PRESS DIGEST - British Sunday business - July 20

The Sunday Times

SHELL SELLS WIND STAKE

Royal Dutch Shell(RDSa.L) is to sell its stake in the London Array to EonEONG.DE and Dong Energy. The utilities have agreed to divide Shell's one-third stake in the partnership evenly between them. The decision means that development of the world's largest offshore windfarm will almost certainly go ahead. Eon and Dong will now have to shoulder all of the 2.5 billion pounds costs of the scheme which is already seven years in development.

FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION'S SNAP BUYOUT

Picsolve has been bought by Fidelity Equity Partners in a 33 million pound management buyout. The company, which runs camera installations at venues including Alton Towers, the London Eye and Madame Tussauds in Britain, Busch Gardens in the US and Parc Asterix in France, has a turnover of 20 million pounds. The management of the Derby-based company, will own a slice of the company as part of the deal.

101 MILLION POUNDS MOBILE PAYOUT 4U

In contrast to the trend for high-street belt tightening, the owners of Phones 4U split a 101 million pound payout last year. Providence Equity Partners and the company's management took out the cash less than two years after they bought the business from founder John Caudwell for 778 million pounds. The amount is the same as the equity they put up for the mobile phone retailer. Phones 4U has opened 64 new stores since the takeover and has been investing in its insurance arm, having just bought St Andrew's Membership Services from HBOSHBOS.L for 7.5 million pounds.

The Sunday Telegraph

HSBC EDGES CLOSER TO SHANGHAI LISTING

HSBC(HSBA.L) has held talks with the China Investment Corporation (CIC) over a potential investment in Europe's largest bank which is vying to become the first foreign company to list on the mainland Chinese bourse. The discussions are thought to have included the possibility of CIC buying shares in the open market. HSBC was the first global financial institution to signal its exposure to the collapse of the American sub-prime mortgage secto, but it is one of the most strongly capitalised banks in the world and while the FTSE 350 banking sector has fallen by 28 per cent this year, HSBC shares have only fallen six per cent.

DAVID LLOYD LIMBERS UP FOR DEAL WITH TROUBLED ESPORTA

On Monday, David Lloyd Leisure will table a proposal to merge with its rival Esporta which will largely negate the need to raise significant levels of debt to finance the deal. Esporta has attracted interest from a number of other fitness groups but the contraction in the debt markets has made it difficult for suitors to raise the financing for a takeover. David Lloyd has hired Citigroup to advise on its bid for Esporta which is estimated to be worth around 150 million to 200 million pounds.

TREASURY COMMITTEE SEEKS EQUITABLE SOLUTION

This week, MPs are to call on fellow members of the Treasury Select Committee to help find ways to pay compensation to the victims of the near collapse of Equitable Life. Following last week's report from the Parliamentary Ombudsman, which accused the government of a 'decade of regulatory failure', Philip Dunne MP will meet with 13 other committee members and press them to hold a formal meeting which would be focused on finding government resources to pay money to shareholders who saw their investments lose up to 50 per cent of their value.

The Observer

INVESTORS SHUN TAYLOR WIMPEY OVER PENSIONS DEBT

Taylor Wimpey's(TW.L) huge pensions liability is scaring off potential buyers as any takeover would require an injection of up to 1.2 billion pounds. The extent of the payout, combined with the company's 1.7 billion pounds debt, has prevented any bid for the beleaguered housebuilder which is valued at just 477 million pounds. Taylor Wimpey's pension liability is also said to be preventing shareholders from agreeing a 500 million pound emergency bail-out via a private share placement with institutional investors. The value of the housebuilder has fallen by 80 per cent over the past year as concern increases over whether its huge debt burden can be sustained in a depressed housing market.

FEARS GROW FOR ANGLO IRISH OVER FALL IN LAND VALUES

There are rising concerns that Anglo Irish Bank will have to substantially increase it provision to cover exposure to falling UK and Irish real estate markets. Anglo Irish has been one of the most aggressive property lenders and many in the City believe the bank is vulnerable to a further fall in values, which may result in the failure of a number of property companies. Anglo Irish says that this year it is in line to make record profits, even after making provision for falling values in its loan book, it also says that it is not looking to make any of its staff redundant.

CARRIER RAPPED FOR ROLE IN WAR

UK-based cargo firm DAS Air has been found guilt of transporting minerals from rebel-held areas of the eastern Congo during a war in which millions died. This is the first time that the UK has found a company guilty of breaching OECD guidelines. The UK National Contact Point, which implements the OECD guidelines, said that DAS Air did not attempt to establish the source of the minerals being transported and that it 'finds it difficult to accept the airline.would not have been aware of the conflict and potential for the minerals to be sourced from eastern Congo.'

The Independent on Sunday

TESCO THROWS ITS WEIGHT BEHIND SUPERMARKET TSAR

Tesco(TSCO.L) is to back calls for legislation to create a supermarket tsar if the top ten grocers fail to voluntarily accept such authority. Following a Competition Commission report in April, the supermarkets will face an undated code of conduct and an ombudsman to monitor their treatment of suppliers. There are however fears that the stores may not agree on how much power an ombudsman should have, and a spokesman for Sainsbury's(SBRY.L) indicated that the chain could fight the move as 'an unnecessary measure'.

DAWNAY, DAY'S SELL-OFF TO TAKE UP TO A MONTH TO PRICE

It is going to take at least three weeks for DTZ to value the portfolios of Dawnay, Day's property companies and establish their sale prices. DTZ was hired on Friday to advise on the sale of 64 properties at Starlight Investments and Insureprofit. There has been speculation that the property portfolios could be worth around 300 million pounds. Dawnay, Day hit the headlines last week when Ernst & Young was brought in to restructure the organisation which has assets of around four billion dollars.

INCOME TAX CHANGES WILL 'CAUSE CHAOS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES'

Business and accountancy groups have warned that a change to the personal allowance, which is being raised to 600 pounds for basic-rate payers, could throw thousands of small firms into chaos as they may not know that the change is coming. The Federation of Small Businesses says that many firms are unprepared and that payroll mistakes are inevitable. The confusion will be compounded because the threshold above which income tax has to be paid at the higher 40 per cent rate is also being reduced by 1,200 pounds in September. HM Revenue & Customs has said that employers are to be notified of the changes in writing.

The Mail on Sunday

MORE JOBS TO GO AT MFI

MFI is to axe 60 jobs at its Appleton distribution centre near Warrington, Cheshire. The staff cuts follow 170 redundancies at the company's Sunderland call centre. Last week saw the axing of 3,850 workers at large companies, including Ryanair(RYA.I), JCB, and Wolseley(WOS.L), and currently the number of jobs lost in July stands at a total 10,347. The Association of Business Recovery Professionals has said that ninety per cent of insolvency experts believe that there will be an increase in the number of business failures in the next 12 months with the most vulnerable sectors being retail, leisure and construction.

ASPREY 'BACK ON COURSE'

One of the owners of royal jeweller Asprey has said that the company is 'very close' to breaking even after almost ten years of losses. Accounts filed at Companies House reveal that last year the UK arm of the company lost 6.8 million on sales of 17 million pounds. John Rigas, one of the firm's owners and chairman and chief executive of Sciens Capital, said that the losses were related to restructuring and closure of outlets. Mr Rigas said that about 20 million pounds had been invested over the past two years and that annual sales at Asprey International stand at 40 million pounds.

BP HIRES A TOP MOSCOW FIRM FOR LEGAL FIGHT

BP(BP.L) has hired a top Moscow law firm to help it in its battle with four Russian billionaire oligarchs who it claims are trying to take control of their joint venture TNK-BP. BP's Russian base has been at the receiving end of a wave of labour and police inspections, tax and visa problems. The law firm's first task will be to try and obtain a permanent visa for TNK-BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, who faces deportation if one has not been obtained by July 27.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants.