Monday newspaper round-up: Russian sanctions, Reckitt, Kiev

28th Apr 2014 07:08

BP and Shell are facing an extremely delicate situation as the G7 prepares to launch another wave of sanctions against Russia. They may be forced to reduce their operations or freeze certain commercial ties with the country. Those new measures may come as soon as Monday unless the Kremlin takes immediate steps to defuse the situation. The G7 is now holding back "stage three" sanctions such as those imposed against Iran, which could be brought to bear against the entire Russian banking system, mining industry, or the oil and gas nexus, according to The Daily Telegraph.Reckitt Benckiser may know as soon as this week whether or not it has been successful in its $13.5bn offer for the healthcare division of US pharmaceuticals giant Merck & Co.. That comes on the heels of a flurry of merger and acquisitions news over the weekend. The British firm has refused to comment on the speculation but is thought to have already submitted a bid. On previous occasions its Chief Executive Officer has identified consumer health as one of the main engines for growth in the company, The Times reports. The stakes in the conflict between Kiev and Moscow were raised a notch over the weekend as pro-Russian rebels paraded Western military observers as hostages and showed off images of who they said were three Ukrainian intelligence officers who had been detained. What increasingly looks like an armed conflict zone around the city of Slovyansk clashes with the Kremlin's description of the activists in the east as everyday "citizens driven to desperation", The Wall Street Journal Europe reports. During three unprecedented consecutive days of questioning this week the cream of the City of London will be hauled before a parliamentary inquiry at the Palace of Westminster on the privatisation of the Royal Mail. Starting today the Business Select and Public Accounts Committees will likely accuse ministers and mandarins of being gulled by City bankers into selling off the nation's postal network too cheaply, The Times reports.Greene King, the brewer of Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale, has lost an appeal against an adverse HMRC ruling on its tax avoidance scheme for a second time. The scheme, which was originally designed by Ernst&Young, the firm's auditors, has been described by MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, as "purely artificial". Initially dubbed as "Project Sussex", the arrangement was meant to protect the firm against taxation linked to a £300m internal loan. On Sunday it was not clear whether the company would take its appeal to a higher court, The Guardian says. Less than a day after business lobby group CBI Scotland announced that it had formally registered as a 'no' campaigner with the Electoral Commission ahead of the Scottish independence referendum, its Director, Iain McMillan, announced he would retire. The group said however that the timing of his retirement had already been agreed in January and his intention to do so been known since two years ago, The Guardian writes. AB