WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
TERRA FIRMA INJECTS MORE CASH INTO EMI
Terra Firma has been forced to inject more cash into EMI for the second time in six months, after the debt-laden UK music group behind the Beastie Boys and Depeche Mode missed targets imposed in its banking covenants. Guy Hands’ private equity group injected £28m into EMI in March, according to a person familiar with the situation. The move signals that results for the six months to March 31 failed to live up to conditions in the £2.6bn in loans Citigroup extended to finance the £4bn EMI takeover in 2007.
SKY BIDS BIG FOR VIRGIN MEDIA CHANNELS
British Sky Broadcasting has made what appears to be a knock-out bid for a package of seven digital television channels owned by Virgin Media, offering about 60 per cent higher than its nearest challenger, people involved in the auction said yesterday.
QATAR TO BUY $4.1BN PROPERTY FROM BANKS
Qatar has offered to buy property investments worth up to $4.1bn (£2.6bn) from local banks, as the government steps up efforts to support the domestic financial sector against the fallout from the credit crunch. Though Qatar’s property sector is healthier than in many other Gulf countries, the market has weakened this year.
SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME ON BUSINESS MAP
New technologies, advanced technologies and different ways of working will change the business landscape more radically than at any time since the industrial revolution, according to research commissioned by HSBC, the banking group out today.
THE TIMES
MICROSOFT BING – THE SUCCESSFUL SEARCH TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE?
The software giant Microsoft has announced that it is relaunching its internet search engine with a new name and a new look, in a bid to take on Google. The new Microsoft search engine, called Bing, goes live in stages between Friday and 3 June. It will, Microsoft claims, offer users a more refined search experience capable of satisfying queries more quickly than any rival search engine.
UNITED TO SELL WASTE GAS TO NATIONAL GRID
United Utilities (UU), the UK’s largest listed water company supplying seven million people in the North West of England, is planning to sell surplus gas to the National Grid. United is a big user of energy, mainly for pumping, and consumes about 0.3 per cent of the country’s electricity.
The Daily Telegraph
SONY ERICSSON SAYS NEW SATIO WILL BEAT APPLE’S IPHONE
Sony Ericsson, the embattled mobile phone joint venture between Japan’s Sony and Sweden’s Ericsson, last night launched a new phone which it claims beats Apple’s popular iPhone. Nathan Vautier, managing director of Sony Ericsson UK, said the new Satio phone, which will hit the shops in October, is a “game-changer” which will “help return the company to profitability.”
DAWSON BOSS STEPS DOWN TO SAVE MONEY
The chief executive of Dawson Holdings has stepped down to save the struggling distribution company money, after auditors cast doubt on its future. Peter Harris will be replaced as chief executive by finance director Hugh Cawley as the company grapples with a 67 per cent profit loss.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
P&G PROFIT FORECAST FALLS SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS
Expecting tough economic conditions to continue next year, Procter & Gamble issued a profit forecast for fiscal 2010 that fell well below Wall Street’s projections. P&G’s guidance for the year beginning 1 July, delivered in a highly anticipated investor presentation yesterday, included a gloomy sales outlook.
SANOFI-AVENTIS SETTLES MEDICAID PRICE DISPUTE
Sanofi-Aventis SA will pay $95.5m to settle allegations that it overcharged state Medicaid programs for anti-inflammatory nasal sprays, the Justice Department announced yesterday. The settlement resolves charges that between 1995 and 2000 Aventis Pharmaceutical knowingly misreported its best drug prices to Medicaid programmes.