Monday Papers: Call for clarity on business rates reform - other news

Financial Times

* Business groups have called for ministers to clarify their plans for a shake-up of the business rates system amid fears that companies in some parts of the country could face a higher levy than others.

* Serco has been ordered by the government to explain why it demanded a 2.5 cent “cash rebate” from its leading suppliers in an effort to meet the coalition’s request for multimillion-pound savings on procurement contracts.

* Internal auditors at leading UK companies feel increasingly vulnerable to fraud, but half of them do not think their staffs are big enough or properly trained to cope with the problem, a survey by Deloitte has found.

* Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One motor racing’s chief executive, said that he would never float the organisation on the stock market despite repeated attempts to do so in the late 1990s.

* UK seeks buyers for its decommissioned fleet of Harrier jump-jets; India and the US are the two most promising markets for more than 50 of the most up-to-date Harriers.

* A last-minute agreement on Portugal’s 2011 austerity budget has averted an immediate political crisis.

* Prime London house prices have fallen 1% since July, when the market for properties of more than £1 million began to show signs of weakness; prices fell a further 0.23% in October, according to Knight Frank, the property consultancy.

* Groupe Aeroplan, which runs the UK’s Nectar loyalty card programme, is to take the concept to India where the retail sector is dominated by open-air bazaars and small family-run shops.

* Ikea’s UK and Irish operations reported a 1% increase in underlying sales in their latest financial year on Sunday, against the backdrop of a declining market.

* IBM has overhauled its strategy for cloud computing in the latest attempt to kickstart a business that it hopes will become a mainstay over the long term.

* Apple has counter-sued Motorola, alleging the mobile phone maker violated patents including those that protect the iPhone’s interpretation of multiple finger-touches for making an image larger or smaller.