Friday paper round-up: Lloyds, TSB, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Putin

26th Sep 2014 07:03

teerngasLloyds Banking Group has kickstarted a share sale in its TSB banking division, which will leave the bailed-out bank with a 50% stake in TSB, The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.Lloyds sold 38.5% of TSB in June, with shares priced at 260p each, and has announced it will sell an additional 11.5%.The banking giant is in the process of rebranding 631 of his branches to TSB in order to meet conditions imposed at the time of the bailout and kickstarted the share sale by giving £1.2m shares to 11 of its most senior staff, including chief executive Antonio Hora-Osorio.Tesco's former finance director, Laurie McIlwee will receive a £1m farewell payoff next week, despite the latest scandal surrounding the retail giant, The Guardian reported.McIlwee, who left Tesco in April and was told to stay away from the office, will receive his payoff as stipulated in his contract, even though he received over £400,000 during the six months after his resignation.Sainsbury's customers will no longer receive money-back vouchers if they could find the same branded goods at a cheaper price at rival chain Tesco, The Times reported.The London-based chain said it will now match its prices against Asda, the cheapest of the four main supermarket chains in the UK, a decision which is set to trigger a "supermarket war", according to City analysts.Sainsbury's is expected to report a sales downturn of about 4% and it was bracing itself for potentially drastic price cuts from Tesco, which is desperate to win back customers after a tumultuous 2014.Russian president Vladimir Putin has demanded a reopening of the agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, The Financial Times reported.Putin said Moscow could take "immediate and appropriate retaliatory measures" if Kiev decides to implement the newly-ratified treaty with the EU, which aims to accelerate Ukraine's integration within the 28-country bloc.In a letter sent to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barros, Putin argued that a 15-month delay in implementing parts of the deal should be considered as it would allow Ukraine, Russia and the EU to establish "negotiating teams".