Amazon Paid £10m Tax On £4.3bn UK Sales

Online retailer Amazon paid a UK corporation tax bill of £10m last year, despite sales in Britain reaching £4.3bn, it has been revealed.

Amazon.co.uk saw a 56% rise in profit to £17m during 2013, along with a 13% rise in UK revenue.

The company reports most of its European profit through a tax-exempt Luxembourg partnership.

Amazon has faced previous criticism for its complex tax structures, through which sales are logged in the European location despite goods being sourced, stored and sold within Britain.

In a statement to Sky News, the company insisted it paid all applicable taxes in jurisdictions that it operates within.

It said: "Amazon EU serves tens of millions of customers and sellers throughout Europe from multiple consumer websites in a number of languages dispatching products to all 28 countries in the EU.

"We have a single European headquarters in Luxembourg with hundreds of employees to manage this complex operation."

Other large multinationals, including Google and Starbucks, have been grilled alongside Amazon by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee.

Amazon.co.uk is funded by its Luxembourg-based affiliates.

Executies from Amazon, Google and Starbucks were grilled by MPs in 2012

The rates of such inter-company remuneration are usually agreed with the UK tax authority, but HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) declined to comment on the tax paid by Amazon.

In 2013, intercompany fees paid to Amazon.co.uk Ltd rose 40% to £449m.

This led to Amazon's current tax bill for 2013 being its biggest ever.

"It's possible Amazon may have come under pressure from HMRC to adjust their inter-company agreements," Prem Sikka, Professor of Accounting at Essex University, told Reuters.

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The Week's Big Business Stories

Yo! Sushi Exploring Sale Options

Updated: 2:25pm UK, Wednesday 07 May 2014

Yo! Sushi's executive chairman Robin Rowland has told Sky News that the restaurant chain has appointed advisors for a sale.

From the four restaurants the Japanese chain had in central London in 2000, Yo! Sushi now has 1,650 members of staff and a total of 75 restaurants internationally.

Newly appointed chief executive, Vanessa Hall, has a mandate of preparing the eatery for a sale of £120m.

She takes over from Robin Rowland, chief executive at the sushi company for 14 years, who has now become executive chairman. He confirmed to Business Live presenter Dharshini David that stockbrokers Canaccord Genuity had been appointed as advisors for the future sale.

If a buyer is found at that price tag, it would mean a significant profit for the restaurant's parent group, Quilvest, which took over Yo! Sushi in 2008 in a £51m acquisition.

Vanessa Hall joined the company in September 2013 as chief operating officer. In her previous role at M&B, she was responsible for over 170 restaurants.

Last year, Yo! Sushi delivered earnings before interest of £9.2m, with like-for-like sales for the year up 4.6%.

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Barclays: 20,000 Job Cuts In 'Break From Past'

Barclays has confirmed around 20,000 job cuts under a new strategy that distances it from the 'casino banking' championed by former boss, Bob Diamond.

The details - as reported by Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman on Wednesday evening - were revealed following a review which aimed to reduce risk in its investment operation and cut excessive costs.

Barclays confirmed 14,000 positions would be axed across the Group during 2014 - around half of them in the UK.

A further 7,000 positions will go in the investment bank up to 2016 - but 2,000 of those losses are included in the 14,000 figure.

Barclays share price has failed to recover from the financial crisis

In addition to the job cuts, the bank's chief executive Antony Jenkins confirmed the creation of Barclays Non-Core - a unit to house "assets which do not fit the strategic objectives" of the group.

Barclays said it would look to run down or exit Risk-Weighted Assets worth £115bn from the new unit.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Jenkins said the job losses were a result of "the world of investment banking" being fundamentally changed due to greater regulation and increased capital requirements.

He told Business Presenter Ian King: "We've got many great components in our investment bank that do fantastic work for our clients but some parts just don't work in the new world and that's really where we're re-focusing the bank away from those parts to the parts that work for our clients."

The bank's update pleased investors - with its share price rising more than 3% when the FTSE 100 opened for business.

Mr Jenkins said: "This is a bold simplification of Barclays. We will be a focused international bank, operating only in areas where we have capability, scale and competitive advantage".

He added that Barclays would become "leaner, stronger, much better balanced and well-positioned to deliver lower volatility, higher returns, and growth".

The bank's actions place Mr Jenkins' personal stamp on the Group - signalling an end to the seemingly limitless ambition placed on the investment operation by his predecessor, Bob Diamond, who quit over the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

Barclays said it now expected 30% of Group profits to be made by the investment bank - down significantly from the average 50% it contributed under Mr Diamond.

Of the £115bn placed in Barclays Non-Core, £90bn of the toxic assets are from the investment bank.

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Scotsman Owner Closes In On £140m Share Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The regional newspaper publisher which owns The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post is closing in on a financial restructuring that could involve raising as much as £140m of new equity.

Sky News understands that Johnston Press was on Thursday close to finalising the terms of a refinancing aimed at providing breathing space for the board of one of the UK's biggest publicly-quoted newspaper groups.

Details of the deal with its lenders were on the verge of being rubber-stamped after months of talks, and insiders said that an announcement could be made as soon as Friday.

The agreement is expected to involve in the region of £140m being raised from a placing of shares and rights issue, as well as an extension of Johnston's debt facilities for several years beyond their existing expiry date of 2015.

Ashley Highfield, the former BBC and Microsoft executive who runs Johnston, is understood to have been pressing for a deal that will resolve the issue of the company's financial security after years of uncertainty about the impact of its £300m debt burden.

Last December, the company, which also owns the Northampton Chronicle, Bognor Regis Observer and Arbroath Herald, said it had reset its financial covenants with its lenders.

In a further statement last month, Johnston said it was examining a share sale, although the £140m figure is significantly higher than analysts' forecasts.

Like other local newspaper publishers, Johnston has seen its business suffer from the impact of catastrophic advertising revenue declines.

Its response, which has included closing underperforming titles and redeploying savings on digital initiatives, has begun to pay off, with underlying operating profit up 2.5% in the year to December 28.

Johnston recently sold its business in Ireland to Iconic Newspapers for just over £7m.

Mr Highfield is understood to have been encouraged by the response of existing and new investors to his plans for the business.

A number of new institutional shareholders are expected to acquire stock as part of the fundraising.

Rothschild, the investment bank, is advising the publisher on the restructuring.

Johnston declined to comment on Thursday.

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Barclays To Axe 20,000 Jobs By End Of 2016

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Barclays will detail plans this morning to cut approximately 20,000 jobs by the end of 2016 as the bank's chief executive steps up his efforts to tackle its bloated cost base.

Sky News can reveal that Barclays intends to axe just under 15,000 jobs this year, up from a 10,000-12,000 range indicated at its full-year results in February.

It is then expected to cut more than 6,000 additional roles at its investment bank during the following two years, meaning that well over a quarter of the division's 24,000 workforce will have been culled by the time the restructuring is completed.

Other cuts are also expected to be outlined.

Antony Jenkins, Barclays' chief executive, will set out the cost-cutting plan in an announcement that will be closely scrutinised by the City for evidence that he can successfully eradicate costs and improve returns to shareholders.

Insiders said that Mr Jenkins' blueprint for the future of Barclays, which will include the creation of a new non-core unit, would firmly distance his strategy from that of his predecessor, Bob Diamond, whose oft-stated ambition was to lead a global universal bank.

Antony Jenkins, Barclays' chief executive

In a memo to staff last month, Mr Jenkins attempted to allay concerns among staff that Barclays was poised to withdraw from investment banking altogether.

"Regulatory developments and the macro-economic environment are having a significant effect on some parts of our business which we need to address proactively and decisively," he wrote.

"The future for Barclays will be as a strong, focused, international bank. And the investment bank will continue to be a part of that mix."

Of the nearly 15,000 jobs that will go this year, about a quarter will come from the investment bank, while Barclays, like other UK lenders, is streamlining its high-street branch network as customers increasingly access banking services online and through mobile devices.

The new non-core unit, or 'bad bank', will echo a similar move by Royal Bank of Scotland last year.

Sky News understands that it will house in the region of £100bn of under-performing assets on Barclays' balance sheet, including its retail businesses in European markets such as Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The boldness of the reorganisation is likely to please City shareholders who have battled the bank's board in recent months amid rising employee bonuses despite last year's profits decline.

Mr Jenkins will also announce changes to the leadership of Barclays' investment bank, with Eric Bommensath, the joint chief executive, moving across to run the new Barclays non-core division, leaving Tom King as the sole head, a source said.

This week's first-quarter results provided further evidence of the need for Barclays' restructuring, with profits at the investment bank being hit by a slowdown in fixed-income markets which has also affected its rivals.

Barclays declined to comment.

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Eurozone Crisis May Be Over As Bond Yields Fall

By Ian King, Business Presenter, Sky News

It seems only yesterday that the eurozone crisis was in full flow.

The borrowing costs of 'peripheral' eurozone countries such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Greece shot to stratospheric levels as bond market investors bet on a possible break-up of the single currency or that some of these countries would be unable to finance their borrowing costs.

The turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.

Yields of Spanish 10-year government bonds, which stood at 7.6% as recently as July 2012, fell below 3% recently – a level not seen since before the financial crisis erupted.

Now yields on Italian 10-year bonds have also fallen to less than 3% for the first time.

Other evidence of a recovery comes in the fact that Greece, not long ago written off as a basket case, last month raised 3bn euros from investors in its first auction of government bonds in four years. Demand was so strong that it could have raised 20bn euros.

So what is happening? Does it signify an end to the eurozone sovereign debt crisis?

Well, up to a point. It is certainly true to say that bond markets are less worried about the ability of eurozone economies to service their debts.

Mario Draghi pledged to keep the eurozone together

And it is also true to say that investors are not as convinced as they were about the prospect of the eurozone breaking up - as shown by the fact that the premium demanded by investors to hold the debt of 'peripheral' eurozone nations such as Spain instead of ultra-safe German government bonds has fallen sharply.

For instance, the premium demanded by investors to hold Spanish 10-year debt is now less than 1.5 percentage points, a level not seen since August 2010.

But what has driven this is not so much an end to the crisis as the fact that, with central banks such as the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England all keeping interest rates at ultra-low levels, investors around the world are desperate for a return on their money.

That has driven them into financial assets, like Spanish and Italian debt, that offer a better return than US Treasuries or German bunds.

The other crucial factor is that some investors are undoubtedly buying in anticipation of further emergency measures by the European Central Bank to stimulate demand.

They remember well the promise in July 2012 of Mario Draghi, the ECB's president, to do "whatever it takes" to keep the eurozone together.

With inflation plummeting across the eurozone - and with some countries, such as Spain, now experiencing outright deflation - they figure that moment may not be far away.

Should the ECB launch an asset purchasing scheme to try and boost demand across the single currency zone, that would obviously create a profit for anyone already owning eurozone sovereign debt.

The danger is that investors may take on too much risk in their desperate hunt for yield - precisely the factor that caused the financial crisis in the first place.

The other is that, while the eurozone crisis may appear to have ended, it has actually transmogrified into another crisis that can be summed up in a single word - deflation.

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Scots Independence: Rest Of UK Firms Want Union

By Niall Paterson, Sky News Correspondent

An overwhelming majority of businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland say that Scotland should remain part of the UK, according to a survey for the British Chambers of Commerce.

The BCC, which itself remains impartial in the debate, surveyed close to 2,500 of its members, and whilst 11% said Scotland should vote yes, some 85% preferred the union to remain.

Two thirds said no new opportunities would arise in the event of a 'Yes' vote, and just over a third, 35%, said a formal currency union, a key ambition of the SNP-led campaign, would be in the best interests of the UK as a whole.

The BCC's director general John Longworth said: "Business opinion across the United Kingdom on the Scottish independence debate is far from unanimous. That's only logical, as businesses have different interests, and different views on our complex history of economic and political union.

"In the event of a 'Yes' vote, cross-border trading and currency arrangements loom large in businesses' thinking. If Scotland votes 'no', constitutional questions remain around the devolution of power and the distribution of public funding between nations."

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond (R) and his deputy Nicola Sturgeon

The poll has been seized upon by those campaigning for a 'No' vote, as with a recent report from credit ratings agency Moody's which said an independent Scotland would find itself downgraded.

Edinburgh South Labour MP and Shadow Business Minister Ian Murray said: "This survey confirms what some of Scotland's largest employers like Standard Life, RBS and Shell have made clear. Breaking up the UK would create huge risks and cost jobs in Scotland.

"The majority of businesses in the rest of the UK do not support a currency union. It would be bad for Scotland and bad for the rest of the UK. That's why it is off the table.

"What people in Scotland need from the nationalists is some honesty about what would replace the pound if we leave the UK. Would we rush to adopt the euro or would we set up a separate Scottish currency? The idea that Scots can go to the polls blind on this fundamental issue isn't credible."

Yet there is hardly unanimity north of the border either - nor an overwhelming sense of fear that cross-border trade would come to a juddering halt.

Many here expect business to continue if not entirely as normal then with significant benefits in the longer term.

Tony Banks, chairman of Business for Scotland, a pro-independence campaign group with close to two thousand members said: "This is a survey that of course doesn't include Scottish businesses who have a rather different perception.

"Scottish independence offers real advantages to everyone, not only in Scotland but across our shared markets in Europe - that independence doesn't equal isolation and businesses here are well aware of the opportunities they can gain.

"Even the Scottish Chambers of Commerce survey issued last week conceded that 53% of its members see the opportunities that independence could bring."

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Holland-Kaye Poised For Nod As Heathrow Boss

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The owner of Heathrow Airport is to announce the appointment of a new chief executive as it prepares for a crucial Government decision about the location of additional runway capacity in southeast England.

Sky News understands that Heathrow Airport Holdings could name John Holland-Kaye as Colin Matthews' successor as soon as this week.

Mr Holland-Kaye, Heathrow's development director, is understood to have been competing against two external candidates, one of whom is based in Asia, during the final stages of the selection process.

His appointment, which required the approval of Heathrow's shareholders, had not yet been rubber-stamped on Tuesday, sources said.

Mr Holland-Kaye has led much of the work on the construction of the airport's new Terminal Two, an important stage in Heathrow's evolution which opens next month.

A former executive at Taylor Wimpey, the housebuilder, he would instantly become one of the UK's most high-profile businesspeople if his appointment as Heathrow's chief executive is confirmed.

Mr Matthews announced in April that he intended to step down after six years, a period in which he repaired some of the earlier damage to Heathrow's reputation for inefficiency and poor customer service.

The airport is part of the company formerly known as BAA, which was taken over by Ferrovial, the Spanish construction giant, in 2006.

Since then, a string of minority stakes in Heathrow have been sold to pension funds such as the Universities Superannuation Scheme and state-backed funds from China, Qatar and others.

Heathrow had long held the mantle of the world's busiest international airport but has been overtaken by Dubai in recent months, fuelling criticism of the Government's approach to the issue of airport capacity.

Ministers will not take a decision about the location of new runways until after next year's general election, with Heathrow shortlisted by Sir Howard Davies, who is overseeing a review of the issue.

A Heathrow spokesman declined to comment.

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Miliband Urges Caution On Pfizer Takeover Bid

AstraZeneca: The Key Statistics

Updated: 11:23am UK, Friday 02 May 2014

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which makes Viagra, has until May 26 to confirm its intentions in what could be Britain's biggest ever takeover. Here are some key statistics and history about AstraZeneca:

:: Pfizer's original bid earlier this year for AstraZeneca valued the company at just under £60bn.

:: Its boosted bid on May 2 valued it at £63bn.

:: AstraZeneca operates in more than 100 countries and employs 51,500 people worldwide.

:: Around 9,000 of its staff work in research and development (R&D).

:: It attracted £15.6bn of annual sales in year ending December 31, 2013, however this was down 24% in two years - from £20.4bn in 2011.

:: Reported operating profits have fallen from £7.8bn to £2.2bn, a fall of 71% over the same period.

:: Key to these falling sales and profits is the loss of exclusivity on some of its blockbuster drugs including Arimidex, Atacand, Crestor, Nexium and Seroquel IR. In 2013, the loss of exclusivity directly reduced revenues by £1.3bn.

:: The group forecast that, with new drugs coming online and its extensive acquisition activity, revenues will be back in line with its 2013 figures by 2017.

:: In the three years to 2013, it has completed more than 150 acquisitions including Pearl Therapeutics and Omthera Pharmaceuticals.

:: In 2013, it bought Amplimmune for £700m to help the group secure future products.

:: Analysts see the group battling to sustain itself in a more competitive industry, where cheaper generics eat into the profits on successful drugs post exclusivity.

:: The R&D cost and difficulty of developing new equivalent blockbuster drugs keeps growing.

:: Pfizer's previous proposal on January 5 included a combination of cash and shares which represented an indicative value of £46.61 per AstraZeneca share.

:: The bid included a substantial premium of approximately 30% to AstraZeneca's closing share price of £35.86 on January 3.

:: AstraZeneca was formed in 1999 when Sweden's Astra - which was formed in 1913 - merged with the UK's Zeneca.

:: Zeneca was created in 1993 following a de-merger from ICI.

:: Pfizer's revenues were $51.6bn (£30.7bn) in 2013.

:: Pfizer employs 78,000 people worldwide including 900 in Britain.

:: It makes Viagra and Chap Stick.

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Animal Testing Campaign Causing Industry Crisis

By Joe Tidy, Sky News Reporter

An international campaign to get airlines to stop transporting monkeys for drugs testing is causing a crisis in the research industry.

Every year more than 2,000 monkeys are flown to Britain to be tested on in over 3,000 procedures for illnesses like Parkinson's and dementia.

High-profile protests backed by celebrities including Chris Packham and Carol Royle have led to only one airline - Air France - willing to fly the animals from breeding farms including those in Mauritius.

The European Animal Research Association says the action has led to "a monopoly" and already pushed the price of research up.

Actress Carol Royle has joined the celebrity-backed campaign

Kirk Leech, from the organisation, says it is a "national embarrassment" that no British airlines are willing to fly the animals and says pressure on Air France is of great concern.

"The pharmaceutical industry is a sensitive one and if you can't get animals into Europe for research then those studies will move to other parts of the world," he said.

"There will be a flight of industry to the east and that will not benefit the European economy or the UK economy, and it certainly won't benefit UK university and other researchers that do this kind of work. An artificial ban on the importation of primates will do nobody any good."

Testing on primates is highly controversial

Testing on primates is a very small part of the animal research carried out in Britain  - less than 1% of the four million procedures involve monkeys - but it is extremely controversial.

Undercover filming at a monkey breeding farm in Mauritius has formed a major part of campaigns to convince airlines to stop transporting the animals.

The National Anti-Vivisection Society filmed monkeys being swung by their tails and tattooed in what they describe as "brutality".

Fleur Dawes, from the charity, said: "We would like to see Air France stop transporting primates altogether. It's completely unnecessary when we have advanced scientific techniques that can provide much better human data."

Researchers argue that biomedical alternatives are not as accurate or effective as primates.

Air France has defended its position

Air France said in a statement: "The transport of live animals is an activity assigned to Air France Cargo. With its wide experience in this field, the company holds an authorisation to transport animals issued by the Ministry of Agriculture certifying that Air France complies with current regulations.

"Meanwhile the company has established strict standards in terms of comfort and well-being to ensure animals optimal conditions of transport.

"Primates travel to private research laboratories as well as public research laboratories. This highly supervised activity is paramount in the development of research and medicine in France and Europe. As such, Air France management has received numerous letters of support from various public or private research institutes."

Today, drugs companies and scientists are meeting at the 2014 Animal Transportation Association Conference to discuss the issue - which is already having major implications on their work.

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Miliband Urges Caution On Pfizer Takeover Bid

AstraZeneca: The Key Statistics

Updated: 11:23am UK, Friday 02 May 2014

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which makes Viagra, has until May 26 to confirm its intentions in what could be Britain's biggest ever takeover. Here are some key statistics and history about AstraZeneca:

:: Pfizer's original bid earlier this year for AstraZeneca valued the company at just under £60bn.

:: Its boosted bid on May 2 valued it at £63bn.

:: AstraZeneca operates in more than 100 countries and employs 51,500 people worldwide.

:: Around 9,000 of its staff work in research and development (R&D).

:: It attracted £15.6bn of annual sales in year ending December 31, 2013, however this was down 24% in two years - from £20.4bn in 2011.

:: Reported operating profits have fallen from £7.8bn to £2.2bn, a fall of 71% over the same period.

:: Key to these falling sales and profits is the loss of exclusivity on some of its blockbuster drugs including Arimidex, Atacand, Crestor, Nexium and Seroquel IR. In 2013, the loss of exclusivity directly reduced revenues by £1.3bn.

:: The group forecast that, with new drugs coming online and its extensive acquisition activity, revenues will be back in line with its 2013 figures by 2017.

:: In the three years to 2013, it has completed more than 150 acquisitions including Pearl Therapeutics and Omthera Pharmaceuticals.

:: In 2013, it bought Amplimmune for £700m to help the group secure future products.

:: Analysts see the group battling to sustain itself in a more competitive industry, where cheaper generics eat into the profits on successful drugs post exclusivity.

:: The R&D cost and difficulty of developing new equivalent blockbuster drugs keeps growing.

:: Pfizer's previous proposal on January 5 included a combination of cash and shares which represented an indicative value of £46.61 per AstraZeneca share.

:: The bid included a substantial premium of approximately 30% to AstraZeneca's closing share price of £35.86 on January 3.

:: AstraZeneca was formed in 1999 when Sweden's Astra - which was formed in 1913 - merged with the UK's Zeneca.

:: Zeneca was created in 1993 following a de-merger from ICI.

:: Pfizer's revenues were $51.6bn (£30.7bn) in 2013.

:: Pfizer employs 78,000 people worldwide including 900 in Britain.

:: It makes Viagra and Chap Stick.

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Animal Testing Campaign Causing Industry Crisis

By Joe Tidy, Sky News Reporter

An international campaign to get airlines to stop transporting monkeys for drugs testing is causing a crisis in the research industry.

Every year more than 2,000 monkeys are flown to Britain to be tested on in over 3,000 procedures for illnesses like Parkinsons and dementia.

High-profile protests backed by celebrities including Chris Packham and Carol Royle have led to only one airline - Air France - willing to fly the animals from breeding farms including those in Mauritius.

The European Animal Research Association says the action has led to "a monopoly" and already pushed the price of research up.

Actress Carol Royle has joined the celebrity-backed campaign

Kirk Leech, from the organisation, says it is a "national embarrassment" that no British airlines are willing to fly the animals and says pressure on Air France is of great concern.

"The pharmaceutical industry is a sensitive one and if you can't get animals into Europe for research then those studies will move to other parts of the world," he said.

"There will be a flight of industry to the east and that will not benefit the European economy or the UK economy and it certainly won't benefit UK university and other researchers that do this kind of work. An artificial ban on the importation of primates will do nobody any good."

Testing on primates is highly controversial

Testing on primates is a very small part of the animal research carried out in Britain  - less than 1% of the 4 million procedures involve monkeys - but it is extremely controversial.

Undercover filming at a monkey breeding farm in Mauritius has formed a major part of campaigns to convince airlines to stop transporting the animals.

The National Ant-Vivisection Society filmed monkeys being swung by their tails and tattooed in what they describe as "brutality".

Fleur Dawes, from the charity, said: "We would like to see Air France stop transporting primates altogether. It's completely unnecessary when we have advanced scientific techniques that can provide much better human data."

Researchers argue that biomedical alternatives are not as accurate or effective as primates.

Air France has defended its position

Air France said in a statement: "The transport of live animals is an activity assigned to Air France Cargo. With its wide experience in this field, the company holds an authorisation to transport animals issued by the Ministry of Agriculture certifying that Air France complies with current regulations.

"Meanwhile the company has established strict standards in terms of comfort and well-being to ensure animals optimal conditions of transport.

"Primates travel to private research laboratories as well as public research laboratories. This highly supervised activity is paramount in the development of research and medicine in France and Europe. As such, Air France management has received numerous letters of support from various public or private research institutes."

Today, drugs companies and scientists are meeting at the 2014 Animal Transportation Association Conference to discuss the issue which is already having major implications on their work.

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Samsung Told To Pay Apple $119m In Patent Row

Samsung has been ordered to pay $119.46m (£70m) in damages to Apple after the South Korean company was found guilty of violating two patents on smartphone features.

In the latest lawsuit involving the two tech giants, a jury in a federal court in San Jose, California, ruled that Samsung had copied key features of the iPhone in creating its own line of smartphones, including universal searching and slide to lock.

But the verdict was a far cry from the $2.2bn Apple sought and the $930m it won in a separate 2012 trial making similar patent infringement claims against Samsung products, most of which are no longer for sale in the US.

In a counter-claim, the jury found that Apple had infringed one of Samsung's patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5.

The jury awarded Samsung $158,400 - a fraction of the $6m sought by Samsung.

Brian Love, assistant professor at Santa Clara University's school of law, said: "Though this verdict is large by normal standards, it is hard to view this outcome as much of a victory for Apple.

"This amount is less than 10% of the amount Apple requested, and probably doesn't surpass by too much the amount Apple spent litigating this case.

"Apple launched this litigation campaign years ago with aspirations of slowing the meteoric rise of Android phone manufacturers. It has so far failed to do so, and this case won't get it any closer."

Apple said the ruling reinforced its stance that "Samsung willfully stole our ideas and copied our products."

Samsung representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The verdict marks the latest intellectual property battle between the world's top two smartphone makers.

For over three years, Apple and Samsung have sued each other in courts and trade offices around the world.

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Ex-Trade Minister Queries Pfizer Bid Pledges

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The trade minister in the last Labour government has questioned the integrity of a pledge by Pfizer to protect British jobs if it acquires AstraZeneca and suggested that a dedicated panel should be established to rule on takeovers of strategically important companies.

Speaking to Sky News, Lord Davies said Pfizer's commitment to locate at least 20% of its research and development workforce in the UK may be little more than a "chocolate promise".

The phrase was a reference to the takeover of Cadbury, the British confectionery group, by Kraft Foods of the US while Lord Davies was minister for trade and investment in 2010.

"Promises often not kept by chief executives are not enough," he said.

"The undertakings made by large corporations have to be legally watertight…One really has to question whether this type of bid should be allowed, when such critical UK research and scientific capability is at risk."

Lord Davies, a respected City figure who now holds seats on the boards of companies including Diageo and Chime Communications, also criticised the Coalition for negotiating directly with Pfizer executives about future jobs and tax commitments.

"My question would be: shouldn't their first port of call be to speak to AstraZeneca, not an international hostile bidder?"

Dozens of important UK-based companies were taken over by foreign rivals during the three Labour administrations which governed between 1997 and 2010.

They included BAA (now Heathrow Airport Holdings), P&O, Scottish Power and Thames Water.

But the former minister said that Pfizer's desire to reap tax benefits from an AstraZeneca takeover raised questions about whether the deal was "more about financial engineering rather than industrial logic".

"Is there a danger that Pfizer makes lots of chocolate promises? Kraft made promises which they did not fulfil, were rebuked, but (there were no consequences)."

Lord Davies said there was already too much "intrusion" into business by governments and that more would be damaging.

However, he added that the UK needed to "reflect on whether certain industries, certain research capability, certain companies, certain clusters are of such national importance that the country should have a view".

He said that one solution could be to establish a small board comprising politicians and business people, who in cases like AstraZeneca would provide their views about the merits of a foreign takeover.

"Either way we must protect ourselves and yet be open. That is the nature of the dilemma.  Leaving it just to the shareholders and boards may not be enough."

On Friday, Sir Roger Carr, the former chairman of Cadbury, who oversaw the takeover by Kraft, told Sky News that management and shareholders should usually be left to decide the fate of takeover bids unless there was a clear national interest and basis for politicians to be involved.

Pfizer's latest offer for AstraZeneca, worth £63bn, was rejected by the British company, which said on Friday that the proposal had "substantially undervalued" it.

Major City shareholders appear to be broadly supportive of the AstraZeneca board's stance, leaving Pfizer with the prospect of raising its bid again or going hostile with its existing offer.

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