Royal Mail To Change Post Box Collection Time

The collection time at almost 50,000 Royal Mail post boxes will be brought forward to earlier in the day under new plans.

Staff delivering letters are expected to make the pick-ups as part of their rounds.

Some 47,500 post boxes will see collection times as early as 9am, instead of the usual 5pm.

Royal Mail, which was privatised last year, said it will also add around 2,000 new boxes in under-serviced areas such as rural Scotland and Northern Ireland.

New boxes would also be fitted in areas of high pedestrian traffic, including train stations and shopping precincts.

It currently has some 115,000 post boxes around the nation.

The company said where new collection times are imposed, generally between 9am and 3pm, there will still be a late posting box within half a mile.

About 12,000 rural post boxes are already emptied during delivery rounds but the new plan would primarily affect urban and suburban locations.

The new system is designed to improve efficiency, amid a decade-long decline in stamped mail use.

The company said: "Rather than decommission uneconomic post boxes, while staying within the regulated density requirement, Royal Mail will ensure their viability by improving the efficiency of its collections arrangements."

It said consultations have been undertaken with consumer groups and regulator Ofcom has been informed.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said: "Ofcom recognises the need for Royal Mail to become more efficient so it can sustain a universal postal service that consumers value highly.

"While the changes won't affect the majority of postal users, Ofcom expects Royal Mail to communicate clearly with any affected consumers and ensure that their reasonable needs continue to be met."

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Canadian Teachers Swoop On Debt Group Lowell

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A giant Canadian pension fund has swooped to buy a big stake in Lowell Group, one of Britain's biggest consumer debt collection agencies.

Sky News understands that Teachers Private Capital (TPC), an investment arm of one of Ontario's municipal retirement schemes, signed a deal on Friday to acquire just over 35% of Lowell's shares.

The deal values the debt collection group at around $1.6bn, and returns a large chunk of cash to TDR Capital, the private equity firm which has owned Lowell since 2011.

An announcement is expected on Monday as a consequence of Lowell's publicly-traded debt securities.

Lowell specialises in debt recovery and other credit management services, a sector which has attracted frequent attention from private equity funds.

The company, which pledges to take "a fair, sensitive and ethical approach to debt recovery", competes with rivals such as Cabot Credit Management and Arrow Global, which floated on the stock exchange last October.

The Financial Conduct Authority assumed responsibility for regulating consumer credit providers earlier this year.

TPC, which is also a significant investor in TDR's funds,  is understood to have been attracted to Lowell's growth prospects and its compliance record with UK financial regulators.

The deal adds Lowell to a portfolio of UK investments made by Ontario's vast teachers' pension fund, which include Camelot, the National Lottery operator; Burton's Biscuits, the owner of Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels; and Busy Bees, the nurseries group.

TPC's investment comes ahead of a potential stock market flotation of Lowell, which could take place as soon as next year.

TDR and TPC declined to comment.

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Russia In EU And US Food And 'Flight Ban'

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said the country is considering a ban on flights from Europe and the US to Asia.

Speaking at a government meeting he said the "serious measure" of blocking Russian airspace was a response to sanctions that recently stopped Dobrolyot, one of Russia's low-cost airlines, from flying.

It comes as Mr Medvedev confirmed the country has banned transit flights for Ukrainian airlines via its territory.

If Russia goes ahead with the ban on Western airlines, passengers could see ticket prices rise because carriers would be forced to use more fuel to reach destinations using longer flight paths.

The move could hit major European airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France, leaving them faced with multibillion-pound losses.

Mr Medvedev said a response to sanctions against Russia was needed

Meanwhile Russia announced further details of its sanctions on food and agricultural products from the West.

Mr Medvedev said an immediate ban has been put on fruit, vegetable, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the European Union, United States, Australia, Canada and Norway.

He said: "Until the last moment, we hoped that our foreign colleagues would understand that sanctions lead to a deadlock and no one needs them.

"But they didn't and the situation now requires us to take retaliatory measures."

He said the food ban would last for a year, but could be lifted earlier if the West reacted with a "constructive approach".

Responding to the decision, the European Commission warned it was ready "to take action".

In a statement it said: "This announcement is clearly politically motivated.

"Following full assessment by the Commission of the Russian Federation's measures, we reserve the right to take action as appropriate."

In 2013 the EU's agricultural exports to Russia were worth €11.8bn (£9.4bn), while the US says its food and agricultural exports amounted to $1.3bn (£77m).

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GSK Close To Luring RBS's Hampton As Chairman

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Britain's biggest drugs company, is in advanced talks to recruit Sir Philip Hampton as its next chairman, an appointment that will coincide with his exit from the state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Sky News has learnt that Sir Philip's appointment could be announced by GSK as soon as next month.

If confirmed, he would be joining the pharmaceuticals giant during a period in which it is embroiled in a wide-ranging bribery scandal in China and possibly other markets.

A person close to the talks said negotiations with Sir Philip were "close to being a done deal".

He is likely to join GSK as a non-executive director or deputy chairman ahead of moving into the chairman's seat later in 2015.

The precise timing of a formal announcement and Sir Philip's arrival have yet to be determined, and either side could still back away from the appointment, the source added.

GSK's next chairman will replace Sir Christopher Gent, who has been in place for almost a decade.

Sir Philip Hampton joined RBS in early 2009

At the drugs company's annual meeting earlier this year, Sir Christopher said it hoped to announce news of his successor during 2014.

"I…expect to stand down at the end of 2015 having succeeded in finding a candidate who of course you will have the opportunity to elect and re-elect in due course," he told GSK's shareholders.

The situation is complicated by RBS's need to recruit a new chairman, who is likely to want to know which party will form a government after next May's general election.

Parachuted in alongside Stephen Hester shortly after the bank's £45.5bn taxpayer rescue in early 2009, Sir Philip will mark his sixth anniversary at RBS next February.

He has said repeatedly that company chairmen should look to serve for between five and seven years, although friends say he will not leave RBS until his successor is in place.

Sky News revealed earlier this year that RBS had begun planning for Sir Philip's departure, but recruiting a heavyweight replacement will be a difficult assignment.

The Government remains years away from a full privatisation of its majority stake in the bank, while RBS faces uncertainty from a UK competition inquiry and regulatory probes covering alleged manipulation in foreign exchange and other markets.

Nonetheless, Sir Philip's in-tray at GSK could prove to be only slightly less challenging than the one with which he has dealt at RBS.

Sir Andrew Witty, the pharmaceutical group's chief executive, was forced to warn on profits last month as the company introduces products which could help offset a decline in sales of Advair, its best-selling asthma medicine.

On Friday, the trial is expected to start in Shanghai of a British businessman and his wife on charges of illegally obtaining private information during the course of work they were carrying out for GSK.

A sex tape involving Mark Reilly, the head of GSK's operations in China, was sent to Sir Andrew and other executives shortly before Beijing launched a probe into the alleged bribery of doctors.

GSK and RBS declined to comment.

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Walgreens Confirms Full Takeover of Boots

US pharmacy chain Walgreens has confirmed it is to take full control of Boots.

In a deal worth £5.6bn worth of cash and shares, the drugs giant will acquire the remaining 55% of Alliance Boots that it does not already own.

But as US markets opened following the news, shares in Walgreens were 16% lower, wiping $10.6bn (£6.3bn) off the company's market value.

The transaction is expected to be completed early in 2015, following full shareholder approvals.

The new enterprise will be named Walgreens Boots Alliance and will keep its headquarters in the US.

Meanwhile, UK-based Boots will remain headquartered in Nottingham.

Walgreens Boots Alliance will be led by chief executive Greg Wasson, with senior executives from both companies on the management team.

Mr Wasson said: "We are excited to move forward with the next important step in becoming a new kind of global healthcare leader. 

"Expanding globally with Alliance Boots will make quality healthcare more affordable and accessible to communities here in America and around the world."

It comes after Sky News exclusively revealed news of the deal yesterday.

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Kellogg Crunches Numbers On £2bn Penguin Deal

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The American food giant Kellogg is examining a £2bn offer for the owner of McVitie's, Penguin and other famous British biscuit brands.

Sky News has learnt that Kellogg has appointed investment bankers at Barclays to assess an offer for United Biscuits (UB) that could presage another trans-Atlantic takeover of a prominent UK-based company.

Kellogg is already a major player in the US through its ownership of The Keebler Company, which it bought in 2001 but which for more than 20 years had been owned by UB.

Blackstone and PAI Partners, the private equity groups, have hired Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to prepare a sale or stock market flotation of UB, whose other leading brands include Jaffa Cakes, Mini Cheddars and Twiglets.

A public listing is viewed as the likeliest option, although a final decision will depend upon the state of stock markets later in the year and the value of any formal offers received from bidders.

Bright Food, the Chinese majority-owner of Weetabix, and Turkey's Ulker are also expected to form part of a sale process.

Sky News understands that UB's board has engaged Centerview Partners, a leading independent advisory firm, to steer it through the process.

Martin Glenn, the former Pepsico and Iglo Birds Eye executive who was appointed to run UB last year, has begun meeting analysts and prospective institutional investors, from whom feedback is said to have been positive.

Mr Glenn has a strong reputation in the consumer goods industry and has focused in recent months on revitalising the core McVitie's brand with new advertising and products.

"He would make an ideal public company chief executive," a competitor said.

In 2012, Kellogg was linked to a possible bid for UB's snacks arm, which included Skips and Hula Hoops, but a formal offer failed to materialise before it was sold to Germany's Intersnack.

If UB does get sold, it would be the second industry deal in less than a year involving North American and British companies.

Last year, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan bought Burton's Biscuits, the owner of Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels, in a deal worth £350m.

Since then, Burton's has been in talks about a merger with Fox's, another major UK-based producer.

Kellogg said on Wednesday that it did not comment on rumour or speculation.

Last week, Michigan-based Kellogg announced second-quarter profit of $295m, broadly in line with Wall Street expectations.

A UB spokesman and Barclays also declined to comment.

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21st Century Fox Drops $76bn Time Warner Bid

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox has abandoned its attempt to take over rival media giant Time Warner.

The move comes three weeks after Time Warner revealed it had rejected an unsolicited $76bn (£45bn) offer from the company.

Rupert Murdoch, 21st Century Fox CEO, said the rival firm's management and board had "refused to engage" over the proposed takeover.

He also said a fall in his company's New York stock price was another reason for calling time on the pursuit, which would have created one of the world's largest media groups.

Mr Murdoch said: "Our proposal had significant strategic merit and compelling financial rationale and our approach had always been friendly.

Time Warner owns Warner Bros studios, which made the Harry Potter films

"However, Time Warner management and its board refused to engage with us to explore an offer which was highly compelling."

Time Warner's assets include the cable movie channel HBO and Warner Bros studios, which produced the Harry Potter movies.

Its rival has the Twentieth Century Fox film and television studios in its global stable alongside a wealth of TV channels and networks, including a 39% stake in Sky News owner BSkyB.

With any deal seemingly off the table, Fox's board approved a plan to buy back $6bn of company stock over the next year.

Fox shares rose 10.4% in after-market trading, while Time Warner's were down 10.7%.

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Walgreens Shuns Inversion In £5bn Boots Deal

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

One of America's biggest corporate names is poised to bow to intense US political pressure by retaining its headquarters in the US even as it secures a full takeover of Boots, Britain's biggest pharmacy chain.

Sky News can exclusively reveal that Walgreens, the giant drug-stores group, will announce as soon as today that it plans to acquire the remaining 55% of Alliance Boots that it does not already own in a deal costing in the region of £5bn.

However, sources on both sides of the Atlantic said that Walgreens is likely to disclose as part of its announcement that it intends to remain a US-domiciled company rather than pursuing a so-called tax inversion which would involve moving its corporate headquarters to the UK or Switzerland.

The news will represent a significant victory for President Obama, who said recently that US companies which moved their headquarters overseas to save tax were damaging the country's economy.

"My attitude is I don't care if it's legal, it's wrong," he said in July.

Tax inversions have become a contentious issue in the US in recent months, with Pfizer's ultimately aborted £69bn offer for AstraZeneca the catalyst for a wave of deals involving American companies seeking to take advantage of lower overseas corporate tax rates.

Walgreens' decision will disappoint many of its own shareholders, who have urged the group to exploit the estimated $4bn (£2.4bn) in tax savings over five years that it could reap by moving the company's base to Switzerland, where Alliance Boots is headquartered.

Greg Wasson, Walgreens' chief executive, and Stefano Pessina, a board member who orchestrated Boots' corporate expansion during the last decade, met investors including Jana Partners and Och-Ziff Capital Management, two influential hedge funds, to discuss the issue in April.

Sources close to the deal said that Walgreens' takeover of the rest of Alliance Boots would take place next year, probably during a previously agreed window between February and August 2015.

The remaining purchase price of $9.5bn (£5.6bn) is likely to adhere to a formula struck during the original 45% stake purchase in June 2012, which itself cost the American retailer $6.7bn (£4bn).

In a statement on Monday announcing the recruitment of Timothy McLevish, a former Kraft Foods executive, as its new chief financial officer, Walgreens said that he would "lead all of Walgreens finance functions as the company prepares to move forward with the proposed second step of its strategic partnership with Alliance Boots".

Analysts speculated that his background at companies which had moved their corporate headquarters offshore meant that Walgreens was leaning in favour of pursuing an inversion deal.

The company which owns most of the remaining 55% of Alliance Boots that Walgreens will be purchasing is KKR, one of the titans of Wall Street's private equity industry.

Walgreens is one of the US's biggest retailers, operating more than 8,200 shops in 50 states, and by fully combining with Alliance Boots it will create a behemoth of the global drugs and consumer products industries.

Insiders said Walgreens' board had decided that the intense political pressure on companies examining inversions could have a significant impact on its reputation among American consumers.

Walgreens and Alliance Boots declined to comment on Tuesday.

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HSBC Sees Pre-Tax Profit Drop 12% To £7.3bn

HSBC's pre-tax profit dropped by 12% to £7.3bn in the first half of the year.

For the same period in 2013, the bank made £8.3bn.

It comes as HSBC said it has increased its provision for payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation by £115m.

Last week Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays upped their compensation pots for the mis-selling of PPI.

In the six months to June 30, HSBC also saw underlying revenue fall by 4% to £18.6bn.

Group chief executive Stuart Gulliver said: "There are indications that interest rates could start to rise as early as the fourth quarter of 2014 in the UK and the first half of 2015 in the US, which given the size of our commercial surplus has positive implications for our revenues."

Looking ahead, he said: "We remain broadly positive about the economic outlook for the majority of our home and priority markets.

"The UK in particular should maintain a firm recovery."

On Sunday Sky News revealed that HSBC is urging a delay in ring-fencing amid a probe into the industry by the Competition and Markets Authority.

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Ex-William Hill Chief Backs Scottish Yes Vote

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The former boss of Britain's biggest bookmaker will declare his support on Tuesday for an independent Scotland, arguing that pro-union campaigners have been guilty of "political posturing" whose arguments lack economic logic.

Sky News has learnt that Ralph Topping, who stepped down as chief executive of William Hill last week, is to become one of the most prominent business leaders so far to back a 'Yes' vote in next month's referendum.

Sources said that Mr Topping, who commuted to William Hill's head office from his home in Scotland until he stepped down on July 31, would disclose his support for secession in an opinion piece for a national newspaper.

He is understood to argue in the article that Scotland's largest financial institutions would be unlikely to move their headquarters south of the border if there was a vote in favour of independence.

Mr Topping is also expected to make a case for the "business sense" of a currency union and criticise the "political posturing" of George Osborne, the Chancellor, who has insisted that Scotland would forfeit the right to have sterling as its currency.

"Statistics show that Scotland is fiscally stronger, and investment flows are stronger, even without North Sea oil. We are not talking about South Sudan here and that's what he wants to argue," a friend of Mr Topping told Sky News.

His support will come ahead of Tuesday's inaugural televised debate between Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, and Alastair Darling, the former Chancellor, who is spearheading the Better Together campaign.

The encounter is being depicted as a crucial staging-post in the pre-referendum battle, with the latest opinion polls showing support for the 'Yes' campaign at around 40% and opponents at approximately 46%.

Mr Topping, who began his career at a Glasgow bookie in 1970, had been with William Hill for 29 years, including six as chief executive.

His declaration of support for Scottish independence will be made in a personal capacity, with his former employer maintaining a steadfastly neutral position on the vote, which will take place on September 18.

Mr Topping, who is also a director of the Scottish Football Association, is understood not to be a member of any political party.

William Hill operates hundreds of outlets in Scotland, accounting for a significant proportion of its UK-wide estate of roughly 2400 betting shops.

The company is understood to have been keen for Mr Topping to delay making his views public until after his retirement.

Few leaders of major British companies with operations on both sides of the border have hinted at personal views about the independence vote.

However, some businesses - including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Standard Life - have used annual reports or results statements to flag potential risks, particularly in the absence of confirmation that a currency union would exist on day one in the life of an independent Scotland.

On Monday, Sir George Mathewson, the former RBS chief executive, wrote in the Financial Times that warnings that the size of Scotland's banking system would make independence impossible were "unionist scaremongering".

The emergence of Mr Topping's support for the 'Yes' campaign comes weeks after William Hill took a £400,000 bet from a customer on a 'No' vote at odds of 1/4.

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