Anglo-Dutch container shipping line P&O Nedlloyd faces a 25 million pound ($42.19 million) fine from the European Commission for its part in a cartel accused of price-fixing on North Atlantic container routes, according to media reports. The reports said that the EU Competition Commissioner Karel VanMiert will announce his decision on Wednesday. Members of the Trans Atlantic Conference Agreement (TACA) --each of which are expected to be fined -- are likely to appeal at the European Court of Justice, the report said. No one at the shipping company was immediately available for comment. In August, P&O Nedlloyd said shipping lines in the TAC Agreement had received legal advice that allegations contained in the European Commission review of the competition aspects of the cartel could be rebutted.

Merrill Lynch to cut 300 jobs:

US investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co Inc will begin making job cuts this week after posting big losses in emerging markets trading, mediareports said. The reports said that Merrill will cut up to 300 jobs, with its capital markets division likely to be hardest hit. It quoted unnamed sources in New York as saying Merrill's fixed income division could also suffer job cuts. A global hiring freeze had also been put in place, the reports said. Merrill Lynch could not be reached for immediate comment. Earlier, the investment bank said it lost an estimated $135 million net from its emerging markets in July and August. As a result, Merrill earned an estimated $102 million net profit in the period, which was less than a fifth of the $545 million the company made during the second quarter, below Wall Street expectations.

McLaren plans new Sports car with Mercedes:

The British Formula One motor racing team McLaren plans to develop a 150,000-pound ($250,000) road car to rival Italy's Ferrari, the Sunday Times reported. The new sports car, likely to be built in partnership with Germany's Mercedes Benz which supplies engines for the McLarenFormula One team, was expected to be called the McLaren Mercedes, the report said. It said Mercedes would make the engine for the new model, which would probably be built at McLaren's 100-million-pound ($168.8 million) technology centre under construction near Woking in South-east England. The report said the new car would succeed McLaren's 540,000-pound ($900,000) F1 model, which was launched in 1992 and had a BMW engine. It said only 100 F1s were produced. The new McLaren Mercedes was unlikely to be available until 2002 and only 300 would be made each year, the report said. The paper quoted Mansour Ojjeh, the head of TAG, the Swiss-based company that owns 60 per cent of TAG McLaren, as saying the company was looking to produce a car that was more attainable than the FI and would compete with the likes of Ferrari.

CrestCo's pan-Europe system will cut costs:

CrestCo, the group responsible for recording the ownership of UK shares, said its plans to link with other European settlement systems willcut the cost of dealing in European stocks for British retail investors. The company said the development would result in charges of as little as 60P (One Euro) for the delivery against payment of foreign securities from one Crest member to another. CrestCo said its priority was to create links with other settlement systems giving access to the FTSE Eurotop 300 stocks. It also confirmed it was to implement a link with SEGA, the main settlement system for the Swiss market, in the third quarter of 1999. CrestCo said a similar facility for German stocks to complement the London Stock Exchange's alliance with the Deutsche Boerse was a high priority.

Sony denies plan to buy Newcastle:

Japan's Sony Corp on Monday denied a newspaper report that said the electronics giant had offered 220 million pounds to buy English soccer club Newcastle United. A Sony spokesman in Tokyo flatly denied the newspaper report, saying, "We do not have such a plan." Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper reported last week thatSony representatives had already held preliminary talks with the soccer club's financial advisers. The report came at a time when a series of rumours about soccer club takeovers had been circulating following news earlier this month that media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB pay-TV company had agreed a 624-million pound takeover of Manchester United, one of Britain's top soccer clubs. Sony is a major shareholder in satellite TV broadcaster Japan Sky Broadcasting Corp (JSkyB), as is Murdoch's News Corp Ltd.