they are going to have to fight very hard to get this merger through.”Carlton and Granada told the OFT that they cannot increase the price of advertising as supply – the number of slots available – is fixed by regulators, so combining the companies would not increase their market power.The OFT said: “Even if total ITV advertising airtime were fixed, it is possible that the merger would create the incentive and opportunity for the prices of many advertising slots to be increased.”The OFT’s verdict on pricing and the London market challenges Carlton and Granada’s attempt to keep all their operations in the combined company. Lawyers said the OFT view pointed to a London franchise and one of the two sales houses having to be put in to a separate company.. Glaxosmithkline has set targets to raise executive pay packages, declaring itself unrepentant over last year’s failed attempt to double its chief executive’s remuneration. He refers to the furore over plans – suggested, then withdrawn, last November – that would have doubled the maximum total annual package for Jean-Pierre Garnier, the chief executive, to £12m.He argues there is a “competitive gap” between pay at GSK and its global peers. “Following last November’s consultations with shareholders and adverse publicity in the UK, the board has not made any adjustment to close this competitive gap in long-term incentive remuneration. The remuneration committee will continue to monitor closely the quantum and trend of our competitors’ awards and will consider carefully and open-mindedly what should be done.”The policy set out in the annual report would commit the company to targeting senior employees’ pay at a level “between the median and 65th percentile of that available among those in comparable roles” – a significant advance on current levels.Under the withdrawn package, Mr Garnier would have been granted options of 1.6 million shares, twice as many as in 2001, and up to 400,000 bonus shares, almost three times the maximum number he can currently earn.

In the event, his total pay last year was £2.5m, down from £3.5m in 2001 when he received a one-off bonus for the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. Mr Garnier did not exercise any share options in 2002, because most were priced above the prevailing GSK share price.Sir Richard Sykes, who stepped down as chairman last June, was given an extra £300,000 for his pension policy “in recognition of his services to the company” Sir Richard’s pension pot value is £15.3m.. Sportingbet, the online betting group, has been told to repay £1m of allegedly stolen money, which was put on Australian horses last year. The company’s Australian subsidiary, Number One Betting Shop, took the telephone wagers.Dennis Craig Telford has been charged with stealing £8m from the company.Sportingbet said yesterday its next financial results would include a one-off charge of £1.3m to cover the return of funds, interest and legal costs. The company said it no longer accepts bets from “high rollers”.The courtroom defeat – which Sportingbet said it would appeal – is the second piece of bad news from the company in as many days.

On Thursday it warned that a run of good luck for its punters would hit profits.The shares, down 3.5p to 22.5p yesterday, have lost 37 per cent of their value this week.. Laura D’andrea Tyson, the management expert given the task of drawing up a list of 100 potential new non-executive directors to diversify UK boardrooms, has formally abandoned the project in favour of a wider review of the issue. Ms Tyson, an American who is Dean of London Business School, said recently she “sincerely” doubted whether a list of 100 candidates would ever materialise. Instead, she said then that she was “looking at the kind of positions such people might hold, as opposed to the people”.The planned list, however, had also met with criticism from executives in the City as well as from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Ms Tyson was unavailable for comment yesterday.The Department of Trade & Industry, which recently insisted that it was still expecting a 100-name strong list, played the move down yesterday. “It was always on the basis that the group would be set up and that they’d look at it.

We’ve been fairly relaxed about the whole thing,” a spokesman said.The project came into being after Derek Higgs’ review of non-executive directors suggested the formation of a taskforce to identify candidates from the non-commercial sectors.The taskforce, which held its first meeting this week, includes some high-profile members such as: Baroness Hogg, 3i’s chairman; Karan Bilimoria, the chief executive of Cobra Beer; Pehr Gyllenhammar, Aviva’s chairman; Julie Mellor, the chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission and Charles Miller Smith, the chairman of ScottishPower.. Britons’ confidence in the economic outlook slumped to its lowest level for seven years as fears over the outcome of the Iraqi conflict hit home, a new survey showed yesterday. Optimism about the future of the economy fell one point this month to minus 34, the lowest since September 1990 during the build-up to the Gulf War.The Conservatives seized on the figures, blaming government policies on pensions and taxation for the fall in confidence.Michael Howard, the shadow Chancellor, said: “The reality is that confidence is falling because people’s confidence in the Chancellor is falling. Savers and pensions have all been hit by Labour’s policies.”Economists said it was hard to tell how much of the deterioration was because of the war and how much was linked to the weakening economy.John Butler, a UK economist at HSBC, said the detailed survey showed households now had the least inclination to save than at any time since 1981.”That’s not exactly a consumer that is starting to retrench,” he said. “One would have expected confidence to soften given the doom and gloom but is far from a collapse and could just prove temporary.”Mr Butler said he was more concerned by the impact that the mountain of debt consumers have taken on would have on consumer spending next year.”The build-up of debt will cause an exaggerated slowdown in spending as unemployment rises and real disposable income growth slows,” he said.But Charlie Bean, the chief economist at the Bank of England, yesterday moved to allay fears, saying a sharp fall in house prices would not necessarily trigger a fall in household spending.