Business and City In Brief

Big jump in BA passenger traffic

British Airways' passenger traffic grew 11.2 per cent in June, year-on-year, while capacity rose by just 6.4 per cent.

As a result, the company's passenger load factor rose by 3.2 points to 75.7 per cent, although BA said the 1993 figures were distorted by strike action in June.

Housing starts

Housing starts in Britain rose 7 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the three months to May compared with the previous three months, the Department of the Environment said. Completions fell 3 per cent.

Car sales accelerate

European car sales rose about 12.5 per cent in June to an estimated 1.06 million units compared with June 1993 sales, according to Renault. It said that during the first half of 1994 sales rose about 6.7 per cent to an estimated 6.5 million units. Renault's European market share rose to 10.6 per cent in June compared with 9.9 per cent a year earlier.

Leisure purchase

David Lloyd Leisure has bought two sports and leisure clubs for an initial pounds 3.86m cash from Lanz Holdings and Lanz Leisure. A further pounds 560,000 will also be payable in or before October 1996, David Lloyd said in a statement. The two clubs together have membership of more than 3,800.

Japanese pledge

Japan will promise to implement a second package of income tax cuts worth about Y6,000bn at the coming Group of Seven summit in Naples, government officials said.

ICI venture

ICI confirmed that it had begun detailed engineering design on a second pure terephthalic acid plant at its Kuan Yin site in Taiwan.

Food deal

Van den Bergh Foods, a Unilever subsidiary, has agreed in principle to sell its Mattessons Wall's chilled meats business to Kerry Foods, the Irish company. Mattessons Wall's had 1993 sales of approximately pounds 80m, but yesterday Unilever would not disclose the sale price.

On the line

Holiday Inn Worldwide, owned by Bass, said it had reached agreement with AT&T for long-distance telephone services. AT&T will provide the services to Holiday customers in a four-year deal worth dollars 425m.

WORLD MARKETS

New York: Blue chips rose slightly but the broader market fared poorly, with traders nervous about interest rates. The Dow closed 5.83 points up at 3,652.48.

Tokyo: Futures-led buying in light trade carried the Nikkei average 202.44 higher to 20,834.37.

Hong Kong: Gains in financial and utility stocks were offset by losses in other sectors. The Hang Seng index eased 5.09 to 8,623.19.

Sydney: A no-change announcement on monetary policy encouraged a 16.3-point rise by the All Ordinaries index to 2,003.4.

Bombay: Institutional buying lifted the index 13.91 points to 4,109.11 in subdued trade.

Johannesburg: Reports of the impending resignation of the finance minister hit industrial shares. With gold steady, the index added six points to 5,460.

Frankfurt: Lower bond prices and the weaker dollar sent the DAX down 18.84 to 2,032.69.

Paris: Bargain-hunting after Monday's sell-off took the CAC- 40 index 12.55 higher to 1,878.73.

Zurich: Depressed by weaker bond futures, the Swiss Performance Index suffered a 14.65- point reverse to 1,729.11.

London: Report, page 28.