PRESS DIGEST - British business - March 27

The Times

PUNCH FACES PRESSURE TO WRITE DOWN VALUE OF PUB

Following the sale of some of its top London hostelries, Punch Taverns(PUB.L) is facing mounting pressure to write-down the 6.5 million pound ($9.49 million) value of its 8,400 pubs. The pub group, which is selling hundreds of pubs in order to reduce debts of 4.5 billion pounds, announced on Thursday that Spirit, its managed free house division, had agreed the sale of six pubs to London brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner for 21.1 million pounds against a book value of 25.6 million pounds. Punch has mainly been selling its lower-end leased pubs but recently appointed Sapient Corporate Finance to approach family brewers that might be interested in buying some of its best-managed houses.

RONNIE FIGHTS JJB CLAIM HE WAS SACKED

The Sportswear retailer JJB (JJB.L) told the stock market yesterday that former chief executive, Chris Ronnie, was sacked for gross misconduct. Ronnie immediately issued a statement through his lawyers Pannone stating: "Mr Ronnie maintains his position that he resigned after reaching a financial settlement with JJB on February 24. The sum agreed was sent from JJB to Pannone without qualification. As such the finding of misconduct is, in our opinion, wholly erroneous." Separately JJB sold its 55-gym chain to Dave Whelan on Wednesday for 83.4 million pounds in a deal that is likely to rescue JJB from falling into administration.

CANARY WHARF OWNER RISKS BREACH OF BANK COVENANTS

The Morgan Stanley-backed property company Songbird SBDb.L, which owns most of the offices in Canary Wharf, is in danger of breaking a clause in a loan given to it by Citigroup (C.N). Part of the loan's contract states that Songbird's properties must be worth at least 87.5 percent of the loan -- a covenant which may not be met due to a continuing decline in commercial property prices. Citigroup, however, is willing to grant a waiver if covenants are breached and Songbird has hired NM Rothschild as an adviser on financial restructuring.

Daily Telegraph

RIO HAS 'PLAN B' SHOULD CHINALCO DEAL COLLAPSE

Guy Elliott, finance director at Rio Tinto(RIO.L), said the company has a 'Plan B' if its $19.5 billion deal with Chinalco is blocked by investors or regulators. Elliot said: "We have plans in the eventuality that either the various governments or the shareholders prevent the deal going through." Were the cash injection to fail, Rio would consider the sale of more equity, bonds or assets. Elliot also reiterated the heavily indebted miner's stance that metals prices will recover in the second half of 2009 due to China's stimulus package.

CASH QUEST PROMPTS 3I TO REDUCE INVESTMENT

As part of plans to reduce its debt burden by the middle of 2010, 3i(III.L) has radically reduced its investment programme to conserve money. The private equity group invested 898 million pounds in the 11 months to February, far below the 2.15 billion pounds it invested in the same period the previous year. 3i has debts of 2.1 billion pounds, which it hopes to halve over the next 12 to 15 months, and is managing its existing portfolio to position itself "for the upturn".