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Your support makes all the difference.Bohn to quit as Porsche chief
Arno Bohn, management board chairman of Porsche, the German sports car maker, is to leave the company next Wednesday because of differences of opinion over business.
Porsche's supervisory board will propose Wendelin Wiedeking as his successor at its meeting tomorrow.
KIO investment
The Kuwait Investment Office is investing dollars 2.4bn ( pounds 1.4bn) in Grupo Torras, its indebted Spanish holding company. Some dollars 1bn will go towards paying Torras's debts, now around dollars 1.3bn, and dollars 1.4bn will be used to recapitalise the group.
More rate cuts
More mortgage rate reductions for new borrowers were made by the Royal Bank of Scotland, down to 9.95 per cent, National & Provincial and Newcastle Building Societies to 9.99 per cent, and the Portman to 10 per cent. The Skipton Building Society, which raised its rate earlier this month, comes down one point to 10.25 per cent.
Pulling ranks
David Hankinson, formerly of Lucas Industries and Rover, has been appointed finance director of Ranks Hovis McDougall, the food manufacturer.
BT upgrade
Ericsson and BT have signed a pounds 250m-plus, three-year contract for the continuing modernisation of the BT Network with AXE10 digital local exchanges.
Poor quality
Only 10 per cent of customers are consistently satisfied with the quality of service received from European suppliers, says a study of 1,000 leading companies for the European Logistics Association by AT Kearney.
Perrier layoffs
Perrier, the French mineral water group recently bought by Nestle, is to shed 750 of its 5,400 workers.
BZW job cuts
Barclays de Zoete Wedd is cutting 23 jobs from money trading operations and European sales in its markets division.
Eastern Block
(First Edition)
Western medium-sized companies are being hindered in their attempts to break into central and eastern European markets by a lack of assistance and understanding of their needs, according to a reprot by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
World markets
New York: Foreign exchange turbulence and concern over corporate results left the Dow Jones average down 2.16 points at 3,278.69 at the close.
Tokyo: Closed (holiday).
Hong Kong: Late bargain- hunting halted a slide, leaving the Hang Seng index 27.54 points lower at 5,712.64.
Sydney: Falls on other markets triggered a 15.8-point loss by the All Ordinaries to 1,505.
Johannesburg: With blue chips still strong, the overall index put on 10 points to 3,183.
Paris: Buffeted by the battle raging over the French franc, the CAC-40 index swung up and down before settling at 1,828.93, up 3.88 points.
Frankfurt: A session dominated by the turmoil in foreign exchange markets ended with the DAX 7.49 firmer at 1,557.83.
Zurich: The strong Swiss franc - a result of tensions in the EMS - helped the index to climb 5.9 points to 1,162.6.
Milan: Continuing gloom cut the MIB 1.38 per cent to 716.
London: Report, page 33.
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