Monday newspaper round-up: Greece, Vodafone, UK economy

13th Feb 2012 06:16

Rioters set Athens ablaze last night as Greek MPs approved a harsh new austerity package aimed at keeping their country in the euro. Tens of thousands of demonstrators besieged Parliament while MPs neared the historic vote, which opens the way for a €1bn bailout by the EU and the IMF. Anarchists in crash helmets and black balaclavas smashed marble balustrades and threw rocks and petrol bombs at police. Riot officers responded with teargas and stun grenades as peaceful protesters fled. More than a dozen buildings, including the historic Attikon cinema and another cinema in a former Gestapo torture chamber, were set alight and battles between masked youths and police continued into the night, writes The Times.Vodafone has distanced itself from reports that it is weighing up a £700m bid for troubled telecoms company Cable & Wireless Worldwide. The collapse in CWW's market value since its demerger from Cable & Wireless in 2010 has reportedly attracted a number of suitors, also said to include private equity firm Apax Partners. However, sources dismissed the speculation and said a bid was not being formally considered. Analysts have suggested that CWW, which sells telecoms to large companies and the public sector, would be worth far more if it was broken up and sold off than it is as a single listed entity. Any acquisition is likely to be delayed until CWW's new chief executive Gavin Darby is seen to have stabilised the embattled business, The Telegraph reports.The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) predicted on Monday that Britain's economy would start growing again in the first three months of 2012, avoiding the two consecutive quarters of contraction that would technically constitute recession. The economy shrank by 0.2% in the final three months of 2011, a greater-than-forecast decline that raised fears of a 'double-dip' recession. The CBI forecasts "fragile" 0.2% growth in the first quarter of 2012, with John Cridland, its director general, reporting that "some activity has picked-up since before Christmas and the mood among many businesses has improved". However, the CBI cut its growth outlook for the year to 0.9%, down from the 1.2% forecast in November, to reflect the worse-than-expected data for last quarter. It warned that "high levels of uncertainty" around the economic outlook, driven by the Eurozone crisis, would see growth remain at a subdued 0.2% in the second quarter, according to The Telegraph.An Alliance of bankers and city trade associations today attacks "flawed" analysis by the European Commission of the merits of a financial transactions tax and highlights an apparent contradiction in the commission's stance on derivatives trading. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, five city trade groups, including the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and British Bankers' Association (BBA), respond to Algirdas Semeta, the European Commissioner for taxation, who argued in defence of the tax in this newspaper last week. The alliance notes Mr Semeta's argument that the FTT, which would levy trades in shares, bonds at 0.1% and derivative contracts at a rate of 0.01%, could "discourage some forms of socially useless and high-risk trading". It highlights the apparent contrast with a memo published by the EC earlier this month, explaining a decision by the director general for competition, which describes derivatives as "an indispensable tool for risk management and investment purposes" and "of key importance for the European economy." Standard Life Investments (SLI) has gone public with its backing of the EasyJet board in their remuneration battle with the budget airline's founder and leading shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. SLI said in a statement that it "is supportive of the management team and its current strategy, which we believe will deliver value for shareholders". Stelios also said he believed SLI and some other City investor backers of the EasyJet board were "conflicted", citing the airline previously placing a big order for aircraft from Airbus and its parent company, EADS. "I recently discovered that Standard Life is managing the EADS/Airbus pension fund of some £4.6bn," he said, adding that, "If the fees are circa 2% that gives Standard Life an income stream of around £100m a year. The stake of Standard Life in EasyJet is valued at about the same number. I think their shares should be excluded from any future voting on aircraft orders," according to the Scotsman. Airlines have called for help from the United Nations to resolve an "intolerable" dispute between Europe, the United States and China over penalties for aircraft emissions. Warning of the risk of a trade war over the contentious European Union emissions trading scheme for aviation, the International Air Transport Association has demanded urgent talks. Speaking days after China declared that its airlines would refuse to co-operate with Europe's carbon-limiting scheme, the IATA director-general Tony Tyler said: "This is an intolerable situation which clearly has to be resolved; it cannot go on like this (...) I very much hope that we are not seeing the beginning of a trade war on this issue and wiser counsels will prevail." The association wants talks to be convened by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency that usually deals with technical matters surrounding industry standards, The Times reports.For the oil industry, it is the nearest thing to a speed-dating event, as small companies and wannabe oil-producing countries look to snare a big player with pockets deep enough to develop their oil and gas reserves; for the Falkland Islands, it could be a turning point. Officials from the territory will fly to Houston this week to tout for investment in the South Atlantic's potential underwater treasure at the NAPE expo, the oil and gas industry's largest prospect and property convention. The Falklands has featured on the conference agenda before as one of many provinces worldwide that could ? one day ? produce oil. But this year minnows such as Desire Petroleum and Argos Resources will be confident of attracting suitors, The Times says.The chief executive of Novus Leisure is understood to have rejected a possible move to Mitchells & Butlers amid private equity interest in the bars and clubs operator. Steve Richards, who has run Novus since 2005, is a former colleague of Bob Ivell, the M&B chairman, from their days at Scottish & Newcastle. He had been tipped as one of the frontrunners to take the chief executive's job at the company, which operates the All Bar One and Toby brands. It is believed that that Mr Richards favours staying at Novus to oversee an exit for its investors. Last year, Novus held discussions over a sale to Duke Street Capital and, although talks broke down at the eleventh hour, they have stayed in touch, according to The Times. AB