Yahoo Finance PRESS DIGEST-British Business - April 18
April 18 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
The Times
- EP Group, a conglomerate controlled by Daniel Kretinsky, revealed on Tuesday that it had made a "non-binding indicative proposal" to the board of International Distributions Services (IDS), Royal Mail’s parent company, on April 9 seeking its recommendation for a possible cash offer for the remainder of the shares it does not already own.
- IMF in its latest assessment of debt levels across the world economy said the UK's public debt ratio would rise until the end of the decade to 98% of GDP by 2029.
The Guardian
- The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has shrugged off a smaller-than-expected drop in inflation last month, saying he expected a sharp fall towards the government's 2% target next month.
- Compensation paid to passengers for train delays in Britain has reached record levels, with annual payouts surpassing 100 million pounds and the number of claims for delayed or cancelled trains continuing to grow.
The Telegraph
- British finance minister Jeremy Hunt vowed to go "further and faster" to slash the welfare bill as he warned of an unsustainable rise in the cost of workless benefits, also said wanted to cut National Insurance by another 2% before the election but stressed that he would only reduce taxes in a "responsible" way.
- Curbs on foreign state ownership of British news outlets designed to block the UAE bid for The Telegraph are in line to be weakened following an outcry from owners including Rupert Murdoch.
Sky News
- The Co-operative Bank this week will announce that it has struck a 780 million pound deal to be bought by the Coventry Building Society.
- Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has agreed to sell a 50.01% stake in Edinburgh Airport for around 1.27 billion pounds to French infrastructure group VINCI Airports.
(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
