Business and City in brief

Four indicted on BCCI charges

Four men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, Georgia, yesterday on new charges arising from the BCCI banking scandal.

Charged with conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service are William Batastini, a former senior vice-president and comptroller of the National Bank of Georgia, Ghaith Pharaon, the bank's former owner, Tariq Jamil, a former officer of the bank, and a former BCCI officer, Swaleh Naqvi.

GPA delay

GPA, the airline leasing company, and the US manufacturer Boeing have agreed to delay delivery of 38 Boeing airliners from between 1994 and 1997 to no later than 2000. A joint statement said GPA reserved the right to accelerate the deliveries should market conditions improve.

Lorries stalled

Brain Haulage, which operates 200 lorries and its subsidiaries Brain Services and Eurotruck, has gone into receivership. It has 370 employees.

Gilts merger James Capel Gilts is to be absorbed into Greenwell Montagu Gilt-Edged from Monday, HSBC Holdings, the new parent of Midland Bank, said.

Disk probe

The European Commission is investigating allegations that firms in Hong Kong and South Korea lowered the prices of computer floppy disks in the Community by 50 per cent between 1988 and 1990, boosting sales more than sixfold.

Suit dismissed

A US federal district court dismissed legal actions brought against Electrolux's US subsidiary White Consolidated Industries. The actions, regarding pension liabilities, were brought by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation and certain pension plans of the Blaw Knox Corporation.

BICC credit

BICC, the international cables and construction group, has raised dollars 100m low-cost debt through the private placement of seven-year unsecured notes with US insurance companies.

County job cuts

County NatWest, the securities firm, has slashed its smaller companies research team, with the loss of four jobs. County denied City rumours that the move would be followed by withdrawal from the sector.

Dockyard bid

VSEL, the Barrow shipbuilding and engineering company, has put in an application for one of the two naval dockyards, Rosyth and Devonport, pending a government inquiry into their privatisation.

Siemans cuts

The electronics group Siemens is cutting the workforce in its medical technology division by 1,800 in the year ending September 1993. It attributed the cuts to weakness in domestic and foreign markets,including the US and the former Soviet uNion.

World Markets

New York: The G7 meeting and French referendum reduced trading but expiring options pushed the Dow Jones average up 11.35 to 3,327.05 at the close.

Tokyo: A late rebound enabled the Nikkei average to show a 50.28-point gain at 18,166.8.

Hong Kong: Optimism over the airport project helped the Hang Seng index to gain 51.42 points, closing at 5,689.32.

Sydney: Big gains by News Corporation and BHP were the highlights as the All Ordinaries index added 11.8 to 1,523.6.

Bombay: High carry-forward charges on other exchanges affected sentiment. Shares ended mixed in subdued trading.

Johannesburg: Leading shares edged higher in cautious trade, with the gold index almost 7 per cent ahead on the week.

Paris: The CAC-40 rose 30.2 points on interest rate hopes to a 10-week high of 1,882.94.

Frankfurt: Position-squaring ahead of the French referendum left the DAX index 10.66 points better at 1,589.33.