(LAND.L) Land Securities Group PLC Buy/Sell

The Times

LAND SECURITIES ENDS NEW DEVELOPMENT STALEMATE

Land Securities has set aside 200 million pounds for two major developments in London next year, indicating the property group's renewed confidence in the market. The property developer announced work would recommence at its Park House site off Oxford Street which had been suspended due to the economic downturn and planning complications. The other development will be at Selbourne House in Victoria. Group Chief Executive Francis Salway said the group would not require any borrowing to commence work at the sites.

ITV IS STUCK WITH FRIENDS AS OFT REFERS SALE TO WATCHDOG

The Office of Fair Trading ruled on Monday that the proposed sale of the Friends Reunited website by the broadcaster ITV to Brightsolid for 25 million pounds could breach competition law. OFT senior director of mergers Amelia Fletcher said reducing the number of providers in the genealogy market from three to two could "lead to a reduction in choice or service to consumers". The Competition Commission will now spend the next six months investigating the proposal and has set a deadline of April 16 2010 for reaching its conclusion.

SHAREHOLDERS VENT FRUSTRATIONS OVER BOARDROOM SPLIT AT

NATIONAL EXPRESS

Leading shareholders in National Express are calling for Jorge Cosmen to reconsider his position as the transport operator's deputy chairman. The calls follow the issue of a public statement by the Cosmen family last week which criticised the company's strategy for deciding not to enter into merger negotiations with rival transport operator Stagecoach. One leading National Express shareholder said: "There must be some ambiguity in his position as a director. He has made a public statement of 'no confidence' in his fellow directors. How can he possibly stay?"

TEMPUS

Telecity -

BowLeven -

Vantis -

Daily Telegraph

BANK DEAL HAILED AS 'VICTORY FOR TAXPAYER'

On Tuesday Alistair Darling will allow Lloyds Banking Group to withdraw from the government's insurance scheme for bad bank debts. This new deal has resulted in less exposure of taxpayer's money compared to previous government deals with other banks. The group remains part-nationalised and will still have to meet government targets on lending and abide by restrictions on pay and bonuses. Lloyds is expected to undertake the biggest rights issue in British history, worth 13.5 billion pounds.

WOOD DISMISSES BID FOR RBS INSURANCE

On Tuesday the founder of Direct Line, Peter Wood, quashed speculation that he might be making a bid for the Royal Bank of Scotland's insurance businesses. Wood said he planned to allow his insurance companies to grow organically and that Direct Line had "few avenues for growth". The European Competition Commissioner has given RBS four years to sell its insurance assets.

EMI PROBES DIGITAL SALES OF BEATLES SONGS IN US

Digital sales of The Beatles' back catalogue have begun on an American website for as little as 25 cents per track. Negotiations between EMI and Apple Corps, the company set up by The Beatles, have previously prevented the back catalogue from being available to buy digitally. EMI has been investigating whether the website, Bluebeat.com, has permission to sell what is considered to be a treasure trove of music potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

QUESTOR

Ryanair - (Buy)

Chloride Group - (Hold)

The Independent

RBS TO AXE 3,700 AHEAD OF EU CARVE-UP PLAN

3,700 jobs will be lost at Royal Bank of Scotland as part of modernisation plans set out by Brian Hartzer, the new retail banking chief appointed by the chief executive Stephen Hester to improve the bank's business model. RBS said no employee would be leaving the company before May 2010 and that it hoped to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies by offering redeployment and voluntary terms to affected workers. Unite said it was another sign of ordinary staff being made unemployed "to fund the crisis caused by City bankers".

BA CABIN CREW UNIONS CALL FOR STRIKE ACTION

2,500 British Airways workers attended a meeting at Sandown Racecourse on Monday to hear a recommendation from trade unions that cabin crew workers vote to strike from 21st December. The airline has altered the terms and conditions of employees' contracts and announced plans to cut around 1,700 jobs to cut costs. The result of the ballot is to be announced at another meeting on Dec. 14.

YELL SECURES LENDER SUPPORT

Directories business Yell has received approval from its lenders to proceed with a plan to refinance its large debt burden. The creditors holding over 95 percent of the company's loans approved the deal on Monday after four self-imposed deadlines had already been missed. Yell had to threaten to go to court with a scheme of arrangement to secure the agreement of the last significant bondholder. The deal means lenders will extend the expiry of their loans from 2011 and 2012 to 2014, allowing Yell to launch a 500 million pound capital raising in return for an increased rate of interest on the repayments.

INVESTMENT COLUMN

Telecity - (Buy)

Chloride Group (Buy)

Vantis - (Avoid)

The Guardian

BLACKS LEISURE'S DEPUTY CHAIRMAN EXPLAINS EXIT

The former deputy chairman of the struggling retailer Blacks Leisure has criticised the management's timid response to the company's problems and said frustration at this lack of "crisis management" motivated him to quit. Although Blacks has started an emergency restructuring that will see a quarter of its stores close after breaking banking covenants in the summer, Claude Littner has described the approach as "too little, too late".

CALL FOR NATIONAL EXPRESS STRATEGY REVIEW AFTER FAILED

MERGER TALKS

The Spanish Cosmen family, who hold a 19 percent stake in the troubled transport operator National Express, has called for a new strategic review of the company which is to be conducted by new independent advisers. The Cosmens have misgivings concerning National Express's hasty rejection of a takeover offer from its rival Stagecoach, pointing out that the value of the prospective deal had been valued at up to 2 billion pounds by analysts. Despite these reservations, they continue to support the 350 million pound fundraising which National Express will set in motion later in November.

LENDERS GIVE GO-AHEAD FOR 500 MILLION POUND YELL RIGHTS

ISSUE

Creditors of the Yellow Pages publisher Yell are permitting it to begin raising equity, something which should allow the company to begin treatment of its 4 billion pound debt burden. A refinancing deal means Yell can launch a 500 million pound rights issue. The deal needed to be approved by 95 percent of the directories business' lenders.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants. Keywords: BRITAIN PRESS/BUSINESS

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