Cityblogger regrets the situation that shareholders of ScS Upholstery - yet another victim of the credit crunch – find themselves in.

Now admittedly, Cityblogger isn’t a keen shopper and particularly dislikes the type of retail offerings where one is pounced on and wrestled to the ground by four salesmen as soon as one steps foot over the threshold. He used to avoid Courts like the plague for that same reason and he similarly shuns the delights of DFS.

But he has reserved a small smattering of respect for ScS, given that, until now at least, it has weathered the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune that did for its competitors, Courts, Furnitureland and now Sleep Depot. But, alas, now its fate too hangs in the balance.

Shares in the furniture retailer were suspended this morning at 6.5p following news that ScS investors are likely to lose most of what's left of their investment if a deal with an unknown purchaser goes through. ScS says that it has received an approach to acquire its entire share capital, but that as so much additional working capital funding is needed the deal may lead to “only negligible value being attributed to the shares”. Oh dear.

One of ScS’s problems is that furniture suppliers and retailers are finding it impossible to get credit insurance and this is placing a strain on working capital needs. The shares are already down by 97 per cent in the last 12 months, plagued by a number of profit warnings this year.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the City, as the oil price continues to be a burden on business, City insiders are scoffing at Gordon Brown’s clumsy attempts over the weekend to get OPEC to increase productivity. “PM – in your dreams!” comments David Buik at BGC Partners. “Geo-political problems will continue to underwrite the price of oil.” Certainly, a decision by Saudi Arabia to pump more oil has still failed to push prices down. In fact Stena Line told Radio 4 this morning that it has decided to slow down its Ireland ferries and add 16 minutes to the journey to save on fuel!

On the bright side, the FTSE100 is up 0.3 per cent this morning at 5640 boosted by the rising oil price and rumours that Lloyds TSB is circling German bank Dresdner. However, according to Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index, the markets’ performance this week may rest on the interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve, expected later in the week

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