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European Business News (96-07-18)European Business News (EBN) Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The European Business News Server at <http://www.ebn.co.uk/>Page last updated July 17 17:30 CETCONTENTS
[01] EU gives the go-ahead to NovartisThe European Union (E.U.) Commission Wednesday gave its blessing to the merger of Swiss pharmaceutical giants Ciba-Geigy AG and Sandoz AG, less than three months after it opened a detailed inquiry into the union because of competition concerns.The new company, Novartis, will become the world's second largest pharmaceutical company after the U.K.'s Glaxo Wellcome PLC with estimated global sales of 26 billion Swiss francs. The green light was linked to the an undertaking by the companies to give up some of their substantial hold on the market for animal health products, the commission said in a statement. [02] News Corporation set to become largest television company in USTelevision station owner New World Communications Group has agreed to be acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in a deal worth dlrs 2.48 billion.The deal would make News Corp. the biggest owner of television stations in the United States. New World owns 10 television stations, all of which are Fox affiliates. Murdoch owns the Fox network, and the acquisition gives him a larger base from which to launch and promote new shows. New World Chief Executive William C. Bevins called the offer 'an extremely attractive opportunity for our shareholders to realize the value which has been steadily accruing in New World.' New World shareholders would get 1.45 shares of News Corp. preferred stock valued at about dlrs 27 a share for each New World share. The deal is subject to approval by stockholders of New World and by the Federal Communications Commission. It is expected to close early in 1997. [03] Ford Motor shows 17 percent gain in second-quarter net incomeUS car maker Ford Motor has posted a 21 percent climb in second quarter net income to 1.9 billion dollars. But the figure includes a one-time gain related to changes at its finance operations.Automotive earnings outside the US slipped 6 percent, largely reflecting a slowdown in European sales. Ford Chairman Alex Trotman said he expects a strong second half, though he did not provide a specific forecast. [04] Italy clears telecoms-watchdog billItalian Labor Minister Tiziano Treu said the government has approved a bill on the constitution of a telecommunications and media regulatory authority necessary for the privatizaton of state telecommunications holding company Societa Finanziaria Telefonica per Azioni, or STET.The Council of Ministers met today to approve this draft legislation, as well as legislation concerning the liberalization of the telecommunications sector and the establishment of limits to the ownership of television channels. According to Italian news reports, new antitrust legislation will not force either state television RAI or private television and advertising company Mediaset SpA to sell one of their three channels. However, the government has yet to confirm these reports. More details of the telecommunications and media legislation approved today are expected to be outlined by the government later today. [05] Cuba ridicules Helms-Burton delayCuba on Tuesday ridiculed President Bill Clinton's move to put a Cuba sanctions measure into effect but delay its actual impact for six months, saying all the 'supreme empire' had done was grant the world a brief pardon.Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said Clinton had sought to 'keep in with both God and the devil' with his decision, adding the move 'in no way alters the illegal and interventionist nature of the law'. Clinton announced he would allow a controversial section of the Helms- Burton law, Title III, to formally go into effect on Aug. 1. The section allows lawsuits to be filed in U.S. courts against foreign firms that own or operate properties nationalised from U.S. citizens and firms before the 1959 revolution which brought President Fidel Castro to power. But Clinton, under pressure from foreign allies who have strongly criticised this as an unacceptable extra-territorial aspect, said he was suspending the right to file such lawsuits for six months. [06] Managment group buys MGM from Credit LyonnaisKirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp., along with P&F Acquisition Corp. and Seven Network Ltd., signed a definitive agreement to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for $1.3 billion, Consortium de Ralisation said.In a press release, Consortium de Ralisation, an affiliate of state-owned Credit Lyonnais SA, the French bank that owns MGM, said P&F Acquisition Corp. is a Delaware corporation sponsored by Frank Mancuso, chairman of MGM. [07] SGS-Thomson posts 44% surge in second-quarter net profitEuropean semiconductor manufacturer SGS-Thomson Microelectronics said Wednesday its net profit for the second quarter of this year rose by 44% to $176.1 million from $122.6 million in the same year-earlier period.Sales totalled $1.05 billion in the second quarter of 1996, up 19% from the year-ago level of $878.5 million, and up 1.9% from the first-quarter figure of $1.03 billion. SGS-Thomson attributed the improvement to a very favorable product mix, coupled with higher capacity utilization. SGS-Thomson chairman Pasquale Pistorio noted in a statement that the market for the company's products had been difficult in the second quarter, a period in which overall industry sales are estimated to have declined from the first quarter. Looking ahead, Pistorio said the company's 1996 third-quarter sales, although likely to be above those of the same 1995 period, will probably be below those of the second quarter, due to seasonal factors in Europe and the general downturn in the market. Gross margin in the third quarter could be below the 40.1% registered in the third quarter of 1995, he said. [08] Intel result good news for flagging industryIntel Corp. gave the beleaguered computer industry some good news when it reported that earnings rose 18% in the second quarter.But the good news stopped there as Intel warned of difficulties to come in the next three months. Net income was $1.04 billion, or $1.17 a share in second quarter -- the first time that quarterly profit exceeded $1 billion for the Santa Clara, California maker of the Pentium computer chip. A year ago, Intel earned $879 million, or 99 cents a share. Wall Street had been expecting Intel teen 3% and 4% in the third quarter from $956 million in the second quarter From the European Business News (EBN) Server at http://www.ebn.co.uk/European Business News (EBN) Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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