News

Signs emerged for the first time yesterday that the credit crunch which began in American sub-prime mortgages is hitting home among UK domestic banks. HBOS, the parent company of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, said it would itself repay maturing debts for its Grampian commercial paper unit because the cost of borrowing in the short-term market was too high, says the Independent.

The battle for troubled software company iSoft has intensified, with Australia's IBA Health increasing its offer to £166m and trouncing a rival offer from Germany's CompuGroup, writes the Telegraph.

Britain's Vodafone is unlikely to receive dividends on its 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless, the second-largest US mobile operator, until 2010 or later, based on a Financial Times analysis of the joint venture's debt and potential spending plans.

Severn Power has won government approval for plans to build a new gas-fired power station on the banks of the river Usk, in Newport, South Wales. The £400m plant, to be built on the site of a former coal-fired power station demolished in 2002, is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2010, reports the Independent.

National Savings & Investments, the Government-backed savings bank, has reunited just £42m of an estimated £435m of unclaimed assets with account holders, according to the Telegraph.

The Indian pharmaceutical company Elder has snapped up a 20 per cent stake in the vitamin and food supplement specialist NeutraHealth to tap into the growing trend for healthy products, says the Independent.

Mondadori, the magazine publisher controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian Prime Minister, has expressed interest in buying Emap's £700 million consumer magazine division, writes the Times.

Multinational corporations have been accused of turning a blind eye to safety in factories in China in the search of ever cheaper products for Western consumers, reports the Independent.

At the start of the year you could have got odds of 8-1 against John Clare leaving DSG International. To the surprise of many, the bookies are paying out: the 22-year stalwart of the electrical group previously known as Dixons leaves as chief executive in a fortnight, according to the FT.

Thousands of businesses registering for VAT for the first time are facing unprecedented delays because of the Government's attempts to crack down on carousel frauds and cut costs, says the Independent.

Virgin Media chief executive Steve Burch is leaving the troubled cable group with a $7.17m (£3.62m) payoff after just over 18 months as chief executive, writes the Telegraph.

ChoicesUK, the high street DVD rental chain, is expected to appoint administrators today, putting more than 1,800 jobs in jeopardy, reports the Times.