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UK food retailer Safeway reported positive full year results today (Wednesday) to continue its turnaround after an extremely difficult 2000.

Swire Pacific has put its name to a $1.5 billion Euro-MTN programme. HSBC and Morgan Stanley are the joint arrangers. The issuer's inaugural deal is said to be a HK$1 billion ($128.21 million) five-year note with an international deal coming later in the year. The company is only the second Hong Kong-based issuer to have come to the market since the beginning of 2000. Dao Heng Bank set up its $1 billion Euro-MTN programme in April last year, also with HSBC as arranger, but the A3-rated bank has yet to issue its first trade off the facility. Swire Pacific has interests in airlines, trading and marine services but more than 68% of its operating profits comes from the property business. The company's airline holdings include stakes in Cathay Pacific Airways. The programme is rated A3 by Moody's and A- by Standard & Poor's. Hong Kong-domiciled borrowers have issued 76 trades in 2001 but 75 of these were done by Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong). The dealers on the panel are the arrangers, ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Salomon Smith Barney, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS Warburg.

Sonera this week completed a Eu360m sale of shares in VoiceStream, the US mobile operator that Deutsche Telekom is acquiring. The deal is a further indication, in the wake of last week's Vodafone convertible and this week's rights issue from British Telecom, that the equity markets are beginning to show some enthusiasm for telecom stocks.

* Cadbury Schweppes Finance plc Guarantor: Cadbury Schweppes plc

* Republic of Austria Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Toyota has overhauled one of its four Euro-CP programmes. Toyota Finance Australia has been added as an issuer to the existing issuers, Toyota Motor Finance Netherlands, Toyota Financial Services and Toyota (GB). The ceiling off the programme has been raised from euro1.5 billion ($1.33 billion) to euro2.2 billion. Deutsche Bank has replaced Citibank as the issuing and paying agent.

Caixa Geral de Depositos and Nederlandse Waterschapsbank have both issued thirty-year yen trades. The first is a ¥500 million ($4.09 million) note that pays interest semi-annually. The second is a ¥1 billion Bermuda-callable note that was managed by Daiwa SBCM Europe and pays 5.5%. Tom Meuwissen, head of treasury at Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, says: "Yen is definitely the cheapest currency at the moment, and I hope it stays like this. Unfortunately it doesn't always offer the sizes we would like, but we still hope to raise between euro3 billion ($2,65 billion) and euro4 billion this year."

UBS Warburg yesterday (Thursday) launched two contrasting convertible deals for Switzerland-based Givaudan and Jelmoli Holding. Givaudan, a world leader in fragrances and flavours, launched a $200m deal, at the same time as retail firm Jelmoli was selling a Sfr200m (Eu130m) convertible deal.

MassMutual Global Funding LLC Rating: AAA

Lehman Brothers has replaced BNP Paribas as sole arranger and dealer off Premiere Funding International's $1.5 billion note issuance programme.

Global communications and IT company Marconi has launched a Eu3bn multi-currency facility to the loan market. The loan will be launched to general syndication today (Friday). Demonstrating that the credit has lost none of its attractiveness to lenders since the GEC restructuring, the company has assembled an impressive group of banks to lead the deal. The lead arrangers on the facility are ABN Amro, Barclays Capital (joint bookrunner), BNP Paribas, Citibank/SSSB, Commerzbank, CSFB, Deutsche Bank, HSBC (joint bookrunner), IBJ, IntesaBci, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS Warburg and WestLB.

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