Iceland buys 51 Woolworths stores

Frozen food retailer Iceland has bought 51 former Woolworths stores, and said it plans to create 2,500 new jobs.

The announcement comes just three days after the final 200 Woolworths stores closed their doors for the last time.

"We are confident we can help to support the local community in these towns who have lost a major High Street retailer in Woolworths," said Iceland.

Woolworths went into administration in November, but was unable to find a buyer to take on the company.

Previous bid

Iceland first made an offer to buy all of Woolworths' 815 stores last August, but Woolworths rejected the bid, for an unconfirmed amount, calling it "unacceptable".

Around three quarters of the 51 Woolies stores Iceland has bought are in the south of England, including 10 in London.

Iceland currently has 682 outlets.

Founded in 1970, the firm was bought in 2005 by a consortium led by Icelandic investment group Baugur.

Lloyds pays $350m to end US case

UK-based bank Lloyds TSB has agreed to pay a $350m penalty to US authorities over financial transfers that violated US sanctions.

The US Justice Department said Lloyds TSB had acknowledged "criminal conduct" and agreed to forfeit the funds in return for an end to its investigation.

Prosecutors said the bank faked records so clients in Iran, Libya and Sudan could do business with US institutions.

Lloyds TSB said that it had cooperated fully with the probe.

"We are committed to running our business with the highest levels of integrity and regulatory compliance across all of our operations, and have undertaken a range of significant steps to further enhance our compliance programmes," it said in a statement.

Wire transfers

US prosecutors said that the bank's misconduct took place between 1995 and 2007.

"For more than 12 years, Lloyds facilitated the anonymous movement of hundreds of millions of dollars from US-sanctioned nations through our financial system," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said.

According to court documents, Lloyds removed information such as customer names, bank names and addresses so that wire transfers would pass undetected through filters at US banks.

This process - known as stripping - meant that more than $350m (£230m at current exchange rates) that might otherwise have been blocked was processed by US institutions.

Lloyds TSB had agreed to forfeit half the money to the US and half to New York County.

In return, the Justice Department would recommend that charges against the bank be dismissed in two years, it said.

Lloyds said it had set aside £180m last year against a possible settlement - before sterling weakened against the US dollar - and it did "not anticipate any further enforcement actions".

The US prohibits certain countries, institutions and individuals from accessing the US banking system, based on its foreign policy and national security goals.

It lifted sanctions on Libya in 2004, but measures remain in place against Iran and Sudan.

Accord signed in Russia gas row

Russian, Ukrainian and European Union officials have signed a deal which should pave the way for the re-opening of gas supplies to Europe.

The deal was signed by Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko, Russian PM Vladimir Putin and Czech PM Mirek Topolanek.

The deal is aimed at enabling a resumption of Russian gas deliveries to European countries through Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands of European homes have no heating after gas shipments via Ukraine were halted on Wednesday.

Although both Ukraine and Russia had guaranteed that transit routes to Europe would be unaffected, mutual accusations between Kiev and Moscow resulted in supplies being cut.

Mr Topolanek, who has been in Ukraine for talks with Ms Tymoshenko, said the signing of the deal cleared the way for the resumption of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe.

"Nothing prevents Russia now from resuming gas supplies," he said.

'Calming Russian fears'

The Russian deal followed five hours of talks between Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and officials from the European Union.

Under the deal, EU, Ukrainian and Russian observers will monitor supplies, in order to calm Russian fears that Ukraine is siphoning off gas for its own use. Ukraine has denied this allegation.

After signing the deal, Ms Tymoshenko said Ukraine's agreement signified its "goodwill" and role as an "honest transit country", the Associated Press reported.

Mr Putin is quoted on Interfax, the Russian news agency, as saying that the "transit of gas through Ukraine will start again as soon as the (transit) control mechanism starts to work".

EU monitors are in Kiev and are expected to head to the pumping and measuring stations on Ukraine's eastern and western borders early on Sunday, a spokesman for Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state energy company, told the BBC.

If things go to plan and once those monitors are in place, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Kiev, Russia should turn on the taps.

Ukraine and Russia's bitter contractual dispute over gas prices and transit fees has affected several countries which are unlikely to have supply resumed before Monday at the earliest, despite the signing of this deal.

Normal service in affected countries such as Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Serbia will be delayed as it takes around 36 hours from the moment of turning on the taps for the gas to reach consumers, our correspondent adds.

Spanish industrial output plunges

Spanish industrial output fell by 15.1% in November, compared with the same month one year ago, the biggest fall on record and a sign of a deep recession.

Analysts had expected output in factories and mines to drop by 11%.

On Thursday, figures revealed that the country's unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in 2008 of 3 million.

Retail sales across the 15 nations that share the euro rose unexpectedly in November, defying the gloom that pervades the eurozone economy.

Manufacturing blow

Spain, which has enjoyed 14 years of consecutive growth, is expected to enter a recession in the fourth quarter. GDP growth fell 0.2% in the third quarter and analysts forecast a 0.8% drop for the fourth quarter.

The country has been particularly hard hit by the slowdown, partly because of the weakness in the construction sector.

The figures indicate that the problem is not just in the construction sector, but also in manufacturing.

The biggest fall in output was in durable goods like household appliances, which tumbled 23.9%. Consumer goods fell 9.4%.

This latest data reinforces expectations of an early cut in eurozone interest rates.

The European Central Bank is to meet next week to decide on the future level of rates and will be faced with a barrage of data indicating a worsening slowdown in the eurozone.

"The fourth quarter does look very, very bad. There has been a substantial contraction in all activity, not just in industry, but what we've seen this morning is this is not just a Spanish, but a pan-European story," said Juergen Michels of Citigroup.

"The difference for Spain is that the problem is exacerbated by its own internal problems of its housing market and a lack of competitiveness," he added.

Retail sales

Separately, retail sales across the eurozone in November rose 0.6% from October and fell 1.5% from a year earlier. Both figures were better than expected.

Europe's biggest economies did better than the average.

Retail sales in France, the eurozone's second-biggest economy, were up 1.8% month on month and 1.6% on the year.

Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, registered rises of 0.7% and 0.3% respectively.

Food and drink sales rose 0.5% on the month and fell 1.3% on the year.

But analysts said the outlook remained bleak.

"Monthly data can be volatile. It's way too early to talk about signs of a turnaround with unemployment only recently surging higher. The outlook is both bleak for production and household sides in Europe once unemployment continues to rise much higher and we have only just seen that starting in Germany," said Matthew Sharratt of Bank of America.

"It makes no overall change to the outlook. It will probably lead to a 50 basis point cut by the ECB next week but signs on the retail side that it's not all one way count against the hope they could do more than 50 basis points," he added.

Eurozone interest rates are currently 2.5%.

Govt cracks down on tainted Satyam and disbands board

Cracking down on scandal-ridden Satyam, the Government tonight disbanded the IT Company’s Board, cancelled its meeting on Saturday and announced that it will soon nominate 10 new directors.

The high-profile Board, which was to meet in Hyderabad on Saturday to discuss the crisis that have engulfed the company and its over 50,000 employees, had virtually disintegrated in recent days in the wake of the Rs 7,800 crore fraud.



Founder B Ramalinga Raju, who has been summoned by market regulator SEBI on Saturday, had resigned as Chairman after disclosing staggering financial fraud.



Five other directors had also resigned leaving the strength only at three.



Announcing the decision, Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said "The current board ceases to exist and there would not be any meeting tomorrow... the new board will meet in the next seven days."



Government's decisive action came nearly 60 hours after the startling disclosure by Raju, presumed to have strong political friends, that put the company and its over 50,000 employees fate in limbo.



While the apex IT industry association NASSCOM welcomed the government move, Satyam spokesperson said "we have not heard from the government officially (about the disbanding of the Board and nominating new directors). The interim management is in place as of now." SEBI also tightened its noose around Raju, whose whereabouts were still a subject matter of speculation for the last three days.



His lawyer S Bharat Kumar said Raju would appear at 1600 hours on Saturday before the investigating team dispatched by regulator to Hyderabad on Thursday.



Meanwhile, there was panic among employees caused by rumours relating to salaries and downsizing, but the spokesperson said that there was no such move.



Perturbed over the seriousness of the Satyam scandal, the market regulator SEBI also announced a probe into the accounts of 30 Sensex companies, which include Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and a host of IT firms.



The investigation would also cover 50 Nifty companies as well as some companies out of two indices.



Meanwhile, investors at domestic bourses continued to sell shares of Satyam, which plunged by over 40 per cent after dropping by close to 80 per cent on Wednesday.



Trading in the company's shares in the US and Amsterdam remained halted for the third day in a row, after the stock lost over 90 per cent to plunge below one-dollar level in pre- market trade on Wednesday.



Charging the company, as well as Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju for duping investors of billions of dollars, a third class action lawsuit was also filed in the US courts on Friday.



In Hyderabad, a team of Serious Fraud Investigation Office and Hyderabad Registrar of Companies (RoC) searched the Satyam headquarters.



Gupta said that the new board would decide on the new management for Satyam Computer and there was no decision to take over the management as yet.



He also said that the IT firm's auditors PwC, if found guilty, would be banned in the country. "The government has decided to approach the Company Law Board to ensure that the operations of the company continue uninterrupted," Gupta said, adding that the current board has failed in what it was supposed to do.



The government had approached the CLB, which has allowed it to restrain the current board members from functioning as the directors at the company.

BMW sales down but Mini sales up

BMW sales fell 4.3% in 2008 to 1.4 million, as falling demand for BMW-branded vehicles offset improved sales of its Mini and Rolls-Royce brands.

BMW said December was "marked by consumer reticence", with group sales falling by 26.4%, compared with the same month of 2007 of 112,423 vehicles.

Sales of the Rolls-Royce marque rose to 1,212 in 2008 from 1,010 in 2007.

The Mini brand also had a year of growth, with 2008 sales of 232,425, up 4.3% from the previous year.

"Overall we performed comparatively well with a 4.3% decrease," said marketing director Ian Robertson at BMW.

On Thursday, its rival Daimler, which makes Mercedes-Benz cars, reported a fall of sales of 2.8% in 2008 to 1.26 million.

The French carmaker Renault said on Friday that its sales had fallen 4.2% in 2008 but added that sales for the whole industry had been down by 4.8%.

US carmakers and manufacturers that make a high proportion of their sales in the US have been hit particularly hard by the downturn.

Raju and his brother to be produced before court today

Disgraced former Satyam Computer Chairman B Ramalinga Raju and his brother and former director Rama Raju will be produced before a court on Saturday in Hyderabad.

Earlier, Raju dramatically surrendered before the police in Hyderabad on Friday.



Raju surrendered before the Director General of Andhra Pradesh Police S S P Yadav.



In his letter to the Board Raju had said he will surrender to the laws of the land.



He may face a seven year jail term and a hefty fine too.