Canadian Airlines International and American Airlines have settled their dispute with the Gemini computerised reservations system, bringing the two carriers within reach of a long-delayed alliance.

With the threatened litigation no longer an issue, the link between American and Canadian now appears virtually assured of being consummated early next year. A Canadian Airlines official said that 'it's down to the final details on Gemini'.

Under the proposed alliance, which was first mooted two years ago, American's parent company, AMR, will inject CDollars 246m (USDollars 186.3m) into Canadian in return for a 25 per cent voting interest. A key condition of the deal is that Canadian sever its links with Gemini, and instead join the Sabre reservation system owned by American's parent, AMR Corp.

Canadian's attempts to withdraw from Gemini have, up to now, been strongly resisted by the other shareholders, Air Canada and Covia, a unit of United Airlines. They have contended that Gemini would be fatally weakened, leaving Sabre with a virtual monopoly of the Canadian travel market.

Mr Paul Nelson, Gemini chief executive, said yesterday many travel agents who use the system had urged it to settle its litigation against Canadian and AMR. The parties have agreed to keep details of the settlement secret.

Canadian and Air Canada last month appointed a mediator to help negotiate the terms of dissolving Gemini. The deadline for completion of the talks was extended earlier this week to December 20. Air Canada is expected to drop its objections to Canadian leaving Gemini in exchange for an agreement to rejig the two carriers' international routes.

Mr Ben Mikula, analyst at Midland Walwyn in Montreal, predicted that 'there'll be a series of quid pro quos', with Air Canada gaining access to some of Canadian's lucrative trans-Pacific routes, and a rationalisation of the two airlines' trans-Atlantic flights.

AMR originally set a December 31 deadline for the deal with Canadian, but numerous delays have forced Canadian to request an extension. The financially-strapped airline also plans to ask governments and creditors for bridging finance.

The privatisation of Renault will go ahead as planned in spite of the failure of its merger with the car and truck activities of Volvo of Sweden, Mr Gerard Longuet, the French industry minister, said yesterday.

In an interview on French television, Mr Longuet said the privatisation date would be set by the cabinet, but that it could still take place in the second half of next year.

The timing of the privatisation of the combined group was one of the principal concerns of Swedish investors, whose opposition to the deal forced Volvo to abandon the merger.

Mr Longuet said the collapse of the merger did not threaten Renault and that the state-owned car group 'can live on its own'. However, he added that Renault would continue to seek international alliances to strengthen its position in the world car market.

The development of Renault's strategy was a matter for the car group's management, said Mr Longuet. 'It is up to the company to establish its projects.'

Mr Longuet also said the state was likely to retain between 10 and 15 per cent of the shares in Elf Aquitaine, the oil group due to be privatised early next year.

In the case of Groupe Bull, the loss-making computer manufacturer, Mr Longuet said the government would consider privatisation 'when the horizon is clearer'.

Johnson Matthey, the precious metals and advanced materials group, is today expected to announce a joint venture to manufacture auto catalysts in Malaysia. It has signed an agreement with Hicom, the Malaysian government's investment arm, to build a plant to produce 1m catalysts a year by 1995.

Creditanstalt, the Austrian bank which has invested Sch2bn (Dollars 1657m) in developing its eastern European banking network since 1989, has opened Poland's first foreign-owned stockbroking house.

Mr Guido Schmidt Chiari, the bank chairman, said yesterday Creditanstalt thought Poland, the Czech and Slovak republics and Hungary would be 'the growth area in Europe for the next few decades'.

Sweden's OM group has agreed with a consortium of Czech companies to set up an options and futures market in Prague. It is the company's second venture into eastern Europe since establishing a futures and options exchange in Bratislava in Slovakia earlier this year, writes Christpher Brown-Humes in Stockholm.

The new market will be called the Prague Options and Futures Exchange, and will allow investors in Czech companies to manage the risks associated with equity investments. The Czech Republic has a stock market with a daily volume of Kcs460m (Dollars 15m).

MIM Holdings, the Brisbane-based metals group, has played down the impact of last Thursday's sale of shares in MIM by the German Metallgesellschaft group. It said the commercial relationship between the two companies was expected to continue in the immediate future.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ CROSS BORDER M&A DEALS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BIDDER/INVESTOR TARGET SECTOR VALUE COMMENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ France Telecom Joint Telecoms Pounds 762m First step in (France)/Deutsche venture collaboration Telekom (Germany) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Corange (Bermuda) CellPro Bio- Pounds 147m Stake starts (US) technology alliance ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Embraco (Brazil) Unit of Refri- Pounds 70m Buying part- Whirpool geration ner's Italian (US) unit ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Accor (France) Pannonia Hotels Pounds 38m Accor leads (Hungary) 51% investment ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bridge Oil Assets of Oil & gas Pounds 33m Acquiring (Australia) Santa Fe reserves Energy Resources (US)

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bemrose Corp (UK) McCleery- Publishing Pounds 18m Bolstering US Cumming presence (US) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Laboratoire Chauvin Unit of Ophthalmic Pounds 18m Proceeds to (France) Smith & solutions cut debt Nephew (UK) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Samsung Corning Fernsehglas Glass n/a Price set next (S Korea) Tschernitz year (Germany) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Electrolux (Sweden) Unit of AEG Domestic n/a Part of AEG (Germany) appliances shake-out ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Investor consortium Mibrag Coal n/a Much (UK/US) (Germany) mining investment promised ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hanson's annual report has spelt out for the first time that Mr Derek Bonham is expected to succeed Lord Hanson as chairman.

In his statement, Lord Hanson said 'the appointment of Derek Bonham as deputy chairman indicates the board's succession plans'.

Mr Bonham, chief executive since April 1992, was made deputy chairman last month, and the stock market had taken this to mean that he would succeed Lord Hanson, who is 71 and due to retire in 1997. Mr Bonham is 50.

Lord Hanson received a modest pay increase, from Pounds 1.35m to Pounds 1.36m, after suffering a cut from Pounds 1.38m in 1992.

The group also referred to a 'tentative agreement' between the mineworkers union and the coal producers in the US, reached on December 7. It said, 'hopefully this will lead to an end to the US coal strike'. The strike, which began in February, cost Hanson Pounds 125m in the year to end-September.

The accounts show Hanson made provisions of Pounds 481m on acquisitions, most relating to Quantum Chemical Corporation which was bought on the last day of the financial year.

This was a much lower level of provisions than was made for the acquisition of Beazer in 1992 and Peabody in 1990, which required substantial provisions for environmental and health related benefits. In 1992 provisions on acquisitions totalled Pounds 1.69bn and in 1990 they were Pounds 2.1bn.

There was a rise of Pounds 956m in provisions to Pounds 5.82bn, with exchange rate movements alone adding Pounds 823m to the total. Provisions utilised totalled Pounds 530m, partly offset by Pounds 199m of provisions set up during the year, most of which related to pensions and employee obligations.

Hanson maintained its Pounds 100,000 contribution to the Conservative party and Pounds 15,000 to the Centre for Policy Studies. It gave Pounds 3.3m to charity around the world.

One of South Africa's largest banks will today announce a Pounds 13m investment in a Lloyd's insurance subsidiary, providing a much needed fillip for the insurance market's initiative to attract corporate capital.

Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (Absa), a bank holding company with insurance interests, will invest about Pounds 6.5m in Absa Syndicate Investments (Absil), which will support about 12 syndicates with some Pounds 13m in capacity.

Mr Louw Van Wyk, managing director of Absa Financial Services, said the bank already had a long-standing association with Lloyd's through its insurance and broking activities.

Absil will work with the Wellington Members' Agency, one of the market's largest, which looks after the affairs of 600 Names. Mr Julian Avery, chairman of Wellington, said the Absa decision was particularly encouraging following the recent failure of a number of capital raising efforts.

Last Monday Salomon Brothers, the US investment bank, and Johnson & Higgins, the insurance brokers, announced the withdrawal of their London Market Investors vehicle, which had aimed to raise Dollars 300m (Pounds 201m) for Lloyd's.

Three UK trusts have also failed to gather support - Minories Investment Trust, Nelson Lloyd's Trust and Johnson Fry Corporate Insurance Recovery Fund.

Another US fund, Lutine Capital Corporation, has experienced difficulties in persuading enough US investors to support another Dollars 300m initiative and could fail to meet its minimum capital target of Dollars 200m by a December 15 deadline.

Overall however, investment trusts and insurance companies have committed more than Pounds 860m in capital to the Lloyd's market, with Lloyd's easily exceeding its initial target of Pounds 500m.

Absa was formed in early 1991, following an agreement to merge the interests of the former Allied, United and Volkskas banking groups.

Sanderson Electronics' success by proxy was boosted last year as Sheffield Wednesday, the football team it sponsors to the tune of Pounds 250,000 a year, reached the finals of both the FA and Coca Cola cups.

Now the company, a software house specialising in open systems applications, has scored a 19 per cent increase in pre-tax profits from Pounds 2.8m to Pounds 3.32m for the year to September 30 as the group achieved its 10th consecutive year of revenue growth.

Mr Paul Thompson, chairman, said the increase in profits had been achieved despite difficult trading.

Earnings per share rose 6 per cent to 25.4p (24p) despite a higher tax charge, and the dividend, already paid, is 9.9p (9p). The interim dividend for 1993-94 is unchanged at 5.4p.

Turnover was 10 per cent higher at Pounds 23.6m (Pounds 21.4m).

The company has now reduced its shareholding in General Automation of the US from 49 per cent to below 19 per cent and a further reduction is likely in line with Sanderson's strategy of concentrating on its core UK business.

Gearing has been cut to 90 per cent (147 per cent); interest fell from Pounds 461,000 to Pounds 267,000.

Prudential Corporation, the financial services and life insurance company, yesterday announced that it was to more than double the funds earmarked for venture capital investment to Pounds 500m.

The new allocation is a tiny proportion of the Pounds 60bn the Prudential holds under management, but could provide a substantial boost to the total funds available for investment in smaller companies as they emerge from recession.

Mr Paul Brooks, head of Prudential Venture Managers, said: 'This probably puts us in the number one slot for cash available for investment in smaller companies. The Pru is saying we are open for business.'

He said he expected the Pounds 500m would be spent over the next three to five years, and most would go towards management buy-outs in the UK. This year Venture Managers has only invested about Pounds 50m in new funds in capital venture.

Prudential currently has Pounds 210m of venture capital invested at cost, mostly injected over the past six years. It realised Pounds 110m from Pounds 40m invested at cost in the year to date.

Mr Brooks said the money would be diverted from the proceeds of investments across Prudential and would not be at the expense of any other single activity. He said his only target was to outperform returns on the FT-A All-Share index.

Venture Managers invests in companies capitalised within the Pounds 10m to Pounds 500m range, with most in the Pounds 20m to Pounds 150m range. It does not generally deal with start-ups, or with the insurance or property sectors.

Winchester Multimedia, formed seven months ago by a team led by Mr Gary Smith, is seeking to raise Pounds 1.34m by the issue of 2.5m new shares at 60p each.

The new shares will account for 32 per cent of the enlarged equity of the company which, on the basis of the offer price, will be valued at Pounds 4.56m.

The issue is sponsored by Allied Provincial Securities and JP Jenkins will make a market in the shares, providing deals on the basis of matched bargains under Rule 535(2) of the Stock Exchange.

The company is trying to build up a portfolio of intellectual property rights in the entertainment sector.

Shares of Triplex Lloyd tumbled 11 per cent, from 144p to 128p on Friday after the industrial engineering group announced reverses at ED Hinchcliffe, the curtain walling company in its engineering division.

Losses of Pounds 2.3m at Hinchcliffe, caused by overshooting of costs on three contracts, meant that group pre-tax profits for the six months to end-September were cut by 56 per cent to Pounds 1.45m, against Pounds 3.31m.

The losses wiped out operating profits of the company's growing power and automotive divisions. The overall figures were ameliorated by the inclusion of property profits arising from the sale and leaseback of a Sterling International Technology plant.

Earnings per share dropped to 1.6p (4.6p). Nevertheless, the directors are maintaining the interim - and now uncovered - dividend at 2.5p, seeing the Hinchcliffe loss as what Mr Colin Cooke, chairman, described as 'a setback against otherwise steady progress.'

Problems at Hinchcliffe, detected as it reached the closing stages of the contracts and likely to drag the second half results down by Pounds 800,000, led to the postponement of plans for a new acquisition by the automotive division.

Triplex Lloyd has been investing in both its automotive and power divisions. With the disposal of Thermovitrine, a glass processor, it has started to sell its building products companies. Offers have been received for all of them except Hinchcliffe, where a severe restructuring is taking place.

Overall group turnover was virtually unchanged at Pounds 81.4m.

Fund managers are increasing their investment in UK and US equities at the expense of Japan and continental Europe, according to the latest Smith New Court/Gallup survey released today.

In a poll conducted last week of 85 institutions, 27 per cent said they would be increasing their holdings of UK equities in December, compared with none when asked in November.

The proportion planning to increase investment in US equities was 17 per cent, the first positive figure since February this year. Those institutions intending to raise their Japanese equity holdings fell from 17 per cent in November to 8 per cent this month.

Just 1 per cent said they would increase continental European holdings, compared with 21 per cent in November. Increased investment was most likely in French equities, and least likely for German shares.

The fund managers on average believed there would be further improvements to the UK economy over the next year, with the UK economy growing at 2.6 per cent and 2.7 per cent in 1995.

They forecast inflation of 3.3 per cent by the end of 1994 and expected base rates to be further reduced to 5 per cent in the same period. They predicted earnings per share would grow by about 15 per cent in 1994.

Keller, the former engineering subsidiary of GKN, is planning to come to the market next year in a flotation valuing the company at Pounds 60m.

The specialist underground foundations business, acquired from GKN three years ago in a Pounds 26m management buy-out, aims to use the flotation to finance overseas expansion.

Projects in North America and continental Europe already account for more than 80 per cent of Keller's profits and the group wants to increase its share of the international construction market, particularly in Germany.

Kleinwort Benson, which is handling the flotation, expects a market launch in the spring, although the size of the share issue has not been decided.

Mr Jim Hamilton, head of corporate finance at Kleinwort Benson, said yesterday that fresh finance would enable Keller to exploit construction opportunities in east Germany, where large-scale infrastructure modernisation is under way.

The company is also understood to be considering an acquisition in the US, where it has a base near Chicago.

Strong international demand helped Keller to increase profits last year to Pounds 7.3m, up 65 per cent in the three years since the buy-out.

---------------------------------- COMPANIES IN THIS ISSUE ---------------------------------- UK ---------------------------------- Allied Dunbar 23 Brent Walker 23 Hanson 24 Keller 24 Prudential Corp 24 Sanderson Elects 24 Trafalgar House 23 Triplex Lloyd 24 Winchester Multimed 24 ---------------------------------- Overseas ---------------------------------- AEG 23 Absa 24 Ambroveneto 26 American Airlines 26 BCI 26 Canadian Airlines 26 Creditanstalt 26 Daimler-Benz 23 Electrolux 23 Ford 26 Johnson Matthey 26 MIM 26 Nynex 26 Renault 26 ----------------------------------

A meeting of the Brent Walker banks has given Standard Chartered and Lloyds Bank more time to complete the refinancing of William Hill's Pounds 370m of debt.

The lead banks have repeatedly missed deadlines to agree a refinancing of the loans which are due for repayment on March 1. They are said to be still a long way short of raising the money.

However, one hardened follower of the Brent Walker saga noted that the banks had never met a deadline in the three years since the leisure and property group began talks with banks about a refinancing of the group.

Lenders to Brent Walker fear that if William Hill were sold, the parent company's future would be bleak. Brent Walker's refinancing, finalised in March 1992, was based on the retention of two cash-generating businesses, the Pubmaster pub chain and the betting shops. Disposals of other activities have been slow to materialise.

The Brent Walker board is believed to be anxious to retain William Hill rather than be forced by a failure to refinance into a float or sale of the betting shop business.

Meanwhile, the merchant banks appointed in August to sponsor a possible flotation of William Hill have been unable to begin the pre-marketing process considered essential.

It is understood that advisers, who had earlier said a decision on the float was necessary by the end of November, have now said it could be achieved if they got the go-ahead at the beginning of next year.

The William Hill syndicate is in a strong position to demand repayment since the business is worth considerably more than the debt.

Either a float, estimated to raise over Pounds 500m, or a trade sale for the Pounds 470m offered by a group of venture capitalists, would comfortably repay the loan.

While the William Hill lenders could be persuaded to wait a few weeks for repayment, that deadline cannot slip far beyond the beginning of March.