Dossier fuels speculation on sale of Fayed's Harrods
Abu Dhabi: A secret due-diligence document on Harrods has valued the Knightsbridge department store owned by Mohamed al-Fayed at no more than £552m. Using the code name Project Honeydukes, the document, which is circulating among potential acquirers of or investors in Harrods and has been seen by the Sunday Times, says that the store's value could be as low as £112m. The seven-page detailed analysis was put together by a banking team given access to Harrods and its accounts for three days.

The revelation of the document is the most serious indication yet of Fayed's desire either to sell the company or raise new finance. A spokesman said, ''We have not commissioned anyone to prepare a valuation of Harrods. We know nothing of this report.'' However, sources who have been passed the due-diligence document say that it was presented to them as Fayed-authorised due-diligence and an accurate reflection of Harrods' trading performance. The document is unsigned.

Over the past few months there have been a number of reports about talks between Fayed and retail and property companies. The most recently published accounts for Harrods are for the year to February 2, 2002, and the leaked document shows how it has continued to operate in a tough trading environment.
Back to News Review index page  

PM to discuss developing economies at G-8
Evian: Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday joined world's most powerful leaders here for an informal G-8 summit to discuss issues relating to less-developed and developing countries, the fight against international terrorism and ways to shore up a fragile global economy. The summit is organised by the French president Jacques Chirac ahead of the two-day conference of the eight industrialised nations. And, tens of thousands of anti-globalisation activists prepared to disrupt the summit of the world's richest nations here. To counter the threat, some 25,000 police and military personnel have been deployed in Evian and just across the Swiss border in Geneva to try to ensure the high-profile summit passes off peacefully. The meet assumes significance in the context of the upcoming ministerial meeting of the WTO in Mexico which will carry forward the recommendations of the ministerial meeting in Doha.
Back to News Review index page  

HP ousts IBM - IDC from No 1 server computer slot
New York: Hewlett-Packard Co. took the top spot in worldwide server computer marketshare based on revenue during the first quarter from International Business Machines Corp., according to market research firm IDC. Server computers are large computers used by corporations to do everything from transaction processing to managing corporate networks to running Web sites. They exclude personal computers. Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard had 27.9 per cent of the market in the first quarter, 2.4 percentage points more than IBM, which had held the lead spot. In the fourth quarter of 2002, IBM had 29 per cent marketshare compared with HP's 24 per cent. HP tied with IBM for the top spot for the first time in the second quarter of 2003 after having bought Compaq Computer in May of 2002.
Back to News Review index page  

McDonald's sues Italy's food critic
Milan: McDonald's has sued one of Italy's top food critics for raking its restaurants over the coals, but the critic says he has no intention of going back on saying its burgers taste of rubber and its fries of cardboard. With the court case ongoing, McDonald's of Italy said on Friday the critic's comments were "clearly defamatory and offensive to McDonald's and to the more than 600,000 Italians who each day freely choose to eat in a McDonald's restaurant". Critic Edoardo Raspelli, one of the top food personalities in a country that is home to a popular "slow food" movement, said he had received hundreds of emails supporting him against the fast-food giant. "To me this looks like the usual, very American effort to destroy criticism and destroy people," Raspelli said. "I didn't defame anybody, not even their French fries."
Back to News Review index page