PRESS DIGEST - British business - June 19

The Times

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER RATE INCREASE FROM HBOS

In the past six months, Britain's biggest lender, HBOS HBOS.L, has made 19 changes to two-year fixed rate mortgage deals. The bank has a 20 per cent share of the mortgage market which has a value of 220 billion pounds. The frequent increases will be a blow to homeowners hoping to remortgage on a two-year fixed-rate deal.

CENTRICA FIGHTS THE FRENCH FOR BELGIAN ENERGY TARGET

Centrica (CNA.L) wants to take control of SPE, Belgium's second biggest electricity supplier, but will have to match a bid from EDF (EDF.PA) to do so. In an effort to knock Centrica out of the race, EDF could offer a premium of between five and 10 per cent. Centrica wants to take over SPE in a sale ordered by the European Commission as a condition for approving the merger between GdF and Suez (LYOE.PA).

MISYS AVOIDS STORM DAMAGE, BUT THERE IS LITTLE TO LIFT PRICE

Misys (MSY.L) sales for the 12 months to May 31 were up six per cent to 498 million pounds. It is far ahead of the rise of between two and three per cent that the city was expecting. However it is hard to see what will drive the shares higher at 158.5 pence, or 13 times current-year earnings.

The Daily Telegraph

FUEL DRIVES GROWTH AT SAINSBURY'S

J Sainsbury (SBRY.L) has unveiled a 3.4 per cent rise in first-quarter food sales after pushing through price increases. The supermarket admitted that the volume of food was slightly down on last year. Rising fuel revenues were the main driver of growth sending total like-for-like sales up 7.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to June 14. Sainsbury's share price fell 10.5 pence to 325.5 pence.

DIGITAL ADS ARE THE FUTURE FOR AEGIS

Aegis (AEGS.L) expects its communications and marketing arm, Aegis Media, to generate most of its revenue from the fast-growing digital advertising sector in less than five years. The group said that although its market research division, Synovate, was not up for sale, Aegis would always look at an offer for Synovate if it was beneficial to shareholders.

DTZ SEEKS 50 JOB CUTS IN DOWNTURN

DTZ, the commercial property company, is understood to be seeking to axe up to 50 staff in response to the current downturn. The company said it would not know for another two weeks how many jobs would go. A spokesman said "we are currently consulting on how many jobs can be redeployed."

The Independent

MOUCHEL IS ON THE RIGHT ROAD DESPITE MISSING M25 DEAL