The hotels include three operating under the Hilton name, including one in Regent's Park, London.. Singapore Airlines profits tumble THE SINGAPORE Airlines Group posted a 27 per cent fall in operating profits in its airline division to S$549m (pounds 196m) in the year to 31 March as the Asian economic crisis hit passenger numbers. Dr Cheong Choong Kong, chief executive, said: "It was a satisfactory performance, given the sound and fury." Group operating profits fell 14 per cent to $854m (pounds 305m). A spokesman said the results would have been worse but for an upturn in the airline's European and Australasian markets. The airline increased overall capacity by 7.7 per cent, against its annual growth target of 8-10 per cent.. HILLSDOWN HOLDINGS could become the subject of an auction after US buy-out fund Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, yesterday launched a pounds 464m bid for the company.

The cash bid, which values Hillsdown at 127p per share, has been recommended by the company's non-executive directors and has the support of 16 per cent of shareholders. But it could face a competing offer from a UK venture capital company which is considering backing Hillsdown's executive directors in a management buyout. CinVen is one of the venture capital funds that has been looking at Hillsdown, but it is considered unlikely to get involved in an auction. But other venture capital buyers have also been circling the group. Peter Jacobs, chairman of Hillsdown, said it is in "active discussion" with another buyer. He said the bids would be scrutinised by the independent directors due to a potential conflict of interest with the executive members and the UK bid.Hillsdown shares closed 4.5p higher at 117p, though the shares did not have the opportunity to react to the Hicks, Muse bid which was announced after the market had closed.It is understood that Hillsdown's major institutional shareholders, including Phillips & Drew and Prudential, are willing to sell out. Though they support the Hicks, Muse proposals they have not signed irrevocable undertakings to accept the US offer and are hoping an auction will force the exit price higher.The Hicks, Muse offer would give Hillsdown, whose brands include Typhoo tea and Chivers Hartley jams, an enterprise value of pounds 750m, if its pounds 190m of debt is included..

Brands Hatch BRANDS HATCH may think it is in pole position to take over the British Grand Prix in three years' time. But as every motor sport fan knows, Formula One races are long, gruelling and unpredictable affairs. There is plenty of rubber to be burnt between now and 2002 and, with Bernie Ecclestone helping the contestants through the chicanes, who knows what thrills and spills lie ahead. Nicola Foulston, who runs Leisure, has the single-mindedness of a Michael Schumacher when it comes to business. Compared with Lord Hesketh and the old buffers from the British Racing Drivers Club who run Silverstone, the present home of the Grand Prix, she is very much this year's super-charged model.Ms Foulston would love desperately to get her hands on Silverstone but has so far been rebuffed In retaliation, she has prised the race away from the BRDC. If this sounds like a negotiating tactic, that's because it is. has not staged the British Grand Prix since the days when Nigel Mansell could still fit into a Formula One car and if Ms Foulston thinks pounds 20m will be enough to bring it up to scratch, she may have a rude surprise in store. According to some estimates, it will cost that just to install enough seating.Then there is the small matter of planning permission Brands has yet to put in an application.

When it does it will be interesting to see the reaction of the residents in the executive housing development next door. Ms Foulston as good as admitted yesterday that her intention was to get the BRDC to succumb to a takeover. After all, it would be much simpler to buy the circuit than to rebuild the one she has in Kent.As for Mr Ecclestone, a bidding war for the rights to the British Grand Prix might be just the kickstart he needs to get his $2bn Bernie bond out of the pit lane This race has a long way to run yet.. BOOKER, THE debt-laden cash & carry group, has agreed to sell its food service operations to a South African group, Bidvest, for pounds 124.7m. Booker will book a pounds 50.5m loss on the deal and there will be an exceptional charge of pounds 98m to the accounts in the current year to cover a goodwill write-off, writes Nigel Cope. Booker shares rose 6.5p to86p on the disposal which marks a significant step in the attempts by chief executive Stuart Rose to sell non-core businesses to cut debt. Booker's debts will stand at around pounds 450m after the sale of the division, which recorded profits of pounds 12m on sales of pounds 884.9m last year The deal is Bidvest's first move into the UK.. CEDEL, THE European clearing house and the clearing arm of Deutsche Borse, the German stock exchange, yesterday announced plans to merge, writes Andrew Garfield.

The move, which is aimed at providing financial institutions with a seamless pan-European facility for settling share and bond and exchange traded derivatives transactions, throws down the gauntlet to rival Euroclear, Cedel's Brussels-based rival and the world largest cross-border clearing organisation. The deal follows the recent agreement by the main European bourse to work together to create a pan-European stock exchange trading platform.Cedel President Andre Lussi described the deal as the first step towards a "pan-European clearing house". The merger, he said, would result in cost savings for users of around $300m out of the $800m users spend on clearing and settlement every year.SBF, the holding company for the French stock exchange and Sicovam, the French central securities depository have agreed to join the Cedel, DB alliance shortly after it is consummated early next year subject to a valuation agreement.Mr Lussi yesterday invited other clearing organisations in Europe to join. The invitation was mainly aimed at Euroclear, Cedel's main rival, but also at Crest, the clearing house for the London Stock Exchange.. THE MARKET fell out of bed yesterday but it was more of a gentle slip than a heavy tumble. Once again, Wall Street had to shoulder most of the blame for a poor performance which saw the FTSE 100 crumble 156.2 points to 6,300.4 A strong set of US economic data reawakened fears of a interest rate hike in the States next week and sparked a three-figure opening loss in the Dow. The gloomy background was further blackened by a sharp fall in bond prices which sent the US long bond yields up to within a whisker of the psychologically important 6 per cent threshold. Market old hands argued that at these yield levels, bonds are a tempting alternative to equities.The jittery start of their American peers unsettled London blue chips and triggered a modest bout of selling.Profit-takers entered the market as most of the buyers were heading for the exit and the leading stocks were left exposed. Volume was fairly thin and most market players talked of a buyers' strike rather than a stampede towards the exit.