Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide - weekend

MARKETS FTSE 100 5,352.6, down 9.7 FTSE 250 8,867.7, down 139.5 DJIA 11,370.69, up 21.41 Nasdaq Comp 2,310.53, up 30.42 S&P 500 1,257.76, up 5.22 Gold $921.65 ($920.80) Oil - Brent Sept $124.52 ($126.44)

WEEKEND PRESS * British Airways to clip wings of its short-haul fleet; Gatwick will bear the brunt of the airline's cutbacks as fuel costs ground jets - Sunday Times * Shareholders in British Energy to be offered a share of the company's future profits in a plan that should clear the way for it to be taken over by the French - Sunday Times * EDF agrees to sell a higher-than-expected 25 percent stake in British Energy to Centrica, owner of British Gas, paving the way for a 12.4 billion pounds takeover of the nuclear power company this week - Mail on Sunday * British Energy set to be sold to EDF as early as this week for below 800 pence a share -- far less than the 1,100 pence the government had hoped for - Sunday Express * Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group Unilever begins a formal search for a successor to Patrick Cescau, its chief executive - Sunday Telegraph * New blow to Gordon Brown as poll finds meltdown in key seats; Labour 24 percent behind in marginals; Obama offers No 10 his sympathy; ministers may bail out mortgages in fight-back - Sunday Telegraph * MPs campaign to make Jack Straw prime minister - Sunday Times * Jack Straw, Gordon Brown's most senior cabinet minister, tries to quell a growing Labour mutiny against the prime minister as the party goes into convulsions following its shock by-election defeat in Glasgow East - Saturday FT * Ministers plot to force out Brown after poll disaster; unions call for leadership election; Cabinet colleagues fail to defend him; economy on brink of recession - Saturday Telegraph * Economy is heading into recession and may face a slump on the scale of the early 1990s, according to Deloitte, one of Britain's leading accountants; another, KPMG, says more than half of businesses are planning job cuts - Sunday Times * HBOS-owned Halifax is no longer No 1 in mortgages; Abbey (Santander) now sells 25 percent of all new home loans - Mail on Sunday * HBOS under fire as profits sink to 1.2 billion pounds; big investors press for bank to start asset sale - Sunday Express * London's link to Burmese junta revealed; Lloyd's insurer underwrite military dictatorship's aircraft and shipping, claims new campaign - Observer * Rob Holden, the 52-year-old behind the high-speed Channel Tunnel extension, will be approached to run the 16 billion pounds Crossrail project, which finally received government backing last week - Independent on Sunday * Swiss Re in talks to buy the life-assurance arm of Barclays, a division that has more than 7 billion pounds under management; initially, Barclays Life Assurance was thought to be worth 1 billion pounds on an embedded-value basis, but estimates now vary from as little as 400 million pounds to 750 million pounds - Sunday Times * Taylor Nelson Sofres, the market research group, secretly courting a pack of potential suitors -- including its biggest global competitor -- in an attempt to evade the clutches of Sir Martin Sorrel's WPP Group; TNS asks advisers to gauge interest from possible buyers such as Nielsen, the world's largest market researcher, and Hellman & Friedman, the American private equity firm - Sunday Telegraph * Hg Capital, the private equity group, considering making a formal takeover approach to the board of Wilmington, the media company that publishes Press Gazette, the journalists' trade magazine - Sunday Telegraph * Bob Wigley, head of Merrill Lynch's European operations and one of the City of London's most seasoned bankers, among a group of candidates vying to become the next chairman of Prudential - Sunday Telegraph * Diageo in talks to acquire a 30 percent stake in Cobra, the Indian-themed lager group, for 25 million-30 million pounds - Saturday FT * Harbinger Capital resumes its bid for Inmarsat after the U.S. hedge fund says it intends to make an offer for the British satellite telephone operator - Saturday FT * Citigroup pays departing banker $42 million after pledge not to work for rival; package awarded Michael Klein will fuel salary concerns - Saturday FT * BP's Russian boss goes into hiding; Dudley sets up secret HQ as row deepens with Russian partners in 50 billion pounds venture - Sunday Times * Moscow prosecutor's office denies that Robert Dudley, the head of the strife-torn oil group TNK-BP had been summoned for questioning, as BP's dispute with its Russian partner descends into farce - Sunday Telegraph * BP threat to snatch homes of oligarchs; as its man is forced to flee Moscow, the oil giant seeks legal redress by targeting London palaces of Russian billionaires - Mail on Sunday * Struggle for control of BP's Russian joint venture intensifies this weekend as oligarchs who own half the company renew demands for the chief executive to go, and BP dismisses their claims it is underperforming - Sunday Express * Russian shareholders at war with BP claim to have seized majority control of the core board of joint venture TNK-BP - Observer * British Foreign Office weighs in to the row over the forced departure from Russia of Robert Dudley, chief executive of BP's joint venture in the country, describing the dispute as "bad news" for the Russian economy and calling on President Dmitry Medvedev to uphold the rule of law - Saturday Telegraph * BP gearing up for a series of bruising legal battles as it attempts to defend its position in the Russian oil industry - Saturday Mail * Nuclear group strikes takeover deal with EDF; French firm's offer could value company at 12 billion pounds; British Energy acquisition faces competition battle - Saturday Guardian * EDF becomes the first big supplier to increase gas and electricity bills - Saturday FT * Chief executives of Britain's blue-chip companies have seen the value of shares awarded to them during the past year fall in value by a total of nearly 20 million pounds - Sunday Telegraph * Britain's biggest property firms preparing to dig their heels in for a showdown with high street retail giants next month; some of the most powerful names in shopping -- including Sir Philip Green, Carphone Warehouse's Charles Dunstone and Carpetright's Lord Harris -- are seeking radical changes to the terms of their contracts with landlords; property firms, including Land Securities, British Land , Prudential and Legal & General, argue that they are prepared to negotiate on new contracts, but are standing firm on existing agreements - Mail on Sunday * Depth of Vodafone's woes in Spain will be underlined this week when its rival Telefonica, owner of 02, reports a much stronger performance than the United Kingdom group in the Spanish mobile market - Sunday Telegraph * Two senior directors at Hilco, the turnaround specialist, join the board of MFI, the furniture retailer, in a move likely to fuel speculation that the chain is struggling - Sunday Telegraph * Sales at a number of John Lewis's out-of-town department stores continue to decline by double-digit amounts over the week to July 29 as high petrol prices keep shoppers closer to home - Saturday Telegraph * Investors rebel over bonuses at ailing Yell; 15 percent of shareholder votes fail to back pay scheme; 1 million pounds 'unjustified when company is going bust' - Saturday Guardian * Hedge funds having their worst month in eight years as bets against banks and in favour of rising commodity prices go badly wrong - Saturday FT * Rolling Stones abandon EMI, the British recording label that has been their home for most of the past 30 years, for Universal Music, in a sharp blow to the private equity operators who bought the U.K. label last year - Saturday FT * HBOS attempting to raise about 300 million pounds from the sale of Hill Hire, which is owned by its investment arm - Sunday Times * Royal Bank of Scotland this week expected to call off the sale of its insurance arm amid fears of a sector slump; bank will offset the disappointing news by announcing the successful disposal of its 50 percent stake in Tesco Personal Finance to the supermarket giant, fetching about 1 billion pounds - Mail on Sunday * Royal Bank of Scotland could announce the sale of its stake in Tesco Personal Finance to the supermarket giant as early as next week - Saturday FT * Lloyds TSB subsidiary Autolease, the U.K.'s second-biggest car leasing company, put up for sale in a move that could mean a windfall of hundreds of million of pounds for the bank - Mail on Sunday * Apollo Management, the U.S. private equity group, among potential bidders circling Paragon, the U.K. buy-to-let mortgage lender - Saturday FT * Management of AT Communications expected to table a buy-out offer of around 40 pence a share for the technology firm this week - Independent on Sunday * Italian designer Roberto Cavalli calls off talks with a group of private equity firms about the sale of a stake in one of the world's most famed fashion empires after failing to reach agreement on the value of the business - Sunday Telegraph * Any hope that the ailing 2 billion pounds-plus Dawnay Day empire might recover evaporates as administrators swoop on the remainder of its assets - Sunday Times * Flooring flop puts 350 jobs at risk; administrator of Floors-2-Go, the laminate flooring business, unlikely to find a buyer for the retailer in its entirety, putting jobs at risk - Sunday Express

SATURDAY PRESS COMMENT

FT Investors fear the worst as banks' results season begins; further capital raisings may be on the cards (p.13) - Markets - LONDON: Barclays (tracker funds move in) - THE LEX COLUMN comments on U.K. utility bills, Deutsche Boerse's plans to sell a minority stake in Clearstream (the suspicion remains this is an idea cooked up by two of the company's larger investors -- hedge funds Atticus Capital and TCI, Coke cuts its cans (even if the price of aluminium drops, the sticker price of Coca-Cola's drink seems unlikely to follow; in that case, the missing swig equates to an effective 7.6 percent price increase) - Weekend Share Watch: Central African Gold (analysts believe the shares look underpriced, but think long-term investors would want to see CAG meet its latest production targets before they bought even at the low price), Holidaybreak (trading on a 2008 price/earnings ratio of 6.5 times, it makes a compelling prospect for the adventurous), Dignity (strong predictable cash flow may be a good reason for its strong rating -- though some stock followers have put a lid on their target price and argue that Dignity may have hit a premium peak for the time being)

Independent PRIVATE INVESTOR: Sean O'Grady says think of Scottish & Southern Energy as an ethical, green investment; not evil or to be despised at all - NO PAIN, NO GAIN: Derek Pain adds Whitbread to the portfolio -- and another recruit should arrive shortly

Times Market report: St James's Place (talk that HBOS wants to sell its majority stake) - Tempus: Royal Bank of Scotland (long-term investors should buy on weakness) - Rumour of the day: Regent Inns (observers believe that a late-night bar operator may be considering a cash bid at about 6 pence or 7 pence a share)

Guardian Market forces: Punch Taverns (hedge fund manager David Einhorn buys 2 million more shares to take his stake to 9.73 percent), Taylor Wimpey (report in Building magazine suggests the company may need to raise new cash before it is able to strike a deal with its lenders about waiving banking covenants), Autonomy (chief executive cashes in more than 8 million pounds worth of shares), Consort Medical (should benefit from this week's $860 million takeover of U.S. rival Vital Signs by GE Healthcare; Vital Signs is a direct peer to Consort's King division and the multiple paid would value King at 85 million pounds; applying that multiple to the overall group gives a price of 960 pence - Investec)

Mail MARKET REPORT: Ferrexpo (rumours of a pending circular) - INVESTMENT EXTRA: H&T (one of the few small financial companies that have the capacity to ride out the looming recession; it is as good as gold)

Express TAKING STOCK: Whitbread (should offer investors one of the safer as well as speculative plays) - ONES TO WATCH: Dairy Crest (trading on about seven times this year's earnings, shares offer value at 400 pence), BATM Advanced Communications (worth a look at 52 pence) - MARKET REPORT: Informa (expectations of a 2.1 billion pounds bid by buyout firm Carlyle next week)

SUNDAY PRESS COMMENT

Sunday Telegraph THE REAL BUSINESS: Aukett Fitzroy Robinson (smaller company investors should wait to see that Aukett delivers the full-year numbers as promised and then consider investing in this business) - SUNDAY QUESTOR: Rentokil Initial (hold), Oilexco (buy), Entertainment Rights (buy), Leyshon Resources (buy) - Ten top investment trust bargains: Caledonia, SVG Capital, Schroder UK Mid & Small Cap, RAB Special Situations, Blackrock World Mining, Dolphin Capital, Schroder Japan Growth, CQS Rig Finance, SVM UK Active, Medicx

Sunday Times AGENDA John Waples comments on stock market volatility (get used to volatility: the hedges (hedge funds) are in control), Keep 'em sweet (large corporations have been threatening to move their domiciles abroad to cheaper tax havens; when the advisers who look after their tax affairs echo those same concerns, however, then we really should be worried), Whitbread (this is a share price that will be worth more than 14 pounds again and the group has the ability to increase borrowings of 500 million pounds and return more cash; if the market doesn't buy into Alan Parker's vision, a private-equity house will), One shuffle too many (moving John Hutton, the business secretary, to the defence portfolio would be a mistake) - Big changes in the GSK pipeline; Andrew Witty is embarking on a radical re-jig of GlaxoSmithKline (BUSINESS p.8) - INSIDE THE CITY: Rolls-Royce (if you take a long-term view, invest, but if you are looking for short-term thrills, look elsewhere)

Independent on Sunday Gloom deepens in the banking sector as HBOS profits plunge 60 percent; with bid speculation intensifying after its failed rights issue, the high street mortgage lender is among a raft of banks reporting this week (BUSINESS p.3) - One of the world's leading green specialists, Environmental Resources Management, which advised Marks & Spencer on how to cut the carbon footprint of its clothes, will report a 20 percent increase in profit next month (BUSINESS p.3)

Mail on Sunday Next expected to tell investors in a trading statement this week that its sales decline of earlier this year slowed after an improvement in the weather (p.58) - Midas: Monitise (buy and hold); MIDAS UPDATE: Autonomy (investors who bought at 948 pence might sell a quarter of their holding to book some profit, but this stock should continue to perform; hold) - The Interview: 'If you see a snake then kill a snake'. William Hill's new boss comes out fighting with a plan to revive the bookmaker (p.63) - Oilex (will announce on Tuesday that its Cambay-73 well in Gujarat, north-west India, has struck oil)

Observer Milk industry mood sours as cost hikes put the pressure on; with price increases failing to keep pace, the U.K. supply is in danger of running out (BUSINESS p.3) - How safety first builds profits; scaffolder's son Garvis Snook (Rok construction boss) has run rings around other building firm bosses by not cutting corners (BUSINESS p.8) - MARKET FORCES: Reed Elsevier (Merrill Lynch pencils in a price target of 10.6 pounds), Misys (Misys boss Mike Lawrie is probably being too optimistic when he talks of boosting sales by between 5 percent and 8 percent), Compass (a sale of Compass to a larger rival at a later date is surely on the cards), Kingfisher (has substantial interests in France, which means it can benefit from the strong euro; hold)

Sunday Express High street clothing giant Next expected to report a 5 percent slump in same-store sales when it delivers its second-quarter results on Wednesday, providing more evidence of middle-class consumers' reduced spending power (FINANCIAL p.1) - Rentokil (a break-up on the cards?) - Northern Petroleum (the AIM-listed company with permission to explore for oil on the South Downs, to drill in a renowned beauty spot in the area this autumn)

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