WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday Telegraph
NON-EXECUTIVES’ FEES RISE BY 10PC DESPITE STAFF PAY FREEZES
UK non-executives at leading FTSE companies earned an average of €142,000 (£121,000) for each board role in 2008, a 10pc increase year-on-year, according to AlphaValue, the independent equity research firm.
IMF PUTS TOTAL COST OF CRISIS AT £7.1 TRILLION
The cost of mopping up after the world financial crisis has come to £7.12 trillion, enough to finance a £1,779 handout for every man, woman and child on the planet. The staggering total includes capital injections pumped into banks in order to prevent them from collapse, the cost of soaking up so-called toxic assets, guarantees over debt and liquidity support from central banks.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
CROWN ESTATE MAKES MOST OF POWER STRUGGLE
The Queen’s property manager is set to pocket a £2.5bn windfall from the offshore wind energy revolution. The Crown Estate manages all royal property assets, including the seabed for 12 nautical miles from the coast. It is currently holding negotiations with energy companies over 20-year rental agreements on parcels of seabed designated for huge wind farms.
LIBYANS BID FOR SHELL SITES
Libya’s national oil company and two billionaire Indian brothers are among the contenders to buy Britain’s second-largest oil refinery. Shell’s Stanlow complex near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, produces a sixth of the UK’s petrol and is the oil giant’s only refinery in Britain. The company has put it up for sale as it tries to rein in its huge cost base.
TODAY
FINANCIAL TIMES
FRAUD SPOTLIGHT ON HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood studios and film producers are set to face increasing scrutiny from anti-fraud officials, as a result of a trial involving incidents in Bangkok that could have repercussions across the entertainment sector. Gerald Green, an American film producer, and his wife, Patricia, are alleged to have violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to a Thai tourism official.
CARLYLE IN GREEK BUY-BACK DISPUTE
Carlyle Group is locked in a dispute with one of Greece’s richest entrepreneurs over Neochimiki, the Athens-based chemicals distributor, which fell deep into loss soon after having been bought by the US private equity group last year.
The Daily Telegraph
P&O FERRIES WARNS IT MAY CUT INVESTMENT IN THE UK
P&O Ferries, the shipping group that employs 4,000 people in Britain, has warned that it may cut its investment in the UK if the government fails to resolve the row over backdated business rates. In a letter to Angela Eagle, the former Treasury minister, P&O lambasted the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and urged the government to resolve “this highly unsatisfactory situation”.
EC GUILTY OF ‘MALADMINISTRATION’ OVER INTEL PROBE
The European Union’s watchdog has found the European Commission guilty of “maladministration” in its aggressive probe of the US semiconductor giant Intel . It is the latest in a string of cases where the EU’s over-mighty competition police has come under criticism for going too far.
THE TIMES
IHG PROFIT SLUMP COULD REACH 40% BUT ROOM FOR MANOEUVRE
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the world’s biggest hotel company, is expected to announce a 40 per cent fall in first-half profits tomorrow. However, it is also expected to increase its estimate of cost savings and to maintain the dividend. The group is also expected to confirm that it remains on track with a $1bn (£600m) relaunch of its core Holiday Inn brand.
YOUTH JOBLESS BREAKS THROUGH MILLION MARK
Youth unemployment is expected to have topped a million last month amid a rise in the total jobless figure for July of 250,000 to 2.5m. Economists say that the only consolation from the figures that are due out on Wednesday is that the growth rate of unemployment is slowing.