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Friday newspaper round-up: BT Group, HSBC, Marks & Spencer

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Date: Friday 04 Apr 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - BT Group, British Sky Broadcasting and Carphone Warehouse are all considering offers for the UK arm of Tiscali, the Italian telecommunications company that was effectively put up for sale this week, says the FT.

HSBC bowed to shareholder pressure on a key element of its executive pay plan yesterday, although it refused to back down on contentious proposals to reward top bosses with cash bonuses of up to four times their salaries, reports the Times.

Marks and Spencer investors angered by Sir Stuart Rose’s sudden promotion from chief executive to executive chairman said they had wrung additional concessions from the retailer, writes the FT.

The Treasury has caved in to pressure from powerful business and banking lobbies to grant a tax exemption for investment management services to non-domiciles, according to the Telegraph.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Pentagon Capital Management, the London-based hedge fund manager, and its chief executive, alleging they defrauded US mutual funds and shareholders, says the FT.

The Bank of England is now odds-on to cut interest rates next week, experts said, after new figures indicated that the economy is at its weakest in five years and that the mortgage drought is set to worsen, reports the Telegraph.

One of the biggest shareholders in AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical group, has questioned the long-term viability of the Big Pharma business model by asking whether it could discourage the development of new medicines, writes the Times.

John Williams has a difficult task. The banker at Gleacher Shacklock was hired in January to sell John Charcol, one of the UK's most prominent mortgage brokers. Three months on, with banks and building societies in a race to withdraw from the market and house prices dropping rapidly, rumours are rampant that the company is having a hard time attracting interest at the £50m level pitched, according to the Independent.

JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon denied claims his bank picked off the best parts of Bear Stearns and left the rest with the Federal Reserve as part of an 11th-hour rescue acquisition of his doomed rival, says the Telegraph.

The Times adds that the chief executive of Bear Stearns accused traders of bringing down his securities firm by spreading unfounded rumours designed to induce a panic that led to a run on the group.

Households face a further squeeze on their finances as banks and building societies slash mortgage lending and increase prices further in the coming months, reports the Independent.

Insurance entrepreneur Peter Cullum is in advanced talks to sell a slice of his company to US hedge fund Och-Ziff - a deal which would see him collect tens of millions of pounds, writes the Telegraph.

Hermitage Capital, the leading foreign portfolio investor in Russia, claims it has been the victim of an attempted fraud and theft of hundreds of millions of dollars by individuals connected to the Russian Interior Ministry, according to the Times.