Monday newspaper round-up: Energy groups, Retail sales, RBS...

7th Feb 2011 06:42

The big six energy companies could be driven from Britain if they are treated too harshly in any pricing investigation, a senior minister has told The Times. In an intervention likely to put pressure on regulators, Charles Hendry said that suppliers might be too important to future energy security to be exposed to the full rigours of a competition investigation. The warning from the Energy and Climate Change Minister came amid speculation that the Competition Commission could be called in to rule on whether the suppliers are profiteering.Britain's biggest utility investor has dumped his £250m stake in Northumbrian Water, bringing his total recent disposals in the "over-regulated" water sector to almost £700m. Neil Woodford, the manager of Invesco Perpetual, had already sold sizeable stakes in Severn Trent and United Utilities, complaining that regulations mean investors cannot make adequate returns, the Telegraph reports.Fears over a double-dip recession appear to have receded after the high street enjoyed surprisingly robust trading last month, boosted by continued hefty discounting and catch-up shopping after December's snow. Confounding fears of an early new year "bloodbath", mid-market retailers delivered like-for-like sales up 9.1%in January, BDO's High Street Sales Tracker found. The British Retail Consortium is also expected to report positive underlying sales growth for the sector in January, but its closely-watched monthly figures are not expected to be quite as bullish, the Independent reports.The UK's economic output will be boosted by rising exports during the next decade, driven by improved competitiveness and soaring demand from the fast-growing "Bric" economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, an influential forecasting group says today. Following a decade of underperformance, the total value of UK goods and services exported will leap by 8.5 per cent a year, says the Ernst & Young Item Club (Item), compared with a fall of 1.8 per cent between 2008 and 2010, the Independent reports.Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, has accused the UK's big supermarkets of being "barons of politics" and having "enormous lobbying power". The politician lashed out on a radio programme yesterday after MSPs last week rejected his party's plans to introduce an extra tax on supermarkets in Scotland. The so-called "Tesco Tax" would have increased retailers' rates bills on some individual stores by 30%, the Telegraph reports.The grocer Morrisons is in advanced talks with the fashion designer George Davies to launch a clothing range to take on its bigger rivals - Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's. Mr Davies, who launched the George at Asda brand 20 years ago, could sew up a deal over the coming weeks, the Independent reports.Nicolas Berggruen, the Paris-born billionaire investor, is seeking to raise £700m ($1,126m) in a flotation of a cash shell on the London Stock Exchange in the coming weeks. The vehicle, called Justice, is looking for an acquisition worth between £1bn and £5bn, including debt. It has the backing of Mr Berggruen's long-term business partner, Martin Franklin. Bill Ackman, the activist investor who heads Pershing Square Capital Management, is also believed to be on board, the FT reports.The chief executive of Associated British Foods is overpaid by £200,000, investors have been told. George Weston's £866,000 annual base salary is far more than expected when the company is ranked against its peers in the FTSE food producers sector, according to a specialist on executive pay. The report from Inbucon, run by two former pay consultants, comes as investors step up their scrutiny of base pay, the Times reports.Commercial property owners and developers are in breach of covenants on four out of every five loans, with £194bn at risk, according to an unpublished report for the Bank of England. Lenders with £243bn outstanding to commercial property companies are still heavily exposed to bad loans and could take heavy losses in the coming years. The Bank of England Commercial Property Forum said that three years on from the start of the credit crunch many of the key property loan risks identified in 2009 were still relevant, the Times reports.Royal Bank of Scotland has moved to head off a growing row over its chief executive's bonus by setting up a £100m fund to support business franchises. The state-backed bank, which is facing a public backlash over Stephen Hester's bonus of an estimated £2m, said that the fund would offer cut-price fees and capital-repayment holidays, the Times reports.