Business and City in Brief

TOMKINS WINS 935m POUNDS RHM BID

Tomkins yesterday declared its pounds 935m agreed bid for Ranks Hovis McDougall unconditional after its stake rose above 50 per cent on the first closing date for the offer.

PACKER ABOARD

Westpac Banking said Kerry Packer, chairman of Consolidated Press Holdings, and Al Dunlap, managing director, had accepted invitations to join the board. Consolidated recently acquired shares and options representing about 10 per cent of the bank's capital.

FEE INCOME BOOST

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International, the world's fifth- biggest accountancy firm, boosted worldwide fee income for the year to 30 September to dollars 4.8bn, up 7 per cent.

NUCLEAR PROFITS

Nuclear Electric, the state- owned electricity generator, lifted operating profits, before exceptional items and financing charges, by 21 per cent to pounds 252m in the six months to 30 September.

WHEAT CROP

The International Wheat Council predicted an increase of 18 million tonnes in the 1993/4 world grain crop, from 557 to 575 million tonnes.

ANGLO ASSETS SPLIT

The assets of Anglo Group, vehicle for the failed assault on BAT by Lord Rothschild and Sir James Goldsmith, are to be split up between its shareholders in a pounds 121m deal.

YOUNGER HOPEFUL

Lord Younger, chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, said he hoped to close the sale of Charterhouse, the merchant banking arm, to a group of European institutions led by Credit Commercial de France by the end of January.

30m POUNDS GPT DEAL

GPT, the telecommunications equipment maker, said it had won a three-year payphone contract from British Telecom worth about pounds 30m.

14m POUNDS TARMAC SALE

Tarmac has sold Feb International, part of its industrial products division, to Sandoz Holdings Great Britain for pounds 14m.

ADVISERS NAMED

KPMG Peat Marwick, the accountancy and management consultancy firm, will act as financial adviser to the Government on the proposed sale of DVOIT, which provides information technology services to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

JOBS REPRIEVED

A threat to 300 jobs at the Imros microchip factory in Newport, Gwent, was lifted by a government investment deal.

WORLD MARKETS

NEW YORK: The Dow Jones Average struggled to hold above the psychologically important 3,300 level. By the close it was ahead 18.67 at 3,307.33.

TOKYO: Political uncertainties sidelined investors. The Nikkei Average eased 88.57 to 17,207.12.

HONG KONG: The Hang Seng index slumped 76.35 to 5,191.75 ahead of today's meeting between the UK and China.

SYDNEY: Good gains among industrials boosted the All Ordinaries index 9.5 to 1,444.7.

JOHANNESBURG: Profit-taking clipped 21 points from the gold index at 864.

FRANKFURT: The DAX index gained 3.16 to 1,525.32.

ZURICH: Blue chips improved despite Sunday's vote against membership of the European Economic Area. The SPI index rose 5.8 to 1,164.5.

MILAN: Demand for bank shares helped to boost the MIB index 14 to 849.

PARIS: The CAC-40 index gained 6.93 to 1,788.61.

LONDON: Report, page 23.