IN BRIEF (Page 16)

More rises due

Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui (above) stuck to his modestly hawkish tone on yesterday, suggesting that interest rates should rise gradually even as downside economic risks heighten.

Speaking a day after the BOJ kept rates on hold at 0.50 percent, Fukui reiterated that the downside risks for Japan's economy were heightening, among them the potential impact of US subprime mortgage market woes on global economic and market developments.

Bridgestone boost

Japanese tiremaker Bridgestone said yesterday that its net profit jumped by almost two-thirds in the nine months to September, boosted by a weaker yen and solid demand overseas.

The group posted net profit of 82.34 billion yen ($7.1 billion) for the first three quarters of its business year, up 64.5 percent from a year earlier when it had booked losses to cover plants closures in the Americas.

Bank increases

Australia's Westpac Bank posted record 3.45 billion dollar ($3.2 billion) annual net profit yesterday and said it expected demand for credit to remain high.

Westpac said profit for the year to September rose 12.4 percent, exceeding market expectations. Chief Executive David Morgan said the bank had delivered a strong and sustainable result.

Sales talk

European aircraft maker Airbus is in talks to sell seven production bases in Europe to concentrate on the business of making planes, chief executive Tom Enders said here.

The seven units manufacture "aerostructures", components and sub-components, Enders told a press conference late on Wednesday after opening an engineering centre in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Neptune buoyant

Neptune Orient Lines Ltd, the owner of Southeast Asia's biggest container shipping company, rose the most in more than a month in Singapore trading after reporting its biggest profit in two years.

The stock has more than doubled this year, making it the third-best performer on the Straits Times Index. The carrier gained 6.7 percent to S$5.45 as of 12:16 pm.

Stateside slump

Four out of 10 US shoppers say they will spend less this holiday season because of higher food and fuel costs and falling home values, according to an annual survey by Deloitte.

Of more than 14,000 people surveyed, 41 percent said they plan to reduce spending for the three months through January, the highest in at least seven years.

Great expectations

Stagecoach Group Plc, owner of the United Kingdom's biggest rail franchise, said pretax profit for fiscal 2008 will be higher than previously forecast as commuters switch to trains and buses.

Revenue at the UK train-operating subsidiary rose 16 percent in the 24 weeks ended October 14, the Perth, Scotland-based company said yesterday.

Major contract

Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India's biggest engineering company, won a 55 billion rupee ($1.4 billion) contract to modernize Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, the nation's busiest.

The contract from Mumbai International Airport Pvt is to build a new passenger terminal and modernize and expand existing facilities, Larsen & Toubro said yesterday.

AFP-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 11/02/2007 page16)