Analysts warned that the reopening of the energy markets tomorrow would be critical as they assessed how well – or poorly – the system had coped over the weekend. On Friday, wholesale gas prices for delivery the next day rocketed by 70 per cent to 73p per therm, twice the average price last month.
The UK generates around a third of its electricity from gas-fired power stations, which means that higher gas prices lead to higher electricity prices on the wholesale market, and if sustained, for consumers and businesses as well. Last week, electricity prices for the week ahead jumped by a quarter to almost £50 per MWh, the highest level since March as a result.Utility bills have already increased by around a fifth over the past 18 months and are still rising. Scottish and Southern Energy and npower last week announced double-digit rises for domestic electricity and gas bills from January.Jeremy Nicholson from the Energy Intensive Users Group said: “Industry is already facing the highest electricity and gas prices in Europe this winter. Any further increases will add to the pain.”The weather has been milder than average so far this winter. But the minimum temperature in London is forecast to drop to 3C tomorrow, down from 14C on Friday, and colder than average for this time of year.Prices also rose last week because the Theddlethorpe gas terminal on the Lincolnshire coast, which handles around 10 per cent of daily gas consumption, was due to shut for maintenance over the weekend.Craig Lowrey, from EIC, an energy consultancy, said that there was more market nervousness than normal about how the gas pipeline network could cope this winter. Falling gas reserves in the North Sea mean that the UK needs to import more gas from mainland Europe, but enough new pipelines to transport this gas will not be ready for several years.”Concerns over the reliability of the gas network have led to sharp price increases,” said Mr Lowrey.

“There is a fear that gas supplies from the Continent cannot be relied upon. If there are problems dealing with the increased demand – for example, in terms of supply reliability – then it can act as a barometer for the rest of the winter and market nerves can intensify Monday morning will be a key time.”. Just as his most famous creation – Julius the monkey – celebrates his 10th birthday, the designer Paul Frank, has resigned from the company that bears his name. Paul Frank Sunich, to give him his full name, quit last week, giving no reason for his departure.

The company will continue to be run by its two co-founders, John Oswald and Ryan Heuser. In a statement, Paul Frank Industries said that the 38-year-old Mr Sunich would remain “a significant stakeholder”.
His departure comes at an embarrassing time for the company. On Friday it celebrated the 10th anniversary of Julius the monkey, the cartoon character that is featured on many of Paul Frank’s products. These have proved particularly popular among girls and young woman.Mr Sunich, from Huntington Beach, California, came up with the design when he was an art student trying to make cheap, waterproof wallets to sell to surfers.It took two years for the products to catch on among a wider market and, with investments from the other two partners, Paul Frank Industries was created in 1997. The company later expanded into clothing, backpacks and accessories.

It now boasts more than $40m (£23m) of turnover and a total of 14 stores including branches in London, Tokyo and Seoul. As well as Julius, the company’s animal characters now include a giraffe called Clancy and Ellie the elephant.If Paul Frank Industries continues to thrive, it will join the likes of Jil Sander, Helmut Lang and Roland Mouret as fashion companies that have carried on after their eponymous founder has left.. The Government is set to inject around £2bn to help plug the Royal Mail’s gaping pension-fund deficit. Bosses at the state-owned postal service are understood to be confident that the Government has listened to their concerns about the £4bn black hole in the final-salary pension scheme and that it will help out with the cash injection.. French glass maker Saint Gobain will this week increase its takeover offer for BPB by around £200m, though the bid will be well short of the £4bn the British plasterboard group believes it is worth.

The revised offer – which follows the French company’s rejected 720p-per-share bid – will be pitched at around 760p per share. BPB says it will reject any offers of less than 800p.
Saint Gobain will meet BPB shareholders tomorrow and during the rest of the week. Under Takeover Panel rules it must submit a revised offer by Friday.Jean-Louis Beffa, chief executive of Saint Gobain, is said to be prepared to offer Mr Cousins and other senior executive directors a place on its board in return for their recommendation of a revised offer.But Mr Beffa will have no hesitation in pursuing a hostile bid without the BPB board’s support. However, if BPB shareholders hold out for the 800p the company’s directors are demanding, Saint Gobain directors will this week tell them that they are ready to walk away.Shareholders have until 2 December to decide whether to accept Saint Gobain’s bid.Relations between the two companies have all but broken down since Saint Gobain lodged its surprise bid in July, while BPB directors were watching England play Australia in the Ashes. BPB, which operates a UK joint venture with Saint Gobain, has complained about being ambushed with an unexpected bid, while the French have accused their British counterparts of stonewalling them ever since.BPB was attacked by Saint Gobain for offering greatly enhanced cash payouts to shareholders as part of its defence strategy.Unusually in a bid situation, hedge funds have little sway in the decision Five of the top six shareholders in BPB are UK institutions. These hold more than 30 per cent of the company’s shares between them..