PRESS DIGEST- British Business - Feb 9

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Feb 9 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

Senior officials in the Qatari government are set to challenge the evidence of Carillion Plc directors who at parliamentary hearings this week blamed the Gulf state for the construction company's demise. http://bit.ly/2BP2mgv

Talktalk Telecom Group Plc is forming a new company with Infracapital, an investor in European infrastructure, to connect full fibre to more than three million homes and businesses in mid-sized towns and cities. http://bit.ly/2BNk43T

The Guardian

The government has launched a crackdown on unpaid internships, sending more than 550 warning letters to companies and setting up enforcement teams to tackle repeat offenders. http://bit.ly/2BM6f5P

The Bank of England has signalled that an interest rate hike is coming from as early as May and that there are more to come, as the economy accelerates with help from booming global growth. http://bit.ly/2BPkQh3

The Telegraph

British Land Co Plc plans to transform a southeast London estate which it has bought for more than 100 million pounds ($139.24 million) as it expands its ownership of sites near the new Crossrail line. http://bit.ly/2BMPLKQ

BT Group Plc's mobile arm EE is to offer broadband to more than half a million of Britain's most remote homes, in a sign of increasing convergence of the telecoms giant's fixed line and wireless services. http://bit.ly/2BRtU4W

Sky News

Manchester United Plc have posted a half-year loss, blaming an overhaul of the United States tax system by Donald Trump. http://bit.ly/2BMsUz9

Hilco Capital, a firm which specialises in investments in distressed retailers, is among a small group of bidders plotting a rescue deal for the British operations of Toys R Us Inc (IPO-TOYS.N). http://bit.ly/2BMMzz0

The Independent

The RAC is urging the UK's biggest supermarkets to cut the price of petrol by 3 pence a litre, reflecting a recent slide in the price of crude oil. https://ind.pn/2BRuHCW ($1 = 0.7182 pounds) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler)