A roundup of today's other business news in brief

German business elite in nuclear call

The heads of Deutsche Bank, chemicals group BASF and retailer Metro are part of a 40-strong phalanx of Germany's business elite that has called on their government to extend the life of the country's 17 nuclear power stations.

In an open letter published in German newspapers, Josef Ackermann, Jürgen Hambrecht, Eckhard Cordes and others demanded that Angela Merkel, the chancellor, muster the “courage to be realistic” and fulfil her energy pledges.

Sticking to rules to phase out nuclear power by 2022 would “wipe out billions of euro in capital, harm the environment, economy and people”, they said.

The appeal comes days before Ms Merkel is to meet the heads of Germany's biggest energy groups, in an attempt to end a long stand-off. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)Irish banks 'don't have gun to head'

Irish banks, which have about €30 billion of debt securities maturing in September, don't have "a gun to their head" on funding, according to Glas Securities, which specialises in fixed-income markets.


"But it is also fair to say that they are in the starting blocks awaiting 'the gun to fire' in terms of primary new issuance," the Dublin-based firm said in a note yesterday.

"However, on this point we note that 'false starts' can be difficult to recover from and issuance may therefore have to wait until market activity picks up as September approaches." – (Bloomberg)

Sweden's economy set to grow by 4.5%

Sweden's economy is on course to grow at its fastest pace for more than a decade this year, according to an upwardly revised government forecast.


Anders Borg, finance minister, said growth was set to reach 4.5 per cent in 2010, marking a sharp turnaround from last year's deep recession and bolstering the government campaign to win a second term in next month's general election.

The revised Swedish growth projection came after a stream of upbeat economic data and corporate results in recent weeks. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)

British pub chain to sell bars for £373m

Mitchells & Butlers, the listed British pub chain in which Irish businessmen, John Magnier and JP McManus hold a 17 per cent stake, plans to sell 333 bars for £373 million to TDR Capital-controlled Stonegate Pub Company.

The sales is part of chairman John Lovering's plan to sell drinks-oriented pubs and expand chains that focus more on food, including Harvester and Toby Carvery.

The group plans to reinvest the money raised in expanding businesses such as these. The sale is conditional on shareholder approval and is scheduled to go through in mid-November.

Irish banks ‘don’t have gun to head’

Irish banks, which have about €30 billion of debt securities maturing in September, don’t have “a gun to their head” on funding, according to Glas Securities, which specialises in fixed-income markets.

“But it is also fair to say that they are in the starting blocks awaiting ‘the gun to fire’ in terms of primary new issuance,” the Dublin-based firm said in a note yesterday.

“However, on this point we note that ‘false starts’ can be difficult to recover from and issuance may therefore have to wait until market activity picks up as September approaches.” – (Bloomberg)