Other news

Early departure

William Hill Plc, the United Kingdom's second-largest bookmaker by sales, said Chief Executive Officer David Harding will leave on September 30, three months earlier than planned.

Chairman Charles Scott will become an executive director until Harding's replacement is appointed, the London-based company said yesterday in a Regulatory News Service statement. The search for a successor is "well underway", William Hill said.

German confidence

German business confidence probably fell to a 12-month low in September after the euro's advance dimmed the outlook for growth in Europe's largest economy, according to a survey of economists.

The Ifo research institute's sentiment index dropped to 105 from 105.8 in August, according to the median of 38 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

'Dump dividend'

UK Members of Parliament on the Treasury Select Committee called for Northern Rock Plc to drop its plan to pay a 60 million-pound dividend to shareholders next month, the London-based Times reported.

Representatives from all three main UK political parties said that the bank would send the wrong message to taxpayers and customers by paying the interim dividend weeks after seeking emergency help from the government, the newspaper said. The dividend is 30 percent bigger than it was last year, the Times said.

Compensation sought

SAS Group's Scandinavian Airlines will seek compensation from Bombardier Inc after its fleet of Q400 aircraft was grounded following two incidents, Dagens Industri said yesterday, citing Deputy Chief Executive Officer John Dueholm.

Keeping the Dash 8 Q400 planes on the ground costs SAS between 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) and 15 million kronor a day, the Swedish business newspaper cited Dueholm as saying.

Soaring sales

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, maker of Russia's new SuperJet, doubled its sales target for the aircraft and said it will build a bigger version after receiving more interest than anticipated from potential clients.

Sukhoi now expects to sell 1,800 SuperJets over the next 20 years, Senior Vice President Dmitry Matsenov said yesterday at a press conference in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East. It will also extend the 95-seat airliner to 120 seats and offer cargo and executive models, he said.

Major investment

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, will spend $35 billion on new plants to expand capacity, the Financial Times reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Lakshmi Mittal.

The main focus will be India, with $20 billion to be invested in two steel plants in the states of Jharkand and Orissa, the newspaper said, citing Mittal. India could by 2020 be consuming 200 million metric tons of steel a year, about four times more than at present, the newspaper said, citing Mittal.

'Market may explode'

Q-Cells AG Chief Executive Officer Anton Milner said he expects the solar-power industry to grow at least 40 percent a year, double the rate forecast by the German association that represents the industry, Berliner-Zeitung said.

Solar energy prices may fall below rates for energy from the electricity grid at the beginning of the next decade, Milner said in an interview with the newspaper. The market for solar power "will explode" if that occurs, he was quoted as saying in the Berliner-Zeitung.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 09/26/2007 page16)