Tuesday newspaper round-up: Oil prices, Richard Branson, Grant Thornton

(Sharecast News) - US oil prices turned negative for the first time on record on Monday after oil producers ran out of space to store the oversupply of crude left by the coronavirus crisis, triggering an historic market collapse which left oil traders reeling. The price of US crude oil crashed from $18 a barrel to -$38 in a matter of hours, as rising stockpiles of crude threatened to overwhelm storage facilities and forcedoil producers to pay buyers to take the barrels they could not store. - Guardian
Sales of baking ingredients, frozen vegetables and alcohol are rising while makeup, garden plants and newspapers have taken a hit as the UK changes its shopping habits during the coronavirus crisis. Total sales were up by 1.9% in the week to 5 April compared with the same period last year as the stockpiling peak subsided, according to the market analysts IRI. Before the government imposed lockdown measures, sales were up by as much as 50%. - Guardian

Sir Richard Branson has offered to put Caribbean retreat Necker Island up as collateral in return for a taxpayer-backed bailout of his airline group. The billionaire issued an impassioned plea for governments to save his business empire after admitting he has no "cash in the bank". In a wide-ranging letter, the Virgin Group founder hit back at criticism for suing the NHS and claims he moved overseas for tax purposes. - Telegraph

Grant Thornton has cut the pay and hours of about 300 UK employees as it seeks to reduce costs without drawing on government support. The accountancy firm - which anticipates that its 2020 profits could be 20 per cent below its previous expectations - said that some teams in areas where the firm was less busy would be working "reduced hours in the short to medium term" in an effort to preserve jobs without drawing on the government's furlough scheme. - The Times

Two out of three FTSE 100 companies are holding annual meetings behind closed doors this year, with no opportunity for shareholders to hold directors to account by asking them unfiltered questions in real time. Share Action, the shareholder lobby group, criticised companies such as BAE Systems, HSBC and Next, which were giving shareholders no chance to ask questions by live webcasts at the time of the annual meeting. - The Times