PRESS DIGEST - British business - Aug 11

The Times

BERKELEY MARKETS 'AFFLUENT COUNTRY TOWN AMBIENCE' OF STANMORE IN INDIA

Berkeley BKG_u.L, the FTSE-250 listed property developer, is targeting well-to-do Indians looking to buy-to-let in London. In a ballroom of Bombay's finest hotel last week, a cadre of estate agents flown in from London talked of a "window of opportunity" created by the downturn in the UK housing market. Simon Halfhide, director of new homes at Berkeley's partner Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "There is a lot of foreign buying in London . But so far India has been relatively untapped".

CREST MAY ASK HBOS FOR CAPITAL INJECTION

The housebuilder Crest Nicholson is holding meetings with investors including HBOS HBOS.L to discuss the possibility of them putting additional equity into the business, at a time when it is also trying to renegotiate the terms of its debt. HBOS bought Crest last year in partnership with West Coast Capital and is understood to be considering inviting a new partner on board, with hedge funds and private equity groups thought to be interested. Crest said in June that profits for 2007 were 69.7 million pounds, down from 80 million pounds the previous year.

JOBLESSNESS SET TO RISE FOR SIXTH SUCCESSIVE MONTH

Jobless figures for last month, due out on Wednesday, are expected to provide official confirmation that unemployment has risen for the sixth successive month. Two influential surveys to be published on Monday will reinforce the bleak outlook. According to the latest quarterly report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and KPMG, more than a quarter of employers are now planning redundancies in the present quarter. And a Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) survey will suggest that numbers in work fell in every region in the UK last month, and at the fastest rate since late 2001.

The Daily Telegraph

BP ON ALERT AS RUSSIAN JETS ATTACK PIPELINE IN GEORGIA

Russian jets were reported to have launched a bombing raid on Saturday targeting BP's (BP.L) main pipeline in Georgia, raising fears that Moscow is moving to extend its stranglehold on Europe's energy supplies. BP owns a 30 percent stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries one million barrels of oil a day from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean. Local reports recorded 51 missile strikes within 100 yards of the pipeline, although a BP spokesman said that after thorough checks the company had "disclosed no bombing in the vicinity of the BTC line".

LITTLE CHEF BACK ON THE ROAD

Little Chef, the roadside restaurant chain, has reported an eight percent rise in sales since the beginning of the school summer holidays. The chain, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, said the boost was thanks to an increase in Britons holidaying in the UK. A partnership with Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal and a revamped menu focusing on healthier foods had also helped boost sales, the company said.

MARSTON'S TIPPED TO PITCH FOR CAINS

Cains, the Liverpool brewer which went into administration on Thursday after running into cashflow difficulties, has more than a dozen potential bidders expressing interest. At least 12 parties are understood to have been in contact with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrator, about acquiring all or part of the group. The brewer Marston's (MARS.L) has been tipped by analysts as a possible buyer for the business.

The Independent

WHITTARD SEES SWITCH FROM COFFEE HOUSES

Whittard of Chelsea, the 135-store tea and coffee retail specialist, has revealed that sales of coffee have soared 15 percent in the six months to 31 July and are set to overtake sales of tea for the first time over the next 12 months, as hard-pressed consumers make their own brews at home. The revelation is likely to reignite the debate over whether coffee shop chains such as Costa Coffee and Starbucks are vulnerable to the retail downturn and reduced levels of discretionary spending among consumers.

CENTRICA OFFERS FOUR BILLION POUND SWEETENER FOR BE DEAL

Centrica (CNA.L) will further its effort to secure UK government backing for a 22.5 billion merger with British Energy BGY.L by offering a cash sweetener for its stake in the nuclear power generator. Press reports say Centrica is galvanising up to four billion pounds to cover part or all of the stake in the hope that cash will encourage the Government to allow it to be involved in the deal.

BRANSON ASKS OBAMA TO STOP BA-AA MERGER

Virgin Atlantic's owner Sir Richard Branson has launched a flurry of PR activity in a lobbying campaign aimed at scuppering the proposed tie-up between American Airlines and British Airways (BAY.L). Branson has written to US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain warning that the alliance would be anti-competitive. The link-up, he writes, "would make it impossible for other carriers to compete for time-sensitive corporate or business travellers". This would "severely damage competition on major transatlantic routes and leave consumers worse off", he adds.

The Guardian

BA MAY GIVE UP FLIGHTS FOR TIE-UP WITH US CARRIER

British Airways (BAY.L) is preparing to win the backing of US authorities for a tie-up with American Airlines by surrendering its right to hundreds of transatlantic flights worth tens of millions of pounds. The company now sees it as a price worth paying to secure an alliance with AA and Iberia of Spain. BA is meeting officials of the US department of justice this week.

OUTLOOK WORSE THAN EXPECTED, CBI WARNS

The CBI said on Sunday that the economic downturn was worse than expected and warned of "uncomfortable" times ahead. In a letter to members of the employers' organisation, CBI director general Richard Lambert said there was "no doubt that the mood has darkened in the past two or three months" and the economy's prospects for next year and into 2010 "look no better than anaemic". The CBI has cut its forecasts for growth in 2009 from one percent to 0.4 percent.

BRADFORD & BINGLEY ON TORTUOUS WAY INTO FINAL STRAIGHT

Bradford & Bingley BB.L is entering the final week of its tortuous rights issue, with executive chairman Rod Kent preparing for support from the City and investors to be thin when the issue closes on Friday at 11am. Shareholder support for the vital cash call is still hanging in the balance and Kent is claiming that any level of acceptance greater than eight percent - the benchmark set by BB's much larger rival HBOS HBOS.L in last month's deeply discounted four billion pound rights issue - would be an outstanding result.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants