Johnston Press PLC Share News (JPR)

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will say the economy is growing at twice the rate it forecast in March, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times reported. The OBR will say 2013 growth has jumped to 1.4% from the 0.6% it predicted eight months ago. Next year the economy will grow by about 2.3%, the OBR is set to say. In his December 5th autumn statement Chancellor George Osborne will announce tax breaks for small firms and a clampdown on tax avoidance. While declaring success for his policies he will resist calls for tax cuts.Royal Bank of Scotland will pay its bankers £500m in bonuses this year despite being hit by a series of scandals, the Sunday Times said. The bonuses would follow claims in a government-commissioned report that RBS deliberately forced companies into insolvency to buy their properties cheaply. The bank's bonus pool was £900m last year but £300m was deducted to pay fines for rigging the Libor rate.Tesco is preparing to announce a further fall in sales when it updates the market on December 4th, the Sunday Times reported. Analysts expect the supermarket chain to reveal a fall of between 1% and 1.8% for the third quarter despite efforts to revitalise the core UK business. That kind of fall would mark a deterioration from the 0.5% fall in the first half. Tesco has been squeezed by Aldi and Lidl at the cheap end of the market and Waitrose at the top.IGas, the shale gas explorer, has started drilling at Barton Moss near Manchester, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The company's Chief Executive Andrew Austin told the paper the well would be used to assess what kind of gas was present in the North West of England. Austin said he expected to flow test shale gas in the region in the next year. He said he hoped the North West would be the onshore equivalent of Aberdeen's role in the offshore industry.Energy companies are expected to say that household bills will rise less than expected after the Chancellor announces cuts to green and social levies, the Mail on Sunday reported. The changes will cut £50 from energy bills. The changes will include some levies moved to general taxation and the extension of the deadline for the Energy Companies Obligation Scheme, which requires them to insulate homes of low-income families. The deadline will be extended to 2017 from 2015.Premier Foods is trying to sell its Hovis bread and flour brand, or a stake in it, to raise money to pay off debt, the Sunday Times said. The food manufacturer is in talks with a number of potential buyers that specialize in turning round ailing brands. They are funds Sun European, Gores Group and HIG and private equity firm PAI Partners. Premier has sold off other brands including Branston Pickle to try to lighten its debt burden.Petrofac has entered the race to bid for Foster Wheeler of the US and could find itself in a bidding war with Amec. Petrofac expressed interest in Foster Wheeler after the US company's merger talks with Amec broke down, the Sunday Times said. The UK companies could be joined in a battle to buy Foster Wheeler, which is listed on the Nasdaq index and is valued at $3bn. It was put in to play by the collapse of its secret talks with Amec several months ago.GKN has made an indicative offer for a division of Spirit Aerosystems, an American rival that makes wings for Boeing airliners. The Sunday Times said the FTSE 100 company had expressed an interest in Spirit's factories in Tulsa and McAlester in Oklahoma. Sources told the paper the plants would cost about $500m but GKN is reluctant to pay that much. Four companies have made indicative offers for the factories, which could give GKN "exposure to Boeing's programmes", the paper said.Johnston Press is close to a deal to sell its Irish titles for £10m, the Sunday Times said. The newspaper publisher is in advanced talks about selling its 12 papers in Ireland to Mediaforce, a British print advertising company. A deal, which could be announced by the end of December, would bring to a close Johnston's foray into the Irish market. The value of the papers, bought in 2005, has plunged following Ireland's economic problems and the migration of advertising to the internet. SF