March 6 (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

- British telecommunications testing firm Spirent Communications ( SPNUF )

has agreed to a 1 billion pound ($1.27 billion) all-cash

takeover from American-based Viavi Solutions ( VIAV ).

- British digital bank Monzo has raised 340 million pounds at a

4 billion pound valuation.

The Guardian

- Reach, the publisher of the Mirror and Express

newspapers, has cut the amount set aside to deal with legal

claims relating to phone hacking and unlawful

information-gathering to 18.2 million pounds.

- Birmingham City council approved a set of cuts that will see

the loss of up to 600 council jobs, arts grants scrapped,

libraries closed and bin collections reduced to fortnightly.

The Telegraph

- More than 100 MPs in the UK have backed powers for Parliament

to block the proposed Abu Dhabi takeover of The Telegraph.

- JO Hambro Capital, a top Currys ( DSITF ) shareholder,

criticised the dismal valuations the London stock market

attaches to businesses, saying Currys ( DSITF ) should be worth far more

than what investors have valued it at.

Sky News

- Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners could revive an

Amsterdam stock market listing, valuing it at well over $15bn as

soon as next month.

- TalkTV, publisher of the Sun and the Times and owned by News

Corp ( NWSA ), is to be taken off air in a move to online-only,

two years on from its launch.

The Independent

- British finance minister Jeremy Hunt will cut social security

contributions by two percentage points, putting an average of

900 pounds a year into the pockets of workers when combined with

a similar move from last November.

$1 = 0.7872 pounds)

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)