SFO to return to court over Guinness Four.

THE most over-burdened bird in the European telecoms turkey shoot looks to be France Telecom. It has a e4.97bn (pound sterling3.1bn) payment due to Vodafone next month and mounting problems with its investments in Britain's NTL and Germany's MobilCom.

After fresh, sharp falls last week, its shares have slumped 30% this year, almost twice as much as those of rivals Deutsche Telekom and Spain's Telefonica.

The principal cause is a massive cash outflow in coming months as obligations that were built up during a prolonged acquisitions spree fall due. Top of the