PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - April 21

Financial Times

REGIONAL AGENCY CHIEF ATTACKS LIMITATIONS

According to Peter Rogers, the chief executive of the London Development Agency (LDA), regional development agencies lack the flexibility to target funds quickly enough to help recession-hit companies. Rogers criticised regional agencies for acting as simple funders of "random regeneration", rather than influential bodies that can help businesses and local authorities work together more efficiently. "The government drives the RDAs towards inflexibility, which doesn't make sense for them," said Rogers.

CRITICS ROUND ON EXPORT RULE CHANGE

Leading campaign groups have said a planned law aimed at boosting exports during the credit crunch will impact efforts to prevent companies in Britain from bribing foreign officials and damaging the environment. WWF, the conservation body, and Transparency International, the anti-corruption organisation, have joined other non-governmental activists to attack the proposal set to be placed before parliament on Tuesday. The planned change will allow the government to give retrospective financial backing to export deals and is being countered by a Liberal Democrat amendment.

BROWN PROMISES STATE BANK FOR RISKY START-UPS

On Monday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised to set up a new state-backed bank to address the funding gap for start-up ventures. According to Brown, the bank would provide the finance for "more difficult and more risky start-ups" for future high-tech companies. Richard Lambert, head of the CBI employers' group, put forward the proposal a month ago, and it was contained in a government industrial blueprint called "New Industry, New Jobs". The blueprint, which has been met with cynicism among the business community, pledges only vague support for electronics, renewables and biotechnology, stopping short of firm promises.

DARLING STRIKES FIVE BILLION POUND SUPPLY CHAIN DEAL

In Wednesday's budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is set to reveal plans for a temporary scheme to use five billion pounds of state guarantees to ensure the provision of supply-chain insurance companies. Atradius, Euler Hermes and Coface, which together hold 85 percent of the global market for credit insurance, have been lobbying hard for the measure. Business groups have become concerned that hundreds of supply chains are jeopardised by a recent reduction in credit insurance. However, Alistair Darling's scheme may not go far enough to satisfy all threatened businesses.

LIBDEMS SEEK PENSIONS REFORM

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said on Monday public sector pensions must be reformed, further education quangos and programmes must be rationalised and Britain can no longer aspire to having half of its young people attending university. According to Cable, the scale of the fiscal deficit means the problem could not be solved by a big increase in overall tax levels or simply by a war on inefficiency and waste. His comments came at a seminar held by the market-based think-tank Reform, which proposed 30 billion pounds worth of public spending cuts on Monday.

"STREAMLINING" SEES GRAHAM RESIGN FROM LSE

Martin Graham, the London Stock Exchange's (LSE.L) head of markets, has resigned amid a reorganisation of the top structure of the group. The move is thought to be an early sign of changes that are taking place as its new chief executive Xavier Rolet seeks to put his stamp on the more than 200 years old bourse in the weeks before he succeeds Dame Clara Furse. Graham will be replaced by Raffaele Jerusalmi, the LSE group head of derivatives. According to the exchange, Jerusalmi's "enlarged role" was "part of a streamlining of the senior management structure, which will now be organised around three core business units". Its shares slipped 29 pence to 660 pence.

ALLIANCE PICKS UP ASIAN AND U.S. BARGAINS

Alliance Trust (ATST.L) has announced it has been using part of its cash hoard to hunt for bargains in North America and Asia. However, the FTSE 100-listed investment trust revealed it remained cautious about equities in general. The management of the 1.8 billion pound trust predicted that the global economy and markets would remain volatile for the rest of this year. The group also said finance director David Deards would be stepping down at the end of this month as it announced it planned to boost its full-year dividend to eight pence. Its shares dropped seven pence to reach 264.75 pence.

GTE TRADING "ROBUST" AFTER LARGE CONTRACT AWARDS

Gas Turbine Efficiency GAST.L pointed to continued "robust trading" as it unveiled its first full year of profits since listing on Aim in 2005. The supplier of performance-enhancing technology for gas turbines added that trading during the first quarter in its market was proving resilient in spite of difficult economic conditions. GTE's shares rose 1.25 pence to 26.75 pence as it moved into the black, announcing a pre-tax profit of 619,472 pounds in the 12 months to December 31, compared with a loss of 2.9 million dollars in the previous year.

WATCHDOG CHIEF DEFENDS NETWORK RAIL BONUSES

Chris Bolt, chairman of the Office of Rail Regulation, has defended Network Rail's controversial bonus scheme in the face of political attacks on the programme. Bolt said it was "clearly important" that management at the company was made to focus on meeting its targets. The rail industry watchdog's backing follows signals from Lord Adonis last week that the government would prefer managers to forgo their bonuses this year. The rail minister pointed to overhead line failures as evidence of a "mixed performance".

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants