London Clubs bid on the cards

OVER the years many professional punters have lost a lot more than their starch-collared shirts wheeling and dealing in

Park Place Entertainment, the world's biggest gaming company and owner of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, is said to be putting the finishing touches to a 33p-a-share cash offer. Relaxation of foreign casino ownership in the wake of the recent Budd report on gambling has left the door wide open for Park Place to march into the UK with all guns blazing.

In July, LCI finally reached agreement with its bankers to provide £15m of additional working capital and extend debt facilities until June 2004. Chief executive Barry Hardy admitted that the group might need to consider a merger with an overseas rival. It still owes north of £200m and would feel a lot more comfortable if it was under another group's umbrella.

Park Place could buy LCI, which owns Les Ambassadeurs and 50, St James, with loose change.

Elsewhere, Nikkei's further overnight fall of 141 points in Tokyo after Wall Street's 355 point demise obviously put dealers in London on the defensive, again. But much to everyone's surprise the Footsie retrieved a 38 point deficit to trade 43 higher before elevenses. However, the growing threat of US military attack on Iraq soon put the brake on and the close was 1.7 easier at 4026.9.

Expectations that the Bank of England will keep interest rates on hold at 4% today were reinforced by further signs that the consumer boom is well and truly over. The latest CBI distributive trades survey revealed that annual sales growth in August had slowed to its lowest since October 2000.

That depressing news did not prevent several big High Street names from making progress. Kingfisher, which owns Comet and B&Q, firmed 6p to 200 1/2p, while rival Dixons, which owns Currys and% World, gained 4 3/4p to 160 3/4p. Mail order giant Gussies advanced 10 1/2p to 491p.

Supermarket group Safeway recovered a 7p fall and closed 1/2p dearer at 206 1/2p. WestLB Panmure analyst Philip Dorgan advised clients to buy and has a target price of 380p.

Safeway is now trading at 99% of net asset value (207p) compared with 226% for Tesco (3 1/4p up at 204 3/4p) and 120% for Sainsbury (7 1/4p dearer at 311 3/4p). 'That's always a buying trigger for a retailer with sound assets and growing earnings,' says Dorgan.

A Morgan Stanley downgrade ahead of its expected relegation from the Footsie on Wednesday saw music giant EMI slip further down the charts with a decline of 6 1/2p to a low of 164 3/4p.

News that the Japanese government is considering introduction of a tax on coal imports from April next year, saw mining group Xstrata, another relegation candidate, sold down to 540p before a close of 578p, down 18p.

Investec doubts whether Japan would unilaterally increase the tax burden on its industries unless neighbouring countries introduce a similar tax. China is unlikely to do so. The broker therefore does not expect to see any impact on Xstrata and other coal producers' bottom lines over the next few years.

British Airways, also in grave danger of falling through the Footsie's trap- door, cheapened 4 1/2p more to 135 1/2p on Iraqi war fears. BA reported an expected 10.1% fall in passengers in August.

A strong interim profit turnaround at consumer magazine publisher Future Network left it 4p better at 62p. Pre-tax profits came in at £0.9m, compared with a loss of £106.8m last year. It now has net cash of £5m and expects a solid second-half.

Racecourse owner Arena Leisure eased 1 3/4p to 22 3/4p, despite a 135% rise in racecourse operating profits to £1.4m. Current trading is at record levels.

CCTV-to-video and broadcasting group Vislink firmed 1p to 23 1/2p after a 27.4% rise in interim pre-tax profits before goodwill to £1.49m. Analysts forecast £3.5m for the full year. Chief executive Ian Scott-Gall says propsects for the second-half remain in line with expectations. Hernis, its Norwegian video division, enjoyed record orders of £6.1m including two systems for offshore gas plants and two for onshore refineries.