Adecco gets deadline for Michael Page bid

The Takeover Panel has set Adecco, the Swiss recruitment group, a deadline of September 30 to decide whether to make a formal offer for Michael Page, its British rival. Under the ruling, Adecco must announce a firm intention to make an offer by that date or walk away. If Adecco decides not to bid, it will be unable to make another offer for Michael Page for six months. The Panel said that both parties had accepted the ruling. Adecco said there was no guarantee it would bid. Last week Steve Ingham, Page’s chief executive, urged the Panel to issue a “put up or shut up” notice to Adecco. However, he conceded that Page’s rejection of Adecco’s proposal of a bid at 400p a share was “not the end of the matter”. (Chris Johnston)

Price site warning

Moneysupermarket.com said that it would pay half its after-tax profits in dividends but gave warning that the credit drought among bank lenders had hit its loans and mortgage channels. Simon Nixon, chief executive, said that the price comparison website, publishing its maiden first-half profits, had generated 41 per cent of its £99.4 million revenue on financial services such as credit cards, loans and mortgages during the first half, down from 47 per cent last time. (Miles Costello)

Paddy Power gloom

Paddy Power, the bookmaker, has cut its profits guidance because of poor sporting results and tougher economic conditions. The group expects figures for 2008 to exceed last year’s level, but not by the amount hoped for in the summer. The update prompted a fall in shares of William Hill and Ladbrokes, its rivals, which closed down by 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. Paddy Power said that sports results had been poor for bookmakers since June. (PA)

Sales slow at Lookers

Lookers, the Manchester-based car dealership group, reported a fall in sales after the economic slowdown deterred buyers. It said that like-for-like new and used car sales were down by 6.5 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, in the six months to June 30, with trade deteriorating in May and June. Pretax profits fell by 28 per cent to £13 million during the period. Lookers said that trading had remained challenging since June 30, with no imminent improvement expected. (PA)

Candover profit dives

Candover Investments recorded a steep fall in first-half profit, hit mainly by derivative losses, and said that disposals would be more difficult because of the credit crisis, although its portfolio was in “good shape”. For the six months to June 30, pretax profit fell to £4.43 million, against £85.11 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to £31.95 million from £29.54 million. Movement in the fair value of derivatives led to a charge of £14.83 million. (Thomson Financial)

US thrifts put aside $14bn as losses mount

US thrifts – federally insured savings and loan institutions – lost $5.4 billion (£2.95 billion) in the second quarter and set aside a record amount to cover further expected bad debts. Figures from the US Office of Thrift Supervision show that thrifts reported their second-largest quarterly loss in the three months to June, after an $8.8 billion loss in the first quarter. The latest results compared with net profits of $3.8 billion in the same period a year ago. About 830 thrifts set aside a record $14 billion to cover defaults on bad mortgages and other loans. John Reich, director of the thrift supervision office, said that 98 per cent of institutions had adequate capital to weather the housing and economic turbulence. (AP)

Suitors circle Viper

Chrysler is exploring strategic options for the Dodge Viper as the struggling American carmaker tries to raise cash to ride out a shrinking vehicle market. Bob Nardelli, the Chrysler chief executive, said that the company had been approached by third parties and that it had agreed to listen to them. About 11 Dodge Vipers, a V10-powered sports model, are built each day and 682 have been sold so far this year, up more than 10 per cent on last year. (Reuters)

Storm lifts oil price

Oil prices jumped back towards $120 a barrel as Tropical Storm Gustav, which was expected to be upgraded to a hurricane, appeared set to hit oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. US crude rose $1.88 to $118.15. Fears about Gustav’s path and potential effect on oil production could help oil to climb near a three-week high of $122 over the next few days. BP said that it had begun to remove non-essential workers from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the storm. (Heath Aston)

Ricoh buys distributor

Ricoh, the Japanese copier and printer maker, will acquire Ikon Office Solutions, an American office equipment distributor, for $1.62 billion (£884 million) in what could be a blow to Canon, its rival in the US market. Ricoh, which competes with Xerox, Canon and Konica Minolta Holdings in printers and copiers, said that it would pay $17.25 cash per Ikon share, a premium of 11 per cent to Tuesday’s close of $15.56. Canon produces 60 per cent of Ikon’s products and Ricoh 30 per cent. (Reuters)

Dell eyes new markets

Dell has released four low-cost computers intended for China, India and other emerging economies. The two notebook and two desktop PCs are the first Dell models to have been designed specifically for the fast-growing emerging markets and are aimed at small business users in 20 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Strong sales in Asia helped Dell to turn in results in the first quarter that were better than expected, despite the sharp slowdown in the American economy. (AP)

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