HEADLINES IN BRIEF: GERMANY BUYS BONDS TO SAVE EURO. ASIL NADIR FOUND GUILTY OF THEFT. SOROS IS ONE OF MAN UTD’S TOP INVESTORS. NHS TO MOVE ABROAD. FREE BANKING NOT SO FREE, CONSUMER GROUP SAYS. GARBAGE CAN WORLD CUP STAGED IN GERMANY
DAILY TELEGRAPH
GERMANY BACKS DRAGHI BOND PLAN AGAINST BUNDESBANK
Germany’s director at the European Central Bank has thrown his weight behind mass purchases of Spanish and Italian debt to prevent the disintegration of the euro, marking a crucial turning point in the eurozone debt crisis.
FINANCIAL TIMES
ASIL NADIR FOUND GUILTY OF THEFT
By Jane Croft, Law Courts Correspondent
Asil Nadir, the Turkish Cypriot businessman who is alleged to have “helped himself to tens of millions of pounds” of money from his Polly Peck conglomerate, has been found guilty of three counts of theft in one of the biggest trials of its kind in the British courts. A jury at the Old Bailey cleared Nadir of one other count but is still considering a further nine counts after being given a majority direction by the trial judge.
FINANCIAL TIMES
SOROS IS ONE OF MAN UTD’S TOP INVESTORS
By Sam Jones in London and Arash Massoudi in New York
George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager, has bought a near 8 per cent stake in Manchester United. The move makes Mr Soros one of the club’s biggest backers behind the Glazer family, who decided to float a portion of the club in New York this month.
GUARDIAN
NHS 'BRAND' COULD BE SOLD OVERSEAS TO GENERATE INCOME FOR HOSPITALS
By Sarah Boseley, health editor
Government suggests service could learn from the lucrative success of US firms which have established themselves abroad. The scheme attracted immediate criticism from the Patients Association, concerned that in times of financial stringency at home, establishing overseas clinics would be a distraction too far and could undermine standards at home.
CITY AM
BAA’S AIRPORT SALE LURES RYANAIR AND MANCHESTER
By Cathy Adams
Manchester Airport Group , which owns Manchester, Bournemouth and East Midlands airports, is understood to be the front-runner to make a £1bn bid for Stansted Airport. Aviation firm BAA revealed yesterday that it is to sell Stansted Airport after it gave up on a long legal battle.
THE SCOTSMAN
TAX HIKE THREAT BRINGING FRENCH HIGH EARNERS ACROSS THE CHANNEL
By Lionel Laurent and Dominic Jeff
London’s financial district may be suffering from scandal and mistrust, but it is attracting some of France’s richest citizens seeking refuge from the threat of a 75 per cent tax rate. The City is proving the destination of choice for Parisian bankers in particular, who are feeling persecuted by the new socialist government. Scotland, with its historic links to France through the Auld Alliance, could also benefit from a more benign tax regime.
YORKSHIRE POST
O2’S APPEAL TO MAKE USE OF THE DIGITAL SKILLS OF WEB GENERATION
THE head of O2 has called on businesses to stop wasting the digital skills of young people. The telecoms giant published new research yesterday into the generation who have grown up with the internet. The research found that two thirds of young people can design a web page, one in five can develop an app and seven per cent are “confident” in coding.
THE SUN
THE HIGH STREET’S PAVED WITH GOLD
By Steve Hawkes, Business Editor
A city stockbroker is telling Brits to start buying shares in battered high street chains. Espirito Santo yesterday claimed consumer confidence is at its highest point for two years despite the double-dip.
DAILY MAIL
HOUSE PRICES SHOOT UP BY £88,000 IN A DECADE BUT FALL BY £6,000 IN ONE MONTH
By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor and Rachel Rickard Straus
House prices have shot up by more than £88,000 in the past decade, an increase of around 60 per cent, figures from Rightmove show. It is exactly ten years since the website, which measures property searches across thousands of estate agents, started surveying monthly prices. Since then, the average property in the UK has increased in value from £147,957 to £236,260.
DAILY EXPRESS
VIRGIN ATLANTIC IS IN IT FOR THE SHORT HAUL
By David Craik
Virgin Atlantic promised to shake-up UK air travel yesterday and land a blow against British Airways by launching its first domestic flights. Sir Richard Branson’s airline said its first foray into short-haul travel would see three flights a day take-off between London Heathrow and Manchester from March next year.
WWW.BBC.CO.UK
CNOOC POSTS 19% DROP IN PROFITS AFTER OIL-FIELD CLOSURE
China's largest offshore oil and gas company, CNOOC, posted a drop of 19% in profits in the first half of the year. The state-owned company blamed the fall on the closure of its biggest offshore oil-field domestically.
WWW.NEWS.SKY.COM
FREE BANKING NOT SO FREE, CONSUMER GROUP SAYS
By Tadhg Enright, Business Correspondent
Which? reveals a bewildering array of charges for consumers with "free" current accounts. The concept of free banking is a myth, according to the consumer group Which?, whose research suggests some customers are paying up to £900 a year in charges on supposedly free current accounts.
….. AND FINALLY …..
ODD NEWS.ORG
GARBAGE CAN WORLD CUP STAGED IN GERMANY
The second-ever Garbage Can World Cup has taken place in Germany. The challenge, which takes place on the streets of Hermeskeil in the west of the country, involves competitors racing against each other on modified dustbins with wheels. Some 60 'drivers' from Germany, Belgium, Austria and Luxembourg attended the event that was organised by the 40-member strong Hermeskeil-based Garbage Can Association called 'Yes Angels'. The race was won by reigning champion Norman Schaefer, a student from Nonnweiler who completed the course with the fastest time of 21.1 seconds. "It is all about technique he said.
PRESSCHOICE BUSINESS DAIRY - HAPPENING TODAY:
• Public Sector Finances for July are published. Last month’s figures showed public finances were worse than expected. June’s public sector net borrowing was £14.4 billion compared to £13.9 billion in June. As a result, government borrowing this year is on course to overshoot the OBR’s estimate.
• The CBI Monthly Industrial Trends Survey for August is published. The last set of figures for July showed that 29% reported that total orders had increased in the three months to July, while 26% said that they had fallen. The resulting balance was +3%. That should be useful in comparing results for August when they are published today.
• Johnston Press publishes its interim results. The company owns The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News, and Yorkshire Post. It is the only quoted UK newspaper and media group concentrated solely on local and regional newspapers offerings. Originally founded in Falkirk in 1767, the company owns over 200 local newspapers and websites.
• There are a range of other results from the house builder Persimmon. Astoundingly its shares have risen by around 70% in the past year. The car retailer Pendragon publishes results. It operates Aston Martin and Ferrari franchises but also sells cars for normal people. Shares have done very well in past year. Cairn Energy reports results. Its shares have been terrible. They lost over 60% of their value in the past year. And the commodity trading company Glencore International also reports results.
