The English high court yesterday approved Musgrave's £60 million (€90 million) takeover of Londis UK, finalising a deal that the Irish grocery distributor and franchiser had been pursuing since late last year.
A statement said the court gave the go ahead to the deal, under which Musgrave would acquire Londis Holdings Ltd, the operating company owned by Londis's 1,626 shopkeeper shareholders.
Last month, more than 97 per cent of Londis shareholders voted in favour of the Musgrave offer. Individual shopkeepers will each get more than £36,000 for their stake in the company.
Surplus in Federal Mogul Irish fund
Some 60 staff at car parts maker Federal Mogul in Naas, Co Dublin, are not expected to be affected by a major shortfall in the company's pension provision in the UK.
About 20,000 current and former workers at Federal Mogul in the UK could lose nearly half their retirement income as their pension fund faces winding up with a shortfall of close to £875 million (€1.325 billion).
However, it is understood a separate Federal Mogul pension fund in Ireland is in surplus, and will be able to meet its liabilities.
The Federal Mogul plant in Monread Road is due to close with the loss of about 60 jobs. Workers have voted to accept a redundancy package, which consists of four weeks pay for every year of service, plus €2,000.
Microsoft lowers earnings outlook
Microsoft shares fell 3.34 per cent to $28.03 yesterday following a decision by the world's biggest software firm to lower its earnings outlook for the full year.
The firm, which employs more than 1,200 full-time staff at its European operations centre in Dublin, announced late on Thursday second-quarter results in line with expectations.
Microsoft reported a net profit of $2.69 billion (€2.2 billion), or 25 cents per share, for its fourth quarter ended June 30th, compared with a profit of $1.48 billion, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier. The firm's revenue rose to $9.29 billion, up from $8.07 billion a year earlier.
But it warned that slightly slower PC sales growth, projected at 7-9 per cent in the year to June 2005, would make it difficult to match its 14 per cent revenue growth in fiscal 2004.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Ireland said Irish shareholders should not face any special tax problems from the proposed special dividend payout in December. This week Microsoft said it would make a one-time dividend payment of $3 a share to shareholders. - (Reuters)
Amazon results below expectations
Amazon.com, the internet's largest retailer, has posted its fourth consecutive quarterly profit, but the results came up short of Wall Street's expectations.
The company blamed a slowdown in sales growth on phenomenal sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix during the second quarter in 2003, making this year's results look weaker in comparison.
Amazon said it earned $76 million (€63 million) compared with a loss of $43 million in the comparable 2003 period. Sales rose 26 per cent to $1.39 billion, $50 million shy of Wall Street's expectations. - (LA Times Service)
AIG sees profits increase by 26%
American International Group (AIG), the world's largest insurer by market value, saw profits rise 26 per cent in the second quarter, helped by growth in its general insurance and foreign life insurance business.
The US company, which employs 120 people in Dublin, said second-quarter net income rose to $2.86 billion (2.35 billion) from $2.28 billion a year earlier.
Revenue rose 20 per cent to $23.8 billion. - (Reuters)
