BBC staff strike

HUNDREDS of BBC radio production staff are to strike on February 15 and 23, in protest at jobs being merged, their union Bectu announced.

The union said the walkout, by about 500 workers, will hit radio programmes including Radio 1's Chris Moyles show and programmes on Radio 4 including Front Row and You And Yours.

The union is in dispute with the corporation over plans to merge production jobs into a single role.

Union members voted last year by 60 per cent in favour of taking industrial action.

Talks meltdown

MIDLANDS chocolate maker Thorntons broke off takeover talks after its chairman drastically reduced the amount he was willing to pay for control.

Thorntons balked at the offer of £87.4m from executive chairman Christopher Burnett who had previously indicated a bid worth £124m to take the company private.

Centrica soars

THE owner of British Gas added £1bn to its value amid reports of an approach from state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Gazprom would make a bid for a UK power supplier to secure 20 per cent of the domestic gas market.

Extra pub time

BIRMINGHAM pubs chain Mitchells & Butlers made the most of extra trading hours to lift like-for-like sales by four per cent in the last four months. The group, which has 2,000 outlets including All Bar One and Harvester benefited from strong Christmas trading.

in the week before and the week after Christmas, while new licensing hours created a "modest uplift".