Tuesday newspaper round-up: BAE, Yell, William Hill

27th Oct 2009 06:01

The Serious Fraud Office will miss its own deadline for bringing corruption charges against BAE Systems, Europe's largest defence company, this week as it struggles with the complexity of the case. Legal sources said that charges could be delayed until next year as the SFO's leading counsel and the Attorney-General are yet to assess the case, according to the Times. Yell has failed to meet its deadline to win enough lender support for plans to restructure its £3.8bn ($6.3bn) debt. The directories group is on Tuesday expected to announce a second deadline extension to give lenders more time to approve the plans. It needs support of 95 per cent of its creditors. A person close to the talks said the extension would be "two to three days", the FT reports.Britain's biggest betting companies are bidding for the first online gambling licence in India to gain a slice of the country's $60bn (£37bn) betting market. The high-street bookie William Hill, along with internet players Betfair and Bwin, are bidding for the internet licence in the Himalayan state of Sikkim in early September. A decision is expected in the next two weeks, according to the Independent.Britain's biggest property developer sounded the death knell for rent concessions for its retail tenants yesterday. Francis Salway, the chief executive of Land Securities, said that he would no longer offer rental deals amid signs of increasing demand for space, reports the Times.The City watchdog has threatened to step in and regulate the way high-street banks report the state of their finances, if the industry's "tough new code" fails to lift investor confidence. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) included the code as part of a discussion paper released yesterday, says the Independent. Adam Posen warned that the banking system needed to be shaken-up to avoid a double-dip recession. In his first speech as a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Dr Posen said if the macroeconomic stimulus was withdrawn before the banking system was fixed could result in a "still- born recovery, a double-dip recession and/or persistently slow growth," the Times reports.Iceland's two McDonald's restaurants will close next month, the operator said, blaming rising costs for pushing up the price of its normally "good value" burgers to prohibitive levels. "The reason for this decision is the difficult economy and the collapse of the Icelandic krona," Jon Gardar Ogmundsson, the owner of Lyst which runs the restaurants, told AFP, says the Telegraph.