Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 07 Februari 2015 | 11.46
Poundland has agreed a £55m takeover of discount rival 99p Stores, subject to clearance by competition authorities.
Poundland, which has previously expressed an ambition to double its UK and Ireland network of more than 500 stores, said the deal comprised a cash consideration of £47.5m and the issue of new Poundland Shares with a value of £7.5m.
The company's statement said: "Poundland believes that the combination of the two businesses will provide better choice, value and service for 99p Stores' customers."
However, it was confirmed that 99p shoppers would have to pay a bit more for each item under Poundland's plans.
Its chief executive Jim McCarthy said paying an extra 1p for goods at the expanded Poundland chain, where everything costs £1, would not be a problem for customers.
He argued the quality of his offering "more than compensates" and he pointed to the prospect of shorter till queues too as fewer people required change.
It planned to take ownership of all 251 stores trading as 99p Stores or Family Bargains, as well the group's warehouse and distribution centre, which would all be rebranded under the Poundland name over time.
But Poundland said the acquisition was conditional on the approval of the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), which had already held preliminary talks with both parties.
The statement added: "The CMA may require Poundland to take actions or give remedies to address any impact on competition arising as a result of the proposed transaction.
"The CMA will commence its public consultation and review process shortly and this process is expected to take at least two months.
"The proposed transaction is conditional on an outcome of this CMA process that is acceptable to Poundland and to the CMA."
Poundland opened its first store in 1990 and its growth has formed part of the changing face of the high street since the collapse of Woolworth's in 2008 and the financial crisis.
99p Stores was founded by Nadir Lalani with a single site in Holloway, north London, in 2001.
The discount sector has become somewhat squeezed given the rise in recent years of supermarket chains such as Aldi and Lidl, where consumers can also complete a food shop.
99p Stores had recently expanded its offering to include more food products, including baked goods.
He has grown accustomed to telling amateur cooks how to prepare steaks, but the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver now has a very different kind of stake in mind.
Sky News can reveal that Mr Oliver, the self-styled Naked Chef, has drafted in investment bankers to offload a chunk of his media and publishing business.
The appointment of Raine, a New York-based merchant bank, is expected to lead to Jamie Oliver Group raising up to £50m from the sale of a minority interest in the unit.
Bidders are expected to include private equity firms, media groups and wealthy individuals from around the world, with a formal auction likely to underline the chef's continuing international appeal.
In a statement issued to Sky News, a spokesman for Jamie Oliver Group said: "Like any well run private company, we regularly review our funding policy and requirements.
"All options, including bringing on board an external investor, are considered in order to position the group to take best advantage of the clear market opportunities that lie ahead."
Insiders said that Raine's work would not include Mr Oliver's fast-growing restaurant business, which includes the Jamie's Italian chain of outlets across the UK.
His media interests have also seen rapid expansion, although they endured a blip in 2013, according to accounts filed at Companies House.
Pre-tax profit at the parent company Jamie Oliver Holdings, which houses his publishing interests and his TV production company Fresh One Productions, fell to £6.2m from £9.8m in 2012 after exceptional items.
Turnover was 7.1% lower than the year before at £32.8m, according to the accounts.
Figures for 2014 are not yet publicly available.
Mr Oliver is worth £240m, according to last year's Sunday Times Rich List, and the sale of a stake in his media business is expected to fuel further international expansion.
The chef has created an online video venture called FoodTube, which now has more than 1m subscribers.
A former face of J Sainsbury's advertising campaigns, he has also worked to improve standards of school food and now employs more than 8000 people across his various businesses.
Written By Unknown on Jumat, 06 Februari 2015 | 11.46
BT has agreed to buy mobile operator EE in a cash and shares deal worth £12.5bn, the company has revealed.
The group announced in December it was in talks to buy Britain's largest mobile operator and the deal, which will be partly financed with a £1bn share issue, will now create the UK's leading communications provider.
EE's current owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange will hold stakes of 12% and 4% in BT, with Deutsche getting a seat on the board.
Gavin Patterson, BT chief executive, said: "This is a major milestone for BT as it will allow us to accelerate our mobility plans and increase our investment in them.
"The UK's leading 4G network will now dovetail with the UK's biggest fibre network, helping to create the leading converged communications provider in the UK."
Video:30 Years Since First Mobile Call
The deal is subject to approval by shareholders and the Competition and Markets Authority. It is expected it could be completed by the end of the financial year ending in March 2016.
BT said it plans to sell a full range of its services to the combined customer base, including broadband, fixed line and pay-TV services to EE customers who do not currently use those services.
Mr Patterson added: "This is a very exciting time and a new chapter for BT."
EE has 24.5 million direct mobile customers, but faces competition from Hutchison Whampoa, owner of rival Three, which is in talks to buy the number two mobile operator O2.
EE chief executive Olaf Swantee said: "In the last few years alone, we have built the UK's biggest, fastest and best 4G network, significantly advancing the digital communications infrastructure for people and businesses across Britain.
"Today's announcement will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of the mobile revolution, bringing even more innovation and investment in world leading connectivity for our customers."
Greece's access to vital loans has been squeezed after the European Central Bank (ECB) stopped accepting the government's bonds as collateral.
The ECB had been accepting the junk-rated bonds, but in a statement said it was changing its mind because of uncertainty over Greece's bailout commitments.
The country's new leaders are currently jetting around Europe trying to renegotiate their €240bn (£180bn) bailout package and ease austerity obligations.
Greece's prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, wants to change the terms of the existing arrangement, which expires at the end of the month.
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis meeting George Osborne
The ECB move turns the screw on Greece to quickly reach a new deal, but a statement from the country's finance ministry tried to deflect the pressure.
"By reaching and announcing this decision, the European Central Bank is exerting pressure on the Eurogroup to swiftly pursue a new and mutually beneficial agreement between Greece and its partners."
Video:A Guide To Greece's Economic Woes
According to the AFP agency, a government source added: "The Greek republic does not intend to blackmail anyone but will not be blackmailed either."
The bond decision comes as Greece's finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, holds key talks in Berlin with German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Germany is seen as the strongest opponent of easing Greek debt and wants the country to stick to the existing agreement.
Austerity measures, imposed in exchange for the bailout loans, have seen the Greek economy shrink by a quarter and unemployment rise to over 25%.
The government is being pressured to sell off ports, airports and other assets to pay back what it owes.
Video:What Is Greece's Future In Europe?
Prime Minister Tsipras said he was "very optimistic" of easing the country's financial burden after talks in Brussels earlier this week.
Mr Tsipras, whose left-wing party swept to power last month, met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and said he was hopeful of "a viable agreement".
If a new deal cannot be hammered out Greece could default on its debt and crash out of the euro currency union.
Written By Unknown on Kamis, 05 Februari 2015 | 11.46
Greece's prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has said he is "very optimistic" of finding agreement over easing his country's debt burden after meeting EU chiefs in Brussels.
Mr Tsipras met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as he attempts to renegotiate Greece's €240bn (£180bn) bailout package and ease austerity obligations.
"I'm very optimistic after these discussions that we are in a good way," he said.
"We don't have already an agreement but we are in a good direction to find a viable agreement."
The left-wing government is aiming to end its existing arrangement with the EU, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund when its aid deadline expires on 28 February.
Until now, it has avoided those institutions, choosing to go direct to European governments, including meeting UK Chancellor George Osborne on Monday.
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis meeting George Osborne
Mr Tsipras also held talks with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Parliament President Martin Schulz during his Brussels visit.
He now heads to France to meet French President Francois Hollande.
Video:A Guide To Greece's Economic Woes
Commission chief Mr Juncker has said the EU will show flexibility over Greece's obligations but has ruled out major changes to the bail-out terms.
The EU will "adapt a certain number of our policies but we are not going to change everything," he said on the eve of the meeting.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is also continuing his own push for debt concessions as he jets around the continent.
He met European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt in what he called a "very fruitful discussion".
"I had the opportunity to present to him our government's utter and unwavering determination that it can't possibly be business as usual in Greece," said Mr Varoufakis.
Video:What Is Greece's Future In Europe?
The stringent bailout measures had contributed to "a major humanitarian crisis" in his country, said the finance minister.
Sky News Economics Editor Ed Conway said the meeting was vital as the ECB was effectively providing "life support" for Greece's banking system.
"It is providing emergency liquidity assistance for a number of Greek banks," said Conway.
"If the ECB decided to withdraw that ... it would be disastrous for the Greek economy. It's essential for Greece's finance minister that he keeps that support."
Greece's austerity measures, imposed in exchange for the bailout loans, have seen its economy shrink by a quarter and unemployment rise to over 25%.
Proposals favoured by the Home Secretary to fold the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into a wider crime-fighting agency could jeopardise high-profile inquiries into companies such as Barclays and Tesco, its head has warned.
In his first television interview since taking on the post nearly three years ago, SFO director David Green told Sky News that Theresa May's plans would be "massively disruptive to existing investigations".
His warning, just over three months before the General Election, threatens to spark a new row over the future of the SFO even as it continues its recovery from a string of embarrassing revelations about its performance.
Mr Green, a former barrister, said the hiatus triggered by the SFO's abolition would "provide succour to those individuals and companies who feel the right course is not to cooperate (with us) in the course of an investigation".
He acknowledged that decisions about the agency's future were "a matter for the government of the day" but insisted that "the idea of breaking up that model with no evidence that what one was moving to would be any better... is just not sensible".
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Green said he understood public frustration over the lack of successful prosecutions of bank employees following the financial crisis and a string of trading scandals.
The SFO has about 80 people working on an investigation into the manipulation of the Libor interbank borrowing rate, with 13 people having been charged to date and one having pleaded guilty.
Asked whether he believed there was evidence to suggest that foreign exchange markets had been the subject of criminal fraud by traders, Mr Green said: "The statutory trigger for me to launch an investigation is for me to have reasonable grounds to suspect that the conduct may involve serious and complex fraud."
He added that he believes there was a case for criminal sanctions to be extended to the abuse of other important financial benchmarks, an approach that the Government has announced it will adopt.
The SFO chief refused to comment on any of the cases being examined by the agency, which also include Rolls Royce Holdings and Tesco.
He did not deny, however, suggestions of tensions between the SFO and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) around a £263m overstatement of profits at Britain's biggest retailer.
Insiders say that FCA officials were furious that the SFO's decision to launch a criminal inquiry in September effectively forced it to abandon its own case.
"We certainly had discussion about it and it was resolved in favour of a criminal investigation by us," he said.
"Obviously they saw things from their angle and we saw them from ours - but that often happens with Government agencies and we resolved any difficulty there was."
Under Mr Green's leadership, the SFO has improved its performance, settling an embarrassing damages claim filed by Vincent Tchenguiz and his brother Robert, who were arrested in 2010 as part of a botched probe by the agency.
Mr Green declined to apportion blame for historic failings but said that a review of the SFO's performance in November by the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate was based on fieldwork undertaken a year earlier.
"One of the things that report said was that the SFO was not in a position to do effective heavyweight investigations. I think that is demonstrably wrong," he said.
Recent successes for Mr Green's staff have included the conviction of a former hedge-fund manager from Weavering Capital and a one-time boss of JJB Sports.
He defended the length of time required to bring cases to trial, saying their complexity meant that was inevitable.
"I make no particular apology for that," he said. "I would rather do things correctly and thoroughly than rush to judgement."
Mr Green also said that while he had never had difficulty securing sufficient funding for cases being pursued by the SFO, he was concerned about the level of resource devoted to tackling "mid-level and lower levels" of fraud.
"Very good work is done by the National Crime Agency and the City of London Police but nowhere near sufficient resource is devoted to that in my view and that... is a matter of public confidence."
Mr Green's term as the SFO director is due to expire next year, but he said he had given no thought to extending it and had held no discussions about it.
"I love this job but... the choice of whether or not I continue is in the hands of whoever is attorney general at the time," he said.
Written By Unknown on Rabu, 04 Februari 2015 | 11.46
By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
All traders in Britain's financial markets should be forced to seek professional qualifications before they can operate, the banking industry's main lobbying group is to tell George Osborne.
Sky News has learnt that the British Bankers' Association (BBA) will say in a submission to a Treasury-led consultation that recent City scandals mean the time has come for participants in financial markets to be formally licensed.
It will suggest that a range of qualifications should be established which would constitute "a licence to trade", and will argue that industry codes of conduct should be endorsed by regulators in order to provide them with added teeth.
The recommendation will represent a watershed moment following years of resistance from the UK's biggest banks for a statutory professional qualifications regime for those operating in the fixed-income, currencies and commodities (FICC) markets.
If implemented, it would mean a new licensing regime would be required, potentially for hundreds of thousands of employees in London and across the UK.
The BBA paper, which is expected to be made public on Wednesday, is being submitted to the Treasury following the launch of an inquiry called the Fair and Effective Markets Review by the Chancellor last year.
Speaking at Mansion House last June, Mr Osborne said: "The integrity of the City matters to the economy of Britain. Markets here set the interest rates for people's mortgages, the exchange rates for our exports and holidays, and the commodity prices for the goods we buy.
"I am going to deal with abuses, tackle the unacceptable behaviour of the few and ensure that markets are fair for the many who depend on them."
The launch of the review followed two years of regulatory settlements between banks and financial watchdogs in London, New York and elsewhere in relation to the widespread manipulation of the Libor interbank borrowing rate.
Lenders including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were fined hundreds of millions of pounds for the abuse, which have been followed by similar manipulation in the foreign exchange markets.
In December, the Treasury announced that the Government would extend legislation put in place to regulate Libor to seven additional financial benchmarks, with those found guilty of manipulating them facing up to seven years in prison.
The BBA's submission is also understood to call for an extension of UK regulators' senior managers' regime to all non-retail market participants in order to create a level playing field with retail banks.
It will also raise the alternative option of extending a certification regime on which the Financial Conduct Authority is consulting to those operating in wholesale markets who fall outside the current framework, according to an insider.
Since the financial crisis of 2008, a number of UK Government reviews have prompted a toughening of standards for bank employees.
The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards called for far greater accountability for senior bankers, with a string of measures now being implemented.
The industry has also attempted to weigh in with the creation of the Banking Standards Review Council, which will attempt to reshape culture and staff behaviour but will not have formal disciplinary powers.
The businessman being lined up as the Co-operative Group's first independent chairman is to donate his six-figure pay package to charitable causes linked to the mutual.
Sky News has learnt that Allan Leighton is expected to declare his intention to give away his salary if he is confirmed in the role as expected in the coming days.
The gesture, which has yet to be formally agreed, would reflect Mr Leighton's commitment to the role, according to insiders.
Another option said to have been raised by board members was to pay Mr Leighton a token annual salary of £1.
Discussions about his appointment are understood to have been held by Co-op board members on Tuesday, with the group keen to finalise his appointment as soon as possible, a source added.
If Mr Leighton does take the role, it would represent a major coup for the UK's biggest mutual as it strives to rebuild its reputation after two years of crisis.
The size of the salary which Mr Leighton would accept on a nominal basis was unclear but is understood to run to six figures.
Allan Leighton is in pole position to take the Co-op role
Sky News revealed on Monday that he was in pole position to take the role, with board members attracted to his track record at running organisations with large numbers of employees and reputation for shaking up troubled institutions.
A former chief executive of Asda, Mr Leighton became a prominent figure during talks over the future of Royal Mail during a stint as its chairman several years ahead of the postal operator's privatisation.
His current roles include the chairmanships of Entertainment One, the media group, the set-top box manufacturer Pace and the retail chain Matalan.
Joining the Co-op would represent an important personal step for Mr Leighton, who has frequently cited his father's career as a Co-op store manager in media interviews during recent years.
During his time at Royal Mail, Mr Leighton advocated transforming the business into a mutually owned organisation, and he is understood to have sought a number of assurances about potential reforms at the Co-op during talks with board members.
The Co-op has been seeking a new chairman to succeed Ursula Lidbetter, who took on the role temporarily last year, for several months.
The group was left reeling in 2013 when it emerged that its banking arm was facing a £1.5bn black hole as it tried to acquire more than 630 branches from Lloyds Banking Group.
The Co-op Bank's chairman, Paul Flowers, was subsequently exposed by a tabloid newspaper as a serial drug-user, plunging the Co-op name deeper into crisis even as it surrendered control of the high street lender to American hedge funds.
Separate independent inquiries led by Lord Myners, the former City Minister, and Sir Christopher Kelly, a former civil servant, concluded that there was a need for an urgent overhaul of the Co-op's governance, board structure and array of commercial activities.
There was further turmoil at the top last year when Euan Sutherland quit as the group's chief executive after details of his pay package were leaked to the media.
Mr Sutherland was replaced by Richard Pennycook, a former director of Wm Morrison, the supermarket chain.
Since then, Co-op members have voted to approve reforms including reducing the number of lay directors on its board and the appointment of a majority of independent directors.
Last year, the Co-op Group - which boasts annual turnover of £11bn from businesses ranging from food retailing to funeral-care - returned to the black following a £2.5bn loss in 2013.
The group's seven million members will have the opportunity to vote this year on whether it should end decades of financial support for the Labour Party.
A Co-op spokeswoman declined to comment on Tuesday.
Written By Unknown on Selasa, 03 Februari 2015 | 11.46
Labour leader Ed Miliband has hit out at Boots chairman Stefano Pessina, saying British voters should not be "told how to vote by someone who avoids paying his taxes".
The attack comes after the Monaco-based Mr Pessina said Mr Miliband's plans for Britain are "not helpful for business, not helpful for the country and in the end it probably won't be helpful for them".
Speaking at Sky News' Stand Up Be Counted event in central London, Mr Miliband said the Boots boss should not be telling Britons how to vote in next May's General Election.
Mr Miliband said: "There is nothing that annoys people more than tax avoidance by big companies.
"Firstly, we have to act internationally, because that is the best way of clamping down on this. We also have to be willing to act on our own.
Video:Lord Rose On Labour Boots Rift
"Denmark and others do a much better job of clamping down on tax avoidance by big firms.
"Yesterday, the chairman of Boots started telling people how to vote in the General Election.
"The chairman of Boots lives in Monaco and doesn't pay British taxes.
Video:#AskTheLeaders Highlights: Labour
"I don't think people should take kindly to being told how to vote by someone who avoids paying his taxes."
Mr Pessina told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper on the weekend that if Labour "acted as they speak, it would be a catastrophe".
"The problem is would they act that way or not?" he added.
Video:Examining Miliband's Credentials
"One thing is to threaten and to shout but it is completely different to be in charge and to manage the country day to day."
Labour responded to the comments by criticising Mr Pessina for living abroad.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said voters would draw their own conclusions about business leaders who live overseas and do not pay tax in the UK.
Video:Behind The Scenes At #AskTheLeaders
"It is important that the voice of business is heard during this General Election campaign, not least on Europe," he said.
"But the British people and British businesses will draw their own conclusions when those who don't live here, don't pay tax in this country and lead firms that reportedly avoid making a fair contribution in what they pay purport to know what is in Britain's best interests."
Speaking to the live studio audience, Mr Miliband was also asked about his plans to stop children being exposed to over-sexualised content in the media.
Video:Theatre Star Wants Support For Arts
He replied: "I think it is an important problem and it is something we do have to look at.
"There is a responsibility on advertisers and television programmes, and I think that is where it starts.
"We have to look at issues of default settings on the internet in relation to children and young people, but I think that most of all, there is also a role for parents to make sure that they protect their children from content they should not see."
Video:Ed Miliband's Teenage Years
In another question from the audience to Mr Miliband earlier, Angel Layer asked: "If you get into power, what will you be doing to tackle graduate unemployment?"
Mr Miliband said: "Too many of the jobs in our economy are zero-hours contract jobs and insecure jobs.
"We have to say, look, if you are working regular hours you should have a regular contact, not a zero-hours contract."
Video:Miliband: 'Drive Out' Insecure Jobs
The Stand Up Be Counted: Ask The Leaders multimedia event is being held to give young people access to Westminster's most powerful politicians.
During his session, Prime Minister David Cameron was attacked by young voters at the event over the Government's decision to fly flags at half-mast following the death of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz last month.
And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg answered questions about his party's failure to scrap university fees during a live question-and-answer session in central London.
Video:#AskTheLeaders Highlights: Tories
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett was the first politician to speak at the event, which is being filmed at offices in central London and broadcast on TV and online.
The Stand Up Be Counted event comes just three months before a General Election in which social media could play a decisive role for the first time.
Allan Leighton is in talks to become the first independent chairman of the Co-operative Group in a move that would herald a crucial stage in the mutual's efforts to reinvent itself after two years of crisis.
Sky News can exclusively reveal that Mr Leighton is in advanced discussions with the Co-op Group's board, with an announcement possible as soon as this week.
Negotiations between Mr Leighton and the Co-op board were understood to be continuing, with a board meeting scheduled for Tuesday to ratify the appointment, according to insiders.
The Co-op was continuing to talk to a number of other candidates for the chairmanship while it remained uncertain whether Mr Leighton would be appointed, a source added.
If Mr Leighton does take the role, the arrival of one of Britain's most high-profile businessmen would be a coup for one of the country's most popular, if troubled, organisations.
A former chief executive of Asda, he became a prominent figure during talks over the future of Royal Mail during a stint as its chairman several years ahead of the postal operator's privatisation.
Mr Leighton has amassed a string of blue-chip boardroom roles during the last decade, including at internationally owned businesses such as Selfridges.
His other jobs have included a non-executive directorship of Sky, the parent company of Sky News, and chairmanships at Lastminute.com, the set-top box manufacturer Pace, and retailers including Pandora, Peacocks and Matalan.
Joining the Co-op would represent an important personal step for Mr Leighton, who has frequently cited his father's career as a Co-op store manager in media interviews during recent years.
During his time at Royal Mail, Mr Leighton advocated transforming the business into a mutually owned organisation, and he is understood to be seeking a range of assurances
The Co-op has been seeking a new chairman to succeed Ursula Lidbetter, who took on the role temporarily last year, for several months.
The Co-op was left reeling in 2013 when it emerged that its banking arm was facing a £1.5bn black hole as it tried to acquire more than 630 branches from Lloyds Banking Group.
The bank's chairman, Paul Flowers, was subsequently exposed by a tabloid newspaper as a serial drug-user, plunging the Co-op name deeper into crisis even as it surrendered control of the high street lender to American hedge funds.
Last month, the Co-op Bank was the only one of eight financial institutions to fail tough stress tests imposed by the Bank of England, underlining the ongoing need for a restructuring of its balance sheet.
Separate independent inquiries led by Lord Myners, the former City Minister, and Sir Christopher Kelly, a former civil servant, concluded that there was a need for an urgent overhaul of the Co-op's governance, board structure and array of commercial activities.
Sir Christopher has since joined the board himself, while Lord Myners stepped down following a brief period as a director.
There was further turmoil at the top last year when Euan Sutherland quit as the group's chief executive after details of his pay package were leaked to the media.
Mr Sutherland was replaced by Richard Pennycook, a former director of Wm Morrison, the supermarket chain.
Since then, Co-op members have voted to approve reforms including reducing the number of lay directors on its board and the appointment of a majority of independent directors.
Last year, the Co-op Group - which boasts annual turnover of £11bn from businesses ranging from food retailing to funeral-care - returned to the black following a £2.5bn loss in 2013.
The group's 7 million members will have the opportunity to vote this year on whether it should end decades of financial support for the Labour Party.
A Co-op spokeswoman declined to comment on Monday, while Mr Leighton could not be reached for comment.
Written By Unknown on Minggu, 01 Februari 2015 | 11.46
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out a writedown of Greece's massive debt, as EU officials threatened a funding cut-off to Greek banks.
Mrs Merkel and European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers have hardened their stance on the weekend over fears the Greek government does not agree it renew its bailout package in February.
"There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt," Mrs Merkel said on Saturday.
"I do not envisage fresh debt cancellation."
In a thinly veiled threat to Athens and rising anti-austerity political movements such as in Spain, she added: "Europe will continue to show solidarity for Greece, as for other countries hit particularly hard by the crisis, if these countries undertake their own reforms and savings efforts."
Video:New Greek PM Takes Office
Greece's newly elected anti-austerity government earlier said it would not co-operate with its international "troika" of creditors - the EU, ECB and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said that despite warnings his country would shortly run out of money, his government preferred to do without fresh funds and instead renegotiate its entire €240bn (£180bn) bailout package.
Athens has been promised another €7.2bn (£5.4bn) in funds from the troika if it completes reforms required by its lenders by 28 February, when the bailout programme runs out.
Erkki Liikanen, a member of the ECB's policymaking Governing Council, said that funding could dry up if Greece does not remain in an agreed programme.
Video:Greece On EU Collision Course
On Friday Mr Varoufakis slammed the current system: "This government was elected on the basis of analytically questioning the very logic of the programme now being applied."
"We don't want the €7bn ... We want to sit down and rethink the whole programme."
Greece believes repayments pegged to the economic growth rate would better support the fragile economy.
Mr Varoufakis said Athens was willing to negotiate with its lenders but not with the troika, which he described as a "committee built on rotten foundations".
Video:Greek People Ready To 'Turn A Page'
The troika was formed in 2010 to rescue debt-riddled Greece with the bailout on the condition Athens imposed huge spending cuts and fiscal reforms.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was elected last Sunday on a platform of ending austerity and erasing most of the country's national debt.
Mr Varoufakis meets French counterpart Michel Sapin in Paris on Sunday and British Chancellor George Osborne on Monday.
Mr Tsipras will meet Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Tuesday and French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday, but has no plans to visit Germany - Europe's biggest economy and its effective paymaster.
A pack of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds are pursuing a stake in the company that is poised to become the UK's largest mobile phone operator.
Sky News has learnt that state-backed investors from China, Singapore and the Middle East have approached advisers to Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, about acquiring shares in a merged O2 and Three.
The combined group, which will be created by Hutchison's purchase of O2 for £10.25bn, is expected to have an enterprise value of approximately £15bn.
It would carry debts of roughly £6bn, and Hutchison has signalled that it will sell about 30% of the new company - worth in the region of £3bn - to institutional investors.
Sources said on Saturday that the Hong Kong-based company had already received a string of enquiries from potential buyers of shares.
The discussions are at an early stage, but are said to include approaches from the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore and a number of giant Canadian pension funds.
The appetite from sovereign investors underline the continuing interest in UK companies following the Qatari takeover of London's Canary Wharf business district and Friday's purchase of a 9.9% stake in British Airways' parent by Qatar Airways.
Hutchison Whampoa won a period of exclusivity to negotiate a takeover of O2 with Telefonica, its Spanish parent, earlier this month, with talks said to be progressing well.
The deal is the second major transaction in the UK mobile sector in quick succession, with BT expected to finalise the terms of its £12.5bn takeover of EE - currently the country's biggest network - in February.
The mergers have sparked concerns about the prospect of higher charges for mobile phone customers, with Three's status in the market as a 'challenger' to its bigger rivals seen by analysts as unsustainable if its owner's takeover of O2 is completed.
This week, Sky plc, the owner of Sky News, struck a deal with Telefonica UK that will allow it to offer mobile voice and data services for the first time.
Like rivals BT, Vodafone and TalkTalk, the move will enable Sky to provide the 'quad-play' of fixed and mobile telecoms, broadband and pay-TV to its customers.
The O2 purchase will be the latest in a series of takeovers led by Li Ka-shing, the Hutchison chairman who has become the UK's biggest foreign direct investor.
In addition to 3, Mr Li's businesses own Superdrug, the container port at Felixstowe and the Eversholt rail company.
Telefonica had been in talks to sell O2 to BT before the British telecoms group decided instead to pursue talks with EE, which is jointly owned by Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.
