Monday newspaper round-up: Stamp duty, Sainsbury, Alibaba

17th Mar 2014 07:20

Despite the Chancellor's announcement that he will provide another 6bn pounds in loans to help people acquire newly built homes, some are warnings that other measures are hurting "aspirational Britain". Since stamp duty is not indexed to inflation many people purchasing homes are having to pay far more as a result. The Treasury, however, will benefit with revenues from stamp duty set to rise to 15bn pounds in five years' time from 9bn pounds now. A part of those increased revenues are the result of more housing transactions, but another part can be attributed to that lack of indexation, writes The Times. Fund managers in the City are unanimous in the view that Sainsbury will emerge as the winner from the latest battle amongst the country's supermarkets. That was the opinion of 200 fund managers in exclusive survey carried out for The Telegraph. The firm is expected to be the strongest performer this year and its boss Justin King was crowned as the most effective chief executive. With over $150bn of goods being traded on its platforms each year, more than Amazon.com and eBay combined, China's Alibaba is one of the world's largest internet companies. The firm which began as a service linking Chinese suppliers to retailers overseas later branched out into retail e-commerce. It has now filed for an IPO Stateside in a transaction that may raise up to $15bn, according to analysts, and potentially valuing it at more than $100bn. No details regarding the timing or size of the sale were forthcoming, The Guardian says. The preliminary results from this weekend's referendum showed over 95% of Crimea's population wants to re-join Russia. However, in a telephone conversation over the weekend US President Obama told Russia's President Vladimir Putin that the vote will not be recognised, as it took place "under duress of Russian military intervention". Both the European Union and the US have condemned it as illegal, The Wall Street Journal Europe reports. At next month's Cannes event broadcaster ITV will launch about a dozen new formats which the company hopes will be the next generator of blockbuster sales. That comes as part of the dramatic turnaround of ITV Studios which has been central to the revival of the company's fortunes. Sales at the unit have grown by 50% over the past four years to £857m, making it the largest commercial TV producer in the UK and a player in the American market, according to The Times. Motoring and breakdown group the AA has received a number of uninvited approaches from potential buyers including Cenkos Securities. A spokesman for the group said: "We can confirm we have received a number of unsolicited proposals since the successful securitisation of the AA including one from Cenkos. While we take all such proposals seriously, no decision to sell the AA has been taken." AA is owned by Acromas Holdings, which also owns over-50s tour operator and insurer Saga, The Daily Express reports. AB