Special Report:
*Larry Yung’s long march (the man who bought 1.1% of Anglo American (AAL.L)).
The Agenda Column:
*Pru (PRU.L) needs to be shot of its Egg (EGG.L) bogeyman.
*Mystery men - The City is full of contradictions. Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, is predicting next year we will see a record level of corporate activity from private equity. Then along comes Ernst & Young, predicting the debt bubble will burst in 2008.
*A lot of dough - Will Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier Foods (PFD.L), be able to bake an exceedingly good Mr Kipling cake?
*The big cheeses (Business Personality of the Year).
The Business Focus Column:
*The Transformers (The 10 contenders in the Sunday Times’ Business Personality of the Year. Within the 10 only 3 are British - John McAdam, Stuart Rose and Robert Schofield).
The Andrew Davidson Column:
*John Elliott.
Features:
*Retail’s Nightmare before Christmas.
*Springtime for Angela Merkel and Germany.
The Inside the City Column:
*Choppy waters but it’s time to launch into VT (VTG.L) - Evolution has put a target price of 540p on VT, which it says is less than its own sum-of-the-parts valuation. It rates the stock “a compelling proposition.”
*Aberdeen (ADN.L) – At this level the shares are good value.
Money Section:
*Brown dashes inheritance dreams.
Further news:
*DTI to be axed in Brown shake-up of Whitehall.
*Citigroup (CGP.L) hatches £950-million Egg (EGG.L) deal.
*No end to the M&A boom.
*Hilton plans 25 hotels in China expansion.
*Hedge fund roars into world motor racing (RAB Capital (RAB.L)).
*Hutchison Whampoa's focus on the UK operations of 3 has added to the pressure on the chief executive Bob Fuller.
*Mixed signals are dividing the experts.
The Deputy Business Editor’s Column:
*Off-key note in record bonus season - It may be record bonus season in the City this Christmas, but when a group of Britain's leading financiers gathered at the Plasterers Hall last week, it was Scrooge not Santa most were thinking of. A straw poll of the audience as to whether there was likely to be a significant downturn in the next couple of years, saw more than 80% put their hands up. Given the number of deals bankers insist are still in the pipeline, the mood of pessimism may surprise some, but fears the corporate credit cycle could be about to turn are growing.
*Carrier waves – Twelve-months is a long time in politics, they say. It's something that Lord Drayson, the MoD's procurement minister, will be all too aware of when he gets up in front of a City audience this Friday.
*Little festive cheer - Retailers are bracing themselves for a tough Christmas and industry veterans are predicting the worst Christmas for 25-years.
*Eastern Promise - Chief executives at Britain's leading companies could be forgiven for feeling just a tad vulnerable these days. Foreign predators are cutting a swathe through UK plc, picking off some of the country's most illustrious names. Incoming foreign bids have outstripped UK deals overseas by nearly £200-billion over the past three years. But despite such headline-grabbing numbers, not all British executives are sitting on their hands. Many are, in fact, pursuing deals abroad in their own right.
The Economic Editor’s Column:
*'Iron Chancellor' drowns us in debt.
Features:
*You'll never walk alone... with a foreign billionaire - As Liverpool FC is targeted by Dubai's ruling family, the world's super-rich are circling other top clubs.
*Ghost of Christmas 25-years past returns to haunt the High Street.
The Breaking Views Column:
*Why content is still king for broadcasters - The most obvious lesson from NTL's failed bid for ITV (ITV.L) is that the cable group needs more content. After all, it was willing to gear its balance sheet to the hilt before even integrating other acquisitions just to get its hands on such gems as Celebrity Love Island. But BSkyB's (BSY.L) dawn raid on 17.9% of ITV's shares may also imply that Sky needs more content itself.
*No smoke without fire - Japan tobacco's approach to Gallaher (GLH.L), the UK cigarette-maker, has set the tobacco sector ablaze with bid speculation. With only a few big players chasing even fewer potential takeover targets, consolidation should come thick and fast. But deals, while possible, would obviously not be good news for investors.
The Equity View Column:
*ITV (ITV.L) – buy.
*Northumbrian Water (NWG.L) – take profits.
*Prodesse Investment (PRD.L) – speculative buy.
*Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping (OHM.L) – buy.
City Profile:
*Rod Kent (Chairman of Close Brothers (CBG.L)).
The Money Section:
*Give them the gift of wealth (Your children may yearn for the latest robotic toy or doll that drinks from the bottle, but columnist explains how you could give them a financial head start instead with child-friendly investments).
Further news:
*Brazilians give final polish to £4-billion bid for Corus (CS.L).
*Trinity Mirror (TNI.L) split ‘unlikely’.
*Brown faces EU company tax bombshell.
*Split trust liquidator goes to High Court.
*Smith & Nephew (SN.L) set to table £5-billion offer for Bionet.
*3i (III.L) moves in on Countrywide Estate Agency Group (CWD.L).
*Shareholders in Amec (AMEC.L), the beleaguered support services group, are pushing private equity bidders First Reserve and Texas Pacific Group to make a higher indicative offer, as the company prepares to announce the results of its strategic review this week.
The Comment Column:
*Is BT (BT.L) boss making the right call?
*Chancellor in a pensions mess.
*Christmas sales talk on Barclays (BARC.L) and Prudential (PRU.L).
The Mammon Interview:
*Keith Jones, who is standing down as chief executive of Morley Fund Management.
Cover Story of the Business Section:
*Airlines snub emissions plan after Treasury doubles duty.
Features:
*Barclays (BARC.L) maps out growth with ‘citizen salesmen’.
*Phoney pills: the new Pharma blockbusters.
The Analysis Page:
*It’s not too late to save Christmas - It's too warm to buy winter clothes, and we'd rather go online for CD’s and books. But if high-street stores get it right, they can still defy the doomsayers who fear the worst festive trading in a quarter of a century.
The Business Interview:
*Tom Albanese (Chief Executive ‘Elect’ at Rio Tinto (RIO.L)).
The Hamish McRae Column:
*If the Chancellor played it straight then maybe we wouldn’t be so grumpy.
Further news:
*Russia threatens Shell (RDSA.L) with 'unlimited fines' in new Sakhalin deal.
*The smoke rises at Emblaze (BLZ.L) as board jettisons chief executive.
The Cover Story of the Financial Mail:
*Gas profits spark calls for lower bills (£1.6-billion forecast puts Centrica (CNA.L) under pressure).
Feature:
*Farepak and ‘the best disappearing act since Houdini’.
The Midas Column:
*Global spread gives Diageo (DGE.L) more power – Shares should not disappoint so tuck them away.
*Sales leap at unlucky Asos (ASC.L) – Still room for short-term upside, while investors who choose to hold on for 3-or-4 years could be well rewarded.
Feature:
*The Stiletto Index (As young women give high heels the boot, Timpson boss looks to jewellery repair for new boom).
Further news:
*Goldman has been asked to find buyers for mobiles group 3.
*Cenkos (CNKS.L) cries foul to win libel case - E-mail from Evolution (EVG.L) “claimed” that Andy Stewart and founder of Cenkos had been imprisoned in 1974 for blackmail).
*Poor serviced brings action on broadband.
*BAT’s (BATS.L) and Altadis are unlikely to join a bidding war for Gallaher (GLH.L).
*300 firms hit by war on fraud.
*Arena (ARE.L) and Ladbrokes (LAD.L) set to run ‘racino’.
*Retail sales robust as gloom lifts.
*Chancellor's copyright crackdown comes as EMI (EMI.L) helps fund his political allies.
Further news:
*EMAP (EMA.L) to look hard at radio strategy.
*Investors vie for stakes in UK hotels.
*Saudi ‘insult’ behind Eurofighter impasse.
*William Morrison's (MRW.L) customers funding cut price offers.
*FTSE buoyant on bid rumours.
*Simon Halabi the secretive Syrian-born billionaire has emerged as the surprise bidder on the shortlist to buy Aston Martin.
*CSN is set to table an offer for Corus (CS.L) around the 475p level, valuing the ex British Steel at £5.1-billion once debt is included. Tata bid just 455p for Corus.
*British Airways (BAY.L) is on bid alert after Chairman Martin Broughton warns that airlines could be the targets of opportunistic approaches from predators such as private-equity groups.
*Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) has tabled a surprise takeover bid for Wilson Bowden (WLB.L).
*RAB Capital (RAB.L) has snapped up a majority stake in A1 Grand Prix.
*Goldman has been asked to find buyers for mobiles group 3.
*Another court hurdle this week for Eurotunnel (ETL.L) on vital debt-restructuring.
*Sports tycoon (Mike Ashley) eyes £2.5-billion IPO of Sports World International.
*Citigroup (CGP.L) looks set to clinch Quilter purchase.
*InsureandGo founders mull £100-million sale.
*Electra Private Equity (ELTA.L) set to buy Lil-lets.
*Antiques trade hit by IKEA love affair.
*Charterhouse Capital is said to be looking at Selecta (division put up for sale a fortnight ago by Compass (CPG.L)).
SOME ITEMS THAT COULD INFLUENCE SHARE PRICES
*Hundreds of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be awarded millions of pounds in compensation, following a ruling by the Government that they are victims of crime not war.
*Great British commanders admit that the Taliban can attack Nato troops in southern Afghanistan whenever it wants, despite months of intense fighting.
*DTI to be axed in Brown shake-up of Whitehall.
*OFGEM set to give the go-ahead for “green” energy plant, to be based at Teeside.
*This week Minister’s will say that a child's need for a father will no longer be a consideration when a woman seeks fertility treatment. Homosexual couples will have the same parental rights as heterosexuals and, for the first time, all parents will be banned from choosing the sex of their baby for non-medical reasons.
*Ministers are planning to publish on the internet the names of absent parents who refuse to pay maintenance for their children.
*Government figures suggest that one million households in England could pay £600 each in extra council tax every year simply for being in a conservation area.
*British Airways (BAY.L) pilots' union Balpa set to call a strike ballot this week if talks on the airline's £2.1 billion pension deficit break down.
*Britons are retiring abroad in such numbers that one in five pensioners will live overseas by 2050, according to a study for Public Policy Research.
*The Metropolitan Police unlawfully tapped phonecalls of one of their own senior officers, the BBC has learned. The force listened to calls made by Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, legal adviser to the National Black Police Association. The interception was ruled unlawful by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
*The chief executive-designate of the British Bankers Association has accused the debt management industry of "getting out of hand" and launched a fresh call for formal regulation of the industry.
*Police investigating the murder of two prostitutes found dead six days apart in the same stream say further tests are needed to determine how they died. On Saturday detectives confirmed a body found near Copdock Mill, Ipswich, in Suffolk, was that of Tania Nicol, 19. Det Supt Andy Henwood said there were "obvious similarities" with the death of another prostitute, Gemma Adams, 25.
*The killer of British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian Outback is to launch an appeal against his conviction and sentence next week.
*Two British Muslim pilgrims have been killed in a coach crash in Saudi Arabia.
*The space shuttle Discovery has lifted off from Cape Canaveral - the first night shuttle launch in 4-years. The shuttle is heading to the International Space Station, which NASA is racing to complete before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. A British astronaut is on board and will be involved in the mission to rewire the international space station. Dr Nicholas Patrick, 42, originally from Saltburn in Teesside, is one of the 7 crew.
*A scan can spot which people harbour dangerous levels of fat around their vital internal organs, scientists say. Hammersmith Hospital, in west London, is currently the only hospital in Europe using the MRI scan. Its scientists say 40% of the population have "bad" fat around the heart, liver or pancreas, even though many appear thin.
*Outgoing US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise trip to Iraq, just days after a bipartisan commission called the situation there "grave and deteriorating" and said the administration's policy was not working.
*President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that his country has expanded its contentious uranium enrichment programme at a plant in central Iran, a semi-official news agency reported.
Compiled in association with HB PLC and WH Ireland Ltd
