Sunday newspaper round-up: Bond crisis, Altria's SAB stake, ITV, Anglo's dividend

The Bank of England will warn this week of a potentially damaging liquidity crisis in the gigantic market for government and corporate bonds, the Sunday Times said. A six-month investigation into bond markets culminates in a BoE's financial policy committee (FPC) meeting on Wednesday to discuss the results, with policy changes expected.

Major SAB Miller shareholder Altria has hired investment banks to advise it over SAB's proposed merger with Anheuser-Busch InBev, which could be seen as a sign it is preparing to sell its stake. If Altria decides to sell, the Sunday Times said, it would be almost impossible for SAB to rebuff the advances of its Belgian suitor.

A change in broadcasting laws could provide ITV and other public service broadcasters a significant increase to their annual income, with Virgin Media made to pay a fee for carrying their main channels. According to industry and Westminster sources cited by the Sunday Telegraph, the necessary legislation is currently being prepared and is set to be confirmed later this year.

Anglo American has discussed following sector rival Glencore in cutting its dividend, with chief executive Mark Cutifani having warned big institutional investors in a number of recent private meetings, according to the Sunday Times. Anglo will be less likely to cut it dividend if raw material prices recover in coming months.

A boardroom coup at department store group Debenhams is being planned by Cenkos Securities, the City stockbroking firm, which has rallied major investors including Neil Woodford to its cause. The broker's plans, which include the possibility of deposing chairman Nigel Northridge and chief executive Michael Sharp, follow several years of weak trading since re-listing in 2006, the Sunday Times noted.

Across the retail sector in the food aisle, the total floorspace owned by UK supermarkets declined by over 1m sq ft in the last 12 months, the first reduction in more than a decade. Analysts at Bernstein scrutinised the major grocers as far back as 2004, when Tesco was almost half its current size, but some sector experts believe the cut may be the first since the 1940s, said the Mail on Sunday.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is reportedly nearing a £1.9bn deal to acquire Canadian hotel owner Fairmont from its current owners, FRHI. The Holiday Inn owner is expected to reach an agreement within weeks, City sources told the Sunday Times.

Housebuilder McCarthy & Stone is expected to be at the forefront of a new raft of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the wake of the deferral of the US rate rise, according to the Sunday Times. The private-equity owned builder was hit hard in the 2008 property crash, but has bounced back and wants to raise funds to build 12,000 new homes in the next four years. Brick maker Ibstock is forecast to be another £1bn flotation by its private equity owners, with share custodian Equiniti on another after the collapse of a £900m sale to a Canadian group.

Network Rail could be re-privatised, the boss of the High Speed 1 line has said. Nicola Shaw, who has been drafted in to examine how the structure and financing of Network Rail can be improved, said a partial or total sell-off was "absolutely on the table - it can't not be".

BT will on Tuesday reveal plans to bring super-fast broadband to rural homes in Britain. BT aims to improve download speeds via its ageing copper lines using a new fibre broadband technology, called G.Fast that it has been trialling in Cambridgeshire.

But the Mail on Sunday reported that BT's new drama channel, called 'AMC from BT' and carrying the flagship show zombie drama Fear The Walking Dead, registered absolutely zero viewers according to an official audience survey. Despite the channel forming a key part of BT’s strategy to expand its broadcast business, audience researcher Barb's survey of 5,100 homes showed not one of the survey panel watched the BT drama channel one day last week.