EXECUTIVE pay has gone way beyond reasonable levels while bumper bonuses haven’t made bosses work better a prominent investment manager has told The Sunday Telegraph.

Saker Nusseibeh, chief executive of Hermes Investment Management told the paper: ”The Anglo-Saxon model of giving lots of shares and a high degree of bonuses hasn’t worked and people have lost faith in business leadership.”

Recruitment giant Reed has said the labour market has boomed since the June referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union in spite of predictions the Brexit vote would be bad news for jobs, the Mail on Sunday reports.

The agency told the newspaper: “Our numbers show that UK industry is resilient. We’ve seen growth in a number of sectors including manufacturing and automotive, which is an encouraging sign for longer-term economic prospects. However, we must also be alert to the warning signs of what may be to come.”

The biggest fall in jobs was recorded in the banking sector.

Pensions consultant Hymans Robertson told The Observer the Brexit vote is having “terrifying” effects on the pension schemes of millions of British workers.

Research by the firm based on economic assumptions that took account of the vote found only 25 per cent of employees now have a good chance of meeting the level of retirement income regarded as appropriate by the Department for Work and Pensions. Half have an extremely low chance of reaching that level.

The Sunday Times reports that private equity firms are mulling bids for the French Connection fashion chain, which has been trying to recover the levels of popularity it enjoyed in the 1990s.

The paper said turnaround specialist Rutland Partners, whose investments include the Bernard Matthews turkey business and Pizza Hut’s UK restaurants, is understood to have looked in detail at a £40m takeover of French Connection.