Business and City in Brief

Banks talk of Heron action

Three banks which led eurobond issues worth pounds 450m for Heron International said its failure to assure them it would pay accrued interest on all the bonds had increased the chance of legal action. 'Heron did not assure the lead managers that all the bondholders would be paid interest up to 26 June in full,' Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG and SG Warburg Soditic said jointly. 'The lead manager expressed strong dissatisfaction . . . and expressed the view that this clearly enhances the risk that legal action may be initiated against Heron.'

BCCI approval

A scheme to maximise compensation for BCCI depositors was given legal approval yesterday. Creditors can split deposits into pounds 20,000 parcels and assign them to others. Each parcel can attract the maximum pounds 15,000 compensation.

German bonds Foreign non-banks will be allowed to issue short-term, mark-denominated bonds from 1 August, giving them direct access to the German commercial paper market.

Standard move

P S Nat, Standard Chartered's chief executive in India, is being replaced by John Docherty, currently chief executive in Kenya, in the wake of the Indian securities scandal.

Braniff crashes

Braniff International Airlines has ceased all operations and is stopping all scheduled flights.

Mine to close Anglo American's Sallies gold mine near Johannesburg will close on 6 August because it is unprofitable.

Lufthansa losses

Lufthansa shares lost more than 11 per cent of their value after the German airline reported a DM600m loss in the first five months of 1992.

BA traffic up

British Airways said passenger mileage in June was 13.1 per cent higher than a year earlier and 7.9 per cent above the same month in 1990, before traffic was distorted by the Gulf war.

ITC rules

A commentary on 1 July said that the Independent Television Commission's rules prevented mergers between large ITV companies and limited cross-ownership between television and newspaper companies. The ITC asks us to point out that the rules are set by Parliament in the Broadcasting Act 1990, not by the ITC, which administers some of them. The ITC does not, though, propose any change at present. The minimum cash bid for Channel 5 is pounds 1,000 not pounds 1.

World Markets

Tokyo: Shares ended mixed after giving up strong early gains. The Nikkei average eased 39.85 points to 16,717.78.

Hong Kong: Late bargain- hunting reduced losses, but the Hang Seng index ended 11.89 points down at 6,061.85.

Sydney: Hopes of an easing of monetary policy kept sellers at bay. The All Ordinaries index edged up 1.6 points to 1,663.2.

Johannesburg: Despite some nervousness over the gold price the all-share index lost only eight points to 3,651.

Frankfurt: Price swings in individual stocks kept the DAX index moving in a wide trading range before closing 8.37 points higher at 1,776.98.

Paris: Gains by a handful of blue chips gave the CAC-40 a 10.12-point advance to 1,883.64.

Milan: The MIB closed 0.11 per cent up at 874 after a technical rally ran out of steam.

Istanbul: Shares fell 1.6 per cent on profit-taking after recent strong gains. The index plunged 68.7 points to 4,175.96.

London: Report, page 23.