The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from February 2002

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from February 2002

Evening Standard, London, Asian Markets Column.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Ray Heath Feb. 1--Bank shares in Tokyo plunged today following a grim assessment of the state of the country's credit from rating agency Standard & Poor's that raised fears of a further cut in the country's risk rating. Shares...

Bidding Process for Budget Airline easyJet Joined by Airbus.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 1--Airbus will have to make budget airline easyJet one of the most generous offers in its history or risk ceding Europe's fast-expanding no-frills short-haul market to its American archrival Boeing. The...

Evening Standard, London, Economy Column.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jane Padgham Feb. 1--The number of firms going bust increased during the final quarter of 2001 as the global economic downturn and the impact of the 11 September attacks on the US triggered a wave of business failures. And in a...

'Ethical Investing' Methods Questioned by British Investors.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Helen Monks Feb. 1--The world of ethical investment is tricky and emotionally loaded because, what is morally acceptable to one person may be unacceptable to another. For some, taking an ethical stance means making sure their money...

Evening Standard, London, Stock Markets Column.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Malcolm Withers Feb. 1--ICI today dominated the FTSE 100 losers for a second day as its shares slumped 7 percent to 308 1/2 pence, having earlier hit a three-month low of 300 pence. The company has seen nearly UKpound 1 billion...

Icelandic Food Firm May Rely on Sales, Leasebacks for Bid of British Retailer.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Malcolm Withers Feb. 1--The long-awaited bid for Britain's second-largest retailer Arcadia by Icelandic food and drink group Baugur could be partly funded by a sale and leaseback of scores of its freehold and long leasehold shops....

Some London-Based Executives at Andersen Accounting Firm Plan to Leave.
February 1, 2002... Feb. 1--London executives at accountancy firm Andersen are planning to jump ship in the wake of the Enron scandal. While the trend is yet to become a flood of departures, major City recruitment firms are receiving growing numbers of CVs...

Australian Bank Considers Partnership with British Institution.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Lachlan Colquhoun Feb. 1--Australia's second-ranked bank, National Australia Bank, is looking at a possible deal with Alliance & Leicester as it reviews its British and Irish operations. NAB's new executive general manager for...

BP Fires Fund Manager for Losses Related to Enron Stock.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Paul Armstrong Feb. 1--BP has sacked UBS-owned Brinson Partners as manager of its $970 million (UKpound 678 million) employee savings fund after the portfolio suffered heavy losses on its holding of Enron debt, writes. The $2.5...

Frankfurt Stock Exchange Hopes to Take Over European Clearing House.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Patrick Hosking Feb. 1--Deutsche Borse today defied the protests of some of the world's biggest investment banks and unveiled plans to take full control of pan-European clearing house Clearstream in a euro1.6 billion (UKpound 974...

Evening Standard, London, Joanne Hart Column.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Joanne Hart Feb. 1--Life in the loan market was simple in the 1980s. US and European banks arranged deals for international corporates and syndicated them among a group of lenders. Some borrowers were popular and their deals were...

Evening Standard, London, Joanne Hart Column.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Joanne Hart Feb. 1--Mothercare ought to be a success story. The brand is one of the best-known on the High Street, the product range is narrowly focused and customers want it to work. Yet the company is struggling. There have...

Bank of England to Hold Meeting about Interest Rates.
February 1, 2002... Feb. 1--The Bank of England's monetary policy committee meets again next week with a decision on interest rates due at noon on Thursday, but no change in the base rate -- currently 4 percent -- is expected. The MPC must weigh up the...

British Manufacturing Sector Slumps Again in November 2001.
February 1, 2002... Feb. 1--The beleaguered manufacturing sector fell deeper into recession in November and business leaders and economists are warning that recovery is still a distant prospect. Factory output shrank 0.7 percent during the month, taking the...

OPINION: Annual Re-Election of Board Members Beneficial for Companies.
February 1, 2002... Feb. 1--Lord Simpson is leaving the board of HBOS entirely of his own accord. We know that because HBOS tells us so. The bank also says that every director on its board is up for re-election at this year's annual meeting. The company thought...

Private Companies Eye Foray into British Postal Market.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Ross Davies Feb. 1--Embattled Consignia is being circled by hungry private sector competitors poised to pounce on areas of the Post Office owner's mail business now that its monopoly is to end. Deya, Exel and Hays DX are among...

Enron Sparks Auditor Review at Unilever.
February 1, 2002... Byline: Jim Armitage Feb. 1--Unilever chairman Niall FitzGerald today waded into the controversy over the role of accountancy firms in the wake of the Enron scandal, saying he would review the position of external auditors at the consumer...

British Web Name Registry Company Sold to U.S. Firm.
February 1, 2002... Byline: James McLean Feb. 1--Embattled dot com company Virtual Internet is selling out to its US rival Register.com in a cash deal that values the group once worth UKpound 250 million at a mere UKpound 12 million. Virtual Internet's...

"Old MacDonald had a farm ...". (Science Scoops).(research on cloning of farm animals)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... And on that farm he had some clones. Only, the "farm" is at Texas A&M University, about 130 kilometers northwest of Houston, TX, and "Old MacDonald" is really a group of scientists that has been cloning around with a menagerie of animals --...

Screaming rubber. (Science Scoops).(research in designing quieter tires)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Quick! What's one of the largest sources of noise on our highways? Believe it or not, according to scientists at Purdue University, it's... tires! Yup. Vibrations resulting from tires rolling over asphalt cause the raucousness that (among...

Best-ever view of a Comet. (Science Scoops).(Deep Space 1 images of Comet Borrelly)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Take a good look at the image above. What looks like a bowling pin in space -- a tenpin made of stone, like the kind you'd expect to see in an old Flintstones movie -- is actually the best look ever at the rocky, icy surface of a comet. The...

Brain "Cells". (Science Scoops).(research indicates cell phones may damage brain)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Got a cell phone next to your ear? Better put it down, at least until after you read this. British scientists have announced that cell phones may cause damage to your brain. Cell phones have long been thought to lead to a wide range of...

How do you move an elephant? (Science Scoops).(elephant relocation program in South Africa)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... By buying it a diamond earring? No. Kidding aside, this was a problem facing wildlife officers in South Africa's Kruger National Park when they began the world's largest elephant relocation program last October. The goal was to move 40 of the...

Robo-family? (Science Scoops).(Sony AIBO robotic dog)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... WHO NEEDS REALITY? If Japan's Sony Corporation has its vision in focus, there'll be a robo-pet in every family. The idea sprouted in 1999, when Sony introduced a robotic dog, called AIBO?, which sold out in a flash in Tokyo. And AIBO? cost...

Scientists at war.(scientific feuds)
February 1, 2002... Feud: "A bitter, prolonged hostility between two families, individuals, or clans." -- American Heritage Dictionary Feuds happen for many reasons. Politics, religion, "getting even," and other real or imagined causes have all sparked...

The futile feud.(Short Story)
February 1, 2002... "April 24, 1624," flashes on the console of your time machine, which is hidden amidst the greenery of a lush garden. You step outside, look around, and smile. Once again, you've safely reached your destination: the Vatican Gardens in Rome....

The calculus quarrel.(feud between Isaac Newton and Baron Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over who invented calculus)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... If you think mathematics is all logic and no emotion, guess again. Three hundred years ago, a furious feud erupted over who created calculus. Facing off in the fight were England's Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and Germany's Baron Gottfried...

The microbe feuds. (Showdown In A Paris Theater).(feud between Louis Pasteur and Felix Archimedes Pouchet over spontaneous generation)
February 1, 2002... On April 7, 1864, more than 500 of France's most famous scientists, journalists, artists, and novelists crowded into an auditorium at the Sorbonne, a Paris university. They had come to see a scientific demonstration. An elegantly dressed...

Nanobes? How small is the smallest life?(Interview)
February 1, 2002... Two years ago, Dr. Philippa Uwins, a microbiologist at Australia's University of Queensland, announced the discovery of tiny organisms that she called "nanobes" living in ancient sandstones retrieved from an oil drilling site three to five...

Edison, Tesla, and the battle of the currents: should electricity be AC or DC?
February 1, 2002... That sounds like a simple question. But amazingly, determining the answer to this scientific question would spark a furious feud between two of the greatest inventors of the 19th century's Electrical Age: Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. These...

Fighting words: the "flame wars" of science.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Hot topics on the Internet may lead nowadays to "flame wars" between people in virtual chat rooms and list-serves. Strong feelings about a disagreement sometimes produce blistering remarks. Years ago, such heated exchanges took place mainly in...

Out of her hands: the woman who didn't win the Nobel Prize.
February 1, 2002... A woman stands over a developing tray. Gradually, black spots begin to appear in the shape of an "x". Dr. Rosalind Franklin, an X-ray crystallographer, holds in her hands the missing piece to the puzzle of DNA. Yet, she doesn't see it. As far...

Einstein vs. Millikan: being wrong sometimes wins the prize.
February 1, 2002... Have you ever felt a need to prove that you were right and your friend was wrong? Scientists often have these feelings. Robert Millikan (1868-1953), an American physicist, felt that way about Albert Einstein. We consider Einstein a genius. But...

The Extragalactic Warriors vs. Shapley.
February 1, 2002... How vast is the universe? The question seems harmless enough. But had you asked it of astronomers in the early part of the 20th century, you'd have heard a firestorm of opinions erupt from two opposing camps. The fundamental issue behind this...

We gush so? (Brain Strain).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Can you find the name of a very popular female performer using the letters in the word "Presbyterians"? A word (in this case a name) or a phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase is called an anagram. Below are anagrams...

Modern feud: how can we feed the world?(Interview)
February 1, 2002... Two scientists who worry about the future of our planet agree that we have already entered a period of crisis. Our world has too many people and too little food. A hundred years from now, life will be miserable unless changes are made. What's...

What's up.(All-Sky Chart)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the moon) as it appears at 6 p.m. (your local time) on Feb. 15. Useful all month, the chart (except for planet positions) is also accurate for 7 p.m. on Feb. 1 and 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. To use...

Planet watch. (What's Up).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Morning Planets: Mercury (in Capricornus) is difficult to see early this month. Use a telescope on Feb. 24 to view Mercury and Neptune in the east, about an hour before dawn. Evening Planets: White Venus (in Capricornus, moves into...

You can do Astronomy: marking time with the sun. (What's Up).
February 1, 2002... How did you learn that it takes the earth 24 hours to rotate in front of the sun to equal one day? In a book on the solar system, from your parents, or in class? Well, did you ever wonder how the ancients first learned that the earth rotated?...

StarGazing with Jack Horkheimer: the birthday stars of winter.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... GREETINGS, GREETINGS, FELLOW STARGAZERS, WANT TO SEE TWO ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL STARS THAT CAN BE USED TO CELEBRATE CHILDREN'S BIRTHDAYS? C'MON... I'LL SHOW YOU. COME THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY, JUST STEP OUTSIDE ON ANY CLEAR NIGHT, BETWEEN THE...

Listen to the music. (Countdown).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Imagine doing your homework in silence... without music? Although music can be distracting for some, others find it helps concentration. Why do we listen to music? How does music make sense to the ear and the brain? What are sound, tone,...

War in the Animal Kingdom. (Animal Angles).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In 1974, Godi, a Kahama, was eating peacefully inside Kahaman territory. Humphrey and others from the Kasekela community tracked Godi down and beat him so severely that he soon died. Godi's death, sadly, would not have been astonishing among...

Evening Standard, London, Asian Markets Column.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Ray Heath Feb. 4--Japanese stocks led by banks and electronics companies slumped again today as investors' scepticism about the speed of any US-led recovery continues to grow. The value of Japanese stocks measured by the Topix...

Royal Bank of Scotland Haunted by Fears over Argentina Debt.
February 4, 2002... Feb. 4--A few days can be a long time in the stock market. Just ask shareholders of Royal Bank of Scotland. Only last week, the shares struck a new peak of 1840 pence and were being tipped by some as the strongest play in the banking...

Evening Standard, London, William Davis Column.
February 4, 2002... Byline: William Davis Feb. 4--I am not surprised to hear the Labour Party has financial problems. It is a familiar story. Labour ran up debts of UKpound 8 million in the last general election campaign and still has a big overdraft. ...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton Column.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Anthony Hilton Feb. 4--British Airways is probably doing a bit better than today's figures would have us believe. Air travel has picked up a bit on the transatlantic routes to judge from the recent results of KLM and some...

Property Group Buys London Building for UKpound 60 Million.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Malcolm Withers Feb. 4--Number 10 Trinity Square, one of the City's most prominent buildings, has been sold for UKpound 60 million to property group Development Securities, which is hoping to turn it into a luxury hotel. ...

British-Based Computer Company RM Notes Decline in Sales.
February 4, 2002... Byline: James McLean Feb. 4--School computers group RM blotted its copybook again today as its second profits warning in six months sparked a dramatic 55 percent slide in its shares. Jobs among RM's 1500 staff and 200 contractors are...

Disney, Capital Radio to Start Children's Station in United Kingdom.
February 4, 2002... Feb. 4--Disney joined forces with Capital Radio today to launch a station aimed at children. Capital Disney will be broadcast on digital radio to around half the UK within the next few months. Capital chief executive David Mansfield said:...

British Natural Gas Company Reportedly to Announce Job Cuts.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 4--Up to 2000 job losses are expected to be announced on Thursday when Lattice Group reveals a major restructuring of its Transco national gas distribution operation. The company, which has been without a chief...

Greenspan and Budget Request Off To Congress.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Lauren Chambliss Feb. 4--Wall Street will have a full plate this week with Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's continued testimony, the unveiling of the White House's largest Federal budget request in years and the release of...

Move to China Puts Model Train-Maker Hornby on the Right Track.
February 4, 2002... Feb. 4--Model trains-to-Scalextric group Hornby today proclaimed the success of moving its manufacturing from Britain to China, with a sharp jump in sales during the run-up to Christmas, writes Jim Armitage. The company's new factories are...

P&O Princess Refuses New Bid from Carnival.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Jim Armitage Feb. 4--P&O Princess today rejected Carnival's revised UKpound 3.6 billion takeover offer as the US group's chairman started sounding out investors over an expected increased bid. Micky Arison flew to London...

Channel Tunnel Operator Says French, British Rail Firms Plan to Cut Payments.
February 4, 2002... Byline: Patrick Hosking Feb. 4--A long-running dispute over charges erupted into all-out war today as Eurotunnel revealed that its rail customers are refusing to pay their normal full fees. The Channel Tunnel operator said French rail...

Britain's Stores See Lean Times Ahead as Shoppers Tighten Purse Strings.
February 4, 2002... Feb. 4--Retailers are bracing themselves for a sharp slowdown in sales growth, according to a survey that shows shoppers are already reining in their spending. The latest poll of High Street stores and shopping malls by the CBI reveals...

French Utilities Group Loses Revenues from Commuter Group.
February 4, 2002... Feb. 4--Connex's loss of the South Central rail franchise hit transport revenues at French utilities group Vivendi Environnement last year. Largely because of the loss of the London commuter franchise after a history of poor performance...

British Airports Operator BAA See Profits Drop on Decline in Passengers.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 5--Profit growth at BAA went into a sharp reverse at the end of last year as the operator of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports counted the cost of no-show international air travellers. Tumbling passenger...

Evening Standard, London, Asian Markets Column.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Ray Heath Feb. 5--NIKKEI HITS 19-YEAR LOW AS YEN PROP FALLS: Tokyo's stock market today fell to 19-year lows as the recent strength of the Japanese yen against the US dollar knocked away one of the few props under share prices. ...

Survey Reveals Extent of Boardroom No-Shows by 'Delinquent' Directors.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Patrick Hosking Feb. 5--Hundreds of British company directors appear to be playing truant, according to figures today that reveal only just over half of board meetings are attended by a full complement of directors. At least...

British Airways Reports Worst-Ever Quarterly Figures But Expects Rally.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 5--British Airways reported its worst-ever quarterly figures today but told the City that things are on the mend after the collapse in international air travel following the 11 September terrorist attacks on...

Finance Chief at EMI Resigns.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Nick Goodway Feb. 5--Music giant EMI's finance chief quit today as the group stunned the stock market with its second profits warning in less than six months. EMI shares slid as much as 11 percent before recovering slightly to...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton Column.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Anthony Hilton Feb. 5--BRUTAL REMINDER THAT REPUTATION IS EVERYTHING: A venture capitalist told me last week that his firm was reviewing whether to keep using Andersen as reporting accountants to some companies it hopes to take...

Chemical Giant ICI Launches UKpound 808 Million 'Crisis' Rights Issue.
February 5, 2002... Feb. 5--Debt-laden ICI launched its much-leaked, deeply discounted UKpound 808 million rights issue today amid criticism from analysts as the share price again came under pressure. It fell 9 3/4 pence at one stage before rebounding to become...

Evening Standard, London, Stock Markets Column.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Michael Clark Feb. 5--A drop of 220 points for the Dow overnight in New York meant investors took another battering when trading resumed in London today. On Wall Street, the punters are worried about the poor accounting...

Evening Standard, London, Andrew Smithers Column.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Andrew Smithers Feb. 5--GERMAN HISTORY HAS A LESSON FOR BROWN: There is a sad tale of a young man, dropped on his head when young, who believed what he read in prospectuses. A tendency to accept what we are told is an amiable...

Ryanair Notes Quarterly Pre-Tax Profits of UKpound 19.9 Million.
February 5, 2002... Feb. 5--No-frills carrier Ryanair today racked up record profits at the third-quarter stage and belittled British Airways' move back into budget fares. For the nine months to the end of December, the Stansted-based airline reported pre-tax...

Standard & Poor's Lowers Credit Rating of Seven Japanese Banks.
February 5, 2002... Feb. 5--Japan's outlook took another turn for the worse today as the credit rating of seven major banks was cut by Standard & Poor's just weeks before the lenders are due to report what are expected to be shocking full-year profit figures. ...

P&O Princess Cruises Reports Big Increase in Demand for Bookings.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Patrick Hosking Feb. 5--P&O Princess Cruises today reported a 40 percent surge in demand in its key booking period as it reiterated its advice to shareholders to reject a hostile UKpound 3.6 billion bid from Carnival and approve a...

Continued Lag in Gas Orders Hits British Producer BOC.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Malcolm Withers Feb. 5--The dramatic slump in orders for its super pure gases for the semiconductors industry has continued to affect BOC. In January last year orders were running at the previous year's monthly average of...

Signs of Recovery Snuff Out Hopes of Interest-Rate Cut in Britain.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Jane Padgham Feb. 5--Any lingering hope that the Bank of England will cut interest rates this week was smothered today by news that the service sector has rebounded and green shoots of recovery are emerging in the manufacturing...

British Mobile-Phone Firm mmO2 to Cut 1,900 Jobs, Close 133 Shops.
February 5, 2002... Byline: Nick Goodway Feb. 5--BT mobile spin-off mmO2 is cutting 1900 jobs and shutting 133 of its 310 High Street shops as it seeks to cut costs. Chief executive Peter Erskine said: "Twelve months ago, this business was all about...

British Insurer's Asbestos-Claim Provisions to Hurt Profits.
February 6, 2002... Feb. 6--Fears of an explosion in asbestos-related ill health insurance claims has led Royal & SunAlliance to more than double its compensation kitty for the diseases to UKpound 689 million. The huge increase in provisions caused the insurer...

DVD Demand Spins Sales for British Home-Entertainment Retailer.
February 6, 2002... Feb. 6--Demand for DVDs and "must have" PlayStation 2 computer-game consoles among kids big and small have fast-forwarded sales at Home Entertainment group 26 percent to UKpound 56.2 million. Chairman and chief executive Iain Muspratt says...

Londoners Fear Job Loss More than Average Briton.
February 6, 2002... Byline: Jane Padgham Feb. 6--Londoners have become more pessimistic than the average Briton because of the jobs axe hanging over the capital, new research shows. The report from economic analyst Business Strategies reveals that...

Evening Standard, London, Asian Markets Column.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Ray Heath Feb. 7--NIKKEI SPRINGS TO LIFE ON HOPES FOR BANKS: Japanese banks bounded back from the dead today as investors bet the Tokyo government would try to save face at this weekend's Group of Seven summit in Ottawa by pledging...

Investigators Seek Possible Collaborators in Fraud Scheme at U.S. Banking Unit.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Lauren Chambliss Feb. 7--Sleepy, blue-collar Baltimore is today crawling with US government investigators and international bank officials in a massive hunt for Allfirst bank employees or outside collaborators who may have been...

Large Investors Call for Head of Allied Irish Banks to Step Down.
February 7, 2002... Feb. 7--Large investors in Allied Irish Banks are calling for the resignation of chief executive Michael Buckley following yesterday's revelation of a $750 million (UKpound 530 million) fraud at US subsidiary Allfirst. "The buck stops with...

Enron's Collapse Casts a Pall over Corporate Bonds Market.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Richard Morrissey Feb. 7--The possibility of shady accounting practices and ongoing credit deterioration at some of the top firms in Britain and the US is wreaking havoc among investment grade corporate bonds. Indeed, firms...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton Column.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Anthony Hilton Feb. 7--CARE NEEDED IN PIRANHA-FILLED WATERS OF HEDGE FUNDS: It is only three years since Long-Term Capital Management imploded, bringing financial markets to the brink of panic. Yet the City has a short memory and...

Evening Standard, London, Christopher Huhne Column.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Christopher Huhne Feb. 7--NOT ENOUGH MILEAGE IN THESE REFORMS: Howls of outrage from the industry and a warning shot from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, whose home region is a big shareholder in VW, have greeted EU...

Evening Standard, London, Stock Markets Column.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Michael Clark Feb. 7--PROFIT-TAKING AND DEBT WORRIES HURT THE BANKS: The High Street banks appear to have lost some of their appeal with City investors. They came under fresh selling pressure today, with traders blaming a...

British Natural-Gas Distribution Firm Lattice to Cut Almost 2,500 Jobs.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Robert Lea Feb. 7--Nearly 2500 jobs -- almost a fifth of the workforce -- are to go at Lattice, the former part of British Gas responsible for the country's gas networks of pipes and mains. The vast majority of those axed will...

British Telecom's New Managers Increase Earnings, Shrink Debt.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Nick Goodway Feb. 7--British Telecom's new management team unveiled better-than-expected third-quarter results today and revealed that in the three months to end December it had cut debt by a further UKpound 2.9 billion to UKpound...

Britain's Thistle Hotels Chain Completes Renovation, Introduces New Room Type.
February 7, 2002... Byline: Gillian Upton Feb. 7--Thistle Hotels has emerged from a three-year, UKpound 180 million revamp, which has seen its three- and four-star portfolio in Britain shrink from 90 to 56 hotels. Some 30 hotels have been sold to...