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MARKET
REPORT
Oil giant
Shell
moving
into the
fast lane
By TIM BLACKSTONE "
STOCKBROKERS UBS
Phillips & Drew rolled
out th e barrel for Shell
yesterday and the rest of
th e C ity’s oil analy sts
joined the party.
P & D raised its forecast
of Shell’s net 1989
earnings by a m assive
£810 million to £3,95 billion,
m aking a gain of £1
billion on last year.
Analyst Jerem y Eldon
said: “Shell is firing on all
fo u r cylinders for th e
first tim e in 10 years. It is
g ain in g fro m h ig h e r,
crude prices and from
big m argins on refining,
as well. Chemical prices
have continued to soar
and its m etals business is
booming.”
Shell rose 6V4p to 393p
and BP gained 3V4p to
278p.
Elsewhere, w ith no follow
-th ro u g h o n W all
S treet after Friday’s biggest
rise for six m onths,
th e FT-SE 100 Index
closed only 1.1 up at
2054.7.
Plessey tum bled lOp on
fears th at GEC/Slem ens
may not raise their offer'
enough to win — even if
they get the Monopolies
go-ahead.
LEISURE giant MECCA
recovered 7p to 187p
amid talk of joint ventures
with U.S. casinos
and health club group
BALLY CORPORATION in
America and Europe,
Q u a r ry in g g ro u p
Evered, w hich last week
appointed Sir Peter P ark
er as chairm an, rose 5p
to 1234p after an 18 per
cent rise to £30 million.
Morgan Crucible gained
5p to 257p after profits up
by a third.
H a n s o n c l o s e d
unchanged at 183p after
the £224 m illion sale to
m anagem ent of its Alld-
ers stores and duty-free
shops. M ini-conglom er-
ate Eagle T rust gained lp
to 19%p after a takeover
approach, believed to be'
from its bosses.
• Noel Hayes, a directo
r of Kleinwort Benson
Securities , was sacked
y e s te rd a y . H e h ad ,
according to the firm ,
broken one of its dealing
r u le s . H ay e s w as
re c ru ite d fro m riv als
C itic o rp S c rim g e o u r
Vickers on a £300,000-
plus salary package one
year ago.
WALL St
REPORT
TALK th at Sotheby’s Is
on th e b lock b id up
sh a re s in th e auctio n
house on Wall Street yesterday.
Sotheby shares up $4.50
in heavy turnover last
week, ju m p ed a n o th e r
$2.75 to $34 yesterday.
C adbury S chw eppes’
American shares rose 50
cents to $59.50 on a weekend
report th a t General
Cinema, which has an 18
p e r ce n t sta k e, m ight
seek control.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Index, up 41 points
on Friday, rose 0.73 points
to 2,337.79 The pound rose
three quarters of a cent to
$1.7135.
SN d a il y EXPRESS Tuesday April 18 1989 31
Businessl GROUP FINANCIAL EDITOR LEITH McGRANDLE
The profitable jewel
in the Ratner crown
The suggested 195p offer is hardly likely
GERALD RATNER is enjoying his
to win m any friends. Chairm an Alec Monk
position as the world’s largest and
m ost successful jeweller. Display­ By T rev o r
callis it "derisory,” Budgen’s John Fletcher
failed with a 217p a share bid in February
ing a pair of earrings w hich sell for
99p, he quipped: “A pair of gold earrings for W e b ste r
1988.
The m ost irritating aspect of the W ar­
the price of a praw n sandwich. The sand­ CITY EDITOR
burg half-bid is th e tem porary anonym ity
wich will probably last longer.”
of the bidders. Today will bring news of
B ut R atner can afford to m ake jokes at
W arburg’s M ercury Asset M anagement and.
his own expense. H e revealed yesterday
th a t his Ratners em pire, which includes H, shops to 1,500 in five to 10 years. Eventually Globe Investm ent T rust’s m em bership of
Sam uel and Zales, boosted profits 63 per he will add another leg to the business. th e consortium . Superm arket rival Asda is
believed to be ready to pay m ore than £700
cent to £86 million last year. The dividend A nalysts exp ect R a tn e rs to m ake m illion for 62 of Gateway’s larger stores.
is up 50 per cent to 7.5p and the shares rose upw ards of £100 m illion th is year. The
lp to 214p.
shares look as cheap as the jewellery and
Some of Gateway’s m anagem ent are
R atner now has 24.3 per cent of the £2.16 do not reflect th e above-average growth
rum oured to be backing the consortium .
The position of Garry W eston, who is a 15
billion jewellery m arket, w hich has dou­ prospects.
bled in the last five years, and is going for 50
N
per cent shareholder through his Associ-.
per cent of the UK m arket and 10 per cent
EWS th a t bankers S.G W arburg are ated B ritish Foods, is far from clear.
lining up a £ 1.7 billion consortium
of the U.S. m arket, writes Gillian Bowditch. HORROR stories about higher inter­
bid for B ritain’s th ird biggest super­
The only dull spot in yesterday’s figuresr
est rates seem out of place after
m arket group, G atew ay, caused
is SaUsburys, w hich he acquired along w ith
yesterday’s news th at spending in
relief and disappointm ent in the City yes­
Zales from Next in November, Together
the shops was flat in M arch and
they m ade £5 million. B ut R atner says Salterday.
sales for the first quarter were down 0.25 per
isburys was in a worse state than he expec­
Relief for investors th a t a possible 195p- cent on the last quarter of 1988.
ted w ith a lack of stock and poor controls,
a-share offer may be ju st a sighting shot Interest rates of 13 per cent appear to be
w hich he is now remedying.
w hich will allow them to exit from the poor- biting hard enough and we could have a
ly-performing shares at a profit was tem ­
Jewellery is one of the few success sto-‘
m ore com fortable ride to the M arch trade
pered by the unsatisfactory m anner in
ries on th e High Street. R atner says that
figures a week tom orrow. The pound, which
w hich the news was delivered.
the interest rate squeeze has not affected
was benefiting from signs th at American
Around 2 per cent of Gateway changed rates have peaked, rose 1.7 cents to $1.7160
his shops as only 4 per cent of his sales in hands on Friday when the shares jum ped last night.
the UK are done on credit and the average 8p to 181p — they were up a further 3p to t The threat of interest rates rising to 14
sale is ju st £20.
184p yesterday and W arburg said it was per cent should recede until we see the
H e believes th a t th e UK m arket will con­ m aking its announcem ent because of the im pact of higher rates already in the pipetinue
to grow for the next five years b u t has recent share activity. The Stock Exchange line. A m illion Halifax borrow ers are being
turned his attentions to the U.S. w here he is probing buying ahead of the announce­ hit w ith a rise of 50 per cent in their home
plans to expand his Sterling chain of 317 ment.
loan paym ents this month.
ADT’s £210m link
SECURITY alarm s-to-
car auctions group ADT
is wiping out its debts
and acquiring a new p artner.
This follows the sale
of a 22 p er cent stake in
M ichael Ashcroft’s Ber-
m uda-based group to the
Canadian company, Laid-
law Transportation, for
£210 million.
L aid law — which is 48
per cent owned by Canadian
Pacific — is one of
N orth America’s biggest
w aste d isposal com panies
and the biggest operator
of school buses.
ADT got close to Laid-
By STEPHEN KAHN
law w hen the Canadians
bought its 28 p er cent
interest in the Attwoods
w aste disposal business
for £69 m illion in January.
The deal, announced by
A sh c ro ft y e s te rd a y ,
brings a powerful friend
on to the ADT board in
L aidlaw b o ss M ichael
deG roote. I t continues
A shcroft’s effort to sim ­
plify th e s tru c tu re of
ADT.
P a r t of L a id la w ’s
investm ent includes the 8
per cent of ADT held by
- the H enlys Group of Canada.
C lo ser tie s betw een
ADT and L aidlaw are
expected. “Laidlaw, like
ADT, is a m ajor player in
the service m arkets and
it is a natural association,”
says Ashcroft.
The Canadian com pany
has pledged not to make
changes in its ADT stake
w ithout prior agreement.
ADT’s shares closed up
7p at 165p last night.
Anita tops tycoon charts
BODY SHOP creator Anita
Roddick and Richard Branson,
head of the Virgin
record and airline business,
are Britain’s favourite
tycoons — the two people
young business
leaders most want to be
like.
Other top-rated tycoons
in a survey of 200 young
business people by the Nat
West/Young Entrepreneurs
Network include billionaire
Sir James Goldsmith and
Lonrho chief Tiny Rowland. Rowland Roddick Goldsmith
Getting there
with Trafalgar
TRAFALGAR HOUSE boss Sir Nigel
Broackes is determ ined to prove that
private m oney reaches the p arts public
sector finance can’t.
After m issing out on the contract to
build the Channel Tunnel, Trafalgar
h a s p ro d u ced p la n s to m ake th e
high-speed rail link to the tunnel comm
ercially viable — even though environm
ental concerns have added an
extra £500 m illion to the bill.
The com pany is looking at a joint
venture w ith BR which would involve
taking over lucrative K ent com m uter
lines. Joint ow nership is being considered.
BR says it could not justify using its
own money to build the link until the
tu rn of th e century. T rafalg ar is
looking for profits by the mid-1990s.
Bond stays on
Lonrho hook
AUSSIE tycoon Alan Bond is nursing a
nasty paper loss after finding no ready
buyers for his 20.4 p er cent stake in
Tiny Rowland’s LONRHO group.
BOND CORPORATION, which put
the stake up for auction over a m onth
ago w ith a price tag of £380 million,
announced last night th a t it is still willing
to entertain oners. The shares cost
Bond around 360p each — some 35p
above Lonrho’s price in the stock m arket
when the auction closed last night.
Bond’s best hope is for Lonrho to
agree to buy back half or two-thirds of
the stake but, so far, Rowland has not
been w arm to the idea. Meanwhile the
money tied up in the stake is equivalent
to Bond Corporation’s value on the
stock m arket.
BACK SUFFERER?
MEDICAL PROBLEM?
H e re 's som e c o m fo rt!
Sprung to match individual body contours, regular OBAS orthopaedic
beds have brought relief to a whole generation of back pain sufferers,
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affordable answer, providing comfort for a wide
range of medical conditions. Two beds for two
specific problems. Each costing no more
than any other good quality single or
double 'standard' bed.OBAS are the
Orthopaedic Bedding Advisory Service.
O ur surgical orthopaedic technicians and
professionally qualified consultants have
designed thousands of single and double
beds based on the weight, shape, and
medical history of individual customers.
Medibed is the latest step in our quest for /uf;n,Rcn
the widest possible relief from problems at the
affecting natural rest and sleep. boitom
JML O f»
Right
iheOBASbed gives
correct support for
each partner, helps to
bring (hem relaxation
and jeliel tiom pain.
Years of experience
teli us that standard beds may not be right for every
human body. If they provide excellent support for
someone of heavy build they're almost unlikely to suit
anyone lighter. And vice versa. Either way, at least one
partner may experience aches and pains.
What's the answer?
A bed from the Orthopaedic Bedding
Advisory Service. A double bed with
two entirely different types of
springing to suit the needs of each
partner exactly; to ease them gently into
the right positions to keep the spine relaxed and
flexible; to help lift the pressure off,bones,
muscles,tendons, nerve endings and joints.
Stores
chief
sacks
bankers
S TO R EH O U SE b o ss
Michael Julien bared his
teeth yesterday, declared
“enough is enough” and
sacked his bankers BAR­
CLAYS.
Julien has transferred
the £3 m illion Mothercare,
H abitat and BhS
account to MIDLAND
BANK. This Is because
Barclays subsidiary Barclays
de Zoete Wedd is
acting as an adviser to
A m erican a rb itra g e u r
Asher Edelm an, who has
7.8 p er cent of Storehouse
shares and has consiste
n tly c ritic ised th e
Storehouse management.
T he fin al straw was
E d e lm a n ’s a tta c k on
S to re h o u se’s p ro p erty
agreem ent w ith London
& Edinburgh Trust, says
Julien.
He is also unhappy th at
D en n is B o o k sh e ste r,
Edelm an’s chosen successor
for Julien should he
ever gain control of Storehouse,
has been working-
out of BZW’s offices.
Barclays said there was
no lack of loyalty on th eir
p art and have prom ised
Julien th a t they would
not finance a b id for
Storehouse.
MEDIBED
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the lop
Medibed can be adjusted to give comfort for
the following conditions and others which
require raising the head or foot of the bed.
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•Oedem a of legs •Asthma
•Back Pain *Oesophagitis
If you have any of the above conditions you
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easing the condition and providing the
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Fingertip control is both safe and simple . And
because the springing in the mattress supports
your particular body contours, it relieves or
prevents another problem. Back pain.
If you have a back problem or suffer from a
medical condition contact OBAS now.
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_ _ a b o u t OBAS O rth o p a e d ic b e d s. I___I
OBAS
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N a m e (Mr, M rs, M s) -
A d d re s s _____________
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I understand ihere is no obligation of any kind.
BIOCK C API7AIS
_ P o s tco d e -
OBAS, Dept DX18/4 , FREEPOST, OBAS House, London E3 4BR