Gianni Agnelli, the mercurial 79-year-old patriarch of Fiat, is planning to float the group’s luxury car side, Ferrari, on the Milan stock exchange. Gianni Agnelli, the mercurial 79-year-old patriarch of Fiat, is planning to float the group’s luxury car side, Ferrari, on the Milan stock exchange.
The move, which could value Ferrari at up to £1bn, will not only capitalise on the operation’s success in winning the Formula One world championship for the first time in 21 years, but will be a way of retaining the three men who were key to that victory – Ferrari boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, team boss Jean Todt, and world champion racing driver Michael Schumacher.It will seal a stupendous 2000 for Ferrari, which not only saw it secure the World Drivers and Constructors championship but saw it sell more than 4,000 cars for the first time in its history.Ferrari’s chairman, Paolo Fresco, is understood to have agreed with Mr Agnelli on a plan to float the business, and that it is why it was kept out of the deal struck earlier this year with General Motors. In that agreement, the US group took a 20 per cent stake in Fiat in exchange for a 6 per cent stake in GM.However, the timing of the float will depend on Ferrari’s success in turning round another luxury car brand owned by Fiat, Maserati. The troubled marque will be relaunched next year, and executives at Ferrari’s Marinello headquarters are hoping it will prove to be another success for the group.But Ferrari’s improved fortunes have led to worries that the group could lose many of its key executives. Mr Montezemolo, who is famous in Italy for organising the 1990 football World Cup, has spoken of taking time off to be with his wife. Mr Todt, who was headhunted from Peugeot to lead the racing team, and top designer Ross Brawn are also understood to have received lucrative approaches.A flotation would see all the key players, including Mr Schumacher who is already paid £20m a year, receive a stake in the business..

After years of heavy criticism from conservationists, the Irish peat industry has decided that its future lies in an environmentally friendly change of image. After years of heavy criticism from conservationists, the Irish peat industry has decided that its future lies in an environmentally friendly change of image.
For centuries it has been assumed that the best thing to do with peat is burn it. And for 50 years the state-run company Bord na Mona has provided peat bricks to power companies which use it to generate electricity Now the game is up. As Ireland’s booming hi-tech economy has created a surging demand for power, environmentalists have successfully insisted on greater use of wind farms and other “green” generation methods.But in a dramatic change of direction, Bord na Mona has found a variety of new uses for peat. These include soaking up offensive smells from chemical factories and efficiently filtering sewage.

The company recently received regulatory approval for its residential sewage filter, whose US sales have soared. The device, known as “Puraflo”, produced reven-ues of $2.5m (£1.5m) last year, and Bord na Mona expects them to pass $4m in 2001.Being a good corporate citizen has done the overall balance sheet no harm. In March it announced that annual profit had increased by 35 per cent to a record £8.5m.The use of peat, particularly by Bord na Mona, has long outraged environmentalists. In the search for the fuel, many ecologically sensitive bogs were completely destroyed, and Peter Foss, chairman of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, describes burning peat as “the most unecological thing you can do with it”.Bord na Mona’s new green status has been cautiously welcomed by some Irish conservationists. In line with the new image, the company has also promised not to excavate any new bogs.. WH Smith will this week announce that it is abandoning its plan for a national system for magazine distribution. WH Smith will this week announce that it is abandoning its plan for a national system for magazine distribution.
The decision follows weeks of negotiations between the newsagent and representatives of the magazine publishing industry, which has been opposed to the proposals.