Ligue 1* Division 2
1 María, an Argentine, is my favourite
5 power in countless different ways, plus
10
15
20
1970 75 80 85 90
–71 –76 –81 –86 –91
* Division 1 became Ligue 1 in 2002 Source: FT research
house prices, was already becoming a
fortress for the rich. PSG was going the
same way. The foreign players — few of
whom learned much French, even if
they stayed years here — exemplified
the trend. Thomas Meunier, PSG’s right-
back for years, commented after mov-
ing to Borussia Dortmund that whereas
he was used to birthday parties where
you’d play darts in a bar till 6am, PSG
players’ festivities were “out of propor-
tion”. He said, “It’s renting a palace,
renting a building, partying with tens of
hundreds of people. It’s there that you
see they are more than footballers.”
Under the Qataris, PSG’s seasons set-
tled into a predictable rhythm: effort-
less dominance of the French league,
and then, usually in the quarter-finals in
March, humiliating elimination from
the Champions League. Winning the big
one became PSG’s obsession. To make it
happen, in summer 2017 the club
splashed out on what remain the two
biggest transfers in football’s history:
the Brazilian Neymar came from Barce-
lona for €222m, and 18-year-old Kylian
Mbappé from Monaco for about €180m.
In Neymar’s first two seasons, he missed
the knockout rounds of the Champions
League through injury, and PSG’s humil-
Division 3
Purchase by
Qatar Sports
Investments
95 2000 05 10 15 19
–96 –01 –06 –11 –16 –20
Stars of the show: strikers Neymar and Kylian Mbappé — Panoramic/Avalon
iating exits continued. This year, for the
first time, he is present when it counts.
Neymar is the genius whom football
fans love to hate. He likes giving his
marker a chance by receiving the ball
standing still, then dribbling past in the
most dismissive way possible, ideally by
putting the ball between his legs — foot-
ball’s symbolic castration. This style
earns Neymar constant kicking, and
he’s always rolling on the ground in
pain, but only he could have delivered
the back-heeled-volley assist that set up
Angel Di María’s goal in the 3-0 canter
past Leipzig in Tuesday’s semi-final. Di
PSG player: a left foot like Roger Fed-
erer’s forehand, able to impart spin and
the face of Franz Kafka.
But PSG’s most beloved player is the
striker Mbappé. He is the hero from the
banlieues that PSG had sought for dec-
ades. The attempted anointment of
Nicolas Anelka backfired 20 years ago
after the kind of internal conflicts that
beset the old PSG. Today, great football-
ers from the Paris region such as Paul
Pogba, N’Golo Kanté, Riyad Mahrez,
Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial
all play abroad. PSG will probably start
Sunday’s final with nine foreigners.
Mbappé comes from Bondy, a banlieue
that looks as if someone has plonked a
Soviet city on to an old French village,
then added fast-food joints. He is the
platonic ideal of a banlieusard. Son of a
Cameroonian father and an Algerian
mother, he exemplifies the mixité of the
suburbs. Armed with the school-leaving
bac exam, and speaking “correct”
French, he also incarnates the republi-
can ideal. Even winning the World Cup
with France in 2018, aged 19, hasn’t
given him a big head. His courtesy and
good cheer make it hard for France’s
legion of anti-Parisian PSG-haters to
hate PSG unreservedly. On the field, he
is complete. A sprinter who has perfect
ball control and almost always makes
the right decision, he might have been
designed to run on to Neymar’s passes.
His pace will encourage Bayern’s
defence to stay further back than usual.
That will lengthen the playing area and
create space for Neymar. Coaches usu-
ally hate to single out individuals, but
PSG’s coach Thomas Tuchel says: “The
relationship between Neymar and
Kylian is the strong point of our team.
That’s clear, clear, clear.”
Sunday is the match that matters.
PSG fans have come to take domestic
victories for granted. After the French
league was ended early by the virus in
March, PSG were declared runaway
winners. They then didn’t play until
July, when they won the French Cup and
League Cup finals almost as warm-up
games for the Champions League “Final
Eight” in Lisbon.
Paris now dominates French football
as it does every other sphere of French
life. In this era of booming metropoles,
London too is a power in the sport. No
club from either city reached the final of
the European Cup (later Champions
League) in the competition’s first 50
years from 1955. Since 2006, Arsenal,
Spurs, Chelsea (twice) and PSG all have.
Because of the pandemic, PSG’s big
night will have the most anticlimactic
decor imaginable: an empty stadium in
Lisbon. Paris this August is scarcely
fuller: there are almost no tourists, and
many locals are away. Some have
remained in their countryside refuges
since the coronavirus-induced exodus
in March. I’m writing this from a Breton
town where I’m visiting my PSG friend,
who paces the local beach fretting about
Bayern’s pressing game.
But there are still millions of ban-
lieusards of all colours in situ who will
watch on Sunday. For all the grumbling
about the chic new PSG, there is more
joy. Some fans like arriving at a stadium
to be welcomed by live jazz instead of
ranks of riot police. They like watching
Neymar and Mbappé rather than the
donkeys of yesteryear. Even the former
leader of the fan group says he feels
proud to see superstars playing for
Paris: “Of course, inevitably.” On Tues-
day night, after victory over Leipzig,
there were fireworks and honking cars
all over Paris and the banlieues, as well as
illegal gatherings of fans without any
social distancing outside the Parc and on
the Champs-Elysées.
On Sunday, wearing a PSG shirt (or
PSG mask) in town will be entirely
acceptable. Café terraces across the
region will be packed with fans who feel
no nostalgia for the old club. PSG has
pulled off an improbable trifecta: it’s
now the club of Qatar, of Paris, and, still,
most of all, of the banlieues.
Simon Kuper is an FT columnist. He will
appear at this year’s FT Weekend Festival
22 August/23 August 2020
Lunch with the FT Mira Nair
‘We never saw people
like us on screen’
For three decades, the Indian
film-maker has shown the world
in all its multicultural complexity.
Over dumplings and sambar, she
tells Amy Kazmin about grappling
with Hindu nationalism, turning
‘A Suitable Boy’ into television —
and why she said no to Harry Potter
I
am pacing my New Delhi living
room as I wait for Mira Nair, India’s
most successful English-language
film-maker, to arrive. I saw her first
feature, Salaam Bombay!, a 1988
film about slum children and the crimi-
nal underworld in India’s financial capi-
tal, at a Berkeley art house theatre back
in my college days. Since then, the direc-
tor has eschewed the temptations of big-
budget Hollywood or Bollywood films to
pursue passion projects around her own
fierce intellectual interests.
When Nair finally appears in her
book-lined study in Manhattan’s Upper
West Side, half an hour late, she is grin-
ning broadly. “I’m very, very happy
today,” she tells me, leaning forward to
show me the design on her T-shirt.
The words “Rotis and Roses” — with
an illustration of a clenched fist holding
a rose — come into focus. Nair is wear-
ing the campaign merchandise of her
28-year-old son, Zohran K Mamdani,
who has just won the Democratic pri-
mary for a New York state assembly
seat, defeating a 10-year incumbent.
“Our son has stood for every election
since he was 10,” she says, smiling,
“and now he has made it.”
It has taken months to pin Nair
down for Lunch. The 62-year-old has
spent lockdown remotely editing a six-
hour BBC adaptation of Vikram Seth’s
epic novel, A Suitable Boy. Set in the
early 1950s, just after independence, the
drama depicts both the idealism of a
newborn nation and the complexities of
Hindu-Muslim relations in the after-
math of the traumatic partition of the
subcontinent. And the broadcast coin-
cides with profound changes unfolding
in India, as Mahatma Gandhi’s inclusive
vision of a multifaith nation is sup-
planted by the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party’s more exclusionary construct of
India as essentially a Hindu nation.
“The seeds of so much that we are see-
ing now were planted then,” she tells
me. “All the repercussions of that time
are something we live with on a daily
basis in India now. On the one hand, it
was very important that we show where
these seeds come from, on the other to
also show the extraordinarily human
and syncretic cultures of Hindu and
Muslim life and friendships.”
Nair recounts to me her own unset-
tling experience with India’s increas-
ingly muscular brand of Hindu nation-
alism. Last July, she tweeted enthusias-
tically about Lucknow’s new Metro,
where the map rotates between English,
Hindi and Urdu, the traditional lan-
guage of south Asia’s Muslims.
“I was so excited to see Urdu on a
Metro station. I took a picture of it and I
tweeted it and I said ‘Long Live Luc-
know. My first Urdu on the metro!’ That
is it. That is what I said,” she recalls. “I
was trolled by like 400 trolls saying,
‘Mira Nair loves the language of the
invaders. Go back to Pakistan.’
“This is what it has become,” she con-
tinues. “You are either ‘this or that’. But
we were never this or that. We were
always interwoven. This is also what
Suitable is about. The time when we
were interwoven. And we are still. But
they are trying to make you believe we
are not.”
S
ettling into her chair, Nair, a
keen cook, holds out her early
lunch, laid out on a large
round tray. It’s a classic south
Indian breakfast: rava idli (a
kind of semolina dumpling), a spicy len-
til broth — sambar — with a beanlike
Indian vegetable called drumsticks, and
two chutneys: coconut and coriander.
“This is our Sunday brunch, which I’m
making for you,” she says. If only I could
taste it, I think to myself. “I made all of
it,” she grins again, “with a few
mixes . . . We don’t do takeaway, or
take-in, or whatever it’s called.”
On my side of the world, it’s already
★ FTWeekend
10pm and I’m eating my lockdown sta-
MIRA NAIR ple: stir-fried vegetables — broccoli,
New York green beans, pumpkin, a red capsicum,
mushrooms and a few cashew nuts —
Rava idli fried and tossed with a bit of brown rice.
Lentil sambar It wouldn’t win a cooking competition,
Drumsticks
but it has felt nourishing and appropri-
ate during a global health crisis. “Stir fry,
Coconut and coriander OK,” she says, amused.
chutney
Were it not for coronavirus, Nair
probably would not be in New York
AM Y KAZMIN right now. But in early March, she flew
New Delhi
to New York — one of the three cities,
Brown rice, broccoli, green along with New Delhi and Kampala,
bean, pumpkin, capsicum, Uganda, that she calls home — to see her
mushroom and cashew nut son and his campaign. By the time she
stir fry was due to fly back to London, where
she was meant to spend months editing
A Suitable Boy, borders were closing.
So Nair burrowed herself away in her
study with three devices, collaborating
with colleagues across the globe — the
UK, Australia, Los Angeles, Budapest
(where an orchestra has played the
score) and India — to complete the
series. She laughs as she recounts how
her actors had to record additional dia-
logue in their own homes while India
was under one of the world’s strictest
coronavirus lockdowns. “We had super-
stars like Tabu and all these wonderful
actors under their blankets in their
bathrooms with their microphones —
their dogs muzzled, and everyone
recording in these homemade studios
we created with them,” she grins.
“It’s jugaad” — I declare, using the
Lunch Hindi word for flexible problem-solving
and clever use of limited resources.
goes live “Top jugaad,” she affirms. “Everyone
has jugaad spirit and everyone is into it.”
A Suitable Boy — which chronicles a
Join Snap CEO middle-class widow’s hunt for an appro-
Evan Spiegel for a
priate groom for her modern-minded
live Lunch with 19-year-old daughter — was published
in 1993, the year after a Hindu mob
the FT, and learn descended on the small town of Ayod-
about the art of hya and demolished a mosque that they
believed stood on the birthplace of their
lunching with deity, Lord Ram. In an eerie mirroring,
FTW editor just this month India’s prime minister
Alec Russell at Narendra Modi triumphantly presided
over religious ceremonies to start con-
the FT Weekend struction of a new Hindu temple on the
Festival on site of the razed mosque.
September 3-5 In bringing the novel to film, Nair says
she wanted to capture the “idealism of
ftweekendfestival.com creating a new country”. But she has also
brought the explosive ideological con-
Illustration: Ciaran Murphy
flict over who should belong to this new
nation to the foreground, giving what
could have been just a charming period
romance a sense of intense urgency.
Hardcore BJP supporters often
describe the cultural legacy of India’s
centuries under Muslim rule as an alien
imposition, tainting indigenous Hindu
culture. Interfaith romances — espe-
cially between Muslim men and Hindu
women — are also under intense politi-
cal pressure, with such relationships
characterised by rightwing Hindus as a
“love jihad,” part of a demographic
offensive against India’s Hindu majority.
Yet to Nair, India’s mix of cultural
influences — and deep interfaith ties —
are the essence of the country, which she
was determined to depict on film, shoot-
ing at the real havelis [mansions] and
forts of the erstwhile Muslim elite rather
than building sets.
“I really wanted to try to cap-
ture . . . not just where our turmoil is
coming from and how it began . . . but
also the beautiful intertwining, and
coexistence of this plurality, that has
always been our strength but is now
being obliterated,” she tells me. “It was
important aesthetically, culturally,
socially to speak of that.”
B
orn in 1957, a decade after
independence, Nair grew up
in a world of idealism and
class privilege — like that seen
in A Suitable Boy — as the
daughter of an Indian Administrative
Service officer. After completing board-
ing school in the hill station of Shimla,
she won but turned down a scholarship
to Cambridge. “I always had a chip on
my shoulder about the Brits,” she
laughs. “I always told my mom, ‘I’m glad
I wasn’t born in the Raj because I would
have done something dangerous.’”
Instead, she secretly applied to top US
universities. “I had marched against
Vietnam and I was energised by the pro-
test culture coming out of the States in
the late 1960s,” she recalls. “On a banal
level, I saw [the 1970 Erich Segal film]
Love Story, and I thought to myself: ‘that
place they’re cavorting about in looks
rich enough to give me a scholarship.’”
In 1976, Nair went on a full scholar-
ship to Harvard, where she studied doc-
umentary-making under Richard
Leacock, a pioneer of cinéma vérité, a
fly-on-the-wall style aimed at recording
events as they unfold. For seven years,
Nair turned her camera on India’s gritty
underbelly — making documentaries in
the streets of Old Delhi, a Mumbai strip
club and India’s foetal sex determina-
tion clinics — and on the working-class
Indian immigrant experience in the US.
She turned to fiction with Salaam
Bombay!, which starred both children
from the streets and trained actors, and
was shot entirely in the down-at-heel
locales of the story. With that blend of
elements, the film-maker says she had
found the way to “capture the extraordi-
nariness of ordinary living” — the aspi-
ration of cinéma vérité — while having
greater artistic control. “I was really get-
ting tired of the hitting and running
aspect of cinéma vérité filmmaking,”
she recalls. “I wanted to have more con-
trol over nuance and light and gesture.”
Salaam Bombay!, which won the
Caméra d’Or and audience award at
Cannes, catapulted Nair into the inter-
national limelight, and she was flooded
with offers to direct Hollywood films —
especially those involving children. “I
was offered every bloody film on chil-
dren of every hue,” she said. “Anybody
who was doing a film on kids, I was the
one who was called.”
But Nair had other stories of her own
to tell, stemming from her own experi-
ences of the “hierarchy of colour [as] a
brown kid between black and white” at
Harvard. In 1991, she made the ground-
breaking Mississippi Masala, the story of
a romance between an Indian-Ugandan
immigrant to the US and an African-
American carpet cleaner. Set in the
Deep South, the film confronts the poli-
tics of race between non-white commu-
nities head-on.
“It was inspired by the racism inside
us, the racism inside our own communi-
ties,” Nair says. “We can talk about the
black and white but look at ourselves.
We are selling Fair & Lovely [a skin-light-
ening cream] by the vat. It’s absurd.”
Thirty years on, Mississippi Masala is
now being rediscovered by audiences
amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It was radical then and it is still radical
now,” she says. “We never saw people
like us on screen, and we certainly did
not see an interracial coming together of
Indian and black the way it is in Missis-
sippi Masala.”
While making the film, Nair met the
man who would become her second
husband, Indian-Ugandan academic
Mahmood Mamdani, now a professor at
Columbia University. Her own experi-
ence of “weak-kneed love” was what
she sought to capture. “I used to go into a
stupor — a love stupor — and I wanted
that love stupor [between the protago-
nists],” she says. “Vulnerability is a key
part of that stupor. You’ve got to be able
to surrender.”
N
ot all Nair’s films have hit
the mark. Her 2004 adap-
tation of Thackeray’s 19th-
century novel Vanity Fair
and 2012’s The Reluctant
Fundamentalist, based on Mohsin
Hamid’s book, garnered middling
reviews — both faulted for stopping shy
of the full darkness of the original
source material.
Her best works — films set in India or
3
Life
among south Asia’s diaspora — are
steeped in affection for the country and
its people, yet unafraid of confronting
painful truths, as in the 2001 hit Mon-
soon Wedding, which deftly nestles the
revelation of sexual abuse in an affluent
Delhi family into the celebration of an
arranged marriage between a Delhi girl
and an Indian-American boy.
When Nair was subsequently
approached to direct the fourth Harry
Potter film, she declined. She was poised
to start shooting The Namesake about
Indian immigrants in America, based
on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri.
“I am not interested in being on the
‘A-list’ — I never was,” Nair says. “That
list is by whom and for whom? I am really
interested to do what I need to do . . . I’ve
always been attracted to those who are
considered marginal in our society —
those who have been able to find and
then preserve their own voice.”
Nair is also a dedicated practitioner of
Iyengar yoga, and says its principles suf-
fuse her approach to filmmaking. “It
enables me to understand detachment
— it enables me to understand how to
preserve my passion and yet be
detached,” she explains. “All my work is
an attempt to find that balance, preserv-
ing the brutality and the tenderness
both. It is important to be clear-eyed
about brutality.”
‘I wanted to try to
capture . . . India’s
beautiful intertwining
. . . that has always been
our strength but is now
being obliterated’
It’s nearly midnight in New Delhi, and
my half-eaten bowl of vegetables has
long gone cold, when I finally ask Nair
what she has next on her agenda. She
tells me she plans to make a film about
Amrita Sher-Gil, a half-Hungarian, half-
Indian painter who was famous in the
interwar years, then died tragically at
the age of 28. “She is really one of the
greatest modern artists of this world,”
Nair says. “She had this extraordinary
upbringing steeped in Beaux-Arts and
Paris and a deep knowledge of Indian
spirituality . . . Her famous quote was
‘Europe belongs to Picasso and Matisse,
but India belongs to me’.”
Nair has spent hours studying her
paintings in New Delhi museums. “She
found such a singular voice — a voice
that remains modern and iconoclastic —
and a vision that taught me how to see,”
the film-maker says. “Any film I make I
go back to her paintings and learn from
them — the colour, the palette, the
stripe, the juxtapositions she has
brought to the fore.”
Nair admits that after months in her
“lovely cocoon” in New York, she is get-
ting restless. She is hopeful that the
Sher-Gil shoot will begin next year, virus
permitting. What if the pandemic is still
an issue, I ask gloomily. “If that is the
case, I’ll curl up into a mollusc,” she
says. “We have to prevail. We must.”
Amy Kazmin is the FT’s South Asia bureau
chief
4 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

Style
A return to
B
ack in the mists of time, at
the February fashion shows,
the beauty looks in one
glamour? particular collection had the
FT Style team swooning.
round the campfire. However, although
September is looking less like the
promised land of normality, something
might happen that’s worth blow-drying
my hair for.
Jeanne Lanvin,” he said.. false eyelashes before placing
Hanlon sought to on eyelids. She avoided
modernise the aestheticc: eyeliner or eye colour other
“The idea was that it waas
done, but not so well
than foundation, which she
says gives a modern, polished

Yes, please Lanvin’s film noir eyelashes,

gratuitously glossy lips and bouncy
blow-drys offered a modern twist on
uptown chic.
Make-up artist Diane Kendal, who
worked on the show, dubs the Lanvin
aesthetic “deconstructed glam”. It was
posh but not precious, haute but not
haughty: a perfect complement to the
Parisian polish of princess coats and
capes worn with red leather gloves.
Looking “done” can lead down the
dreaded matronly helmet-hair path,
but models such as Audrey Marnay
(39) and Maggie Rizer (42) oozed a
subversive sophistication. A bit
double-martini-at-lunchtime.
Then, just weeks after the shows,
Covid-19 swept Europe, and recreating
Gigi Hadid’s perfect undulating waves
seemed somewhat less relevant. But
while the fashion calendar might be in
flux, for many, a new season will still
spark a Pavlovian interest in shiny new
autumn/winter trends, and how to
Carola Long emulate them.
I’ll be honest here, and say that in
my immediate future, which entails
Beauty glamping in Wales, bouncy supermodel
hair is as likely as Gigi joining me
After all, anything qualifies as
exciting these days: a new variety of
apple in the local Sainsburys, a
neighbour repainting their gate. I guess
I might actually have a smart breakfast
meeting in, say — pass the smelling
salts, I can’t take the excitement — The
Wolseley. And when this day comes, I
will be ready.
“There’s been a big trend in fashion
generally for everything to be very
natural,” says Paul Hanlon, hair stylist
at the Lanvin show. “But at the end of
the day we work in fashion and you
have to dream and create desire. Not
that people don’t care now, but time is
so precious that everything needs to be
quick and easy.” (That is if we bother to
wash our hair at all: WFH stretched my
definition of clean hair to mean no
living creature has made a nest in it.)
Speaking from his Paris home in
April, Lanvin’s creative director Bruno
Sialelli said the hair and make-up was
inspired by stars such as Grace Kelly
and Maggie Cheung, as well as 1960s
French model and actress Capucine,
Charlotte Rampling and Diana Ross.
“We wanted to talk about women’s
elevation, linked to the house’s founder
done. I wanted to make
the hair beautiful but
then break it.” To
recreate the soft,
voluminous waves he
suggests using copious
amounts of mousse such
as Sebastian Mousse Fortee,
blow-drying the hair, then n
dividing it into six or seveen
sections and using a wide--
barrelled curling tong for a
“big soft wave”. (If you use small
sections then you get a tighter curl.)
Finish with Elnett hairspray, which can
be layered up and brushed out.
When it comes to make-up, Kendal
sees a move away from the minimal
look. “I would do shows a few seasons
ago and everyone said ‘we want
natural’, but over the last few seasons
designers have wanted more statement
looks,” she says. A photo of Meryl
Streep’s “pearly” skin on her wedding
day and Erwin Blumenfeld’s beauty
photography were on the moodboard.
To create the heavy lashes, Kendal
put thick coats of mascara (a mixture
of Mac Haute & Naughty Too Black
Lash and Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir) on
effect, and made the eyebrows
“a little bit ’50s to give that
glamorous feel”. Light
coverage foundation evened
out the skin, and she used a
highlighter on the outside of
the cheekbone, down the
centre of the nose, and on the
inner corner of the eye to
brighten, but no blush.
Chanel Rouge lipsticks in Ina
Gigi Hadid at the Lanvin (fuchsia), Coco (poppy red) and Boy
AW20 show in Paris in (pinky-beige), as well as Mac’s scarlet
February — Getty Images Ruby Woo lipstick, were given a glossy
sheen with Mac’s Lip Glass on top.
Does Sialelli think we will embrace
glamour this autumn? “I think we will
go in different directions after
lockdown,” the creative director said.
“Some women are going to go for a very
sophisticated look, and will want to do
the hair, nails, make-up. I think in
general people will not want to look so
kooky; there will be a timelessness.”
‘People will not There’s one bit of the look I can
want to look so
emulate straight away. Hanlon used a
bit of wax to make models’ freshly
kooky; there will be styled hair look a little “aged”, even
a timelessness’
greasy, and not too perfect. Now to
master the rest.

‘I’m on my seventh recession’

Interview | Louis Vuitton’s chief executive tells
Lauren Indvik how the luxury house is weathering
the pandemic— and why its future lies in China

I
n October, on a 260-acre ranch
turned Louis Vuitton factory in
northeast Texas, Bernard Arnault,
the owner of LVMH and the world’s
fifth-richest man, stood on a
podium in front of US president Donald
Trump and his daughter Ivanka and
praised the strength of the US con-
sumer. “The American market is
number one for LVMH in the world, rep-
resenting around 25 per cent of our
business, a little more than $10bn a
year,” he said.
It might not be number one for much
longer.
“Ultimately, most of our business is
going to be in China. The question is how
fast,” says Michael Burke, chief execu-
tive of Louis Vuitton, LVMH’s largest
brand. He is technically on holiday
when we speak, ensconced in a scarlet
sofa in a casual blue shirt. “Within five
years it will happen. Because of Covid,
it’s happening much faster.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has battered
the €281bn luxury goods sector, which
is expected to shrink by 25 to 30 per cent
this year and might not return to 2019
levels until 2022 or 2023, according to
Bain. It has hit consumer confidence
and dragged several prominent US
department stores into bankruptcy.
LVMH has not been immune. Its prof-
its tumbled 68 per cent in the first half of
the year, worse than analysts had
expected, though it noted “strong signs
of an upturn in activity since June”, led
by markets such as China and Japan,
where outbreaks have waned.
That may explain why Burke appears
nonplussed when asked about the fall-
out of Covid-19. “I’m on my seventh
recession — or at least I think we will be
by the end of year,” says the executive,
who began working with the Arnault
family 42 years ago, reviving the for-
merly sluggish Fendi and Bulgari brands
before taking the helm at Louis Vuitton
in 2012. “Every single time it was the
biggest, the worst, Armageddon, noth-
ing will be the same again. I don’t believe
in that.” Burke’s confidence has been
bolstered by the performance of Louis
Vuitton’s latest menswear show, which
skipped out on the digital men’s Paris
Fashion Week to make its debut on a
real, live catwalk on the docks of Shang-
hai. Abloh’s collection of primary-col-
our suits, boxy single-breasted coats
and chequered knits, some pinned with
cartoon creatures, were seen by 1,500
people in person and another 104m
online — roughly 2 per cent of the global
online population and five times that of
Louis Vuitton’s previous men’s show.
The numbers were largely thanks to a
surprise catwalk appearance by actor
and singer Kris Wu, who shouldered a
large inflatable creature for the finale,
turning “#Kris Wu Walks Runway With
a 2M Doll” into a trending topic on
Weibo, China’s second-largest social
messaging app.
“When done properly, that’s what a
live show does — it takes risks and does
things that are new,” says Burke, who
believes that digital should “augment”
fashion shows, not replace them.
While Burke declined to share figures,
he indicated the company’s Chinese
business is growing significantly. “If
you’re not doubling your business [in
China], you’re losing market share,” he
says. “I don’t think anybody believes
we’re losing market share right now.”
Historically, only one-third of Louis
Vuitton’s sales to Chinese shoppers have
taken place on the mainland, where
VAT and import duties have inflated
prices relative to Europe and other parts
of southeast Asia. But with fewer Chi-
nese people travelling, Burke says they
are “buying much more at home” —
despite Louis Vuitton raising prices in
the country by 3 per cent in March and
another 5 per cent in May. (The brand’s
best-selling Neverfull MM tote, priced at
£1,040 in the UK, is about 20 per cent
more expensive in China.)
“They started off early and on the
right foot in China — opening their
stores in the best possible locations,
with ample facades and footprints,”
Bernstein analyst Luca Solca says of
Louis Vuitton’s success in the territory.
The brand was quick to identify
regional tastes, he adds, introducing
smaller-sized handbags, watches with
metal straps and plenty of red. “And
now they are all over the place with Chi-
nese social media.”
“It’s taken many people by surprise,
how fast the market became so sophisti-
cated,” says Burke. “Five years ago,
China was [considered] less fashion for-
ward [than Europe and the US]. Today
that is not the case.”
Despite Vuitton’s comparative advan-
tages in China, it is not immune to the
pandemic’s impact. Like other brands
whose stores were closed for much of
spring, it is facing a potential inventory
glut. How will the brand dispose of its
unsold shoes and handbags?
Burke is quick to correct my assump-
tion that Louis Vuitton is especially
overladen with goods. “We have the
same amount of inventory today as we
did last year,” he says.
Unlike the majority of smaller brands,
Louis Vuitton owns most of its factories,
which enabled it to largely halt produc-
tion in mid-March. “We closed all 17 of
Clockwise from
main: looks at
Louis Vuitton’s
SS21 show in
Shanghai; US
President Donald
Trump, Louis
Vuitton CEO
Michael Burke
and LVMH
chairman and
CEO Bernard
Arnault at a
Texas factory in
October — Getty
Images; Jean-Francois Robert
our factories in France for two months,”
he says — “a very expensive endeavour”,
he adds, as the company kept all its
employees and did not apply for state
help. Some of the factories partially reo-
pened in April to produce masks for
Paris hospitals; normal production
resumed in June.
To reduce inventory further, Abloh
and women’s designer Nicolas
Ghesquière instructed their teams to
reuse leftover pieces and fabric in their
next collections — which is why the
cloud-print tracksuit and laser-cut
hoodie from Abloh’s January collection
appeared again on the catwalk in Shang-
hai this month.
When pressed, Burke does not deny
that some of this spring’s unsold mer-
chandise will ultimately be destroyed —
a common practice among luxury
brands who are loath to damage brand
value by selling their goods at too deep a
discount. (Or in Vuitton’s case, any dis-
count at all. It does not mark down and
has no outlets.) France banned the
destruction of unsold consumer goods
last year, but the rule does not take
effect till 2023. “Of course we will live up
to that,” he says.
‘We will not solve the
[sustainability] problem
in the fashion business
if we don’t commit
to slower growth’
making sure we have as little inventory
as possible,” he says, noting that even
during the pandemic there was a 50 per
cent chance its 100 bestselling items
were out of stock in store.
He is critical of brands who are not
doing the same. “That’s the problem the
fashion industry has — they are trying to
grow too fast. When you grow too fast,
When it comes to reducing unsold you will inevitably produce too much,”
stock, Burke says he is more focused on he says. “We will not solve the [sustaina-
what the company is doing towards the bility] problem in the fashion business if
beginning of the production cycle. That we don’t commit to slower growth.”
means not making more than it can sell Burke’s competitors are not likely to
and keeping factory assembly lines nim- agree — for them, slowing down might
ble so they can pivot to better-selling mean ceding even more market share to
styles. “We spend most of our energy on behemoth LVMH. It increased its sales
by 15 per cent in 2019, far faster than the
4 per cent growth for the sector overall .
China’s share of the luxury As part of its sustainability efforts,
goods market is accelerating Louis Vuitton is taking greater owner-
Retail spending Market share global ship of its supply chain. That is one of
($bn) personal luxury* the reasons the company bought the
China spending (%) Texas ranch and retained 16 heifers
Rest of World
350 10 from the original herd. Although there
are no plans to use their leather for
300
9
handbags, Burke says it will teach the
250 group about the raw material that goes
into its products. “You can’t change an
200 8 industry from the outside,” he says. “We
150 have to have a ranch. That’s how you
7 learn.”
100 Last year, the ranch acquired a bull
6 and named him Michael.
50
When asked whether it was named
0 5 after him, Burke chuckles. “They
2010 15 20 21
Forecast named one of [its] offspring the name of
Source Euromonitor International
*Includes designer clothing and accessories, jewellery, one of my sons,” he says of the ranch’s
consumer electronics and personal care products staff. “I have nothing to do with it.”
22 August/23 August 2020
Tibet | As a major new history
of the Himalayas is published, its
author Ed Douglas recounts a
journey to the forgotten clifftop
citadel that was an inspiration
for the myth of Shangri-La
T
ibet’s G219 highway is, to
put it mildly, one of the
world’s more spectacular
d r i ve s. N o w o n d e r
adventurous young Chinese
take road-trips out here. Rolling across
the Tibetan plateau, three days west of
Lhasa, I kept a southerly eye on the
Himalaya as each knot of mountains
came into view and then slowly
drifted past. On their far side were
Indian mountain towns and pilgrim
sites whose jostling crowds and noise I
knew well. Here, though, it was aus-
terely empty and almost silent, except
for the wind, like being on a distant
planet looking at another sun.
Some way ahead of us this road
crossed the Aksai Chin, a high plateau
Mao had annexed during Nehru’s time.
China and India had made this vast
space a front line in their brief 1962 war.
Now tensions were building again. Our
vehicle was pointed at Ladakh, where
troops on either side were facing off. But
I had come looking for older empires.
Of all the mountains I could see, the
most dramatic was Kamet, with its
broad white shoulders. More than 7,600
metres high, Kamet stands like an icy
sentinel watching over this vast, empty
region with its cobalt sky and thin
golden grasslands stretching away to the
north. For a climber like me, Kamet
holds a particular thrill. It’s where
Himalayan mountaineering started,
more or less, in 1855. Two German
brothers, Adolf and Robert Schlagint-
weit, protégés of Alexander von Hum-
boldt, took time off from their explora-
tions for the East India Company to have
a crack at the peak, although they ended
up by mistake on its near neighbour. A
British team that included Graham
Greene’s brother Raymond climbed
Kamet in 1931, the highest summit
CHINA
Leh
G219
Tsaparang
Kailash
Kamet Lhasa
N EPAL Everest
New
Delhi Kathmandu Thimphu
I ND I A
200 km
©Mapcreator.io/©OSM
reached before the second world war.
Nevertheless, all thought of Kamet
evaporated when the upper Sutlej valley
came into view. I told our cheery driver
Migmar to stop the vehicle. The rolling
golden hills had plunged away into a
system of heavily eroded canyons with
the grey river snaking far below. This is
geography on the grandest scale, the
peaks of Zanskar and Central Asia to the
west, the mountains of Uttarakhand
and Himachal Pradesh to the south and
south-west, and the river flanking them
before turning to burrow through them.
Four of South Asia’s great rivers
have their origins hereabouts: as well as
the Sutlej, there is the Indus to the
north, the Karnali that flows south
through Nepal to join the Ganges and
the Yarlung Tsangpo, which flows east
for hundreds of miles along the north-
ern slopes of the mountains and then
turns sharply south to reach the Bay of
Bengal as the Brahmaputra.
All four have a mythical Tibetan
name and the Sutlej is known here as
Langchen Tsangpo, the elephant river,
or elephant source. It’s much the most
dramatic, drilling its way through the
Tibetan plateau, exposing the region’s
incredible geological past. China hasn’t
wasted the opportunity to designate a
portion of it as a tourist attraction.
There was a sign explaining all this at
the desolate parking lot where Migmar
Short cuts
London As uncertainty over quarantine
restrictions and fear of potential second
waves continue to leave much of the
global travel industry on hold, one
operator has spotted a niche that is
performing well. Cox and Kings, which
traces its history to 1758 and claims to
be the world’s longest established travel
company, says there has been a surge in
demand from single travellers looking
had pulled over, just before the turn-off
leading down into the valley. Thought-
fully, some official had included an Eng-
lish translation. “Looking over earth
forest far away”, it read, “you can see
stratums of earth forest extending for
over tens of kilometres and shining with
the surrounding sonwy [sic] mountains
that embodies the giant verve of land.”
Oh yes, I thought. No shortage of land
verve around here.
Migmar continued, turning off the
main highway as we began our descent
to the river on looping hairpins of per-
fect tarmac, a surface so good I actually
got out of the Toyota to stroke it, imagin-
ing myself descending on a bicycle. A
few miles back we had crossed a pass of
4,900 metres. Now we were plunging
down for over a kilometre in altitude,
leaving the physical hardships of the
plateau behind for something alto-
gether more congenial.
It’s no surprise that clues to Tibet’s
prehistory have been found in this val-
ley and if it feels like a lost world, that’s
because it is. In fact, two major cultures
sprang up here and were then lost: one
that predates Buddhism and one that
lay at the heart of Buddhism’s triumph
in Tibet at a time when it seemed
the dharma might fade from the plateau
before it had fully taken root.
The pre-Buddhist culture was
Zhangzhung, with its main centre
higher up the Sutlej valley at a place
called Khyunglung, an otherworldly
complex of caves whose precise mean-
ing and use has yet to be wholly deter-
mined. Recent archaeology suggests
that the Zhangzhung had links with
Scythian nomadic tribes and practised a
form of animism that was absorbed into
Tibetan Buddhism.
The other lost civilisation, known as
Guge, or the Guge kingdom, emerged in
the 10th century and was intimately
connected with what has become
known as the “second diffusion” of Bud-
dhism, a renaissance in the west of Tibet
after Buddhism faltered in the centre.
The spiritual heart of this renaissance is
Hinterlandes in the Lake District
★ FTWeekend
From top: view from the
ruins of Tsaparang across
the Sutlej River valley;
a monk in the Tholing,
a temple complex more
than 1,000 years old;
an angle carving on a roof
support beam of the Kings
Chapel at Tsaparang;
Ed Douglas’s Toyota on the
winding road to Tsaparang
Alamy; Getty Images; Ed Douglas
for group tours. It reports that enquiries
from solo travellers in July were up 220
per cent compared with July 2019.
Several trips for 2021, including tours to
Uzbekistan and the southern Caucasus,
have already sold out. “Lockdown was a
wake-up call for some people to dust off
their bucket list and get something
booked, no matter if it is without their
family and friends,” said Kerry Golds,
found in the village of Tholing, deep in
the Sutlej valley, a temple complex
more than a thousand years old.
We parked up for the night in the
compound of an old Tibetan caravan­-
serai and walked across the dusty street
to visit what remains of the intellectual
and spiritual flowering. Tholing’s spirit-
ual art from this period was drawn from
the Buddhist centre of Kashmir, on the
other side of the mountains, a power-
fully different style to that of central
Tibet. Guge’s kings, who matched spirit-
ual and temporal leadership rather like
the Dalai Lamas who appeared later,
were able to attract famous scholars
from the universities of northern India
to help resuscitate Buddhism, paid for
with gold from the region’s mines. A
British trade agent called Gerard Mack-
worth-Young visited Tholing before the
Great War and captured the immense
drama of its location.
“The riverbed is here a scorching
waste of rocks and dust about a mile
wide . . . The monastery of Tholing
stands opposite, on a shelf overlooking
the Sutlej. Its long crimson walls, set
off by a few brilliant poplars in full leaf,
its rows of white pure stupas, Bud-
dhism’s signature hemispherical struc-
ture, high above, its gold roof sparkling
in the haze, struck just that crowning
note of unreality which the whole
scene demanded.”
Alas, Mackworth-Young’s vision is no
longer there. Almost all of what time
had spared of Tholing’s early artistic
glories was destroyed during the Cul-
tural Revolution, robbing the world of
the brilliance of this remote Buddhist
haven — although temple caves in the
nearby Khartse valley escaped destruc-
tion. An attempt at renovation was
under way as I looked around, but it
seemed a little desultory and the care-
taker in the main chapel was openly
hostile to visitors. I enjoyed more visit-
ing the ancient stupa just beyond the
temple’s enclosure, sociably ambling
round it with a venerable Tibetan on his
the company’s managing director.
coxandkings.co.uk
Val d’Isère Project Ski, a company
offering ski holidays in the French resort
of Val d’Isère, announced this week that
it has ceased trading. Founded in 2010,
the company blamed the combined
impact of the pandemic and Brexit.
Earlier this month another operator, Ski
The lost
kingdom
i / D e ta i l s
Mountain Kingdoms (mountainkingdoms.com)
offers a three-week Ancient Kingdoms of Tibet
trip, visiting Tholing and Tsaparang as well as
Mount Kailash, Lhasa and Kathmandu, from
£4,895. The next departure is scheduled for
August 8 2021, though of course depends on the
pandemic (the company is currently offering no-
cost “provisional” bookings). KE Adventure
(keadventure.com) also runs trips to western
Tibet; the next is scheduled for June 9 2021.
Earlier this month China loosened its border
restrictions, allowing visitors from 36 European
countries to apply for visas, subject to various
conditions and including visits for sporting or
cultural purposes but not yet explicitly for
tourism. Nepal is due to restart international and
domestic flights on September 1 and reopen land
borders on September 16, but Covid-19 cases
have been increasing in recent days. Bhutan
remains closed to tourists although it has yet to
suffer a single Covid-19 death.
mobility scooter. Then I walked into the
new garrison town that the Chinese
have built, part of their ever-expanding
security presence in this corner of Tibet,
for some Sichuan food.
Next morning we were back on the
road, although not far, a short drive out
of town to the clifftop citadel that
became the capital as the Guge kingdom
grew in the first centuries of the second
millennium. As at Tholing, the vagaries
of time have done much damage to Tsa-
parang, but it is still stupendous: a com-
plex of crumbling monasteries, houses
and meditation caves, built on and into a
promontory that overlooks a valley of
richly coloured sediment whose walls
have been eroded into fantastical pat-
terns. If it weren’t in such an awkward
place politically, on the frontier between
China and India, every movie location
scout on Earth would have offered it up.
From the citadel of Tsaparang the
kings of Guge ruled an area stretching
from Zanskar in the north-west and
around the points of the Himalayan
compass, taking in large parts of the
modern Indian states of Himachal
Pradesh and Uttarakhand and across
the border into western Nepal, its power
blunted only by the arrival of the Mon-
gols. Even then it remained a centre for
trans-Himalayan trade. Yet when the
brilliant Italian scholar Giuseppe Tucci
came here in the 1930s, the first Euro-
pean intellectually equipped to under-
stand its significance, Tsaparang had
been abandoned for centuries and
almost forgotten. What happened?
It is an intricate story but one that
might seem oddly familiar to readers of
James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon,
which described the mythical lamasery
of Shangri-La and its head lama, a 250-
year-old Catholic missionary from Lux-
embourg called Perrault, whose life has
Weekends (not to be confused with the
entirely separate Ski Weekend) also
went into administration, and other
failures in the sector seem likely. In June,
Swiss tour operator Hotelplan, whose
brands include Inghams, Ski Total and
Esprit, said it would be cutting 425 jobs.
UK This summer’s boom in domestic
travel, alongside growing demand for
5
Travel
been impossibly extended by living in
such a holy and peaceful place. The real
missionary was a Portuguese Jesuit
called António de Andrade, head of mis-
sion at the Mughal court at Agra and the
book he wrote about Tsaparang — the
real Shangri-La if such a place exists —
would be Hilton’s inspiration.
There was much speculation among
Jesuits in Asia about the “realm of Tibet
where dwelleth the Pope of the idola-
ters”, meaning the Dalai Lama. There
was even a map showing the location of
the sacred lake of Manasarovar with the
claim: Hic dicuntur Christiani habitare —
“There are said to be Christians living
here.” In 1624, Andrade embarked for
the Tibet border with a group of Hindu
pilgrims to find the truth.
After travelling to the sacred Hindu
pilgrimage site of Badrinath on the
south side of the Himalaya, Andrade
trekked in the shadow of Kamet to the
Mana Pass at 5,600 metres, complaining
bitterly of altitude sickness, which he
blamed on “noxious vapours”, and
snow-blindness. By then the Guge king-
dom was in decline, its power drifting
east to Lhasa and west to a resurgent
Ladakh, but the king was open to the
idea of Christianity. Since truth could
not harm truth, why shouldn’t Andrade
establish a chapel at Tsaparang?
Andrade was intrigued at how closely
the Tibetan monastic orders resembled
Christian ones and his observations
offer historians a valuable glimpse of
the religious and economic life of Guge.
Ultimately, though, Andrade’s mission
did not prosper and in 1630 the spectac-
ular citadel of Tsaparang fell to the great
Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal, who
enslaved those converts the Jesuits had
made, along with two of the priests. It
took a concerted effort to get them
released from Sengge’s palace at Leh.
Tsaparang’s subsequent decline was
swift. After the Ladakhis withdrew, the
region fell under the control of the Dalai
Lama’s government at Lhasa. Climate
change also had an impact, as the mon-
soon weakened, making agriculture
harder. The crumbling walls and medi-
tation caves are home now to no one.
I looked north over a desolate and
harsh landscape where only the hardi-
est nomads could prosper. Then I
looked down at our little vehicle in the
near-empty car park. I could see Mig-
mar was dancing, wheeling in circles
and stomping his feet to pass the time
while he waited for
us to start the long
journey home.
‘Himalaya: A
Human History’
by Ed Douglas is
published by
Bodley Head on
August 27
remote, off-grid retreats, is prompting an
unprecedented rush to book ahead for
2021, according to Canopy & Stars, a
company specialising in cabins,
treehouses and other quirky places to
stay. Hinterlandes, an old school bus
sleeping two in the Lake District, for
example, is fully booked until January,
with much of April, May and June
already taken too. canopyandstars.co.uk
6 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

T
ake it from an autumnal
historian: all this — the time
of sickness and scoundrels
— will, eventually, pass. But
in the imperfectly vacci-
nated, fretfully distanced, ecologically
fragile future, who will generations read
to get a measure both of the magnitude
sister Hannah, trapped in occupied
With assured pitch and humour, Ali Smith concludes her quartet of novels examining what it means France. But having finished the long,
lovely letter he asks a “bird up there” to
“take this letter to my sister” — where-
‘to be us’. Collectively, they stand as an affecting chronicle of our uneasy times, writes Simon Schama upon he tears it into small pieces and
burns it, rubbing the ash into his hands.
Again and again, the crushing burden
of separateness — of members of a fam-

of our distress and the fortitude of our
humanity? To remember not just what
separated us from each other but what
tied us together? Not, I think, the com-
mentariat but rather, I’d bet, Ali Smith’s
deeply affecting seasonal novels.
Yet to bill these four books as the
“Brexit-Covid series” — much as Trol-
lope or Dickens have sometimes been
classified as “condition of England”
writers — is to sell them short. Nor,
despite the pretty covers, are they
meant to be consolingly scenic: a ram-
ble through blighted Blighty as blooms
and birds come and go.
“Summer can fuck off”, says Robert,
the 13-year-old contrarian in this
powerfully absorbing closer to the
series: “it’s never as good as you think
it’ll be, usually shit weather and even if
it is hot now, hot just means a whole
other kind of shit weather in which it’s
too hot to do anything”.
What Smith’s series actually ponders,
even in this summer of biting anxieties
and bitter discontents, are matters way
beyond the never-ending catalogue of
crimes, follies and afflictions. She may
start a book with a topical howl, as in the
Orwellian opening of Spring: “Now what
we don’t want is Facts . . . What we want
is repetition. What we want is repeti-
tion. What we want is people in power
saying the truth is not the truth”. Or in
the quietly desperate tone of Summer, at
once utterly exhausted and bristlingly
combative: “Everybody said: so? As in so
what? t As in shoulder shrug, or what do you
expect me to do about it?”
? Alamy; Getty Images
But the issues pondered in Summer,
as in the three other books, are weighty
questions of the human condition:
how memory haunts an age of stress;
how the times of our lives are not the
same as their ostensible timeline; how
families connect and disconnect; how
arbitrarily barriers are fashioned to
separate the free from the trapped,
the native from the alien. (“Languages
don’t exist singly”, one of her characters
sharply and correctly observes.) And
Smith has in her sights the not
unimportant subject of the fate of the
Earth, poisoned and mutilated, yet
Seasonal anxieties
Summer
by Ali Smith
Hamish Hamilton £16.99
400 pages
From above: In ‘Summer’,
the final part of Ali Smith’s
quartet, the idealistic
Sacha writes to an asylum
seeker about ‘the miracle
of perpetually airborne
swifts’; author Ali Smith
obstinate in its seasonal rhythms
and regenerations.
To all these matters Smith brings not a
sermon disguised as a novel but the
brawling comedy of English diction (she
has a pitch-perfect ear for social voice,
whether the Man Behind the Counter or
the teenage crusader). She also brings
her A-team of literary players to the
game so that storytelling, along with
knowledge and truth, stand ready to tes-
tify about the matters in hand.
Among others, Virginia Woolf, Kath-
erine Mansfield, Keats, Shakespeare,
Dickens and the un-English Rainer
Maria Rilke, walk and talk in her pages
— while James Joyce is present through
Smith’s heady addiction to lists. But
they all gather, not as defensive senti-
nels of literary tradition but as kindly,
ghostly tutors, murmuring, before it’s
too late, “please pay attention”.
All these matters are embodied in the
characters of Summer, some returning
from other seasons in the series, as if in
valedictory reunion. From Autumn, we
meet again Daniel Gluck, the Jewish
“Englishman whelped as a German and
after the age of six . . . an Englishman
again”. In that book he was in “extended
sleep” mode at the age of 101; now he is
104, but vitally alive in the memories
populating his dreams. Art, the dull and
dauntless blogger of “Art in Nature” in
Winter, returns but as a minor presence
beside his sometime girlfriend Char-
lotte, who strikes the teenage Robert
blind with infatuated light. Do you need
to read the other volumes to get the
most out of Summer? No, but a binge
through the lot of them will, I promise,
leave you cumulatively transformed.
In any case, Summer introduces a new
family: additions to Smith’s gallery of
abandoned souls, somehow hanging
together to hang on. Grace, who voted
Leave, has been left by her Remainer
husband who, because the separation is
anything but clear-cut, now lives next
door with his partner Ashley. Ashley,
however, has become entirely mute, the
flow of utterance transferred into the
Updated Lexicon she is writing.
Grace’s two children are polar oppo-
sites. Sixteen-year-old Sacha, surnamed
(in Dickens style) Greenlaw, is the ear-
nest idealist writing letters to a Viet-
namese asylum seeker known as Hero,
who is held in a privately run intern-
ment camp for illegal immigrants.
Inspired by the name, Sacha searches
the web and discovers that “only the
mighty Greta [Thunberg] can upend the
internet’s determination to make the
word heroine refer not to a female hero
but to a misspelling of a class-A drug.”
Horrified at the half-billion animals
killed in Australian wildfires, Sacha
imagines “across a blasted plain the
dead animals two by two by two by two
by two million, further than any eye can
see, kangaroo cinder with kangaroo cin-
der, wallaby ash with wallaby ash, char-
coaled koala, charcoaled koala.” When
she thinks of coronavirus, she sees “lit-
tle planets with trumpets coming out of
their surface or . . . a little world that’s
been shot all over its surface by those
fairground darts with tuft tails”. But
these nightmare visions only reinforce
her Thunbergian conviction that indi-
vidual actions can and must count in
saving the world from self-destruction.
To which her brother would respond
with a withering put-down. Robert —
one of Smith’s most fiendishly alive cre-
ations — casts himself as “realist” with
an altogether different style of hero:
“the people in charge in England”,
whom he admires for “the brilliant
application of lies”, and the prime min-
ister, whom he credits with “a brilliant
subterfuge to look like he doesn’t know
what he’s doing and to make people like
him for it”. But his other hero is the alto-
gether different Einstein, with his
“Eastertime lamb” face, “for bucking
every trend and rewriting the universal
truths to make them truer”. In the early
going, Robert plays a brutal trick on his
sister involving the stickiness of time,
the subject of which obsesses him, along
with the startling fact that his hero,
between fleeing Nazi Germany and set-
The burden of separateness
— of people, of cultures, of
the seasons themselves —
is shown to be an illusion
tling in America, spent a brief
time somewhere in England.
Which, in the way of Smith’s narra-
tive loop, takes the story back to Eng-
land during the second world war,
recovered in Daniel’s dreams and wak-
ing moments, to another preposter-
ously cruel internment: that of Jews
who had fled the Third Reich only to
find themselves confined as “enemy
aliens” on the Isle of Man.
“See, I never would’ve imagined, the
NCO marching alongside them said . . .
that there’d be so many of you Jews who
was Nazis”. Daniel and his father (who
was similarly interned during the first
world war) find themselves locked up in
seaside houses — the House of the Bath-
ing Belles, the House of Fairy Tales and
so on — amid filthy conditions but
together with a packed raft of virtuoso
musicians and artists. Here, thanks to a
kindly camp commander, he gets to
read Kafka, Hardy and the inevitable
Dickens, not just for himself but for his
ily, of the living and the dead, of peoples
and cultures, of seemingly discrete
pieces of nature, of the seasons them-
selves — proves to be an illusion. Things
and people interpenetrate.
In a touching passage towards the end
of the book, we learn that “summer” is a
word for a lintel supporting the weight
of a building structure — in this case the
roof of a medieval church beneath
which, while touring in rep years ear-
lier, Grace had experienced an earthy
epiphany. Sacha, too, who writes to her
internee about the miracle of perpetu-
ally airborne swifts, the reunion of life-
time mates back at the nest, digs her
heels in against despair. “I believe one
good thing that will come out of this is
that my already trampled on genera-
tion will be evermore resilient. We will
be aware of how lucky we are to spend
time with our friends because we will
know what it’s like to live without them.
And by God we will treasure our
freedoms and we will fight for them in
the name of all that is good.”
And if the unexpected bonus of
Smith’s wise, funny, unsentimental and
exhilarating work turns out to be opti-
mism, the message for our predica-
ment is expressed with exquisite econ-
omy during one of those half-dream,
half-awake moments when Daniel
imagines his sister (shot during the war
for an act of intuitive resistance) com-
ing to see him.
“There is no doubt, Daniel says, You
really are you.
“Yes, Hannah says, I really am me.
And you really are you. But if we follow
Einstein’s thinking and add together
you plus me plus time plus space. What
does that all make? . . . .
“What? What does it all make?
Daniel says.
“It makes you and I more than just
you or I, Hannah says. It makes us us.”
Which, right now, in our own time of
many isolations, is surely the most
important thing to bear in mind.
Simon Schama is an FT contributing
editor. He will be appearing at the FT
Weekend Festival, September 3-5

Insecure in the knowledge

As election meddling thrives, a
study of political warfare shows
the art of ‘disinformation’ is
nothing new. By Helen Warrell
by globalisation, rising nationalism and
events such as Brexit and coronavirus
have left populations fractured and
more open to discord; at the same time
the internet has lit a touchpaper under
polarising campaigns, making them
easier to set in motion and quicker to
reach their target.
A
Active Measures: regimes. The most compelling example journalists as hapless proliferators of the spell of transparency activism, had
is Operation Neptun, masterminded in suspect material, keeping the disinfor- done more political and possibly more
The Secret
T
History of
H the 1960s by Ladislav Bittman, a cold- mation racket in business by embracing operational damage to the American
Disinformation
D war spy for Czechoslovakia tasked with anonymous leaks “without spending intelligence community than most
aand Political
Warfare
W
stirring up anti-German sentiment in
the west. On hearing a Czech TV crew
too much time on checking their prove-
nance or veracity”. He is even more
[Russian disinformation] operations
during the Cold War,” Rid writes.
by Thomas Rid was searching for mythical Nazi gold in scathing of whistleblowers such as Active Measures is predominantly an
Profile £25, 528 pages
P the “Black Lake” in the Bohemian for- Edward Snowden, taking the intelli- exercise in clarity, shining a light on cov-

W
e live in an age of disin-
formation,” writes Tho-
mas Rid in his new his-
tory of political warfare.
His warning could not
be more timely: only last month, the UK
government accused Moscow of seeking
to interfere in the 2019 election by
“amplifying” classified leaked docu-
ments. A long-suppressed report by
Parliament’s intelligence watchdog
recently accused the British govern-
ment of “badly underestimating” the
degree of Russian influence operations
in the UK. The upcoming US election,
meanwhile, is a reminder of the dra-
matic Kremlin-backed hack into the
Democratic National Committee that
sent the 2016 campaign into turmoil.
The current drivers of disinformation
are clear. New fissures in society caused
In Active Measures, however, Rid’s pri-
mary argument is that the art of disin-
formation itself is nothing new. Through
declassified CIA records, documents
from Moscow’s intelligence archives
and interviews with both serving and
retired spies, he traces the roots of polit-
ical espionage back to the Bolshevik rev-
olution of the 1920s. His findings span
secret cold-war disinformation opera-
tions, Soviet conspiracies about the ori-
gins of the Aids epidemic and, latterly,
the nerdy intricacies of digital hacking.
Rid — a German-born political scien-
tist who is now a professor at Johns Hop-
kins — appeared as an expert witness to
the US Senate’s intelligence committee
on the DNC hack ahead of the 2016 elec-
tion. His forensic account of that opera-
tion recounts investigative break-
throughs such as direct conversations
with the perpetrators about whether
they had handed hacked DNC emails to
WikiLeaks. “Yeah man,” comes the
laconic reply via Twitter direct message
from the GRU (Russian military intelli-
gence) officer posing as a hacker called
Guccifer 2.0. “I sent them emails”.
But it is in the earlier history of disin-
formation operations that the real char-
acter of political warfare comes alive, as
Rid reveals the exploits of intelligence
officers who spotted opportunities to
engineer division and took the initia-
tive. These measures ranged from
spreading falsehoods and forging docu-
ments to leaking truths which were sen-
sitive in order to destabilise opposing
est, Bittman plotted to sink cases of gen-
uine wartime Nazi documents in the
lake ahead of filming and watched as the
international press reported new evi-
dence of war crimes by Hitler’s regime.
Disinformation also took more pro-
saic forms, in tit-for-tat battles between
Soviet and US intelligence agencies to
undermine each other’s secrets and tra-
decraft. In the late 1960s an East Ger-
man author, likely backed by the Stasi,
published a provocative book titled
Who’s Who in the CIA, which claimed to
unmask more than 3,000 American
agents. The US retaliated by collaborat-
ing with an American investigative jour-
nalist on a Reader’s Digest volume on
the KGB which named hundreds of Rus-
sian spies in its appendix.
If Rid is admiring of the spies’ cunning
and chutzpah, he frequently derides
gence establishment’s view that the leak
of NSA files was a gift to the west’s adver-
saries. “A lowly NSA contractor, under
Ladislav Bittman on the Black Lake
dive operation — Czech Security Services archive
ert operations and exposing the lies pre-
viously reported as truth. But it is at its
most chilling when describing the diso-
rientating complexities of unsolved
operations. The “Shadow Brokers” — a
2016 leak of the NSA’s most secret and
potent cyberhacking tools — was ini-
tially thought to be the work of Russian
intelligence, but Rid reports a newer,
alternative theory that it was perpe-
trated by a group of NSA insiders posing
as Moscow operatives. He writes that
this campaign blurs the lines “between
victim and perpetrator, between obser-
vation and participation, between real-
ity and representation.” As disinforma-
tion thrives, knowing who, and what, to
believe has never felt so difficult.
Helen Warrell is the FT’s defence and
security editor
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 7

Books

Power loss Life, interrupted

Yiyun Li’s latest novel explores grief, family and the
fallibility of memory. By Jonathan Derbyshire
In this hard-nosed analysis of what went wrong at GE in the Immelt era and its aftermath, two reporters

T
he acknowledgments Reflecting on the art of memoir
examine the decline of a bellwether of corporate America and problems of succession. By Andrew Hill section at the end of in Dear Friend, Li writes: “Doubt-
Chinese-American less the past is real . . . but we
author Yiyun Li’s lat- choose and discard from an abun-
est novel, Must I Go, dance of evidence what suits us at

I
t was Jeffrey Immelt’s fate to follow
Jack Welch — the 20th century’s
highest-profile corporate boss — as
chief executive of General Electric,
the company that was for decades a
bellwether for corporate America.
One common defence of the affable
Immelt, recalled in Lights Out, is that he
was dealt a difficult hand. GE’s reputa-
tion with investors rested on preternat-
urally smooth earnings growth, but-
tressed by the financial operations of GE
Capital, which Welch had expanded.
Welch’s tough managerial approach,
including ruthless pruning of underper-
formers, earned him the nickname he
L
Lights Out:
Pride, Delusion,
P among chief executives of history-
aand the Fall of
General Electric
G the book she had set aside in order
b Thomas Gryta
by
aand Ted Mann
Houghton Mifflin
H shown that corporate
Harcourt $28
H
3368 pages
hated, “Neutron Jack”. By the time of his
departure, the group relied on a spread
of activities running from NBC, the
broadcaster, via fridges to the manufac-
ture of aircraft engines and vast power
turbines.
Immelt then had to cope with the
shocks of the 9/11 terror attacks (just
after he took over) and the 2008 finan-
cial crisis. And all the time, there was
Welch, sniping away at his successor via
regular television interviews.
Yet in this study of the Immelt era and
its aftermath, Wall Street Journal
reporters Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann
make the case that whatever hand
Welch dealt in 2001, by the time Immelt
stepped down in 2017 he had picked or
played so many poor cards of his own
that he nearly sacrificed the entire
game. Under pressure, the complex
conglomerate structure, which Welch
had held together through the good
times of the 1990s and Immelt had
struggled to restructure for the more
turbulent early 21st century, came close
to disintegrating.
After Immelt’s departure, GE spat out
his chosen successor, John Flannery,
when he had spent barely a year in post,
and dropped out of the historic Dow
Jones Industrial Average. For the first
time, GE, which prided itself on building
and shaping top managers, had to
appoint an outsider as chief executive:
Lawrence Culp, successful ex-CEO of a
smaller industrial group, Danaher. He is
come, and grew to believe his own pub-
licity as the man modernising and
streamlining the company for the digital
and eco-friendly age. GE directors must
take some blame for not challenging
him sooner or more aggressively. He
also mis-hit with an ill-structured and
overpriced deal for France’s Alstom and
a mistimed expansion into oil and gas
services before energy prices slumped.
“The knock on Immelt was that he
chased trends, arrived too late, and paid
handsomely,” the authors claim. His
attempt to turn the group into a “124-
year-old start-up” as one laudatory
Bloomberg Businessweek cover story
described it — and to market it as such —
looks lame in retrospect.
Immelt was not unique, though,
freighted industrial incumbents in try-
The past 20 years have
virtue is sometimes built
on fragile foundations
ing to stay ahead of the digital revolu-
tion. Few of his peers running large mul-
tinationals will be so publicly punished
for trying to adapt. Plenty will lie awake
after reading this account wondering if
they really know what is going on in
their sprawling empires — or ever can.
Lights Outt makes clear that by the end
of the 20th century, GE had built a repu-
tation as “a capitalistic meritocracy, a
locus not just of success but of a certain
version of virtue — the virtue of targets
made, goals surpassed, earnings earned,
markets won”. Retail investors, pen-
sioners, employees, executives and
whole communities in turn relied on
GE. If nothing else, the past 20 years
Former GE chief Jeffrey Immelt on a visit to an Alstom plant in 2014 — APF/Getty have demonstrated that such corporate
virtue is sometimes built on fragile
foundations. When they crack, it is not
trying to extricate the group from struc- any business and could teach any of its only the stock price that suffers.
tural and financial distress, triggered, own to do so”. In one well-told scene late in the saga,
with grim appropriateness, by costly lia- In truth, this belief always looked the newly appointed Flannery
bilities contained in the “unwanted hard to sustain. Flannery discovered addresses senior GE managers in 2017
detritus in the basement of GE Capital”, when he took over from Immelt that a about the scale of the problems he has
which Immelt was unable to clear. multinational of the size, scope and uncovered. He hands over to Jeff Born-
Despite its sometimes wearying, complexity of GE was very hard to man- stein, a “muscled, nicotine-gum-
choppy, short-chapter style, and occa- age: “[Flannery’s] three decades inside chomping, weightlifting, hard-driving”
sional diversions into numbing account- the company . . . were not enough to executive and former aide to Immelt,
ing detail, Lights Out is a hard-nosed, make the workings of the whole intui- who had taken over as chief financial
well-written analysis of what went tive — or its biggest problems obvious.” officer. “I love this company,” Bornstein
wrong (albeit one disputed by some of I think this analysis of the overarching tells the group, before fighting back
Immelt’s defenders). challenge of running GE invites a little tears. It was a telling sign that GE’s “well-
The authors point out, rightly, that if more respect for Immelt’s 16-year plate- bred hubris”, in Gryta and Mann’s fine
Culp succeeds, it will “undermine a cen- spinning feat than the authors allow. phrase, was finally crumbling.
tral tenet of GE’s oldest and most pre- Like many chief executives, including
cious belief: that it knew how to manage Welch, he certainly outstayed his wel- Andrew Hill is the FT’s management editor
begins in characteristically arrest-
ing fashion: “The writing of this
novel was interrupted by life . . . ”
Li’s life was “interrupted” in the
most brutal way imaginable in
2017, when her 16-year-old son
Vincent committed suicide. That
terrible event occurred a few
months after the publication of
her memoir Dear Friend, from My
Life I Write to You in Your Life, in
which she recounted the circum-
stances surrounding an attempt
she had made on her own life and
her subsequent hospitalisation.
Last year, with Must I Go on hold,
Li published Where Reasons End, a
short, tersely expressed novel
written as a dialogue between a
writer and her teenage son, who
had killed himself. As it happens,
to write that one also features a
colloquy between a parent and a
dead child.
The protagonist and intermit-
tent narrator of Must I Go (the
point of view switches back
and forth between the first and
third person throughout the
novel) is Lilia, a three-times-wid-
owed octogenarian resident of a
Californian nursing home. She has
spent the second half of her life
wrestling with the memory of her
dead daughter Lucy, who took her
own life at the age 27, leaving
behind a two-month-old child,
whom Lilia raised as her own.
“Every morning since Lucy’s
death,” Lilia says, “I wake up
and say to myself: here’s another
day that Lucy refused to live.”
The second half of her life — Lucy
died when her mother was 44,
the age Li was when she lost her
son — is lived as a refusal to accept
that refusal.
Li had written nearly half of
Must I Go when her son died. By the
time she returned to the manu-
script, she said in an interview, she
did so with “more understanding
of Lilia’s feelings about Lucy”, as
well as the conviction that the
“language of grief is so limited”.
In this book, the language of
grief is mediated and the dialogue
around which the novel is struc-
tured is not that between Lilia and
Lucy, but between Lilia and Kath-
erine, Lucy’s daughter. Lilia, we
learn, is annotating a recently pub-
lished edition of the diaries of
Lucy’s father Roland, with the
intention of leaving them to her
granddaughter when she dies.
the moment.”
Must I Go can be read, at least in
part, as an attempt to dramatise
that insight about the way we sift
and shape the detritus of the past,
fashioning what we call “memo-
ries” out of those scraps of “evi-
dence”. The past might be “real”,
as Li puts it, but the forms we
impose on it are contingent, cho-
sen rather than found.
Lucy, it appears, did not leave
behind a testament or explanation
for the act that changed her
mother’s life so decisively. And
even if she had, we are told, “Lilia
would have never opened it”.
What we have instead are
Roland’s diary entries and Lilia’s
annotations, often wrapped in
morsels of homespun wisdom for
her granddaughter’s benefit. “The
worst kind of marriage is one that
aims for happiness,” Lilia
observes. And then later, of one of
her three husbands, she says: “You
don’t have to be a widow or a wid-
ower to feel lonely. I know Gilbert
Must I Go
Yiyun Li
Hamish
Hamilton £16.99
368 pages
f l llonely
felt l at times
i in
i our mar-
riage.” Sometimes the effect is
akin to the kind of edifying or
improving slogans you’d find on a
fridge magnet.
In having Lilia fill out some of
the silences and omissions in
Roland’s story, Li strays from what
is surely the emotional core of the
novel — the relationship with Lucy
(and/or Katherine).
And if the tone of the novel is
sometimes uncertain, the struc-
ture too is unwieldy, with the hec-
tic swapping of points of view and
serpentine chronology — though
this is arguably faithful to the way
a mind trawling the past for nug-
gets of the truth would work.
Compared to its lean and costive
predecessor, Must I Go is baggy and
meandering. “Goodness,” Lilia
exclaims at one point, “how fat
this book is already becoming.”
Jonathan Derbyshire is the FT’s
acting deputy world news editor

Survival amid Europe’s collapse The mother of all questions

A moving family history I
Inge’s War: woman and her grandmother, one in The tension between having B
Breasts lectual thriller. But a breeziness of deliv-
A Story of which O’Donnell gradually chips away aand Eggs ery, translated in books one and two by
sheds light on the lives of the FFamily, Secrets at the wall of silence Inge has erected. children and creating art b Mieko Kawakami
by Sam Bett and David Boyd respectively,
Germans who fled the Red aand Survival The repressed trauma of the war years propel a dazzling intellectual ttranslated by Sam makes for a light-on-its-feet read.
Under Hitler
U bubbles back to the surface. Family Bett and David Boyd
B Kawakami is a writer who alchemises the
Army, writes Guy Chazan b Svenja O’Donnell
by secrets are revealed and a story emerges thriller. By Beatrice Hodgkin Picador £14.99
P banal into a kind of musical poetry.
432 pages
4
Ebury £16.99
E about first love betrayed, chaos and Take the period-blood underwear
3304 pages flight, and sexual violence, shame and stain in the shape of Japan that has an

H W
alfway through Inge’s War
there is an almost unbear-
ably poignant image — row
upon row of empty prams
on the edge of Pillau port in
East Prussia, left by frantic mothers
boarding ships to escape westwards in
the final, chaotic months of the second
world war. They were, writes Svenja
O’Donnell, “an accidental memorial to
East Prussia’s last generation”.
It’s one of many arresting moments in
O’Donnell’s account of the life of her
grandmother Inge Wiegandt, in particu-
lar her traumatic flight from her home-
town Königsberg in 1945. Her book is
part of a growing body of work devoted
to the experience of the Vertriebene, the
estimated 12m people who fled Ger-
many’s eastern regions as the Red Army
advanced. Aware that the hardship they
endured was dwarfed by the horrors of
the Holocaust, many of them took a vow
of silence. But over the years, interest in
this extraordinary migration has grown,
as has curiosity about the rich, complex
culture they left behind.
Nothing symbolised that culture bet-
ter than Königsberg, the birthplace of
Immanuel Kant and one of the great cit-
ies of the Reich before it was devastated
by Allied bombers and razed by the
Soviets. In 1946 it was renamed Kalinin-
grad and became part of the Soviet
Union. “The city’s 700 years of German
culture were consigned to oblivion,”
O’Donnell writes.
The suffering of the civilian popula-
tion reached its apogee in one of the
most notorious incidents of the war —
the deliberate sinking of the Wilhelm
Gustloff, a German military transport
ship, as it was evacuating civilian refu-
gees and soldiers from East Prussia in
January 1945. As many as 9,400 people
perished in the Baltic Sea.
Decades later, O’Donnell comes
across a monument in Kaliningrad to
Alexander Marinesko, the Soviet naval
officer whose submarine torpedoed the
Wilhelm Gustloff. Hero to some, war
criminal to others: take your pick.
The Gustloff disaster provides the
emotional high point of the book. Inge,
her daughter and her parents were on
another ship that tried to come to the
Gustloff’s rescue. “In my sleep some-
times I can still hear the screaming,”
recalls Inge, adding that she “lost my
faith in God that day”. You can see why.
Inge’s Warr is not just the story of a life
— it’s about the relationship between a
Wartime evacuation of Königsberg,
East Prussia — Ullstein bild via Getty Images
despair. O’Donnell, a journalist, says her
book is “not a tale of heroism or evil, but
of survival. ” Inge’s story of violence and
displacement was “one shared by many
women who became collateral damage
in the wreckage of Europe’s collapse”.
It is a moving story, sensitively told.
Inge’s experiences as a young woman in
Nazi-era Berlin, where she and her
friends danced to jazz and swing in illicit
nightclubs, are narrated with verve. The
hunger and exploitation she endured
post-1945 show that the years of recon-
struction were, for many Germans, far
tougher than the privations of the war.
One weakness is O’Donnell’s over-
reliance on her grandmother’s testi-
mony: it is essentially a single-source
story, bolstered by a little archival
research and references to standard sec-
ondary accounts. The problem with this
is clear in her description of a crucial
postwar reunion between Inge and the
love of her life, Wolfgang: with no detail
to go on, she “imagines” the encounter,
in a way that feels unconvincing.
Still, Inge’s Warr is a worthy addition to
the growing canon of literature by and
about the Vertriebene. Interested read-
ers could also try Walter Kempowski’s
novel All for Nothing, about the flight of
the East Prussians, and A Childhood
under Hitler and Stalin, a chilling account
of the fall of Königsberg by German Jew
Michael Wieck. Nodded to approvingly
by O’Donnell, it is an essential account
of that eastern outpost of German cul-
ture — and its cataclysmic destruction.
Guy Chazan is the FT’s Berlin bureau chief
hich is the greater tri-
umph, struggle and cost
— giving birth to a child
or to a novel? There’s
nothing new, perhaps,
in this question. But there’s everything
new in the fearless way it is explored in
Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs. It
starts with the chapter titles: “Are you
poor?” “Where’s your ambition?” Sim-
ple. Searing. Uncompromising.
Kawakami, part of a new generation
of female Japanese novelists, enters the
waters of English-language translation
on a wave of praise, literary prizes and
cult followers. Breasts and Eggs pairs a
version of her 2008 novella of the same
name with what is essentially a new
companion novel — the books share a
narrator, yet are self-contained; each
illuminates the themes and hidden
parts of the other.
In book one, it is 2008: an unbearably
hot summer in Tokyo. Natsuko Nat-
sume, a 30-year-old writer from an
impoverished background, is visited
from Osaka by her older sister, mourn-
ing her youth and on a mission to have
breast implants, and her niece, on the
cusp of puberty and staging a silent
revolt against her mother. The heat, the
small flat and the incessant sharing of
surgery research make for a sticky
closeness where themes of poverty, cre-
ativity and motherhood slide around
one another like sweaty skin on skin.
Eight years later, Natsuko’s big novel
remains unfinished. This unfulfilled
gestation mimics a literal lack of prog-
eny, and her desire to give life to both
book and baby fuels the narrative. Cast-
ing its shadow is the toxic relationship
between her sister and niece, who yells
in an earlier climactic scene: “Tell me
the truth . . . Why was I born? Why does
any of us have to be born?”
Why indeed? With unsentimental
It is intense and provocative.
But a breeziness of
delivery makes for
a light-on-its-feet read
clarity that’s typical of the novel, Nat-
suko articulates a “critical” need to
“meet my child and live with them”.
Crucially, she wants to circumnavigate
male input, in all ways save one. Sex
makes her feel like “someone slipped a
black bag over my head”, so she turns to
sperm donation, which takes her on a
journey of ethical, emotional and finan-
cial conundrums. Most significantly, it
introduces her to Aizawa, who embod-
ies the other side of the debate. He is a
member of the “Children of Donors”
support group and activist organisation
lobbying for legal reform of what they
believe to be a damaging process: “I
started thinking that half of me
was . . . not human,” he says of his trau-
matic late-life revelation.
It’s intense and provocative, an intel-
uncompromising brilliance in its sym-
bolic schism between the birth-of a-na-
tion power in womanhood and the dev-
astation of “Another month, another
egg . . . Nothing this month.” It’s as Nat-
suko’s mentor says of her own work:
“What made that work special? . . . It’s
your voice.”
The parallel investigation into how to
write a novel plays out with glimpses
into Natsuko’s creative process (“Con-
centrating my awareness on my frontal
lobe, I rubbed my thoughts together
with ferocious speed, like a person rub-
bing sticks together to make fire . . .”).
Kawakami toys with the reader; at
every turn there’s a friend or colleague
taking a different position on writing
and motherhood. The unmarried editor
who believes “Great writers never have
kids”. The mother who sees herself, like
her own mother, as “free labour with a
pussy”. The novelist who says of her
daughter, “She’s the best part of me . . .”.
While the finale is decisive, Breasts and
Eggs remains a stunning work of irides-
cence, changing with the light. For good
reason this promises to be one of the
most talked-about novels of the year.
Beatrice Hodgkin is deputy editor of
How To Spend It
FT/Bodley Head Prize
Young writers — submit
your entry for the eighth
annual essay-writing prize
at ft.com/bodley2020
8 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

Books
mittently, he assumes that pose him-
self. Still, no traveller would deny the
“warmth and decency” he celebrates.
Colombia really is easy to love.
Davis draws on his botanical back-
ground to survey the “biological
bounty” of a country with 26,000
native flowering plants and 1,932 bird
species. He explains why the coca leaf,
in its unprocessed state, is “more use-
ful and less irritating” than coffee or
tea. He plumbs the river’s past as a
conduit for music, for myths, for
ideas, as well as gold, coffee, tobacco
and cocaine. Then there is the cultural
complexity of a nation where “misce-
genation became the norm”, African
ex-slave outcasts served as “the
engine of the river trade”, and indige-
nous lands have only just returned to
the stewardship of native people.
Davis turns historian to depict the
The icemen cometh
This pulse-quickening novel captures a true story of Icelandic
trawlermen battling the elements, writes Christian House
Storm Birds son recognises the faultlines in the mas-
by Einar Kárason culine environment. In a beautifully
translated by caught moment, the family say their
Quentin Bates goodbyes on the dock as provisions are
MacLehose Press taken on board and the rowdy older
£12.99, 160 pages
members of the crew begin to arrive.
“Lárus glanced at his mother, knowing
that she would not take well to seeing
drunk men making their way to the ship
that would be her son’s lifeboat.”
Practicalities create a poetry to the
fishermen’s days: the palm-shell man-

T
“raw and brutal exploitation” of the
A fisherman on one of the many hundreds of wetlands in the lower reaches of the Río Magdalena — Wade Davis Spanish colonialists, the high-minded
mission of “The Liberator”, Simón
Bolívar, and Pablo Escobar’s murder-
ner in which a cigarette is held in a
time,” Icelandic fisherman squall, how heavy weather can be fore-
Thordur Gudlaugsson cast by an absence of seabirds. Kárason
recalled in a recent TV also captures the cold consequences of

Source of renewal ous parody of Bolivarian idealism

while his narcotic empire thickened
the Magdalena with mutilated bodies.
(Feral hippos descended from speci-
mens in Escobar’s private zoo still
plague one stretch.) He clarifies the
alphabet soup — Farc, ELN, AUC — of
Homages to Colombia’s life-giving Río Magdalena river impress Boyd Tonkin recent bloodshed, plunder and mis-
ery. Above all, he journeys with peace-
makers, conservationists and activists
who work to save river and people
interview. In the winter of
1959, Gudlaugsson was first engineer on
a trawler that endured a monumental
storm off Newfoundland. All hands
were put to hacking ice from the decks
in a bid to stop the vessel sinking under
actions: mayday calls are dismissed if a
boat is too far away.
There is a sub-genre in the canon of
nautical literature dedicated to the tra-
vails of trawlers. Redmond O’Hanlon
chronicled his time pulling in catches in
its weight. “It was 72 hours of fighting.” the north Atlantic in Trawler, Paul Wat-
In Storm Birds, Icelandic novelist
Einar Kárason has taken the story of
kins novelised his years working on a
Rhode Island boat and Sebastian Junger
Gudlaugsson and his crew and turned it charted an authorial course between
into a pulse-quickening piece of fiction. fact and fiction in The Perfect Storm. For

I
n his youth, Gabriel García Már-
quez often travelled on the stately
three-decker river steamers that,
he wrote, churned like “illumi-
nated villages” up the Río
Magdalena from the Caribbean coast.
The future Nobel laureate enjoyed fes-
tive days and nights, presided over by
kindly skippers, that “left a trail of
music and fanciful dreams” in sleepy
townships along the banks. All
around, the wildlife of tropical Colom-
bia, from “the racket of the monkeys
and the scandal of the parrots” to the
plaintive songs of gentle, almost-hu-
man manatees, kept him company.
The last great Magdalena steamer,
the David Arango, burnt in 1961.
Memories of this lost fluvial paradise
fill Márquez’s fiction, notably Love in
the Time of Cholera. By the 1980s,
though, the writer feared that “our
river of nostalgia” had “gone to hell”,
its banks deforested, “its waters poi-
soned and its animals exterminated”.
The Magdalena runs for almost a
thousand miles from the misty moun-
tain uplands of the Macizo Colombi-
ano, which Wade Davis likens to “an
English moor grafted on to the spine of
the Andes”, north to the sultry Carib-
Magdalena: River of Dreams
by Wade Davis
Bodley Head £25, 432 pages
The Scandal of the Century
by Gabriel García Márquez
Viking £10.99/ Vintage $16.95, 336 pages
bean wetlands of the port of Barran-
quilla. Within its drainage system live
three-quarters of Colombians. Its
landscapes, flora and fauna span the
staggering biodiversity of a country
that contains “every natural habitat to
be found on earth”. The river has come
to epitomise Colombia, the “vital
artery of commerce and culture” —
but also “the graveyard of the nation”,
its silted, polluted waters laden with
the corpses discarded by decades of
conflict among drug lords, guerrillas,
paramilitaries and state forces that
left more than 220,000 dead.
In the mid-2010s, as Colombia’s
nightmare of violence approached an
end, the Canadian-born anthropolo-
gist, botanist and travel writer Davis
returned to the river that first
enchanted him as a young nomad.
The fruit of five years’ research,
Magdalena: River of Dreams traces its
course, maps its ecosystems, portrays
its peoples and sketches its histories.
It asks if a renewal of these waters, for-
ests and creatures can accompany the
fitful promise of Colombia’s shaky
peace process. The singer Carlos Vives
tells Davis that “to heal ourselves, we
must heal the river.”
Davis, who long held the superbly
paradoxical post of “Explorer-in-Resi-
dence” for the National Geographic
Society, has written books on places
from the Himalayas to Haiti. Colom-
bia, though, became his land of heart’s
desire. He offered his 1996 study One
R i ve r a s “a l ove l e t t e r t o a
nation . . . scorned by the world”,
smothered in “dark clichés” seeded by
narco-lords and paramilitary thugs.
Since then, not only has fragile, pro-
visional peace returned. A far-sighted
public-diplomacy programme has
allowed visitors to share, and spread,
Davis’s passion (this reviewer has ben-
efited from it too). His florid apprecia-
tion of the land and people can on
occasion tip over into purpled gush.
He describes earlier plant-hunters,
dazzled by local abundance, as “pros-
trate before the gates of awe”. Inter-
from the “abyss of extinction” García
Márquez dreaded.
The great novelist’s homage to the
Magdalena is one of the entertaining
and well-crafted pieces in The Scandal
of the Century, a selection of articles
that “Gabo” the life-long journalist
wrote between 1950 and 1984. Typi-
cally, his anguish at its ecological
downfall finds a focus in a stranded
manatee from whose “sad eyes sprung
human tears”. Pieces here evoke Paris,
Rome, Havana and elsewhere, not just
his backyard in Caribbean Colombia.
Yet, in Anne McLean’s first-rate trans-
lations, the reader glimpses a writer
forever seeking “new words for the
size of our reality”.
As Wade Davis notes, “within the
country”, the allegedly magical reali-
ties of Colombian storytelling look
like “simply journalism”. Like “Gabo”,
Davis suffuses his reportage with a
visionary tinge. His subject more than
warrants it. He tells of an indigenous
savant who advises lovers of the
Magdalena to “Know its moods
. . . recognise its power, yield to its
strength, and be thankful for its
bounty”. His torrential book achieves
all that.
Here the trawler is the Mávur, the Ice-
landic word for “seagull”, and the mael-
strom is evoked by an unnamed crew
member recalling the events in later life.
He makes it clear that being a fisherman
in Icelandic waters “could be as danger-
ous as soldiering in times of war”.
The Mávur leaves Reykjavík harbour
on a sharp January evening and courses
around Greenland’s Cape Farewell to
Newfoundland’s Kittiwake Bay and its
profitable shoals of redfish. The for-
tunes of the trawler prove to be tidal:
“On Tuesday everything was either foul,
smashed or a lash-up, on Wednesday it
all came together and the crew put their
backs into getting the fish below.”
Similarly, the book’s tone swings
between the immediate and the elegiac.
The narrative shifts, impressionist-
ically, between the various backstories
of crew members — the bosun with a
troubled love life, the mercurial skipper,
the radio operator with a fondness for
books — and of course the emergency of
the coming storm.
An emotional barometer to the crew’s
plight is provided by 18-year-old Lárus,
the youngest deckhand, who arrives on
the quayside in his parents’ Jeep with a
proud father and a fearful mother. Kára-
writers, trawlers combine epic drama
with the baroque intensity of men
crammed together. In this respect they
are similar to prison narratives: grand
themes, tight spaces.
In Storm Birds, the elements are seen
as being without malice, as dangerous
but impersonal and often magnificent.
But while Kárason conjures up extraor-
dinary seascapes, his real muse is the
human psyche. With every breaker the
boat’s icy tumour grows and the 32-
strong crew are worn down. Restricted
to two hours’ rest a day, they smash ice
from the gunwales, stanchions and nets
in a ceaseless campaign against nature.
The second mate takes to his bunk, say-
ing, “I think it’s best if I lie here while the
ship goes down . . . This is death itself.”
Kárason’s elegantly structured story
is aided by a smooth translation by
Quentin Bates. An author of Nordic
thrillers with titles such as Cold Malice
and Frozen Out, Bates’s seamless rendi-
tion from the Icelandic combines per-
sonal, seafaring and meteorological lan-
guage while maintaining the tension.
The result is both a terrifying depiction
of peril at sea and a bracing log of the
costs paid by those who survive against
the odds.

CHESS LEONARD BARDEN
England were top seeds in
their group of the 163-nation
online Olympiad last
weekend, but had to work to
qualify. This weekend is a
sterner test, a top group
pool headed by the mighty
Russians and the strong
Armenians. England will be
fighting for third and a place
in the knock-out stages
against Bulgaria, Croatia,
Romania and Turkey.
The event format, two
men, two women and two
juniors handicaps England,
whose strength is a quartet
of high rated grandmasters.
Women’s chess is a key
difference. Russia and
eastern Europe have many
female professionals,
England only one.
England’s matches can be
watched on chessbomb.com
on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, with rounds
starting at 3pm, 4pm and
5pm. England v Russia is in
round six at 5pm, Saturday.
The odds are against
England advancing further,
Diversions
BRIDGE PAUL MENDELSON
8
Nakamura were locked at 3- When asked what single 2 is two cards, South started
K8 5 Dealer: North Love All
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of the online Tour final. for bridge, I always answer: KQJ 9 North East South West never bid it. So, East has
6
N 1D NB 2C NB
5
2381 the ability to concentrate for KQJ 6 5 10 9 8 7 3C NB 3NT four spades — probably
From a game won by Hugh a few minutes on a regular 7 64 W E J 10 9 3 1098x — and West must lead
4
Myers in New York. The rare basis. To switch off, even for 9 7 Q J 10 and led a club. West hopped a low spade at trick 3. Even
A5 2 4 3
3 opening 1 c4 g5?! is named a moment, is to invite S up with A♣, led 6♠ and East having failed to do that,
2 after him. When he reached disaster. A4 3 won perforce with 7♠. West West might squeeze out of
AQ 2
this position as Black (to West led the standard K♠ K5 4 never made his final spade his self-made blockage:
1
A B C D E F G H
play), spectators began to against South’s game, 10 8 76 trick. instead of winning the first
argue over Black’s best way confident that four spades West had two chances to club trick, he could try
so to qualify would be a to continue. None of and A♣ would probably from dummy, East 9♠, and do better. At trick 3, he ducking two rounds. On the
success comparable with the onlookers predicted defeat the contract. East declarer ducked. West lazily should reflect that East has third round, East could then
past Olympiad medals. Myers’s choice, which led to played 10♠ and declarer played J♠. Declarer played high-low in spades, discard the blocking 7♠ and
Magnus Carlsen and US his opponent’s resignation. ducked. West laid down Q♠, discarded another diamond traditionally showing an West would be free to cash
champion Hikaru What is it? Solution, back page declarer dropped a diamond from dummy, won his A♠, equal number of cards. If it his two winners.

POLYMATH 1,088 SET BY FALCON CROSSWORD 16,562 SET BY REDSHANK

Crossword competitions suspended Jotter pad

Dear readers — we have suspended the Crossword and
Polymath competitions while our editors work from home.
We hope you continue to enjoy completing them until
normal newsroom services resume.
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 9

Museum Barberini | A new

permanent collection makes
Berlin a must-see destination
for the birth of modern art,
writes Jackie Wullschläger

A
moment of joy, a beacon of
hope, a spirit of generosity:
amid many cancelled exhi-
bitions, there could not be a
more upbeat inauguration
of Europe’s autumn art season than the
new permanent installation, launching
on September 7, of collector Hasso Plat-
tner’s 100 supreme Impressionist and
modern paintings, almost all land-
scapes, in Potsdam’s Museum Barberini.
Beginning with breezy seascapes by
Monet’s teacher Eugène Boudin, travel-
ling via Cézanne’s blue-green sous-bois
forest glades, Sisley’s purple-shadowed
Louveciennes snow scenes, Renoir’s
softly fluttering “Pear Tree” in blossom,
to conclude with Vlaminck’s flamboy-
ant Fauve transformations of impres-
sionist sites — “The Bridge at Chatou”,
“Seine Embankment at Bougival” —
into dabs of incandescent colour, Plat-
tner’s is Europe’s biggest, most impor-
tant collection of 19th and early 20th-
century French painting outside Paris.
It lifts Berlin’s cultural offering and,
building on the city’s acquisition in
2000 of Heinz Berggruen’s Picasso col-
lection, makes the German capital a
must-see destination for the birth of
modern art. And it is all so fresh,
amassed in the past two decades —
many highlights acquired in the past
two years — with a dedication and dis-
cernment bringing something new to
familiar territory.
Plattner made his $15bn fortune as co-
founder of software company SAP and
until 2017 was better known globally as
a pillar of German industry than as a col-

The dawn of Impressionism

lector. Even at the opening of the Bar-
berini that year he shunned the lime-
light; then last May he was revealed as
the buyer of “Meules”, a painting of a
cropped, monumental haystack, ele-
mental, vital, burnished pink and gold
by a diagonal beam from the setting sun,
which sold for $110.7m — a record for
Monet and for Impressionism. munications methods — the basis of his
Potsdam’s “Mona Lisa”? Balancing business and scholarship: his Wilden-
fecundity and growth against the sense stein Plattner Institute, founded 2016,
of fleeting time, even by the standards of makes digitally available the august
the great series this particular “Meules” Wildenstein scholar/dealer catalogues.
is exceptional in its richness of feeling There is a leitmotif of widened access
and form. But it is in the context of Plat- here. Napoleon III’s arts minister Nieu-
tner’s other recent purchases, now dis- werkerke repudiated Impressionism as
played together, that it becomes clear “the painting of democrats”; the move-
why he craved it. Monets constitute ment prevailed during the Third Repub-
more than a third of this collection — its lic as an expression of progressive dem-
intellectual and emotional heart — and ocratic humanism, leisure, pleasure.
include a score of riveting works from In Potsdam this feels more urgent
1880-90, his most restless, experimen- than in Paris. “Due to national resent-
tal, psychologically disturbed and least ments, French Impressionism was only
cohesively studied period, for which the rarely collected during the imperial era
Barberini is now a resource both schol- in Germany,” Plattner says. “I would like
arly and visually spectacular. my collection in the Museum Barberini
For almost a century “Meules” — particularly due to its location in east-
belonged to Chicago’s Potter-Palmer ern Germany — to be a place of French-
German friendship, cultural openness,
Monets constitute more international exchange.”
Exploring his pictures’ provenances is
than a third of Plattner’s a masterclass in shifting sociopolitical
collection — its intellectual realities. Plattner has returned to Ger-
many, also from America, many pieces
and emotional heart restituted from Nazi forced sales and

family, and its return to Europe

demonstrates the transatlantic shift
characteristic of Plattner’s top
acquisitions, especially of decom-
missioned museum Monets from
the under-appreciated 1880s.
Between 2011 and 2015 Plattner
brought at auction “Poplars”, the dap-
pled frieze of riverside trees, one row
still bright in the sunset, the second
already cast in violet shadow, sold by
New York’s Museum of Modern Art; “On
the Cliffs at Pourville”, the vigorous sea-
scape of wind rustling tall grass in a
briny haze coming off the ocean, sold by
the Metropolitan Museum; “Wheat-
field”, the crops, meadow, cirrus clouds
abstracted into sweeping horizontal
bands, sold by Cleveland Museum; and
“Antibes, the Fort”, with its melting Monet’s radical device of painting in confiscations. Hermann Göring once
pink-turquoise harmony, sold by Bos- series, evolved from the turbulent 1880s owned the tremulous, rare “Still Life
ton’s Museum of Fine Art. landscapes, and inestimably important with Spanish Melon”, painted in 1879
It is quite a haul — America’s loss, to the development of 20th-century art. weeks after the death of Monet’s first
Europe’s gain — and gives insight into Plattner’s collection systematically, wife. The resplendent/melancholy
the extremes to which Monet pushed sparklingly, affirms Impressionism’s “Ducal Palace” from the 1908-11 Venice
himself in the 1880s. Seeking ever more centrality to European cultural history. series — Monet’s mourning tribute to his
sensational responses to nature, he trav- Within two months in 2019, he acquired second wife — comes from the Gold-
elled far, playing the wild North Sea at separate auctions Pissarro’s shim- schmidt collection, confiscated in Berlin
against Mediterranean sweetness — mering aerial view “Boulevard Mont- in 1941, returned following litigation to
Plattner also shows three superb “Bor- martre” (1897) and adolescent Picasso’s Clockwise from main: ‘Meules’ by Port” extends Impressionism in one the Goldschmidts in New York.
dighera” canvases, chromatically tour-de-force assimilation of it, in bro- Claude Monet (1890); ‘The Pear vein; as powerful yet different a contin- The Venice standout here, the “Pal-
nuanced, flooded with light, marking ken Impressionist strokes and contrast- Tree’ by Pierre-Auguste Renoir uation is the flat patterning and rushing azzo Contarini”, the palace’s darkened
the artist’s exhilarated, daunted discov- ing hues, “Boulevard de Clichy” (1901). (1877); ‘Forest Interior’ by Paul space in Raoul Dufy’s exuberant “The windows a void of grief staring over
ery of Italy in 1884. Simultaneously, in Another trophy purchase last year, for Cézanne (1897-98); ‘The White Sail”, 1906. dense water, was acquired along with
rural isolation in Giverny, Monet £19.5m, was Signac’s “The Port at Sun- Bridge at Chatou’ by Maurice de “The paintings involve us as viewers several other works from the Nahmad
explored diverse painterly modes — set”: a boat gliding towards the viewer, Vlaminck (1906-07); Monet’s in a very direct way. We feel the wind on collection, passing from secretive pri-
refined delicacy for the fragile poplars, its sails curving in rhythm to the hills ‘Palazzo Contarini’ (1908); ‘The Port our skin and the temperature of the vate hands to permanent public display
the robust, broadly-brushed field. behind St Tropez, depicted in intricate at Sunset’ by Paul Signac (1892) water when we look at Monet’s sailboats now: a triumph of democratic intent
“Meules” (1890) is the climax to this pointillist technique. Signac told Monet Hasso Plattner Collection
on the Seine. No other art can do that. paralleling the egalitarian impulse of
period, the humble haystack trans­- that he painted “having had as a model The Impressionists are geniuses of com- these seminal paintings.
figured by a radiance of colour and only your works and following the great munication,” Plattner says. He is a sailor
emotion. With the “Meules” originated path you have opened for us”. “The himself, as well as a pioneer of new com- From September 7, museum-barberini.com
10
Arts
The battle to be seen
Cinema | Feted at Cannes — and essential
viewing for Emmanuel Macron — Ladj Ly’s
‘Les Misérables’ gives a voice to France’s
deprived, the director tells Danny Leigh
L
ate in 2019, French president
Emmanuel Macron saw a film
that left him shaken. The
movie was Les Misérables —
not the long-running musical,
but a kinetic portrait of life in the ban-
lieues, the socially deprived and often
riot-torn suburbs that encircle Paris.
Montfermeil, one such place, is the
scuffed commune at the eastern edge of
Paris where, in the 19th century, Victor
Hugo located his own “wretches”.
That May, the film had caused a stir at
the Cannes Film Festival. By November,
it was Oscar-nominated as Best Interna-
tional Film. When Macron got in touch
to request a preview, Malian-French
director Ladj Ly offered a screening in
Montfermeil amid the social housing of
Les Bosquets (“The Groves”) where the
story unfolds. The president declined,
so Ly supplied a DVD. Macron watched
it at the Elysée Palace. The experience, it
was reported, unnerved him enough to
demand that his officials create a pro-
gramme to rescue the banlieues.
In the weeks to come, as the film
became a huge domestic hit, advisers
contacted Ly to request their own copy.
“Macron’s order was, ‘You have to see
Les Misérables’,”’ Ly says. The pause that
follows is as dry as pauses get. “They
were surprised too.”
With Les Misérables originally to be
released in the UK this spring, we first
met in London’s Hazlitt Hotel in March,
days before France locked down. Ly —
rangy, bearded, tired but genial — spoke
through an interpreter. Five months
later, the conversation is picked up
remotely with the director in Montfer-
meil, where he has spent the confinement
of 2020. The last movie to bring such
attention to the banlieues, 1995’s La
Haine, was directed by Mathieu Kasso-
vitz, a film-maker from central Paris; Les
Misérables is made by one who grew up
and still lives in Les Bosquets, like most
of his cast. “When our stories are told,”
he says, “we want to be involved.”
If the title feels audacious, the film is
too: a raw, epic tale of the banlieues and
the cops who police them, some thug-
gish, others conflicted. Made for just Main picture:
€1.4m, around 2m tickets were sold in director Ladj Ly,
France before the pandemic. It is, Ly is photographed
aware, the kind of number that “breaks for the FT by
the door down”. While the South Korean Gabby Laurent
thriller Parasite — another story of a
toxic class system — won the inter- Scenes from
national Oscar, Les Misérables claimed his film, shot in
the 2020 French César for Best Film. Les Bosquets
“I’m the first black guy to win a César,” outside Paris
Ly says. “I won’t say that has no impor- with a cast
tance.” Does he now expect more black mainly of locals
filmmakers to be embraced by French
cinema? “It is always a battle.” The CNC
— the film agency of the Ministry of Cul-
ture — chose not to fund Les Misérables.
Unlike Macron’s advisers, Ly was not
surprised. “It’s a film about social crisis
and police corruption. That will upset
some people.” Naturally, he says with a
smile, the decision-makers involved are
now vocal fans of the film.
free version that was a live favoourite
THE LIFE had itself been retooled from th he
OF A SONG pysch-blues of “My Dark Hour””,
which the band recorded with Paul P
McCartney for the 1969 album
FLY LIKE Brave New World. That version
AN EAGLE was conceived as a political
statement, written from the
perspective of Native
Americans and with social
T
he eagle was a busy bird in justice in mind, Miller having
the 1970s. From the name seen the effects of recession in
of the decade’s foremost
country-rock band to the
American cities. Augmented byy
a Roland SH-200 synth fed
title of Abba’s longest song, through an Echoplex effects un
its connotations of power, flight and the later version shows the influ uence
freedom were potent symbols in rock of the organ-heavy “Slippin’ intto
and pop’s post-hippy decade. Musicians Darkness” by War.
everywhere wanted to appropriate the For artists in the 1970s, the
bird of prey, despite or even sometimes flipside of flying high, in some
because of its libertarian and rightwing cases no doubt chemically
political associations. aided, was the hard landing.
“Fly Like an Eagle”, the 1976 single This was reflected in the lyrics
from The Steve Miller Band album of of John Denver’s 1975
the same name, was a huge hit. Kept “Looking for Space”:
off the top spot on its long stay in the “Sometimes I fly like an eagle
US charts by Barbra Streisand’s / And sometimes I’m deep in
“Evergreen”, the song was the most despair.” Boz Scaggs, Miller’s
influential of a number of ’70s paeans childhood musical partner,
to this iconic creature. recorded “Fly Like
The early covers were by Miller a Bird” in the 1990s — the
himself. Like many of the American key line was: “Sometimes
guitarist and singer’s songs, it had I cry, sometimes I
a long evolution into its most fly like a bird.”
recognisable form. A rockier, synth- So what does Miller’s “Eagle”
★ FTWeekend
During the delay to the UK release of
Les Misérables, Black Lives Matter has
spot-lit much of what inspired it. In
Paris this summer, protesters chanted
the name of Adama Traoré, who died
after arrest in 2016. Places such as Les
Bosquets, Ly says — where communities
of African and Arab heritage face mass
unemployment — have been “aban-
doned by the Republic”. He likens the
situation to apartheid: “The BLM move-
ment was inevitable. The situation in
France has long been at a critical point.
The fight against racism and police vio-
lence was never visible enough.”
Ly often speaks of visibility — what is
seen and unseen and by whom. He grew
up in 1980s Montfermeil, the son of Mal-
ian immigrants. His father worked as a
refuse collector. Les Bosquets was tense
even then. “But when you start out in a
troubled environment, you regard it as
n wan nt to preach so much and
nit,
normal.” By his teens, his school was
encouraging him to train as an electri-
cian. Contact between the banlieues and
the cultural riches of central Paris were
rare — such is the design of the city — but
a childhood friend of a childhood friend
was Romain Gavras, son of film-maker
Costa-Gavras. At 17, intrigued, Ly
bought a cheap digital video camera. It
became a constant companion.
“I never thought, ‘I want to make fea-
ture films.’ I was already making films.”
He trained his lens on everything —
friends, family, the quotidian routines of
Les Bosquets. “Then I started filming
the police.”
represent? On lyric interpretation
websittes, skydiving, a euphoric
drug exxperience and astral projection
are alll suggested. Having taken a
breaak from touring, Miller did not
preeferred universalist sentiments.
Foor Miller, who channelled his
musicianship into a string of
m synth-playing busker on the streets of
caatchy, radio-friendly hits —
th
he “dorm-rock” anthems of
“Ab bracadabra” and “The Joker” —
the notion of “whatever works”
has long
l held true.
Wellsh rockers Stereophonics
recenttly did their own “Fly Like an
Eagle”.
”. On the surface, Kelly Jones’s
lyrics sseem meaningless but it’s about
his daughter coming out as
ggay — that flight to safety
aand freedom, the search for
positive change, again.
p back to the flower-power songs of the
Successful covers are
rrelatively thin on the ground.
SSeal’s version, released in 1996,
sold well, both as a single and
so
aas part of the Space Jam
soundtrack. The Neville
Brothers released the song’s
B Fame in 2016, and the Space Lady, a
innner funk in a 1992 cover on
which Miller played guest parts
w silver plastic helmet with white wings
— try Masters at Work’s spacey
Flying high: The Steve Miller
F Murray Withers
Band — Redferns
B More in the series at ft.com/life-of-a-song
A decade later, using cameraphones
to record encounters with the police
would be common practice worldwide.
In the early 2000s, Ly became an acci-
dental pioneer — police harassment was
so rife in Les Bosquets, he says, that he
kept running into it. He soon noticed
that his presence — or that of his camera
— made officers newly observant of pro-
tocol. Soon, local residents called for Ly
whenever police cars appeared.
In 2005, as riots erupted in Paris’s sub-
urbs, Ly refined the purpose of his cam-
era. He assembled a documentary, 365
Days in Clichy-Montfermeil, then released
it online. The audience was significant.
dub from the 12-inch release. Of the
many appropriations of either the riffs
or lyrics in hip-hop, Biz Markie’s 1987
“Nobody Beats the Biz” — probably
the first in the genre to sample it —
remains the most effective.
But it is the Space Lady, for decades
famous locally as an accordion and
San Francisco, who really takes the
song into orbit. This outsider artist,
real name Susan Dietrich Schneider,
sees the song as a call for solidarity:
“What it has always meant to me is
finding release from the woes of earthly
existence through compassion, and the
joy of caring and providing for others
less fortunate.”
The Space Lady is now relocated to
the rural Colorado environs where she
grew up; her repertoire now extends
late 1960s, though she still plays “Fly
Like an Eagle” too.
Linked by such a universal song of
freedom, perhaps the distance to travel
between Miller, an industry grandee
who was inducted into rock’s Hall of
free spirit who performs wearing a
and a flashing red light on top, is not so
far at all.
22 August/23 August 2020
For years, Ly continued to film police
misconduct and make documentaries.
There were, he says, repercussions.
“My camera made the police angry.” He
estimates he has been arrested 50 times.
After a 2009 incident involving a dis-
pute in Les Bosquets, he was convicted
for “complicity” in what was formally
described as a kidnapping. (He was not
accused of violence.)
Further convictions included adding
“outrageous commentary” to a video of
police activity and a “verbal assault”
on the mayor of Montfermeil after a
fatal local fire. These charges were
brought, he says, to stop his filmmaking.
“I didn’t stop.”
A short version of Les Misérables was
made in 2017. When the budget for the
feature came together the next summer,
fate handed Ly a moment of spectacular
veritéé — untold numbers of Parisians,
including his young cast, crowding the
city to watch the French football team
win the World Cup. As witnessed in the
film, the scene was one of euphoric,
multiracial unity. “Then the next day, it
was like it never happened.”
On screen, reality is everywhere. If
you assume the theft of a lion cub from a
circus to be poetic licence, the director
keeps a photo on his phone of the actual
incident. And where he once had his all-
seeing video camera, now a teenage boy
films the police with an iPad and drone
— the character being played by Ly’s
son, Al-Hassan.
Al-Hassan Ly and his drone appear
too in the short film his father made this
year for the Netflix lockdown project
Homemade. The camera floats above Les
Bosquets, then descends to socially dis-
tanced food markets. “Like in the US,
UK and Brazil,” Ly says, “Covid has
accentuated French inequalities.”
Back in 2019, a Cannes premiere was
ardently reviewed. Ly won the festival
Jury Prize. “Afterwards nothing was the
same.” Yet as word of the film spread,
‘The Black Lives Matter
movement was inevitable.
The situation in France has
long been at a critical point’
global news filled with other scenes of
French crisis — the protests of the gilets
jaunes. Ly felt sympathy for their cause
while being struck by the intense media
attention they got. “In the banlieues, we
were gilets jauness for 20 years. But we are
immigrants, so we are invisible. TV only
comes when a car is burning.”
The camera, he suggests, must change
hands. Ly has long been involved with
the Kourtajmé collective, which is now
opening a string of free film schools. “A
drop in the ocean, but it’s something.”
The success of Les Misérables, he goes on,
provides a model for banlieusardd teens.
But his optimism has limits. When I ask
if young people in Les Bosquets have
more chance of acceptance in middle-
class Paris now than his generation did,
his answer is immediate: “Less.”
Whatever Macron’s zeal, policy ideas
have yet to emerge in response to the
film. “Education and culture would be a
start. They give you a voice, so privi-
leged people keep them for themselves.”
After the Elysée Palace screening, the
French press much enjoyed Macron’s
seeming obliviousness to life beyond the
8th arrondissement. Ly is pragmatic.
You can’t fix a problem you don’t see, he
says. “But now he has seen it.”
‘Les Misérables’ is in UK cinemas from
September 4
Arts and culture
at FT Weekend
At this year’s FT Weekend
online festival, don’t miss
our discussions on the
vibrant issues of the day:
• The future of theatre,
with Young Vic director
Kwame Kwei-Armah and
the FT’s former editor
Lionel Barber
• Simon Schama on the
Romantics . . . and more
For the full programme
and passes, go to
ftweekendfestival.com
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 11

Arts

When dance gets dangerous

Top: dancer that the challenge for artists in Iran is
Freedom of expression | Rachel Spence on how Iran Helia Bandeh,
who left Iran
two-fold. “On one hand there is a very
dark-grey area of what the government
while on bail allows. Some artists can do what they
targets women artists and the men who help them, want, others are suppressed. It depends
Left: Iranian on whether or not they have connec-
musician Mehdi tions with the government and are pre-
including 30-year-old musician Mehdi Rajabian Rajabian, who pared to compromise their independ-
was arrested for ence. On the other hand, and this is very
supporting specific for female dancers, there is a
women artists problem with Iranian culture more

W
hen Mehdi Rajabian
plays his setar, the
haunting, delicate mel-
odies capture the
beauty and violence
laced through his country’s heritage.
But today the 30-year-old Iranian musi-
cian and composer is facing a battle with
no saving grace.
Last week Rajabian was arrested for
supporting female singers and dancers.
Now released on bail and awaiting trial,
his plight highlights the risk to inde-
pendent artists, particularly women
and the men who help them, in the
Islamic Republic. The crackdown dates
back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979,
when the leader of the new order,
Ayatollah Khomeini, declared music
to be no different from opium and
banned it from TV and radio. Now all
cultural expression is subject to
approval by the Ministry of Culture and
Islamic Guidance.
Yet the arts are wound into the fabric
of Iranian culture. Music, for example,
was celebrated by Persia’s mystical
poets as a gateway to bliss. “When
destitution, need, grab hold of you/
That is the time to dance and sing,/
For often the world/Can turn a
beggar into a king,” writes the 14th-
century poet Hafiz.
Rajabian, who is based in Sari in
northern Iran, describes his setar (a lute
with ancient origins) as “one of the
deepest Iranian instruments, whose
songs are transferred from the heart”.
He adds a poignant corollary. “The
name of this instrument is ‘solitary’.”
It’s not the first time Rajabian has
risked liberty for art. In June 2016, he
was sent to prison for three years on
charges of “insulting the sacred” and
creating “propaganda against the state”.
In truth, it was his refusal to compro-
mise his creative independence that got
him locked up. Rather than avoid poli-
tics, which is a red flag to the censors,
Rajabian made an album that recounted
Iran’s history to the accompaniment of
his music. But perhaps his most subver-
sive gesture was to promote the work of
female singers, through his company
Barg Music. In Iran women’s participa-
tion in the arts is strictly monitored.
Research in 2019 by freedom of expres-
sion campaigners Freemuse, who have
supported Rajabian since his imprison-
ment, found the problem was “specifi-
cally evident in the music industry”.
According to Freemuse, women are par-
ticularly targeted by religious leaders
who believe that their performances in
front of gender-mixed audiences con-
flict with Islamic principles.
In May last year, for example, the
singer Negar Moazzam suffered a judi-
cial investigation after singing solo in
traditional costume in a village in Isfa-
han Province. Several days later, in Qaz-
vin Province, a female music group was
barred not only from performing at a
charity concert, but even from sitting in
the audience. Male artists, too, have
been banned from performing in Iran
because they showcased female singers
in concerts; one such is the virtuoso tar
player and composer Ali Ghamsari, who
performed on stage in Tehran with a sin-
gle female vocalist, the classical singer
Haleh Seyfizadeh, in January 2019.
Women are forbidden to sing solo in
public in Iran.
Rajabian’s first incarceration, in
Tehran’s notoriously tough Evin prison,
was brutal. He suffered torture, went on
hunger strike twice and spent three
months in solitary confinement. His
studio was closed and his equipment
confiscated. After his release, he was
forbidden to work.
Yet in 2019, he released a new album,
Middle Eastern, with Sony Music in Tur-
key. Described as a “human rights and
peace project” by Rajabian, the album —
which can’t be released in Iran — brings
together performers from as far afield as
Egypt, Yemen and Syria. Rajabian says
the album is the first chapter in a
broader initiative that will include not
only musicians but also artists, photog-
‘I had only just left Iran: it
was the first time I had
performed. That’s why the
film is full of pain and joy’
raphers and dancers, both male and
female. For Rajabian, art is a weapon in
the troubled region’s fight for peace and
freedom. Or, as he puts it: “Philosophy
in music is bullets for struggle.”
Last June, as part of the Middle Eastern
project, Rajabian posted on his Insta-
gram account an image of Persian
dancer Helia Bandeh. Bandeh is one of
the few dancers to specialise in classical
Persian dance, a style that evolved at the
court of Persia’s Qajar dynasty (1795-
1925) to celebrate events such as coro-
nations and new year. Characterised by
graceful, romantic movements, it is
strongly influenced by poetry. Accom-
panied by Rajabian’s otherworldly
music, Bandeh whirls through moody
interiors, her supple, swooping limbs
conjuring an emotional intensity
heightened by her flowing, claret-dark
skirts. That image, together with
Rajabian’s continued support of women
singers and their inclusion in one of his
compositions, is responsible for his cur-
rent difficulties.
No one is more aware of the threat he
is facing than Bandeh herself. Speaking
on the record for the first time, from
the Netherlands where she is now
including generally.”
Bandeh Although there are many “modern,
open Iranians” who “support dance as
Below: artwork an art form and are very moved by it,”
from the ‘Middle Bandeh explains that more traditional
Eastern’ project communities associate Persian dance
Laura Soriano; Naqash studio;
Lorenzo Gatto
with other forms of entertainment.
“Historically, some dancers were also
courtesans,” she says, adding that such
women often occupied high positions in
Persian society.
For Bandeh, participation in
Rajabian’s project was an emotional
based, the dancer describes her own experience. “I had only just left Iran the
experience of oppression in Iran. previous month. It was the first time I
“Dance is a way of expressing my iden- had performed. That’s why the film is
tity, history and culture. But for cultural full of both pain and joy. I had felt
and political reasons it is now very diffi- choked and now I was free to dance and
cult to study it in Iran. There are just express myself, free but far from home
a few proper dance schools and books and unable to return.”
are limited.” For Rajabian, the future is bleaker.
Born in Shiraz, in the south-west of His previous incarceration has left him
Iran, Bandeh spent years researching a with health complications that make
craft which, though entwined with him particularly vulnerable to corona-
Iran’s heritage, was deemed immoral virus, which has swept through the
after the Islamic Revolution. As Ban- country’s prisons. Although last week
deh’s studies bore fruit, she began not he was released on bail after several
only to dance herself but also to teach hours in prison, he knows that incarcer-
others. But two years ago, after one of ation is a real threat. “I cannot make
her workshops was raided by police, music or do any activity,” he says. “Oth-
Bandeh was arrested. “While I was on erwise they will immediately remove
bail, by sheer luck, I was able to leave the my bail. I have to wait for the day of
country,” says Bandeh, who describes judgment now.”
the experience as “deeply traumatic”. Sverre Pedersen, Freemuse Cam-
Bandeh, who now teaches and per- paigns and Advocacy Manager, warns
forms dance internationally, explains that a prison sentence would have “life-
threatening consequences” for
Rajabian. Pedersen called “for the
prompt and unconditional dropping
of all charges” against Rajabian, point-
ing out that “discrimination against
women artists on any grounds is illegiti-
mate” under international human
rights frameworks.
Rajabian remains undaunted. “Even
if I go to prison a hundred times, I need
female singing in my project. The dance
and theatrical movement of women in
the Middle Eastern project helps me to
convey the message and philosophy of
the music. I will not censor myself.”

Festivals going live Bromley and Beckenham

Music | Despite the problems and restrictions caused by
Covid-19, a few festivals are performing to live audiences
Faced with lockdown and travel bans,
the organisers of spring and early-
summer festivals had little choice but
to cancel their events for 2020 or to
stream performances online. But for
some that fall later in the year, there
has been time to adjust their plans and
formats to the new limitations. Here is
a selection of those going live.
Weimar International Festival
Germany
The central German arts festival is
going ahead at about 80 per cent of its
usual scale with 60 shows, including 22
premieres, across opera, dance,
theatre, visual arts and film. Director
Rolf Hemke says his festival has turned
other cancellations to its advantage, as
“artists became suddenly available to
work on new commissions with us”.
Premieres include “World Premiere of
a Painting” from Anselm Kiefer and
Matthias Goerne, continuing a format
that began last year with the premiere
of a new work by Georg Baselitz. To
mark the unveiling of Kiefer’s new
painting “Secolo d’oro” (“The Golden
Century”) baritone Matthias Goerne
will perform Schubert’s Winterreise.
Venues include a new outdoor space
that can be converted into a drive-in.
August 26-September 13,
kunstfest-weimar.de
International Music Festival, UK
It’s a bold move to launch a brand new
classical music festival under this
year’s circumstances, but with concerts
cancelled as a result of the crisis, that
has been the response of Bromley-
based musicians Benjamin Grosvenor,
Hyeyoon Park and Raja Halder. Over
four evenings, St Peter and St Paul’s
The Chineke! Chamber Ensemble is
among the line-up at Snape Maltings
Church will host chamber concerts of
Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Dvorak
and Schubert. Audience seating will be
separated into household groups.
September 17-20, bbimf.com
Proms will be on stage instead for
small, socially distanced live audiences
with a programme of short concerts,
staged Fridays to Sundays. This
weekend’s performers include
organisers have staged a mini-season of
outdoor performances from July. That
season is now being extended for two
more weeks, with operatic classics
performed by participants in the
siblings Sheku and Isata Jerwood Young Artists programme
Regeneration Festival, Florence Kanneh-Mason on cello on August 29-30 and concerts by
The organisers of the New Generation and piano. Next week’s the Orchestra of the Age of
Festival, which usually takes place in guests include London Enlightenment — of Mozart,
the Corsini gardens in Florence, have Philharmonic Beethoven and Jonathan Dove
rebranded this year’s event as the Orchestra strings — on six days in
“Regeneration” festival and relocated performing works by September. Audience
to the Boboli Gardens with a free Tippett and Thomas numbers are limited
festival of performances by young Adès, with later with seating designated
musicians playing classical, opera and weekends featuring by household.
jazz. The audience is invited to wear saxophonist Jess August 29-September 13,
“original social-distancing outfits and Gillam, folk musicians glyndebourne.com
bygone crinoline dresses as Kathryn Tickell and
magnificent sartorial adoptions of Amy Thatcher, and Maria Crawford
safety measures”. the Elias Quartet.
August 26-29, newgenerationfestival.org snapemaltings.co.uk Hyeyoon Park, one
of the founders of
Britten Pears Arts, Glyndebourne, UK the Bromley
Snape Maltings Concert Hall, UK After having to cancel this and Beckenham
Musicians who would have performed year’s annual International
at the Aldeburgh Festival and Snape Glyndebourne Festival, Music Festival
12 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

The Thames: a photography special

Given that there is scarcely a city in Above:
We invited photographers to interpret how the world that was not founded on the
banks of a river, often near the mouth
Heyford
Meadow,
like London or Dhaka or at a confluence Sandford-on-
London’s main waterway has shaped the city over like Paris or Khartoum, it is startling Thames
and shaming to think how much we’ve
neglected and abused these waters. Right:
thousands of years. Here, Victor Mallet asks how It is true that the Thames, like the pol- The Thames,
luted rivers of the US and the Rhine in looking east
continental Europe, was (mostly) from Waterloo
humans have contributed to the decline of rivers cleaned of human and industrial waste Bridge
in the late 20th century. Yet in the rush
across the world. Photographs by Kalpesh Lathigra for prosperity in our own century, we
have again easily forgotten the natural
Below left:
Thorney Bay
systems on which we and that prosper- Beach on Canvey
ity depend: the air and the oceans, cer- Island, Essex. It

L
ondoners have complained
about the state of their river
since at least the 14th century.
By the Victorian era, Ben-
jamin Disraeli fulminated
that the once-noble Thames had “really
become a Stygian pool reeking with
ineffable and intolerable horrors”.
Other great rivers suffered the same
fate. In industrial North America, some
were so polluted with chemical effluent
that their surfaces caught fire as
recently as the 1960s, as did a stretch of
the Ganges in India in 1984. A book
about China’s environmental challenges
more than a decade ago was titled The
River Runs Black.
tainly, but also the rivers that complete
the water cycle and help drive the
Earth’s climate. Among the latest waste-
water pollutants in our rivers that head
for the oceans and threaten the life
within them are hormones, painkillers
and microscopic particles of plastic.
Some say the coronavirus pandemic
— and the brief pause it triggered in
mass air and road travel — has encour-
aged us once again to appreciate our
surroundings in their natural state:
the sound of birdsong in our cities, clear
air, clean rivers. If so, it is about time.
Whether we think of a torrent of gla-
cial meltwater in the Himalayas, a
chuckling chalk stream in Hampshire,
the churning mud of the tidal Thames,
the Hooghly in West Bengal or the Miss­-
issippi, rivers have been essential to
every phase of human progress from
hunting and gathering, through farming
and fishing, to urbanisation, interna-
tional trade, heavy industry and elec-
tricity generation. Rivers were the
motorways of their day when transport
by land was expensive and slow. Globali-
sation was, and to a large extent still is, a
waterborne phenomenon.
The importance of rivers in early civi-
lisations is self-evident. The Nile, the
Tigris-Euphrates pair and the Indus
provided the drinking water, fish and
crop irrigation and transport that ena-
bled ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and
Mohenjo-Daro in present-day Pakistan
to flourish thousands of years ago.
Since the dawn of history, rivers have
been worshipped as gods and spirits —
is here that the
River Thames
starts to meet
the North Sea
including the Thames in ancient Britain
and the Seine in Roman Gaul. Hindus
have vigorously maintained those ritu-
als into the present day, notably on the
banks and in the waters of the Ganges,
the temperamental and much-abused
holy river on which hundreds of mil-
lions of Indians depend for survival.
It is not just farming: rivers have
remained essential throughout the
industrial age. First we had water mills
to grind corn — including two-way tidal
mills such as those whose elegant indus-
trial buildings still stand in east London
— and we built factories next to rivers to
provide water for manufacturing as well
as waste. Battersea Power Station, now
decommissioned, was built next to the
Thames not just because its customers
were in London but also because the
river was used to supply coal and cool-
ing water. Europe’s nuclear power sta-
tions are still cooled by its rivers.
Today, heavy barges laden with build-
ing materials and other cargo ply the
Seine and the Rhine. Small ships come
across the bar on the tide to tie up at Rye
Harbour in Sussex at the mouth of the
Walking the banks modest Rother river; coal was trans-
ported up the Rother as far as Bodiam in
typically reveals Kent until the 1950s.
natural wonders The briefest of walks along the banks
of a river — and humans throughout his-
and the imprint of tory have chosen for practical reasons to
our social and live near one — typically reveals both
natural wonders and the imprint of our
economic history social and economic history to the
observant eye: people, birds, fish and
aquatic plants, but also the crumbling
and ever-changing architectural legacy
of weirs, canals, factories, drains, docks,
bridges and places to meet or worship.
Tourism, leisure boating and sport are
all reminders of the beauty and eco-
nomic utility of rivers and their endur-
ing significance for humanity.
We ignore these waters at our peril,
not least because they are part of who
we are. As John Burns, trade unionist
and member of parliament for Batter-
sea more than a century ago, said of the
Thames, the river is “liquid history”.
Victor Mallet is FT Paris bureau chief and
author of ‘River of Life, River of Death: The
Ganges and India’s Future’ (OUP 2017)
22 August/23 August 2020
From America
to Zimbabwe,
the world takes
to the streets
Simon Kuper
Parting shot
Tidings
Mark Sowden scours the Thames foreshore to gather and document
scattered and broken objects that form a collage of London’s past
I
have visited the Thames foreshore
many times in the past three years,
searching for material evidence of
London’s past. For a few hours at
low tide it is possible to step into an
elemental landscape of mud, water,
sand and stone. Here the broken
remains of objects lie scattered; most
are too far gone to be recognisable.
Occasionally something will catch my
eye and demand further attention.
I have a permit issued by the Port of
London Authority that allows me to
search the foreshore while protecting
archaeological sites. I do not dig or use a
metal detector, but collect pieces visible
at the surface. These photographs show
finds from single visits to the foreshore.
They include animal bones and fossils,
parts of medieval tiles and Roman beak-
ers. I’ve found pins that once held
together a Tudor dress and lead shot
slightly flattened on one side where it hit
its target hundreds of years ago. These
objects form a fragmented collage of
London’s past, spanning 2,000 years.
Colour, form and texture endure but the
objects I find are rarely complete. There
★ FTWeekend
M
usicians of the Belarusian
State Philharmonic sing
against the country’s
rigged election. Women
in white protest with
flowers. Last Sunday’s rally in Minsk
was the largest demonstration in
Belarus’s history. Long live the
Belarusian revolution. But what’s
happening there is just part of a global
protest trend, only briefly interrupted
by Covid-19. The past year has seen
almost unprecedentedly large ­protests
from Hong Kong to Lebanon to
Minneapolis. We are reliving 1968, but
bigger: an almost invariably peaceful
street is replacing parliament as the
main arena of opposition. The trend
encompasses rich countries and poor
ones, democracies and dictatorships,
writes Richard Youngs in Civic Activism
Unleashed: New Hope or False Dawn for
Democracy? The protests and today’s
generation of strongmen both draw on
growing discontent and are going head
to head. In 2016, the International
Labour Organization’s Social Unrest
Index hit a record high relative to its
40-year average levels of protest. Then
Donald Trump’s first year in office
sparked a new record for US protest
marches — until it was shattered this
spring by the estimated 15-26 million
Americans who demonstrated after
George Floyd’s killing by police.
The protesters have lost most of their
fights this past decade, but they
continue to up their game. They are
very different from their predecessors.
Most modern protesters have no
formal affiliations, despite Trump’s
attempts to paint Antifa — short for
“anti-fascists” — as an organisation of
is always a mystery to unravel and an
imaginative leap to make the object
whole again. There is a privilege in han-
dling these pieces of pottery, metal and
bone, a tangible connection with history
that is denied when one is only looking
at items in glass cases or images online.
It helps that I work as a sculpture techni-
card-carrying ­members like a 1930s
Communist party.
Many protests are recurrent:
movements from Belarus to Venezuela
have been going for years. Lebanese
demonstrators just dislodged their
second prime minister in 10 months.
And ­protests jump from country to
country: there’s now a “Zimbabwean
Lives Matter” movement.
Today’s protests are designed to
generate viral videos. The small group
of far-right militiamen who invaded
Michigan’s state house in April
produced images compelling enough to
transfix the US. Violence by security
forces instantly lands on social media
too, as Belarus’s torturers discovered.
This encourages most regimes to mete
out brutality in private and to employ
digital surveillance, sometimes aiming
to “disappear” protesters from their
homes later. But protesters have got
smarter too: 15 per cent of Belarusians
follow an encrypted, Warsaw-based
Telegram channel that disseminates
videos of protesters. A decade ago,
there were rival theories about social
media: one that it benefited protesters,
the other that it was a tool for dictators.
Both turn out to be true.
So far, the strongmen are (often
literally) beating the protesters. Youngs
cites research showing that only a third
of pro-democracy protests since 2010
have had any success. Freedom House,
the US-based watchdog, has recorded
14 straight years of decline in global
freedom, as measured by political
rights and civil liberties. That’s partly
because Russia and China have the
strongmen’s backs. Both recognised
Alexander Lukashenko’s “victory” in
Clockwise from
top left:
November 15
2019. Low tide
at 10.50am
September 28
2019. Low tide
at 8.46am.
June 20 2020.
Low tide at
8.15am.
February 23
2020. Low tide
at 8.28am
August 9 2020.
Low Tide At
11.22 AM Sometimes fingerprints
are clearly visible and it
is possible to place my
finger in an impression
made 700 years ago
13
Spectrum
never been the sole guiding principle.”
Many modern protesters — notably
the French gilets jaunes, whose protests
against a fuel tax expanded into more
general discontent — don’t even want
We are reliving
power. Some prefer to remain
unsullied by electoral politics, finding a
community, an identity and a sense of
1968, but bigger: an
almost invariably
purity in eternal protest. They spend
their energy infighting, thrilled by the
narcissism of small differences. That’s
peaceful street one reason why the UK’s People’s Vote
alliance disintegrated.
is replacing Another is that the People’s Vote
parliament as couldn’t attach itself to a political party.
Nelson Mandela and Václav Havel
the main arena understood that street movements can
of opposition only win if they build an electoral wing.
Hence the message on Michelle
Obama’s necklace: vote. The Black
Lives Matter movement understands
Illustration: Harry Haysom
this. It has mostly allied itself with the
Democratic party, dragging Joe Biden
the rigged Belarusian election. Mark its way. It also stands ready to punish
Green, executive director of the him for any backsliding. Now Covid-19
McCain Institute for International is creating a new generation of
Leadership, says: “This is no longer a protesters: tens of millions of young
battle between a single authoritarian people who are neither working nor
leader and the forces of democracy. studying and who live on social media.
There’s a community of authoritarians I see it in my own home: one of my 12-
sharing an arsenal of tools and tricks.” year-old sons, off school for months, is
By contrast, few protesters have drawn like a moth to the protests near
foreign friends in high places. The west our Paris apartment. He has already
lacks all conviction — witness its been tear-gassed twice. Some
softness so far on the man who may governments have used the pandemic
take Lukashenko’s title as “Europe’s to ratchet up surveillance. But unless
last dictator”, Hungary’s Viktor Orban. lockdowns return, youthful frustration
Kenneth Roth, executive director of will be converted into protest. Politics
Human Rights Watch, is more hopeful, will remain a street game, and the
but he explains: “The promotion of global protest movement will probably
human rights and democracy has keep growing.
always been just one among a range of
interests for western democracies. It’s @KuperSimon or simon.kuper@ft.com
cian. My first questions when I find years ago. I enjoy paying attention to
something on the foreshore are: “What these objects; photography is key to how
is it made of?” and “How is it made?” I do that. I am bringing them into sight,
When I hold a potsherd, I see and feel into circulation as things to be held and
how the clay has yielded to the touch of researched, shown and cherished, after
the potter. Sometimes fingerprints are years of being forgotten and abandoned.
clearly visible and it is possible to place
my finger in an impression made 700 marksowden.com
14 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

Spectrum
Left: Jorie,
Millwall

Right: Omari
and Erika,
Westferry

Island life
Cian Oba-Smith went to the Isle of Dogs to capture
a community living in the shadow of gentrification

L
ondon’s Isle of Dogs — referred
to by locals as “the Island” — is
surrounded by the Thames on
three sides and separated
from the rest of the city by the
towering business district of Canary
Wharf and the riverside quays within it.
This self-contained position has created
a strong sense of community — and also
caused it to feel like a separate entity
from the rest of London.
I spent a week on the Island, making
work from morning till night. Every day
was different, but the one consistency
was the peacefulness that I found within
the area. The water feels like a constant
presence, no matter where you go. Even
when you can’t see the Thames or the
quays, you can hear the calming sound
of the tide, rocking back and forth.
I really appreciated the diversity and
strength of the communities on the Isle
of Dogs. I met young people having bar-
becues, couples sharing some time
alone while watching the Thames, par-
ents taking their children to the banks of
the river, elderly locals who’ve lived on
the Island for 50 years and remember a
time when Canary Wharf didn’t exist.
Unprompted, they complained about
property developers’ broken promises
to contribute to the area while slowly
encroaching on it.
It’s important to me to create beauti-
ful images but the project as a whole has
to say something more. As a Londoner
myself, I’ve witnessed the impact that
rampant gentrification of some areas
has had. I’ve seen it ruin places that I
love, so part of this project was asking
the question: “Where does it end?”
I hope the communities I met on the
Isle of Dogs will continue to thrive — but
because of their proximity to Canary
Wharf, with its aggressively expanding
sprawl of luxury flats, I understand the
locals’ fear that they too will one day
fade into obsolescence.

Left: Thames Left: Josh,

Bank, Millwall Millwall

Right: Roses,
Masthouse
Terrace

Left: Zara,
Westferry

Right: housing
estate and new
developments,
Millwall

All images
August 2020
cianobasmith.co.uk

The one
consistency was
the peacefulness —
even when you
can’t see the
Thames or the
quays, you hear
the calming sound
of the tide, rocking
back and forth
22 August/23 August 2020
Of rice and
women
Recipes | There’s comfort to be found in the swell
of rice cooked in milk and sugar, writes Ravinder
Bhogal, the chef-patron of London’s Jikoni diner
T
he word on the street about
our neighbour’s youngest
son was that he’d either
wind up dead or in prison.
He came from what people
referred to as a “broken home”. His
father had left when he was barely out of
kindergarten, plunging him, his mother
and two brothers into poverty. One
August before sunrise, he walked alone
through the humid dark and set fire to a
nearby tyre shop.
Rice pudding beignets with berries and rosewater
There are two ways to make a rice
pudding. You can scatter the rice in an
ovenproof dish with a knob of butter,
some sugar, nutmeg, vanilla and a jug
of milk, and then simply put it in the
oven to unfold into a milky miracle — a
lightly browned wobbling mass. But I
prefer to stand at the stove, stirring
meditatively until the grains cling to the
wooden spoon in a sticky embrace.
It’s perfect just as it is, but once you
are confident with a basic recipe, you
can tinker. You can add spices —
cinnamon and green cardamom work
well. You can replace reliable vanilla
with rose or orange blossom water or
citrus peel. And if you feel particularly
indulgent, you can mix chocolate into
its warm folds until you have a molten,
glossy pool.
Rice pudding — in all its starchy,
alabaster glory — can feel old world,
but this recipe has some twists to it, as
well as a glut of summer berries. It
tastes like a fairground.
Dark deeds, concealed by the waters of a turbulent Thames
Novelist William Boyd on
the grisly inspiration he
draws from living close to
the banks of London’s
very own ‘Old Man River’
I
live about 200 yards from the
Thames at Chelsea and walk by the
river most days — and, most days,
cross it twice. It’s impossible for me
to think of London unshaped by
this great river, its ever-changing aspect
and the way it entirely affects my con-
sideration of the place where I live.
The Thames in London is prodig­-
iously tidal — it can fall or rise 20ft or
more — and, consequently, the river
view is ever-changing. On a hot summer
day, at low tide, the Thames can look
like the Limpopo in time of drought —
all parched mudbanks and shallow, tur-
bid water. On other days, the river is
brimming at the edge of the Embank-
ment, the moored boats riding at the
same level as the passing cars.
It was this near-daily proximity to the
river that inspired me to write my Lon-
don novel — my Thames novel — Ordi-
nary Thunderstorms (2009). On my
walks by the river, I often spotted the
He carried inside him a quiet fury and
contempt for the world. Yet whenever I
ran into him, he was quiet and shy, frag-
ile and neglected. He was sentenced to a
long spell at HMP Belmarsh. I was
relieved — prison is better than dead.
After that, I worried for his mother.
Her two elder sons were also serving
time. Sometimes I saw her over the gar-
den fence, pulling out weeds from the
cracks in the paving stones. What must
the ache feel like? I wondered and trem-
Makes about 20 beignets
Ingredients
1l whole milk
225g Arborio rice
25g butter
1 vanilla bean, split
1 strip of thin orange rind
115g caster sugar
75g plain flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tbs Grand Marnier
1 tsp baking powder
Oil for deep-frying
Icing sugar to dust
For berries and rosewater
Ingredients
75g strawberries hulled, plus extra
to serve
75g raspberries, plus extra to serve
1 tbs good-quality rosewater
Basil cress, small basil or mint leaves
to garnish
neat Targa-31 boats of London’s Thames
river police — the Marine Policing Unit
(MPU) — based at Wapping.
I did some research and discovered
that the MPU, on average, removes
some 60 corpses a year from the river.
Sixty! I thought: that’s more than one a
week. Who were these unfortunates?
There are a very few murder victims
and quite a number of suicides, but
most are accidents, people caught out
by the rising tide or else by the force of
the current. Still, 60 dead bodies a year
in the river — that’s positively Dicken-
sian. And so the novel was born.
It immediately became a form of
homage to Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual
Friend (1865) — perhaps the greatest-
ever novel of London and its river. This
begins with a body being hauled from
the Thames one night by Gaffer Hex-
ham, who makes his dubious, dour liv-
ing from the dead and the inadvertent
bounty of their possessions that the
river provides.
Poets have responded as much as nov-
elists to the river, from Edmund Spenser
— “Sweet Thames, run softly” — to
William Wordsworth on Westminster
Bridge to TS Eliot watching numberless
commuters flow over London Bridge.
Eliot’s vision of the Thames in The Waste
Land is one charged with historical
★ FTWeekend
Aaron Graubart
bled inside. I decided to cook her a sim-
ple dish of rice pudding because nothing
kisses the nape of grief like the swell of
rice cooked in milk and sugar.
Once the rice had been cooked into a
creamy, toothless slurry, I emptied it
into a serving pot and carried it next
door. My neighbour thanked me
warmly and insisted I stay for dinner. I
followed her into the kitchen where she
was rolling out chapatis and asked if I
could help by setting the table. She pre-
ferred to eat on the couch.
“There’s nothing lonelier than sitting
at a dining table surrounded by empty
chairs,” she said.
Ravinder Bhogal’s book ‘Jikoni: Proudly
Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant
Kitchen’ is published by Bloomsbury
jikonilondon.com; @cookinboots
Combine the milk with the rice,
butter, vanilla bean and seeds and
orange rind in a saucepan over medium
heat and bring it to the boil. Reduce the
heat to low and simmer, stirring
occasionally, until rice is tender — this
should take about 20 minutes.
Transfer to a clean dish, cool and
discard vanilla pod. Add the sugar,
flour, egg, rum and baking powder, stir
to combine and refrigerate until the
mixture is firm — this will take about
four hours. If the mixture is still too wet,
add a little extra flour.
In the meantime, combine the berries
and rosewater in a small bowl, mash
together using a fork, then strain into a
bowl, discarding the solids. Chill in the
fridge. Heat the oil to 180C in a deep
fryer or deep saucepan. Using two wet
spoons, create a quenelle shape of the
mixture and deep fry for four minutes
or until golden brown. Dust with icing
sugar and serve with berry sauce, extra
fruit and basil.
echoes and a curious, sleazy sexuality:
“Richmond and Kew
Undid me. By Richmond
I raised my knees
Supine on the floor of a
narrow canoe.”
Joseph Conrad begins his novella
Heart of Darkness (1902) on a ship at
anchor in the Thames basin. Heart of
Darkness has another river at its centre —
the Congo — but the implied parallel is
Anjou’s hidden
vineyards
Andrew Jefford
Wine
W
here do the great
yet currently
unknown wines of
the future come
from? Pioneers
scour virgin wine country outside
Europe. Over the past half-century,
Pinot from Oregon, Cabernet from
Napa, Malbec from Argentina’s
Mendoza and Sauvignon Blanc (and
more Pinot) from New Zealand’s
Marlborough have all proved
immensely rewarding for drinkers
and growers alike, transforming
local economies. Maybe, though,
there are potential fine wines
lurking undiscovered in Europe,
their vineyards hidden — in this
case, not beneath untilled scrub,
but beneath the fading tastes of a
lost world and beneath thickets of
superannuated legislation?
The lower reaches of the former
French province of Anjou offer
proof. This rolling, garden-like
landscape with its gentle climate
has in the past been best known for
its sweet white wines and its
sweetish pink ones.
The Massif des Mauges protects it
from the Atlantic; it is dimpled by
watercourses such as the Layon and
the Aubance. Wine-wise, almost
anything is possible here, hence its
chaotic patrimony of 27 or so
appellations, divided between
the limestone-soiled “white
Anjou” around Saumur, and
darker-soiled “black Anjou” to
the south of Angers. This zone
of often schistous soils links
the enclave of Savennières to
the north of the Loire with the
vineyards around the Aubance
and the Layon.
Handsome, pale Saumur
has ample tourist appeal and a
settled identity for sparkling
wines and dry wines, both
white and red; its relative
success means there is little
pressure for change. It is in
black Anjou, by contrast, where the
ground is shifting fast. Few tourists
venture here. Sales of its great
sweet wines, from Quarts de
Chaume, Coteaux du Layon and
Bonnezeaux, have languished for
years. You can even buy indifferent
Bonnezeaux in plastic “cubitainers”
locally: unprofitable in every sense
for all. Both Cabernet Franc and
Cabernet Sauvignon ripen well, but
end up folded into the unambitious,
mawkish Cabernet d’Anjou rosé.
Yet there are great sites here,
particularly along enclaves in the
Layon: potentially some of France’s
greatest vineyards for dry wines as
well as sweet.
The Anjou Blanc, Anjou Rouge
and (for red wines alone) Anjou-
Villages appellations are the best
places to look for the new, over-
achieving dry wines from this
region, together with Savennières
itself, a long-lauded but sometimes
dowager-like dry-wine zone where
many formerly drab estates have
begun to come good recently.
Illustration by Joey Yu
clear. The 19th-century Thames was, in
its way, as sinister a place as Conrad’s
Congo. Similarly, Anthony Burgess’s
superb novel A Dead Man in Deptford
(1993), ends with Christopher Marlowe’s
death in 1593 — his murder, in fact — at a
riverside tavern in Deptford as he awaits
a boat to the continent.
Maybe it’s the Thames’s relentless
cargo of corpses that makes novelists’
visions of it so fraught — are all rivers in
Food & Drink | Spectrum
Coteaux du Layon and,
astonishingly enough, Quarts de
Chaume are turning to dry wines,
even though Quarts de Chaume
won jealously guarded Grand Cru
status for its sweet wines (the
only such designation in the whole
Loire Valley) as recently as 2011.
The grape variety for both is the
chameleon-like Chenin Blanc,
excellent in either dry or sweet
guise. Naturally, any dry white
wines produced in the Grand Cru
zone have to be declassified to
plain Anjou Blanc — but the
producers don’t care. Nor, having
tasted their efforts, do I. Great
things are in store for this zone,
regardless of appellation.
The first producer to make dry
Anjou white wine from Quarts de
Chaume grapes was Jo Pithon, back
in 2008. It was the burly Pithon,
looking every inch the wild man of
the hills, who some years earlier
had the courage to purchase and
clear the magnificent though long-
abandoned Coteau des Treilles hill
site nearby.
His sons didn’t want to take over
his work, so, in 2018, he sold to
enthusiast Ivan Massonnat; the pair
continue to work together, with
Pithon and Muscadet’s Guy Bossard
Illustration: Mark Long
in advisory roles. The new domain
is called Belargus, named after the
botanical Latin appellation of the
Adonis Blue butterfly that haunts
the Coteau des Treilles.
The affable, wine-obsessed
Massonnat (whose day job is with
private equity firm Pai Partners)
subsequently snapped up the
Château de l’Écharderie, which,
despite owning 25 per cent of the
entire Quarts de Chaume plantings,
had been on the market for a
decade. Without takers: sweet wine
was just too difficult a prospect.
Massonnat’s vision — to create
ambitious dry wine there — made
for a more promising business plan; Montée de l’Epine, a pure Cabernet
the first wines, from the 2018
vintage, are now in bottle, sold
under individual vineyard site
names (Les Rouères and Les
Quarts) as well as in blended form
as “Ronceray”. This name, referring great dry whites in due course
to the abbey that once owned
Quarts de Chaume, is one that all
producers making dry wine here
intend to use on a communal basis,
William Boyd: ‘That fierce
tidal flow explains
the river’s mystique’
cities so balefully freighted? The Seine?
The Tiber? The Danube? According to
the MPU, the bodies washed downriver
in the Thames tend to pool at the great
U-bend of the Isle of Dogs. John le
Carré’s first novel Call for the Dead
(1961) terminates with a fatal fight on
Battersea Bridge.
Not all Thames novels are so darkly
turbulent. One of the most absurdly
comic and charming is Penelope Fit-
15
at least until Quarts de Chaume can
legally exist in dry guise.
Belargus’s dry Anjou Blanc wines
from the Quarts de Chaume zone
are superb, textured and creamy,
with ample mass and refined,
orchard fruits: dry white Grands
Crus in all but name. They also
have an affability and
approachability to them as dry
Chenin Blanc wines that the
sometimes craggy and confronting
Savennières seldom attains.
Other young, new-generation
producers working to make
outstanding dry Anjou elsewhere
in Layon include the young
viticulturist Pierre Ménard and the
dynamic Vanessa Cherruau of
Château de Plaisance, whose hugely
impressive debut 2019 crop will be
bottled a little later in the summer.
Emmanuel Ogereau is another
young grower who has reshaped
his family’s dry wines, giving
them a pungency, line and cut few
in the region dreamt of (his
experience in New Zealand’s
Central Otago was evidently not
wasted); while young David Vigan
has breathed life into the Château
de Breuil range on behalf of new
owner Michel Petitbois.
No one is abandoning the sweet
wines, by the way. They
remain exquisite and an
inspiration to all; indeed,
David Vigan says he would like
to make nothing else, if only
the market would reward
them. Some outstanding
Layon producers, such as
Philippe Delesvaux, continue
to make them the chief focus
of efforts.
What of the reds? Massonnat
seems sceptical about these,
save for light reds from the
local Grolleau variety, which at
present only qualify for IGP
status (those rules again),
while David Vigan suggests
that the Anjou-Villages appellation
hasn’t yet been a success. I disagree.
There are stylistic mis-steps (too
much oak is, as ever, a bad idea),
but blends of the two Cabernets
here can attain levels of ripeness,
purity, roundness, texture
and deliciousness I don’t
often see elsewhere in the Loire,
even in more celebrated red-wine
appellations.
Look out for the gorgeously
perfumed and fleshy Sur La Butte
Anjou Rouge from Château de
Plaisance when it eventually
reaches the market, while Philippe
Delesvaux’s 2018 Anjou Rouge La
Sauvignon, is also savoury,
structured and deep — and
improbably good value (less than
€10 at the domaine). There will,
I feel sure, be great reds as well as
from the dark horse of black Anjou.
Back it to the hilt.
Jancis Robinson is away
zgerald’s Offshore (1979) — a lightly fic-
tionalised account of her own early mar-
ried life on a converted barge near
Wandsworth Bridge. Actually living on
the Thames puts you closely in touch
with its moods and vagaries and for Fit-
zgerald’s protagonist the brutal realities
of a tidal river meeting an ancient boat
have their fateful consequences.
For Londoners, the Thames is our
“Old Man River”; not as wide and as
mighty as the Mississippi, for sure, but
with a fascinating history and a person-
ality that makes it unique. That fierce
tidal flow explains its mystique, I
believe. What is washed down — and
what is washed up — makes the river
both endlessly intriguing and continu-
ally disconcerting.
William Boyd’s new novel ‘Trio’ will
be published by Viking on October 8
Tales of the Thames
For more photographs and stories
of London’s river — including holy
waters and why millennials have
taken to living on boats — go to
ft.com/magazine
16 ★ † FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

HP Lovecraft — the
laureate for 2020

Robert Armstrong
Fourth Estate

“I am Dolly Parton,” Denise Dixon
SNAPSHOT matter-of-factly captioned this
photograph of herself. This was
Dixon’s sixth-grade dream, captured
‘Portraits and thanks to the arrival of Wendy Ewald
in Letcher County, Kentucky, in 1976.
Dreams’ (1980) Ewald, a 25-year-old graduate,
provided local elementary school
by Wendy Ewald students with cameras and
encouraged them to take pictures —
not just of their families and friends,
but also their fears and fantasies.
First published in 1985, a new
edition of Portraits and Dreams
H
accompanies an upcoming PBS
documentary of the same name,
revisiting these stories of childhood
impulse and distraction. It is a unique
vision of the rural south: one where
imagination is uninhibited, aspiration
is untainted by economic realities, and
where the adults — tired, covered in
coal dust, distinctly not Dolly Parton —
seem to live in a parallel universe.
Chris Allnutt
‘Portraits and Dreams’ is published
by Mack
P Lovecraft is a bad writer
who will not go away. He’s
been dead more than 80
years, and was little read
when he was alive;
posthumously, I suspect, his books are
more purchased than finished. His
occult stories are overwrought,
predictable and tend to end on a weak
note. Yet film adaptations, tribute
novels, video games, rock songs and
academic treatises proliferate,
intermittently reanimating Lovecraft’s
literary reputation.
HBO is the latest to have a go, with
Lovecraft Country, which started
streaming last week. I have not yet
watched it. My own feelings about
Lovecraft’s work — and boy, does it feel
like work while you’re reading it — still
need some figuring out.
Here is the first sentence of
Lovecraft’s story, “The Lurking Fear”,
from 1922 (subject of three film
adaptations, all of which went straight
to video): “There was thunder in the
air on the night I went to the deserted
mansion atop Tempest Mountain to
find the lurking fear.” The inky-
fingered frauds down at the cultural
theory department will struggle to find
anything to deconstruct in a cliché as
unearthly power that dwarfs mankind
itself, the protagonist goes mad/prays
to forget/writes a memoir.
“Call” contains what is undoubtedly
Lovecraft’s most famous line: “Ph’nglui
mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl
fhtagn”. Fittingly for a failed prose
artist, it isn’t in a human language, and
while I don’t want to give too much
away, it translates roughly as we are in
really, really big trouble.
For all this, the stories have stayed
with me. Lovecraft is proof that an
absolutely terrible writer can be a sort
of literary genius. There are few
examples as striking as Lovecraft but,
Lovecraft’s stories are
proof that an absolutely
terrible writer can be a
sort of literary genius
in another genre, Ian Fleming is not
dissimilar: we love Bond and his world,
but the books are hard to read (and
who reads them today?). Sometimes an
author has only a flickering lamp, but
manages to point it in precisely the
right direction, and Lovecraft’s lamp
sometimes not) that the social
structures they honoured as children
are shot through with seams of
corruption, inhumanity, failure, and
animal want. Lovecraft is about the rot
underneath the veneer.
Unfortunately for those who would
rehabilitate his work, this theme is tied
closely to Lovecraft’s virulent racism.
Lovecraft liked the veneer, and for him
it was explicitly northern European.
His non-white characters serve as
manifestations of the nonhuman
wickedness that must be held in check.
All the same, in giving Lovecraft yet
another shot, I think HBO may have hit
on something. The series’ lead author
and protagonists are black. Maybe they
can extract the genius while leaving the
poison behind. That is, after all, what
so many people are trying to do right
now, in so many contexts. A lot of our
social floorboards are being pulled
back, and the thing glimpsed beneath
them, seething and diseased, appals us.
The Cthonic beast is not (if my
reading is right) Covid-19 and its
seemingly arbitrary deadliness. It is
our short-sighted collective responses
to it. This is not to equate Trump with
Cthulhu or, for those of another
political bent, rioting demonstrators

Meetings with pure as that.

I got through several stories as a
teenager, most memorably “The Call of
remarkable trees Cthulhu” and “The Dunwich Horror”.
Both hang on a standard Lovecraft
skeleton: in dreary New England, a
monstrous truth is found in an ancient
book/meteorite/artefact. Investigation
reveals further traces of a power from
space/another dimension/under the
ground. Having briefly seen an
Joy Lo Dico
Trending
seems to illuminate our own time with
a particularly eerie glow.
Students of his genre credit Lovecraft
with his worshippers. The point is less
partisan and more frightening.
Thousands of years of effort have built
with making explicit the link between
horror and awe, the sense of human
smallness in an indifferent universe.
a social edifice that under stress
suddenly appears — what is the right
Lovecraftian adjective? Loathsome?
This may be true but is not, to me, the Diseased? Unspeakable? In any case,
core to his appeal. Lovecraft, in his horror is the only possible response.
clumsy way, captured the feelings that
adolescents have when they become robert.armstrong@ft.com
aware (sometimes correctly, Janan Ganesh is away

O
ut near Stroud in the west
of England, my little
house in the woods is
circled by ash trees. But
where once I looked up
and admired their brushstroke leaves
and branches that turned skywards,
during the past two summers I’ve
watched their leaves turn black and
eventually their naked branches in
summer. Half the skyline is dying.
The spores that cause ash dieback
were first identified in the UK in 2012,
coming in from the continent, and have
since rampaged across the country.
Tree surgeons and foresters I speak to
say felling ash trees is now the majority
of their work. The carcasses are being
piled high.
“Best punt a few down,” says Will,
one of the local foresters as we inspect
the trees around my home. A few?
Maybe one in seven of the mature trees
on the land are ash. How do we
understand the magnitude of this loss?
Five years ago, it was estimated that
the UK was home to 125m ash trees in
woods, with up to 60m elsewhere.
Those numbers are diminishing fast.
Salisbury Plain, the home of
Stonehenge, is being cleared of them;
Sheffield has a quarter of a million, of
which only a fraction are likely to
survive. I repeat to myself the line from
Auden’s Bucolics — “a small grove
massacred to the last ash . . . ”
The last time we lost trees to a
disease in such large numbers was in
the 1970s. It was a strain of Dutch Elm
Disease, a fungus that hitched a ride on
logs shipped from North America. In a
matter of months an elm — which has a
place in the British imagination second
only to the oak — could become merely
firewood. A few regrow from suckers,
but then die young.
I had little interest in nature as a
child, but I remember hearing the
phrase “Dutch Elm Disease” repeated
again and again on the evening news. It
came to signify a turning point, an
irretrievable loss. It was also the time
of another deep recession.
I often wonder why we attach such
sentiment to trees. I am as guilty as the
rest — friends have witnessed me
resting my hands on trees that have
been condemned, offering what? A sort
of consolation.
Some of Britain’s trees are crops,
not unlike barley, just larger by
some magnitude of zeros. But they
are also so much more. The grandest
If the city asks the question
‘where are we going?’, the
woods ask the opposite:
‘where did we come from?’
seem like survivors from a lost world,
where the gods and the monsters
of our imagination lived, “when”, in
the poet AE Housman’s words, “winds
were in the oakenshaws and all the
cauldrons tolled”.
While city parks are our arboreal
zoos, our woods, though semi-tamed
by our chainsaws, still point us
backwards. If the city asks the
fundamental question “where are we
going?”, the woods ask the opposite:
“where did we come from?”
In Auden’s poem, they are the place
beyond the reach of church and state,
where morals are loosened, while the
nightingales sing above. This is where
we find our own nature. Auden
concludes sardonically that “a culture
is no better than its woods.”
It isn’t the woods that bring savagery —
it is too much civilisation.
When you head back towards the
wild there is more than just the
romanticism of the magnificent trees.
There is fungi and decay, viruses and
sharp teeth. To walk in the woods is to
be reminded that things live, mutate,
grow, flourish, and die.
Someone suggested recently that, to
slow the spread of ash dieback, one
could rake up all the leaves in autumn
— they harbour the spores. But this
seems to go against the spirit of our
woods. Do we really want more
manicured parkland?
Our grief over the ash is a human
grief, our attempts to control its loss
part of our culture. But in nature there
is always the possibility of
regeneration. Once this tree recession
is over, wildflowers will spring up,
drunk on the light, then saplings will
find space, some brambles of course,
and in 10, 15 years new woods.
Last week I tramped across the parts
of my woods with public footpaths,
tying blue ribbons around the few ash
trees that looked like they were still in
with a chance — maybe one in 10 will
make it — before their leaves fell and
the healthy would be difficult to
distinguish from the sick. The fellers
will arrive in a few months.
Down a bank, I was surprised. There,
in a conclave of ash, was a tree I’d not
noticed before: it was an elm, but not
one of the several young sickly ones I’d
already come across. It was stout and in
full leaf. Here was something which,
without any human intervention,
planned to survive. Dammit, I thought:
there’s hope.
@joy_lo_dico
Jo Ellison is away

Fashion designer Anya Hindmarch talks to Jo Ellison

The British fashion
powerhouse will be in
conversation with the
How To Spend It editor
on the reinvention of
luxury in a post-Covid
world, at the digital
FT Weekend Festival.
Tune in from wherever
you are on Sept 3-5 for
an online extravaganza.
For more information
and to buy a pass, visit:
ftweekendfestival.com

Chess solution 2381 1...c5! and White resigned as his queen is forced away from indirect defence of f2. If 2 Qd3 Rxf2+ wins, while 2
Qxc5 Nxc5 3 Bxc5 Rh3! also leads to a speedy mate.
Saturday 22 August / Sunday 23 August 2020
Sir Roy Strong When the time comes to leave your garden behind — ROBIN LANE FOX PAGE 10
How the Airbnb aesthetic —
the global anonymous chic
that makes Budapest look
the same as Brooklyn — has
crept into our own interiors.
By Edwin Heathcote
Bland ambition
W
hy do we travel? And
would we still travel if
everywhere was the
same? What would be
the point?
Surf through Airbnb looking for your
next holiday apartment and you will
notice that the offers in New York or
Paris, London or Budapest, São Paulo or
Tokyo often look weirdly similar. As
others have pointed out, it is as if a taste-
ful veil of white walls and grey sofas,
house plants and mid-century-style fur-
niture has descended and flattened
them all into uniformity. Writer Kyle
Chayka dubbed this phenomenon of the
continuous rentable interior “airspace”.
There may be a few self-consciously
quirky touches (because the short-term
rental design guides tell hosts that peo-
ple like quirky touches, within reason).
These express individuality and charac-
ter in the same away that someone who
has “independent thinker” on their
social-media profile will only ever be
profoundly unoriginal and conformist.
There might be a feature wall, stand-
ing out with its lurid pattern. There
might be an inspirational message in
There might be a row of
golden gnomes or a model
car that isn’t quite a toy —
and house plants everywhere
big, chunky, faux driftwood letters
standing in the kitchen. “Live, love,
laugh” always strikes me as particularly
profound. Or it might be written on a
message board in diner-style letters,
perhaps spelling out, “But first, coffee”.
Follow us on Instagram @ft_houseandhome
The kind host might have left a recipe
for lemonade on a blackboard or the
addresses of a couple of cafés that look
exactly like the cafés in the city you just
left and where the baristas have the
same beards and tattoos and the coffee
comes in the same little Duralex glasses.
There might be a row of golden
gnomes or a model vintage car that isn’t
quite a toy. There will be house plants
everywhere, including some drooping
down from a little wooden shelf with
black brackets and a small terrarium on
it. These are for Instagramming. They
are Moments.
Because these interiors are designed
to be consumed as images on a screen.
They are designed to seduce with an
idea of generic global familiarity. They
represent a lifestyle that is metropoli-
tan, chic, minimal and self-congratula-
tory. You enjoy the image because this is
Illustrations by how you imagine you might want to live.
Giulia You recognise it already. What is hap-
Giovannini pening here is a kind of invidious digital
aesthetic seepage, an unintentional
effect of the gradual global convergence
of the interior. There is an irony to this
because Airbnb seeded an idea of
authenticity. The trick was to disrupt
the hotel industry by allowing travellers
(never tourists) to temporarily insert
themselves into the homes of real
people in real neighbourhoods where
real people live (as if hotels were inevi-
tably located in unreal places).
But authenticity comes with differ-
ence. Funny-sized beds, old furniture,
clutter, mothballs, unfitted Victorian
wardrobes, stains, the accumulated
stuff of a lifetime. This, it turned out,
was not a seductive look. People like
Continued on page 2
2 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

House Home
Choose natural When I moved to the country,
I made a horrible mistake by
importing my London tastes and
dabbed, never rubbed, as fibres
can break easily. Specialist sprays
can be applied to natural carpets;
Just stay away from the dreaded grey.
Crucial Trading has intriguing options:
its Wilton Panache and Svelte 100 per
flooring for a laying grey carpets everywhere.
It just looks wrong. I think
they coat the fibres, giving you
time to remove spillages before
cent wool carpets look similar to jute
or seagrass, but feel much softer and

country home a rustic look would be much

better but I am nervous about
the scratchiness and staining.
What would you recommend?
I am a huge proponent of natural
carpets — in the city and the
country. Seagrass, sisal, coir,
jute: I love the warm, golden,
honey-toned colours and the
variations between them.
(Jute is often lighter and slightly
pinkish, seagrass can look
almost green.) I enjoy filling
rooms with colour and pattern
and a mix of fabrics, materials
and textures — a natural carpet
will always work well with
everything I throw on top of it.
Certain materials are better in
certain rooms due to variations
in texture. Sisal, for example, is
harvested from coastal meadows
and carpets made from this fibre are
versatile, hard-wearing and therefore
ideal for living rooms, halls and
staircases. Coir is also strong and
durable. Seagrass is easy to maintain
and resists spillages better than other
types of natural flooring.
Luke Edward Hall There are many designs, too: I like
Alternative Flooring’s ranges — its
seagrass herringbone and basket weave
Readers’ questions styles in particular. (Herringbone
always looks fantastic on stairs.)
Swanson Celadon rug from Roger Oates —
Some rougher natural carpets can
indeed feel rather scratchy. But the feel
underfoot, once you get used to it, is
quite pleasant. Sisal has a smoother
texture than seagrass, and jute (made
using fibres from the corchorus plant)
is much softer than both, meaning it
is not suitable for high-traffic areas but
is perfect in bedrooms.
As for staining, I would not worry
too much because natural carpets are
fairly easy to clean. Spillages must be
they sink in. Sunlight can bleach
natural carpets, but personally
I think this often looks charming.
Dogs can damage them too, but
it really is down to the dog — some
may like to chew the fibres, others
will leave them well alone.
My favourite option? I love
traditional rush-floor matting,
also known as medieval or apple
matting, made by Rush Matters.
It is created by plaiting English
freshwater bulrush gathered
on the River Great Ouse in
Cambridgeshire, the Nene in
Northamptonshire and the River
Ivel in Bedfordshire. The tradition
goes back centuries and is carried
on by founder Felicity Irons and
her family.
It can be made into rugs or
runners or fitted as a carpet and,
as with all natural carpets, looks
glorious in a contemporary interior
or a historic property. Its scent is
fantastic, too; the plaiting is interwoven
with lavender, southernwood,
wormwood and chamomile.
(Once lain, this type of carpet benefits
from regular watering using an
atomiser — this will rejuvenate the
matting and enhance the aromas.)
If you want something softer, there
are many beautiful wool carpets
available with a rustic, country look.
Sunlight can bleach
natural carpets,
but personally
I think this often
looks charming
luxurious, and come in seven shades.
Elegant all these natural carpets may
be, but you might want some colourful
flooring somewhere in your home.
The Venetian flatweave rugs made by
Roger Oates are sewn by a skilled team
in its Herefordshire workshop. They
look wonderful when used as stair
runners, but they can be installed as
wall-to-wall carpets, too. Its Swanson
design in juniper (a sprightly grassy
green) and Trent in raspberry are both
favourites and their bold stripes would
look excellent in a hallway, corridor
or on a landing.
Tim Page Carpets makes beautiful
patterned carpets, too: Pangborne is
a geometric design in wool; striking
Shay is made from recycled cotton.
Natural carpets are better for the
planet because they are made using
renewable materials. Given that you
live in the UK, I would go for a British-
made carpet. And don’t worry about
scratchiness. Your bare feet will thank
you for it, I promise.
For more images and links to Luke’s
recommendations find his column on
ft.com/house-home
Luke answers readers’ questions on design
and stylish living every week. Email him at
lukeedward.hall@ft.com and follow him
on Instagram @lukeedwardhall

Inside Bland anyone. The web is awash with interior

designers advertising their services to
landlords and Airbnb’s own designers

ambition give tips on the site.

Continued from page 1
their difference to be generic. They want
something a bit nicer than those room
sets in Ikea. They want something like
the neatest, most minimal-looking
apartments on Airbnb.
This is not to blame the digital
platform. It proclaims itself part of the
sharing economy and it has, in the
process shared the look. We are
Living in Tuscany scrolling and making decisions, we
For some, remote working has are all more than complicit. Airbnb
put their aspiration within reach has become an unlikely style-book
Page 3 & 4 of design, a dispersed network of
the endless interior.
Once, people watched the
movies, saw the sets and tried
to emulate Hollywood style
through local versions avail-
able at stores in their home-
town. Then they bought DIY
magazines and modernised
their homes with flush doors
and multi-tiered plant stands.
Then they leafed through interiors mag-
azines for tips on urban cool. Then they
idled in traffic waiting to visit the big
blue boxes on the industrial edges of cit-
Hot Property ies to find inspiration in room sets.
The best English country homes Now we do not even need to buy a
on the market right now magazine: we can mindlessly scroll
Page 6 through apartments that are a bit too
expensive on Airbnb, and the look seeps
in. Where once we bought a guidebook
and phoned a couple of pensions to
reserve a room over the phone (which
took, perhaps, half an hour), now we
surf endlessly through weirdly famil-
iar apartments, unable to decide
because they all look so similar.
If time is money, we have become
ridiculous fools trying to save a few
pounds while whiling away invaluable
and unretrievable hours. Those apart-
ments, that style, that distinctive banal-
ity seeps into our consciousness and it
becomes, paradoxically, aspirational.
The irony is that in looking for a trip, a
change of scenery, we have found ano-
nymity repackaged as cool and now we
aspire at home to the placelessness of a
reimported global banality. Builders
and developers now construct for Air-
bnb. There are whole blocks of generic
apartments displacing smaller, quirkier
and more interesting buildings in the
dense complexity of neighbourhoods,
with their social and commercial mix
aimed at short-term renters and higher
margins for investors.
Other apartment blocks are being
emptied out, their interiors ironed out
into cloned versions of online photos, as
if an algorithm had flattened and Pho-
toshopped the differences out and
regurgitated them IRL.
If you look at interactive renderings
and projections of interiors where, say,
you can place a sofa or kitchen to see
how it would look, they inevitably have
a digital flatness to them, squeezing out
the grain and texture of reality. It is
those mediated interiors that are now
being reproduced. The painted floor-
boards are scuffed but in the right way,
The upmarket look is just as easily
identifiable as the more generic version:
a few Portuguese ceramic tiles with
1970s or Islamic-inspired patterns,
junk-shop art grouped together on the
walls, flowers in a jug, a mustard or pink
velvet sofa in place of the grey one in the
cheaper flats, the instantly perceptible
feel of new-vintage decorative art
bought all at once in bulk rather than
accumulated over time. There are fea-
ture walls and courtyards full of sub-
tropical plants, subway tiles, murals and
breakfast bars with chrome appliances
and vividly coloured Spanish fish tins.
The bathrooms have black or copper
piping and Aesop containers to comple-
ment the pot plants (the Aesop contain-
ers will, by the way, be empty).
A more extreme version can be seen
Interiors are clones of the
photos, as if an algorithm
had Photoshopped
the differences out
the decorations are new but faded like a in the trying-too-hard interiors of
1950s photo, the sofa is fake mid- WeWork, where every meeting room
century, the dining and easy chairs faux has to be a bit different, alternating geo-
Eames, the countertop made to look like metric wallpaper, pressed-tin ceilings,
it was recycled from a laboratory big Buddhas, vintage coat-stands, faux
although it was actually made and artifi- 1970s old-folk easy chairs. And in this
cially scuffed in India. way the global landscape of short-term
It is like buying distressed jeans. And let, coffee shop, bar and workplace
just as distressing jeans is labour inten- amalgamate in an endless online pano-
sive and hugely wasteful of resources, so rama of inoffensive cliché.
is the “Air-washing” of interiors in The greatest irony is that flat-sharing
which the old is disposed of and the new sites have squeezed the spectrum of
is brought in — MDF, Chinese chip- dwelling into a few instantly recognis-
board, Vietnamese self-assemble, Asian able and easily reproducible tropes
fake furniture, all shipped from and made the average the aspira-
around the world while local mak- tion. We scroll through these
ers are forced out of industrial images on Airbnb or Instagram
buildings and workshops as and we, albeit unconsciously,
they’re turned into industrial- absorb it. It becomes an ortho-
chic lofts for tourists so that doxy. We long for escape and
Budapest can look a little travel, for a different city, for
more like Brooklyn. new experiences and we have
Even the generic, how- ended up remaking the world in
ever, comes in classes. a continuous landscape of com-
There’s the seamless anae- fortable banality. The freer we
mia of the Airbnb new-build are to roam, the more we browse;
but there is also a raft of the more we yearn for a change,
designers who have set the more we have ensured that
themselves up to cater everything becomes the same.
for potential landlords.
They are able to repli- Edwin Heathcote is the FT’s
cate the look anywhere for architecture critic

Sonic boom
Speakers are helping run our lives
but what about the sound quality?
Pages 8 & 9
Goodbye garden
Robin Lane Fox chats with Sir Roy
Strong about leaving The Laskett
Page 10
House & Home Unlocked
FT subscribers can sign up for our weekly
email newsletter containing guides to the
global property market, distinctive
architecture, interior design and gardens.
Go to ft.com/newsletters
The home in 50 objects #6: 1967 Heirloom mug by John Clappison
Drinking vessels might not seem like
a new innovation. Not since early
man figured out that we do not have
to slurp puddles from our hands, at
least. But from the popularity of this
particular shape we can tell
something about the history and
economy of tea.
This “Heirloom” design was
created by John Clappison using an
innovative screen-printed relief
method in 1967 for Yorkshire
company Hornsea Pottery.
Clappison had studied industrial
design as well as ceramics, and the
range was decidedly mass-market. It
was sold for more than two decades,
and at one stage Hornsea could not
produce enough Heirloom products
to keep up with customer demand.
You will likely have a mug beside
you now (I know I do), whether it is a
chipped best-dad-in-the-world, the
classic Sports Direct model, a Rishi
Sunak-style self-heating £180
“smart” mug, or something more widely available in the 18th century, cent of respondents to a 2019 study
refined. But one thing is certain, attempts to recreate Chinese by magazine The Grocer drank six or
wherever you are sat: that mug of porcelain emerged and we began to more cups a day.
tea, coffee or undisclosed liquid drink from delicate British bone In the UK people consume, on
beside you is not a big deal. china tea sets. average, 1.9kg of tea leaves a year,
Tea used to be a very big deal, to
those in the western world. It was
Much has changed. Tea became
increasingly cheap, bountiful, and
according to the UN. We now brew
tea without ceremony in fat, sturdy
House & Home
brought to Europe from China in the since 1908, easy to make, thanks to a mugs, and traipse around the home
16th century, and by the 17th century
tea was still a very costly luxury: a
fortuitous decision by a New York tea
merchant to send single-cup samples
or office, sloshing vessels in tow.
Modern tea-drinkers regularly
live and digital
pound of tea in little gauze bags. have to blot theirs from bed sheets
(around According to the UK and rugs. Indeed, it’s not just Luke Edward Hall,
0.45kg) Tea & Infusions construction workers who drink
usually cost Association, in “builder’s tea”. Robin Lane Fox and the
more than a the UK today Class no longer comes into it, and FT’s architecture critic
skilled we drink a any British worker on a shift of six
Edwin Heathcote will be
craftsman collective hours or more is entitled to a “tea or
might earn in 100m cups of lunch break”, according to law. speaking at this year’s
a week. As the tea a day Try bringing out a set of thimble- FT Weekend Festival,
British empire (and a sized china cups, to be periodically
spread, so too respectable refilled from a matching tea pot, next
which takes place online
did tea 70m of coffee), 96 time you are in the office. September 3-5. For passes
drinking. As per cent of which are Lucy Watson and programmes go to
trade routes brewed from tea bags, no
made it more pot required. Thirteen per museumofthehome.org.uk ftweekendfestival.com
22 August/23 August 2020
Dreams of
Tuscany
Property | The ability to work remotely has seen a
rise in buyers ready to take on the challenge of a
new life amid the olive groves. By Antonia Cundy
I
van has lived happily for 10 years
just outside Marlow, a historic and
affluent town in Buckinghamshire,
where the IT business he runs is
based. “The house is in the country-
side, close to a river, it’s absolutely
beautiful,” he says.
Nonetheless, by the end of the year, he
hopes to have traded in the river for a
swimming pool, the oak trees for olive
groves, and the family home in the
Thames Valley for a sprawling Tuscan
farmhouse.
“We’ve always had this desire to move
to Italy and I think the last six months
has accelerated that,” says Ivan, who
only wanted to give his first name.
“We’ve learnt that actually we can work
remotely and things will function, it
won’t fall apart — and what that means
is that there’s really no reason not to
make the jump.”
Property agents in Tuscany say there
has been rising interest from interna-
tional buyers, such as Ivan, who have
been spurred on by the success of
working from home during the corona-
virus pandemic.
However, those looking to switch to la
dolce vita often face a difficult trade-off:
choosing between crumbling ruins that
require serious time and money to
renovate, or refurbished homes that
might not tick all their boxes — and in
both cases, buyers must face the
prospect of an investment that is
unlikely to appreciate.
Annalisa Caparelli, of Engel & Völkers
Siena, says most of the would-be buyers
are those who can travel for viewings
from European countries such as
★ FTWeekend
Austria, Germany, France and the UK.
“In March and May we were dead, but
looking at June, July, and August we
have had double the normal number of
requests,” she says.
Jelena Cvjetkovic, head of Savills’
global network, says she has witnessed
the same trend developing, but cautions
that it is too early to tell how much of the
increased interest will convert into
actual sales. Since the market has reo-
pened post-Covid, she says she has also
noticed that the preference in previous
years for well-connected, refurbished
“turnkey” properties that are ready to
move in to seems to be waning.
“What we’re seeing with the pan-
demic is that people are now a little bit
more willing to travel further,” she says.
“There isn’t any more of that ‘I want it to
be within half an hour of an airport’.”
Still, taking on a “project” in Tuscany
can be a daunting task. As well as the
cost, the appealing seclusion of many
properties in the region adds to the diffi-
culty of carrying out renovations.
In the hills of the Chianti wine region,
near picturesque Gaiole, a four-bed-
room crumbling villa with two single-
storey barns, both in need of complete
renovation, has an asking price of
€380,000.
The site has electricity but, while
there is a spring, there is no established
plumbing network. Gaiole is 8km away,
and between the house and the tarmac
road is a 500-metre “grass track
through the woods”, according to the
brochure. “If you want a proper country
house you’re not going to be in walking
distance of anywhere,” says Cvjetkovic.
3
House Home
EMILIA-ROMAGNA ‘We’ve always had this
I TA LY
desire to move to Italy and I
Londa
Florence think the last six months
Pisa Castellina
in Chianti
has accelerated that’
Vicopisano Gaiole
San Gimignano
Mediterranean Siena and, if they get ill, whether an ambu-
Sea Cortona lance could get down it.”
TUSCANY
Even buyers who are up for the chal-
lenge of renovating face another harsh
reality: they are unlikely to see much
LATIUM
profit once the work is carried out.
©Mapcreator.io/©HERE 50 km
After prices in Tuscany doubled on
average every 10 years from the 1960s,
according to Savills, came the financial
Marie Kidd, who moved from the crisis of 2008, which sent prices plum- (Clockwise from chase price a year previously, the prop-
suburbs of London to Tuscany with her meting by 30 per cent — and they have top) Chianti erty sold for 30 per cent less a decade
Italian husband in the early 2000s, says not changed much since. Hills between later when the owner was keen to move
the hassle and cost is what keeps most Nick Ferrand, director at Abode Italy, Florence, Siena on, despite him having renovated and
Italian buyers away. says he has sold a six-bedroom home and Arezzo; bar extended a guesthouse.
“That’s the difference between a Brit near Cortona, about 80km south east of in the Piazza “Right now it’s cheaper to buy some-
looking for the Tuscan dream and Florence, with a study and a “million- Santo Spirito, body else’s dream and tweak it to your
Italians,” she says. “They’re much more dollar view” three times since 2007. Florence own desire and requirements than it is
practical, they’ll be thinking that they’ll While the middle sale in 2008 went for Massimo Santi/Getty Images/
iStockphoto; Christian Muller/
have to walk down that track in the dark 36 per cent higher than the original pur- Alamy Continued on page 4
4 ★
House Home
Continued from page 3
to start on a full restoration project,”
says Ferrand, adding that buyers could
expect the total cost of purchasing and
restoring a four or five-bedroom house,
including adding a pool and gardens, to
be between €1.5 and €2m. “But the
thing about a full restoration project is
that you get what you want in the end,”
he adds.
Buying something that is not quite
right is a worry at the back of Ivan’s
mind. “I’m a tiny bit concerned that
we’ll buy something, we won’t like it,
and we won’t be able to sell it,” he says.
“Since we started looking at property six
months ago, I don’t think I’ve seen any
of the properties that we looked at come
off the market.”
Across Italy, average house prices are
still 17 per cent lower than they were in
2010, according to official statistics. In
Tuscany, agents say prices have stabi-
lised in the past two to three years, even
increasing slightly in some areas.
(Above top) The region is also markedly more
Restored expensive than other parts of Italy, such
farmhouse in as neighbouring Umbria, where prices
San Gimignano, per square metre could be up to a third
on sale with less. But for Ivan, his budget of €1.5m
Knight Frank, will still stretch far further than it would
€2.95m. in prime rural areas in the UK — funding
(top) its pool a large property in Tuscany and a pied-
and grounds à-terre where he currently lives near
Marlow. “Our house here isn’t small, but
FTWeekend
‘Most people who do decide
to up sticks are looking to
improve the quality of
their life, not the lining of
their pockets’
for the [same] money the size and scale
of the properties we’re looking at in Tus-
cany is very different,” he says. “We’d
have a swimming pool, significant
grounds, we’re looking at olive groves, a
small vineyard and parts of the property
to rent out as holiday homes.”
Near Londa, about 30km from Flor-
ence, local estate agent Dimore Fioren-
tine is selling a six-bedroom farmhouse
with emerald green shuttered windows,
an outdoor pool and surrounding fields
full of fig, walnut, apricot and cherry
trees. The asking price is €995,000.
In San Gimignano, roughly between
Florence and Siena, Knight Frank is sell-
i / Buying guide
Tuscany’s two international airports are
Pisa and Florence.
Estate agents in Italy usually charge
around 3 per cent from both buyer and
seller.
Holiday home buyers will need to pay a
transfer tax of about 9 per cent of the
“cadastral value” of a property (which is
often much lower than the sale price). For
residents buying their primary home, the
tax is 2 per cent.
Italian house prices
Property price index, all homes
(2010=100%)
105
100
95
90
85
80
2011 13 15 17 19
Source: Istat
ing an 18th-century farmhouse with five
bedrooms for €2.95m. The property,
which was fully restored in 2011, pre-
serving many original features and
using reclaimed materials where possi-
ble, sits at the end of a kilometre-long
track and comes with 14 hectares of
grounds, including an olive grove.
Most people who do decide to up
sticks and move to Tuscany are looking
to improve the quality of their life, not
the lining of their pockets, says Kidd.
“We took on a house that was way too
big for us, a total ruin and above our
budget, but we did it anyway.” Kidd
bought a tall “tower house” in the village
of Vicopisano, about 15km from Pisa,
that dates back to the 11th century. The
property cost the couple €170,000 and
they borrowed an extra €210,000 for
renovations. The second floor is now a
holiday rental, which helps fund contin-
uing work to the other floors. “It hasn’t
paid itself back, no,” Kidd says. “It’s not
like the UK, you can’t buy a property
and do it up then sell it for a profit, you
can’t do that here.”
“It’s not a problem for us because the
house is our passion, this is a house for
life,” she says. Taking on the challenge
has improved their lives in other ways,
she adds. “Going back to a simpler life
22 August/23 August 2020
PROPERTIES
FOR SALE
TUSCANY
I
Farmhouse,
Masseto
€1.09m
Where A few
kilometres
outside Castellina in Chianti, about a
40-minute drive from Siena.
What A traditional Tuscan farmhouse
with four bedrooms and about 450 sq m
of living space, plus a separate guest
house, all in about 3.3 hectares of
grounds. Available through Savills.
I Villa Gioia,
Arezzo
€675,000
Where
Outside
Cortona, a
beautiful Tuscan hill town. The property
is about 116km from Florence.
What A three-bedroom Tuscan villa
originally built in the 15th century. The
property has more than 12 hectares of
grounds including a vineyard and olive
grove. Available through Savills.
I Castle,
Siena €5.9m
Where About
7km from
the centre
of Siena.
What A medieval castle built in the early
13th century with more than 1,300 sq m
of living space. The property comes with
17 hectares of grounds, including an olive
grove and vineyard. Available through
Christie’s International Real Estate.
was the big thing for me,” she says. “For
example, I think so differently about
food now, it’s really important for me to
know where it comes from.”
Altering his approach to life is also
why Ivan is turning towards the Tuscan
hills. “Our work-life balance is work,
and a little bit of life. We want that bal-
ance to change and I just don’t think
we’ll do that if we stay in the UK, our
mentality won’t change,” he says.
“The risk of losing some money is
worth the reward of a different life.”
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 5
6 ★ FTWeekend 22 August/23 August 2020

House Home

Hot property K Farmhouse, Gloucestershire

£895,000

Where In Westend, a village near

the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding
many period features and has a
large kitchen with an Aga cooker.
The property comes with about an
acre of grounds, but a further eight
acres of paddocks and orchard and

English country
Natural Beauty. The house is about
a 15-minute drive from Stroud and
a 20-minute drive from Gloucester.
What A grade II-listed, 18th-
century farmhouse with seven
a timber barn are available by
separate negotiation.
Why The property is a short drive
from the Cotswolds Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty.

houses
By Nathan Brooker
bedrooms and three reception
rooms. The three-storey house has
Who Hughes Sealey

I Court Farm, Buckinghamshire

£4.75m

Where In Hedgerley, a village

near Beaconsfield in south
Buckinghamshire. The property
is about 15km from Heathrow and
an hour’s drive from London,
traffic permitting.
What An 18th-century, grade II-
listed house with five bedrooms,
two reception rooms, a study and a
games room. The property also
has a two-bedroom cottage and
an outdoor pool with a pool house,
all in about 3.6 acres.
Why: The quiet rural setting of
Hedgerley village is popular with B New Farm, Oxfordshire, £8m and a two-bedroom cottage.
commuters, and once you get to There is also a building used as a
Beaconsfield, the train into London Where In a rural setting several cookery school in the grounds,
Marylebone can take under 30 miles outside Henley-on-Thames which has planning permission to
minutes. in Oxfordshire, about 90km from be converted into separate
Who Savills central London. The drive to accommodation. In total,
Heathrow airport takes about 45 the property comes with 31 acres
minutes. of land.
What A grade II-listed Georgian Why New Farm has a beautiful
farmhouse with seven bedrooms, a English-style walled garden, with
library, a playroom and a large an orangery at one end to drink in
kitchen with a five-door Aga the view.
cooker. The property has an Who Strutt & Parker
indoor pool, an 18th-century barn

K Tormarton Court, K Deersted Manor, Surrey, £6.95m

Gloucestershire £6.5m
Where Near the village of
Where On the edge of the village Walliswood, about a 10-minute
of Tormarton in the Cotswolds, drive from Cranleigh in Surrey, and
about 15km from Bath and 20km about 45km from central London.
from Bristol. What A grade II-listed country
What A grade II-listed Georgian house with six bedrooms, an
house with a total of 11 bedrooms, additional four-bedroom detached
plus a barn and former coach cottage, a natural swimming pond,
house that have been converted equestrian facilities and a helipad,
into offices. all in about 12 acres.
Why The property comes with Why The property is on the edge
more than 10 acres of grounds, of the Surrey Hills Area of
including a walled garden, a formal Outstanding Natural Beauty.
garden and a kitchen garden. Who Savills
Who Strutt & Parker
22 August/23 August 2020 ★ FTWeekend 7
UK Office: +44 20 7873 4907 | US Office: +1 212 641 6500 | ASIA Office: +852 2905 5579
Property Gallery www.ft.com/house&home
Switzerland

England

England

UK Australia Switzerland

France USA
8 ★
House Home
Audio | Smart speakers are
increasingly helping to
run our lives — and are now
aimed at hi-fi connoisseurs,
writes Adrian Justins
T
he home audio industry has
be en through some
turbulence over the years,
not least in the noughties
when MP3 dramatically cut
sales of CD decks, amplifiers and loud-
speakers. But every cloud has a silver
lining. Even a data cloud.
Today, hi-fi companies are intrinsi-
cally linked to one of tech’s fastest grow-
ing developments: the smart home.
Smart devices are expected to prolif-
erate at global technology fair IFA, tak-
ing place (online, due to Covid-19) at the
beginning of September. Google, one of
the major players in the smart home
sector, has confirmed that its latest
smart speaker, the Nest, will launch
soon, possibly before the month is out.
Smart speakers can be operated using
voice assistants, such as Alexa or Siri,
and can provide information from
weather updates to the football scores.
They can switch-on your lighting, turn
down your heating and even lock your
front door.
But one thing they do not do is meet
the sonic expectations of audiophiles
and hi-fi enthusiasts. Reviewers have
cited a lack of robustness with bass
reproduction, murky mid-range and
brightness at high frequencies, plus an
overall lack of power. The resurgence of
vinyl also demonstrates that there is an
appetite for quality over convenience.
But the demand for smart speakers is
unarguable — and the audio brands
realise that they must act to prevent
greater loss of market share to Silicon
Valley’s upstarts. According to Forrester
Research, the number of households
with smart speakers across the EU
(including the UK) almost doubled last
year, rising from 10m in 2018 to 19.6m in
2019, and is forecast to hit 57.5m by
2024. Alexandre Jornod, market analyst
at Futuresource, says Amazon and
Google, with little or no audio heritage,
have dominated the market so far,
Boom time for speakers
capturing a chart-topping 88 per cent of
smart speaker sales globally between
them, excluding China.
Voice assistants can act as a conduit to
third-party services, but by default will
keep customers within the speaker
maker’s own retail ecosystems — ask
Alexa to play some music without speci-
fying which streaming service to use
FTWeekend
(Above) and she will connect to Amazon Music.
Harman Streaming alone is colossal business. By
Kardon’s $2,500 2024, Futuresource expects the number
Citation towers of global subscriptions to exceed 600m,
representing over 90 per cent of con-
(below) Naim’s sumer spend on recorded music.
Uniti Atom Jornod says many of the people who
streamer have acquired smart speakers have
become accustomed to hearing good-
quality music on their headphones by
listening to portable music and
high-resolution music-streaming apps
such as Amazon Music HD, Tidal and
classical music specialist Primephonic,
and they expect the same level of acous-
tic excellence at home.
He cites a recent survey of smart
speaker owners, where more than half
of respondents said they are looking for
better audio quality as a key feature for
their next smart speaker. “To remain
relevant within the mass market, tradi-
tional audio brands are repositioning
themselves as premium alterna-
tives [to the tech giants], capi-
talising on their know-
how, brand equity and
their product aesthet-
ics,” says Jornod.
Grace Lo, managing
director of six-decades-
old British hi-fi com-
pany Kef, says she
believes that “the mar-
ket in terms of music lovers
who want nice looking prod-
ucts is much larger than the audi-
ophile market”. Over the past decade
or so, Kef has concentrated largely on
Naim’s smaller Mu-so Qb 2nd
Generation speaker, £749
22 August/23 August 2020
JBL
headphones,
which have
voice control,
for Alexa and
Google
Assistant
architectural (in-wall and in-ceiling)
speakers but is looking to make gains in
wireless streaming with active speakers.
Lo remains wary of voice control,
however, arguing that it may offer the
fastest way of playing back music in the
house — but it inherently doesn’t
encourage browsing or exploration so
could end up being counter-productive.
She agrees that voice control will be
more important “in the future”. But she
is content to see the technology mature
elsewhere since Kef’s products, like
many others from hi-fi brands, do not
require an embedded voice assistant
microphone. Kef’s devices can be
configured to work with Apple’s Home-
Kit — a software network to connect
smart domestic appliances — using Air-
play 2 or Google Home using an inter-
face called Chromecast. However, the
user experience is not as slick as a
built-in microphone and it currently
excludes Amazon Alexa.
Lo adds that another issue with voice
control is that high-end hi-fi is designed
to be played loudly, such that speaker
microphones may struggle to pick-up
spoken commands — and there might
be other software issues. “If it doesn’t
work, the customer blames Kef
not Google,” she says.
In terms of design, the
tech giants’ own speak-
ers such as the Amazon
Echo, Apple HomePod
and Google Home are
generally not aestheti-
cally exciting, finished in
mostly muted colours
and intended to blend in
rather than stand out. Nor
are they as physically big as
those made by premium brands.
Lo says this all puts the onus on the
likes of Kef to come up with more dis-
tinctive designs. “Some of my colleagues
Continued on page 9
22 August/23 August 2020
Apple’s HomePod. Speakers from
tech giants mostly come in muted
colours
Continued from page 8
just want black or white,” she says, “but
why can’t we as a brand give a little more
excitement? Music is lively.” She cer-
tainly got her way with Kef’s LSX speak-
ers, which sell for £999 a pair and come
in several colours including red and
olive green, as well as a £1,150 special
edition designed by Terence Conran.
Futuresource’s Jornod says savvy
high-end brands can also benefit by
offering a broad portfolio of products at
different prices that entice customers
into taking a “brand journey”. The most
expensive product made by venerable
hi-fi company Naim Audio is the
$200,000 Statement amplifier but the
brand is more widely known for its Uniti
streamers and for providing in-car
sound systems for Bentley — still niche
and aimed at those with deep pockets.
However, in recent years it has been
reaching a wider audience with its
Mu-so wireless speaker (£1,299) and
the smaller Mu-so Qb (£749),
which — crucially — are sold
in high street shops such
as John Lewis, as well as
specialist hi-fi retailers.
As with Kef, Naim
favours AirPlay 2 and
Chromecast over embed-
ded microphones for the
Mu-so range. Charlie
Henderson, managing
director of Naim,
believes that voice con-
trol (and apps) are infe-
rior to a tactile experi-
ence, especially when a
product is engineered to
such high standards. He
says of Mu-so: “Nothing beats
the simple pleasure of spinning a per-
fectly weighted volume dial. It’s a design
that has won worldwide acclaim.”
★ FTWeekend 9
House Home
Four of the best smart
speakers
AudioPro’s Addon C5A
Kef LSX, £999 a pair
Available in a choice of red, olive
green, blue and black woven
fabric finishes, these 200W
traditional looking stereo
speakers are compact and can
play hi-res audio files.
Naim Mu-So 2nd Generation
£1,299
This hefty unit with an aluminium
heatsink has a refined sound and
delivers 450W of power — enough
to comfortably fill most living
rooms. Operation is by voice, app
and a remote handset as well as the
exquisitely engineered touch-panel
and illuminated dial.
Sonos Five, £499
For multi-room set ups and
Other hi-fi companies are less reticent (Above) Naim’s ‘We asked ourselves lem — we already have it in our JBL integration with streaming services
about voice assistants and smart tech Mu-so 2nd headphones.” More telling is that Apple, Sonos has always impressed. The
even on high-end products. US behe- Generation “why is it that wireless Amazon and Google recently agreed to top of the range Five can be used
moth Harman — owner of Harman Kar- speaker sound is mostly found in collaborate with each other and many singularly or with a second one
don and JBL, among others — says it sold (£1,299) other players in the smart home mar- added for greater stereo
100m Bluetooth wireless speakers last inexpensive packages?” ket, including Samsung, Ikea and Com- separation. Clean looking but only
year, worth $1.3bn. Carsten Olesen, cast, in developing a common standard available in black or white finishes.
president of the consumer audio divi- (below) Kef’s for smart devices.
sion, says: “We asked ourselves LSX speakers, firing speakers not hearing voice com- Known as Project Connected Home AudioPro Addon C5A, £260
‘why is it that wireless which sell for mands when playing loud music. over IP, the new protocol will remove This Swedish brand was a pioneer
sound is mostly found £999 a pair and Harman chose the Google Home plat- another barrier to entry by guarantee- of the powered speaker in the
in inexpensive pack- come in several form for Citation but Olesen says speak- ing that all voice assistants will be com- 1970s and its Addon Pro range of
ages?’” The result was colours ers with embedded multi-platform patible with the majority of smart home portable wireless models are well-
the brand’s Citation including red voice control are not far off: “We can devices, regardless of brand. In doing so, regarded for their refined sound
series of smart speak- and olive green process Alexa and Google Home over smart home technology will open up and build quality. This 40W unit
ers, launched last the same semiconductor. It’s not a prob- huge opportunities for hi-fi companies. has built-in Amazon Alexa and a
year, and ranging far-field microphone that ensures
from $299 for the voice commands are picked out
Citation One to the even over loudly playing music.
$2,500 per pair Cita-
tion Towers.
Harman devel-
oped proprietary
far-field micro-
phone technology to
overcome the challenge of front-
British hi-fi company Naim Audio’s Sonos’s top of the range Five
Statement amplifier — £178,997
10
House Home
The last
farewell
Historian Roy Strong and his late wife spent 47
years creating a memorable garden at The Laskett,
Herefordshire. But the time has come to move on
W
e all write about
making gardens: what
about leaving them?
The question affects us
all, even new gardeners.
Trading up, trading down: gardens
come and go throughout modern life.
Even so, leaving one can hurt. I have no
plans to leave mine, but stuff happens.
Curious about how it may feel,
I have just been to see a garden-maker
who is moving out this autumn.
After 47 years at The Laskett, Roy
Strong has concluded an agreement
with the Perennial charity, takers of
his house and garden. Aged 85, the
historian will move to a townhouse in
Ledbury, which has a much smaller
back garden.
From his early years as director of
the National Portrait Gallery through
14 years at the head of the Victoria
and Albert Museum to his best-selling
diaries and his book The Story
of Britain, Sir Roy has never been lost
for words. “I am selling my contents.
My busts of the Roman emperors are
coming with me: I will have a few
rounded flowery beds in
the style of Humphrey Repton,
contemporary with the house.
No white painted trellis.” Since
February he has planned it all and
drawn it out in a ringbound folder.
While making the garden round
The Laskett, Sir Roy was never lost for
ideas, either. He began with an ideal
collaborator, his wife Julia Trevelyan
Oman, a set designer for theatre, ballet
and opera. After her death in 2003, he
did not give up. He altered parts of the
garden, simplified her plantings and
added new features. A tall white
Belvedere was added as recently as
2018 after overhead photos showed
how good the garden looked from
above. Sir Roy has exemplified
“onward and upward”, a lesson to us all.
He can still cook a first-class lunch.
After salmon, top-dressed with blue
flowers, he reflected on the garden
as a partnership. “Julia was good at
planting, but we both had an
architectural vision.” Elsewhere he has
wondered “mischievously” if women as
gardeners are “better at the detail”.
The Laskett, he acknowledges, “is the
record of an unusually happy marriage.
We each did our own things, in different
parts of the house, but we agreed on the
garden.” So after the coffee I went out to
see it, helped by a map.
The Laskett is not an exceptionally
big garden, but it is a varied one. Its
formal ground-plan is divided by
hedges and criss-crossed by vistas,
forwards and sideways. Many of its
subsections have names, beginning in
1974 with two avenues called Elizabeth
Tudor and Mary Stuart. Visitors need
a guide to understand what they are
seeing. It relates to several biographies,
including two beloved cats, Wenceslas
Muff and Lady Torte de Shell. It also
relates for example, to commissions,
lectures in the US or the Royal Ballet.
In 2003, just as his wife died, Sir
Roy’s book The Laskett was published.
I strongly recommend it. It begins in
1973 with his and Julia’s elopement, as
they headed into marriage, a state that
his friend the Marchioness of Dufferin
★ FTWeekend
(Above) The Silver Jubilee Garden; and Ava predicted to be “happiness
(right) Roy Strong and the Oman and home, loving and caring for each
pinnacle other, watching the plants grow
Harriet Rix
together”. It turned out to be just that.
Significant influences wind through
the story, from Cecil Beaton, the subject
of Sir Roy’s famous exhibition at the
Portrait Gallery, to the reclusive poet
and garden maker Ian Hamilton Finlay
at Little Sparta in Scotland. His
garden struck Sir Roy with a “revelation
of almost Pauline intensity”. Hamilton
Finlay then wrote to him, observing
that “of course it is only educated
people who accuse other people of
being elitist (alas); the word is
unknown to ordinary people, some of
whom in spite of everything still think
it a good idea to make an effort.”
Sir Roy remains winningly frank
about his lack of garden experience.
He was a Londoner, not a countryman.
“One of the reasons which brought me
to Hereford was to remove myself as
far as possible from my own family.”
He studied others, including Rosemary
Verey, whose garden and approach he
much admired. He also recognises a
Robin Lane Fox less conventional debt to small Dutch
post-war gardens. He visited their
presiding genius Mien Ruys and
On gardens recorded clear impressions of the great
lady, even at her age of 92. He also
loves Italy and kept it in mind
throughout. He does not love Paris: “It
was rude to me.”
Nobody would expect Sir Roy to
plant his garden with shrinking violets.
His distinctive dress sense, turn of
phrase and emphasis on style carry
over into a garden that had every
chance of becoming a muddle, a bosh
shot at Versailles within two fields’
distance of the A49.
He looks back on himself as an
early example of social mobility. When
he came to the V&A, he saw it as “a
place to which the upper classes could
go without losing face”. He added
“dress” to the department of textiles,
now one of the museum’s most popular
22 August/23 August 2020
subjects, but he also agreed a pivotal
exhibition, The Destruction of the
Country House, showing how many fine
buildings had been destroyed since
1875. In 1974 it “took the subject from
politics into culture”.
“In February”, he told me, “I realised
there was no more for me to do here.”
By the next Wednesday he had bought
his new house. He thrives on projects.
Who else would have built a garden
temple, inscribed it as a shrine of
Mnemosyne, mother of the Greek
muses, flanked it with statues of
Victoria and Albert and adorned its
‘We each did our own
things, in different parts
of the house, but we agreed
on the garden’
back wall with a plaque of the two of
them with a third, Sir Roy’s own profile,
placed in between?
The garden has an unashamed
element of playful show, from a
sculpted stag with gilded horns to
an urn painted in bright colours,
honouring the Queen’s recent Jubilee
and hiding its mundane material.
I admire the spacing of its formal
blocks of yew and other evergreen
plants, features that many gardeners
plant too closely. He and Julia had
a guiding sense of stage and spacing.
In his book Sir Roy remarks on the
absence of mystery and surprise in
several fine gardens he admired. The
Laskett’s lines stand up without a guide
to their allusions, but readers of his
book will see so much more. It blends
personal history and fancy, capped by
a taste for gilding that looks back to the
Elizabethan taste he knows well:
nouveau, but classy.
“Flowers in gardens”, I have heard
him tell startled listeners, “are
generally a mistake”. One exception
is rosemary, a flower that winds
touchingly through his and Julia’s
history, from their engagement to her
burial. How can he leave so much
allusion and memory behind?
Once again he surprises me. “When
I go, I go. I never come back, I have
never revisited the Portrait Gallery.”
Maybe Perennial will turn the house
into a restaurant. Down in Ledbury,
Sir Roy plans to turn the greenhouse
into a gym. He still works out daily,
even with weights. Why go back when
you can still go forwards?