PRESS DIGEST - British business - July 8

The Times

RIGHTS ISSUE BY BRADFORD & BINGLEY WILL COST 55 MILLION POUNDS TO RAISE JUST 400 MILLION POUNDS

According to information released to shareholders of Bradford & Bingley BB.L, the buy-to-let lender is embarking on one of the UK's most expensive rights issues as it attempts to raise 400 million pounds at a cost of 55 million pounds. The bank's stock fell 16 percent on Monday to a low of 42 pence, which is 13 pence below the rights issue subscription price. That left sub-underwriting investors, including Standard Life (SL.L) and Legal & General (LGEN.L), who agreed to bail B&B out days ago with a notional 42 million pound loss.

DUDLEY HANGS ON TO TNK-BP JOB, BUT REPRIEVE MAY BE ONLY TEMPORARY

Robert Dudley, chief executive of BP's (BP.L) Russian joint venture TNK-BP, has held on to his job after an extraordinary meeting of TNK-BP management voted 3-2 against his dismissal in response to a demand from a quartet of billionaire Russian investors. The four own 50 percent of the company through their AAR consortium, with BP holding the other half. The Russian side is expected to press once more for Dudley's resignation when TNK-BP International, the parent company, holds its board meeting on Friday.

MYNERS BACKS ROSE LEADERSHIP OF M&S AS INVESTORS PREPARE TO PASS JUDGMENT

The former chairman of Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) has leapt to the defence of current head Sir Stuart Rose before a possible revolt of institutional investors at the retailer's annual meeting on Wednesday. Paul Myners, a close friend of Rose, said there was no one better equipped to revive the retailer, adding: "Stuart is more likely to get it right than anyone else." He said he anticipated a full show of support for Rose from the 2,000 private shareholders due to attend the meeting.

The Daily Telegraph

PUNCH'S THORLEY APPOINTS TYE TO IMPROVE SPIRITS

After dropping more than 60 percent this year, shares in Punch Taverns (PUB.L) climbed 8.75 pence to 279.75 pence on the news that the group is to replace Andrew Knight, head of its managed pubs division. Giles Thorley, chief executive of Punch, is understood to have been disappointed by the Spirit division's performance and has brought in Michael Tye, a former executive at leisure group Whitbread, to turn it around. Tye was managing director of David Lloyd Leisure until its sale last year and ran Whitbread's Premier Inn and Costa Coffee divisions.

PREDATORS MOVE IN FOR CORPORATE DRUG-TESTER CONCATENO

Concateno (COT.L), the corporate drug-testing business, is understood to have received several unsolicited approaches from mystery bidders and has appointed investment bank UBS to carry out a strategic review. Since listing on Aim in 2005, the company has become Britain's biggest alcohol- and drug-testing business after a series of acquisitions including Medscreen, Altrix Healthcare and TrichoTech. Concateno's shares rose 3.75 pence on Monday to 135.25 pence, giving it a market valuation of 125.61 million pounds.

GUY HANDS CHARTS NEW PATH FOR EMI

The record label EMI has appointed Elio Leoni-Sceti as chief executive of its recorded music division, completing the major board reshuffle that Guy Hands has orchestrated since his private equity group Terra Firma paid 3.2 billion pounds for the company last summer. Hands will step back from his executive chairman role to become non-executive chairman of EMI. Leoni-Sceti was a brand manager at Proctor & Gamble before a 16-year stint with consumer product group Reckitt Benckiser, where he is currently executive vice-president of the firm's European division.

The Independent

NATIONWIDE STOPS CASH ISA TRANSFERS