U.K. Stocks Decline; British Airways Drops as Merger Talks End

By Adam Haigh

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks declined for the first time in three days after British Airways Plc, Europe’s third- largest airline, called off merger talks with Qantas Airways Ltd.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slipped 15.08, or 0.4 percent, to 4,309.11 at 8:25 a.m. in London. The FTSE All-Share Index dropped 0.3 percent and Ireland’s ISEQ Index slid 1.1 percent.

The FTSE 100 has slumped 33 percent this year as more than $1 trillion in global losses and writedowns at financial firms froze credit markets and sent the U.S., Europe and Japan into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II.

British Airways dropped 4.9 percent to 163.5 pence. The two airlines halted negotiations after British Airways Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh and his Qantas counterpart Alan Joyce couldn’t reach agreement on who would control the company, Tony Cane, a spokesman for the London-based carrier, said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net