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Technology

Chinese domain name push given boost

TLD Registry Ltd, one of the world's largest domain name registries, has opened its first China office in Beijing, a big step in the company's China expansion plans.

The Finnish company promotes the use of Chinese on the Internet. Earlier this year it announced that it had exclusive rights to manage the top-level domain names allowing people to visit websites with Chinese strings. Well-known domain name registrars such as XinNet, 35.com, Nawang, BizCN, EJEE and TodayNIC have all partnered with TLD Registry to help accelerate the use of Chinese language on the web.

Company

Unilever sales slow in third quarter

Dutch food and cosmetics giant Unilever posted a third-quarter drop in sales down 2 percent, blaming a slowdown in emerging markets, particularly in China. Turnover fell to 12.2 billion euros ($15.4 billion), which was also weighed down by a negative currency impact of 2.6 percent, the Rotterdam-based group said. It did not publish third-quarter profits. "Market growth slowed in emerging countries and particularly in China," said Paul Polman, Unilever's chief executive. "In China the impact of the sharp market slowdown has led to trade de-stocking across the distribution channels," Unilever said, leading to a drop in underlying sales of 20 percent.

Nokia earnings top analysts' forecast

Nokia Oyj reported earnings topping analysts' estimates as rising network spending by phone carriers in China and the US helped the Finnish equipment maker to its first quarter of sales growth since 2011. Third-quarter profit excluding some items rose to 9 cents a share from 6 cents a year earlier, Nokia said on Oct 23. Analysts had predicted 6 cents, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales increased 13 percent to 3.3 billion euros ($4.2 billion), beating the 3 billion-euro estimate.

Schindler raises full-year target

Schindler Holding AG has raised its full-year profit forecast after the Swiss elevator maker's nine-month earnings were boosted by rapidly expanding sales in China and India. Schindler raised its net profit forecast by 15 million francs ($16 million) to as much as 865 million francs, supported by the consolidation of Chinese subsidiary XJ-Schindler and the sale of land in Switzerland. Schindler stuck to a prediction of 6 percent to 8 percent sales growth in local currencies. Schindler is far exceeding market growth in each of these countries, the company said on Oct 21.

Energy

Arrow's gas project given green light

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co-owned Arrow Energy Ltd are a step closer to deciding on the development of coal-seam gas reserves in Australia after clearing the last major environmental hurdle. The Australian government allowed Arrow's plans to extract gas from Queensland's Bowen Basin to proceed, according to documents lodged on the environment department's website.

Wind power projects continue apace in 2014

China could add as much as 20 gigawatts of wind power in 2014, four times as much as of Denmark, one of Europe's leading users of the clear energy source, as developers push to build the turbines ahead of cuts to incentives originally designed to spur the industry. Qin Haiyan, secretary general of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, said: "The trend is toward a rush of installations", adding the country was likely to maintain that pace next year.

China Daily - Agency

(China Daily European Weekly 10/31/2014 page18)