The Times Tiddler to Watch: Shares in i-design were in demand after the media company landed a contract to supply Barclays with software to allow the lender to market other services to customers across its 4,000 or so cash machines. No value was put on the contract, nor was its length specified, but news of the deal with such a well-known company lifted the shares 43/4p to 293/4p. Bet of the Day: The recovery of precious metals faltered. Although both gold and silver gave ground, spread-traders firmly favoured the former for its haven qualities in times of greater economic certainty, while the latter has struggled to keep pace. Punters bet on further weakness by silver. ETX Capital quoted $35.37- $35.39 for the rolling daily silver contract. Gilts: Gilt fell sharply and underperformed German bunds after the Bank of England raised its inflation forecast to account for higher energy prices. That stoked expectations of an interest rate rise this year instead of early in 2012. The June gilt future settled 53 ticks lower at 119.93, while in the cash market ten-year gilt yields rose seven basis points to 3.45%. Ofgem gets blame for a loss of trust in Big Six: Britains top energy suppliers rounded on Ofgem, claiming that the regulator bore responsibility for eroding consumers trust in them. The companies are unhappy with the populist tone adopted in the media by Ofgems Chief Executive Alistair Buchanan. Master of the Rolodex undone by greed: Few people who knew Raj Rajaratnam were surprised at the Hedge Fund Managers arrest in October 2009, in one of the biggest insider trading investigations on Wall Street. It was common knowledge in Silicon Valley for 20 years that Raj had his informants whom he paid. People used to joke ten years ago that Raj had the Intel numbers before Andy Grove a former colleague told The Times. Russian Helicopters London listing fails to get off ground: A company famous for its Soviet-era helicopters has become the latest Russian business to fall foul of London investors unease about new stock market listings. Russian Helicopters had planned to raise $500 million (305 million) split between London and Moscow to repay debt and buy control of subsidiary ventures. Broadcasters look beyond summer for brighter days: Britains two largest free-to-air broadcasters have warned of a summer lull in advertising growth as renewed economic caution dampened hopes of a further upswing until later in the year. ITV reported a 12% rise in advertising revenue in the first three months of the year and reported a 6% gain in April. Ocado blames holidays for bad performance: With its potent mix of sunshine, bank holidays and a royal wedding, April was the kindest month for supermarkets. But not for Ocado. The online grocer blamed the glut of holidays and capacity constraints for a sharp fall in its sales growth. Sales are expected to rise 21% in the first half of the year, down from 24% in the first quarter and 29% last year. The shares fell 18p, or 8%, to 215p. Electricity from offshore turbines may be too costly: The cost of offshore wind farms will have to be cut considerably if they are to be a viable part of Scotlands energy future, according to a report. The study, which draws information from developers, manufacturers and electricity companies, echoes comments this week by the U.K. Governments Committee on Climate Change. Google set for Windows fight with Chrome OS: Google will launch the first netbooks powered by its new Chrome Operating System on 15 June, in a major push into the computer hardware market. The first devices, which the company is calling Chromebooks, will be manufactured by Samsung and Acer. The Independent King set to see term of office end with inflation still above target: British consumers face another two years of high inflation, weaker economic growth and a continuing struggle to maintain living standards, according to the Bank of England. Osborne to target workers rights with review of employment law: Workers are set to receive less protection against redundancy, dismissal and workplace discrimination as the Chancellor George Osborne tears up sections of employment law so businesses can dispose of their staff more easily. Haldanes and Co-op engage in legal battle over shop sale: A war of words and legal actions has broken out between the Co-operative Group and Haldanes. The fledgling supermarket chain has accused the U.K.s fifth biggest food retailer of wanting to drive it out of business after Haldanes bought more than 20 former Somerfield stores from the Co-op in early 2010. New crisis could force RAB Capital to delist: Rab Capital, the former star hedge fund now notorious for investing in Northern Rock, is set to leave the stock market following a fresh wave of redemptions and the departure of a top Fund Manager. Protesters hit out at Greek bailout talks: Police fired tear gas at dozens of youths hurling stones in Athens and a strike against austerity brought much of Greece to a halt during talks on the next slice of a bailout package. European Union and International Monetary Fund inspectors met Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou during a visit to press Greece to shore up its finances one year into the EU/IMF deal. Interest rates on loans hit record high: Interest rates on small personal loans hit a record high last month as unsecured borrowing costs remained elevated. The typical interest rate charged to people borrowing 5,000 jumped a massive 2.2% during the month to hit 15.58%, the biggest monthly change recorded and the highest rate since the Bank of England began collecting the data in 2005. Financial Times AssetCo combats former Chief: AssetCo is preparing to fight back against its former Chief Executive who called for the company to be wound up, by claiming he was dismissed in the wake of serious breaches of contract and duties. There is some good in dearth of flotations: The amount of money being raised on Aim for new companies is showing no signs of recovery. The latest statistics from the London Stock Exchange show that only 9.73 million ($15.9 million) of new money was raised last month, taking the total so far this year to 87.1 million, well down on the 322.9 million raised in the first four months of last year. AstraZeneca lifted by new treatment hopes but Footsie trips up: Drug stocks beat a falling London market on Wednesday, with AstraZeneca and Shire outperforming. AstraZeneca found support ahead of a U.S. regulatory decision on Brilinta, its potential blockbuster blood-thinning treatment. Late in the day, UBS added AstraZeneca to its Buy list based on the drug winning U.S. approval in July. NHS patients record project faces cull: Ministers are considering cancelling all or part of the biggest single contract in the NHSs 11 billion project to create an electronic patients record, David Cameron has revealed. Pendulum swings to buy-backs and mergers: For more than two years, most blue-chip companies have focused on reducing debt and building up bullet-proof balance sheets. Train operator to pioneer ticket app: Train travellers will soon be able to leave behind ticket queues and pay for their journeys by mobile phone, after Chiltern Railways became the first operator to adopt a new national standard for mobile ticketing. Sportingbet looks to raise 125 million for Australia move: Sportingbet has begun a road show of potential investors as the online gambling company seeks to raise all or part of the 125 million it needs to buy Australian betting operator Centrebet. MP talks tough over SSE mis-selling: The U.K.s big gas and electricity suppliers should be forced to repay any profits made by mis-selling their products on the doorstep, the Chairman of an influential House of Commons committee has suggested. Lex: Microsoft: the logic in Skype move: Trying to justify Microsofts $8.5 billion price for Skype by increasing growth estimates is impossible without entering stratospherically silly numbers. But what happens if the acquisition is considered a defensive move, rather than an offensive one? Perhaps Microsoft was thinking only about protecting the current franchise. If Google or Facebook got hold of Skype, they would be closer to building a suite of products that could shake users loose from Office/Windows. To prevent that, Microsoft was prepared to pay an amount that, on traditional metrics, looks insane. If investors follow this logic and view acquisitions like Skype, or the $6 billion purchase of advertising firm aQuantive four years ago, as the price of maintaining Microsofts current business, such purchases suddenly look much more attractive. Microsoft exudes free cash: almost three dollars a share of it over the past 12 months, for a remarkable free cash flow yield of 11%. And even if Microsoft periodically lays out massive sums to keep the old cash machine running it barely makes a difference. Assume that Microsoft has to make a Skype-sized deal every three years. Take that out of future free cash flow and the stocks free cash flow yield only drops from 11% to 10%. U.S. rail traffic: transport data indicate a two-track economy: If Americas 94,000 miles of major freight railroads and 47,000 miles of interstate highways are the arteries of its economy, then the hundreds of thousands of rail cars and trailers moving along them are its lifeblood. There is a 94% correlation between industrial production and rail traffic. After a near fainting spell in late 2008 and early 2009, a steady improvement in circulation has accompanied the economic recovery. Now signs of sclerosis are appearing even as volumes remain well short of the boom times. April data from the American Association of Railroads saw a year-on-year drop in carloads for just the second time since the recovery began. There were several bright spots within this measure grains, metallic ores, chemicals and motor vehicles that correspond to buoyancy for those industries and robust export demand. But construction materials such as lumber, glass and crushed stone remained very weak. Coal, the staple of many large railroads and a proxy for electricity demand, saw a slump, even though the first few months of the year saw the largest U.S. coal exports since 1992. Truck tonnage is showing similar moderation with a closely-watched index from American Trucking Association flattening out. On the other hand, intermodal traffic which better reflects consumer demand for finished goods, including imports remains robust. Greece and the Eurozone: The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are in Athens again. Officials from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank are there to review Greeces 110 billion assistance package. They have two new factors to contend with since their last visit. First, Greece needs more money. And second, Brussels and Athens have been unsettled by speculation that Greece might consider leaving the Eurozone. No matter how vehemently Athens protests, this notion is not going away. There is no mechanism for exiting from the Eurozone. But even Alcatraz was not immune to escape, and the Eurozone is not (or shouldnt be) a prison. Leaving is possible only with careful planning. Some preparatory steps are obvious. The move would have to be well flagged. Investors may already be pricing it into Greek bond markets, so it would hardly be a surprise. As Capital Economics argues, it is likely that fears of a Greek exit will increase over time. Lombard: Inertia will impede HSBCs efficiency drive: HSBC is a vast federation as much as it is a unified business. That makes cost savings easy to identify. It also makes them hard to achieve. How Stuart Gulliver performs in delivering $2.5 billion-$3.5 billion in annual spending reductions will test his effectiveness as Chief Executive. It will show whether the HSBC lifer can master the bank of which he is the product. If HSBC were a manufacturer, relentless market pressures would already have compressed costs. In banking, lofty competitive barriers make it easier for excess fat to accumulate. This is particularly true at HSBC, which, after years of expansion, employs 307,000 staff in 87 countries. HSBC has been run like a civil service, says an investor, who judges as achievable savings equivalent at their midpoint to 8% of 2010 expenses. Cannibalised: Once described as the best hedge fund in the world, RAB Capitals Special Situations Fund could soon be the smallest. A slew of redemptions diminished it by $370 million last month. Recently, a big client pulled its money from another RAB fund in protest at poor performance. Assets managed by the battered hedge fund company are thought to have more than halved from a total of $1 billion at the end of last year. RAB may ignominiously retreat from the U.K.s junior market, returning capital to shareholders in the process. A story to gladden the heart of a Class War anarchist? Not quite. In its pomp last decade, RAB exemplified Hedge Fund Managers at their hubristic worst. On its uppers, RAB symbolises the ability of a secretive sector to reinvent itself. RAB may be dwindling away. The Daily Telegraph U.K. growth to slow and prices to rise, Bank of England warns: Economists are pencilling in a first interest rate rise for November after the Bank of England warned that the country faces a toxic combination of slower-than-expected growth and higher inflation. Italys Mario Draghi set to head European Central Bank: The Governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi, is poised to become the next head of the European Central Bank (ECB) after winning over German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bank of England dismisses Starbucks attack on coffee speculators: Bank of England policymakers doused talk that speculators are harming the economy by forcing up commodity prices. U.S. trade deficit jumps to $48 billion: U.S. companies sold a record amount of goods and services overseas in March, but a big jump in oil imports pushed the nations trade deficit higher. The Commerce Department says the trade deficit rose 6pc to $48.2 billion (29.4 billion). That's up from $45.4 billion in February. Exports increased to $172.7 billion, the largest on records dating back to 1996. The dollar's decline in recent months has made US goods cheaper overseas, and exports have also risen due to rapid growth in developing countries. Japan to inject five trillion yen into Tepco nuclear compensation fund: Japans government is planning to inject about 5 trillion (37.4 billion) into a fund to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its nuclear plant and save Asias largest utility from financial ruin. The Questor Column: Hold on to BG Group as the world switches on to gas: George Osbornes tax increase hit earnings by $265 million (162 million), exploration and production slowed because of the political unrest in the Middle East, flooding in Queensland, and a shutdown in the North Sea. BG is a big player in Egypt and Tunisia, so the revolts that overthrew those governments necessarily caused disruption to demand, and delays to development projects. Production fell by between 4 million and 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent in the quarter, with two thirds of that relating to elective maintenance in the North Sea. Various reports, including one from the International Energy Agency, expect a tripling of demand for gas in China alone by 2020. Unlike spot gas prices in the U.S. and U.K., Asian LNG prices are linked to the price of oil, which should provide further support. LNG currently represents just over a third of BGs business, and the company has a huge opportunity for growth in the Asia Pacific area. The market sold BG shares as a knee-jerk reaction first thing morning, but the tables turned after management got out into the City and the shares recovered some ground to close down 23p at 14.12. BG is a highly-rated company, trading on a price/earnings ratio of 20 times. That compares with BP on 6 times, and Shell on 9 times earnings. Questor bought the shares at the end of March at 15.64. BG Group. 14.121/4 -23p. Questor Says Hold. Capitas pipeline for future business looks strong: Last years Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) was a tipping point for outsourcing bulls and bears. While some commentators insisted the sector was doomed after more than 80 billion of Government cuts, others including Questor were in the bull camp when it came to prospects for outsourcing groups. After all, funding pressures in Whitehall and at local authorities meant that services were more likely to be put out to tender for third parties. The CSR unveiled a 7.1% cut in council budgets each year for four years with the administrative budgets of every main government department cut by a third. Elsewhere, Capita said it had signed 7 contracts, including extensions, so far in 2011 with an aggregate value of 313 million. More importantly, the group said it had a record bid pipeline (potential new contracts) of 4.7 billion, helped by the Government public service reforms. Capitas shares are trading on a December 2011 price to earnings ratio of 15.3, falling to 12.6 in 2014, and its yield is 2.9%. The group has also insisted there remains a good volume of potential acquisitions and it expects to buy more businesses this year. With the pipeline of future of business so strong, Capita is a buy opportunity for new investors. While some outsourcers such as Connaught have floundered following the financial crisis, others have not. Capita Group. 741p +5p. Questor Says Buy. The Guardian HSBC cuts threaten thousands of jobs: Thousands of jobs are on the line at HSBC as the U.K.s biggest bank shifts its focus from the high street to commercial and investment banking as part of its new management teams strategy to step up the pace and intensity of change. Pop stars among investors hit by taxmans victory: Former members of pop group Liberty X and hundreds of other wealthy investors have suffered a blow after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Revenue in a 1.5 billion tax avoidance case. Glencore faces claims supplier breached environment laws: Glencore, the soon to be floated commodity trading firm, is facing a string of claims that it breached environmental laws at one of its significant affiliate companies. BA and Unite union move closer to ending cabin crew dispute: Agreement comes after nearly 18 months of hostilities, including 22 days of walkouts, and will be debated by BA crew at Unite meeting near Heathrow airport. British Airways and the Unite trade union have taken a significant step towards ending a long-running dispute with cabin crew after agreeing a peace deal on Wednesday. Daily Mail Tesco Boss unveils a brand new vision: Tesco Boss Philip Clarke has announced plans to develop a raft of new brands to re-invigorate tired product ranges as part of a major strategic initiative. The fledgling Chief Executive, who replaced Sir Terry Leahy in March, also has ambitions to push the business online in all 15 of its markets by the end of 2020. EasyJet losses double to 153 million: EasyJet brushed aside the dual impact of high fuel prices and rising aviation taxes, as its shares headed for the skies despite a near doubling of pretax losses in the first half. The no-frills carrier dived 153 million into the red compared to 79 million last year, as chief executive Carolyn McCall spent her first few months in the cockpit trying to shake off the drag from surging oil prices. Broker Views: Marks & Spencer Group: JPMorgan upgrade the stock to Overweight and increased the target price to 460.00p Accsys Technologies: Matrix maintains a Corporate rating on the stock, with a target price of 0.31p Petroneft Resources: Dolmen Stockbrokers maintains a Buy rating on the stock, with a target price of 118.00p Pace: JPMorgan maintains a Overweight rating on the stock, with a target price of 190.00p Marstons: Numis Securities Ltd downgraded the stock to Add and decreased the target price to 125.00p Restaurant Group: Evolution Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral and decreased the target price to 330.00p Daily Express Builders profit boost: Two of Britains biggest builders gave a boost to housing recovery hopes by forecasting bigger annual profits on rising sales and prices. Barratt Developments said it expected a substantial improvement in profit as sales rates returned to normal levels between the start of this year and May 8, while prices rose 4%. Baby boomers lift sales at Prudential: Surging demand for pensions from U.S. baby-boomers helped Prudential enjoy record sales of 888 million, up 10% year-on-year, for the first quarter to March. Greggs plans to put health food on menu: Greggs is targeting a slice of the healthy eating market, which could see it selling salads, pasta and fresh fruit alongside its sausage rolls. Chief executive Ken McMeikan said the group was also looking to build on its successful meal-deals move into the breakfast market by adding take-home offerings to the menu. Qatari bid talk boosts Centrica: Investors warmed to British Gas Owner Centrica on reheated talk of bid interest from Qatar. Traders reckoned the oil-rich Gulf state may team up with Spanish power giant Iberdrola to make a 500p-a-share approach. The Scottish Herald Bank of England signals no quick rise in base rates: The Bank of England signalled it was in no hurry to raise U.K. base rates from their record low of 0.5%, as it cut economic growth forecasts. Its latest quarterly predictions show benchmark annual UK consumer prices index inflation spiking to around 5% in the short term, before falling back to about 1.9% on the key two-year time horizon, based on market interest rate expectations and the scale of the boost to money supply remaining at 200 billion. Wood Group boosted by North Sea activity: Wood Group said it has made a good start to the year, helped by healthy activity in the North Sea, but said there might be delays to projects following the hike in the tax rate in the province. The Aberdeen-based oil services giant said it was on course to meet market expectations for the current year after delivering good growth in the first four months of 2011. Chairman Sir Ian Wood said it is well placed to grow its position as a leading player in all of the three areas which it has decided to concentrate on. Consultancy gets green light for carbon reduction plans: A Scottish consultancy has won official approval for a new carbon reduction standard that it developed and which it claims sets the U.K.s toughest standards for organisations that want to reduce emissions. Vertu drives north as profits and sales continue to climb: Vertu Motors, the fast-growing Newcastle-based motor trader, revealed plans to open another Scottish dealership as it posted a rise in profits and said sales were climbing back to pre-recession levels. The Scotsman New HSBC Chief unveils $3.5 billion drive to cut costs: HSBC's new Chief Executive is to jettison swathes of the banking major's retail and wealth management businesses in a bid to cut as much as $3.5 billion (2.1 billion) in costs and boost profits. Stuart Gulliver, formerly head of HSBC's investment bank, also said the group may sell its US credit card arm to help reverse a rising cost/income ratio. FirstGroup takes 60 million gamble on rail franchise: FirstGroup has taken a gamble not to extend its Great Western franchise beyond 2013 and will instead bid for a longer - and potentially more lucrative - deal with the Department for Transport, despite taking a 60 million hit on its profits to do so. University cash boost for BRE site: Edinburgh Napier University is pumping 600,000 into the sustainable housing project being built at the former steelworks site at Ravenscraig, in North Lanarkshire, by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) Scotland. BRE expects that the cash - which comes through the European Regional Development Fund - will help to bring in a further 2 million from private sector investment. Little Chef serves up a tasty return: Roadside restaurant chain Little Chef says its new "concept" restaurants are proving a success with customers after the latest batch of revamped outlets saw sales jump 47%. The chain's owner, RCapital, has turned around the iconic brand's fortunes since taking over the business in 2007. European Union beef exports surge 178%: A massive rise in the tonnage of beef exported to Russia and Turkey in 2010 has turned the European Union into a net exporter of fresh and frozen beef for the first time for almost a decade. Figures published by the Agricultural and Horticulture Development Board also show that imported beef from South American countries fell back in the same period. Individual lactation key to yield boost: Milk producers can and do quote the lactation yields of their dairy cattle, but a far better basis for predicting the efficiency and profitability of their enterprises would be the yield per cow per year. "It is what you sell that is important," Colin Mason, the veterinary services manager for the Scottish Agricultural College in the south-west, said at a dairy conference in Dumfries. Trade gap widens but Q1 figure strong: Britain's goods trade gap with the rest of the world widened more than expected in March, but figures showed that the deficit for the whole of the first quarter fell to its lowest level since 2009. In a mixed picture for the UK economy, official statistics showed that the goods trade gap jumped to 7.66 billion in March from just under 7 billion in the previous month - greater than the 7.25 billion forecast by economists. Unhealthy comparisons: ITV warns of earnings dip: Revenues at ITV will ease this month and next as the UK's largest commercial broadcaster runs up against tough comparisons with the advertising frenzy driven by last year's airing of the Fifa World Cup. Signalling the end of 18 months of growth since the recession, ITV said advertising revenues were likely to fall by 9% in May and as much as 20% in June. ACS in 2 million deal for kilt hire firm: KILT hire firm ACS Clothing has bought Etiquette Formal Hire out of administration for 2 million, following a 6m loan and overdraft deal with Clydesdale Bank. Glasgow-based ACS, which already has contracts with Austin Reed and Slater Menswear, will take over a supply deal with Debenhams after buying its Burnley-based rival. Tesco appoints Broadbent as Chairman: Tesco brought months of speculation to an end by naming City veteran Sir Richard Broadbent as its next Chairman. Broadbent, a former Executive Chairman of HM Customs & Excise, will stand down as deputy Chairman of Barclays when he takes up the Tesco role in November, succeeding David Reid, who is retiring. Kesa plans further UK closures: Comet owner Kesa Electricals is to close up to ten stores this year after suffering another slide in UK sales. The retailer, which has 248 outlets in the UK, will also shut one of its three warehouses and axe 12 of its 14 regional service centres, which are used as a base by its engineers who repair and service its products. Sainsbury's profits hit 665 million on 21 million transactions a week: Sainsbury's claimed that a record 21 million transactions are passing through its tills each week as it posted a 9% increase in underlying profits to 665 million. About 124,000 staff at Britain's third-largest supermarket chain will share in a 60 million bonus pot as a result of the better-than- expected annual profits, although the windfall is less than the 80 million dished out last year.

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