Friday lunchtime business bulletin
Unions were seeking jobs guarantees today after the UK’s biggest brewer accepted a £7.8bn takeover offer from European rivals Carlsberg and Heineken.
The deal will herald the break-up of Edinburgh-based Scottish & Newcastle, whose UK operation and 3,300 staff will pass to Dutch giant Heineken, including those at its Dunston brewery in Gateshead.
Iain MacLean, national officer of the Unite union, said: "It will result in a period of uncertainty for the workforce and we are primarily concerned about the implications for UK jobs.
"We have a meeting with Scottish & Newcastle next week and we will be looking for Carlsberg and Heineken to guarantee the security of our members’ jobs."
Heineken would not comment on potential UK job losses. The Dutch firm currently has no brewing operations in this country.
S&N - the world’s seventh largest brewer by sales volume - has breweries in Manchester, Reading and Tadcaster, in North Yorkshire as well as the Dunston site.
The FTSE 100 Index posted further gains today following a revival in US and Asian markets. US$150bn (£76bn) economic stimulus package and upbeat jobs data boosted the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 100 points, and saw the Footsie put on 97.5 points in the first hour of trading.
By mid-morning the blue chip index was 57.9 points better off at 5933.7 - still above its opening point on Monday before the week’s turmoil struck.
The better economic news helped a host of index heavyweights, with miners Rio Tinto - up 212p to 4731p - and Vedanta Resources, which gained 84p to 1790p, spearheading the surge. Metals producer Kazakhmys also gained 73p to 1179p.
DIY group Kingfisher appointed the head of its UK B&Q operation as its new chief executive today.
Ian Cheshire, who joined the firm in 1998, replaces Gerry Murphy next week. Mr Murphy announced his departure in November after five years at the helm.
Kingfisher, which also owns French business Castorama and trade supplier Screwfix, added that trading had been in line with forecasts since November 29.
Mr Cheshire takes over at a challenging time, amid tough trading conditions for Kingfisher and the home improvement retail sector. Profits across the group rose by 6.2% to £189.6m during the six months to August 4, but retail profits at B&Q slipped by £4.8m to £77.8m as it ploughed £15.8m into its stores.
The pound at noon was US$1.9777 compared to US$1.9733 at the previous close, while the euro at noon was £0.7437 compared to £0.7468 at the previous close.
