PRESS DIGEST - British Business Press - May 12

The Times

THREE BUYERS IN RUNNING FOR VIRGIN MEDIA'S TV CHANNELS

Channel Four, BSkyB (BSY.L) and Time Warner (TWX.N) have emerged as the three most likely buyers in the race over the takeover of Virgin Media's (VMED.O) VMtv channels. Sources said that the cable operator, which is looking to reduce its large debt mountain, has decided to sell the channels separately from its other television asset, its UKTV joint venture with BBC Worldwide which is expected to be auctioned at a later stage. City sources said offers lodged for VMtv were about 80 million pounds, while others said they were much higher and Virgin was "confident" of attracting a good price.

GLOBAL RADIO SHRUGS OFF AUDITOR WARNING, SAYS PROFIT STEADY

Global Radio has dismissed an auditor's caution after announcing that it had managed to keep underlying profits steady at 31 million pounds in the year to March despite an 18 percent slump in advertising. In accounts released by Companies House on Monday, KPMG warned of "a material uncertainty" until Britain's biggest commercial radio broadcaster had reached a refinancing agreement with Lloyds Bank (LLOY.L) over its 210 million pounds debt pile. Ashley Tabor, chief executive and co-owner of the group, said the warning was "simply a matter of housekeeping" and that the private company was "very comfortable servicing our debt".

CARE HOMES ON TRACK

Southern Cross (SCHE.L), the care homes group, said that its transformation plans remained on track despite a significant drop in earnings fuelled by a jump in winter resident mortality and a cut in spending by councils. The group's new management reported that first-half pre-exceptional pre-tax profits had dropped to 14.1 million pounds, a 16.1 per cent fall. Losses posted in the 26 weeks to March 31 rose to 12.5 million pounds from 8.6 million pounds at the same time the year before.

TEMPUS RATES TUI TRAVEL (TT.L) SHARES A HOLD

The Tempus column said the trading outlook for TUI Travel has improved, helped by capacity cuts and the quashing of fears of a swine flu epidemic, and rated the shares a 'Hold'.

TEMPUS SEES RM GROUP SHARES ON MULTIPLE OF 11 TIMES EARNINGS

The Tempus column said brokers were forecasting EPS of about 13.9 pence for educational software and services provider RM Group in the current year, on a multiple of almost 11 times expected earnings. "That's probably about right," it said.