FullSix, a Milan-listed marketing firm in which both WPP and Marco Benatti have substantial stakes, agreed an €85m (£58m) takeover bid from Mr Benatti yesterday. The agreement comes despite a growing list of allegations from WPP that Mr Benatti weaved a web of corruption during his four years as consultant to WPP Italy. And it is likely to trigger renewed demands from WPP that the Italian financial regulator, Consob, investigates FullSix and Mr Benatti for potential conflicts of interest.WPP alleges Mr Benatti channelled new business opportunities into FullSix throughout last year, when he should have been offering them to WPP companies. Amstrad warned that the "inevitable downward pressure on selling prices was an ongoing trend in this industry". The feud between Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP and the sacked head of the advertising giant's Italian arm is set to heat up, as the pair battle over control of a subsidiary company. It will sell its VoIP-enabled phones on a contract basis to telecom companies or service providers rather than through retail channels.The Amstrad chairman said he still expected sales in the second half of its financial year to be better than anticipated.. But it said it had cut costs to help mitigate the impact of price pressure on profits.Sir Alan said the company was preparing for a new generation of "smart phones", which can use Voice-over Internet Protocol software that is slashing the cost of calls for those consumers happy to chat to their friends over a broadband connection.

Meanwhile, the price of set-top boxes is also plunging, contributing to a 12 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £12.5m in the six months to 31 December Sales fared worse, sliding 21 per cent to £49.6m. The man who revels in telling each week's most hapless entrepreneur "You're fired" could have some soul-searching to do after presiding over a poor start to the year for his company. Amstrad, immortalised by its cut-price computers in the 1980s, mainly makes television set-top boxes these days after it was forced to junk production of its e-mailer home videophone. The group revealed last September that it was to stop producing the hybrid phone and e-mail device, which never took off, and yesterday Sir Alan said it was running though its remaining stocks.Far from being the "no-brainer for the consumer" that Sir Alan promised at the e-mailer's launch in March 2000, Amstrad ended up having to slash the price of the device to shift units.At 31 December, it had only "minimal" stocks remaining, which it expected to sell in the second half after reducing the price to just £19.99 from £79.99 at its launch. A prohibition bill was introduced to Congress last week, which would update existing laws to outlaw bets taken over the internet. It also would require credit card companies to disallow money transfers going to offshore gambling sites.But Sportingbet said the bill sat awkwardly with the US stated policy on internet matters and pointed out that Congress might be reluctant to give full debating time to the bill in a year shortened by senatorial elections in November.The group also called on the UK Government to sell licences to online gaming firms and allow them to stay offshore, saying high corporation tax and VAT deterred them from coming onshore A decision is expected in the March budget.. Sir Alan Sugar is not known for his subtle approach.

So he may have missed the irony that Amstrad, the electronics company he set up almost four decades ago, reported a slump in profits yesterday on the very day the business tycoon returned to the airwaves in the second series of BBC's The Apprentice. That meant the number of US sports-betting customers who also played poker rose 30 per cent from the first quarter, offsetting a run of poor sports results.Mr McIver said Sportingbet would be happy if it made £1m from the World Cup, which would double the takings seen last time.The group played down the risk of a US clampdown on online gambling. Bonaire Investment Holdings sold down its stake to 9.4 per cent by placing 17 million shares at 385p. Sportingbet plans to launch a handful of casino games this year to expand its portfolio of sports betting, poker and roulette. Pretax profits leapt 72 per cent to £27m in the second quarter, and the company said it might beat full-year forecasts of £103m in operating profits.Andrew McIver, the finance director, said it was seeing the benefits of its "shared purse" system, which allows players to switch between games. and British Airways' Club lounge alone will take up two of those pitches* The project provides 52,000 jobs, 8,500 of them directly on-site* Spending is currently running at a peak rate of £4m a day* A fully-laden lorry enters the site every 31 seconds. Sportingbet, the online betting and gaming operator, is to launch new casino-style games to broaden its appeal further after seeing profits surge in the second quarter. Its shares dropped 3 per cent to 394p, though, because a major shareholder cashed in some of the shares it received when it sold its Paradise Poker website to Sportingbet for £169m in 2004.

He said that the reason most new airports opened late or over-budget was because their baggage handling systems were only installed right at the end of the construction programme.BA expects to handle about 30,000 passengers a day, 80 per cent of whom will have bought e-tickets and so can check in their own baggage, cutting down queuing times and the need for so many check-in staff.An airport in its own right* The 265-hectare site is the size of Hyde Park* The main terminal building is the size of 52 football pitches...* ... The covered atrium which will link the car park and rail station to the terminal building will feature giant water fountains and marble floors, while giant video screens mounted on the walls will displaying passenger information.Mr Douglas said he was most proud of the automated baggage system, part of which has already been completed and handed over to BAA even though there are still more than two years before the terminal opens. "If we had built T5 to UK construction industry norms, then it would be costing £1bn more than it is," he said.Despite this, little expense is being spared. The £250m baggage handling system is a state-of-the-art facility imported from the Netherlands, while the tracked transit system, which will ferry passengers from departure lounge to plane, has been designed by Bombardier of Canada.