HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

The investigation into Tesco's £250m profit overstatement has found "inappropriate" behaviour largely confined to the first half of this year, the Sunday Times reported. The supermarket group is expected to say on 23 October that it will not have to restate previous years' results. The paper said the inquiry by Deloitte and Freshfields found staff were under pressure as Tesco's sales fell. The manipulation of income from suppliers was allegedly "carefully concealed", the paper said.A "small group" of people at Tesco misled the company's auditors to flatter financial results, the Sunday Telegraph alleged. The paper said a senior source close to the investigation alleged the over-reporting had gone on for more than a year on a smaller scale but that it increased in the past six months. The paper alleged that some Tesco employees did deals with suppliers so that the suppliers would make payments in return for benefits in the following financial period. Tesco could have had to pay money back to the suppliers under the worst-case scenario.Tesco is losing customers to mainstream rivals Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, the Mail on Sunday reported. The paper said industry data, supplied by market researchers Kantar and usually only seen by the boards of the top supermarkets, showed that performance had been hit by Tesco's woes. Dave Lewis, Tesco's new Chief Executive, will fly in the next two weeks to visit the group's Asian businesses, which private equity firms could be interested in if Tesco decided to sell.Shire, the drugmaker whose takeover by AbbVie of the US has collapsed, is looking at buying an American rival, the Sunday Times reported. The board is said to have revived interest in various US targets, including the rare diseases specialist NPS and Cubist, which makes a treatment for the superbug MRSA.Greene King is working on plans for an improved offer for Spirit before an October 21st deadline, the Sunday Times reported. Spirit rejected a £661m offer last month. That offer was at 100p a share but Greene King hopes to agree a deal at up to 110p a share, the paper said. Spirit thinks it is on the way to recovery and could resist the bid.Britain's banks will defy the European regulator and continue to use "allowances" to pay senior bankers, the Sunday Telegraph reported. UK banks will use the allowances to get round the European Union's bonus cap for next year's pay round with the tacit approval of the Bank of England (BoE). Andrew Bailey, head of the BoE's Prudential Regulatory Authority arm, attacked the EU's bonus cap last week.Wolseley is considering a potential £100m bid for Better Bathrooms to return to the retail market, the Sunday Telegraph said. Wolseley sold Bathstore for £15m four years ago. Better Bathrooms, founded by an eBay trader, "may sell", the paper said.Afren, the oil producer, has hired Rothschild to help strengthen its defences against a potential opportunistic bid from a retired Nigerian general, the Sunday Times reported. Theophilus Danjuma's SAPetro has been buying Afren shares and it now holds 7.05%.Sierra Leone's finance minister is trying to save London Mining, a big employer in the Ebola-stricken West African country. He met prospective buyers of the company in recent days in an effort to keep London Mining's mine working. Marrah is also considering nationalising the mine, which is still operating after London Mining was forced into administration, The Sunday Times reports.Purplebricks, the online estate agency backed by Neil Woodford and other City supporters, is considering a flotation less than six months after its launch, the Sunday Telegraph said. The company, which might float next year, undercuts high street estate agents by charging a flat fee and uses a network of local brokers instead of maintaining a high street chain.Focusrite, an audio equipment maker, is considering a flotation, the Sunday Times said. The paper said float talks were at an early stage and there was no sign of the valuation the company would seek.