Sunday newspaper round-up: Budget, Sainsbury's, Virgin Media, Reuters

George Osborne look to grab as much as £20bn to fill shortfalls in his Budget this Wednesday, making deep cuts in public spending, an increased insurance premium tax and other new or increased duties and taxes, while also looking to cut taxes for North Sea oil producers. The Sunday Times said Osborne is also expected to limit the amount of tax relief that international companies can claim for interest payments on their debts to 30% of underlying UK profits.

Osborne will aim to cut government spending by 0.5%, as he feels the country must “act now so we don’t pay later”. The chancellor, in a BBC interview summed up in the Observer, said this was "not a huge amount" and was needed as the world was a more uncertain place than at any time since the financial crisis.

The UK fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), is expected to cut its outlook for national growth this year to 2.2%, down from its 2.4% estimate in November. The Sunday Telegraph noted Osborne's statement that even at its slow pace of growth, the UK will still be the fastest growing economy in the developed world.

Virgin Media has told regulators that of its plans to create a new fourth mobile network in the UK by buying mobile masts and radio spectrum that it hopes to be sold by Three and O2 as part of their merger requirements, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Potentially disrupting other merger plans for owner Liberty Global, Virgin would only be able to follow through with this plan if regulators insist the UK has four network operators, which would force Three owner Hutchinson to sell O2’s masts and a small chunk of the scarce spectrum.

The London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse will this week set out plans to make savings of more than £400m from their proposed £20bn merger. The Sunday Times reported that the pair will also reveal that LSE chairman Donald Brydon will stand down as chairman of the merged company in three years, which could raise some concern in the City.

RELX, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, and private equity group Cinven are both eyeing developments at Thompson Reuters as it restructures, with the sale of its £3bn intellectual property and sciences units expected to be launched in the next few weeks. Reuters is up for selling off the business in parts, the Sunday Times wrote, which would suit both potential suitors.

Sainsbury's will raise its offer for Argos-owner Home Retail Group to 185p a share, or around £1.5bn, on Friday's 'put up or shut up' deadline, "without breaking sweat" according to analysts. The Mail on Sunday noted that Sainsbury's cash and shares offer has risen to around 170p as the grocer's stock has risen, but the revelation that Home Retail has £100m more cash than expected will allow a no-brainer decision for Sainsbury's board, which may well bring rival bidder Steinhoff International back with a return offer.

Sainsbury’s is merely likely to match or marginally top South African conglomerate's 175p bid, the Sunday Times declared, but no decision had yet been taken, with Sainsbury’s prepared to withdraw if it is uncomfortable with the price. Sources close to Steinhoff suggested the Wiese-controlled group is committed to seizing control of long-term target Argos, and that an 180p bid is unlikely to scare them off.

As the UK's major supermarkets look to battle the rise of the discounters, chilled food specialist Iceland, which is 57% owned by Steinhoff's Christo Wiese, has begun to try and raise the profile of its premium food ranges. Frozen whole sea bass, dover sole, scallops, swordfish steaks, plus cheese soufflés, quinoa and frozen berries for juicing have all been added to the grocer's offer, the Observer reported in an interview with CEO Malcolm Walker, with investment to also expand the new Food Warehouse subsidiary.

Drax power station has been dragged into a complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission about its wood pellet supplier Enviva, which allegedly used a loophole in EU and UK law to falsely claim to American investors that its wood-pellet fuel emits far less carbon dioxide than coal. Drag has been plunged into crisis, the Mail on Sunday said, with investors hoping the complaint does not puts Drax's £350m-a-year renewable energy subsidies in danger.

A shareholder group action lawsuit against Royal Bank of Scotland over its 2008 rights issues is close to being taken to mediation before moving to the High Court in London next year. If the court case goes ahead, evidence is expected to be heard from former CEO and chairman Fred Goodwin and Sir Tom McKillop.

Even if its commercial landlords vote to agree a 75% cut to rents at many of BHS's stores, some do not believe the department store will survive for long. The Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) vote will take place in the coming fortnight and chief executive Darren Topp told the Sunday Telegraph that his turnaround plans involve more than just rent cuts.

Previous BHS owner Sir Philip Green is being pursued by the Pensions Regulator for a contribution of £280m over BHS’s pension deficit, much more than his initial offer of £80m. The department store's schemes have a shortfall of £571m and are due to enter the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) as part of the CVA deal, the Sunday Times said.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes has refused to operate any betting shops at the Cheltenham Festival of horse racing this week as the gambling industry objects to new requirements made by the British Horseracing Authority, the Racecourse Association and the Jockey Club, which owns Cheltenham racecourse. Ladbrokes, William Hill, Paddy Power Betfair, Betfred and Gala Coral are objecting after the horse racing industry demanded bookies needed to share some of the profits they make on racing from offshore bets, blocking those that did not comply from sponsoring races or advertise at racecourses, the Mail on Sunday reported.

A Bank of England project has devised a digital crypto-currency to rival Bitcoin and, said the Sunday Telegraph, could "pose a devastating threat to large tranches of the financial industry, and profoundly change the management of monetary policy". The proto-currency, known as RSCoin, would be controlled by the state, unlike Bitcoin, allowing the central bank to keep a tight grip on the money supply and respond to crises, as well as eroding commercial banks ability to generate money and profits from the fractional reserve banking system.

Sweden's Skanska and Balfour Beatty, the Sunday Times wrote, are looking to sell their 40% stakes in the 30-year Connect Plus contract to widen and maintain the M25. The consortium, which also includes Atkins and French engineer Egis, has finished most of the initially widening work but are unhappy with the terms of the contract and have found it difficult to refinance the debt.

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising group WPP, will take home up to £70m in salary and bonuses for last year. This year’s award depends on a long-running incentive plan which was approved by shareholders with 83 per cent voting in favour in 2009, the Mail on Sunday noted, though WPP shareholders rebelled against Sorrell’s pay award in 2012.

Listed vodka maker Stock Spirits is facing a spirited shareholder battle after serving up weak results last week. Portuguese cash-and-carry tycoon Luis Amaral, a 9.7% shareholder and major customer of the company, has demanded a deeper review of the business to find ways to improve the cost base and stem the recently shrinking market share, the Sunday Times wrote.

Scientists are up in arms about the lack of patent and other commercial protection their work at the National Graphene Institute (NGI) is receiving, which has led to China overtaking the UK in the development of the wonder substance that is 200 times stronger than steel. Work at the NGI to further the development of graphene, which was originally invented in Manchester University, included a deal struck between senior university management and Taiwan's BGT Materials, which some academics worry may be unfairly exploiting Manchester’s intellectual property, according to the Sunday Times.