European Business News (96-07-05)

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From: The European Business News Server at <http://www.ebn.co.uk/>

Page last updated July 5 11:25 CET

CONTENTS

[01] Broker points finger at Sumitomo board

[02] Italy annual inflation below four percent

[03] Italian police probe Philip Morris distributors

[04] Denmark's industrial sales volume drops

[05] French rail boss arrested on fraud charges

[06] Yeltsin reappoints Victor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister

[07] Adidas takes over football club Marseille

[08] Vickers pleased with first six months sales firgures

[01] Broker points finger at Sumitomo board

The Financial Times quoted the owners of Winchester Commodities, Charlie Vincent and Ashley Levett, as saying in an interview that several senior officials gave trades the go-ahead and that Hamanaka was not a 'rogue' trader.

Winchester executed many deals for Hamanaka, who was fired by Sumitomo last month and blamed by his former employer for losses of at least 1.8 billion dollars, the paper said.

'I don't believe Mr. Hamanaka was an island, and I don't think you do, do you?' the paper quoted Levett as asking his partner during the interview. 'No, I don't,' Vincent replied.

[02] Italy annual inflation below four percent

The index excluding tobacco is comparable to consumer price data released by Istat prior to January 1996. That month, Istat changed both the categories and the weightings used to calculate the index. The ex-tobacco consumer price data is also that used for many previous Bank of Italy, government and economist forecasts and targets. Market expectations were for a rise in inflation of 3.8%-3.9% rise on the year earlier period and a 0.1%-0.2% increase on the previous month. In May, prices rose 0.4% and 4.3%, respectively. Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 1996 rose 0.5% over the fourth quarter of 1995 and was up a real, or inflation-adjusted 1.5% from the year-earlier period, the national statistics agency Istat reported Friday.

This compares with a preliminary first quarter estimate released in May which forecast that GDP would have increased 0.2% on the earlier quarter and risen 1.2% on the year.

Istat revised fourth quarter data to down 1.1% on the quarter from a 0.9% drop on the quarter. The year on year rise of 2.3% remains the same.

[03] Italian police probe Philip Morris distributors

Five executives of cigarette-distribution firms were placed under investigation by prosecutors in Naples, one of the centers in Italy for clandestine cigarette traffickers seeking to avoid the mandatory government tax. Philip Morris was not directly implicated in the probe.

[04] Denmark's industrial sales volume drops

However, for the period March-May, industrial sales volume edged 1% higher from the equivalent three-month period last year, added the agency.

[05] French rail boss arrested on fraud charges

Loik Le Floch-Prigent, president and general manager of the French National Railroad (SNCF), was placed under formal investigation Thursday night for fraud and receiving stolen assets.

Le Floch-Prigent was accused of illegally investing 800 million francs of Elf funds in the textile company Maurice Bidermann between 1991 and 1993.

Nine other people have been placed under formal investigation in the affair, including Andre Tarallo, head of Elf Gabon and Elf Congo, who allegedly signed for the payments to Bidermann.

[06] Yeltsin reappoints Victor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister

'Let's not divide the country into winners and losers. ... We have one Russia ... one destiny. And that means one future,' Yeltsin said during a nationally televised address.

Yeltsin's Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov, initially declined to concede defeat and hinted at election fraud. But communist aides said they expected their leader to admit defeat later Thursday and accept the result.

Yeltsin asked Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to stay on and form a new cabinet to continue democratic and market reforms. The appointment must be approved by the Communist-dominated Parliament.

Gennady Seleznyov, the Communist speaker of the Duma, the lower house of parliament, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that parliament was likely to approve Chernomyrdin's nomination.

[07] Adidas takes over football club Marseille

Adidas, the Franco-German sporting goods manufacturer, will become sole owner of the club, Gaudin said. He did not give a purchase price for what was once France's most popular team and one of the strongest in Europe.

Adidas won out over the French discount retail group Tati and the U.S. sports management firm IMG-McCormack.

Olympic Marseille (OM) was embroiled in a match-throwing scandal in 1994 after several members admitted being involved in bribing a rival club a year earlier to go easy on OM prior to a European championship match.

[08] Vickers pleased with first six months sales firgures

'We are of course pleased with the continuing progress achieved by Rolls- Royce Motor cars for the half year,' said Sir Colin Chandler, chief executive of Vickers.

However, Chandler added that 'along with much of the rest of the group, Rolls-Royce Motors Cars is seeing a significant level of investment in 1996, and, thus, we still view 1996 as a year of consolidation.'

Earlier in the year, Vickers, an engineering concern, reported 1995 pretax profit of 75 million pounds, up 57% from 1994.

From the European Business News (EBN) Server at http://www.ebn.co.uk/

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