Friday newspaper round-up: EasyJet, Ofgem, Brexit, Rolls-Royce

(ShareCast News) - A French court on Thursday fined British low-cost airline easyJet €60,000 (£52,000) for having refused to allow a disabled passenger to board for "security" reasons. The criminal court in Bayonne, southern France, heard that staff at the budget carrier refused to allow Joseph Etcheveste, 55, to board an Easyjet flight in Biarritz in July 2010 because he was "unaccompanied". - GuardianThe regulator Ofgem has warned the big six energy companies against raising prices in spring, despite a 15% increase in wholesale costs. It said rising wholesale gas and electricity prices were largely to blame for driving costs upwards, along with renewable energy subsidies. But its chief executive, Dermot Nolan, said this was not an excuse for tariff hikes. - GuardianEurope's trade chief has warned in stark terms that Britain will start at 18th place down the list of countries trying to negotiate a trade deal with the EU and will face a series of extremely difficult negotiations after Brexit. Cecilia Malmström, the EU trade commissioner, said the UK would have to withdraw from all of the EU's 38 trade agreements with other countries, and can only begin fresh talks once it has actually left the union. - TelegraphPhilip Hammond has vowed to make the UK as competitive as possible on the world stage, describing the challenge as "an existential necessity". The Chancellor said that to do so the UK must remain "one of the most open economies in the world" in terms of both trade and attitude, as he cautioned "nobody wants to see Britain pulling up the drawbridge". - TelegraphOne of the City's most influential investor groups is set to intervene again at Rolls-Royce to help investors obtain answers as to how the jet maker was able to get away with decades of systematic corruption and bribery. The Investor Forum, whose members manage £14 trillion of assets, said it had already talked to Rolls-Royce last year after 14 investors, who together hold 34 per cent of the shares, sought help over the company's "deteriorating situation". The forum said it would "engage" again in the wake of the latest damaging revelations about Rolls-Royce although it added that it had received no requests to do so yet. - The TimesThe vast majority of businesses are unaware of a shake-up of the water industry in England that will allow them to negotiate cheaper supply deals or switch to a new provider. From April 1 more than 1.2 million businesses, councils and public sector organisations will be able to choose their "water retailer". - The Times