Business Briefs: Six Continents

LONDON, England -- Here is a roundup of European corporate news and results on Thursday.

Six Continents (SXC), the world's second largest hotel group, posted better-than-expected results and promised to return cash to shareholders if it made no big hotel purchase this year.

The London-based group -- which operates Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels, as well as 2,000 UK pubs and restaurants -- reported a 28 percent dip in half-year profits, hurt by the tourism slump after September 11, but said recovery prospects were "very strong.''

Chief Executive Tim Clarke said he believed there would be opportunities to buy hotel assets this year, but if the group did not make a move by the end of 2002, when hotel asset prices will have recovered, it will return cash to shareholders.

Six Continents shares rose 2.5 percent to 747 pence in midday trading in London(Reuters)

Man Group (EMG) has become the world's largest hedge fund manager with the purchase of Switzerland's RMF Investment Group -- a manager of hedge funds and other investments -- for $833 million in cash and stock. The purchase doubled Man's assets under management to almost $20 billion.

Group Chief Executive Stanley Fink said the acquisition lifted Man's hedge fund asset above the Global Asset Management unit of Swiss bank UBS, which has around $6 billion in hedge funds.

The group also said pretax profit rose 19 percent to £213.2 million for the year ended March 31, at the upper end of analyst forecasts.

Man Group shares slipped 0.7 percent to 945 pence at midday in London. (Reuters)

Celltech (CCH), the UK's biggest biotech group, said Peter Fellner would step down as chief executive after 12 years to become non-executive chairman. A new CEO is expected to be named before the end of the year.

The management shake-up rekindled speculation that Celltech might renew merger talks with U.S. peer Biogen, with Fellner's decision to step aside seen as one way to remove a potential clash over the top job within any enlarged group.

Celltech and Biogen first discussed a merger last summer but talks broke down over price issues.

Shares in Celltech rose 2.5 percent to 615 pence at midday in London. (Reuters)

Japan Telecom has dismissed a report that its parent, Britain's giant Vodafone Group (VOD), planned to sell its struggling fixed-line business to Japan's largest power utility.

The daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Vodafone had begun talks with Tokyo Electric Power on a sale.

It said Vodafone was also considering selling Japan Telecom's Internet consumer business to Sony Corp. Tokyo Electric Power denied that it was negotiating with Vodafone, and Japan Telecom also dismissed the report.

Vodafone shares were up 1.2 percent ot 107 pence at midday. (Reuters)