Saturday Papers: Hedge fund shift costs UK £500m - other news

Financial Times

* Britain will lose nearly £500 million in tax revenues every year as a result of top hedge fund managers moving overseas, with the departure of just two to Switzerland estimated to cost the Treasury more than £200 million.

* Ikea has publicly disclosed its profits for the first time in its 67-year history; it had made net profits of €2.5 billion in 2009, up 11.3% from the year before; the company also announced a 7.7% increase in revenues for the 2010 financial year to €23.1 billion.

* David Cameron has ordered ministers to draw up a detailed plan for boosting Britain’s growth potential, in an attempt to construct an economic “good news” story to run alongside the £83bn squeeze on public spending.

* The London 2012 Olympics has delivered a publicly funded bonanza for companies in London and southeast England.

* Leeds Building Society is running grammar classes for staff to improve their English amid growing business fears about school and university standards.

* Oxfam has criticised proposed changes to the way that property rental agreements and other leases are represented in financial accounts.

* A big rise in pension contributions for millions of public sector workers, along with an increase to 65 in pension age for existing employees, is on the way.

* Chevron, the US oil major, is preparing to drill the first deep water exploration well in UK waters since BP’s spill in the Gulf of Mexico after receiving the government’s approval.

* Prospects rise for Fed easing monetary policy after William Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said it should act unless economic conditions improved soon.

* A dispute between the Vatican bank and the Italian judiciary over a suspected breach of anti-money laundering regulations is set to intensify.

* Ireland is set to provide a four-year budget plan to the European Commission in the next few days following this week’s bank bail-outs.