PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Feb 26

LAND SECURITIES RELAUNCHES SKYSCRAPER

Land Securities (LAND.L) has restarted work on its skyscraper on London's Fenchurch Street, after it was shelved 18 months ago in the depths of the recession. The biggest property company in the UK has asked construction firms to provide estimates for the building of the 500 ft tower, nicknamed the "Walkie-Talkie". The market has signalled a potential shortage of good quality office space in the Square Mile in the next few years.

STEWART TO TAKE A LESSER ROLE AT CENKOS

A boardroom shake-up at Cenkos (CNKS.L), the upstart broker, will see founder Andy Stewart take a back-seat role. Stewart is set to take a non-executive position in a move that signals an end of an era for the 5-year-old group. According to Cenkos, the move was made so the 58-year-old can spend more time with his family, after his son was left paralysed following a snow-boarding accident a year ago. The company on Thursday unveiled a 47 percent increase in pre-tax profits to 7.5 million pounds.

BIDDERS MULTIPLY FOR HOBBYCRAFT

The auction for HobbyCraft is expected to hot up on Friday when up to 20 first-round bids are submitted. Private equity groups Bridgepoint Development Capital and Graphite Capital are among those expected to submit first round bids for the arts and crafts company, which is valued at 70 million pounds. HobbyCraft generated pre-tax profit of 5.4 million pounds in the year to Feb. 22 -- up 67 percent on the previous year. It has revealed intentions to quadruple its store base from 48 to roughly 180 stores.

BAA WINS APPEAL OVER AIRPORTS BREAK-UP

A tribunal ruled on Thursday that BAA BAA.L can keep Glasgow, Stansted and Edinburgh airports, marking a victory for the airports operator over an antitrust watchdog order to break itself up. The Competition Commission says BAA's near-monopoly over Britain's biggest airports is damaging passengers' interests. The watchdog is understood to be preparing an appeal against the judgment in a process that could take many months.

UPBEAT YORKSHIRE TO DOUBLE MORTGAGE LENDING

Yorkshire Building Society, the second-largest mutual in the UK, is seeking to double its mortgage lending this year. The move signals a positive outlook on the housing market after the society revealed gross mortgage lending plummeted in 2009 to 900 million pounds, from 2.5 billion pounds. For the year to Dec. 31, Yorkshire Building Society made a pre-tax loss of 12.5 million pounds. This is down from a profit of 8.3 million pounds in 2008.

VIRGIN POISED TO OFFER 100MBPS BROADBAND

This year, Virgin Media (VMED.L)(VMED.O) will launch a 100Mb per second broadband service as it seeks to extend its speed advantage over rivals British Sky Broadcasting (BSY.L) and BT (BT.L). The media company's announcement came as parent group Virgin revealed a narrowing of full-year pre-tax losses for 2009 from continuing operations to 337.5 million pounds from 860.2 million pounds. Shares increased 62 pence to reach 10.50 pounds in London.

RECOVERING GKN PLANS PAY-OUT RESUMPTION

GKN (GKN.L) will resume dividend payments this year after the aerospace component and car parts maker cut its losses in 2009, despite the recession. Chief Executive Kevin Smith said its decision to resume dividends at the half-year stage was justified by a recovery in trading. Smith also pointed to a reduction in debt following a 403 million pound rights issue last summer and a return to operating profits. Its shares rose 5.4 pence to reach 109 pence.

FSA ACTS OVER CITY MIS-SELLING

The Financial Services Authority has fined RSM Tenon Financial Services 700,000 pounds for mis-selling structured products. It is the regulator's first enforcement action following its review of these investments. The London company was charged with violating its "treating customers' fairly" requirements between November 2007 and August 2008. During this period, RSM Tenon Financial Services marketed structured products backed by collapsed Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers.

MANDELSON ATTACKED FOR BACKING GOOGLE PLAN

Lord Mandelson's public endorsement of a joint venture led by Google and BT (BT.L) has landed the business secretary in hot water for backing multinationals over British start-ups. The joint venture seeks to build small business websites for free, and Mandelson provided an endorsement saying: "I wish it every success". However, several UK-based companies that specialise in this market have criticised his failure to highlight the existence of home-grown alternatives.

BUSINESS INVESTMENT FALL CASTS DOUBT ON RECOVERY

Hopes that the UK can return to strong growth in coming years have been hit after it emerged that investment by businesses fell sharply in nearly every sector in the final quarter. Investment declined by 5.8 percent on the quarter in the final three months of the year to 27 billion pounds. This is compared to an expected increase of 0.1 percent. The sharp decline is likely to raise concerns about the extent to which the availability of credit is impacting businesses. It will also cause many to question whether the recovery in the UK will prove sustainable.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants.