PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Aug 25

IOD WARNS BROWN ON LEVEL OF COMPANY TAXATION

Miles Templeman, the director-general of the Institute of Directors, has criticised Gordon Brown's first months as Prime Minister in an interview with the Financial Times, saying that, in the last five years, the Labour Party "has not really embraced the business agenda thoroughly enough". The IoD and other business organisations are concerned that Brown will cast business as the 'fall guy' if economic pressures force him to put taxes up this autumn. The CBI has made tax the theme of the fringe meetings it is sponsoring at party conferences in September.

GOVERNMENT STICKS WITH EDF AS PREFERRED BRITISH ENERGY BUYER

Energy minister Malcolm Wicks has told the Financial Times that French energy major EDF (EDF.PA) is still the government's preferred buyer for nuclear power group British Energy BGY.L, despite EDF's failure to agree terms for a deal at the end of last month. Centrica (CNA.L) is still hoping to merge with British Energy, with EDF helping to build and run new power stations. This is also the outcome favoured by Invesco IVZ.L, British Energy's biggest institutional investor. The government, however, which owns more than a third of BE, values EDF's expertise in nuclear power.

INQUIRIES ON HOW TO SACK STAFF SOAR

Lawphone, the legal advice helpline operated by insurer Allianz, is among groups reporting a record number of inquiries on how to sack staff, with such calls making up over a third of the total for August. The figure for the same time last year was less than three percent. Law firm Travers Smith has also seen a significant increase in the number of such inquiries. Lawyers have warned that small and medium-sized employers who lack experience of recession risk falling foul of employment laws if they do not follow the correct procedures.

MORE MANUFACTURERS BASK IN A GREEN LIGHT

A growing number of food groups are looking to cut costs at the same time as making their facilities more environmentally-friendly. In addition to Wiseman's latest dairy, Diageo (DGE.L) has announced a 65 million pound investment, pending planning permission, in a bioenergy facility at its distillery in Fife which will use captured methane for power, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 56,000 tonnes a year. Tate & Lyle (TATE.L) has spent 20 million pounds on a biomass boiler at its east London cane sugar refinery, reducing the carbon footprint of the sugar produced by 25 percent.