March 15 (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

- Britain's small businesses are turning their backs on bank debt. The SME Finance Monitor, the research firm, highlighted a marked decline in the use of external finance over the past six years. http://bit.ly/2FSiRdf

- Adidas AG, said it plans to buy back 3 billion euros ($3.71 billion) worth of its shares worth nearly 9 percent of its share capital by 2021. http://bit.ly/2FTyeSM

The Guardian

- British chancellor Philip Hammond will need to impose tax rises worth at least 30 billion pounds ($41.90 billion) to reach his target of balancing the public finances by 2025, according to a thinktank Institute for Fiscal Studies. http://bit.ly/2GtSqbT

- The UK's supermarket group Morrisons said sales of local suppliers' foods had risen 50 percent in the past two years after signing deals with more than 200 farmers and other local food producers and tailoring stores to regional tastes. http://bit.ly/2FU9TMx

The Telegraph

- BT Group Plc is closing in on a deal with union leaders to shut its final salary pension and transfer workers to a defined contribution scheme, as it attempts to tackle its ballooning funding deficit. http://bit.ly/2FWc2aA

- British insurance company Prudential Plc has unveiled a radical overhaul that will see it split its UK and European businesses from its international ones. http://bit.ly/2FTtE72

Sky News

- Unilever NV , is set to bring the curtain down on nearly a century of corporate history by axing its UK headquarters‎ and consolidating its legal base in the Netherlands. http://bit.ly/2FTAVDX

- Persimmon Plc will appoint Roger Devlin as its new chairman on Thursday as it aims to put a huge executive pay row behind it. http://bit.ly/2FTsYP2

The Independent

- ITN, which makes news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, pays men 19.6 percent more than women, on average, the media company has revealed. https://ind.pn/2Gts8pY

- All 100 Toys R Us stores in the UK will close within six weeks with the loss of 3,000 jobs after administrators failed to find a buyer. Toys R Us (IPO-TOYS.N) collapsed into administration last month and launched a nationwide closing down sale in a bid to bring in some cash. https://ind.pn/2FU5Q2N ($1 = 0.7159 pounds) ($1 = 0.8081 euros) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler)