— Vincent Bolloré, the chairman of Havas, the French advertising group, has said that he is unlikely to call for another vote to gain two seats on the Aegis board this year because he is too busy. Speaking at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, Mr Bolloré, who has a 29.9 per cent stake in the British advertising group, said his time will be taken up over the next year launching an electric car. He commented that advertising budgets will eventually be hit by the credit crunch. “For the moment, Havas has not suffered at all. I believe the crisis will happen. We are prepared for it.”

— Springer Science & Media, the business-to-business publishing group owned jointly by the private equity groups Candover and Cinven, is still considering a bid for Informa despite the exhibitions group receiving an approach on Tuesday from private equity rivals. Springer, which previously made an offer in 2006, has been looking closely at Informa, the shares of which have fallen on concerns over its high debt levels. Private equity houses, including Providence and Carlyle, are currently in talks with Informa that could see them make a joint offer for the group. However, could private equity raise the necessary £3.5billion-plus in the current challenging market?

— Guy Hands must be doing something right. EMI Music is set to have the top two songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, courtesy of Coldplay and Katy Perry. And it is about time too, as this will mark the first time that the music group's Capitol Records has had the top two slots on the Hot 100 in the same week since September 2, 1967, when Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe was at No 1 and the Beatles' All You Need is Love was in second spot. Coldplay will top the US singles chart with Viva La Vida and Katy Perry, a new Capitol signing, has seen her song I Kissed A Girl reach No 2. Coldplay will be the first UK act to top the chart since the Spice Girls.

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