The Agenda Column:
*Companies must learn private equity’s tricks (Public companies have been sold too cheaply to private equity and the value debate needs a wider airing and deeper analysis – EMI (EMI.L)/Permira).
*Roads scholar - Sir Rod Eddington, was in town last week to release his long-awaited report into what to do about Great Britain’s transport system in the long term. But John Waples (Agenda) found the report a bit disappointing.
*Consuming interest (Consumers/Retailers/Wares).
Business Focus:
*Enter the Celebrity Chairman at ITV (ITV.L) (Michael Grade).
The Andrew Davidson Interview:
*AG Lafley (Chief Executive of Procter & Gamble (PGM.L)).
Features:
*Journey’s end for the package tour.
*Calamity at Kwik Save (Can it survive?).
*Copyright needs a global tuning.
The Inside the City Column:
*Insurers face £23-billion pension timebomb.
*Ceres Power (CWR.L) - They will remain risky but, barring any technical disasters, Ceres could finally deliver in an area that has so often been built on hope.
The Directors’ Deals Column:
*Northern Rock (NRK.L) executive buys as stock dips.
*Allied Irish Bank’s (ALBK.L) Chairman has used a slight dip in the shares to increase his holding.
Further news:
*Premier Foods (PFD.L) eyes merger bid for rival RHM (RHM.L).
*Dollar’s dive boosts London.
*Gordon Brown’s legacy is slammed in a poll carried out by the Taxpayer’s Alliance.
*Corus (CS.L) trustees call in pension experts.
*Weak dollar is price of cutting trade deficit.
The Dan Roberts Business Editor’s Commentary Column:
*It’s time to worry when BT (BT.L) gets visionary – Sky (BSY.L) and NTL already have a big head start with video on demand.
*Don’t dis the dollar - There is something beguilingly divisive about currency markets. The binary nature of foreign exchange rates makes it tempting to assume that one country's weakness is another's strength.
*Subsidising Airbus - As each generation of Airbus designers toils away to improve aircraft efficiency, another army of accountants and bureaucrats comes up with more elaborate ways to disguise how much subsidy Europe's industrial champion still gets from European taxpayers.
The Luke Johnson Maverick Column:
*Riverdeep, mountain high of debt - The recent deal involving a US textbook publisher and an Irish software company is a symbol of the sort of racy stuff going on in capital markets right now. The larger participant in the transaction is a venerable Boston company called Houghton Mifflin, formed in 1832 and once the publisher of literary greats such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. While the game of musical chairs continues, Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep may well be a roaring success. But if there is even a slight downturn in educational spending, or its rivals win all the best contracts, then scary contracts like this get battered very quickly indeed.
The Economics Editor Column:
*Road pricing needs a jump start.
Features:
*The process of economic de-colonisation is not yet complete.
*How oil and gas winners became donkeys - The high risks of resource stocks mean that fund managers have lost their appetite for wild all-or-bust schemes (A platform for growth? FirstAfrica (FAO.L), Bowleven (BLVN.L), Peter Hambro (POG.L) and Desire Petroleum (DES.L)).
The City Profile:
*What’s the battery life of Dell boy? – Kevin Rollins, President and CEO of Dell (DEC.L).
The Breaking View Column:
*Let’s not gnash our teeth over Nasdaq.
*Mind the gap - Scottish Power's (SPW.L) shareholders should be chortling with glee. Iberdrola, the Spanish energy company, has offered a fat £11.8-billion to take over the British utility. Yet they have only given the deal a lukewarm reception. This can be seen in the gap that has opened up between Scottish Power's share price and the value of Iberdrola's offer.
The Equity View Column:
*Cadbury (CBRY.L) - On the downside, about 50 per cent of Cadbury's earnings come from the US, and will be hit by the weak dollar. But if that leads to weakness in the share price, a bid would be all the more likely.
*Man Group (EMG.L) - Those who are not in the stock should avoid it for now. Anyone who has made profits on Man should take some of those gains off the table.
*Low & Bonar (LWB.L) - The current weakness is a buying opportunity.
Further news:
*Media groups jostle for new digital licences.
*Dell (DEC.L) set to open shops in Britain.
*Stagecoach (SGC.L) – hop on for a £350-million share buy-back.
*Crunch time for NatWest 3.
The Analysis Page:
*China’s consumer army has yet to leap forward.
The Business Interview:
*Paul Moody (Chief Executive of Britvic (BVIC.L)).
The Hamish McRae Column:
*Physics is all very well, but scientists really need to teach themselves confidence too.
Features:
*Tycoon Tchenguiz has seen the future – and it’s green.
*Iran lets its oil and gas lifeblood trickle away.
Further news:
*Tesco (TSCO.L) surprises its rivals with Christmas internet trial.
*Aids drugs for Africa deal is off as Pharma giants pull out - Some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, including FTSE 100 giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), have failed to sign a formal agreement that would ensure HIV and Aids patients in poor nations receive vital drugs. Other firms include Pfizer (PFZ.L), Roche (ROG.L), Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck (MRK.L), Abbott Laboratories and Gilead Science.
The Midas Column:
*Property trusts to make sector more dynamic.
*Griffin Mining (GFM.L) is a bid target.
Further news:
*EMI (EMI.L) holds talks over 300p-plus takeover by Permira.
*Sales can wait, say High Street clothing giants.
*The game’s up, says Robin Hood lawyer – Where’s our money ask victims of split-capital scandal as class law chief shuts down the company.
*F1 bosses commit to £160-million payback (Court case over loan spotlights sport’s ownership web).
*House of Fraser (HOF.L) suppliers threaten exodus.
*Hobbs (womanswear chain) sell-off expected to net 3i (III.L) £100-million.
*New Look goes out of town to take on rival Matalan (MTN.L).
*French swoop could pluck Saudi deal from BAE (BA.L).
*The FSA is to issue a blueprint for regulating savings clubs.
*Premier Foods (PFD.L) eyes merger bid for rival RHM (RHM.L).
*BAA (BAA.L) in break-up inquiry from the OFT.
*US buyout group Carlyle steams into Freeport Leisure (FPR.L) takeover bid.
*Permira set for £2.5-billion EMI (EMI.L) swoop.
*Farepak group firms to meet creditors.
*BT (BT.L) seals pact with Warner (TWX.L).
*Lloyd’s investigates Catlin’s (CGL.L) recent £600-million takeover of Wellington (WUN.L).
*Safestore may be among first to take Reit road.
*The Bennett brothers have emerged as the surprise bidders for Phase Eight.
*SABMiller (SAB.L) to launch major brand in China.
*Trinity Mirror (TNI.L) board reviews split option.
*Mike Ashley is considering a sale or flotation of his Sports World International empire.
*Russia’s aluminium giant Rusal speeds up float plans.
*Brake Bros cooks up listing.
SOME ITEMS THAT COULD INFLUENCE SHARE PRICES
*A report to be released on Monday from the Department of Health will show that more than 400 people have been killed by mentally ill patients released into the community in the past 8-years. The report concludes that on average 52 people a year (one a week) are killed by mentally ill patients.
*Several of the UK's largest banks fear they could face the full legislative wrath of the US government unless they bow to Washington's pressure to shut their operations in Iran.
*UK defence industry chiefs fear Saudi backlash.
*Saudi’s angered as fraud office inquiry looks likely to drag on for more than 2-years.
*More than 5,000 Polish babies are born in the UK each year fuelling fears about the pressure placed on schools, hospitals and the benefits system by the huge wave of immigration from Eastern Europe.
*Experts predict a base-rate respite for mortgage payers.
*Detectives are saying that Downing Street is withholding e-mails in cash for peerage inquiry.
*Council leaders want the Government to relinquish the power to set council tax, because they are fed up with implementing unpopular increases forced on them by the Treasury.
*The languishing US dollar leads to an online sales blitz.
*Global trade talks heading for “total failure,” says WTO chief.
*Thousands of women who take high doses of fertility drugs as part of IVF treatment may actually be harming their chances of ever having a baby, doctors are warning.
*Residents demand mobile phone company Orange to take down a phone mast in Shooters Hill, Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire, after 27 deaths and illnesses in the last 13-years (including brain haemorrhages and breast cancer) are being attributed to the mast.
*MP’s are urging Gordon Brown to put climate change at the heart of his pre-Budget report next week.
*Police say they are to reinvestigate the death of Stuart Lubbock, 31, after a review of the original inquiry. Entertainer Michael Barrymore has welcomed a new police inquiry into the death of Mr Lubbock at his home in 2001 and vowed to give, "every assistance I can".
*MP’s are pressing for a pay rise to push their salaries to £100,000-a-year.
Compiled in association with HB PLC and WH Ireland Ltd
