Saturday Papers: Judge rules on Hands damages in EMI case - other news

Financial Times

* Guy Hands would get no more than a quarter of the $8 billion damages he sought were he to win his landmark case against Citigroup over the Terra Firma boss’s 2007 acquisition of EMI, a judge has ruled.

* British Airways beat expectations to surge back into pre-tax profit after two years of record losses on Friday; the headline figure was a pre-tax gain of £158 million for the six months to the end of September.

* The S&P 500 closed a fraction lower at 1,183 on Friday, 0.1% higher over a week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was less than 0.1% higher to close at 11,118, declining 0.1% on the week; the Nasdaq Composite closed completely flat at 2,507 but was up 1.2% over the five days.

* An English High Court rejected Alstom’s demand for an injunction on Eurostar’s planned order for German-built Siemens trains.

* Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP who resigned in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, has had informal talks about taking an advisory role with Temasek, the Singapore state investment agency.

* Trichet has told European leaders that a system they are designing for future Greece-style rescues could inadvertently drive up short-term borrowing costs, imperilling struggling eurozone debtor nations.

* The jobless rate in Eurozone rose to 10.1% in September, up from 10% in August.

* G4S, the security group, is to be replaced on a £30 million-a-year contract to deport detainees from the UK, the Home Office said; contract has been awarded to Reliance Security.

* An increase in tonnage at its Tilbury operation helped Forth Ports, the UK’s largest quoted ports group, beat third-quarter expectations; for the nine months to 30 September, Forth’s bulk terminal volumes rose more than 50%.

* BP and Halliburton are at greater risk of a substantial pay-out over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after a US investigation claimed they knew cement used to seal the well was probably unstable, legal experts said on Friday.

* Fitch, the ratings agency, upgraded Interpublic’s issuer default rating to BBB from BB+ on Friday, citing improved growth and careful balance-sheet management; IPG reported third-quarter revenues up 9.4% to $1.56 billion.