■FOOD
Kraft may increase bid
Kraft Foods Inc, the world’s second-biggest food maker, was under pressure to increase its £9.8 billion (US$16 billion) bid for confectioner Cadbury PLC by yesterday’s deadline to keep its takeover attempt alive, investors said. Kraft proposed £3 in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft share per Cadbury share on Aug. 28, an offer worth £7.17 based on last Friday’s closing prices. Cadbury rejected that as an “unappealing prospect” from a “low-growth” conglomerate. UK regulators set a deadline of yesterday for Kraft to make a formal offer or walk away for six months. “If they try anything less than 800 pence [£8], people will yawn and say ‘go away,’” John Haynes, an equity strategist at Rensburg Sheppards PLC in London, which holds Cadbury shares, said in a telephone interview. “I’m surprised we haven’t seen any expressions of interests from anybody else, so I expect them to make a bid.”
■INSURANCE
Allianz nearly doubles profit
German insurance group Allianz yesterday posted a third quarter profit of 1.32 billion euros (US$1.97 billion), in line with expectations and nearly double the previous year’s figure. Revenues gained 5.2 percent from the same period a year earlier to 22 billion euros, while operating profit rose by 23.4 percent to 1.9 billion euros, its highest level since the second quarter of last year, the company said in a statement. The figures were presented pro forma, that is excluding those of Dresdner Bank, which Allianz sold early this year to Commerzbank for 4.7 billion euros. Net income from operations soared by 143 percent to 1.3 billion euros, the statement said. The group’s life and health insurance unit contributed in large part to the improved results with premiums gaining 14.6 percent to 10.8 billion euros in the three month period.
■SPORTS WEAR
Puma net income plummets
German sportswear company Puma AG said yesterday its net income fell 24 percent in the third quarter because of a drop in sales, especially for footwear and in its US markets. Puma, based in Herzogenaurach, said net income amounted to 68 million euros in the July-September period, down from 89 million euros in the third quarter of last year. Revenue for the period was 6 percent lower at 673 million euros from 713 million euros in the third quarter of last year. Puma is the world’s third-biggest sportswear company after crosstown rival Adidas AG and Nike Inc of the US. Puma said its revenue fell 10.4 percent on a euro basis in the Americas, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw a 5.6 percent decline. Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific region saw a 1.2 percent increase in revenue. The footwear division saw a 13 percent decline in revenue and apparel saw a 3 percent decline during the quarter. Revenue for accessories rose 40.4 percent.
■INSURANCE
Reliance to buy US assets
Indian giant Reliance Industries is set to buy assets from stricken US petrochemicals group Lyondell-Basell in a deal that could be worth up to US$6 billion, a report said yesterday. The purchase, which would signal that the cross-border acquisition market is picking up again after the global financial crisis, might be announced this month, the Economic Times reported. The report said Lyondell-Basell filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in January, which gives it protection from its creditors and time to restructure its businesses.
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