The remaining two divisions Kent and North West will be transferred by the

The remaining two divisions, Kent and North West will be transferred by the end of the year.The sale comes after the Department of Trade and Industry blocked a deal to sell the regional titles to Newsquest for £60m in October. After that, a number of other interested buyers came forward with more favourable bids.Ivan Fallon, the chief executive of Independent News & Media, said: “Since October, when the DTI made its decision in relation to the original proposed Newsquest deal, a number of suitors, including private equity funds, expressed interest in either buying all or some of our London regionals. Having considered the merits of alternative offers, we have reached agreement with Archant, who we believe to be an ideal owner.”Archant is a privately owned group which can trace its roots back 150 years and is one of the biggest independent media groups in the country. It owns titles such as the Wisbech Standard, the Advertiser titles in Norfolk and Suffolk and has a lifestyle publishing arm which produces titles such as Lancashire and Lake District Life, Living France and French Property News. John Fry, the chief executive of Archant, said: “Archant is acquiring a strong portfolio of local newspapers that all play an important role in their communities.”Opportunities to acquire regional newspapers portfolios of quality and scale are few and far between.

We therefore consider this acquisition to be of significant strategic importance given the geographic proximity to our existing areas of publication and the enhancement it gives to our coverage in and around north and east London.”. A sudden drop in house prices and slump in consumer spending poses the greatest threat to the UK economy and stability of its banking system, the Bank of England warned yesterday. Yule Catto is also struggling against the onslaught of competition for its pharmaceuticals in the US.Rival companies are challenging the position of Yule Catto’s pharmaceutical partner, Schwarz Pharma. Yule Catto yesterday said sales of omeprazole, the active ingredient in a copy of AstraZeneca’s popular ulcer drug, Prilosec, were “somewhat unclear”.Despite the problems, Yule Catto said trading volumes across all business sectors had been reasonable and that it believes it can meet expectations for this year.. “The raw materials in our polymer division are a downstream product of oil. The price of oil has been at more than $30 a barrel and it is stubbornly refusing to fall.

That has a cost for us,” Sean Cummins, the finance director at Yule Catto, said.Analysts at Merrill Lynch yesterday dropped their 2004 forecasts on the company by about 21 per cent and their 2005 forecasts by 10 per cent.About 20 per cent of Yule Catto’s sales are in the US, and the fall in the value of the dollar is damaging earnings.”We are just reminding our investors that we are losers from a slide in the dollar A lot of our sales into the Far East are dollar denominated. We have seen a 10 per cent fall in the dollar recently and that will show on our bottom line,” Mr Cummins said. The offer represents a 42 per cent premium to the average six-month share price before speculation about a takeover bid began, according to Mr Jarvis.. Yule Catto, the chemicals and pharmaceuticals company, yesterday warned that the weak dollar and strong oil price would hurt its profits next year. He netted £3.6m from two trades at prices between 260-263p in November.Mr Peagram still owns nearly 4 per cent of the company and the disposal is thought to relate to a divorce settlement.Yule Catto yesterday said the continued strength of the oil price meant its raw materials costs were difficult to predict for 2004.The materials used to develop the chemical components that Yule Catto supplies for products such as hair dyes and latex gloves derive from oil. Although occupancy levels edged higher to 70.5 per cent, room rates fell to £50.17 from £52.29 a year earlier.

Revenue per available room – a key industry measure – slipped 3.3 per cent to £35.38.Kayterm, the directors’ bidding vehicle, said it had received irrevocable acceptances or non-binding letters of intent from just over 50 per cent of the group’s shareholders. Along with its peers, Jarvis Hotels has struggled to cope with the collapse in the corporate travel market. The statement came after HSBC, Standard Chartered’s major rival in the area, was also upbeat about the pick-up in business there.Mervyn Davies, who took over as chief executive of Standard Chartered in November 2001, is trying to boost returns from consumer banking in markets with growing middle classes such as Thailand and Indonesia.. Jarvis Hotels yesterday joined the throng of hoteliers quitting the stock market after its board backed a £159m takeover bid from its management team.