Business and City in Brief (CORRECTED)
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Your support makes all the difference.CORRECTION (PUBLISHED 5 JANUARY 1994) INCORPORATED INTO THIS ARTICLE
New jewel in Cookson's crown
Cookson Group, the industrial materials company, is paying pounds 17m for Johnson Matthey's jewellery materials operations in the UK and Irish Republic.
Cookson said the business would complement its recently acquired Knight Stern precious metals fabrication operation. The business employs 280 people and had a turnover of pounds 44m in the year to March.
EBRD takes stake
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will pay dollars 30m to take a 30 per cent equity stake in Hungarian state-owned Egis Gyogyszergyar, the country's biggest pharmaceuticals company.
BM in Scandinavia
British Midland is to take over routes between Heathrow and Bergen and between Glasgow and Copenhagen from Scandinavian Airline Systems on 28 March and 28 February.
US goods growth
Orders for US durable goods rose by a larger-than-expected 2 per cent last month. Coupled with figures showing higher income and spending in November, the data point to sustained fourth-quarter growth.
German price rise
West German consumer prices rose 0.1 per cent in December from November and were up 3.6 per cent year-on-year, according to provisional figures from the Federal Statistics Office. West Germany's final November CPI was up 0.2 per cent from October and up 3.6 per cent year-on-year.
Fall in France
French industrial production fell 0.7 per cent in October from a revised 0.4 per cent in September, the national statistics office, Insee, said. A 1.2 per cent gain in the energy sector was insufficient to offset the decline in manufacturing output.
Lovill at MMI
Sir John Lovill has been elected chairman of Municipal Mutual Insurance, the troubled insurer. MMI, which ceased to write new business on 30 September, insured nine out of 10 local authorities.
BNP hastens cuts
Banque Nationale de Paris will cut its workforce by 1,200 in 1994, accelerating the pace of job cuts over recent years, according to union sources. The CFDT-BNP union said its central works council should 'fight the 1,200 job cuts'.
Sakhalin rights
Mobil and Texaco, the US oil companies, announced that a 50- 50 joint venture they have formed was awarded the rights to negotiate for an exploration licence off Russia's Sakhalin Island.
World Markets
New York: Shares moved narrowly, influenced by portfolio shuffling. By the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 4.47 points at 3,757.72.
Tokyo: Closed.
Hong Kong: Strong demand for property stocks drove shares up 1.62 per cent, marking the second day of solid gains. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index gained 173.24 points to close at 10,881.20.
Singapore: Prices closed higher in fairly active trading. The Straits Times Industrial index rose 24.66 points to 2298.61.
Sydney: The All Ordinaries index climbed 15.6 points to 2,068.8.
Frankfurt: In thin trading the DAX index closed at 2,227.63, up 4.79 points.
Zurich: Share prices reached a record, on a favourable outlook for domestic interest rates and corporate earnings next year. The SPI gained 14.62 points to 1,868.47.
Paris: Prices set new highs in a market buoyed by foreign and domestic buying, motivated by hopes for early cuts in French interest rates. The CAC-40 index rose 17.23 points to 2,243.02.
London: Report, page 19.
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