Glance-PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Nov 7

ITV SEARCH FOR NEW HEAD CONTINUES AS STV LEGAL ROW ESCALATES ITV found itself embroiled deeper in a cross-border legal war with STV as the broadcaster continued its search for new leadership. ITV's devolutionary Scottish counterpart issued a third-quarter trading statement indicating it was preparing its retaliation over alleged non-payment of unpaid programme costs. ITV is suing STV for 15 million pounds to 20 million pounds. However, the Scottish broadcaster now says it is owed 35 million pounds by ITV. SPOTTISWOODE'S FINAL SWIPE AT WITH-PROFITS A parting shot at the regulation of with-profits savings products will be made by Clare Spottiswoode when the policyholder advocate for Aviva's reattribution of excess cash publishes a final report and closes her office. According to Spottiswoode, policyholders received a better share of the funds than expected but insists the new law governing how companies can use such funds needs testing. She told the Financial Times: "The Financial Services Authority still allows companies to use inherited estates to pay for things that otherwise shareholders would have to pay for, which is to the detriment of policyholders." LCH.CLEARNET DRAWS LINE UNDER OWNERSHIP SAGA A two-year saga concerning the ownership of one of the most prized derivatives post-trade assets in the world has come to an end after LCH.Clearnet finalised a shareholder streamlining scheme. The move means the group should now be able to move ahead with plans to build its business. Europe's biggest independent clearing house is now 83 percent owned by users of its services and 17 percent by NYSE Euronext and the London Metal Exchange. WILLIAM HILL LOOKS TO RAISE 300 MILLION POUNDS William Hill has launched its first corporate bond of 300 million pounds to pay down debt, offering investors a yield of 7.25 percent after seven years. Chief Executive Ralph Topping said: "We always said we were going to diversify our sources of debt funding. The problem was we had this massive lump of debt that was going to come up at the same time. The rights issue took a tranche of it". William Hill's bonds will be issued around Nov. 12. RENTOKIL STANDS BY REVIVAL PLAN Rentokil Initial's shares fell on Friday, despite an insistence that its turnaround strategy was on track after cost-cutting helped third-quarter operating profits soar by more than a third. The washrooms-to-pest control company's shares fell 7 pence to 105 pence as investors sought further details of the group's plans to lift revenue. Chief Executive Alan Brown promised shareholders that, 18 months into his five-year recovery plan, there was "so much more to come". JCB RESHUFFLE HERALDS NEXT GENERATION Matthew Taylor is to set step down as chief executive of JCB after less than 18 months at the maker of construction equipment. Taylor will be replaced by the group's chief operating officer, Alan Blake, at the beginning of January. The management reshuffle comes less than a fortnight after JCB posted a steep fall in profits for 2008 to 39 million pounds, against 187 million pounds the previous year. Its revenue also fell 12 percent to 2 billion pounds from 2.25 billion pounds. LLOYDS INVESTORS URGED TO TAKE ACTION According to private-client stock brokers, Lloyds Banking Group's shareholders should either buy new shares in the bank's 13.5 billion pound rights issue or sell out altogether. They warn that investors could see the value of their existing shares shrink to an "uneconomic" few hundred pounds if they do not top up their holdings in the record capital-raising that was announced last week. "Shareholders should back the fundraising or get out -- this is the wrong time to see your investment diluted," says Paul Kavanagh, partner at Killik & Co. LACK OF FESTIVE CHEER AS BUSINESSES AXE CHRISTMAS PARTIES Cash-strapped companies in Britain are axing Christmas parties this year in an effort to save money. KPMG has cancelled a Christmas cocktail party for 1,000 guests in Birmingham, which has been a feature of the city's business calendar for 30 years. Lloyds Banking Group, which is 43 percent owned by the government, has also revealed it is "taking a prudent approach to colleague-related activity" this year. Concerto, a large London-based events company, has reported that one in five of its regular customers have cancelled an organised party in favour of a quick lunch or a few beers in a bar. The news led Mike Kershaw, Concerto's chairman, to warn that many small businesses dependent on Christmas events could be "devastated". ROYAL MAIL AND UNION PUT OWN STAMP ON DEAL Following the release of details of the deal that ended recent industrial action by postal workers in Britain, the Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) offered widely opposing opinions of how the move will affect working practices in the future. Royal Mail management said the deal was "on all key issues the same" as that discussed last month before the CWU began its industrial action. However, the CWU said that the new deal contained "significant concessions" by the state-controlled company. It is thought the strike action by postal workers could cost the Royal Mail 40 million pounds in lost business. ONLINE RETAILERS BEAR BRUNT OF STOPPAGES Recent industrial action by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is estimated to have cost the UK economy 1.04 billion pounds, with online businesses being particularly hard hit. According to data from comparison shopping site Kelkoo, online retailers lost in the region of 156 million pounds during the postal strikes, a figure that includes 85 million pounds for extra deliveries and 71 million pounds in lost sales and refunds for undelivered items. Interactive Retail in Media Group, the industry body for online retailers, reported this week that nearly two-thirds of its members had reported a fall in sales during the strike, with the average decline being 30 percent. Prepared for Reuters by Durrants. Keywords: BRITAIN PRESS/FT COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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