Business and City in Brief
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Your support makes all the difference.OFWAT DRIVE ON SUBSIDIES
Ofwat, the water industry regulator, has appointed KPMG Management as consultants in its drive to stamp out cross-subsidies by water companies.
The watchdog is concerned that some firms use profits from their monopoly water and sewage business to cut prices in other operations below levels that the market would otherwise allow. Water company share prices dipped.
O&Y VOTE
Secured creditors of bankrupt Olympia & York are expected to reject its restructuring plan this week and begin seizing office towers that the Canadian developer had pledged as collateral for their loans. The first of several dozen creditor groups began voting in Toronto yesterday on O&Y's plan, which allows secured 'project lenders' to seize properties rather than participate in a five-year recovery programme.
BSKYB VENTURE
British Sky Broadcasting announced a joint venture with Nickelodeon of the US, the children's channel owned by Viacom, to start a UK satellite children's channel in October.
CLERICAL AHEAD
Clerical Medical, the mutual life insurer, achieved a 14 per cent rise in UK premium income to pounds 681.9m in 1992.
IBC REPAYS
International Business Communications has continued its return to financial health by repaying pounds 1.45m of senior debt, a move that allows it to defer repayment of pounds 6.5m of bonds until 2030.
CHARGES STAND
A New York state judge refused to dismiss charges linking the former US defence secretary Clark Clifford to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal. Mr Clifford, 86, had asked that charges accusing him of helping BCCI hide its illegal ownership of US banks be dropped because of his poor health.
ACQUISITIONS LEAP
The value of worldwide cross- border acquisitions rose 33.6 per cent to dollars 72.63bn last year even though the number of transactions fell 7.6 per cent to 1,180, according to a survey by KPMG Peat Marwick, the accountancy firm.
TANDY CLOSURES
Tandy Corporation, the US's largest seller of consumer electronics, plans to close 100 retail outlets and to create another company to make computers and other electronics. TE Electronics will be publicly traded.
RITZ SUES
The owners of the Ritz Hotel in Paris are suing a Japanese confectionery maker for its use of the Ritz name, a court official said. The Ritz Hotel, with US sister company Ritz Carlton Hotel, lodged a claim for damages of Y20m against Fugetsudo, owner of the Gaufres Ritz Hotel in Kobe, Japan.
REFUGE SALES
(First Edition)
Refuge, the life insurer, lifted new regular premium sales by 8 per cent to pounds 32.1m in 1992. Single premium business rose by 22 per cent to pounds 71.7m.
WHARF DIRECTOR
(First Edition)
Hong Kong's Wharf Holdings has appointed Edward Cheng as finance director. Mr Cheng joined the Wharf Group in 1987 and is also managing director of Wharf Hotel Investments and managing director of Harbour Centre Development.
SALOMON COLLAPSE
(First Edition)
A plea bargain between US federal prosecutors and former Salomon Brothers bond trader Paul Mozer collapsed yesterday as attorneys could not agree on the scope of the document. Mr Mozer had agreed to plead guilty to two counts of making false statements to the government concerning unauthorised bids he directed at a February 1991 Treasury bond auction.
WORLD MARKETS
NEW YORK: Shares made moderate gains, rebounding from last week's selling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 11.08 points at 3,262.75.
TOKYO: Programme buying took the Nikkei off its early low to end 45.14 easier at 16,589.55.
HONG KONG: On overseas buying the Hang Seng index soared 143.54 to 5,673.1.
SYDNEY: Buyers moved in to capitalise on three days of heavy losses. The All Ordinaries added 11.8 to 1,514.1.
BOMBAY: Closed because of riots.
PARIS: Heavy falls in several leading stocks took the CAC- 40 index 38.05 lower to 1,814.58.
FRANKFURT: The DAX edged up 0.44 to 1,531.96.
MILAN: The MIB slipped 1.78 per cent to 992.
LONDON: Report, page 23.
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