ACTIVE BARCLAYS TRADERS CLUB

Barclays (BARC) unveiled a deal to shore up its east African operations and its shares added 3.5p to 721p. The company said it was to buy Uganda's Nile Bank, which would lead the two banks to combine their distribution network, customer base and know-how to establish a leading position in the market and to drive further business growth. Barclays expects the transaction to complete during the first quarter of 2007 and no financial details were released. Nile Bank is the seventh largest commercial bank in Uganda with 18 branches, 228 employees and a strong retail customer base. It was the first Ugandan bank to extend its branch network beyond Kampala and the first indigenous bank to offer cash machines to its customers.