Alex Chisholm has been given sole responsibility for heading up the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), after Martin Donnelly stepped down from his position as joint permanent secretary. New permanent secretary for BEIS Alex Chisholm Chisolm led the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) before it was folded into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which was led by Donnelly. The pair were given shared responsibility for BEIS following the merger. “I am delighted to have the opportunity to serve as permanent secretary for BEIS, working with the ministerial team and departmental colleagues to establish the new department and deliver on the promise of a new industrial strategy,” said Chisholm. Business and energy secretary Greg Clarke said: “I look forward to working with Alex Chisholm as he leads the vital work of the new department in forging our industrial strategy, leading the government’s relationship with business, furthering our world-class science base, delivering affordable clean energy and tackling climate change.” Head of the civil service Jeremy Heywood said: “I’m delighted with the way in which the former BIS and DECC departments are already coming together to create a new power-house department to drive the government’s new industrial strategy and the country’s long-term economic performance. “Alex’s background in leading large organisations will be vital in continuing this process of bringing together the two sides of BEIS.” Prior to being appointed as the permanent secretary for Decc in May, Chisholm served as the chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority and held a number of senior executive position in media, technology and e-commerce companies.  Donnelly spent six years as the permanent secretary for BIS before its merger with Decc. He will now help with the formation of the new Department for International Trade over the coming months. Source link

Jim O’Neill, the Treasury minister and former Goldman Sachs chief economist, could quit the government over Theresa May’s new approach to China exposed by her handling of plans for a new Hinkley Point nuclear plant. Lord O’Neill was a star signing brought into the Treasury by George Osborne to build relations with China and oversee new infrastructure. He coined the phrase “Brics” in 2001 to describe the world’s leading emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China. In a sign of the remaining tensions in Mrs May’s new ministerial team and concerns in Beijing that it may no longer be welcome to invest in British nuclear power plants, Lord O’Neill has told friends he will leave the government in September unless Mrs May can explain why she wants him to stay on. “He’s considering why he has been asked to stay,” said one friend, who said the minister was baffled about the government’s change of tack on China. Mrs May did not forewarn Lord O’Neill that she intended to put the £18bn project on hold; Beijing plans to invest £6bn in the scheme and sees it as a bridgehead to building its own nuclear power station in Britain. Lord O’Neill considered quitting last week, but did not want to undermine another of his projects: persuading world leaders at a G20 summit early next month to act on his report on tackling drug resistant “superbugs”. The minister was given free rein by Mr Osborne to court Chinese investment and told the Financial Times in Beijing last year that Britain had to “get over one of its perpetual problems of being a fair weather friend”. The son of a Manchester postman, he also led the development of Mr Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse” project, including selling schemes in the north to Chinese investors. But Mrs May has criticised the Northern Powerhouse scheme for focusing regional policy too heavily on one region; Lord O’Neill believes that Chinese investors are now confused about government policy. The new prime minister announced last week that she wanted more time to assess the Hinkley Point project, catching by surprise Beijing and the French power utility EDF, which wants to build the new power station. Two Chinese companies, CGN and CNNC, have agreed jointly to finance just over a third of the project. This is all about Bradwell. I’m sure Theresa would be happy to take £6bn off the Chinese for Hinkley but it’s not clear whether she is happy about the next stage. The real goal for Beijing in Britain is not so much Hinkley but the opportunity to build and finance another nuclear power station of its own design at another of EDF’s sites in Bradwell, Essex. “This is all about Bradwell,” said one minister. “I’m sure Theresa would be happy to take £6bn off the Chinese for Hinkley but it’s not clear whether she is happy about the next stage.” Mrs May’s aides insist the delay in approving Hinkley Point was “simply about this deal” and that if there were to be any different approach to China that would be a matter for the future. But the statement issued by the government explaining the delay said that ministers wanted to examine “the component parts” of the deal — a form of words understood in Whitehall to refer to Chinese involvement. Mr Osborne promised Beijing “progressive entry” into the British nuclear market, but Mrs May’s joint chief of staff Nick Timothy wrote last year that this could put China in a position to turn off the UK’s power at will. * Additional reporting by Kiran Stacey Source link

©Reuters Martin Bouygues Bouygues has appointed two deputy chief executives, setting in motion longer term plans for a change of guard at the French construction-to-telecoms conglomerate led by industrialist Martin Bouygues. The group said on Wednesday that Olivier Roussat, who heads the group’s Bouygues Telecom unit, and Philippe Marien, chief financial officer, had been appointed deputy chief executives. More On this topic IN Telecoms In their new roles, the two executives will join existing deputy chief executive Olivier Bouygues, Martin’s brother, who has occupied his role since 2002. In a statement, the group said the managerial change had come “on a proposal from Martin Bouygues”, and the appointments would assist the French industrialist in his duties. However, the move is widely seen as yet another step in Mr Bouygues’s longer term succession plan. It follows the decision in March to appoint two younger family members — Edward Bouygues, Mr Bouygues’ son, and Cyril, his nephew, to the group’s board. Mr Bouygues, whose SCDM family holding controls just over 20 per cent of group shares but more than a quarter of all voting rights, will see his mandate as a board member expire in 2018 — though he could seek re-election and has made no official plans to retire. The latest changes come as the conglomerate, which also owns TF1, France’s largest private broadcaster, reported operating profit during the second quarter of the year of €346m — €33m higher than a year earlier. That performance was 9.1 per cent ahead of consensus forecasts and helped push Bouygues shares 3 per cent higher Wednesday morning to €28.98. Group revenues during the second quarter were €8.14bn, 3 per cent lower than a year earlier and 1.7 per cent below analysts’ expectations. The group maintained its outlook for 2016, saying it expected profitability in its construction business to improve thanks to growth in French and international markets. It also said that Bouygues Telecom, which has been battered in recent years by a ferocious price war in the country’s telecoms sector, confirmed its return to long-term sales and earnings growth. It added that the unit would maintain its 2017 target of achieving a 25 per cent margin in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) after unveiling a plan to save at least €400m this year compared with the end of 2013. The telecoms unit said it added 303,000 mobile customers during the second quarter, bringing total mobile subscribers to 12.4m by the end of June. Sales at the unit reached €2.29bn during the first six months of 2016, 6 per cent higher than during the same period a year earlier. Ebitda during the period was €408m, 26 per cent higher than a year earlier. Margins were 20.7 per cent, 3.6 percentage points higher than during the first six months of 2015. In a research note, Jerry Dellis of Jefferies, said the unit “looks on course to deliver (and possibly exceed) its reiterated 2017 margin target”. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link