Business and City in Brief
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Your support makes all the difference.BOARD PROPOSES ASSET REVALUATIONS
Companies could have to revalue their properties, investments and long-term stocks annually under proposals released yesterday by the Accounting Standards Board. A discussion document suggests that any increase or decrease in value and profits on sales should not be taken to the profit and loss account but shown in the statement of gains.
DIVIDEND MOVES
SmithKline Beecham, the drugs company, and London Forfaiting Company, the trade finance house, have altered their dividend policies because of the proposed Budget changes to advance corporation tax. SmithKline is increasing the fourth quarterly net dividend on its A shares to 2.533p from 2.375p, while London Forfaiting is bringing forward payment of its dividend to beat the 6 April deadline.
CORNHILL TURNAROUND
Cornhill Insurance, owned by Allianz of Germany, has returned a pre-tax profit of pounds 3.1m after a pounds 39.5m loss in 1991.
MMI PROPOSAL
Municipal Mutual Insurance, the troubled council insurer, has proposed a scheme of arrangement to policyholders and creditors to avoid it having to stop paying claims should it become insolvent during the run-off of its past book of business. Councils may be asked to pay back a proportion of their paid claim settlements.
TEMPLETON DEVELOPS
Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust is to raise a further pounds 85m to invest in Brazil, the Philippines and other developing economies.
GPA SUED FOR dollars 550m
GPA Group is being sued for dollars 550m by the US aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas in a dispute over long-range MD-11 jets. The Shannon-based aircraft leasing group has counter-sued, claiming that the aircraft have failed to perform against specification.
GM MEN LEAVE
Six General Motors executives who had been working with Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arrortua before he resigned to join Volkswagen have also resigned and are likely to join him at the German group.
FLOAT GOES AHEAD
The Government will proceed with the flotation of Northern Ireland Electricity in the summer. The sale does not include the power stations, which have already been acquired by companies including British Gas.
US ORDERS UP
Orders for durable goods in the US rose 2.2 per cent in February after falling a revised 2.3 per cent in January. A strong increase in aircraft orders led the upturn.
CHEAPER POWER
Southern Electricity is to cut electricity prices by 2.5 per cent for all domestic and business tariff customers on 1 April.
WORLD MARKETS
NEW YORK: Further selling of drug shares unsettled the market. By the close the Dow Jones Average was down 16.48 points at 3,445.38.
TOKYO: Heavy selling by dealers clearing positions before the end of the financial year on March 31 pushed the Nikkei 225 down 40.93 points to 18,450.69.
HONG KONG: Positive results from several large companies drove the Hang Seng index sharply higher. It closed at 6,212.19, up 94.24 points.
SYDNEY: Lack of clear direction left many investors sidelined. The All Ordinaries index closed 3.5 points higher at 1,663.1.
FRANKFURT: Uncertainty over Russia kept investors cautious, but the DAX index still managed a rise of 11.01 points to 1,659.45.
AMSTERDAM: The Russian situation worried traders, and the EOE index closed 1.51 points down at 314.12.
MILAN: Concern about political instability pushed the MIB index down 0.28 per cent to 1,074.
PARIS: Lacking significant news, the CAC-40 index closed 2.39 points up at 1,954.57.
LONDON: Report, page 32.
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