PRESS DIGEST - British business - June 30

The Times

TRAPPED ROCK BORROWERS FACE BIG JUMP IN PAYMENTS

A large number of Northern Rock (NRKx.L) customers face enormous hikes in their monthly mortgage payments at the end of their fixed-end deals. Around 200,000 home owners are on Rock's Together mortgage which allowed them to borrow up to 125 percent of their property's value. But as few lenders now offer deals above 95 percent, thousands of Together customers are trapped, being able to move only on to the bank's 7.49 percent standard rate. Melanie Bien, of broker Savills Private Finance, said: "Unfortunately, people with 100 and 125 percent loans who are coming to the end of the fixed-rate don't have much choice."

TAXPAYER BAILOUT LOOMS FOR 250 MILLION POUNDS GAMES VENUE

Carillion (CLLN.L) and Igloo (IGLVF.PK), the developers of the 250 million pounds Olympic Games media centre, are facing difficulties securing bank finance because of the credit crunch, it has emerged. The news, coming just a few days after Lend Lease said it was having problems finding funds for the one billion pounds athlete's village, means that taxpayers could be asked to pay the burden. A spokesman for the Olympic Delivery Authority said a statement on the media centre was imminent, adding: "We still anticipate significant private investment."

BANKS MAY BE FORCED TO PUMP BILLIONS INTO SAVINGS COMPENSATION SCHEME

Alistair Darling is set to announce on Tuesday a new set of banking reforms, under which the institutions could be forced to pay billions of pounds upfront into a compensation scheme for those hit by bank failures. The banking industry, which would rather pay compensation as and when is needed, has called for a "sensible" limit on the amount of savings that the scheme will cover. It has also accused the government of provoking unfair competition, as the National Savings & Investments will not be included in the plan. A source said: "The industry is aggrieved that there's one rule for the government and one rule for banks and building societies. People are increasingly resentful about NS&I, which seems to enjoy unfair competitive advantages."

The Daily Telegraph

WIMPEY SEEKS 500 MILLION POUNDS CASH FROM INVESTORS

Taylor Wimpey (TW.L) is expected to issue a statement on Monday confirming it is in discussions with its major shareholders, including Standard Life (SL.L) and Barclays (BARC.L), about a 500 million pounds emergency fund-raising. The UK's second biggest housebuilder will use Wednesday's half-year trading update to give more details on the deal and also disclose that it has secured an agreement with its lenders over its banking covenants. Wimpey will be the first big company of the sector to make half-year trading statements, with analysts forecasting it could write down the value of its land holdings by up to 600 million pounds.

MATALAN DEFIES ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

Retail giant Matalan has managed to escape the economic slowdown with an almost doubling of its pre-tax profits, up to 53.2 million pounds in the year to March 2008 against 28.1 million pounds the year before. Operating profit jumped from 53.3 million pounds to 90.2 million pounds, while sales over the same period remained flat at just over one billion pounds. Alistair McGeorge, the group's chief executive, said: "We have made considerable progress to improve the profitability and growth prospects for the business since we took it private." He said the retailer was considering overseas expansion and the possibility of offloading one or two of its brands online.

NEW TAG TO BRIGHTEN FUTURE ORANGE ADS

Orange's (FTE.PA) "the future's bright" successful slogan will be replaced on Monday by a new tagline, as the company launches a new 30 million advertising campaign in a bid to regain its former position as the UK's largest mobile company by customer numbers. The new "I am" tagline will be used globally as a prefix in all Orange advertising and marketing, such as "I am the one who always has the last text". Shaun Collins, of industry watcher CCS Insight, observed that brand change is not enough but saidOrange's management is "doing some pretty-root-and-branch changes".

The Independent

TPG AIMS TO WIN OVER UNHAPPY B&B INVESTORS