PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Oct 23

WOOLWORTHS GETS NEW FINANCE DIRECTOR AS EAST HEADS OFF

Robert McDonald, formerly of Punch Taverns (PUB.L), is to replace Steven East as finance director at the high street retailer Woolworths WLW.L. Five senior staff have left Woolworths in recent days as new head Steve Johnson looks to slim down bureaucracy at the group whose share price has fallen 90 per cent since 2003. David Stoddart, analyst at Altium Securities, believes the appointment augurs well as McDonald would have been granted detailed access to the company's books and he would be unlikely to join a company he thought doomed. Mr McDonald said: "I am delighted to be joining Woolworths. I share Steve's belief that there is space on the high street for a successful home based variety store and I look forward to joining the team leading the turnaround of this iconic retail business."

HOME RETAIL HIT BY DOWNTURN

Terry Duddy, chief executive of Home Retail Group (HOME.L), has warned that Argos is going through the toughest period in its 35-year history. Home Retail warned that profits for the year were likely to be at the bottom end of expectations if the current trading conditions persist into the peak-trading months of November and December. The company reported a pre-tax loss of 437 million pounds for the 26 weeks to August 30 compared with a profit last time of 169.3 million pounds. Sales were flat at 2.74 billion pounds. Home Retail will reduce capital expenditure in the current year from 225 million pounds to around 175 million pounds, mainly by opening fewer Homebase stores. Shares closed at 196.75 pence, up 2.75 pence.

PROVIDENT TURNS AWAY EIGHTY PER CENT OF TRADE

Provident Financial (PFG.L) has tightened up its credit criteria four times in the past year and is now rejecting 80 per cent of new customer applications. The lender to low-income households has seen a rise in loan applications since the credit crunch began and high street banks started to reject mainstream borrowers with imperfect credit histories. In an interim management statement, Provident said that it was more resilient than other lenders through an economic downturn as its customers have limited access to other forms of credit and have therefore not generally developed high levels of personal debt. Provident said it was well funded with 385 million pounds of headroom and no debt scheduled to mature until March 2010.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants