WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
RECOVERY TREND AT ICG
Intermediate Capital Group, one of Europe’s largest mezzanine lenders, inched back into profit in spite of further provisions on loans to struggling companies, such as Gala Coral, the betting group. The financial crisis has taken its toll on ICG. The London-listed company was forced to repair its overstretched balance sheet by raising £351m from a rights issue in July and by cutting new lending to the lowest level in its 28 year history.
TRUELL DEAL OVER TELENT SCHEME
Edmund Truell’s Pension Corp has reached a deal to repair the the £450m-plus deficit in the pension scheme of Telent, the rump of the former GEC Marconi business, which the specialist pensions buy-out firm took over in early 2008. The agreement brings to an end a nearly two-year wrangle over the security of the pensioners after the Pensions Regulator reacted to concerns about the way Mr Truell’s company had bought Telent in order to gain ownership of the scheme, which has 55,000 members.
DOGAN IN TALKS OVER TAX FINEIA
Executives from Dogan Yayin Holding were locked in talks with tax officials yesterday to settle a record TL4.8BN fine that threatens the future of Turkey’s biggest media group. The case is viewed as a test of the government’s commitment to free media freedom and climate change.
OBAMA VOWS TO FINISH JOB IN AFGAN CONFILCT
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, in the strongest signal yet that he intends to send tens of thousands more troops to the conflict. Mr Obama is widely expected to outline his choice in a prime-time address next week.
THE TIMES
CUTS LOOMING IN NUCLEAR BUDGET
The Government is sharpening the axe for Britain’s £4bn nuclear clean-up budget and drawing up plans for big spending cuts at contaminated sites including Sellafield and Dounreay. The Treasury has begun a sweeping review of spending by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the quango that over the past four years is understood to have spent about £1bn of taxpayers’ money annually on cleaning up at Britain’s 20 contaminated nuclear sites.
HENIZ SELLS UK FROGEN DESSERTS BUSINESS
Heinz, the American food group, has sold its struggling private-label frozen desserts business in the UK, employing nearly 600 people in Devon and Warwickshire, to PoleStar Foods as part of a plan to shed non-core assets and focus on branded products.
The Daily Telegraph
SEVERN TRENT’S PROFITS RISE BY 50 PER CENT
Pre-tax profits have shot up by 50pc at Severn Trent, despite the water industry’s claims that it should be given a more lenient deal on how much to charge customers. Ofwat, the regulator, is due to rule on how much the utilities may increase household water bills and spend on improving the UK’s infrastructure over the next five years. After harsh draft proposals in July, the water companies are braced for the possibility of rights issues, dividend cuts and job losses.
RUSSIA LAUNCHES PROBE INTO LAWYER’S DEATH
President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia has ordered an investigation into the death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, the anti-corruption lawyer who helped uncover an alleged $230m (£139m) tax fraud against the state.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
GERMANY EXTENDS JOBS SCHEME
Amid new signs that the euro-zone economic recovery is gathering headway, Germany continues to prepare for a possible relapse as other governments plot exit strategies. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that government-funded programs to keep people employed by reducing work hours have helped prevent broad layoffs in Germany and will be extended.
KORES REAPPOINTED
The Netherlands reappointed Neelie Kroes to the European Commission on Tuesday, completing the field of 27 candidates and setting the stage for a struggle for control of the bloc’s key economic-policy jobs ahead of international negotiations on trade, climate change and financial services. José Manuel Barroso, the commissions president, can now assign commissioners specific jobs.