PRESS DIGEST-British Business - March 26

March 26 (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 Financial Reporting Council has fined accounting giant PwC 2.9 million pounds ($3.75 million) in relation to the audit of Wyelands Bank for its 2019 financial year, the regulator said in a statement.

- Segro SGRO.L, which historically offered data centres equipped only with power connections, has formed a joint venture with Oaktree Capital Management backed Pure Data Centres to develop a 1-billion-pound data centre west of London to tap into rapid growth in demand for computing power needed for artificial intelligence.

The Guardian

- The chief executive officer of European home improvement retailer Kingfisher KGF.L, which runs DIY stores across Europe, called on Rachel Reeves to reconsider planned tax increases for retailers before Wednesday's spring statement, saying the industry is just as innovative on AI and robotics as U.S. technology firms which could be handed tax cuts.

The Telegraph

- British finance minister Rachel Reeves will preside over 36 billion pounds of tax rises in a single week as part of a record raid on businesses and households including a National Insurance increase, a freeze on income tax thresholds and a rise in stamp duty.

- SSE has added to pressure on Heathrow after confirming that key electricity supplies into the airport continued uninterrupted last week despite the fire that wiped out a nearby National Grid substation.

Sky News

- Rachel Reeves will unveil further welfare cuts in her spring statement after being told the reforms announced last week will save less than with the Office for Budget Responsibility estimating the value of the cuts at 3.4 billion pounds.

- Britain gave the green light on Tuesday to a new 10-billion-pound road tunnel for the River Thames in southeast England, in its latest backing for an infrastructure project to help revive a sluggish economy.

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