THE upmarket clothes retailer Burberry may face a rebellion over plans to offer its new chief executive, Christopher Bailey, a "golden hello" worth an estimated £20 million.

The Sunday Times reports that the Investment Management Association has urged members to look closely at Mr Bailey's pay and retention package before voting on its directors' pay policies at the company's general meeting on Friday.

The private equity investors who own Phase Eight are mulling a sale of the women's wear chain, which could value it at more than £200m, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Towerbrook Capital Partners is thought to be in the early stages of exploring a sale of the retailer, which has around 300 shops in the UK. Run from London, Phase Eight reported £24m underlying adjusted profits for the year to February 1. Towerbrook bought Phase Eight for a reported £80m in 2011.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that two big investors in Mothercare, Fidelity and Allianz, have backed the decision by directors of the chain to rebuff a £270m takeover bid by America's Destinantion Maternity.

The investors, who control more than 20 per cent of Mothercare's shares in total, reportedly regard the bid as "opportunistic" and "inadequate".

The Mail on Sunday reports that Ofgem, the energy regulator, has told the sector's big six firms including SSE and Scottish Power to hand back £400m in total held in dormant accounts to consumers.

However, it says energy firms reckon only £250m is held in the accounts, some of which may relate to people who moved house or changed supplier.

Insurers facing a £1.2bn bill connected to the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise liner off Italy in 2012 will be monitoring attempts to refloat the vessel that will be made in the coming fortnight, the paper reckons.

Sumdog, the educational software operation run by Edinburgh-based Crocodile Clips, plans to open an office in the US to boost sales to schools in North America.

The Sunday Herald says there are around 4.5 million users in the US for the Sumdog programme, which includes games in maths, reading and writing.