He is also a director of a division of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant.. Unilever is to "reposition" Slimfast, its troubled diet foods business, emphasising its healthy status in an attempt to fight back against the success of the Atkins diet. Unilever blamed the success of Atkins, a diet that involves eating protein but not carbohydrates and has been endorsed by celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston.However, Slimfast will launch new products, including a soup and a snack, in the next few weeks and will start a marketing campaign to emphasise how much more healthy it is than Atkins.Antony Burgmans, Unilever's co-chairman, is to visit Slimfast's headquarters in Florida next month to oversee the business's fightback. "We have an innovative programme planned with new products," he said.Among the weapons Slimfast is likely to deploy will be health experts praising its advantages over the Atkins diet. There has already been a lot of publicity about the potential ill-effects of cutting out carbohydrates, but Slimfast will also push its view that weight loss is more sustainable using its gradual, 10-week slimming programme rather than losing 4kg in two weeks under Atkins."You don't have to be a scientist to see this [rapid weight loss] is not sustainable," said Mr Burgmans, who pointed out that Slimfast conducted rigorous medical tests a few years ago, before it was bought by Unilever, to prove its health benefits.Slimfast may also look for celebrity endorsements.
"The slimming market is somewhat susceptible to fashion," he said.. Cable & Wireless's retreat from the US could see its entire £1.6bn cash reserve wiped out, plunging the company into a fresh crisis. "The costs could exceed the cash it has in the bank," said one senior private equity industry source.City analysts had previously estimated that it would cost £700m to close the US operation. Richard Lapthorne, C&W's new chairman, has refused to put a cost on the exit for fear of prejudicing the sale.C&W is still hoping to find a company that would be willing to take the US businesses off its hands. One source said that because of the liabilities, C&W would have to pay a potential bidder up to £800m. On top of this, the businesses aren't expected to break even for at least two years, based on optimistic projections. So whoever bought the companies would have to commit to spending millions to keep them going.Some bidders may consider putting the businesses into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection so that restructuring could take place without pressure from creditors.Earlier this year, Level 3 Communications, a US telecoms company, held talks with C&W about buying the businesses or forming a joint venture.
But Level 3 is thought to have pulled out over concerns about the liabilities.US telecoms companies Verizon and SBC Communications are also thought to be examining C&W's prospectus.C&W's problems are a hangover from the regime of its former chief executive, Graham Wallace, who lavished £9bn on companies in the US. He predicted a sudden upsurge in demand for telecoms services related to the internet but his expectations were too optimistic.. National Grid Transco's directors may be forced to surrender their executive bonuses as the company faces a potential fine of up to £400m because of Thursday's power failure in London. That will clearly depend on the investigation and what was at fault."Mr Urwin received a £300,000 bonus last year on top of his base salary of £600,000, giving him a total take-home package, including other benefits, of £924,000. The company's eight executive directors together received bonuses totalling £1.4m.Mr Urwin said that in principle "all and any bonus" was at risk.The pay-outs will depend on the results of the Ofgem probe, which will be passed to the energy minister, Stephen Timms, later this year.Callum McCarthy, the chief executive of Ofgem, said: "In the light of ...
our own investigation we will consider if [NGT] carried out its legal obligations to maintain the grid to the required standard."If Ofgem finds that NGT was negligent, it has the power to fine the company up to 10 per cent of its UK turnover. As NGT generates £4bn a year, the blackout could lead to the largest-ever fine demanded by a UK regulator.NGT could also have financial penalties imposed as part of its next five-yearly regulatory review, which begins in 2006, a spokesman for Ofgem said.NGT is also caught up in the investigation into the blackouts that crippled New York earlier this month. The company owns an electricity distribution company, Niagara Mohawk, which was initially accused of causing some of the power cuts. However, indications now are that NGT will escape much of the blame.In London, Mayor Ken Livingstone said that underinvestment and deregulation were to blame for the cuts.But NGT said that "freak coincidence" caused what was the worst UK blackout for more than a decade. Early indications are that the blackouts were triggered by two separate faults.
