Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide - weekend

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - MARKETS

FTSE 100 5,376.4, up 90.1

FTSE 250 8,964.7, up 245.0

DJIA 11,496.57, up 49.91

Nasdaq Comp 2,282.78, down 29.52

S&P 500 1,260.68, up 0.36

Gold $957.20 ($971.90)

Oil - Brent Sep $130.19 ($131.07)

WEEKEND PRESS

* BP blocks a $1.8 billion dividend payment due to be paid from its Russian joint venture in an attempt to regain the advantage in its bitter fight with its billionaire partners - Sunday Telegraph

* Permira, owner of Captain Birdseye, makes a tentative approach to buy Findus, one of its biggest European rivals, in a move that would give it greater clout in the battle against soaring commodity prices - Sunday Telegraph

* Silver Point Capital, an activist American hedge fund, draws up detailed plans to buy British Sky Broadcasting's 17.9 percent stake in ITV - Sunday Times

* HSBC edges closer to Shanghai listing; HSBC has held talks with China's main sovereign investment fund over a potential investment in Europe's largest bank; Stephen Green, HSBC's chairman, understood to have met officials from the China Investment Corporation several times in recent months - Sunday Telegraph

* Britain is facing an 'economic horror movie' because of a 'toxic mixture' of a moribund credit market and volatile oil prices, according to Ernst & Young Item Club - Sunday Times

* Gas bills will rocket 30 percent within weeks; soaring losses are blamed as Centrica shelves gradual rise - Mail on Sunday

* Britain's company bosses are more pessimistic about the outlook for their businesses that at any time for more than a decade, according to a survey released today by the Institute of Directors - Observer

* Regent Inns, the embattled operator of the Walkabout, Old Orleans and Jongleurs chains, receives an informal approach from Luminar, Britain's biggest nightclub company - Saturday Times

* Royal Dutch Shell agrees to sell its stake in the 2.5 billion pounds London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm, to E.ON and Dong Energy, its former partners - Sunday Times

* Friends Provident considering axing plans to return 800 million pounds to investors as it believes it will not be able to raise the necessary cash - Sunday Express

* Banks' cash call shunned; fundraising blow for Barclays and HBOS; rollercoaster week for financial stocks ends - Saturday FT

* Late rally leaves Qataris with 200 million pounds profit from Barclays share-placing; City expecting low uptake for 4 billion pounds HBOS rights issue; shareholders largely shun fundraising by banks - Saturday Guardian

* Around 3.5 billion pounds of HBOS stock will be placed on the market tomorrow morning after the vast majority of the lender's emergency cash call was left with the underwriters, despite the shares closing above the 275 pence rights issue price on Friday - Sunday Telegraph

* HBOS will tomorrow admit to one of the most disastrous rights issues in corporate history when it concedes that as few as 10 percent of its investors took up its 4 billion pounds share offer; its two underwriters, Morgan Stanley and Dresdner, will have to place 3.6 billion pounds of shares over the course of Monday or Tuesday - Sunday Times

* HBOS 4 billion pounds rights issue is massive flop; mortgage provider prepares to reveal the United Kingdom's highest-profile funding failure in 20 years - Observer

* Financial Services Authority played a key part in convincing Alliance & Leicester to recommend a takeover by Santander last week -- a move described by insiders as unprecedented and one that will fundamentally shift the role of the regulator - Mail on Sunday

* Royal Bank of Scotland steps in to lead the rescue of Four Seasons, the debt-laden nursing-home chain, after the group's owner, the Qatar Investment Authority, abandons salvage plans - Sunday Times

* BT's plan to charge other broadband operators for access to its planned 1.5 billion pounds optical fibre-based broadband network expected to be given the green light by Ofcom - Mail on Sunday

* Concern growing that Anglo Irish Bank, best known for lending hundreds of millions to U.K. property investors, will have to increase dramatically its provision to cover exposure to falling U.K. and Irish real estate markets - Observer

* A massive pensions liability at beleaguered housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is scaring off potential buyers; any takeover would require an injection of up to 1.2 billion pounds - Observer

* Tesco throws its weight behind supermarket tsar; government urged to introduce legislation to create ombudsman if the United Kingdom's top 10 grocers refuse voluntarily to accept a regulator - Independent on Sunday

* Opposition members of Ghana's parliament block the government's attempt to approve Vodafone's controversial 450 million pounds purchase of a 70 percent stake in state-owned Ghana Telecom - Sunday Telegraph

* High street rent revolt; Argos, Next, Carphone Warehouse, Boots and DSG among a coalition of more than 15 retailers demanding from landlords the right to pay rent in smaller, more frequent instalments - Sunday Telegraph

* eBay to hold 'counterfeit summit' with British icons - Sunday Telegraph

* American publishing giant McGraw Hill and private equity firms Bain and TPG among two dozen companies that have expressed an interest in acquiring Reed Elsevier's 1.25 billion pounds trade magazine division - Sunday Telegraph

* Regional newspaper group Johnston Press hires headhunters Egon Zehnder to find a replacement for chief executive Tim Bowdler, who steps down next year - Sunday Express

* A 150-year-old family business is facing a 21st century showdown, as activist investor Mark Bruce-Smith prepares to use cyberspace to wage war on the car dealership Caffyns - Observer

* Tate & Lyle boss calls for hedge fund curbs - Sunday Telegraph

* Growing evidence of mortgage fraud forcing the City watchdog into a crackdown on brokers that could see them facing tougher regulatory scrutiny - Saturday FT

* Treasury may be planning to raise the limit on public borrowing in an effort to give it 'room for manoeuvre' for a potential rescue operation for the banking system, a leading expert suggested this weekend - Sunday Telegraph

* Public finances plunge to new low; borrowing set to exceed forecasts; highest deficit since 90s predicted - Saturday FT

* Alistair Darling may see his budget deficit balloon to a record 100 billion pounds in the coming year as a potential recession bites, experts warn - Saturday Telegraph

* Taxpayers are at the limit of what they are willing to pay to fund public services, the Chancellor says in an interview with the Saturday Times

* Engine maker Rolls-Royce hurt by the turbulence affecting the airline industry, logging just 4.6 billion pounds of engine orders at this week's Farnborough Air Show -- half the record 7.5 billion pounds it took in Paris last year - Saturday Mail

* United Airlines this week expected to announce emergency funding worth at least $1 billion, as soaring fuel prices and dwindling passenger numbers continue to give America's biggest airlines a rough ride - Observer

* British Airways to unveil plans next week to cut routes by nearly 5 percent as it battles to slash costs in the face of huge price increases in aviation fuel - Mail on Sunday

* GKN will later this month sign a long-awaited deal with Airbus to buy the European aviation giant's manufacturing site at Filton near Bristol - Mail on Sunday

* Week's job cuts total 3,800 as Kier plans 350 losses - Saturday Telegraph

* Sixty jobs to go at MFI's Appleton distribution centre near Warrington, Cheshire - Mail on Sunday

* Inflation in luxury goods and services has dropped sharply in the past year, suggesting even the wealthy are feeling the effects of the downturn - Saturday FT

* John Lewis forced into bigger than usual discounts; stock clearance reverses decline; group's weekly sales rise 5.9 percent - Saturday FT

* BAE Systems ready to publish an external audit of its ethical conduct in a year -- earlier than expected -- as part of measures to restore its reputation following allegations of corruption - Saturday FT

* BAE's informal offer for Detica could spark bids; defence group seeks acquisitions; contracts make company attractive; Detica 'is highly likely to be a competitive situation and the price likely to be a minimum of 400 pence per share' - Saturday FT

* BAE Systems in talks to supply the UK Border Agency with a 'smart' vehicle that can check under lorries for drugs and illegal immigrants - Sunday Express

* BP expanding its gas operations in the United States, paying $1.75 billion for properties in Oklahoma that could hold 2,000 billion cubic feet of 'tight gas' -- gas that is trapped in rocks from which it will not flow easily - Saturday FT

* BP begins marshalling its defences in the battle for control of TNK-BP by retaining the services of leading Russian law firm Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners - Saturday Telegraph

* Low gas storage leaves United Kingdom energy supplies as fragile as a house of cards, expert says - Saturday Times

* House prices predicted to fall by 20 percent in next two years, Howard Archer of Global Insight predicts - Saturday Times

* Investors protest over Cable & Wireless bonus scheme; plan gave 4.3 million pounds payoff to ousted chief executive; shareholder advisers Pirc and ABI sounded warnings - Saturday Guardian

* WPP in talks with Takeover Panel in a bid to force chief executive of its takeover target, Taylor Nelson Sofres, to agree to an information-gathering meeting - Saturday Telegraph

* German media giant GfK understood to be asking U.S. institutions to back its bid for Taylor Nelson Sofres, after negotiations with the Herz family are thought to have stalled - Sunday Express

* HMV extending to its high-street stores a controversial VAT-avoidance scheme that it currently operates solely through the group's website, which is based offshore; move will offer shoppers discounts and free delivery on out-of-stock titles, at the expense of treasury coffers - Saturday Guardian

* Collins Stewart investigating a move into Hong Kong as part of its ambitious global expansion programme led by chief executive Joel Plasco - Saturday Telegraph

* Hundreds of thousands of with-profits policyholders at Friends Provident facing a big slide in the final value of their nest eggs as the insurer cuts terminal bonus payouts at its 13 billion pounds fund - Saturday Times

* Towergate Partnership, Europe's largest independent insurance broker, launches a new financial advisory business to buy up regional Independent Financial Advisers - Sunday Telegraph

* Transport and property group Peel Holdings looking at selling the 60 million pounds pension fund of its Glasgow-based port workers - Sunday Express

* Ireland's Elan drug company hires investment bankers to review its development and manufacturing division, which could see the business floated or sold with a price tag of up to $1.5 billion - Saturday FT

* Eurozone growth likely to rebound this year after a weak patch, Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, argues in comments that suggest he sees the region avoiding a severe downturn - Saturday FT

* London-based $8 billion property investment firm Topland approaches Dawnay Day Group and its lender Norwich Union, asking to begin talks about the beleaguered conglomerate's U.K. property assets - Sunday Telegraph

* Two of Britain's wealthiest private investors poised to fight it out to buy the property assets of Dawnay Day; Topland Group, founded by billionaire Sol Zakay, and Criterion Capital, headed by tycoon Asif Aziz, submit bids to buy a portfolio of British properties that Dawnay Day has been forced to sell by administrators - Sunday Times

* Austin Reed chief executive Nick Hollingworth will attempt to buy the firm he leads, if it is put up for sale by Dawnay Day bosses Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt - Sunday Express

* Australian group Energy Developments hires RBC Capital Markets to auction its 200 million pounds U.K. landfill-gas business - Sunday Times

* Row brewing at Caledonia Investments, where shareholders are being advised to vote against a resolution at the annual meeting to allow the company to donate 75,000 pounds to the Conservative Party - Observer

* Linda Bennett, the retail entrepreneur, sells the shoes and clothing chain she founded 18 years ago by sealing a deal worth 80 million pounds to 100 million pounds with Phoenix Equity Partners - Saturday FT

* David Lloyd Leisure will tomorrow table a proposal to merge with rival health clubs group Esporta that will largely negate the need to raise significant levels of debt to finance a deal - Sunday Telegraph

* Project management firm Norconsult Telematics will float on AIM on July 28; it is expected to have a market capitalisation of about 27 million pounds - Mail on Sunday

SATURDAY PRESS COMMENT

FT

Retailers prepare to grin and bear the festive season; stores are tweaking their ranges and weighing up the size of orders to cope with difficult times (p.3) - Wolseley cut likely to be first of many; reducing dividends is rational practice when times are hard (p.15) Markets - LONDON: Bradford & Bingley (loans in arrears mount), British Energy (reports that EDF, its only confirmed suitor, may switch its attention to a bid for Spain's Union Fenosa); SMALL CAPS: Gladstone Pacific Nickel (rumours of a bid from Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer), Cape Lambert Iron (Russian steelmaker Evraz declares a 19 percent holding) - THE LEX COLUMN comments on estate agents (The Centre for Economics and Business Research last month forecast 15,000 job losses in the sector this year; the final tally could be much worse), Citigroup (even if immediate threat of a capital raising has receded, earnings power here on looks limited), Diffident yields (even if earnings look shaky and capital bases fragile, dividends could fall by a third and some yields would still exceed returns on cash; in practice, however, dividends are usually paid, or cut completely; as gamblers know, 50-50 is a mug's game) - Weekend Share Watch: Best of the Best (prospective earnings multiple of less than 6 looks worth a punt), Energybuild (results in September are expected to be strong and should give the shares some upward momentum), JD Wetherspoon (offers good value on a 2009 forward price earnings of 6.5 times and a chunky 7.5 percent dividend yield; but, with the economy slowing and living expenses rising, it's best to skip this round)

Times

PERSONAL INVESTOR: Mark Atherton says buy Scottish & Southern Energy, Pennon or a utilities exchange-traded fund - Market report - Smaller companies: RPC (talk of corporate action; SVG and JO Hambro, activist investors that have been deemed a concert party, this month increased their combined stake to 14 percent), Premium Bars & Restaurants (talk that Dawnay Day Properties, the vehicle of Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt, was selling down its 29 percent stake) - Tempus: Kier (hold), Anite (avoid), Global Mena (a buy) - Rumour of the day: Coffeeheaven (talk of a bid next week at about 57 or 58 pence; Howard Schulz, Starbucks' chairman, recently spotted in a Coffeeheaven and Caffe Nero is also thought to be interested) - Deal of the day: Helphire (managing director Alan Gilbert buys 2,068 shares at 95-1/2 pence each)

Independent

PROFESSIONAL INVESTOR: Here is the network news -- and it's good; Newton Managed Fund has exposure to many of the stocks set to benefit like Vodafone, MTN, Millicom - NO PAIN, NO GAIN: Derek Pain comments on Booker, and Pubs 'n' Bars; he says PSG Solutions, involved in property searches and the hated housing information packs, could well join the portfolio in the months ahead

Guardian

Market forces: Coffeeheaven (talk that a long-awaited bid could emerge next week), Detica (bid approach; traders talk of a possible offer of around 380 pence a share)

Mail

INVESTMENT EXTRA: Fortune may favour the brave at Alliance & Leicester (the stock is trading at, or just above the offer price; so now would seem an ideal time to offload the stock if you wish to quit the roller-coaster banking sector; but if you are made of sterner stuff, then you could do worse than throw in your lot with Santander) - MARKET REPORT: Gold Oil (dealers expect upbeat news from its nine wells in 2008)

SUNDAY PRESS COMMENT

Sunday Telegraph

THE REAL BUSINESS: Tristel (has scrubbed up well for its new sales push) - SUNDAY QUESTOR: Alliance & Leicester chances of a counterbid remain slim, but some will consider the possibility of one emerging to be worth hanging on for), SDL (hold), Clapham House (buy), Great Eastern Energy (buy)

Sunday Times

AGENDA: John Waples comments on BP (riding roughshod over BP's rights will harm Russia's interests; it still needs western expertise and money to develop its economy -- and ostracising groups like BP will make others less willing to help), Tate & Lyle (Cazenove says a takeover price would have to be at a 50 percent premium and cites Bunge as the most likely candidate; such a move is not imminent, but the situation is worth watching and the transformation of the group by Iain Ferguson, its chief executive, over the past five years, means the downside is limited) - INSIDE THE CITY: Hungry China will dig miners out of a hole (mining stocks are unlikely to show again the spectacular growth of recent years, but for the moment at least they are safer than houses), Mears (the management wants to turn it into the next Capita; it's an ambitious target, but it might take a step in the right direction this week when news is due on a large contract to maintain 13,000 homes for the Metropolitan Housing Association)

Observer

Sly and the City: the fall-out. Last week's tumbling (Trinity Mirror) share price has led some in the Square Mile to deliver a damning verdict on the leadership of chief executive Sly Bailey. They've got it wrong. In fact, she has a strategy that will turn her company round: going digital (BUSINESS p.8) - MARKET FORCES: Vodafone (gloom ahead of Vodafone's trading statement on Tuesday: Morgan Stanley says 'positives are hard to find'), Mothercare (Landsbanki likes the look of Mothercare because the balance sheet has net cash and revenue is being driven by a rising birth rate; its share price target is 346 pence), Icap (Citigroup analysts have pencilled in a share price target of 575 pence, against a Friday close of 481 pence), African Eagle (buy up to 23 pence - Seymour Pierce)

Mail on Sunday

Midas: Mattioli Woods (buy); MIDAS UPDATE: Imperial Energy (cautious investors should sell now and take heart from a 36 percent return in a fortnight; even courageous investors should sell at least half their shares in case this offer collapses)

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