Friday newspaper round-up: SFO, FCA, EDF, food prices

British fraud prosecutors have asked for £21m in additional funding, including £15.5m needed urgently. The Serious Fraud Office asked for extra money — the fourth such request in as many years — to cover the cost of blockbuster investigations. Robert Buckland, the solicitor-general, told parliament on Thursday the SFO was seeking approval for the £15.5m for “significant investigations and the settlement of material liabilities”. – Financial Times

Tracey McDermott always seemed an unlikely fit as a chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority: she is not blessed, or encumbered, with the Type A personality that is standard issue among the City of London elite. If rumours among the same City elite were to be believed, however, she had looked like the favourite candidate to head the UK’s financial regulator — a role she has temporarily filled since her former boss was forced out last year. – Financial Times

EDF is considering the sale of a €3bn (£2.2bn) stake in its British nuclear business in a bid to raise cash for new Hinkley Point reactors. Possible buyers would be state-owned Chinese companies, who are already committed partners on the £18bn Somerset project. – Guardian

The United Nations and aid agencies demanded urgent access yesterday to a Syrian town besieged by President Assad’s forces where 42,000 people are in danger of starving to death. Witness accounts from inside the town of Madaya have described catastrophic conditions with residents eating pets, leaves and grass. Pictures posted on social media showed emaciated figures with protruding ribs reminiscent of concentration camp victims. - The Times

World food prices fell 19pc in 2015, with meat, dairy, oils, sugars and cereals all affected by weak global demand and a strengthening US dollar. The Food Price Index, collated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, averaged 164.1 points last year, down from 202 points in 2014, marking the fourth consecutive annual decline. The index was set at 100 points based on prices in 2002-4. - The Telegraph

Blue Inc, the fashion retailer, is to axe hundreds of jobs and close stores as part of a restructuring. The company, which was once chaired by former Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose, could shut around 60 shops out of a total of 232 across the UK. The move, which Blue Inc blamed on the recent warm weather hitting demand for winter clothing as well as consumers switching to shopping online, will result in around 500 job losses. – The Telegraph

The price of oil could fall as low as $25 a barrel by March as Iran begins to ramp up output after the removal of international sanctions as early as next month, a senior Iranian oil official has warned. Fereidun Fesharaki, a former oil adviser to the Iranian prime minister, said he expected crude prices to drop to between $25 and $30 between now and March as excess Iranian output exacerbates a widening global supply glut. – The Times