IN BRIEF (Page 16)

No subprime investments

Alliance & Leicester Plc said it has no US subprime mortgage investments, distancing itself from the assets that roiled global credit markets in the past two months.

The Treasury unit "invests in high quality and well-diversified assets using a number of investment vehicles," the company said yesterday. "The majority of our consumer asset-backed securities are European mortgage-backed securities."

Broadband network

Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's largest phone company, said it is interested in helping build a fiber-optic network in Australia.

The Bonn-based company would consider building the high-speed network as part of a group, according to a letter posted yesterday on the website of Australia's Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Soco profit up

Soco International Plc, the UK oil company that explores in Africa and Asia, said first-half profit rose 12 percent as revenue increased.

Net income climbed to $17.03 million, or 21.5 cents a share, from $15.1 million, or 19.2 cents, in the same period a year earlier, the London-based company said yesterday in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service. Revenue advanced 30 percent to $50.4 million.

Acquisition plans

Japanese casual-clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co Ltd reiterated plans to invest up to 400 billion yen ($3.5 billion) on acquisitions one month after it lost a bidding war for upscale retailer Barneys New York.

Fast Retailing, whose Uniqlo brand has often been called the Gap Inc of Japan, has been expanding overseas and has pledged to use acquisitions to help double its annual sales to 1 trillion yen by 2010.

Swiss Life rises

Swiss Life Holding, Switzerland's largest life insurer, reported a 20 percent increase in first-half profit, helped by higher premium income and the sale of assets in France.

Net income climbed to 615 million Swiss francs ($509 million) from 511 million francs a year earlier, the Zurich-based insurer said yesterday. That beat the 536 million-franc median forecast of six analysts Bloomberg News surveyed. Gross written premiums rose 10 percent to 14 billion francs.

Bank stake

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia may sell its 38 percent stake in WestLB AG to a foreign investment bank, Rheinische Post said, citing unidentified people close to lawmakers.

The sale to an investment bank may be acceptable to WestLB's other owners, the savings banks, because such a buyer wouldn't compete for the company's retail customers, the newspaper reported yesterday.

Sales strategy

PSA Peugeot Citroen SA, Europe's second-largest carmaker, plans to sell 4 million vehicles in 2010 and increase its operating profit to between 5.5 percent and 6 percent of sales.

Under Peugeot's turnaround plan presented by Chief Executive Officer Christian Streiff at a news conference yesterday, Peugeot will also seek to improve the operating margin to 6 percent to 7 percent in 2015.

Bertelsmann loss

Bertelsmann AG, Europe's largest media company, posted a first-half loss after copyright settlements for its funding of music-downloading service Napster crimped the firm's earnings.

Its net loss was 51 million euros ($69 million) after a profit of 258 million euros a year earlier, the Guetersloh, Germany-based company said yesterday. Sales fell 2 percent to 8.96 billion euros after the closely held company sold its BMG Music publishing unit last year.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 09/05/2007 page16)