Business and City in Brief
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Your support makes all the difference.SPENDING ON R&D DOWN 4%
Business spending on research and development in Britain dropped by 4 per cent in 1991, largely because of cuts in government support for the defence industry.
Total spending on in-house R&D fell from pounds 8.1bn in 1990 to pounds 7.7bn in 1991, according to a survey of 120 companies which account for nearly 90 per cent of all British R&D.
EXPORT WARNING
UK exporters face 'severe capacity restrictions' if the Government does not revise its policy on reinsurance, Trade Indemnity warned.
COMEX MERGER
New York's Commodity Exchange has accepted in principle a Chicago Board of Trade proposal to affiliate the two exchanges. Under the proposal, Comex will be owned by the CBOT but will continue to operate as a separate exchange.
TATE TALK
American trade union representatives plan to speak at Tate & Lyle's annual meeting tomorrow in an attempt to highlight an industrial dispute at Staley, Tate's US subsidiary.
DUTCH EXCHANGE
The Dutch drinks group Koninklijke Distilleerderijen Erven Lucas Bols and the food group Koninklijke Wessanen announced terms of their merger, which involves a share exchange offer made by Wessanen for all the shares in Bols. The new company's name will be Bols Wessanen.
SET FOR TAURUS
The London Stock Exchange has appointed Bowring Financial & Professional Insurance Brokers to undertake the research, development, negotiation and implementation of insurance for Taurus.
BOMBAY GAS
British Gas has won a pounds 100m contract to supply natural gas in Bombay. It signed an agreement with the gas authority of India for a joint venture.
FLYING SOFTWARE
British Aerospace announced a joint venture with Hindustan Aeronautics for a computer software deal. The software will be written in Bangalore and sent by satellite and fibre optic links to BAe's factory in Warton, Lancashire.
CHANGING GEAR
Ferdinand Porsche is stepping down as supervisory board chairman of the German luxury car maker, and his father, Ferry Porsche, is giving up his vote on the board.
RHONE SUCCESS
The French state's domestic sale of 2.7 million shares in the drug company Rhone-Poulenc was 4.75 times oversubscribed.
WORLD MARKETS
NEW YORK: Stronger bond prices helped the Dow Jones Average to jump 35.39 points to 3,292.20 by the close.
JOHANNESBURG: In directionless trading, the overall index closed 5 points off at 3,399.
HONG KONG: Holiday.
TOKYO: The 225-share Nikkei average was down 49.36 points at 16,287.45.
SYDNEY: The All Ordinaries index rose 0.4 points to 1,523.4.
BRUSSELS: The BEL 20 index fell 2.87 points to 1,169.45.
FRANKFURT: In thin trading, the DAX index lost 18.40 points to 1,569.24.
MADRID: The general index fell 2.08 points to 230.10.
MILAN: The MIB index fell 2.07 per cent to 1,042.
PARIS: The first session of the February account ended sharply lower as a cut in interest rates was seen delayed by lack of agreement in German wage talks. The CAC-40 index fell 40.52 points to 1,779.90.
ZURICH: The Swiss Market Index fell 17.3 points to 2,085.4.
LONDON: Report, page 23.
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