Newspaper round-up

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco, HSBC and Tate & Lyle feature in our round-up of Monday's business press.

The Financial Times

CORPORATE INSOLVENCIES RISE AS GOING GETS TOUGH

The 1.8 percent rise in corporate insolvencies in the three months to September from the previous quarter, announced on Friday, could herald a fresh threat to economic growth. According to R3, the association of business recovery professionals, the increase reveals that some companies are beginning to struggle as a result of the credit squeeze. A council member of the trade body, Peter Sargent, said: "The dual elements of personal insolvency and the global credit crunch are having a knock-on effect on business." Insolvencies will rise by five to 10 percent in the last three months of the year, estimates the accountancy firm Grant Thornton.

MINISTERS REJECT PAID LEAVE FOR UNION REPS

The business community breathed a sigh of relief as ministers rejected calls for new laws to force employers to give trade union representatives paid leave for training and other union duties. But employers must wait to see the outcome of the government's decision to re-examine the code of practice that sets guidelines for "time off for trade union duties and activities". The manufacturing employers' organisation EEF warned in evidence to ministers that it would have serious concerns if the government attempted to use the review of the code "as a way of imposing new obligations on employers through the back door".

TESCO OPENS US STORE CAMPAIGN

Tesco (TSCO.L) began the launch of an ambitious foreign venture with the opening late last week of its first US store under its green and white Fresh & Easy banner. The first Fresh & Easy Neighbourhood Market opened in a small city east of Los Angeles; five more will open in Southern California this week, with subsequent openings in Phoenix and Las Vegas. Tesco plans to have 50 US stores opened by the end of the year and will add 200 more by the end of 2008. A report by Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) forecasts that Tesco's sales could reach a billion dollars in three years and win two to six percent of local market share in five years.

STANDARD LIFE ASKS SWISS RE TO CONSIDER STAKE