Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

George Osborne has promised to cut "very high" tax rates this autumn to try to head off a row over poor growth figures and warnings from cabinet colleagues that the economy faces the biggest challenges for decades. Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, warned yesterday that "the [economic] icebergs are probably the worst in the lifetime of anyone now living," the Times reports.The proposed £2.5bn sale of 632 Lloyds Banking Group branches has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that only two formal bids have been filed. The lack of bidders has led advisers to consider plans to demerge the business and float what would become the UK's seventh largest bank, the Daily Telegraph reports.The dire situation facing many UK companies has been laid bare, with a survey finding that 12 per cent more businesses are on the verge of insolvency than just three months ago. The survey, by Begbies Traynor, the restructuring specialist, found that a total of 5,179 companies faced "critical" financial problems in the second quarter of the year, according to the Independent.More than 100 retailers fell into administration in the first half of this year, according to the latest figures to spell out the terrible conditions on the high street. According to Deloitte, a total of 43 retailers - an 8% increase from the same period last year - went into administration in the second quarter of the year, on top of the 60 that failed in the first quarter, the Daily Telegraph says.Tesco is poised to offer customers a free WiFi internet service in its stores, in what is thought to be a first for a British supermarket. The move comes as Britain's biggest retailer seeks to embrace customers' changing shopping habits, but also reinvigorate its domestic business, under new chief executive Philip Clarke, the Financial Times reports.Controversy over City pay is likely to be reignited by a new European directive that would force pay deals over €1m (£880,000) to be disclosed by banks. The requirement, buried in a 700-page document largely concerned with the amount of capital a bank must hold, was likened by pay experts to an idea raised by Sir David Walker, the City grandee who was commissioned to look at corporate governance in banks by the Labour government, the Guardian reports.Lonrho, the pan-African conglomerate, is believed to be closing in on a deal to supply US supermarket giant Wal-Mart with frozen fish. The £230m UK-listed company's seafood division Oceanfresh, which is approved by the Marine Stewardship Council and World Wildlife Fund, will supply hake caught from off the coast of South Africa in a move designed to tap into America's growing demand for sustainable fish, the Daily Express reports.