Enron makes agreed bid for Wessex: The Enron company said Wessex would be the flagship of Enron's new water subsidiary, which will pursue development of water projects in Europe, Latin America and Asia -- markets where privatisation is occurring -- and will also seek opportunities in North America. Wessex executives will remain with the company, with Wessex chairmanNicholas Hood and chief executive Colin Skellett playing an active role in the new international water business.

ICI sells Americas dioxide operations: Britain's Imperial Chemical Industries Plc said on Friday that it has agreed to sell its titanium dioxide businesses in the Americas to NL Industries for about $250 million. Imperial Chemicals said that in a separate agreement, NL will buy the Grimsby, northern England, plant which DuPont was scheduled to buy from ICI.

Ceramco warns on minerals division trading: New Zealand apparel and minerals company Ceramco Ltd used an announcement of a planned share buyback to warn that trading in its minerals division may not be on target in the 1998 year due to uncertainty in Asia. Ceramco said it would spend at most NZ$15 million on the buyback which would be able to start in 10 days' time. On the subject of current trading, Ceramco said its directors had previously indicated the minerals division would trade in the current period at a level below thatfor the 1998 year.

Coco Lanka sets final 97/98 dividend: Sri Lanka's Coco Lanka Ltd was to offer a first and final tax free cash dividend of two Rupees per share based on 1997/98 financial year earnings, the Colombo Stock Exchange said in a statement. The statement said the payment will be on November 27,1998. Books will be closed from November 13-20 and ex-date is November 2, 1998, the statement said.

Petron slows down refining activity: Petron Corp said on Friday it recently cut back its crude refining activity to about 140,000-150,000 barrels of oil per day from its 180,000 barrels bpd capacity. In a letter to the stock exchange, Petron said the lower prices of finished petroleum products in the world market and the cut in jet fuel demand by customer Philippine Airlines Inc (PAL) contributed to the reduced refining activity.

Adidas prelim H1 pretax profit up 8 pct: German sporting goods maker Adidas Salomon AG said on Friday that its preliminary pre-tax profit rose about eightper cent in the first half of 1998 but did not give a precise figure. The company said that though group sales in the period were up by more than 55 per cent, the performance of its Salomon subgroup was "disappointing".

Hanson Plc backs RGC merger plan: Mineral sands miner RGC Ltd said on Friday its major shareholder, Hanson Plc was very supportive of its plan to form one of the world's largest titanium groups by merging with Westralian Sands Ltd. "Hanson are very supportive and they're very in favour of this," Tony Cotton told in an interview. Cotton also said that the merger would bring synergies and open up new opportunities in the mineral sandsindustry.