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Sunday newspaper round-up: Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Northern Rock

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Date: Sunday 30 Mar 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Marks & Spencer could face the ignominy of a "red top" warning from the Association of British Insurers if it fails to provide a full explanation for the elevation of Sir Stuart Rose to executive chairman, says the Independent on Sunday.

Tesco has halted the rollout of Fresh & Easy, its chain of US convenience stores, while it reviews the performance of the fledgling business. The move will spark renewed speculation about the performance of Britain's biggest retailer in the world's largest consumer spending market, writes the Sunday Telegraph.

Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, was paid £4m in fees from the botched private sale and subsequent nationalisation of Northern Rock, reports the Independent on Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph adds that Northern Rock has been forced into a raft of new sub-prime writedowns that will see its total impairment charge nudge £400m.

The Financial Services Authority is planning to raise its budget by around £15m this year to recruit some 100 new staff following the City regulator's own, highly critical inquiry into the Northern Rock affair, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Peter Cullum, the insurance tycoon, has abandoned plans to sell part of his £3bn Towergate business to Candover, the private equity group, the Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Rebel HSBC shareholder Knight Vinke has this weekend reignited the row over the bank's disastrous foray into US sub-prime lending though its acquisition of Household International – now HSBC Finance, says the Independent on Sunday.

The US government will tomorrow unveil a radical overhaul of financial regulation that would give the Federal Reserve greater powers to oversee market stability, writes the Sunday Telegraph.

American business leaders slammed the US system of awarding visas to foreign workers, as employers across the country scramble to prepare applications for a federal lottery, reports the Independent on Sunday.

John Duffield, the maverick City fund manager who runs New Star Asset Management, will this week launch an attempt to cash in on one of the world's fastest-growing economies through a joint venture with the Indian businessman Ratan Tata, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Fortune Brands of the US and the French drinks giant Pernod-Ricard are to stage a two-way duel to buy Absolut vodka, one of the world's biggest spirits labels, the Sunday Telegraph has learned.

The exodus of lenders from the mortgage market shows no sign of letting up, with another 240 fixed and variable rate mortgage products withdrawn last week – taking the total number available to 5,485, says the Independent on Sunday.

Sir James Dyson, the home appliances tycoon who is one of Britain's richest men, has secured a £145m payout ahead of next week's reform of the capital gains tax (CGT) regime, writes the Sunday Telegraph.

Marshall Wace, one of the City's biggest hedge funds, is to continue pressing for a combination of the managed pubs businesses of Punch Taverns and Mitchells & Butlers despite last week's withdrawal of a proposal to merge the two, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

The future of Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury will be under City scrutiny this week, despite what should be a bumper set of results, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Virgin Media looks set to become the first British internet company to crack down on customers who download music illegally, says the Sunday Telegraph.

Soaring commodity costs and falling sales of its premium lager have forced Inbev, the Belgian brewing giant, to axe up to 250 jobs at two Stella Artois breweries in Lancashire and Wales, writes the Sunday Telegraph.