IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Cadbury to reply soon

Cadbury PLC said yesterday it plans to publish its formal response to a 9.8 billion pound ($16.3 billion) hostile takeover offer from Kraft Foods Inc on Dec 14.

Kraft, the maker of Oreo cookies, Nabisco crackers and its namesake cheese, took the offer straight to shareholders of the British candy company on Friday. In doing so, it bypassed the Cadbury board, which had already rejected an almost identical offer last month as "derisory".