Britain's most powerful shareholder group has said it has concerns about executive pay levels at Barclays Plc, adding to growing criticism over a 17 million pound award for Chief Executive Bob Diamond, Reuters reported. IVIS, the shareholder advisory service of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) - whose roughly 440 members own about 20 percent of the FTSE All-Share index - said it had issued an "amber top" warning on Barclays' remuneration, which indicates it has some concerns. A red top warning signals its most serious criticism about an issue.

Thomas Cook is close to striking a £1.2bn refinancing deal that will give the troubled travel group two more years' breathing space to turn round its business, The Guardian reported. A consortium of 17 banks including Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays is expected to approve an extension of loans until 2015. Although the conditions are likely to be stringent, with higher interest rates and the lenders taking a significant stake in the company, the deal is regarded as good news by Thomas Cook.

European rules on state aid have jeopardised small UK companies’ access to venture capital funding worth hundreds of millions of pounds each year, placing further strain on a sector already starved of credit, the Financial Times reported. Under a measure included in the Finance Bill, venture capital trusts that invest in small growth companies could lose generous tax benefits as a result of a new cap on state-backed investment sources. At present, VCTs offer 30 per cent upfront tax relief on investments of up to £200,000 a year, as well as tax-free dividends and capital gains.

Video games seller Game Group's British stores were sold to investment firm OpCapita on Sunday, safeguarding nearly 3,200 jobs, the collapsed retailer's administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said. The private equity firm, which bought electrical goods retailer Comet last year, will buy all 333 of Game's British shops that have remained open during its administration, Reuters reported. It will also seek to re-employ a small number of staff who previously worked at Game's head office but received redundancy notices last week, it said in a joint statement with PwC.

British private investment firm OpCapita has submitted a renewed bid to acquire parts of video games retailer Game out of administration, a source familiar with the situation said, Reuters reported. The source said on Thursday OpCapita, which earlier this year acquired British electricals chain Comet from Kesa , was interested on taking on the 333 Game stores in Britain that remain trading. Game collapsed into administration on Monday after failing to pay its second-quarter rent bill.

Abu Dhabi has discussed a £10bn investment into Royal Bank of Scotland, as part of a complex transaction that would help pave the way for the government’s eventual exit, the Financial Times reported. The investment has been debated in the course of long-running talks between UK government officials and potential investors in both RBS and Lloyds, Britain’s two big part-nationalised banks. The discussions have taken place at regular intervals over the past three years, according to people close to the discussions.

British video games retailer Game has collapsed into administration, the latest household name to fall by the wayside in the consumer downturn, Reuters reported. The loss-making company, which employs 10,000 staff in 1,270 stores in nine European countries and Australia, said on Monday it had appointed PwC as administrator after failing to find a buyer. PwC immediately closed 277 of Game's 609 stores in Britain and Ireland, making 2,104 of 5,521 staff redundant.

The British government said Wednesday that it was sticking to its austerity program as it presented a budget of tax and benefit changes intended to spur economic growth. The opposition criticized it as benefiting higher earners, the International Herald Tribune reported. George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, said that the government’s plan for reducing the budget deficit was on track and that it was the only way for Britain to retain relatively low interest payments on its debt. For now, he said, Britain is expected to avoid falling back into a recession.

Nortel Networks Inc, a former telecoms company that is liquidating in bankruptcy, won a dismissal of some claims by European affiliates that were seeking a large chunk of the company's $9 billion cash pile, Reuters reported. Nortel's British, Irish and French affiliates had sought more than $3 billion, claiming Nortel Networks Inc has breached its fiduciary duties to the European businesses by stripping them of cash and leaving them insolvent. A Delaware bankruptcy court dismissed those claims in part because Nortel Networks, or NNI, was not a director of the European affiliates.

Consumers expect their finances to get worse in the coming year but are slightly more willing to spend money on major purchases as worries about job security are easing, a survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. Markit's headline Household Finance Index dipped to 37.8 in March from February's 14-month high of 38.7, and well below the 50 level which would mark an improvement in Britons' finances.