JJB.L Share News (JJB)

JJB Sports, the beleaguered sports retailer, is poised to announce a £30m fund-raising and the departure of its chairman, to safeguard its future.It is thought that big shareholders, including Harris Associates and the foundation of Bill Gates, are backing the call. John Clare, the chairman, will be replaced by Mike McTighe, formerly of Cable & Wireless, the Independent reports.A powerful end-of-year stock market rally has sent equities to their highest levels since the collapse of Lehman Brothers more than two years ago, with hopes for the US recovery encouraging investors to pull billions of dollars out of bonds. The pre-Christmas rally has propelled leading US and European shares to their biggest December gains in a decade. The FTSE 100 index rose for the fourth straight day, pushing through the 6,000 level on Thursday for the first time since June 2008, though it later fell back to 5,996.07, the FT reports.The cost of default insurance on eurozone bonds has surged to an all-time high on reports that Greece is preparing the way for a sovereign debt restructuring after 2013, with tacit support from the EU authorities. The disputed claim came as Fitch Ratings downgraded both Portugal and Hungary and placed five Greek banks on negative review. Fitch cut Portugal's rating one notch to A+, warning that the economy is caught in a low-growth trap. Plans to cut the structural budget deficit by 4% of GDP next year "will be extremely challenging especially if, as Fitch expects, the economy falls into recession next year", the Telegraph reports.John Lewis reported near-record sales in the last week, apparently untouched by the snow and cold, as rival retailers hope for a last-minute rush today to save their Christmas season. Sales rose 7p% to £120.3m in the week to Saturday, 18 December, only the second time revenue has topped £120m in the department store chain's history. John Lewis shops in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nottingham and the Sloane Square branch, which is called Peter Jones, all had record weekly sales, the Telegraph reports.Ireland has nationalised its fourth bank after giving up the fight to keep Allied Irish Banks as a shareholder-owned lender.The Dublin Government yesterday secured court approval to inject €3.7 bn (£3.1bn) into the Republic's second-biggest lender by next Friday, taking the taxpayers' stake from 19 to 93%. Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide Building Society and EBS Building Society have already been nationalised, the Times reports.A bidding war is expected to break out for Australian coal miner Riversdale after Rio Tinto offered A$3.9bn (£2.5bn) for the group in a move that spilt the company's board. Rio offered A$16 a share for Riversdale, which has significant coal assets in Mozambique and South Africa. However, expectations of a rival bidder propelled the shares above the offer price and they closed at A$16.57 in Australian trading. Rio had previously indicated a bid would be at A$15 a share, the Telegraph reports.