Only registred members can create thier own customized alerts.
Newspaper Briefing, including 'Greek debt talks on knife-edge amid growing IMF pressure on bondholders' - The Guardian
The Times
Tesco throws in the towel to focus on what it does best: Tesco is poised to walk away from its standalone furnishing stores because of weak sales at the warehouse-style outlets in retail parks. Britains biggest grocer, whose share price plunged by 16% two weeks ago after revealing disappointing Christmas trading, is thought to be keen to exit from leases its holds on all 13 of its Home Plus stores.
Ocado puts legal battle on the slab: Ocado has begun a legal battle with the builder of its Hatfield distribution centre. It has issued a breach of contract claim against Carillion, alleging that a service yard, or slab, used by the online grocers delivery vans has cracked because the concrete was not reinforced properly.
Drugs dealmakers jostle for space on the edge of patent cliff: Ageing patents and thin research pipelines have prompted a burst of deals in the drug industry. Pharmaceuticals companies have just had their busiest year of buyouts since 2007, with the value of mergers and acquisitions rising by 18% last year to $224 billion (144 billion), according to research by the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Race on for Azzurri, even before starting gun fires: A bidding war is set to break out for Azzurri, a pioneer in alternative telecoms, as some of the industrys most acquisitive businesses start to circle the company. Daisy and Alternative Networks, rivals in the business-to-business telecoms sector, will lead the charge. TalkTalk, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, KCOM and a host of private equity companies are also expected to run the rule over the business.
Starbucks aims for teas back garden: The Seattle-based chain is in advanced talks with Tata Coffee, part of the Tata industrial conglomerate, and is expected to announce details of a formal tie-up within days. Hameed Huq, Tata Coffees Managing Director, said: Hopefully, we will see the first Starbucks store by the end of the year.
Defiant Bank urged to move into 21st century: A power struggle between the Bank of England and MPs will escalate when a parliamentary committee demands governance fit for the 21st century at Threadneedle Street. The Treasury Select Committee wants a sweeping overhaul of supervision before the bank assumes new powers to monitor and regulate the financial sector.
City traders ignore court of public opinion and demand their cash: More than 100 City traders will go to the High Court this week to accuse Commerzbank of unfairly withholding 45 million in bonuses at the height of the global financial crisis. In a showdown likely to stoke public fury over City pay, the traders have accused Germanys second biggest bank of backtracking on a promise to pay them up to 1.9 million (1.6 million) each at the end of 2008.
Falklands to help foot defence bill from oil bonanza: An oil rig arrived in the Falklands seeking mineral wealth that could transform the islands fortunes and cement their ties to Britain. In anticipation of an oil bonanza, the islanders have agreed to contribute towards Britains annual 65 million bill for keeping 1,300 troops on the islands as a deterrent against another Argentine invasion.
The jewel in Chinas luxury goods crown: It is lunch hour on one of the last shopping days before Chinese New Year. Seeping along the pavements of Nathan Road, their cash groaning to be spent, tourists from the mainland engulf the couture, watch and jewellery shops. As they queue for Chanel and Louis Vuitton, a pollution-caked bus growls past and heads deeper into Kowloon. Its exhaust fumes almost obscure the three words plastered across the back Chow Tai Fook, a brand more hotly desired by 1.3 billion Chinese than Armani, Herms, Prada and Rolex.
The Independent
Osborne set to back Sir Mervyn in bitter battle over Bank rules: George Osborne is set to come down on the side of Sir Mervyn King in the increasingly bitter battle between the Bank of England Governor and the Treasury Select Committee over how the Bank ought to be supervised.
Brake on hiring foreigners set to slow U.K.s globalisation efforts: Britains efforts to further globalise its economy will slip backwards over the next three years because of new immigration rules that will hit the hiring of foreign nationals. Accounting firm Ernst & Young globalisation index forecasts that only Britain and Americas cross-border activity will decline despite faltering prospects for the world economy.
Inflation cheer muted as Bosses keep pay rises on hold: Bosses turned the screw on pay during January and kept consumer finances under the cosh despite falling inflation, financial information group Markit warned. Its latest household finance index signalled a fresh crackdown on private-sector pay deals last month, muting the cheer over easing pressure on the cost of living. Official figures last week showed inflation hitting a three-year low of 4.2% in December with even bigger falls expected this month.
China sales set to help Apple fend off Amazon threat: Apple will spell out how well it has coped with a fresh assault from Amazon this week as the technology giant updates Wall Street with quarterly sales figures. Analysts are eager to see how iPad sales held up over Christmas in the face of competition from Amazons cheaper Kindle Fire device.
Financial Times
Turkish media group attracts foreign interest: Rupert Murdochs News Corp, Time Warner and Texas Pacific Group are among five foreign companies expected to show interest in assets belonging to Turkeys second-biggest media group this week, but international bidders have doubts about the $700 million-$1.25 billion auction process leading to a sale.
Thomas Cook bookings down by a third: Thomas Cook is reeling from a slump of as much as a third in summer package holiday bookings during the first half of January, which threatens to create new cash flow problems on the company. The leisure industry monitor shared by tour operators to track bookings shows that the industry as a whole suffered a 15% decline in bookings in the two weeks to 13 January, compared to the equivalent weeks in 2011, said several people in the industry with access to the monitor.
EU plans raise home foreclosure risk: U.K. homeowners could face higher mortgage costs and greater risk of foreclosure next year because of an obscure clause in the bank capital directive being worked on by the European parliament.
Barnier urges Cameron and City to play the game: David Cameron and the City of London must learn to play the European game and give up seeking U.K. exemptions that would hurt the economy and endanger open trade, the European Unions top financial regulator will warn on Monday.
Parts of NHS reform mess could be saved: As Andrew Lansleys NHS bill slips deeper into the mire, amid ever more noisy opposition from doctors and nurses trade unions, there are still bits of the mess that can be rescued. One that has slipped well below the radar is the conflict of interest that has ensnared Mr Lansleys new economic regulator for the NHS.
BP poised to enter legal labyrinth: In Court C268, on the second floor of a 1960s federal government building in New Orleans, the future of BP hangs in the balance. This is the court where Judge Carl Barbier, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court in the eastern district of Louisiana, will hear case MDL10-2179: the big civil trial to resolve damages for the Deepwater Horizon disaster on 20 April 2010.
Business urged to fill in for government: Paul Polman, Chief Executive of Unilever, the consumer goods maker, is urging business to step into the breach left by inward-looking governments and failed institutions.
Virgin in London trial of 4G technology: Virgin Media has tested out next-generation mobile services based on its superfast fibre network that could drive the company to bid for spectrum in the forthcoming auction of 4G frequencies scheduled to take place later this year. Virgin is considering the launch of a nationwide wireless network using small transmitters similar to WiFi linked to its fibre network that can broadcast superfast mobile services.
Lex:
Reed between the lines: The publishing world is transfixed on navigating the challenges posed by the internet. However, for Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publisher, its financing may be just as important a challenge. That makes its search for a new Chief Financial Officer to replace the retiring Mark Armour all the more important. As the company recovers from the financial downturn, its exchange rate exposure and debt profile have become increasingly intertwined. Over half the companys debt is denominated in U.S. dollars, and only one-fifth in sterling, the currency in which the London-listed company reports. During 2009, one-eighth of Reeds net debt 560 million was wiped out from currency swings. Since 2009, and with the help of a share placement along the way, Reed has managed to reduce its net debt by one-third to 3.4 billion which equates to a respectable 2.4 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation. Reed currently pays an average interest rate on its debt of almost 6%, but over the next 36 months about 1.4 billion of its borrowings mature. With U.S. interest rates practically zero, when new debt facilities are put into place, and the current interest rate hedges which fix about two-thirds of the debt expire, interest expense could fall significantly.
Iceland and the Euro: cold comforts on currency: A mere three weeks into her new role as Finance Minister, Oddny Hardardottir has made it clear she wants the island to ditch the krona and adopt the Euro. Furthermore, Iceland will begin to reel back the capital controls it implemented shortly after its banks fell into crisis in 2008. For a country less than four years removed from near economic annihilation, that kind of faith (in both the Euro and the domestic economy) is impressive. Opinion is split on whether the capital controls helped the economy. The central bank believes that they stopped $4.3 billion of krona assets equivalent to almost one-third of 2011 gross domestic product from being sent offshore. Assuming that Iceland continues to improve its budget the 2011 deficit should be about 6%, says the Economist Intelligence Unit, down from 10% in 2010 there are still hurdles to EU membership and Euro-adoption. The first is the countrys desire to keep a tight hold of its economically vital fisheries.
Verizon and AT&T: its not just the yields: The past year has been good for big companies that pay big dividends. There are 27 U.S. companies with enterprise values greater than $40 billion paying dividends over 3%, according to Capital IQ. Over the past 12 months these have returned 16% to shareholders, on average, compared with the S&P 500s 5%. Stocks as diverse as Philip Morris, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Duke Energy, Intel and Chevron have all delivered great performances. After such a good run, however, the big-cap yield trade may be concealing risks. Consider two examples: Verizon and AT&T, the big, high-yielding U.S. telecoms groups. They have followed the larger trend, returning 19 and 14%, respectively, for investors over the last year. In recent years, AT&Ts dividend has absorbed about two thirds of free cash flow. At Verizon, only about a third of reported free cash flow has gone in dividends historically, but there is a catch: Verizon owns only 55% of its wireless business (Vodafone owns the rest) which account for most of the cash.
The Daily Telegraph
Italy and Spain call for Eurozone rescue fund booster: Italys premier Mario Monti has told Berlin that the new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) must be doubled to 1 trillion (828 billion) to restore investor confidence in southern European debt, according to Der Spiegel.
Ed Miliband urges David Cameron to block bonus for RBS Chief Stephen Hester: Opposition leader Ed Miliband has challenged the Prime Minister to block Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Chief Executive Stephen Hesters bonus in a move likely to raise eyebrows across the Square Mile.
Anadarko lines up for Rockhopper: U.S. oil group Anadarko Petroleum has joined the growing list of potential investors that could either team up with, or take over, Falkland Islands oil exploration company Rockhopper.
U.K. animators in plea for tax breaks: The U.K.s animation industry is scrabbling for crumbs, selling up and shipping off because production companies cannot compete against tax breaks offered overseas, the companies behind Wallace & Gromit, Peppa Pig and In The Night Garden have warned.
The Questor Column:
Pennon offers an uncommon mix of defensiveness and upside: The U.K. water sector remains a safe haven in a world of uncertainty and the sector has performed strongly of late and Pennon is one of Questors preferred sector plays because of its ownership of the Viridor waste disposal and recycling business, as well as South West Water. The company performed well in the first half of its financial year, with pretax profits up almost 12% to 107.4 million. They are trading on a March 2013 earnings multiple of 15.2, falling to 13.9 in the next year. They are yielding a prospective 4.1% in 2013, rising to 4.4%, having moved off a recent peak of 727p a share. Pennon at 639p. Questor Says Buy.
BAE shrugs off spending slump: BAE Systems is Britains largest player in the industry - and a number of announcements over the next few weeks could be important for sentiment. One of these is a looming decision by India on a fighter- jet contract that is potentially worth about $10 billion (6.4 billion). Indeed, the Asian country, which is already a significant customer of BAE, plans to spend about $50 billion upgrading its Soviet-era defence systems over the next five years. Analysts have calculated that a win would boost the companys earnings per share by a modest 1% to 2%. Current consensus sees earnings per share falling by about 1%. The downside for the shares appears limited, supported by its relatively secure 6.1% yield in 2012. The earnings multiple in 2012 is just 7.6. BAE shares were first tipped on 01 January 2010 at 359p and they are now 15% below this recommendation price. However, the valuation is discounting a prolonged slump in defence spending globally. BAE Systems at 313.7p. Questor Says Buy.
The Guardian
Eight City banks in 1.8 million pay spree: The government faces renewed pressure to announce tough measures on bankers pay this week as data shows that the average remuneration for 1,265 senior staff was 1.8 million in 2010. The analysis of regulatory disclosures by eight leading banks comes as the business secretary, Vince Cable, prepares to announce on Tuesday how he will tackle the issue of executive pay.
Greek debt talks on knife-edge amid growing IMF pressure on bondholders: Hopes of a debt deal between Greece and its private creditors in time for Mondays Eurozone meeting have been dashed, amid increased pressure on bondholders to accept bigger losses. After being close to a breakthrough, the high-stakes talks aimed at averting a Greek default by slashing the countrys monumental debt load were set back when the International Monetary Fund and Germany insisted that investors agree to reduced interest rates on new bonds.
1,500 BAE jobs threatened at Portsmouth shipyard: Trade unions and politicians have urged BAE Systems to clarify the future of its Portsmouth shipyard after the defence group launched a review that puts at least 1,500 jobs under threat on the south coast. The U.K.s largest manufacturing employer is mulling the closure of its shipbuilding operation at Portsmouth, which accounts for about half of the 3,000 BAE staff employed at the site.
Vodafone wins India tax case: India has dropped its pursuit of Vodafone Group for a 1.3 billion unpaid tax bill relating to the British mobile phone operators 7 billion purchase of Hutchison Essar, in a move that will reassure foreign companies at a time when the subcontinents economic boom is slowing. The Supreme Court ruling put an end to the Indian tax offices long-running battle to extract capital gains tax for one of the countrys biggest corporate takeovers, which was conducted in 2007 through offshore companies.
Daily Mail
U.K. dividends hit a record high of 67.8 billion in 2011: U.K. dividends hit a record 67.8 billion, according to the Dividend Monitor from Capita Registrars. Total gross dividends rose 19.4% for the full year, and soared 26% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2010. It was the first annual increase since 2008, the start of the financial crisis.
Asil Nadir faces 34 million theft charges in biggest ever fraud trial: The biggest ever British fraud trial begins when Turkish-Cypriot tycoon Asil Nadir stands up at the Old Bailey to face 34 million theft charges. He is accused of 13 counts of theft dating back to the 1980s from Polly Peck, his failed business empire that folded in 1990 under the weight of its 1.3 billion debt.
Private equity players and Edinburgh Woollen Mill eye Peacocks: Private equity players and Edinburgh Woollen Mill, the Scottish clothing group owned by Philip Day, are reported to be interested in buying discount chain Peacocks. It follows Sun European Partners 10 million proposed purchase of its fashion chain Bonmarche in a pre-pack administration deal.
Daily Express
Investors are in line for record 75 billion dividends: Companies are predicted to pay out 75 billion for this year, smashing a record set during the course of 2011. A surge in special one-off dividend payouts will power the increase in payments, according to shareholder services firm Capita Registrars in research published.
Prudentials growth potential will reap rewards: With the exception of its failed 21.8 billion takeover attempt of AIA, the Asian operations of insurer AIG, in 2010, its been plain sailing for the Pru in recent years. It has demonstrated an ability to deliver strong and profitable growth net income has increased 14% over the past five years on a compound basis without compromising balance sheet safety.
Lord Ashcroft will fund Dods DeHavilland deal: Tory peer Lord Ashcroft is likely to tighten his grip on Dods Group following a 12.8 million deal to buy rival DeHavilland Political Intelligence. He currently owns a 26% stake but this could rise to nearly 43% after an 11 million fundraising to finance the deal.
The Scotsman
Gaming industry starts fightback with move to lucrative new areas: Lack of investment has taken its toll on the U.K. games industry of which Dundee is a leading centre with nearly 200 firms failing in the last three years. However, Scotland is thought to be ahead of the curve in developing a new wave of simpler games aimed at mobile devices and social networking sites, which could be highly lucrative for small companies that develop popular applications.
Major Indian investment in Scotch: The Scottish whisky industry is set for a multi-million-pound investment boost from India as demand for the tipple grows unrelentingly on the subcontinent. Scottish Development International (SDI) has confirmed that a major drinks industry firm in India is planning to build a new distillery in Scotland in order to supply the growing middle-class thirst there for genuine Scotch.
West of Scotland deal goes to English firms: A programme to deliver 200 million of public works in the west of Scotland has been awarded to a consortium of companies based in England.
Lloyds counterclaims over fee errors: Lloyds Banking Group has filed a 4.2 million counter-claim against property managers Invista Real Estate, in which the bank owns a 60.0% stake. The property manager, which became part of Lloyds after it took over HBOS, has been pursuing Lloyds for a 500,000 management fee.
U.K. to reverse globalisation: The U.K. and U.S. will be the only major economies to see the globalisation process reverse this year as the process continues despite a faltering world economy. A report released by accountancy firm Ernst & Young says globalisation is still increasing among a majority of the worlds 60 leading economies as they so far avoid descent into protectionism.
Oil and gas sector powers jobs boost in north-east: Flourishing oil and gas services firms are winning new contracts and hiring more staff in Aberdeen. Heavy industry recruitment specialist Orion Group has boosted annual income by 20 million with two new contracts in the offshore sector with Canadian-based Nexen Petroleum.
Decathlon may bid for Best Buy sites: Decathlon, the worlds biggest sports retailer, is reportedly eyeing parts of Best Buys failed U.K. electricals empire as part of plans to open 100 stores in the U.K.. The French firm, which currently has just 12 U.K. shops, wants to expand after the collapse of Blacks Leisure and the recent struggles of JJB Sports created space in the market.
