The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 32

32 www.money.telegraph.co.uk Wednesday, June 20, 2001 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH Business News 4 Marley meets the Maiden in Sanctuary deal BY BENJAMIN WOOTLIFF REGGAE legend Bob Marley is set to join heavy metal icons Iron Maiden, after entertainment group Sanctuary said it plans to buy the music catalogue of reggae company Trojan for £10-25m. Trojan has more than 10,000 tracks in its catalogue, by artists including Fleetwood Mac and heavy metal group Magnum. However, it is mainly focused on reggae, covering every area "from Lovers to Dub, from Roots to Rude according to its website. Following the acquisition Sanctuary will have over 100,000 tracks in its catalogue. company also manages a stable of artists including Iron Maiden and Guns 'n Roses, and also produces The Tribe, Channel 5's leading children's programme.

The acquisition will be financed by a share placing underwritten by Investec Henderson Crosthwaite. Sanctuary came to market in 1998, and is now valued at about £210m. The shares closed down at Picture: RETNA No waiting in vain: Bob Marley, who joins heavy metal icons and others among 100,000 Sanctuary tracks Pearson exploits Penguin power BY GEORGE TREFGARNE PEARSON is planning to develop its Penguin books brand, taking it online and using it to brand educational materials. Penguin is one of the bestknown brands in publishing. Pearson which bought the company in 1970 is now eager to exploit its cachet.

The plan is being hatched by John Makinson, the Pearson finance director who was recently made chairman of the Penguin subsidiary. Mr Makinson said yesterday: "Whenever we do research it shows that Penguin is as well known as any consumer brand in the UK. In fact, it is the consumer brand in publishing." Mr Makinson said the Penguin "push" will include developing it as an educational brand. "I will be spending about 15pc of my time, or about one day a week on this," he said. One strategy being looked Comp Computacenter shares dip after weak second quarter BY DOMINIC WHITE COMPUTACENTER shares fell 6pc yesterday after the UK's biggest hardware reseller said sales had weakened in its second quarter because of tougher market conditions.

The shares dipped 20 to 330p, despite the company, which sells hardware and related services to businesses, anticipating that its results for the six months to June 30 will meet its' "original Hold tight. Faster gaming on the internet. ntl broadband internet gives on-line gamers the edge. connecting to our broadband fibre-optic network with download speeds of up to 512 kbps, it doesn't just mean you're ready for the next generation of consoles. means you'll enjoy super-low ping that lets you outplay your on-line opponents.

it means your connection is unmetered and 'always without tying up the phone. ntl broadband internet isn't available in all areas. Stop by at www.askntl.com for a demonstration and see if it's available to you. Or call 0800 183 5555. And prepare to get up to speed.

nt: broadband internet www.askntl.com. at is e-books. "They are already available on some handheld said Mr Makinson. "When you go on holiday, you won't need to take 15 books with you. You can just have them all on one digital It is a long way from Penguin's beginnings.

The company was founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane. He pioneered the paperback book, saying he wanted to make modern novels available for the price of 10 cigarettes, and within a year had sold 3m of them. He was an expert at reconciling his own ideals with commerce and once said: "There are many who despair at what they regard as the low level of people's intelligence. We, however, believed in the existence in this country of vast reading public for intelligent books at a low price." In 1961, he won a celebrated case to overturn the ban of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Support move sends Babcock into the red "This is not a profits warning, it is anything insisted Mike Norris, chief executive.

"There are an awful lot of companies who are not going to make their numbers the point about us is that we are. "It is fair to say that we got excited because we had such a good first quarter. However, that just means that our expectations are back to where they were at the start of the Mr. Norris blamed the weaker second quarter on seasonal fluctuations and weaker spending from telecoms companies and investment banks. However, he added that demand other big cliverom ents, including the government, had helped keep demand flat on the second quarter of last year.

He said he agreed with market forecasts that predict demand will not pick up until the fourth quarter of the year. Questor: Page 34 BY DAVID LITTERICK ENGINEERING group Babcock International slumped into the red last year as the company attempted to reposition itself as a support services firm. The company was hit poor demand in both its lossmaking locomotive maintenance business Railcare, which has now been sold, and its BMH materials handling business, which is also to be disposed of. Pre-tax losses for the group were compared with profits of last year, after £20m of exceptional costs relating to the two divisions. Chairman Gordon Campbell said: "It is disappointing to see poor results in Railcare BMH, but we such, were preparing them for sale.

"The continuing businesses are in good shape and we are pleased with the progress of our new acquisition, which will materially change the nature of our business." Babcock bought Hunting Defence Services for £61m earlier this year as part of its plan to move into support services, first in the defence sector and then the civil arena. Mr Campbell said he was confident that the company would return to profit this year, adding that it was in a good position to win the maintenance contract for Faslane naval base one of the largest ever government outsourcing contracts. It will pay a final dividend of compared with last year, as the company retains a "strong and ungeared balance The shares fell 14 to 90p. Foreign exchange rates Jun 19, 2001 Tourist Sterling Euro Dollar £1 Australia Aus 269105 1-91903 Austria Schilling 16-0501 Belgium Franc 40-3399 47-0441 Canada Can 2-07470 1-53120 Cyprus Pound 0-91830 0-93550 0-57207 Denmark Krone 7-45612 Euro 163530 Finland Markka 9-72420 5-94573 6:93446 France Franc 10-3294 6-55957 7-65100 Germany DMark Greece Drachma 535:710 Hong Kong HK 10-9270 India Rupee 65:8050 40-2403 Ireland Punt 0:78756 0-91860 Israel Shekels 3-58059 Italy Lire 3044-00 3167-00 Japan Yen 168:110 122:759 Kuwait Dinar 0-43085 0-26347 0-30725 Luxembourg Franc 65-9700 40-3399 47-0441 Malta Lire 0-63160 0-64845 0-46242 Netherlands Guilder New Zealand NZ 3:25280 3-38020 2-06702 2:41047 Norway Krone 12-8595 7-86369 9-17029 Pakistan Rupee 76-1800 88-9300 Portugal Escudo 315-580 327-915 200-482 Saudi Arabia Riyal Singapore 2-54560 Spain Peseta 261-590 194-053 Sth Africa Rand 10-8233 11-3065 6-91402 8-06283 Sweden Krona 9-08396 10-5933 Switzerland Franc Thailand Baht 45:1947 Turkey Lire 1606753 1643850 1005228 1172253 UAE Dirham UK 0-61151 0-71311 USA 1:35560 0-85752 The table shows the mid-market rates at the close of business yesterday. The tourist rate column shows the "retail" price which is less favourable than the "wholesale" price for large currency transactions shown in the other columns.

For credit card transactions, you are likely to pay a rate between the two. The Daily Telegraph motoring XI SPORT SAL Auto, Cruise, Plus Extras, Meteorite, Almond Leather, 1 Owner, 6.125 Miles, Reg July 99V 924, 750 Tel. 01234 567890. PRIVATE Free advertising for private motorists We are so confident we can sell your car in the first week, that if we don't, we will repeat your advertisement for up to three Saturdays free of The four-line advertisement shown costs just £56 VAT and will reach a potential national audience of 2.6 million.2 If you need to repeat your advertisement during the three weeks after the original ad appears, simply contact The Motoring Team before our Wednesday deadline. Tel: 020 7531 3005 Fax: 020 7538 6430 email: motoring.ads@telegraph.co.uk 1 Offer only valid until August 31, 2001 2 Source: NRS April 2000 March 2001.