A deal that shames us all

After all the huffing and puffing and claims of a great victory, Non-Standard finance (NSf) has just scraped over the line to capture control of fellow subprime lender Provident financial.

the remarkable aspect is that having started with 50pc of the votes in the bag – with the support of Woodford, Invesco and Marathon – NSf has managed to lift the acceptances to just 53.5pc.

By any standards this is a bloody nose for NSf chief executive John van Kuffeler and his Dad’s Army. Van Kuffeler is now talking of changing the ‘culture for customers’.

this deal has never been about improving the situation for some of the most abused borrowers. It has been an act of opportunism by a company which has trampled over company law.

NSf has been assisted by an unsavoury effort on the part of big battalion shareholders to rescue some value for themselves after making a disastrous decision to become involved in companies which degrade society. It remains confident that it can mop up the remaining shares. the precedent offered for minorities coming into line is the Melrose absorption of GKN.

the comparison is risible. Melrose only

won after making stipulations, and getting clearance from the Department of Business. the regulators – the Prudential regulatory Authority, the financial Conduct Authority and the Competition & Markets Authority – have yet to scrutinise this deal.

NSf is asking Schroders and other dissenters to make a final decision on a wing and a prayer. Provident is absolutely right to recommend shareholders hang on.

there are twists to come in a distasteful battle. Provvy investors could be putting dividends at risk and cash that could have been used to help the least well-off borrowers in the country has been squandered on bloated fees for advisers. Van Kuffeler has unleashed one of most unedifying City confrontations in living memory.

ITV reality

CAROLYN McCall acted with admirable swiftness to cancel the Jeremy Kyle Show, showing decisiveness which often eludes companies and politicians when faced with a scandal.

the It V chief executive’s choices may have been limited, given the tumble in the share price, but the death of a participant after an appearance in the reality TV show has also created moral hazard.

At a time when ITV is competing for audiences with streaming services, among the most-watched ITV shows – with plenty of spin-offs – is Love Island.

there is much to deplore. friends who have a beachside residence in Sri Lanka turned down an exploratory approach by Love Island’s production team because of ‘too much bonking’.

A more serious concern for ITV is the deaths of two participants, Mike thalassitis and Sophie Gradon.

the worry for McCall is that all this coincides with a rapid decline in ITV’s share price, down 20pc this year, and at 113.15p some way off its high above 260p in 2015.

ITV’s commercial advantage as a broadcaster is its reach to large audiences, which big consumer advertisers want.

But there is also recognition that viewing habits are fracturing. this has led McCall to modernise, including the creation of Britbox, a joint streaming service with the BBC. Her predecessor recognised Britain’s creative skills and ratcheted up production. But the City was less than impressed with first-quarter trading when ITV Studios climbed by just 1pc and outside income fell by 4pc.

the biggest worry for investors is the inability of ITV to throw the kind of resources at programming and new services that are available to upstarts and media giants such as Comcast, the owner of Sky.

Variety reports that in 2019 Netflix has set itself a production budget of £11.5bn. ITV is scheduled to invest £25m in Britbox this year and £40m next. Irrespective of the Kyle fallout, Itv can only compete with that as a very niche player.

Steel nerves

One understands the reluctance among ministers to write another cheque to Greybull, the operators of British Steel.

tories rightly abhor government subsidies. But British Steel and tata- owned Port talbot are a strategic asset.

there may be surplus capacity in the world, but Britain would not want to see its ability to produce steel, which is vital to defence, construction and motor industries, compromised.