M&A

25 November, 2009

PRESS DIGEST - British business - Nov 26

The Guardian

DARLING DEFENDS 61 BILLION POUND SECRET LOANS

With executives at Lloyds Banking Group(LLOY.L) expected to come under attack on Thursday from shareholders for lack of disclosure, Alistair Darling has defended the decision to keep secret the emergency loans to Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS.L) and HBOS. The secret loan to HBOS is controversial as it was made after the board at Lloyds made the decision to give the green light to the takeover of HBOS. Labour MP Jim Cousins said Lloyds' shareholders and workers "were mugged".

QINETIQ BLAMES AFGHANISTAN INDECISION FOR PROFIT WARNING

Defence technology company QinetiQ(QQ.L) came under fire from the City after it issued a profit warning over its full-year figures. The group blamed political events in the UK and U.S. for a failure to deliver expected contracts and reported a two percent fall in first half pre-tax profit to 45.1 million pounds on revenues 11 percent higher at 806 million pounds. The company had been expected to report a pre-tax profit for the year to March of 137.7 million pounds.

TESCO THREATENS PRICE WAR OVER iPHONE SALES

Tesco(TSCO.L) will have the Apple iPhone in its stores in time for Christmas and this raises the prospect of price war with current suppliers O2 and Orange. Tesco will sell the iPhone 3G and 3GS to both pay-as-you-go and contract customers, but declined to reveal the exact prices it would charge. Tesco said: "We really want to bring a bit of Tesco value to the iPhone". Both Orange and O2 currently offer the basic phone from 34 pounds a month over two years.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants ($1=.5979 Pound)

Source: http://www.reuters.com