The Special Report:
*When oligarch friends fall out ... (Norilsk divorce causes shock waves).
The Agenda Column:
*Maybe it’s time to break up Network Rail.
*Big test for BHP (BLT) – Something has always been puzzling about the BHP Billiton-Rio Tinto (RIO) saga is how little has been said about the competition issues. Odd then that Rio Tinto has in its defence against BHP so far steered clear of the competition issues.
The Economic Outlook Column:
*Fear of falling governs outlook.
The Business Focus Page:
*Spanish Conquest - A flurry of 50 deals has turned Spain’s Santander into a global banking powerhouse in just 15 years. And now it is poised to strike again in Britain.
The Andrew Davidson Interview:
*Torben Sorensen, chief executive of Bang & Olufsen.
Feature:
*Cash is king for property bargains (With the prices of office buildings crashing by nearly a third, many investors are fleeing. But others see opportunities).
Feature:
*France’s Sodexho (SXH) bites into Britain – The world’s largest caterer after Compass (CPG) is forging ahead despite a drubbing from the City.
The Inside the City Column:
*Platinum can dig Lonmin (LMI) out of trouble - But after its recent underperformance, Lonmin (£31.94) looks cheap. That also makes it a prime takeover target as consolidation sweeps through the mining sector.
*Great Eastern Energy (GEEC) - The shares (163.5p) have risen 62% since flotation but trading at around 10 times forecast earnings for 2010 look worth a punt.
Lead Story of the Money Section:
*25 ways to make a profit in 2008.
The Director’s Deals Column:
*Celtic (CCP) non-executive, Tom Allison, has spent another £1-million bosting his stake in the football club, giving him a holding of 3.79%.
Further news:
*Tata wants Ford man (Geoff Polities) for Jaguar-Land Rover.
*Canary Wharf readies war chest for property spree.
Feature:
*Flight to gold as investors lose faith in money.
The Business Comment Column:
*Let’s throw out Darling’s deckchairs - In his interview last week with the Financial Times, Darling said he wanted to make sure that legislation is "up to the mark in dealing with problems when they arise in future". But isn't that exactly what the existing regulatory system, split between Treasury, Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Bank of England, was supposed to do when introduced by Darling's predecessor, Gordon Brown, more than a decade ago?
*This radio silence is a bad thing - Richard Eyre and Fru Hazlitt, the chairman and new chief executive of radio group GCap Media (GCAP) have been on the receiving end of generous-sounding bid proposal from rival Global Radio, now headed by former ITV (ITV) boss Charles Allen. But in a rather eccentric move for a public company, they don't appear to want to broadcast it to shareholders.
*AIM misses its target - Sir Ronald Cohen is right to want the City to debate the future of Aim. Clara Furse, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), deserves credit for allowing the junior market to flourish, but it's moved a long way from any notion of being a market to foster entrepreneurial growth companies.
The Economic Agenda Column:
*Watch the economists cut and run ... again.
Small feature:
*The singular folly of the single currency - Imagine the “boom-bust” scenario had we been in the €urozone for the last 8-years, where rates have averaged an impossible 2 to 3%, compared with the 4 to 5% average prescribed by the Bank of England.
Feature:
*Why department stores are going up in the world.
Feature:
*The Lynch effect has Autonomy (AU.) bubbling up again - Mike Lynch is not the City's favourite IT boss, but you can't argue with a doubled share price.
Feature:
*Gambling on new gadgets – What will be the next iPhone?
Feature:
*The year to pan in on Pandora’s box (Sky (BSY) wants Picnic as ITV (ITV) faces challenges) - 2008 will be one of explosive change for television. All the main broadcasters face crucial challenges in TV's most important year since 1990.
Profile:
*Samir Brikho, chief executive of Amec (AMEC).
The Real Business Column:
*Can Fishworks (FSH) recover from its battering? Hawk-eyed readers will have noticed that the chain of 36 Loch Fyne seafood restaurants was recently bought by Greene King (GNK) for up to £68m, valuing each of its sites at nearly £2-million. Apply this logic to Fishworks and it is undervalued and should go onto the menu for brave investors.
Feature:
*Oligarch in the blogosphere – Russian entrepreneur Alexander Mamut has bought the US blogging website LiveJournal. But there’s a fear that Kremlin loyalists will his ownership to censor the blog.
Further news:
*Anglo American (AAL) shelves sale of Tarmac until credit markets return to normal.
*Charles Tyrwhitt, the shirtmaker favoured by bankers in London and New York, will seek to sell a stake in the business by floating on Aim later this year.
*Guy Hands continues to clear out EMI old guard.
*Traders seeking belated present from shorting Debenhams (DEB).
Lead Story of the Business Section:
*Banks move to head off repossessions – Revised code to require lenders to contact struggling homeowners and work out payment plans.
Feature:
*Crude awakening: central banks urged to cut rates fast as price gushes threaten to spill over.
Analysis Page:
*Can the rabbit bound free of the forces of destruction? – Officially 2008 is the Chinese year of the rat, but if its booming economy is to avoid being mired in a global downturn, the country will have to pull a different animal out of its hat.
The James Moore Column:
*Even the bookies can’t decide on interest rates.
*Cheap-credit hangover.
*Bank shake-up – How will a Cabinet committee involving the FSA, Bank of England and Treasury would solve the communication problems writ large by the Northern Rock (NRK) debacle.
The Expert View Column:
*It doesn’t require a recession to send the markets reeling – Investors face an even more terrifying test of their valuation skills. An unforeseen ‘risk event’ could lead to a scramble for the exit.
The Hamish McRae Economic View Column:
*Maybe we’ll scramble through 2008 unscathed. But that doesn’t mean we‘ll be out of the woods in 2009 – House prices may decline but there won’t be the misery of the 1990’s. The main concern is the public finances. These are dreadful.
Martin Baker’s City Eye Column:
*And so to sleep... in spring we’ll be rudely awakened – If the hedge verity of volatility being the investor’s friend holds good, the funds will have a great 2008. Watch out this spring, I say.
Interview:
*Dan Nye, chief executive of LinedIn.
Further news:
*Persimmon (PSN) leads the way down as City braces for bad year in bricks and mortar.
The Lead Story of the Financial Mail:
*GE (GEC) may quit £2.5-billion store card market.
Feature:
*Grant Thornton ‘looted us’ says Italian casualty – Collapsed dairy company Parmalat accuses top accountancy firm over £6-billion corporate scandal.
Further news:
*US gloom spreads to the Footsie.
*Scottish & Newcastle’s (SCTN) £1-billion Russian deal.
Interview:
*Euan Sutherland, chief executive of Superdrug.
The Midas Column:
*2008 portfolio finds oases in arid market: - Serica Energy (SQZ), Hilton Food Group (HFG), Provident Financial (PFG), Smith & Nephew (SN.), Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE).
The Lead Story of the Financial Express:
*Job loss fears over future of shoe chain (Shoe Express owner Stead & Simpson).
Feature:
*Saudi ships sale ‘to aid MoD budget’.
Feature:
*Oil drills $100 hole in our pockets.
Further news:
*Wagamama profits soar with buyers in the wings.
*House of Fraser (HOF) heads the field after trading update.
*BSkyB (BSY) in exclusive shops deal.
*M&S (MKS) reveals Christmas blues.
*Goldman Sachs is close to completing a £15-billion financing package for use by bidders trying to rescue Northern Rock (NRK), the stricken mortgage lender.
*Power companies building new nuclear stations in Great Britain will have to set up independent “pension” funds to pay for the treatment of waste and reactor decommissioning, as Ministers are expected to give the green light to new nuclear plants this week.
*British Airways (BAY) flies in the face of pilots’ demands with US venture.
*Aussie taxman halts Virgin cash transfer.
*Northern Rock (NRK) sale jeopardised by falling house prices, as bankers struggle to value the stricken lender.
*Analysts to cut M&S (MKS) forecasts amid sales fears.
*Towergate plans £1-billion refinancing to pay for expansion.
*Global Radio offers £300-million for GCap Radio (GCAP).
*Apax founder, Sir Ronald Cohen, has called on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to introduce reforms to the junior AIM market to make it more like America's Nasdaq exchange.
*Chris Hohn's hedge fund, TCI, is understood to have clocked up gains of almost 40% last year, after reaping huge profits from the sale of Dutch bank ABN Amro.
*Two former engineering apprentices are sitting on a paper fortune of £9-million after striking a deal to sell half the company they created, Formaplex, to Dunedin Private Equity.
*Cenkos's Andy Stewart, the man stalking Close Brothers (CBG), is threatening to poach the investment bank's stars and clients if Close continues to cold-shoulder his 950p-a-share bid.
*Cenkos boss to bid for the Tote.
*M&S (MKS) figures set to lighten the Christmas gloom.
*FSA report to make case for tighter listing controls.
*Stuart Rose leads M&S (MKS) back to days of £1-billion profits.
*British Airways (BAY) passengers set to pay £100 fuel surcharge.
*On Monday BSkyB (BSY) will offer to give up its voting rights on its 17.9% stake in ITV (ITV), in an attempt to avoid a forced sale.
*Sir Richard Branson pay warning on cabin crew strikes.
*Virgin warns strikers.
*Smith & Nephew (SN.) on the Saddam bribery probe list.
*Business leaders urge Bank to cut rates.
*Go-ahead for £8-billion nuclear reactors.
*India to build world’s biggest oil refinery.
*Rio Tinto (RIO) sets sights on uranium explorer Xemplar Energy.
*Buyers line up for Equitable Life.
*Two Luton businessmen are putting the finishing touches to bids for Luton Town FC.
SOME ITEMS THAT COULD INFLUENCE SHARE PRICES
*The Bank of England is under pressure to cut rates this week. Two leading industry groups are calling for an immediate rate cut to head off a sharp downturn, as are a majority of members of the “shadow” monetary policy committee (SMPC). Last month it anticipated the Bank’s rate cut and this month it thinks the Bank should move again.
*The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.
*Top UK universities are drawing up blacklists of “soft” A-level subjects that will bar applicants from winning places on their degree courses. They are warning that candidates who take more than one of the subjects such as accountancy, leisure studies and dance are unlikely to gain admission. They say they lack the academic rigour to prepare students for courses and are alarmed at the way increasing numbers of state schools are using them to boost pupils’ top grades.
*Great Britain’s supermarkets are to ban the sale of eggs from battery hens amid a growing consumer backlash over the impact of cheap food on animal welfare. Sainsbury (SBRY), Morrisons (MRW) and the Co-op said this weekend that they would ban or phase out the sale of eggs from caged hens. Eggs from battery hens have already been removed from Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Waitrose.
*Network Rail is facing a revolt by some of its ruling members over new-year travel chaos after two of Britain’s busiest lines were closed by late-running engineering works. A call for change was circulated on Friday among the 118 members who control the company. They have the power to remove top executives and reject annual accounts.
*Network Rail's directors are to be hauled before the Transport Select Committee to explain the fiasco on the West Coast Main Line that disrupted the travel of 60,000 passengers a day last week.
*A record 1,445 directors of private and public companies in Great Britain were paid a minimum of £1-million last year, according to records filed at Companies House.
*Gold set to smash all-time record.
*The army's notorious Deepcut Barracks, has fallen victim to the MoD's Defence Training Review, which will see the closure of several bases in the south of England and their relocation to other parts of the country, saving an estimated £10-million. Four privates - Sean Benton, 20; James Collinson, 17; Geoff Gray, 17; and Cheryl James, 18 - died of bullet wounds in separate incidents at the base near Camberley in Surrey between 1995 and 2002.
*A powerful earthquake has hit Greece, shaking buildings and waking people from their sleep. Greek geologists say the quake, measuring 6.5, was centred 75-miles south-west of Athens in the southern Peloponnese region. But it was very deep, 51km underground, and there were no early reports of casualties or damage. Reports say the quake was felt over much of Greece, which is the most earthquake-prone country in Europe. The earthquake struck at 05:14 GMT (0:14 local time), while many people were still asleep.
*Barack Obama, the 46-year-old senator aiming to become America’s first black president, has stormed into a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in this week’s critical New Hampshire primary, threatening to send her campaign into meltdown.
*Researchers from the University of Alabama have developed a cream that could reverse the process that causes skin cancer.
Compiled in association with HB PLC and WH Ireland Ltd
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