Headlines

Deep cost cutting at the troubled newspaper publisher Johnston Press helped it maintain profits despite a dip in digital revenues as Google and Facebook tightened their grip on the online advertising market, The Telegraph reported. The publisher of the i, the Scotsman and scores of local titles is in a race against time to agree debt restructuring with its lenders before a repayment deadline next summer that threatens to tip it into administration. First half turnover was down 10pc on last year to £93m, as among the main lines of business only the i registered growth.

The High Court has granted a temporary injunction preventing an Irish registered aviation company linked to a controversial Russian businessman from going into voluntary liquidation, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Michael Quinn made an interim injunction preventing the members of City Leasing DAC, which has registered address in Limerick from holding a meeting of its members, who were due to consider a resolution to wind up the company. The company is beneficially owned by Rashid Mursekayev, who has extensive interests in the aviation industry.

Turkey’s central bank took steps to undo some of the emergency support it provided to its banks in recent weeks, reviving investor concerns over the nation’s financial stability as the Turkish lira continued its slide against the dollar, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ratings firm Moody’s also rattled investors by downgrading 18 Turkish banks on fears they will face growing difficulties in difficulties in refinancing foreign-currency loans. “There is a heightened risk of a downside funding scenario,” the ratings agency said in a research note.

Noble Group Ltd.’s foes aren’t going away. Less than 24 hours after the commodity trader won shareholder approval for its $3.5 billion debt-for-equity deal, long-standing critic Michael Dee said the revamped company will struggle to recover and shouldn’t be allowed to list shares in Singapore, Bloomberg News reported. “I really don’t believe that we’re going to be in any different situation,” Dee, a former senior managing director at Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Tuesday.

Credit Suisse Group AG plans to buy back about 5.9 billion francs ($6 billion) of debt issued after the financial crisis to the Qatar Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia’s Olayan family to cut funding costs, Bloomberg News reported. The bank will redeem the contingent convertible bonds -- which automatically become equity when reserves fall below pre-set levels -- on Oct. 23, the first opportunity to do so, according to a statement from the bank on Tuesday.

Arif Naqvi, the founder of embattled Dubai-based private-equity firm Abraaj Group, and Crescent Group’s Hamid Jafar reached a settlement in a $217 million bounced-check case, Naqvi’s lawyer said two days after a court sentenced him to prison, Bloomberg News reported. The announcement comes after a court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced Naqvi -- who is outside the country -- and another executive, Rafique Lakhani, to three years in jail and ordered them to pay court expenses, according to court documents seen by Bloomberg. The verdict was issued on Aug. 26, the documents show.

The liquidator of Ivorian cocoa exporter Saf-Cacao opened bidding for the company’s assets after the government turned down a request from lenders to halt the shipper’s collapse, according to two people familiar with the matter. Banks have made little progress in their attempts to prevent the demise of Saf-Cacao, one of Ivory Coast’s top cocoa exporters, which was placed under liquidation by a court in the country’s city of San Pedro on July 18 upon the request of industry regulator Le Conseil du Cafe Cacao, Bloomberg News reported.

Uncertainty in the run-up to Italy’s budget in October is leaving the country’s assets looking exposed. As the populist coalition government prepares its first finance bill, there is once again an uneasy tone to trade, keeping the FTSE MIB out of a broader rally on global markets, while its sovereign debt is also being sold off, sending yields higher, the Financial Times reported. The pattern comes as the ruling parties continue their budget negotiations. The League and Five Star parties are united in power but have opposing policy aims, adding to the uncertainty.

Bank of Cyprus has struck a deal to sell a €2.7bn non-performing loan portfolio in a “transformative” deal for the bank that was one of the highest-profile casualties of the eurozone crisis, the Financial Times reported. The agreement to sell the loan portfolio to Apollo Global, the US-based private equity firm, for €1.4bn comes as European banks have ramped up sales of bad loans following pressure from the ECB to clean up balance sheets.

Breaking the direct link between eurozone countries and their banking systems is the major goal of the European banking union, the Financial Times reported. But the risks borne by governments and banks continue to be closely connected, as recent events in Italy have shown. Two key elements of the banking union are still missing: a European deposit insurance scheme and a system of regulation for banks’ sovereign exposures. Unfortunately, the political situation in Italy could slow down eurozone reform. But allowing that to happen would be a big mistake.