PRESS DIGEST - British business - July 9

The Times

GFK TEAMS UP WITH FINANCIAL BIDDER TO TOP SORRELL IN THE FIGHT FOR TNS

A consortium led by German market research group GfK (GFKG.DE) is to make a last-ditch attempt to prevent advertising giant WPP (WPP.L) from winning control of Taylor Nelson Sofres TNS.L. GfK plans to top any bid that Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP's chief executive, announces on Wednesday and is already in talks with TNS about a nil-premium merger. The Takeover Panel imposed a "put up or shut up" deadline of Wednesday by which WPP has to show its hand, following its indicative offer last week of 260 pence a share. The WPP board met on Tuesday night to decide whether to table a formal bid.

IRATE M&S SHAREHOLDERS DEMAND FRESH TALKS WITH BOARD

Institutional investors in Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) are preparing to mount the largest protest vote against the high street retailer for a decade as they push for fresh talks with the board about how the company is run. Following the profit warning that wiped one billion pounds from M&S shares last week, the company will be pressed to address concerns about how Sir Stuart Rose will manage the business as executive chairman, shareholders said. In protest at Rose's dual role, which ignores corporate governance best practice, about 25 percent of investors are expected to abstain or vote against his re-election at Wednesday's annual meeting.

PERSIMMON CUTS 1,100 JOBS AS HOUSEBUILDERS SUFFER

Persimmon (PSN.L), one of the UK's biggest housebuilders, is to cut more than 20 percent of its workforce as the property market continues to suffer. The company will shed 1,100 jobs, bringing total job losses in the sector to 4,200 in a week. Mike Farley, chief executive, said: "This is not a short-term scenario. We think this will last for 12 to 18 months, depending on how the mortgage market reacts." Persimmon's shares, which have tumbled 90 percent in the past 18 months, rose by four percent on Tuesday despite it revealing that its sales revenues were down 34 percent to about one billion pounds.

The Daily Telegraph

MERGER OF AA AND SAGA LIFTS REVENUES

The private equity backed merger last September of travel and insurance services company Saga and roadside assistance group the AA helped drive a four percent increase in revenues in the year to the end of January. But Acromas, formed following the merger, was pushed 255.7 million pounds into the red at the pre-tax level by costs accrued in digesting the six billion pound deal. Ebitda rose 8.4 percent to 484.5 million pounds on pro-forma revenues of 1.5 billion pounds.

A&L CLOSE TO ENDING HUNT FOR NEW CHAIRMAN

Alliance & Leicester ALLL.L is close to appointing a successor to Sir Derek Higgs, the bank's late chairman, who died in April. A&L is in final discussions with Alan Gillespie, chairman at Ulster Bank for the past seven years, and will hope the appointment will steady its share price amid fears the bank might have to raise new capital. The stock has fallen from eight pounds to below three pounds since January and on Tuesday closed 33.75 pence down at 214.75 pence.

HEYWOOD WILLIAMS SHARES FALL BY 46 PERCENT

Heywood Williams (HYWD.L), the door and window manufacturer, has said full-year profits are likely to be "significantly below market expectations" as a result of the housing slump. The building materials group said difficult trading conditions in the first half of the year were "likely to deteriorate further in the second half", which saw its share price plummet by 46 percent. It refused to rule out further redundancies in the second half, having already shed 135 jobs in the six months to June 30. The shares closed down 6.27 pence at 7.48 pence.

The Independent

MORSE STOCK PLUMMETS 18 PERCENT AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE LEAVES IT FIRM