PRESS DIGEST - British business press - Aug 17

The Sunday Times

GRID'S LOBBY BILL TOPS ONE MILLION DOLLARS

According to regulatory findings, National Grid (NG.L) spent 536,000 pounds in the first half of this year making sure its voice is heard in Washington.

Since the British utility giant took over New York's Key Span last year, half of its business now comes from America. The 11 billion dollar takeover made National Grid the second-biggest gas and electricity utility in America, and it currently serves 3.3 million customers there.

Regulatory findings show National Grid spent 557,000 dollars in the first quarter of the year lobbying on climate-change legislation and other issues, and it said a similar figure was also spent in the second quarter.

SAINSBURY PAINTS ITSELF GREEN WITH WOODEN STORE

On Monday, J Sainsbury (SBRY.L), the grocery giant, will launch its flagship store in Dartmouth, Devon, which it hopes will become the model for all its supermarkets.

The store has been made from timber rather than steel, and will be heated by a biomass boiler running on wood chips. The move is also expected to save the supermarket almost a third on its energy bills.

Neil Sachdev, commercial director at Sainsbury, said: "This is not a showcase for the sake of having a showcase."

The company insists all new stores will incorporate as many of the new green features seen in the Dartmouth site as possible, and pledged that two supermarkets a year and one convenience store would look to "stretch" the group's thinking on the environment by testing innovative technologies.

RBS SET TO SCRAP AUCTION

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) has raised nearly six billion pounds through the sale of risky loans, and is now on the cusp of abandoning the auction of its Direct Line and Churchill insurance empire.

The bank has cut its exposure to billions of pounds worth of loans used to back private-equity deals, and is in negotiations to sell a further tranche of loans to Apollo and Blackstone, the investment firms.

Even though it is thought there is only one serious bidder left in the auction, Royal Bank of Scotland is now understood to be clinging to the seven billion pound price tag it placed on its insurance operations.

The Sunday Telegraph

ICELAND BOSS IN SURPRISE BID FOR WOOLWORTHS