Rosenthal says there's no truth in rumours of Waterford bid

ROSENTHAL, the German porcelain group, has said there is no truth in local reports of a bid from Waterford Wedgwood.

However, it was unable to rule out that Waterford Wedgwood could be buying Rosenthal shares in the market. A spokesman for Waterford Wedgwood yesterday reiterated that it "never comments on speculation".

The report in the German magazine, Focus, claims that Waterford Wedgwood was in talks with the company with a view to taking it over. A spokesman for Rosenthal said the "report is not true", adding that it is not in take over talks with any company.

On the suggestion that Waterford Wedgwood could be buying up Rosenthal shares in the market, he noted that the German group has a restriction which caps the voting share of any single shareholder at 5 per cent.

Focus had reported that Waterford Wedgwood hoped to increase its European presence by buying up Rosenthal and said talks had been taking place for several months. The 5 per cent voting clause was seen as the major barrier, the report said.

Waterford Wedgwood and Rosenthal already have trade links. Earlier this month Waterford Wedgwood said it concluded a distribution agreement with Rosenthal to distribute its products in Canada.

Rosenthal incurred a loss of 10.7 million deutschmarks (£4.4 million) on sales of 151 million deutschmarks in the first half of 1996. It has been affected by weak domestic demand and high German production costs. Rosenthal is broadly the same size as Waterford Crystal.