Business and City in brief

RIVAL BID FOR CONTINENTAL

Alfredo Brener, a Mexican businessman, has proposed investing dollars 385m in the bankrupt US carrier Continental Airlines, challenging an offer made last month by the aluminium, lumber and real estate group Maxxam Inc and a group of investors including Kidder Peabody.

Mr Brener is related to Pablo and Israel Brener, the largest shareholders in the airline Mexicana. He has formed a new corporation named Houston Air through which to channel the dollars 385m cash injection into Continental, in exchange for dollars 325m worth of notes and dollars 60m of equity securities.

SHARES BOUGHT IN

The discount shops group Amber Day yesterday bought in 5 per cent of its own shares, paying well below the prevailing market price for the pounds 1.68m holding. The group paid 27.5p each for the shares, announcing the deal after the stock market closed, with Amber Day shares down 3p at 31p, their low for the year.

ABERFOYLE BUST

Aberfoyle Holdings was placed in administration and its shares suspended after the company said it had insufficient sterling funds to continue trading. It has agreed to a reconstruction of its share capital and debt proposed by a group of investors, who will meet the costs of the administration.

TV BID CLEARED

Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, has decided not to refer the proposed acquisition by Yorkshire Television of Tyne Tees Television to the Mergers and Monopolies Commission.

FORD RAISES PRICES

Ford is to increase its car and commercial vehicle prices by an average 1.8 per cent from 16 August. It said industry car sales in August were running 11 per cent ahead of last year and if this momentum were kept up monthly sales could touch 380,000 against 367,000 last year.

TELECOMS LINK-UP

Ericsson and Toshiba Corporation announced yesterday that they had agreed to collaborate in the telecommunications business in Japan and to establish a joint venture company, Ericsson Toshiba Telecommunication Systems.

WPP'S NEW MAN

WPP Group has appointed Brian Brooks director of human resources and senior vice- president. John Symonds, who was chairman of the company from 1982 to 1989, will retire soon, the company said.

WELLCOME JOB

Gisela Gledhill has been appointed company secretary of Wellcome. She succeeds Harry Mitchell, who is to retire.

WORLD MARKETS

NEW YORK: Blue chips erased earlier gains as computer-driven program trading hit the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 8.38 points down at 3,332.18.

TOKYO: The tumbling price of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, the market's biggest issue, pulled other shares down. The Nikkei average gave up 408.17 points to 15,518.27.

HONG KONG: Bargain-hunting reduced losses. The Hang Seng ended 14.24 lower at 5,850.93.

SYDNEY: The week's loss on the All Ordinaries index reached 31 points with a 1.9 fall to 1,586.7.

BOMBAY: Institutional buying recovered a large part of Thursday's losses. The index gained 61.09 points to 2,590.68.

FRANKFURT: Shares ended a volatile week lower, with the DAX index 11.65 adrift at 1,609.5.

PARIS: The CAC-40 index closed 16.57 points lower at 1,777.27 in minimal trade.

ZURICH: Following the weaker trend on other bourses, the index lost 4.7 points to 1,138.7.

LONDON: Report, page 19.