News

Alistair Darling will announce tomorrow he has bowed to the threat of businesses quitting Britain by saying he will introduce a tax exemption on foreign dividends, reports the Sunday Times. He will also announce a package of measures for small firms, including a deferral of planned increases in their corporation-tax rate.

The Observer says Alistair Darling will be forced to admit tomorrow that the credit crunch has plunged Britain into a deep recession, and the economy will contract for a full year in 2009, for the first time since the early Nineties.

Lloyds has begun sounding out potential buyers of HBOS's portfolio of equity stakes and also wants to offload its funding obligations to the companies, in an attempt to reduce the stress of its balance sheet and to help secure a smooth merger of the two banks, says the Sunday Telegraph.

Urgent talks are taking place today to rescue Woolworths from collapse. The beleaguered high street firm's biggest shareholder will tomorrow table a last-ditch rescue plan to banks that are considering pulling the plug on the 99-year-old company, reports the Independent on Sunday. Ardeshir Naghshineh, a property entrepreneur with a 10 per cent holding in Woolworths, will today meet the chief executive, Steve Johnson, before proposing the plan to creditors.

The Sunday Times says Hilco, the restructureing company which is seeking to buy Woolworths' 840 high street shops for £1, sweetened its offer to the chain's bank lenders late on Friday night by offering to assume a greater share of the retailer's £385m debt mountain.

The gloom surrounding the stricken retail sector will intensify this week when Currys owner DSG International plunges into the red at the half-year stage for the first time in more than two decades and scraps its interim-dividend payment, according to the Sunday Times.

The Independent on Sunday says analysts have slashed forecasts for DSG International ahead of its results this week, as retailers warn of the "worst Christmas ever". Credit Suisse cut its annual profit forecast for the electricals retailer, whose brands include Dixons and Currys, by 63.4 per cent to £33.7m, as it noted more aggressive price cuts on televisions and the withdrawal of credit insurance to electrical suppliers.

Citigroup, the American banking giant, is holding talks to secure a capital injection from a wealthy investor or the US government, says the Sunday Telegraph. At least 1,250 jobs to be slashed from Citigroup's Canary Wharf London base, says the Observer.

The Independent writes that Citigroup, the embattled financial giant, is taking out advertisements in major US newspapers today in an attempt to shore up customer confidence after a downward spiral in its share price raised doubts about its future.

Multi-millionaire Barclays executive Roger Jenkins is exempt from the bank's decision to scrap bonuses for its top bosses, says the Observer.

Royal Bank of Scotland, the country's biggest lender to small businesses, will today try to head off government charges that banks are starving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of finance by launching an aggressive plan to bolster lending to the sector, according to the Sunday Times.

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade this week faces another hurdle in his battle with regulators. An independent report disputes his claims that ITV subsidises its regional licence holders by £25m, providing them with the ITV1 network schedule of programmes below cost, writes the Sunday Telegraph.

Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are poised to swoop on the flagship Debenhams store in Oxford Street, following the collapse of a £150m deal with a Ukrainian investor, says the Independent on Sunday.

Leni Gas & Oil, the AIM-listed energy producer, is planning to buy back one-fifth of its shares next year, reports the Independent on Sunday.

Shareholders in HR Owen, the listed upmarket car dealership, will vote on a £10m property transaction tomorrow morning that could give the American Embassy a plush new home, writes the Independent on Sunday.

Jaguar Land Rover is in secret talks with the government for a £1 billion loan, just nine months after Tata, the Indian conglomerate, bought the luxury-car marque, reports the Sunday Times.

A string of state-owned household names including the Met Office, mapmaker Ordnance Survey and the Forestry Commission, are being prepared for sale by the government in the next two years to raise cash for the stretched public purse, says the Sunday Times.

Ineos, the chemicals giant which is one of Britain's largest private companies, is to appoint advisers to draw up a new business plan in an attempt to tackle its heavily-indebted balance sheet, reports the Sunday Telegraph.