IN BRIEF (Page 16)

New nuke plants

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, the only maker of power plants that don't need enriched uranium, plans to build more than eight reactors by 2020 as orders pick up after a two-decade lull.

The Canadian builder aims to expand in countries where it has already completed plants, including Canada, Argentina and Romania, said Jerry Hopwood, vice-president for reactor development.

Curbs 'too strict'

Porsche sports cars will struggle to meet strict carbon dioxide emissions limits that the European Union is proposing to introduce from 2012, chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking acknowledged yesterday.

Wiedeking told the business daily Handelsblatt that current models of the popular luxury cars would not meet the limits and that the EU should set separate standards for each of the market's segments.

Japanese contraction

Japan's economy contracted at almost twice the pace forecast by analysts in the second quarter, hardening speculation the central bank will refrain from raising interest rates this year.

The economy shrank at a 1.2 percent annual rate in the three months ended June 30 as business spending slumped, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo yesterday. The government initially forecast an 0.5 percent expansion.

Overseas acquisition

Assicurazioni Generali SpA may make an acquisition abroad to stay independent and ward off a takeover, Chairman Antoine Bernheim (above) said in an interview with the daily La Repubblica.

Bernheim said that Generali could move ahead with an "international operation", without identifying a target.

Boost for Bovis

Bovis Homes Group Plc, this year's worst-performing European homebuilding stock, said first-half profit rose 3.4 percent, buoyed by lower finance costs and higher land sales.

Net income advanced to 41 million pounds, or 34.1 pence a share, from 39.7 million pounds, or 33.3 pence, a year earlier, the Longfield, southeast England-based company said yesterday.

Teva's knuckles rapped

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world's biggest generic-drug company, must temporarily stop selling a lower-cost version of Novartis AG's genital herpes treatment Famvir, a US federal court ruled.

The appeals court approved a request by Novartis to stop sales of the medicine, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Job cuts

PSA Peugeot Citroen SA, Europe's second-largest carmaker, plans to cut up 3,000 jobs each year in western Europe until 2010 as part of a it plan to slash costs, Chief Executive Officer Christian Streiff told La Tribune daily.

Streiff said Peugeot will mainly expand in Eastern Europe and forecasts sales increase of 50 percent in the next three years in the region, the newspaper reported.

Sales remain difficult

Sports Direct International Plc, the UK sporting-goods retailer, posted a first-quarter profit and said sales remain "difficult" after the wettest UK summer since records began.

The company had "gross profit" of 149 million pounds and sales of 335 million pounds in the three months through July 29, the Mansfield, England-based company said yesterday.

Agencies-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 09/11/2007 page16)