PRESS DIGEST - British business - April 9

The Times

BRITISH ENERGY MONOPOLY "UNACCEPTABLE"

The government warned potential bidders for British Energy BGY.L by saying it will not tolerate the emergence of a single monopoly player in Britain's drive to build a new generation of nuclear reactors. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said: "We wouldn't be happy, we wouldn't really allow just one company to have a monopoly of nuclear in Britain." Wicks' comments are thought to be a signal the government will not accept a single bidder such as EDF (EDF.PA) or RWE (RWEG.DE) to buy British Energy on its own.

TESCO DIPS ON TALK OF WAL-MART FIGHT IN U.S.

Shares in Tesco (TSCO.L) fell 8.5 pence to 401 pence on fears that Wal-Mart (WMT.N) is awakening from its slumber in the United States to try to see off its British rival from its own backyard. Tesco has already lost ground on concerns that its Fresh & Easy business in the western United States is not doing so well as hoped.

COST-CUTTING DRIVE BY GLOBAL RADIO

Global Radio, which acquired the former Chrysalis radio stations last year, is implementing a cost-cutting drive across its networks. The move will see local programming reduced and a big increase in networked shows. Global Radio also agreed to buy GCap, the owner of Capital 95.8, last week.

The Daily Telegraph

LIVINGSTON TAKES OVER HELM AT BT

Ben Verwaayen will step down from BT (BT.L) next month, and he will be replaced by Ian Livingston who is being appointed to chief executive. Livingston will get a potential five million pound package, including a salary of 850,000 pounds. Chairman Sir Michael Rake said: "Given the strategy and Ian's skills. It is quite obvious from the advice that we got that we had the candidate in house."

PREMIER INN GROWS READY FOR OLYMPICS

Premier Inn is to embark on a 100 million pound expansion scheme in London to be ready for the 2012 Olympics. Whitbread (WTB.L) is to construct six new hotels over the next three years, adding a further 1,200 rooms to its estate. On Tuesday, the company said it had agreed to a deal to acquire three hotels from the Real Hotel Company for 18.5 million pounds, with a further 12 million pounds to be spent converting them into Premier Inns.

COSTA COFFEE OPTS FOR GREENER BEANS

In the latest move by a UK food and drink retailer to enhance its green credentials, Costa Coffee will convert its entire supply of coffee to environmentally friendly beans. By 2010, the high street operator will switch its coffee supply across its 1,000 stores worldwide to sustainably grown beans from Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee suppliers. Costa wants to source 30 percent of beans from these suppliers by September.

The Independent

BA RUNS FULL SCHEDULE AT T5 FOR FIRST TIME