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European Business News 96-09-26
From: The European Business News Server at <http://www.ebn.co.uk/>
Page last updated September 26 11:15 CET
CONTENTS
[01] British Telecom to form telecoms venture with France's CGE
[02] Catalans support Spanish budget
[03] Paribas first-half net profit soars
[04] Alcatel-Alsthom narrows first-halft loss
[05] Guinness annouces 5% increase in first-half pretax profits
[06] Japanese parliament to dissolve tomorrow
[07] Netanyahu cuts short his visit to Germany
[01] British Telecom to form telecoms venture with France's CGE
British Telecom has signed an agreement with Compagnie Generale des Eaux to
take a 25% stake in Cegetel, the new French telecoms group. BT will pay
£1.1bn ($1. 8 billion) for the stake. The new group, which is well
positioned to be the main rival to France Telecom, will provide the full
range of telecoms services in France. The other partners in the joint
venture include SBC of the US and Germany's Mannesmann.
[02] Catalans support Spanish budget
The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's minority government has won
support from its Catalan coalition partners for an austere 1997
budget.
The budget is crucial to Spain's bid to join Europe's single
currency.
[03] Paribas first-half net profit soars
French financial institution Compagnie Financiere de Paribas said its first-
half net profit jumped more than 6-fold to Ffr4.04bn (just over
$800m).
The company attributed the gain to improved operations at its Banque
Paribas merchant bank and a Ffr2.6bn increase in capital gains. Adding to
the bright profit picture was a turnaround at Credit du Nord, which
returned to profitability.
[04] Alcatel-Alsthom narrows first-halft loss
The French industrial giant Alcatel-Alsthom narrowed its
first-half loss to Ffr400m, (about 88m dollars).
The loss shrank by a third and was significantly narrower than
expected. Operating profit dropped 64% to Ffr500m. The company
said it expects a to show a few billion francs in profit for
the year and reaffirmed that it expects
a return to strong profits in 1998.
[05] Guinness annouces 5% increase in first-half pretax profits
The British beverage company Guinness has reported a 5% increase in first
half pretax profit to £357m, (around $550m). That's slightly higher than
analysts' expectations. The company's first half dividend was raised from
4.2 pence to 4.55 pence. The French industrial giant Alcatel-Alsthom has
reported a first half loss of Ffr400m, (about $88m dollars).
The loss was only a third as high as in the same period of last year and
significantly better than expected. Operating profit came in at Ffr500m.
But more important than the figures will be what the company has to say
about its strategy - especially in the event that it is successful in its
bidding competition with Lagardere for state-owned conglomerate
Thomson.
[06] Japanese parliament to dissolve tomorrow
The Japanese Prime Minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, has told his partners in
Japan's coalition government that he will dissolve the Lower House of
parliament tommorrow.
General elections must be called within 40 days of a dissolution of
parliament. The dissolution has been expected for some time and October 20
is mooted as the most likely date for an election.
[07] Netanyahu cuts short his visit to Germany
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cut short his visit to
Germany today in response to growing violence at home after the Israeli
government completed a tunnel near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old
City.
Netanyahu spokesman Shai Bazak said Netanyahu would fly back to Israel
immediately after meeting with Germany's Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Bonn.
'He wants to get updated tonight in Israel from security officials,' Bazak
said.
From the European Business News (EBN) Server at http://www.ebn.co.uk/
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