PRESS DIGEST - British business - June 23

The Times

SHAREHOLDER PRESSURE MAKES ROSE WAIVE ONE MILLION POUND M&S SHARES

Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), has waived share options worth over one million pounds due to shareholder pressure against his long-term incentive plan. Rose and Steven Sharp, his marketing director, have relinquished a third of the shares they had been granted a few days ago following criticism from the Association of British Insurers. Rose, who breached corporate governance best practice by merging the roles of chief executive and chairman, said: "The board of M&S is aware of the governance issues we face and the importance of good shareholder relations. Our decision today reflects this."

EXTRA TIME BECKONS FOR INDEPENDENT BOND PAYMENT

Sir Anthony O'Reilly's battle to retain control of Independent News & Media (INME.I) was helped on Monday when the publisher said it expected to be given a one month extension on the time it needs to find a way of repaying a 200 million euro bond. The group plans to raise money to part-pay bondholders, but the amount on offer seems to have fallen from around 100 million euros to about 80 million euros. If IN&M fails to agree on the refinancing of the bond, it risks collapse and the sale of its newspapers to pay off its 1.4 billion euro debt. Bondholders risk receiving nothing in the event of bankruptcy, since they are last in the queue.

ESPN RUSHES INTO THE VOID LEFT BY SETANTA

ESPN, the leading U.S. sports broadcaster, has acquired the rights to show Premier League football through a 260 million pound deal giving it control of all the games that Setanta had planned to air. The American group is paying around 30 million pounds less than Setanta had promised for the games of the upcoming season, but will broadly match the 160 million pounds pledged by Setanta for the three seasons from August next year. Setanta was told a week ago it would lose the right to show matches in the coming season after it failed to make a critical ten million pound payment to the Premier League.

The Daily Telegraph

BT GETS 750 MILLION KCOM DEAL BOOST

BT (BT.L) has agreed a ten-year deal to run the national telecoms network of Kcom, which owns and maintains Hull's telecoms network. Deutsche Bank analysts believe the contract could add around 100 million pounds to BT's top line within a few years. Kcom will benefit from a reduction in maintenance and upgrade costs, thought to be worth around eight million pounds annually, and will also be able to expand its customer base via access to BT's networks.

SIXTY PERCENT OF COMPANIES PLAN TO FREEZE OR CUT PAY, CBI WARNS

A new employment survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry and the recruitment group Harvey Nash has found that six in every 10 UK companies plan to freeze pay or negotiate cuts. Over 700 companies employing around three million people took part in the survey which indicates that 60 percent of businesses have already frozen recruitment across all or part of their operations. Over half of the businesses surveyed expected recruitment levels to take more than a year to return to 2007 levels.

The Independent

BRIT PROPOSES CHAUCER OFFER

Brit Insurance has proposed a 221 million pound all-shares offer for Chaucer Holdings (CHU.L). It also emerged on Monday night that Pamplona Capital Management, the private equity firm that aims to build a non-controlling stake in the group, increased its stake in Chaucer to 9.26 percent. Chaucer has advised its shareholders to take no action while the proposals are considered.

THAMES WATER PUMPS IN 435 MILLION POUNDS