Sunday Round-Up: The main stories from yesterday's papers

Sunday Express

Support is growing for a campaign to try to rescue the UK's ailing shipping industry.

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The Sunday Telegraph

Prudential Corporation is doubling its commitment to venture capital to pounds 500m, reflecting a broader move by institutions towards investing in smaller companies as the UK pulls away from recession.

The Bank of England is likely to delay another reduction in base rates until the New Year. Barring an unexpected Bundesbank cut, there is little real economic pressure for immediate action on UK rates while a reduction after Christmas would boost sentiment ahead of the impending tax increases.

Kleinwort Benson, the merchant bank, is tightening staff share dealing rules. Corporate financiers will be banned from dealing in the shares of their clients.

A big write-down on the value of the Ritz, one of London's top hotels, could be the centrepiece of losses expected to be announced this week by Trafalgar House.

Keller, the underground engineering company, is planning a pounds 60m stock market flotation in the spring.

The Mail on Sunday

Gerry Robinson, chief executive of Granada, has just been awarded a 20 per cent pay rise, increasing his basic annual salary by pounds 75,000 to pounds 450,000.

Privatisation of British Rail's passenger services is in danger of coming to a standstill.

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The Sunday Times

A triple alliance with Yorkshire- Tyne Tees and Anglia Television is being considered by LWT as a way of defending itself against the hostile pounds 610m takeover bid from Granada.

Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of LWT, is believed to be planning a full-scale bid for the Yorkshire station and striking an alliance with Anglia.

Benetton, the Italian clothing company, is said to be considering buying Aston Martin, maker of the legendary DB5 sports car, from Ford.

Inflation figures on Wednesday should provide the Government with an opportunity to cut base rates. The price war among the supermarket groups should help to push down the inflation rate.

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The Observer

LWT is believed to be close to forming an alliance with Yorkshire- Tyne Tees, in which it already holds a 14 per cent stake, to beat off Granada's takeover bid.

The National Council of Building Material Producers is set to forecast a sharp decline in the building industry's workloads for next year.

McDonnell Information Systems, the software supplier bought out by management from the McDonnell Douglas aerospace group, will float on the stock market in the spring.

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Independent on Sunday

The tax affairs of Allied Dunbar, the life insurance business owned by BAT, are being investigated by the Inland Revenue. Allied confirmed the investigation.

KPMG Peat Marwick, the chartered accountancy firm hired by Allied to prepare a report for the Revenue, said the tax authorities were primarily interested in 'technical' issues.

One issue concerned the dividing line between employed and self- employed sales staff.

Resolution Trust Corp, the US federal agency trying to unravel the mess from the 1989 collapse of the savings and loans industry, has started civil proceedings against 19 defendants in Arizona.

The action concerns Pima Savings & Loan, bought by Heron in 1980. Gerald Ronson, founder of Heron, and Hugh Jenkins, Britain's top fund manager who works for Prudential, are named in the writ.

European Leisure is facing a fight with preference shareholders to have its restructuring proposals voted through. The revolt is being fronted by Henk van Heyst, a director of the Dutch-based Van Heyst Investments, who holds 11 per cent of the preference stock.

Intel, the maker of silicon chips, is ready to announce several moves to combat big-league crime in the computer world. Putting codes on chips is thought to be one of the defensive steps.

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