IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Rain hits sales

Britain's Kingfisher Plc, Europe's biggest home improvements retailer, said on Thursday that sales growth slowed in the second quarter as wet weather hit sales at its UK market leader B&Q.

Kingfisher, which also owns Castorama in France, said that like-for-like sales grew by 2.6 percent in the 10 weeks to July 14, having seen growth of 6.7 percent in the first quarter. B&Q saw underlying sales fall by 2.3 percent in the period.

Oil up

Oil climbed to $77 and US crude hit its highest in almost a year yesterday on increasing demand from refiners in the world's top consumer.

At one point the rally lifted US oil above London Brent for the first time since February, based on closing prices.

Analysts pointed to data released on Wednesday that showed US crude stocks fell for a third consecutive week.

Boost for Bharti

Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's largest mobile-phone operator, said first-quarter profit doubled after price cuts and expanded coverage in rural areas lured a record number of customers.

Net income climbed to a record 15.12 billion rupees ($375 million), or 7.96 rupees a share, in the three months ended June 30 from 7.55 billion rupees, or 3.98 rupees, a year earlier, the New Delhi-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Confidence slides

German business morale worsened for a second straight month in July as firms took a dimmer view of the economic outlook for the next six months and began to feel the impact of the strong euro.

The Munich-based Ifo economic research institute said its business climate index, based on a monthly poll of around 7,000 firms, fell to 106.4 from 107.0 in June.

Agencies-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 07/27/2007 page16)