Business & City in Brief

Drive begins to sell off bus companies

The first of the 10 large London Transport bus companies has been sold to a management buyout team for pounds 25m.

CentreWest London, which operates about 500 buses in central and west London, has a turnover of pounds 40m. Three bus garages were included in the sale. The Government hopes to have all 10 companies sold by the end of the year. The 1,470 staff of CentreWest are to get 19 per cent of the equity in the form of free shares.

Sturge shuffles board

Sturge Holdings, the Lloyd's of London agency, is to make Terry Hayday, chief executive of insurance operations, redundant following the appointment of Lord Poole as group chief executive last week.

Sturge began its search for a group chief executive eight months ago when David Coleridge, former chairman of Lloyd's of London, told shareholders at the annual meeting he would stand down as Sturge's chairman next February.

Mr Hayday had been suggested as a possible candidate. Sturge is still searching for a part-time non-executive chairman.

Electric acceptance

The board of Southern Electric has accepted the regulator Offer's proposals on price controls for the five-year period from April 1995.

Renault part sale

Some shares in Renault, the carmaker, are to be sold to the public before the end of the year but full privatisation is not on the agenda, French Industry Minister Gerard Longuet said.

Asda fresh face

Asda, the food retailer, said Michael Fleming, 33, has joined the board as marketing director from the rival supermarket group Somerfield Stores.

Disk charge

The European Commission said it was investigating charges that imports of microdisks from the US, Mexico and Malaysia were sold at unfairly low prices in the European Union.

Fokker inquiry The European Commission said it was investigating whether a deal by which Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker would get 400 million guilders from Dutch co-operative bank Rabobank involved state aid.

Farnborough report, page 15

Sunny paradise

Sun International, the hotels and leisure company owned by South Africa's Sol Kerzner, said it was renovating the Paradise Island Resort & Casino, in Nassau, Bahamas, formerly owned by Donald Trump. The main attraction will be an aquarium where guests mingle with fish.

World Markets

New York: Closed (Labor Day).

Tokyo: Arbitrage-linked selling lowered the Nikkei average 244.65 to 20,409.18 in quiet trade.

Hong Kong: Once again falling back after breaching 10,000, the Hang Seng index closed 60.48 points ahead at 9,962.04.

Sydney: With investors reluctant to trade in view of the US holiday, the All Ordinaries index slipped 11.5 points to 2,095.5.

Bombay: Recovering most of its early losses, the index ended 15.46 points easier at 4,510.75.

Johannesburg: Industrial shares gathered momentum and, with gold still strong, the overall index gained 41 points to 5,956.

Frankfurt: A lower bond market dampened sentiment as the DAX index finished at the day's low of 2,174.52, down 30.19 points.

Paris: Worries about inflationary pressures combined with the weak dollar to send the CAC-40 index below 2,000, closing 22.17 points lower at 1,998.2.

Zurich: Consolidating recent gains, the Swiss Performance Index edged up 0.88 to 1,761.99.

London: Report, page 16.