Business and City in Brief

DUNNE OUT OF GROUP

Ben Dunne, the Irish supermarket chief who was involved last year in a drugs and call-girl scandal, has been forced out of his position as managing director of the Irish family-controlled retail group, Dunnes Stores.

MARKETSCOPE

Standard & Poor's is launching an information service on European equities, MarketScope, which will be updated throughout the day. Matthew Windridge, a former partner of Quilter Goodison, is director ofresearch.

JOINT POST APPLICATION

News Corporation said its chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, had signed an agreement with Abe Hirschfeld, operator of the New York Post, to apply jointly to a bankruptcy court today to transfer management of the paper to News.

GULF REACTS

(First Edition)

Foreign ministers of the Gulf Co-operation Council representing six Arab Gulf states will meet on 4 April to prepare a strategy to impose energy taxes on crude oil imports, according to a Qatari news agency

TODAY: 29.3.93

Interims: Lucas Industries, MY Holdings, Scottish Asian Investments.

Finals: Aspen Communications, Avonmore Foods, Brown & Jackson, Computer People, Edinburgh Fund Managers, Forth Ports, Hickson International, Inchcape, Linread, Macallan Glenlivet, Needler Group, Pearson.

TOMORROW: 30.3.93

Interims: Allied London Properties, Burn Stewart Distillers, Lloyd Thompson Group, Portugal Fund.

Finals: Bennett and Fountain, BLP Group, Brake Bros, Consolidated Venture Trust, Croda International, EBC Group, Estates and General, Fact (EW), Henderson Highland Trust, Hughes (TJ), Jeyes Group, Kinta Kellas, Le Creuset, Macfarlane Group, Mayflower Corp, Nestor BNA, Newman Tonks, Psion, Rhino Group, Taylor Woodrow, Tibbett and Britten, TT Group, Waterford Wedgwood.

WEDNESDAY: 31.3.93

Norman Lamont, Chancellor, and Robin Leigh-Pemberton, Governor of the Bank of England, give evidence on the Budget to the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee.

Interims: Adwest Group, Bridport-Gundry, Sinclair Goldsmith.

Finals: Arcon International Resources, Ash & Lacy, Ayrshire Metal Products, Baird (William), Boxmore International, Broadcastle, Calor Group, Central Independent TV, Country Casuals, Culver Holdings, Fife Indmar, Grampian Holdings, Harrisons & Crosfield, Hogg Group, House of Lerose, Hungarian Investment Co., Johnston Group, London Securities, Norman Hay, Ocean Group, QS Holdings, Scholl, Senior Engineering, Taylor Nelson, Tilbury Douglas.

THURSDAY: 1.4.93

Bundesbank council meets.

Interims: Gleeson (MJ).

Finals: Boustead, Burmah Castrol, Fairhaven International, Jacobs (John I), Jorudan (Thomas), Next, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Tanjong, TLS Range, Whatman, World of Leather.

FRIDAY: 2.4.93

UK official reserves for March.

Interims: Baillie Gifford Japan.

Finals: Associated Fisheries, British Dredging, Evered Bardon, Gaskell, Invesco MIM, New Ireland Holdings, Rathbone Brothers, Shorco Group, Tharsis, Ulster TV.