Business and City in Brief

EURO DISNEY AUDIT STRUGGLE

Walt Disney yesterday insisted that its auditors had given all 'relevant' material to KPMG, the auditors appointed by creditor banks to study Euro Disney's accounts. The American group's comments followed reports that Disney's auditors, Price Waterhouse, had refused to co-operate with with KPMG staff.

Banque Nationale de Paris and Banque Indosuez, leaders of the creditor banks' co-ordinating committee, are understood to have formally protested to Walt Disney, saying such an attitude would have a negative impact.

BAe IN SALE TALKS

British Aerospace is discussing the sale of its Space Systems division to Matra Marconi, the Anglo-French aerospace company. BAe also said that reports that John Cahill, the company's chairman, might be replaced in 1994 by the chief executive, Dick Evans, were unfounded.

FEWER FIRMS GO BUST

Fewer companies and partnerships in England and Wales went out of business last year than in 1992. Recent figures prepared by Austinental Information Group, which tracks insolvency cases in the courts, show that 22,116 companies went into liquidation, compared with 27,150 in 1992, a fall of 18 per cent. Receiverships showed the largest improvement, down from 4,600 to 2,900, a fall of 37 per cent.

HANDS TIED BY RED TAPE

Increased bureaucracy is swamping the benefits of the European single market, according to almost half of 6,400 British companies surveyed by KPMG, the chartered accountancy.

TREUHAND DISPOSALS

The Treuhand agency, which had originally planned to complete its privatisation of east German industry by the end of 1993, has just 266 companies left from the 13,000 it started with in 1990.

HIGHWAY 1

A dozen US companies have registered to bid for dollars 298m of contracts to rebuild sections of Vietnam's Highway 1, the scene of heavy fighting during the war with the Americans more than 20 years ago.

WORLD MARKETS

NEW YORK: After a 10-point advance in early trading, the Dow Jones average faltered and by the close was just 2.51 points to the good at 3,756.6.

TOKYO: Closed.

HONG KONG: Strong buying by overseas investors took the Hang Seng index through 12,000 points. It closed 198.1 higher at a record 12,086.49.

SYDNEY: Closed.

SINGAPORE: Bulls started the New Year with vigour, chasing the Straits Times index to a record 2,441.53, up 15.85.

BOMBAY: The index closed 109.65 points higher at 3,455.71 but below the day's best.

KARACHI: Stocks hit another high. The 100-share index rose 7.89 points to 2,178.09.

PARIS: Futures-related buying in a thin market helped push shares to a high at the close. The CAC- 40 index added 22.34 to 2,290.56.

FRANKFURT: The DAX index gained 1.3 points to 2,267.98.

ZURICH: The SMI index rose 38.6 to a record 2,996.2.

ISTANBUL: The index ended at a record 21,788.1, up 1,105.3.

TODAY 4.1.94

None announced.

TOMORROW 5.1.94

Interims: Sidney C Banks, and Fleming International High Income Trust.

Finals: None announced.

THURSDAY 6.1.94

Interims: Abbey, Cassidy Brothers, Druck Holdings, Hollas Group, Pelican Group, Reg Vardy, TR City of London Trust (2nd int div).

Finals: Greenwich Resources.

FRIDAY 7.1.94

Cyclical indicators (Nov).

Interims: None announced.

Finals: Jersey Electricity.