PRESS DIGEST - British business - Jan 4

Daily Telegraph

M&S BEGINS ANNUAL RUSH TO CHRISTMAS SALES FIGURES

Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) is expected to report a sales increase for the Christmas period for the first time in two years. Sales of food and clothing are believed to has risen by one percent over the 13 weeks to December 26, compared to a seven percent decline over the same period last year. M&S delivers its trading update on Wednesday, the last to be presented by Sir Stuart Rose, with Next (NXT.L) (NXT.L) and Sainsbury (SBRY.L) also updating investors this week.

PORT GROUP TAKES BUSINESS RATES APPEAL TO LANDS TRIBUNAL

RMS Group is to take its appeal against backdated business rates directly to the Lands Tribunal. Peter Aarosin, chief executive of RMS, said: "We cannot get a decent dialogue with the government over this and so the next stage has to be through litigation with the Lands Tribunal. No one in our industry is going to take this rates nonsense lying down. There is too much at stake." The crisis was triggered by the Valuation Office Agency's decision to impose bills backdated to April 2005, a move which will cost the ports industry between 50 and 75 million pounds.

HANDS AND MOULTON SEE PROFIT FROM WIND FARM

Wharrels Hill LLP, a Cumbria-based windfarm acquired by Guy Hands and Jon Moulton in 2006, recorded a profit for the year to April 2009. Accounts filed at Companies House showed Wharrels made a 62,161 pound pre-tax profit over the period, compared to losses of 407,000 pounds in 2007 and 223,000 pounds in 2008. Revenues at the windfarm increased by 60 percent to 1.14 million pounds, helped by a 109,000 payment from Nordex UK for "revenues lost due to the initial under performance of the windfarm".

The Guardian

BACKLASH OVER PLAN TO EXTEND TV ADVERTISING

The British Medical Association has written to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to strongly oppose new rules proposed by the media regulator Ofcom that will allow product placement in television programmes for the first time. The BMA's view is supported by many influential organisations including the National Union of Teachers, the consumer group Which?, the British Heart Foundation, National Children's Bureau, the National Heart Forum and the Children's Food Campaign. A DCMS consultation on the issue will close on Friday.

BROWN TO LAUNCH 100 BILLION POUND OFFSHORE PROJECT

The Prime Minister will this week launch a 100 billion pound programme to build thousands of offshore wind turbines. The Crown Estate will announce which of the bidding consortia -- which include the UK's big six energy suppliers -- have been successful in the bidding to develop nine offshore wind-farm zones, which are mostly located in the North Sea. Bidders will be judged on their financial resources, expertise and safety record. Successful applicants will then have to carry out further research to determine the exact location of the farms before applying for planning permission. Construction of any of the projects is not expected until 2014 at the earliest.

TAXMAN POISED AS OFFSHORE AMNESTY ENDS

HM Revenue & Customs will launch an investigation into offshore accounts held by British residents following the expiry of an amnesty for tax avoiders, which ends on Monday night. HMRC expects the amnesty -- which had encouraged people to declare any unpaid tax with a reduced tax rate of 10 percent -- to return around 500 million pounds in unpaid tax, interest and fines. "HMRC will pursue those with offshore bank accounts who decide not to make a disclosure", HMRC said.

The Independent

FINANCIAL CRISIS WAS NOT THE FED'S FAULT, BERNANKE SAYS

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, has used a speech to economists to insist that the financial crisis was the result of poor financial regulations, not of low interest rates set by the central bank. Some have criticised the Federal Reserve for keeping mortgage rates low for too long, encouraging the property bubble that then burst, increasing home repossessions and leaving lenders with huge deficits. Bernanke denied this, saying that the bubble was in fact caused by poor mortgage underwriting and insufficient supervision of lenders, making a plea for those mistakes not to be repeated.

FINANCE DIRECTORS BANKING ON BETTER TIMES IN 2010

A survey of 128 finance directors has found that they have positive expectations about the recovery of the economy. Weighing those who feel optimistically against those who feel pessimistically, the survey reported a score of plus 44, the highest in over three years, with 78 percent of respondents confident that banks will be able to sustain economic recovery. However, concerns were raised about the price and ease of obtaining bank loans, with many of the directors surveyed saying that equity and bonds were more attractive choices for funding.

The Times

NEW EU TAX RULE ON SERVICES COULD PROVE TRAP FOR BUSINESSES

VAT regulation effective from January 1 means that British companies supplying services to Europe face hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs. The EU VAT package requires businesses to detail in quarterly sales lists the value of services supplied to each VAT-registered EU customer. The requirement had previously covered only companies supplying goods to EU customers. Accountants have said the broadening of the regulation will add to the burden of paperwork and tax compliance, a source of complaint for many UK businesses.

FOUR LINK FOR SCOTTISH NEWS BID

DC Thomson, the Herald & Times Group and Johnston Press (JPR.L), three of Scotland's largest news groups, have joined forces with Tinopolis, the producer of the BBC's Question Time, to bid for a government contract to replace ITV's (ITV.L) regional news operation in Scotland. They will bid against two other consortiums, the first comprising ITV (ITV.L), Bauer Media and Scottish Broadcaster STV (STVG.L), the second Trinity Mirror (TNI.L) and Macmillan Media. The government's independently funded news consortiums scheme has faced opposition from the Conservatives.

KRAFT SHARE RALLY MAY SWEETEN OFFER FOR CADBURY

A rally by Kraft (KFT.N) shares towards the end of 2009 may save the firm 167 million pounds as it prepares to raise its hostile bid for Cadbury CBRY.L. Kraft's 10.1 billion pound offer values Cadbury at 735 pence per share, short of Friday's 797.5 pence closing price. However, Kraft's share price is up three percent over the last month and five percent since October, adding 167 million pounds to Kraft's offer since December 3. Kraft has until January 19 to increase its bid.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants.