PRESS DIGEST - British business - Oct 14
Growth forecasts for Germany were slashed on Thursday amid
fears that Europe’s largest economy will grind to a near
standstill as a deepening banking crisis threatens to plunge the
continent into recession.UK DATA EXPOSES SHIFT IN THE PAY GAPWages for public sector staff in the UK have risen by 13
percent more than their private sector peers in the past ten
years, but only for those on lower pay grades, according to data
released on Friday.BP PLANS UK OIL DEVELOPMENTBP has announced plans for a 4.5 billion pound
development of the Clair field, a seven billion barrel
superfield off the Shetland Islands.The TelegraphJOE LEWIS BID FOR PUB GROUP SAILS AWAYBillionaire Joe Lewis has withdrawn his 941 million pound
takeover attempt for pubs group Mitchells & Butlers ,
leaving shares down 6.9 percent at 235.3 percentUK REVENUE PURSUES 6,000 SWISS HSBC ACCOUNTSThe British government’s taxation arm, HM Revenue & Customs
(HMRC), is withdrawing its amnesty on 6,000 wealthy HSBC
customers and demanded they declare taxes due on Swiss
accounts or face criminal charges.WSJ MAY UNDO NEWS CORPRupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is facing severe
new legal pressure as The Wall Street Journal becomes a
lightning rod for widespread anger in the U.S. at the way the
company has behaved.The GuardianCARREFOUR SOUNDS ALARM OVER ECONOMYDeepening economic gloom has forced Europe’s biggest
retailer, Carrefour , to issue its fifth profit warning
this year.The IndependentUK BANKS DOWNGRADED AS STRESS TEST FEARS GROWSigns that the Government has become less likely to support
lenders led to another credit rating downgrade for Lloyds
and Royal Bank of Scotland on Thursday against
the backdrop of concerns that new European stress tests could
leave the sector in need of billions of pounds of extra capital.
