Weekend Round-Up: December 20, 2009

Sunday Times
Office for National Statistics data suggests recession already over
Economists at the ONS are expected to revise their estimates of the fall in GDP for the Q3 of 2009 and predict the country to go into growth in t he last quarter of the year.

British hip pioneer nets a fortune in £60m sale
An Engineer who started a joint replacement business up while as a research assistant at Imperial College London has sold it to US healthcare giant Procter & Gamble.

Euromoney's top brass in line for £30m windfall
The business publisher will next month ask shareholders to back a bonus scheme for top 150 employees which becomes payable if the company hits £100m profit by 2013.

Observer
Let's face the music and sell: Citigroup lines up buyers for EMI
Terra Firma boss Guy Hands faces mounting pressure to sell the troubled music company to one of the suitors Citi is lining up to pay back loans made to him to buy it in 2007.

Big four accountants face call for fees inquiry
Politicians and city pundits are concerned that the four top accountants, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, will be unable to maintain their independence after receiving millions for auditing all but one of the FTSE 100 companies.

Sunday Telegraph
Foreign bankers start to flee UK bonus tax
Senior directors at city firms have received requests from US, French, Spanish and German staff to be returned to their home countries.

Independent on Sunday
Goldman Sachs threatens Spanish move
The investment bank is threatening to move 20 per cent of its London staff to Spain in protest to the Treasury's windfall tax on staff bonuses. The bank is the biggest contributor from the financial services sector to the government in terms of corporation tax.