Business and City in Brief

Chrysler profits at record dollars 423m

Chrysler reported record third- quarter profits of dollars 423m - dollars 202m previously - on turnover of dollars 9.7bn, up from dollars 9.2bn the year before, as its sales of cars and mini-vans continued to grow faster than those of its rivals.

The US car giant managed a net profit of nearly dollars 610 on every car sold compared with dollars 535 previously, the result of sharply lower sales incentives that typically cost car makers more than dollars 1,000 a vehicle.

Philips sheds 430

Philips Electronics will shed 430 more jobs in Europe following a decision to close its television plant in Barcelona and cut operations at its Monza unit in Italy. The Barcelona plant makes 800,000 small-screen televisions annually.

US economy flat

Official figures pointed to a subdued US economy. Retail sales rose a mere 0.1 per cent last month owing to weak car sales. September wholesale prices edged up 0.2 per cent.

Chemical sales slump

Sales in the western German chemical industry are expected to plunge 6-7 per cent this year after declining 1 per cent in 1992, with domestic investment down 20 per cent year-on-year to DM11.4bn.

Surprise Apple result

Surprisingly strong sales of its Newton personal digital assistant saved Apple Computer from a widely expected loss in its fourth quarter, ending 24 September. Apple managed a dollars 2.6m profit for the quarter, while the year ended with a profit of dollars 86.5m, well below 1992's dollars 530m.

Imro shake-up

The Investment Management Regulatory Organisation has drawn up guidelines to decide which members it will shed to the Personal Investment Authority, the body planned to take on the protection of private investors.

Property trust launch

Paribas will launch a property investment trust capitalised at a maximum of pounds 50m next month. Wigmore Property, concentrating on smaller property companies with market capitalisations of up to pounds 250m, will come to the market via a placing and offer for sale.

VW denies jobs claim

Volkswagen denied a local newspaper report that it plans to introduce 47 days of short-time working at its main German plant at Wolfsburg next year but confirmed plans to reduce its 53,000-strong workforce to 48,000 by the end of next year.

John Malone

Owing to an agency error, the picture in yesterday's edition on page 35 was incorrectly captioned. It was of Barry Diller of QVC, not John Malone of Tele- Communications.

World Markets

New York: The telecommunications merger continued to inspire shares, and by the close the Dow Jones average was up 18.44 points at 3,621.63.

Tokyo: Late futures-driven gains in thin trade enabled the Nikkei average to close 44.41 points higher at 20,082.81.

Hong Kong: A heavy inflow of foreign funds drove the Hang Seng index up 119.44 points to another record, 8,412.4.

Sydney: Continued bullish sentiment lifted the All Ordinaries index 23.4 points to 2,062.

Johannesburg: With golds slipping and industrials listless, the index eased 12 points to 3,925.

Paris: Renewed pessimism over interest rates took the market lower, with the CAC-40 index 13.4 points adrift at 2,113.88.

Frankfurt: The market continued to consolidate. The DAX index ended off the day's low at 1,990.07, down 11.44 points.

Zurich: The Swiss Performance Index recorded its fifth consecutive closing high, finishing 7.74 points better at 1,626.28.

London: Report, page 34.