What with its global client base and Absa’s local know-how, there are synergies for the two.”Absa’s board has recently undergone some changes. Barclays has also decided that Africa is important again and has set up a reasonable franchise in the continent. Last year it moved the headquarters of its African business from London to Johannesburg.Absa has 38 to 40 per cent of South Africa’s retail market, with more than six million customers, while its other activities are regarded as a weakness.Chris Steward of Investec Asset Management said: “Absa has underperformed in corporate and merchant banking and Barclays could add value to that area. The bank is present in 11 African countries, and says it is the leading sub-Saharan bank. The spokesman said the acquisition would fit with Barclays’ rationale of boosting earnings from overseas.Absa shareholders, including Sanlam, the biggest South African-owned insurer which has a 21.3 per cent stake in the bank, said they would consider an offer depending on the price.Other big shareholders include: investment company Remgro, with a 9.4 per cent stake; South Africa’s Public Investment Commissioner, with 8.7 per cent; Investec Asset Management, with 5 per cent; and the life insurer Sage Group, with 4 per cent.South Africa’s government will ultimately decide whether the deal goes ahead, but said yesterday that it had not been approached. “Absa is particularly strong in its retail business,” a Barclays spokesman said yesterday, adding that the South African retail market is growing at a rate approaching 15 per cent a year.

It added that the discussions were not advanced enough to require an approach to regulators, who would have to approve any transaction.The news, which came after weeks of speculation, drove Absa shares to a new high, valuing the company at more than 40bn rand (£3.5bn).Barclays, Britain’s third-biggest bank by assets, was penalised in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s for its involvement in South Africa and suffered a drop in its share of the UK student market from 27 per cent to 15 per cent before its withdrawal.The bank returned to South Africa in 1995 with its corporate and investment banking business, but it does not have a retail presence there at the moment. Barclays, the bank that pulled out of South Africa in 1986 after protests during the apartheid era, said yesterday it was in talks to buy a majority stake in Absa, one of the country’s four big banks.
Barclays said it did not expect to issue ordinary shares to fund any deal, but declined to say how much the offer would be worth “This process is at an early stage,” Barclays said. This will mean the fleet rising from 93 aircraft now to 108 next year rather than the anticipated 115 aircraft.This will be achieved by retiring easyJet’s Boeing 737-300 jets more quickly than planned rather than slowing down deliveries of its new Airbus A319 aircraft.The market reacted negatively, however, to easyJet’s references to volatile fuel prices and pressure on yields and the shares fell 8 per cent to 128p.. It also gave some details of its planned capacity for the next financial year, saying it now expected to increase its fleet size by 16 per cent compared with the 24 per cent it originally planned. EasyJet claimed they were twice Ryanair’s average fare, enabling the airline to make profits of 50 per cent on the three routes.The slots at Gatwick which easyJet is using to launch the new services to Ireland are ones that belonged to Ryanair until it gave them back last week.In a trading update before the close of its financial year in a week’s time, easyJet said it expected pre-tax profits to exceed £60m compared with the £52m it made in the previous year. Easyjet took the budget airline battle into Ryanair’s back yard yesterday by announcing the launch of its first three routes to Ireland.
The move came as easyJet shares fell to an all-time low after the no-frills carrier warned of continuing pressure on profits and said it would throttle back planned capacity growth next year by a third.EasyJet is launching services from Gatwick to Cork, Shannon and Knock in January and also starting to serve Almeria and Valencia in Spain from the airport.

This will bring easyJet’s route network from Gatwick to 29, making it a bigger hub than either Stansted or Luton.Ray Webster, the chief executive of easyJet, said it had decided to launch the three Irish services because fares on the routes had remained “stubbornly high” – a direct reference to the prices Ryanair charges to fly from Stansted to Cork, Shannon and Knock. Legitimate download sites have to use formats that incorporate digital rights management technology.Its own online music store, Sony Connect, will continue to only sell music files using its ATRAC format.The news comes as eBay, the online auction site, launched its own music download service.. Sony needs to make its portable devices flexible to stave off competition from other music players, such as Apple’s iPod.However, the music companies are worried about software such as MP3 that does not protect them by automatically arranging for payment of royalties. However, MP3 has become the most commonly used digital format and many Sony customers have built up large collections of music using MP3 files which cannot be played on their Sony portable devices.By incorporating MP3 into its devices, Sony is seeking to grab a bigger share of the competitive hardware market. Sony BMG, the record company half-owned by Sony Corporation, did not return calls yesterday on the potential conflict with its parent company.A spokesman for Sony Corporation said: “We are considering introducing MP3 playback capability. That’s all I can say at the moment.”Sony has for years used only its own ATRAC file compression technology in its digital music devices. Sony Corporation, the Japanese consumer electronics giant, has embarked on a potential collision course with music groups, including its own Sony BMG joint venture, over MP3 digital song files.
The group confirmed yesterday that it was considering manufacturing devices that play digital music files using the MP3 software, including its Walkman disc player.Music companies fear that portable devices that incorporate MP3 files could potentially leave them unprotected because MP3 technology does not have digital rights management software built in to ensure that music companies and their artists get paid royalties.”This is a step in the wrong direction for music and content,” said one music company executive.

BE, one of the last companies to be privatised by the Conservatives, still has about 230,000 small shareholders who between them own 20 per cent of the company.Bondholders in BE welcomed the company’s move. Andrew Wilkinson of Cadwalader Wickersham and Taft, the law firm representing the creditor’s committee, said it represented “the only viable alternative to insolvency”.. It needs 75 per cent support to win the vote.But a BE spokesman maintained that once the shares were delisted, the board would be free to complete the creditor restructuring agreement, which involves a £1.3bn debt-for-equity swap with bondholders.BE shareholders will still be asked to approve the restructuring at a second EGM but if they fail to give it their backing then they will be left with no stake in the company at all when its shares are re-listed, he added.BE shares fell 16 per cent to 15.25p yesterday, valuing the company at £95m as the conviction grew that the rebel investors had failed to obtain a better deal for ordinary shareholders. It is understood that in the past 48 hours a number of bondholders have hardened their stance, warning that they would demand immediate repayment of their debt if the restructuring agreement failed, pushing the company into insolvency.Polygon said in a statement: “We are astounded at the total disregard that British Energy is showing to shareholders We are pressing ahead with the EGM we have requested. This will give shareholders an opportunity to prevent BE from making disposals without shareholder consultation whether the company is listed or not.”The hedge fund has tabled a resolution which would give shareholders the power to block the disposal of assets without their approval.