PRESS DIGEST - British business - Feb 9

Kofax (Hold)

The Times

MYNERS ARGUES BONUSES ARE BLEEDING PENSION FUNDS

The City Minister Lord Myners will address the National Association of Pension Funds on Tuesday on the dangers posed to the pensions industry by the bonus culture of banks.

The government has recently criticised the complacency of pension funds and other institutional investors before the onset of the financial crisis as one cause of the poor conduct of financial institutions responsible for the downturn.

In response to these criticisms, the NAPF is to release a new code of governance encouraging greater engagement with boards.

DANNII JOINS TWIGGY IN NEW M&S FASHION TEAM

Three of the female stars used to promote the women's wear range at retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) have been dropped from the campaign. The spring/summer women's wear campaign will be fronted by Twiggy, who stars in the current campaign, and a number of new celebrities, including singers Dannii Minogue and VV brown and television presenter Lisa Snowdon.

The women's wear campaign has been credited with helping turn around the fortunes of the company since the 2004 appointment of Sir Stuart Rose as chief executive.

GLASS HALF-FULL ON WETHERSPOON DIVIDEND

Pub operator JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L) is in advanced talks over a 500 million pound debt refinancing that could lead to the restoration of dividend payments suspended last year.

It is thought that JD Wetherspoon will pay around 240 basis points over Libor on the facility, arranged by BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), HSBC (HSBA.L), Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L). The rate would be more than three times that on JD Wetherspoon's main 435 million pound facility, which expires at the end of this year.

Finance director Keith Down said that restoring the dividend once the facility was in place was "a question of when, not if."

SAFEWAY COURT DECISION COULD HAVE IMPACT ON 'BANK-ROBBER'.

Safeway, the supermarket group owned by Wm Morrison (MRW.L), is suing eight former staff and directors the group claims were responsible for the anti-competitive pricing of dairy products, after an Office of Fair Trading investigation led to a fine on the company.

Safeway is hoping to recover the fine from the directors. The company's actions call into question the longstanding legal principle that a company is prevented from using the courts to pursue staff in the event that an illegal act was committed by staff on behalf of the company.

TEMPUS

St Modwen (SMP.L) There will be better times to buy

Randgold Resources (RRS.L) 590 million dollars of net cash gives Randgold plenty of room to manoeuvre

Kofax At 194p, or 13 times next year's earnings, tuck away

The Daily Telegraph

LONDON CAB MARKET SET TO GO ELECTRIC

Specialist vehicle distributor Eco City Vehicles is to launch trials of a new electric zero-emissions taxi cab later this year.

The move escalates the battle between Eco and Manganese Bronze, the manufacturer of the traditional London black cab. The model is an update of the Mercedes Vito taxi which has comprised 30 per cent of all new taxis licensed in London since its debut in 2008.

The trials could take up to a year and may see the taxi available for public use in 2011.

S&P DOWNGRADES BA CREDIT RATINGS

Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's has downgraded the credit rating for British Airways BAY.L following an announcement from the British airline that its pre-tax losses for the first nine months of the year amounted to 342 million pounds.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh has disclosed that he expects this year's loss to exceed last year's 401 million pounds. BA shares fell 7 pence to 199 pence after the news. The airline has recently been beset by the difficult wider economic conditions, a proposed strike by its cabin crew and a pension deficit of 3.7 billion pounds.

BUSINESS LOSING FAITH IN LABOUR

Less than half of 38 of the 62 senior executives who signed a letter supporting Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 2005 have confirmed that they will be supporting Gordon Brown at the next election.

The letter, written to the Financial Times, was used by Labour as a symbol that it had developed good relationships with business. Of the 38 who responded to questions from the FT about whom they would be backing, 20 declined to declare their support but only one had switched allegiance to the Conservative party.

ST MODWEN CHIEF CASTS DOUBT ON TORY PLANS

The chief executive of the regeneration specialist St Modwen, Bill Oliver, has criticised a Conservative Green Paper that proposes the decentralisation of the planning system.

Oliver has criticised the planning system for being "restrictful, wasteful and expensive", but says that the Conservative proposal is "change for change's sake".

St Modwen has posted pre-tax losses of 119.4 million pounds for the year to November 30 which has been attributed to a 20 per cent fall in the value of its net assets.

QUESTOR

BAE Systems (BAES.L) (Buy)

Kier Group (KIE.L) (Buy)