Thursday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, British Energy, BP
Saturday deliveries could be threatened unless the Royal Mail is partly privatised, the postal regulator has warned. A 100-page report by Postcomm to an independent inquiry into the future of the Post Office warns that a fresh injection of cash is needed to protect the postal service from deterioration, writes the Independent.
The board of British Energy will meet today to consider a takeover approach from EDF, the French state-owned electricity group, but board members, who include Sir Adrian Montague, chairman, and Bill Coley, chief executive, are minded to hold out for a higher offer, says the Times.
BP is caught in the crossfire of a growing struggle over the ownership of its Russian oil venture, TNK-BP, as a shareholder in the venture launched a fresh legal action to ban 148 workers seconded from BP from working at the company, reports the FT.
Barclays will today reveal around £750m worth of credit market write-downs, on top of the £1.6bn taken last year, and indicate plans to strengthen its capital base but will stop short of an immediate fundraising, according to the Telegraph.
HSBC could be in breach of best practice on pay, shareholders of the UK bank have been warned, ahead of the vote at the annual meeting on remuneration at the end of the month. The Association of British Insurers, which represents about a fifth of UK investors, including some of HSBC's biggest shareholders, has sent out an "amber top" alert on the bank's remuneration report, writes the FT.
The rising cost of food and fuel is not so far leading to a broader rise in inflation in the US, according to the latest figures, reports the Independent.
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Phones 4U, one of Britain's biggest high street mobile phone retailers, is facing investigation for alleged phone misselling. Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, said it had received "significantly high" numbers of complaints from the public about hidden charges, "unclaimable" cashback offers and misrepresented tariff terms, according to the FT.
Ben Verwaayen's valedictory address as BT chief executive today is set to be overshadowed by flat to falling profits at the former phone monopoly. Analysts forecast that the group will report underlying pre-tax profits of £2.48bn, down from £2.5bn a year earlier, on turnover up less than 2pc at £20.6bn, says the Telegraph.
MySpace.com, the social networking website owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has won $234m (£120m) in damages over junk email sent to its members, in what is believed to be the largest anti-spam ruling ever, writes the Independent.
Gordon Brown was warned by one of his closest advisers against scrapping the 10p tax rate before the 2007 Budget, the Times has learnt.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating sale and rent-back schemes after concerns were raised over the contentious and unregulated practice. Under sale and rent-back or sale and lease-back arrangements homeowners, typically facing repossession, sell their property at a discount in return for the option to remain in the house as a tenant paying rent, reports the Independent.
