Catch up with all the big stories from the weekend.
The Observer
Britain’s housing market is close to a ‘turning point’ as the boost from last summer’s rate wears off and high prices begin to bite, the Nationwide warns. Fionnula Earley, the building society’s chief economist, said that the decision to raise the stamp duty threshold by £5,000 to £125,000 would make little difference to home-buyers.
The billionaire Reuben brothers have loaned millions of pounds to Multiplex, the troubled Australian construction company that is building the new Wembley stadium. The loan will concern both the Football Association and investors in the quoted firm who fear the building giant may be in financial difficulty.
The Mail on Sunday
A major anti-tax dodging offensive, expected to net nearly £2bn for the Exchequer during the next three years, will follow hard on the heels of the budget. Gordon Brown is looking for £1.7bn by the end of the financial year of 2008-09 through a clampdown on VAT fraud, capital gains allowance and complex schemes using financial products to avoid tax on salaries.
The consortium led by former BBC director-general Greg Dyke, whose offer for ITV was rejected last week, plans to raise its bid. A new approach is likely to involve putting up more capital or leaving shareholders with more equity or both.
Sunday Telegraph
The government is expected to give the green light to the sell-off of the British Nuclear Group, the clean-up arm of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, is expected to announce the decision in Parliament this week.
Elevation Partners, the private equity company whose partners include U2’s Bono, is thought to be a front runner in a multi-million pound deal to buy a stake in Nirvana’s back catalogue. The publishing rights to the group’s songs are currently owned by Courtney Love, singer Kurt Cobain’s widow.
The Sunday Times
The soaring stock market and the boom in mergers and acquisitions has pushed the number of City jobs to record levels, new figures show. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) says that the number of City type jobs in financial and professional services, rose to 327,600 last year up 11,600 on the previous year.
Doug Richard, the American software entrepreneur best known for his Dragon’s Den TV programme, is set to take a big bite out of mobile phone company profits with the launch of Hotxt. The service will allow users unlimited texting for £1 per week, which is likely to attract many young users.
The Business
Surging public-sector inflation and tumbling productivity in the government sectors is costing the UK economy at least £56bn in wasted resources, the Office for National Statistics has warned. The figures also show that two-thirds of the extra health spending has been cobbled up by higher costs and wages.
US giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil have made a discovery that could hold more than a billion barrels worth of oil and gas. The find promises to be one of the largest discoveries this year, potentially opening up a new province on the shore of the West African island state of Sao Tome and Principe.