WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
JPMORGAN CHIEF SAYS BANK RULES ‘ANTI-US’
New international bank capital rules are “anti-American” and the US should consider pulling out of the Basel group of global regulators, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has said. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Dimon said he was supportive of forcing banks to have more capital but argued that moves to impose an additional charge on the largest global banks went too far, particularly for American banks.
DOLLAR BORROWING COSTS ADD TO STRAIN ON EUROPEAN BANKS
European banks are facing increasing strains on their balance sheets because of the dramatic jump in the cost to borrow dollars, essential for some institutions as they need to repay loans in US currency. The cost for European banks to swap euros into dollars has jumped fivefold since June, hitting the highest levels since December 2008, and raising the risk of insolvency in the region’s financial sector.
YELL TO ASK HSBC TO HELP RESHAPE DEBT
Yell, the highly geared directories company, is set to ask HSBC to form a committee to bring together its banking syndicate and renegotiate its covenants. Yell, whose net debt stands at £2.7bn against a market capitalisation of £102m, has a large and complicated debt structure with about 300 or so lenders .
VERIZON SETBACK FOR VODAFONE
Verizon Communications has dashed the hopes of Vodafone investors by ruling out a return to a recurring dividend from the two companies’ mobile phone joint venture in America, Verizon Wireless.
THE TIMES
PREMIER FOODS INVESTS IN AMBROSIA
Premier Foods is investing £25m on a production line at its Ambrosia factory in Lifton, Devon, to help it to increase annual sales from £95m to £320m in the next few years. Mark Hughes, Premier’s procurement director, said: “We’ve got pretty ambitious brand development plans and need to ensure we’ve got the right supply chain to support those needs.”
STAGECOACH DEMANDS ACTION TO HALT METAL THEFTS
One of Britain’s leading transport groups is calling on the Government to introduce tough new measures to tackle the growing theft of cables from the railways. Stagecoach said that the problem was not only costing the economy £770m a year but also causing disruption that was bringing “misery to millions of rail passengers.”
The Daily Telegraph
ONE IN THREE EMPLOYERS ‘TO SACK AGENCY WORKERS’ AFTER NEW EU JOB LAWS
Almost half a million agency workers could lose their jobs just before Christmas as one in three employers plans to sack temps ahead of new rules kicking in, research has revealed. The study sends a fresh warning to David Cameron that the European Agency Workers Directive is likely to cost hundreds of thousands of British jobs.
BBC WORLDWIDE BACK IN EXPANSION MODE
BBC Worldwide is to take stakes in two independent production companies fronted by the executive producers of Spooks and Ross Kemp on Gangs, in a signal that the business is returning to expansion. Worldwide was criticised for buying 75 per cent of Lonely Planet in 2007.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EUROPE
PORSCHE, AUTO-INDUSTRY PEERS BUCK FEARS OF DOWNTURN
Porsche AG’s global sales surged in August despite swirling recession fears in some of its core markets, and the German sports-car maker said it expects further growth in coming months as it prepares for the presentation of the new generation of its iconic 911 model at the Frankfurt motor show today.
AMAZON IN TALKS TO LAUNCH DIGITAL BOOK LIBRARY
Amazon.com Inc. is talking with book publishers about launching a Netflix Inc.-like service for digital books, in which customers would pay an annual fee to access a library of content, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s unclear how much traction the proposal has, the people said. Several publishing executives said they aren’t keen on the idea.