Thursday newspaper round-up: IAG, Astra Zeneca, Marks&Spencer

8th Dec 2011 07:02

Estimates from accountants Deloitte found that European banks hold more than £1.5 trillion of non-core and non-performing assets on their balance sheets. Deloitte estimates that while banks will have to drastically reduce the size of their asset books, they will probably encounter major challenges in doing so given the scale of the bad loan problems they face. British banks, despite beginning their disposal programmes much earlier than their Continental European peers, still have by far the biggest pool of toxic assets. Deloitte estimates the size of the non-core and non-performing assets held on the balance sheets of UK banks at £460bn, more than the combined total for Ireland, Spain and Italy. German banks come a close second to the UK, with a toxic asset pool of about £447bn, says The Telegraph. Britain's economy will have lost five years of growth by 2013, a leading economic think-tank said today, as it will only then be back to the same size as it was in 2008. UK economic growth slowed in the three months up to November, with gross domestic product growing by 0.3 per cent - down from 0.4 per cent in the three months ending in October, said respected forecaster the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. But more tellingly, the NIESR said that the UK economy would not recover the massive 7 per cent shrinkage from its early 2008 peak it experienced in 15 months of recession until late in 2013. 'Economic growth in the UK remains subdued,' NIESR said. 'These data lend support to the further loosening of UK monetary policy,' The Daily Mail reports. Britons planning to spend Christmas in Spain face disruption after Iberia pilots agreed to strike for two days over the holiday. The walkouts will take place on December 18 and on December 29 as thousands try to leave for the new year, although the union avoided days of maximum disruption in the Christmas week. (...) The strike was called by Sepla, the pilots' union, in protest over the company's plans to launch a low-cost airline in April. The union is unhappy that pilots employed by the new airline will be on salaries starting from €50,000, well below the usual €80,000 threshold for those working at Iberia, and that they will be obliged to work longer hours, The Times explains. AstraZeneca, one of Britain's biggest drugs companies, is cutting almost a quarter of its sales staff in America as it tackles a slowing market. The move will see about 1,150 staff lose their jobs in the US, which remains the biggest single market for the pharmaceutical industry. AstraZeneca said that it will take a charge of up to $100m (£64m) this quarter to pay for the move, which will be finalised early next year. "These are difficult decisions that impact valued employees," said Rich Fante, who runs AstraZeneca's US business. "The changes we are making, however, will help us deliver better results for our business," The Telegraph reports. The Prime Minister of India was facing humiliation last night after he was forced to abandon a long-awaited plan to allow foreign chains such as Tesco to open supermarkets in the country. The U-turn, announced by Manmohan Singh in Parliament, followed two weeks of mounting street protests by shopkeepers who feared that the big multinational chains would drive them out of business. Mr Mukherjee said that India still planned to lift ownership restrictions on "single-brand retailers" such as Marks & Spencer, who will be allowed to open their own stores. So-called "multi-brand retailers" ? the foreign supermarket groups ? will remain locked out, writes The Times. The fate of Europe's monetary union hangs in the balance today as its leaders struggle to revamp its broken machinery amid British demands that could force them to forge a pact outside the group's 27-member structure. Pessimism returned to Brussels as leaders gathered for tonight's summit and assessed the daunting obstacles to the Franco-German push to lock enforceable budget rules into the EU's treaties ? a move designed to convince the world that the eurozone finally has the fix to save its currency, according to The Times. AB