Monday newspaper round-up: Shell, National Express, Volkswagen

27th Jul 2009 06:20

Royal Dutch Shell is poised to announce a fresh wave of cuts in senior jobs this week as Peter Voser, the new chief executive, intensifies an aggressive restructuring drive within Europe's largest company.The Anglo-Dutch oil company will reveal alongside its interim results on Thursday that up to a quarter of its senior management ? between 500 and 600 people globally ? will lose their jobs in the coming weeks. The redundancies will mark one of the most far-reaching management overhauls in a successful multinational group undertaken by an incoming chief executive, the Times writes.The executive chairman of National Express will seek the approval of his board to reject the takeover approach from Spain's Cosmen family and CVC, the private equity group, at a meeting to be held as early as today. John Devaney, executive chairman, is preparing a robust defence of the company's independence which he will deliver on Thursday at National Express's interim results, the Sunday Telegraph reports.Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, is examining a capital raising of up to €4bn ($5.7bn) as part of a plan to buy Porsche, the Financial Times has learnt. Last week the Piëch and Porsche families ended months of feuding over a rescue of the German sports car maker, which has amassed more than €10bn of net debt, by agreeing to fold it into VW.BT has issued a direct challenge to rival television platform BSkyB by saying it expects to be able to offer the full Sky Sports Premier League package at a cut price to BT Vision customers by the start of the 2010-11 football season. The claim was made by the incoming chief executive of BT Vision, Marc Watson, and follows the findings of a review of the pay-television market by Ofcom, the media regulator, the Independent reports. Apple is racing to offer a portable tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution. The device is expected to be launched alongside new content deals, including some aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music, according to people briefed on the project. The touch-sensitive computer will have a screen that may be up to 10 inches diagonally, the FT writes.Government plans to make Britain a world leader in the digital economy are under threat because high electricity prices are forcing companies to locate power-hungry data centres in other countries. Derek Webster, associate director of McBains Cooper, a building consultancy, said that British electricity prices, which are the third highest in Europe, are forcing developers to build the infrastructure needed for these plans in countries such as France, potentially undermining UK competitiveness, the Times reports.House prices were unchanged in July for the third month running, housing market analyst Hometrack said today, suggesting the slump in the property sector may finally have come to an end. Hometrack's monthly survey has reported 0% changes to house prices in May, June and July, but the analyst said it had seen some positive signs of an uptick over the past four weeks, the Independent reports. Lenders in Europe bracing themselves for a rising wave of consumer debt defaults as the credit card crisis that has caused billions of dollars in losses among US banks spreads across the Atlantic. The International Monetary Fund estimates that of US consumer debt totalling $1,914bn, about 14% will turn sour. It expects that 7 per cent of the $2,467bn of consumer debt in Europe will be lost, with much of that falling in the UK, the continent's biggest nation of credit card borrowers, the FT reports.Up to 2,000 traders and managers in the UK could face extra checks and even interviews by the UK financial regulator to ensure they are fit and proper to do their job. Traders, bankers or managers who exert a significant influence over their company are set to face additional scrutiny from this week to ensure they are suitable and competent as the Financial Services Authority formalises its existing proposals to widen its "approved persons" regime. The tests covers senior positions at the largest 40-50 banks, insurers and other institutions it supervises, the FT reports.Rexam, Europe's biggest maker of cans for beer and soft drinks, is planning a £350m rights issue to avoid a downgrade in its credit rating to junk status. The long-rumoured cash call, which is likely to accompany Thursday's half-year results, comes after the FTSE 100 company conceded that trading in beverage cans and plastic packaging is unlikely to improve in the second half of this year, the Times writes.The British economy's path to recovery will be far more protracted than that of previous recessions, a leading forecaster warned today. In its latest quarterly review, Deloitte predicts the economy will grow just 0.5% next year and 1.5% in 2011, well below the expansion enjoyed during the debt-fuelled boom of the last decade, the Telegraph reports. Lenders to Johnston Press, the struggling regional newspaper group, are set to own 5% of the company as part of the terms of a debt restructuring. The publisher of The Scotsman, which has £450m debt, is in talks with lenders to reset covenants, as well as an extension of the repayment deadlines on its debt, the FT reports.