This case will see Mr Silverstein and the insurers haggle over the total payout on the insurance policy, with the New York property millionaire insisting he should receive up to $7bn because the two planes ploughing into the twin towers was two events. Celltech shares have been hit by concerns that work on CDP 870 may be disrupted by Pfizer’s takeover of Pharmacia, the company which has the rights to CDP 870.Celltech said yesterday that Pfizer has cited CDP 870 as one of Pharmacia’s most exciting products, and one of the reasons for taking over the company.There was no news, however, on a replacement for Mr Fellner, who plans to move into the post of non-executive chairman by the end of the year Celltech shares were down 26p at 360p yesterday.. The cost of R&D rose 8 per cent to £45.1m in the first six months of the year, but the company’s cash pile actually rose to £98.8m thanks to milestone payments from other drug companies which have licensed its products.There was a 16 per cent rise in sales of its portfolio of small, mainly generic drugs which it uses to help fund the more interesting research work on its own biotech products.Peter Fellner, the chief executive, reassured investors that the last stage of human trials of its most advanced product, codenamed CDP 870, for rheumatoid arthritis, would begin within 10 days. The fund could be used to pay up to the first £6m of any future liabilities, so reducing the amount of insurance cover Celltech requires.The company yesterday reported that interim losses, to the end of June, widened to £34.9m from £15.7m last time, as it increased research and development spending on its antibody drugs, which are based on the human body’s own immune system.

Analysts were forced to shave their earnings forecasts and Celltech’s shares fell 7 per cent to their lowest level since January 1999.Premiums for product liability insurance for pharmaceuticals companies have soared after a number of high-profile drugs have had to be withdrawn on safety grounds in recent years. “This is a company delivering everything it promised it would deliver,” he said.. It now takes 85,000 weekly orders.Tesco shares fell 11.5p to 204.5p on City concerns over falling like-for-like sales in four overseas markets and the possible impact of Nectar, the new loyalty card scheme which includes its rival J Sainsbury.But David McCarthy, a food retail analyst at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, is recommending buying the stock. We don’t think it would be wise to take the view that consolidation is impossible but I don’t think it would be easy.”Asked about the possible impact on Tesco, he said: “It was going to be the end of the world when Wal-Mart arrived here, but we’re still alive and well.”In Tesco’s international division, profits rose 79 per cent to £59m on sales of £2.3bn. However, Mr Reid said Tesco was gaining market share.On the rumoured bid interest for Safeway from Wal-Mart, which owns Asda in the UK, Mr Reid said: “It’s all hypothetical and the OFT [Office of Fair Trading] would have to take a view. We’re quietly optimistic.”Tesco said it was close to making a decision on whether to expand in China and that negotiations are continuing about a possible deal in Turkey.Reporting a 14 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £535m for the six months to 10 August, Tesco said its UK position remained resilient.

“All our research shows that consumers are feeling OK about expenditure with interest rates and unemployment rates staying low. “We’ve always said that sales growth would return to more normal levels of 3 to 4 per cent,” David Reid, the deputy chairman, said. Industry insiders said Mr Case has the support of at least two of his close friends on the board.. Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket group, is planning to open up to 1,000 Express stores as it continues its expansion both at home and abroad. Steve Case is not leaving the company,” Tricia Primrose said.Mr Case helped engineer AOL’s $106bn (£69bn) takeover of Time Warner, which had four times the internet company’s revenue, for AOL stock at the peak of the dot boom.

But the deal has come under growing fire amid the 70 per cent slide in AOL’s stock since the merger was completed in January 2001.”I would like to see Steve Case resign or be forced to resign,” Hal Vogel, a veteran media fund manager on Wall Street said. The benefits were never approved by Tyco’s board.Though in greater detail, the findings largely mirror what New York prosecutors and the SEC alleged last week in a massive corruption case against Mr Kozlowski and two of his top lieutenants Tyco will not have to restate its results.. The report also details $13.5m in unauthorised loans to key Tyco managers – not including Mr Kozlowski and Mr Swartz. For instance, the lowest price for a return from Gatwick to Dublin flying out next Monday and returning on Wednesday was £91.70 on Ryanair, compared with £80.30 on Aer Lingus.. There is no comeback if we fail to meet the charter.”But he defended the launch of the charter on the grounds that it would explode some of the “myths” about Ryanair – such as the claim that it charged a fee to carry wheelchair-bound passengers.The launch of the free seats promotion, which applies to flights between 1 October and 17 December booked in the next week, led to the Ryanair website crashing yesterday.But when it was possible to access the site, Ryanair was still advertising prices on some routes which were being undercut by the opposition. These range from pledging that Ryanair will always offer the lowest fare between any two airports to a commitment that refunds and responses to customer complaints will be dealt with in seven days, compared with 28 days for full-service airlines such as British Airways.Asked what passengers would get in return if Ryanair failed to live up to its promises, Mr O’Leary said: “Not a lot.