Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

Last week showed that the M&S riddle - whether the 81,000 person strong outfit will survive - remains unsolved. Over the crucial Christmas trading period sales of general merchandise were down 3.8 per cent ? much worse than the 1.5 per cent fall the market had expected. The nasty numbers were made worse by a communications cock-up. They were due out on Thursday morning but Sky News got hold of them early. On the advice of brokers and lawyers, Bolland decided to rush out the trading statement. The scramble on Wednesday ? there was a conference call for journalists at 8.15pm ? added to the sense of a company that had lost the plot. Now the Dutchman has to suffer a very British ignominy ? being the subject of bookie commentary on when he will get the boot. Despite the gloomy Christmas figures, M&S is not about to join the slaughter on the high street. Nevertheless, the next six months are crucial. Last year Bolland installed new management in general merchandise, and the fruits of their labours ? new clothes collections ? do not arrive until July, The Sunday Times says.Sterling could slide this year as Britain posts its worst balance of payments for more than two decades. The current account deficit has ballooned to £54bn, or 3.5% of GDP, for 2012, figures in the coming weeks are likely to show. Described as "potentially unsustainable" by Ross Walker, economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, this would be the biggest imbalance since 1990, and could put pressure on the pound. Experts say it is highly unusual to run such a large external deficit during a period of economic weakness. The current shortfall, reflecting Britain's deteriorating trade deficit and a sharp drop in income from overseas assets, is "an amber warning light for sterling", said Walker. "A slide in the currency might be welcomed by UK exporters, but would risk bringing an unwelcome surge in import price inflation," The Sunday Times writes.Telecoms giant Vodafone could escape paying at least part - or even all - of a £1.6bn tax bill in India after it emerged that New Delhi is planning to amend the legislation that led to the demand. The Indian government is understood to be preparing a change to its Finance Bill, which commentators believe could result in a waiver of the entire tax bill, or at least to the cancelling of interest and penalty charges. The development comes ahead of David Cameron's visit to India next month to discuss investment ties. The Prime Minister believes that Britain and India are on course to double bilateral trade by 2015, The Financial Mail on Sunday says. The Bank of England's new Governor, Mark Carney, may be forced to explain high inflation to the Chancellor just days after starting his new job, experts have warned. The Bank's Consumer Prices Index benchmark - currently 2.7% - is at risk of climbing above 3% in the summer due to the rising costs of essentials like food, gas and electricity squeezing consumers. The Governor has to write an open letter to George Osborne when CPI moves away from its 2% target by more than 1% in either direction. According to Capital Economics chief UK economist Vicky Redwood: "We see inflation edging above 3% in June or July before falling back again. Carney having to write to the Chancellor straightaway is a possibility," The Independent on Sunday reports.Cable & Wireless Communications has sold its controlling stake in Macau's largest telecoms company for $750m (£465m), in a move that will allow it to focus on its core Caribbean and central American business. China's CITIC Telecom International has agreed to buy the 51% stake from the FTSE 250 telecom company for $749.7m. The complex deal involves CITIC, part of the Chinese state-owned investment company CITIC Group and one of Asia's leading telecoms service providers, also acquiring Portugal Telecom's 28% stake in Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau SARL (CTM), in a total deal worth $1.16bn. On completion of the deals, which are conditional on both going through, CITIC Telecom will own 99% of CTM, as it already holds a 20% stake in the company, according to The Sunday Telegraph.Top bankers have warned George Osborne that any move to push Britain farther from the core of Europe would harm the City. Plans to call for a new deal with Europe risk retaliatory moves against the financial services sector from France and Germany, the chancellor has been told. If trading relations with the EU decline, international banks could be forced to move jobs and businesses to Frankfurt or Paris, damaging Britain's tax base. The London-based head of one international bank said: "You have to be worried, generally, about Britain distancing itself from core Europe and what the ramifications are for the financial services sector." Sir Roger Carr, president of the CBI, the employers' group, said: "Departure would necessitate multiple bilateral agreements, frustrate free trade and damage our export performance in the medium term. Growth in new markets, however rapid, could not compensate for the inevitable decline in European activity." The Sunday Times reports.In an intervention that will cheer Number 10, which has faced attacks for "threatening" Britain's influence in the EU, Lord Wolfson said that although the UK should remain part of the EU it had nothing to fear from being in the "slow lane". The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which represents many smaller firms, also said that EU membership should be renegotiated. "Britain should stay in Europe, but only on the right terms," Lord Wolfson, one of Britain's most highly respected retailers, told The Sunday Telegraph. "There is little to fear from a two-speed Europe, as long as Britain remains in the slow lane. "If other 'core' European countries want to lock themselves into more regulation, less democracy, and greater federalism that's their decision. But we should take courage and resist the temptation to follow the crowd."It is understood that G4S is in the final stages of signing a deal with the organisers of the Games, Locog, following protracted negotiations over the £240m contract. The two sides were said to be initially "miles apart". G4S has already taken a £50m loss against the contract, but it is understood it will have to take a total hit of between £50m and £100m, based on what Locog has signalled it is willing to pay. Confirmation of a settlement is expected imminently. The news comes as The Sunday Telegraph can also reveal that G4S has lost a multi-million pound contract to investigate alleged "war crimes" by British troops in Iraq.A rebel shareholder is plotting a boardroom coup at Exillon Energy, the London-listed oil company, because of alleged corporate governance failings and a slump in the share price. Worldview Capital Management, a Swiss activist investor, has written to Exillon this weekend calling for an extraordinary meeting. It wants to replace the chairman and install three new directors to turn round the struggling group. Exillon, which operates oilfields in Siberia and northern Russia, was a member of the FTSE 250. It lost its place in the index of top public companies after a 60% collapse in the share price over the past 18 months. Worldview claims the drop is a result of an "inappropriate board" that has overseen production setbacks, "misled" investors and waved through questionable payments to the company's founder and largest shareholder, The Sunday Times explains.The shale-gas driller that claims to have found sufficient reserves to last Britain 70 years has launched an auction to attract a big energy group as a partner. Cuadrilla Resources, which is chaired by former BP chief executive Lord Browne, has hired Jefferies, the investment bank, to sell a stake. It is understood that Centrica, the owner of British Gas, as well as Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP are among those considering buying a share of the company or, more likely, its assets, The Sunday Times says. The Office of Fair Trading is studying allegations by independent petrol station owners that oil giants Shell and Esso have engaged in "predatory pricing". The OFT is expected to report within weeks on the state of Britain's £32bn retail fuel market after calling for evidence in September, amid concerns that the market may be unfair to consumers and to independent retailers. In a submission to the OFT, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, the Petroleum Retailers´ Association (PRA) claims that independent retailers, which operate as franchisees of the oil majors, are forced to pay wholesale prices that do not allow them to compete effectively with forecourts owned by the oil giants themselves.AB