PRESS DIGEST - British business - March 15

The Times

THIRD RESIGNATION AT HUGO BOSS AFTER PERMIRA PUSHES FOR DIVIDEND

Giuseppe Vita, chairman of Hugo Boss's supervisory board, has resigned after a row with Permira, the fashion company's private equity owner. According to a German business magazine, Vita will step down after the company's annual meeting on May 10. Vita's resignation follows those of Bruno Saelzer, chief executive and chairman, and Werner Lackas, a board member, who left after Permira took control of the company last year.

SALES OF AGA OVENS GO OFF THE BOIL

On Friday, Aga (AGA.L)> revealed plans to pump 3.5 million pounds into marketing its ovens and kitchen furniture with a "Love Aga" advertising campaign, after reporting little sales growth last year. Chief executive William McGrath said: "There's no doubt that we're at the premium end of the market and that's less cyclical, but if people move less maybe they'll spend more money on their home."

REGUS GOES FOR GROWTH AS OFFICE SPACE DEMAND RISES

According to Regus (RGU.L), demand for serviced office space remains strong and in a period of rapid expansion the London-listed company raised its pre-tax profit by 54 percent to 119 million pounds last year. Chief executive Mark Dixon said: "Business is in excellent shape. We continue to provide very flexible offices. We're very focused on our strategy of measured growth -- not growth for growth's sake." Regus also plans continued investment to expand the business in emerging markets in Africa and Asia.

The Daily Telegraph

INFORMA CHIEF IN LINE FOR EMAP POSITION

The chief executive of Informa (INF.L), David Gilbertson, is poised to head Emap's EMA.L business publishing arm. Emap Communications was sold to a consortium of Guardian Media Group and private equity firm Apax for 1.2 billion pounds last year. Since the deal, Gilbertson has been in talks with the company's new shareholders about becoming chief executive of Emap's business-to-business arm. According to sources, he has recently informed Informa's board about his decision to leave the company to join Emap.

COMMONS GROUP CALLS FOR BREAK-UP OF BAA

Only hours after the Queen opened Heathrow's 4.3 billion pound Terminal 5, an influential committee of MPs has called for the break-up of BAA FER.MC. Gwyneth Dunwoody, committee chairman, said: "Ending BAA's common ownership will encourage airports to compete for traffic. The committee firmly believes that the increased competition is possible and could have huge benefits for both airlines and passengers."

PRU PROFITS HIT BY SUB-PRIME COLLAPSE

Prudential (PRU.L) has posted a 47 percent decrease in pre-tax profit after the failure of its life fund to perform as well as last year. The UK insurance giant also wrote off credit risks in the United States after the sub-prime collapse. However, finance director Philip Broadly believes that even if markets worsened in 2008, Pru would have sufficient cash inflows from its international businesses to continue its "progressive" dividend policy.

The Independent

ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN HITS HOME AT JOHN LEWIS WITH FALL IN SALES

Last week, sales at John Lewis [JLP.UL] took a hit that gives further indication of a slowdown on the high street as consumers tightened their belts. Towards the end of 2007 the department store chain appeared resilient, but has reported a 1.4 percent fall in sales for the week to March 8. The chief economist at Global Insight, Howard Archer, said the figures "reinforce suspicions that the UK consumer will reign in his spending significantly over the coming months."

POWERLEAGUE SCORES 23.1 MILLION POUNDS

Patron Capital Partners, the private equity group, has paid just over 23 million pounds to take a 29 percent stake in Powerleague POPWR.L. As it unveiled its first-half results, Powerleague, which runs five-a-side football pitches across Britain, said the move will help boost its presence in the UK and underpin its planned expansion into Europe.

RAB SHARES UP AFTER SOLID RESULTS

Shares in RAB Capital (RAB.L) increased 1.8 percent to close at 56.5 pence on Friday after it posted solid full year results. The UK-listed hedge fund had previously lost heavily from bets in Northern Rock (NRKx.L), but investors were soothed after a fortnight of turmoil in the industry. Michael Alen-Buckley, the chairman of RAB Capital, also gave a downbeat assessment of the year to come.

The Guardian

STANLEY GIBBONS PROFITS FROM MARKET TURMOIL

Stanley Gibbons (SGI.L) is aiming to profit from the uncertainty surrounding the financial markets after increasing its profits by 25 percent last year. Mike Hall, chief executive, said: "Tighter economic conditions are resulting in an increasing number of investors turning to our products as a means of protecting their wealth by diversifying their asset holdings." The company has doubled its turnover over the past three years.

SHIRE IS SEEN AS EASY FOR PFIZER TO SWALLOW

Shire (SHP.L) jumped 47 pence to 990 pence on talk that Pfizer could be planning a 13 pound a share offer. This month, Pfizer said it was not planning any major acquisitions, but analysts pointed out that for the U.S. group -- with a market capitalisation of 74 billion pounds compared to the UK company's 5.5 billion pounds -- Shire may not count as a major.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants