Thursday newspaper round-up: Google, oil, privatisation, Drax

Google and Apple have fought back in the row over the big tech groups’ tax regimes, saying they are being unfairly targeted as the public backlash over the controversy escalates. Google on Wednesday defended its £130m settlement with British tax authorities for the first time in a letter to the Financial Times, arguing that it was complying with British law. Separately, Apple said it should pay nothing over Brussels’ investigation into its alleged sweetheart tax deals in Ireland. – Financial Times

Officials from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are heading to Azerbaijan to discuss a possible $4bn emergency loan package in what risks becoming the first of a series of bailouts stemming from the tumbling oil price. The Baku visit, which follows a currency crisis triggered by the collapse in crude, comes amid concern at the two global institutions over emerging market producers from central Asia to Latin America. - Financial Times

The government has been accused of shortchanging the taxpayer by “selling the family silver at a record pace” after new analysis showed a record £26.4bn raised last year through privatisation. A final 30% state holding in Royal Mail, 11bn shares in Lloyds Bank and a stake in Eurostar were among the assets sold by ministers in a bid to pay down debt and balance the books. – Guardian

Energy giant SSE is to cut its household gas prices by 5.3pc - but not until after Easter. The company, formerly known as Scottish and Southern, is the second "Big Six" energy supplier to announce a gas price cut this year in the wake of plunging wholesale prices. – Telegraph

UK policymakers must fundamentally rethink the way they fight crises as central banks run out of ammunition to deal with the next downturn, a think-tank has warned. The Resolution Foundation said slashing interest rates during the next crash would be less potent than in 2008 because rates are likely to be well below pre-crisis averages in five years time. – Telegraph

The trial of six brokers accused of rigging Libor ended in defeat for the Serious Fraud Office yesterday when a jury cleared five of the men. Colin Goodman and Danny Wilkinson, two former Icap workers, James Gilmour and Terry Farr, former employees of RP Martin, and Noel Cryan, a former Tullett Prebon broker, were freed after being found not guilty of involvement in manipulating Japanese yen borrowing rates. – The Times

Britain’s biggest power producer mounted a legal challenge against the government yesterday, as it fights back after the scrapping of a lucrative tax exemption by the chancellor last year. Shares in Drax, the North Yorkshire power station, which is switching from burning coal to wood pellets, plunged by a third on July 8 last year, when George Osborne announced plans to cut an exemption from the climate change levy for generators of renewable electricity. – The Times