European Business News (EBN), 97-06-25

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CONTENTS

[01] Granada bids $1.2 billion for Yorkshire Tyne Tees to create Northern TV force in Britain

[02] VW, IG Metall reach wage and work-hours accord

[03] U.S. May durable goods orders fall unexpectedly to 0.6%

[04] EU, Japan agree to forge closer economic, political ties

[05] French Socialists may sell shares in state-owned companies

[06] Western Germany's CPI rises 1.4% for first six months

[07] U.K.'s non-E.U. trade deficit wider than expected

[08] Italy jobless rate rises 0.2% on the year

[09] Peugeot plans to take 23% stake in Sevel Argentina

[10] Audi says it expects to post record sales and earnings in 1997

[11] Boeing may end exclusive airline pacts

[12] British Airways cabin crew vote to strike

[13] Japanese survey shows optimism over economy

[14] Corporate and Economic Briefs

[15] World News Briefs

[01] Granada bids $1.2 billion for Yorkshire Tyne Tees to create Northern TV force in Britain

His acceptance of an offer from Granada Group that values the independent television broadcaster's shares at only £11.75 apiece is also an acceptance that competition in Britain's independent TV market is growing so quickly that no one player can be assured of owning a sector of the market, observers said.

Analysts point out the deal will create a Northern TV force that makes good economic sense, and both Granada Chairman Gerry Robinson and Ward Thomas think that doing business in the region will help revive independent television's share of net advertising revenues there.

For Granada, which already owns 27% of Yorkshire after launching a 'dawn raid' on the shares last year, the completion of the deal would bring Robinson one step closer to his stated goal of a single independent television market.

The agreed deal, valued at a total of £711 million ($1.2 billion), gives Yorkshire Tyne Tees shareholders two new Granada shares and 18.2532 GBP in cash for every three Yorkshire Tyne Tees shares.

Yorkshire Tyne Tees reaches around 5 million households in northern England. It posted a 1996 pretax profit of £30 million on turnover of £270 million.

It was only in February at a half-year results presentation that Ward Thomas said 'I saw the paperwork of a reputable merchant bank recently which cited £18 (a share as fair value), so I thought I'd knock 1 GBP off for luck.' But Ward Thomas appeared to be justifying his acceptance of Granada's lower price by offering a reappraisal of his views on the broadcasting environment.

In the past, Ward Thomas and his management team had said they were sceptical about the prospects for a fifth channel on the nation's normal terrestrial TV spectrum. He was also unconvinced about the prospects for digital terrestrial TV. Yet Channel 5 began broadcasting late March, and the Independent Television Commission Tuesday granted a digital terrestrial broadcasting license to a partnership of Granada and Carlton Communications.

Ward Thomas said Yorkshire Tyne Tees is now operating in an increasingly competitive marketplace that, in addition to Channel 5's launch, has seen a proliferation of satellite channels.

This competition has led to a significant decrease in independent television's share of revenues and increasingly fierce competition for network programming, he added.

'As a result, the board now believes that a combination with the Granada broadcasting business is in the best interests of shareholders,' Ward Thomas said.

The Yorkshire Tyne Tees boss is believed to have toured the institutions that control about 30% of the company in the past week to persuade them of the value of Granada's bid.

Local media reports suggested that a number of those institutions, including key fund house Mercury Asset Management, expressed some disquiet. If this is true, it would be a big change from MAM's vocal support of Granada in its bitter battle to take over hotels group Forte PLC last year.

United News & Media, which owns around 15% of Yorkshire Tyne Tees, had been mooted as another possible suitor for the company, but London analysts generally expect Granada's offer to gain a majority of acceptances from shareholders.

For Granada, which already owns 27% of Yorkshire after launching a 'dawn raid' on the shares last year, the completion of the deal would bring Robinson one step closer to his stated goal of a single independent television market. Panagiotis Pylas, AP-Dow Jones, London

[02] VW, IG Metall reach wage and work-hours accord

After three months and six rounds of talks, the two sides agreed that as of Aug. 1, 1997, VW will raise wages for its some 95,000 workers by 1.5%, the company said. A further rise of 2.5% will become effective the following Aug. 1.

Europe's largest car maker and IG Metall also agreed that employees between the ages of 55 to 60 years of age can reduce their working hours by half and collect 85% of their previous net income. At the same time, VW will pay 100% of such workers' social security contributions. The plan is retroactive to January 1, 1997.

VW's accord on pre-retirement part-time work is a first in Germany, and is aimed at creating entry-level jobs for younger workers.

According to the company and its union, in order to create 1,000 full-time jobs for apprentices annually, around 10,000 older workers over the next five years would have to move to part-time schedules.

Although broadly seen as a labour victory, VW said it also scored some important strategic goals, including the possibility to pay lower wages to employees in service-sector type jobs.

VW said it plans to pay all full-time employees a one-time bonus of 500 Deutsche marks ($300), thanks 'to the current business situation of the company.'

Meanwhile, VW and the union agreed that Saturday won't be considered a regular work day, though the company and workers can arrange ahead of time for weekend production.

'In the future, Saturday can become, as needed, a production day,' VW said.

In principle, employees are to receive a 30% bonus on their regular wage- per-hour for Saturday work. If a Saturday shift is scheduled in advance, employees will receive an added 20% bonus, the company said.

The ability to schedule Saturday shifts will also allow VW to react more flexibly to changes in demand, the company said.

[03] U.S. May durable goods orders fall unexpectedly to 0.6%

The fall-off in orders during May was relatively broad-based, with most major categories of manufactured goods aside from electronic and electrical products showing a decline from April. It followed a revised 1.8% jump in orders during April that previously was reported as a smaller 1.3% increase.

Weaker May orders for manufactured goods appeared to fit with other signs that economic growth was slowing in the second quarter after booming ahead at a 5.8% annual rate in the first quarter. New factory orders for durables declined to an adjusted $176.10 billion last month after rising a revised 1.8% in April to an adjusted $177.16 billion and falling an unrevised 2.8% in March to an adjusted $173.94 billion.

Commerce previously estimated April durable goods orders rose 1.3%. A Dow Jones Capital Markets Report survey of 20 economists found an average estimate of a 0.5% rise in May durable goods orders.

New orders for transportation equipment, which have fallen for three of the last four months, fell 3.3% to $38.41 billion due to motor vehicles and parts, and aircraft and parts, Commerce said.

Durable goods data are not adjusted for inflation.

[04] EU, Japan agree to forge closer economic, political ties

'It's clear that the EU's relationship with Japan has increased to a political dimension,' European Commission President Jacques Santer told reporters after a half-day summit. 'We are no longer just close economic partners but we are building a powerful alliance to advance our interests in the world,' he added.

Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto welcomed progress made at the recent Amsterdam summit on the EU's upcoming enlargement and monetary union, saying it will contribute to global stability. Hashimoto countered Europe's concerns over trade imbalances by calling for European Union countries to increase their investment in Japan. He commented that European investment in Japan is currently only one sixth of Japanese investment in Europe

'We saw eye-to-eye on co-operating with each other to further expand trade and investment while resolving pending issues one by one through cool- headed discussion,' said Hashimoto. Japan, he went on to say, aims to complete its sweeping economic deregulation in time for the start of Europe's single currency in 1999.

The yen 'has no wish to be relegated to a local currency and therefore (we) aim to complete deregulation by that time,' he said.

Japan is particularly interested in the push towards monetary union, Europe's answer to the strong yen. EU leaders say the single currency is crucial in competing in markets now dominated by the yen and the U.S. dollar.

Furthermore, according to a joint communique, Japan and the EU will accelerate talks for an accord on mutual recognition of products, which would prevent double-testing of products.

Such procedures have often triggered cries of protectionism whenever a product was ruled unfit for import. Japan's prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said his country aims to complete its sweeping economic deregulation in time for the start of Europe's single currency.

[05] French Socialists may sell shares in state-owned companies

The source said that financing for the programmes - which include financing the rehabilitation of an additional 100,000 apartments and nearly quadrupling the school allowance for each child to 1,600 francs - will come from rearranging already approved spending, and thus won't further hurt France's budget deficit.

French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he expects a government- ordered audit to show that France overshot its budget deficit target in the first half of the year. Economists estimate France will post a deficit-to-GDP ratio of between 3.5% and 3.7% for 1997.

The government source reaffirmed that France plans to enter European economic and monetary union. However, he said he doubted the budget planning letters being sent out this week to each ministry will call for deficit reduction to 3% of gross domestic product for 1998.

'That would surprise me,' the source said, limiting himself to saying the government wouldn't worsen the deficit.

In a letter appointing auditors for the public finances audit, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said that the government's plan to reorient French economic policies to favour growth and employment come 'while remaining attentive to reducing the public deficit.'

The government source said that while Jospin has made clear his opposition to privatisations, selling anything short of 50% of a company doesn't qualify. 'Privatisations and stake sales are different ,' the source said. 'The Prime Minister made it clear the companies in competitive sectors may need to adjust.'

The source went on to note that even the previous government always pledged to maintain at least a 51%-stake in France Telecom, which had been scheduled to place shares on the market in May. The source cited France Telecom and Air France as two companies which may face 'adjustments.'

The France Telecom offering is pivotal for French finances because it was expected to raise between 30 billion francs and 50 billion francs- to be used to pay down debt - and was to allow a transfer of 37.5 billion francs to government coffers in exchange for retirement programme payments. Those transferred funds could be applied directly to France's 1997 budget deficit.

'We would be stupid to deprive ourselves of that money,' the government source said.

[06] Western Germany's CPI rises 1.4% for first six months

Meanwhile, Germany's opposition Social Democrats said they planned to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court to challenge alleged government violations in preparing its 1996 budget.

The six-month annualized inflation rate of 1.4% is below the 2% pace the central bank considers the highest tolerable level of inflation. Germany's federal statistics office earlier reported preliminary western German inflation in the month to mid-June up 0.2% on the month, bringing the rate to 1.6% on the year.

Elsewhere, Rudolf Scharping, SPD parliamentary leader, told Germany's Southwest Radio that in preparing the budget for 1996 the government misled parliament and violated the constitution by allowing the deficit to be higher than public investment. 'The point is that the government already knew when it was planning the 1996 budget that new borrowing would exceed federal investment. That is against the constitution,' he said.

This follows last night's approval by parliamentary deputies from Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling coalition of changes to the government's tax reform bill, virtually ensuring its passage through the lower house of parliament this week.

The suit would have no impact on plans for the 1998 budget now in parliamentary deliberation, but any court ruling could be an embarrassment for embattled Finance Minister Theo Waigel.

The changes, agreed by Kohl's coalition of Christian Democrats and Free Democrats late yesterday, include a number of last-minute modifications to corporate tax rules that have sparked a storm of protest from German industry.

Hans-Olaf Henkel, president of the Federation of German Industry, said the changes were a populist move that would make it harder for German companies to compete.

'We are very disappointed and deeply worried about how things are developing,' he said. 'It seems the ruling coalition is in a battle with the opposition to see who can put forward the most populistic tax proposal.'

[07] U.K.'s non-E.U. trade deficit wider than expected

The shortfall, reported by the Office for National Statistics, is wider than the £500-million gap expected by economists. The revised April deficit, was also wider than the previously estimate of £335 million.

By volume, U.K. non-E.U. exports excluding oil and other erratics, fell 1.9% in May from April and imports fell 2.2% compared with a year-ago. Erratic items include ships, aircraft, precious stones and silver. The prices of core exports to non-E.U. countries fell 0.2% in May from April, while import prices rose 0.2% in the same period.

In the three months through May, export prices rose 0.3% from the three months through January, but were down 2.3% on the year. Imports rose 0.8% on the quarter and were down 5.0% on the year.

The Office for National Statistics said the value of total exports and imports stood at record levels in April. Core export and import volumes were also at record levels.

[08] Italy jobless rate rises 0.2% on the year

Meanwhile the number of people looking for work totalled 2.8 million in April, a rise of 2.3% compared to January, the state statistical institute ISTAT reported. The unemployment rate was highest in the underdeveloped south, at 22.5% in April. The south accounted for some 57.2% of the unemployed in the country.

In Brussels, meanwhile, Mario Draghi, the director general of Italy's Treasury Ministry, said that Italy's so-called convergence plan was broadly welcomed by the European Union's monetary committee at a meeting here.

Speaking as he left the monetary committee meeting, Draghi said 'there was good acceptance of the plan and appreciation for the progress that Italy's made on the budgetary front.'

The E.U. monetary committee is made up of representatives of E.U. finance ministries and central banks and routinely meets to lay the groundwork for decisions by E.U. finance ministers. Italy's convergence plan is the last such plan to be submitted to the committee for approval.

Draghi said his E.U. colleagues found the convergence plan 'prudent and realistic' and welcomed the fact that Italy was implementing a series of structural reforms in its bid to qualify for monetary union. He said Italy's plan to reform its pension system was particularly welcomed.

There were also some sweet notes in Italy's economy. According to provisional data from Italy's major cities the year-on-year inflation rate was expected between 1.4% and 1.5% in June, the lowest level since 1969.

And Treasury and Budget Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said that he's confident Italy will meet, by the end of 1997, the 3% deficit to gross domestic product part of the Maastricht criteria. Ciampi said that in the first half of this year Italy's public sector deficit fell to 25 trillion lire ($14.7 billion), from 53.7 trillion lire ($31.5 billion) a year earlier.

[09] Peugeot plans to take 23% stake in Sevel Argentina

This follows an announcement by the head of France's biggest car company, who said that the French car market was crumbling and repeated his warning that the firm was not certain to show a profit this year.

Chairman Jacques Calvet, hosting the last annual meeting before his planned retirement in the autumn, told shareholders that car sales in France were expected to fall nearly 16% this year. 'For 1997...we are now forecasting a crumbling of the French market, which has sustained a year-over-year sales decline of 23% as of June 15, and that has led us to cut our forecast to 1.8 million registrations, or a 15.6% drop,' he said.

The sales weakness, combined with competitive pressures to cut prices and rising costs due to new European emissions rules, will make 1997 another difficult year for the company, which reported a 57% drop in 1996 profit to 734 million francs ($126 million).

Yves Barbe, Peugeot's deputy general manager, said that Peugeot will acquire an initial 15% stake in Sevel through a capital boost to which its Automobiles Peugeot unit will subscribe.

Peugeot will provide another, similar injection of capital for Sevel in one year's time in a move to coincide with the start-up of production at Sevel's Palomar plant of two light vans that have seen good customer demand since they were launched last year in Europe: the Peugeot Partner and the Citroen Berlingo.

That capital boost will increase the French group's shareholding to about 23%. Peugeot will be represented on Sevel's board, Barbe said.

[10] Audi says it expects to post record sales and earnings in 1997

Audi, a wholly owned unit of German car maker Volkswagen, said its pretax profit in the first half of 1997 will come in higher than the 405 million Deutsche marks ($238.2 million) figure posted a year ago. Audi reiterated that it sees its sales in the full year rising to more than 20 billion marks from 18.8 billion in 1996.

One week shy of the six-month period's end, the car maker said that according to preliminary figures, group sales rose 16% to about 10.8 billion marks from 9.3 billion a year ago. World-wide deliveries to customers rose 13% to a preliminary 277,000 cars, a spokesman confirmed without being immediately able to supply a year-earlier figure.

Audi's production in the first half of 1997 rose to 278,000 units, an increase of 17%. But Audi, noting its production capacity was fully utilised, said it expected slower sales growth in the second half of the year compared with the first half. Sales in Germany were up 11.7% during the six-month period, which boosted Audi's domestic market share at the end of May to 7% from 5.8% in April.

In western Europe outside of Germany, Audi said sales were up 12.3% during the first half of the year. Sales in the United States rose about 30% and Japanese sales were up 18.1%, the car maker said.

[11] Boeing may end exclusive airline pacts

People familiar with the review under way at Boeing say the U.S. aviation giant may smooth the way towards merger approval from the European commission by offering to delete a sensitive provision in jet-order contracts with three major U.S. carriers that have agreed to buy planes from the Seattle-based manufacturer.

Eliminating the controversial provision would permit those three U.S. carriers to entertain sales proposals from Airbus. Boeing already holds a 60% share of the market for new jetliners holding 100 passengers or more, with Airbus controlling most of the rest.

Another person familiar with Boeing's internal discussions said the company may offer other, minor concessions. A spokesman for Boeing said only that is working with the EC 'to help them understand our point of view.'

With the takeover, Boeing would absorb the only other competitor in the market for large commercial aircraft, McDonnell's Douglas Aircraft unit. The exclusive-buying arrangements between Boeing and the three U.S. carriers are 'at the moment, the major sticking point' for the Europeans, said one person familiar with the matter at Boeing.

An EC spokesman declined to comment on specific developments regarding the combination. One U.S. airline-industry executive said that at least some of the affected U.S. carriers were aware that Boeing may offer to drop the exclusivity provision. The carriers are unlikely to object, since the change would preserve the favourable pricing and other terms they won from Boeing, but would liberate them from the mandate to buy only from Boeing for the next 20 years.

[12] British Airways cabin crew vote to strike

British Airways, which also faces possible strikes by ground staff, said contingency plans were in place to make sure flights wouldn't be affected. The airline has been advertising for temporary staff to try to break the looming strikes. However, the showdown, which looks likely in early July, threatens to disrupt traffic during the busy vacation season.

The nature of the cabin crews' action, which could be 24- or 48-hour strikes, has not been decided. The union has to give the airline seven days' notice of strikes or other industrial action. The Transport and General Workers' Union said 6,400 of its members voted by three-to-one in favour of action.

The unions and airline management have been negotiating for several months. Union spokesman Andrew Murray invited the airline 'to get in touch with us and start serious negotiation.' Murray said the airline had refused to negotiate pay proposals, which crew claim will leave them between £2,500 ($4,150) and £3,000 a year worse off than staff on rival airlines.

British Airways says the deal involves a 3.2% increase on basic pay, raising starting rates to £13,000 from £9,000 a year, and top basic salaries to £29,150 from £24,750. Murray said some 9,000 ground staff would vote on Monday or Tuesday about industrial action over contracting out the airline's catering.

British Airways says staff would keep their jobs and pensions in a new company, and be paid more - although cheap travel would be ended.

The confrontation is the first serious industrial dispute since Britain's new Labour government, which took office in May, pledged to keep in place most of the union-curbing laws passed by previous Conservative Party administrations.

[13] Japanese survey shows optimism over economy

The Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly Tankan survey showed that the so-called diffusion index for large manufacturers, which subtracts the percentage of pessimists from optimists, improved to a positive 7 during the April-to-June quarter, up from a positive 2 for the previous quarter. That surprised some economists who had predicted the number might even fall after a consumption tax increase in April.

But non-manufacturers grew more pessimistic about business conditions. The index for large non-manufacturers fell to negative 7 from negative 6. And sentiment among small non-manufacturers - followed carefully in recent months for signs of a recovery in consumer spending -- worsened to negative 11 from negative 9.

'This is a confirmation of a two-tiered economy' with big manufacturers recovering far more quickly than other companies, said Michael Hartnett, chief economist at Merrill Lynch. 'Until you see a broader expansion, especially in the small-company sector, interest rates will remain low.'

The Tankan, administered by the Bank of Japan, the central bank, is regarded by economists as a key short-term forecasting tool. The survey is based on responses from nearly 9,700 companies on such factors as inventory, demand for new lending, earnings outlook and investment plans. The Tankan is also considered an important central bank tool in determining Japan's monetary policy.

Financial markets interpreted the survey's results to mean Japanese interest rates, currently at their lowest levels in more than 50 years, are likely to stay low for the time being. Japan's stock market jumped on the survey's release; the Nikkei 225-stock index surged 243.03 points to close the morning session at 20584.96.

The survey showed sentiment improved among small manufacturers, a sector being carefully observed for early signs of consumer spending. While a majority remain pessimistic about business conditions, fewer are pessimistic than in the last survey in March. The diffusion index for small manufacturers rose to negative 7 from negative 8.

[14] Corporate and Economic Briefs

Sporting goods manufacturer Nike has agreed to withdraw 38,000 pairs of shoes that offend Muslims. They say the logo on the back of the shoes too closely resembles the word 'Allah' in Arabic. This is the second time in two years Muslims have notified Nike about so-called offensive symbols. In 1995, the council on American-Islamic Relations contacted the firm when a billboard in Los Angeles had a similar script. It was removed within hours. This time, negotiations took almost four months.

Wessex Water's pretax profit for the year ended March 31 rose 8.3% to £145 million ($232 million) from £133.9 million a year earlier - exactly in line with market expectations. The profit growth came on the back of a 5.6% increase in revenues to £254.3 million, from £240.7 million a year earlier, and a 3.0% reduction in operating costs.

German utility Veba said that prosecutors had started an investigation into alleged irregularities at its property unit Veba Immobilien and had detained a leading employee. In a brief statement, Veba said its own auditors were also probing the alleged offences, having themselves initiated the probe and passed on information to the public prosecutors office in Bochum. No details were given on the allegations, other than that they centred on 'disloyalty.'

German retailing group Douglas Holding said it's targeting an operating profit of around 227 million Deutsche marks, up from 200.5 million marks in 1996. In the first five months of 1997, however, operating profit came under pressure from higher advertising expenditures, Douglas said. But it said it hopes advertising will boost revenues in the months when sales are traditionally strong.

Bank Austria's 3B schilling capital increase faces a legal challenge, continuing the battle over share rights held by Germany's Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale.

France's Finance and Industry Minister confirmed after a cabinet meeting the adoption of a decree that will raise the minimum wage by 4% as of July 1.

The U.K. government will only extend Eurotunnel's concession to operate the channel tunnel if the company commits to carry more rail freight, the Financial Times reported.

[15] World News Briefs

Kurdish separatist guerrillas killed three soldiers and wounded two in an attack on an oil well installation in eastern Turkey, security officials said. The Kurdistan Workers Party rebels attacked the oil well, belonging to the state-owned TPAO oil company in the eastern province of Batman, an official said. No rebel casualties were reported. The fighting took place as Turkish troops pressed on with a cross-border operation against guerrilla positions in northern Iraq, from where the PKK launches attacks into southeastern Turkey.

Jacques Cousteau, the undersea explorer, filmmaker, environmentalist and scuba pioneer who opened the mysterious world beneath the seas to millions of landlocked readers and viewers, died yesterday in Paris at 87. The Cousteau Foundation, which has handled all his business and personal affairs in recent years, announced his death but declined to give the cause. Cousteau reportedly had been ill for months. 'Jacques-Yves Cousteau has rejoined the Silent World,' the foundation said, referring to one of his most noted documentaries.

The World Bank approved a $14.5 million loan to Turkey to help finance a primary health care service project in two provinces, the Bank said.

The United Arab Emirates oil minister said that OPEC will likely maintain its output ceiling of 25 million barrels a day and has no plans to change quotas.

S. Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will allow import of 14 items including minivans from Japan beginning next month, despite its chronic trade deficit.

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