Business and City in Brief

Price Waterhouse income steady Price Waterhouse, the chartered accountants and management consultants, announced fee income of pounds 384m for the year to 30 June compared with pounds 383.3m the year before.

The firm said the overall European revenue of Sfr1.93bn ( pounds 965m) could not be compared with previous years because of significant exchange rate changes. Worldwide revenue showed a 2.3 per cent rise to dollars 3.98bn ( pounds 2.5bn).

Walker jury still out The jury in the trial of George Walker and Wilfred Aquilina spent a fourth night in a hotel after failing to reach a verdict. They continue today.

Airline deal The European regional airline British Midland Airways has signed its first code-sharing deal with a Far East carrier, Malaysia Airlines. It said Malaysia would offer flights with British Midland to several British destinations via Heathrow, and British Midland would offer connections with Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur and on to about 40 places in South-east Asia.

Nomura launch Nomura International, the Japanese firm, will set up an international prime brokerage business in London to service European hedge funds.

More cars Car production rose 5.6 per cent in the July-September quarter, according to the Central Statistical Office, taking it to a level 7.7 per cent higher than the same period last year. Output for the home market rose 16 per cent but production for export fell 6.6 per cent. There was a 10 per cent rise in production of commercial vehicles.

Kiam sues Victor Kiam, head of Remington Corporation, is suing the Sunday Times in the High Court over a report that he was facing bankruptcy. Mr Kiam, 67, is famous for appearing in a television advertisement in which he said he liked Remington shavers so much he bought the company.

GM result General Motors reported third- quarter profits roughly in line with expectations, but the company said it was not satisfied with its overall performance. GM made dollars 554m, or 40 cents a share, on worldwide revenues of dollars 34.5bn compared with a loss of dollars 113m a year ago.

Sales in Europe continued to improve. Opel-Vauxhall remained the best-selling line of passenger cars, but problems persisted in North America, where the company lost dollars 328m.

Indian accord India and China will sign an agreement next week to set up banks in each other's country, ending a 32-year dispute in order to improve their bilateral trade, which is expected to hit dollars 1bn this year, diplomats said.

Samsung venture (First Edition) Samsung Electronics of South Korea will invest dollars 30m to build a white goods factory in Thailand. The factory will produce washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators. Samsung already has a plant in Thailand making 500,000 colour television sets and 100,000 VCRs a year.

WORLD MARKETS New York: New evidence of inflationary pressures sent long- term bond interest rates soaring, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 24.89 points to 3,911.15.

Tokyo: Futures-linked buying lifted the Nikkei average 123.83 points to 19,991.9, the day's high.

Hong Kong: Bargain-hunting pushed the Hang seng index up 68.72 points to 9,388.78.

Sydney: Buoyed by a string of portfolio deals, the All Ordinaries firmed 2.9 to 2,016.3.

Johannesburg: Continuing positive sentiment took prices higher for the seventh day running. The index gained 52 points to 5,743.

Paris: The market reversed an early firmer trend to end the day with the CAC-40 index 8.94 points in arrears at 1,867.37.

Frankfurt: Firmer bonds helped the DAX index to 2,069.95, an improvement of 18.79 points.

Zurich: Shares drifted lower after a strong opening. The SPI added 2.01 points to 1,678.06.

Milan: Most activity was concentrated in Fiat as the Mibtel index rose 64 points to 9,954.

London: Report, page 34.