Thursday newspaper round-up: Honours list, house prices, JD Wetherspoon

31st Dec 2009 08:15

A lone banker features in a new year honours list on Thursday that largely shuns the City and politicians, in favour of "local heroes" and other less contentious recipients of awards, the FT reports.The CBE for Dyfrig John, who retired as chief executive of HSBC Bank in March, is the only high-profile gong for a sector still seen as politically toxic. Executives from banks that needed multi-billion pound taxpayer bail-outs are notable by their absence from the list. One high-profile business recipient is Richard Lapthorne, chairman of Cable and Wireless, who receives a knighthood for services to telecommunications. This comes in spite of shareholder protests about C&W's private equity-style remuneration scheme, which is supposed to underpin the turnround of the company's UK business.House prices rose for the eighth consecutive month in December and are now almost 6% higher than a year ago, according to Nationwide, the building society, which warned that the market remains uncertain.Prices rose by 0.4% in the final month of the year, bringing the average house price across the UK to £162,103. Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "Few could have foreseen this development at the start of the year, when the near-term price trend was still pointing to a repeat of the double-digit annual decline experienced in 2008, the Times reports.JD Wetherspoon, the pub operator known for its cheap beer and value meals, is understood to be in advanced talks to acquire 12 late-night venues from 3D Entertainment (3DE), the Chicago Rock Café owner, for about £4.3 m. The group, which already runs 740 pubs, including seven acquired from 3DE in September, is tipped to exchange contracts on the outlets, a mixture of Chicago Rocks and nightclubs, early in the new year. It is paying a multiple of three times earnings, the Times reports.D2 Jeans, the fashion chain set up by Sir Tom Hunter, became the first post-Christmas retail casualty when it collapsed into administration. The failure of the fashion retailer, which was bought out by its management team in January 2008, threatens nearly 800 jobs. All the company's 76 stores in Britain will remain open while BDO, the administrator, tries to find a buyer, the Times reports.UC Rusal, the aluminium group controlled by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire, is planning to raise up to $2.6bn in its Hong Kong initial public offering next month. The Russian company will sell 1.61bn shares at HK$9.10 to HK$12.50 each, according to its 1,141-page listing prospectus, as it seeks to funds to repay $14.9bn of debt, the FT reports.Bank loans and the M3 money supply in the eurozone contracted at an accelerating pace in November, raising the risk that a lending squeeze will choke the region's fragile recovery next year. The European Central Bank said that loans to companies fell by a record 1.9% from a year earlier. The broad M3 money supply - watched closely as a leading indicator for the economy a year ahead - fell by 0.2% and has now been shrinking for several months, the Telegraph reports.Gross domestic product (GDP) per person in Britain is now lower than it was at the time of the last general election as the recession saps the nation's prosperity, Oxford Economics has claimed. The economic advisory group said that in 2009, UK GDP per capita was estimated at an average of £22,700, 1.3% lower than the, at today's prices, £23,000 average in 2005. The fall reflected the decline in economic prosperity and living standards wrought by the recession, a report by the group said, the Telegraph reports.The administrator to Threshers owner, First Quench Retailing (FQR), has sold less than a tenth of the off-licence group's 1,200 stores more than two months after it collapsed into administration, as a lack of financing continues to stymie potential buyers. The news came as the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) made a fresh demand for banks to open their purse strings and start lending to companies generally. It said the consequences would otherwise be high streets further dominated by empty storefronts, charity and pound shops, the Independent reports.