Friday newspaper round-up: Vauxhall, MG Rover, National Express

11th Sep 2009 06:14

Lord Mandelson warned Vauxhall's 5,500 workers last night to brace themselves for job cuts but insisted that a new deal to take control of the carmaker had saved the group's two British manufacturing plants.The Business Secretary said that car workers at Vauxhall had "every reason to feel confident" but that the company would have to undergo restructuring and change. His comments came after the American car giant General Motors announced that it had chosen Magna International, a Canadian vehicle parts group, to buy a 55% stake in Opel and Vauxhall, the Times writes.Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson is understood to be preparing the way for the consortium of businessmen known as the "Phoenix Four", who ran Rover from 2000, to be disqualified as company directors. It is believed that the peer has taken legal advice over their conduct and will seek to have them banned from being directors of a private or public company for a fixed number of years, the Times reports.JJB Sports, the sportswear retailer, has blown the whistle on Mike Ashley's Sports Direct, reporting its bitter rival to regulators for alleged criminal price-rigging and fraud. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) raided Sports Direct's headquarters in Shirebrook yesterday morning as part of an inquiry into anti-competitive behaviour between the two companies. The regulator has passed evidence to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which has started its own investigation into possible fraud, the Times reports.Britain's public debt will explode to 180% of GDP within a decade unless future governments take drastic measures to restore fiscal probity, according to a confidential study by the European Commission. The projection is more than twice the level forecast by the UK Treasury, which expects the debt to peak at around 80% before gradually falling as growth revives and tax revenues come back to life, the Telegraph reports.Google has admitted for the first time that it is developing technology that would assist newspapers in making money from website readers. The search engine, which has revolutionised the way consumers access news through its ranked news searches on the internet, is working on new software that will allow newspapers to charge users for certain online content using a system of micro-payments, the Telegraph reports.Global demand for oil will not fall as far as expected this year, although fears of a double-dip recession still dampen optimism, the International Energy Agency said yesterday. Stronger than anticipated demand in China and the US in recent weeks has left the estimate of how far oil consumption will fall in 2009 at 1.9m barrels per day (bpd) - some 400,000 bpd lower than last month's forecast, which was itself revised down by 200,000 bpd from the July total, the Independent reports. The world's thirst for oil is now expected to be 84.4 million bpd in 2009 - some 2.2% lower than last year - but it is likely to rise again by 1.3m bpd to 85.7m bpd next year, analysts say. The US is starting to pare back its emergency support for banks and financial markets, Treasury secretary Tim Geithner declared on Thursday, saying that the financial system no longer needed extensive government props. Almost a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a financial panic that tipped the world into a deep recession, Mr Geithner said it was time to move from crisis response to recovery, the FT reports.Richard Bowker, the former chief executive of National Express, has come out fighting over the way he ran the company and pinned the blame for its present plight on Government machinations. In his first public comments since quitting the transport group on July 1, Mr Bowker said he had spent months trying to negotiate a deal with the Department for Transport over the company's East Coast rail franchise, the Telegraph reports.Several of London's largest hedge funds are poised to launch onshore funds in order to trump strict new regulations expected from the European Union. Cheyne Capital, the $6bn (£3.6bn) hedge fund manager, is set to become the latest high-profile London name to launch a so-called Ucits III fund, people told the Financial Times. Man Group is to announce the launch of a similar fund - its second - on Monday, the FT reports. John Mack will step down as chief executive of Morgan Stanley at the end of this year, making way for James Gorman, the bank's co-president. Mr Mack, known as Mack the Knife for his aggressive cost-cutting, will hand over to Mr Gorman on January 1, 2010, but will remain at the bank as chairman, the Times reports.Prudential will look to Asia as a source of capital and could even seek to raise equity there after it saw strong demand for a $750m (£450m) hybrid capital raising in the region this year, the FT reports.Shares in Jarvis, the rail maintenance group, jumped to their highest level in more than a year after the company reported an "extremely preliminary" takeover inquiry. The stock surged 30% from 17½p to 23¾p after the company released a 52-word statement to the markets on the approach, the FT reports.