Financial Times KING BIDS TO REIN IN BUDGET SPENDING Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, has warned that the government could not afford a second fiscal stimulus in next month's budget in a rare public attempt to ward off budgetary recklessness. King's concerns are likely to be welcomed at the Treasury and were echoed in Brussels, where the European Commission gave Britain until 2013-14 to bring the budget deficit back below three percent of national income. The announcements will limit Gordon Brown's room for manoeuvre ahead of next week's G20 summit in London. COMPANIES FACE BRIBERY CRACKDOWN Companies that ignore bribery overseas may face the threat or prosecution under Ministry of Justice proposals to tackle corporate graft. The planned law could leave companies convicted of bribery open to exclusion from lucrative international public works contracts and widen the scope of businesses' responsibilities for staff and agents operating in corrupt countries. Whitehall sources say the proposals would mean companies could not just be prosecuted for being actively corrupt but for negligently failing to prevent it. Corruption campaigners are likely to welcome the proposal to tighten the law. LENDING FOR NEW MORTGAGES SHOWS RISE TO 10-MONTH HIGH The British Bankers' Association has reported that new mortgage lending jumped to its highest level in 10 months in February, in the latest sign that the housing market may be stabilising. However mortgage approvals remain barely above the record lows of last autumn -- still 31 percent lower than in February 2008 and nearly two-thirds lower than the peak levels of lending at the end of 2006. Ben Broadbent, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said the data were encouraging for the economy, but that they were not enough to mark a turnaround. GSK PLEDGES TO PUBLICISE CLINICAL TRIAL FINDINGS In its latest corporate social responsibility report, the pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline<GSK.L> has promised to make public the findings and details of all clinical trials within 18 months of their completion. The company has previously been accused by research funders and publishers of academic journals of concealing sensitive and defamatory information about its medicines. In addition, GSK said that by the time of next year's report, it would provide a full list of advisory fees that it pays to each healthcare professional it supports in Europe and the U.S. BANKING CRISIS HELPS EVOLUTION TO BUILD ITS TRADING DESK The current economic downturn has allowed Evolution Securities, part of the Evolution Group <EVG.L>, to build a fixed-income trading desk from scratch in five months. The London-based broker has hired 23 agency traders and sales people to work under Guy Cornelius, who previously managed relationships with big institutional clients at Lehman Brothers prior to the bank's collapse last September. The new team, which matches buyers and sellers without taking trading positions itself, has processed securities worth 3.75 billion pounds ($5.50 billion) so far this year. LLOYDS SANGUINE ON FINANCIAL CLAIMS The Lloyd's of London insurance market has reported a fall in pre-tax profits from 3.85 billion pounds in 2007 to 1.9 billion pounds in 2008 after recording the third worst year of claims for the insurance industry in the past 15 years. Lloyd's played down its exposure to claims arising from the financial crisis as hurricane losses and lower investment were attributed to the fall in profits. Chief executive Richard Ward said Lloyd's was still receiving notifications of potential claims relating to the financial crisis but there was not a "significant shift" from the 200 notifications received in September 2008. EMI'S HIGH-PROFILE DIGITAL CHIEF DEPARTS The former ex-Google executive Douglas Merrill has resigned from his post as head of EMI Music's digital division after less than a year. When Merrill was appointed to the position in April 2008 it was seen as a major achievement for EMI, which has so far failed to build a cohesive digital strategy amid falling CD sales and online piracy. Merrill left just a week after the man who brought him in, Guy Hands, relinquished control of EMI's parent company Terra Firma Capital Partners. JESSOPS PLEDGES TO HONOUR ITS BILL DESPITE FALLING SALES The camera retailer Jessops <JSP.L> has responded to speculation that a poor sales performance will leave it unable to pay its quarterly rent. The company insisted that it would be able to pay its landlords and was in the process of renegotiating its debts. The business also gave an optimistic trading statement which claimed that sales had only declined by one percent in the seven weeks to March 15, as opposed to 4.1 percent in the 17 weeks to January 25. SMITHS AND MENZIES IN MAIL DELIVERY DEAL Associated Newspapers and the magazine group Comag have awarded five-year contracts to the distribution companies Menzies <MNZS.L> and Smiths <SNWS.L> to supply the Mail group of newspapers and various magazines across Britain from 2010. Menzies will distribute the titles across Scotland and parts of northern England, with Smiths taking most of England and Wales. The share prices of both Smiths and Menzies rose dramatically by 18 and 27 percent respectively, but the smaller distributor Dawson <DWN.L> fell by a third in reaction to the news. SPORTECH DEFENDS POOLS COLLECTION GOAL FOR OLDER PLAYERS Ian Penrose, chief executive of Sportech <ROD.L>, has stated that the company will continue to invest in its collector football pools service for its older customers despite the continuing decline in player numbers from this age group. Around a quarter of the business' customer base have their pools collected by 7,500 employees every week. "That channel will reduce, but reduce at the lowest rate ever, through our efforts to strengthen the business," said Penrose. The appearance of a younger generation of players has reversed the decline in business, although the group's pre-tax profit fell from 11.6 million pounds to 7.1 million pounds thanks to a 6.7 million pound charge for the merger of the Vernons and Littlewoods businesses. Prepared for Reuters by Durrants ($1=.6822 Pound)
