Monday 16 January, 1:00 PM GMT (Thomson Financial): European markets are
trading slightly positive on lower volumes, with the U.S. markets closed
for a public holiday. Amongst today's key news, Oce has announced
preliminary full year net income of 78.8 million euros compared to 78.1
million euros in the previous year. ThyssenKrupp and Arcelor have raised
their bids for Dofasco, while shares in Standard Chartered Bank have
opened higher on reports it may be a possible bid target. TNT has denied
holding negotiations with German entrepreneur Cornelius Geber about
selling the company, while VNU has received an offer from a private equity
consortium.
London's FTSE-100 Index is up 19.90 points or 0.35% to 5,730.90, while
Paris's CAC-40 Index is up 4.080 points or 0.08% to 4,854.61. Frankfurt's
DAX Index is up 1.11 points or 0.02% to 5,484.20 and Milan's S&P MIB Index
is up 269.0 points or 0.74% to 36,534.0. The pan-European blue chip Dow
Jones Stoxx 50 Index is down 2.59 points or 0.08% to 3,418.78.
* Printing services group Oce has announced preliminary full year net
income of 78.8 million euros compared to 78.1 million euros in the
previous year. Operating income has dipped to 110.1 million euros from
110.4 million euros in the prior year, on revenues of 2.677 billion euros
versus 2.652 billion euros last year. The company said that following a
downward trend, revenues from services and media started to grow again
during 2005 because earnings from servicing have become more stable due to
placements of new printing systems and growth in revenues from Business
Services.
* ThyssenKrupp has increased its offer for Dofasco to 68 Canadian dollars
per share from 63 Canadian dollars per common share. Rival bidder Arcelor
has responded by increasing its offer for Dofasco to 71 Canadian dollars
from its previous offer of 63 Canadian dollars.
* Publishing and marketing research group VNU has received a non-binding
proposal to purchase the company for 28.00 to 28.50 euros per common share
from a private equity consortium after several weeks of diligence and
access to VNU management. VNU said it will proceed with discussions with
this private equity consortium as VNU continues to weigh alternatives and
fully and fairly evaluate what course of action will serve the best
interests of VNU's stakeholders. VNU is not proceeding with discussions
with any other party.
* Shares in channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel are rising after posting a
1% year-on-year rise in 2005 un-audited operating revenues to 541 million
pounds from 538 million pounds in 2004. The revenue from shuttle activity
has amounted to 295 million pounds, up 4% year-on-year, marking the first
increase in revenue from Eurotunnel's principal activity since 2002.
* Shares in Standard Chartered Bank remain higher after a report in The
Observer newspaper suggested the group was being eyed up as a possible bid
target by several U.S. banking groups.
* Dutch postal and logistics firm TNT has denied holding negotiations with
German entrepreneur Cornelius Geber about selling the company after
weekend press reports suggested he was in favor of launching a hostile
bid for the Dutch company.
Simon.Tse@Thomson.com; Thomson Financial
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SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
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