IN BRIEF (Page 16)
US spin-off
Cadbury Schweppes Plc filed documents on its Americas Beverages unit with US regulators and said it expects to complete the spin-off of the division by the second quarter of 2008 at the earliest.
The split-off business will be called CSAB Inc, London- based Cadbury said in a Regulatory News Service statement.
Moore quits
Friends Provident Plc, the UK insurer that failed to combine with Resolution Plc, said Chief Executive Officer Philip Moore will leave as the company reassesses its strategy.
Until a full-time successor is appointed, Chairman Adrian Montague will take on the role of executive chairman, the Dorking, England-based company said yesterday.
Acquisitions mulled
The Benetton family may consider making acquisitions to boost its Autogrill SpA restaurants business, la Repubblica reported, citing Gilberto Benetton.
"The idea is to pay for an eventual acquisition of a company to combine with Autogrill, in exchange for a stake in Schema 34 that's no greater than 30 percent," Benetton, chairman of Autogrill, told la Repubblica in an interview. Schema 34 is a holding company controlled by the Benettons.
Estimates beaten
UniCredit SpA, Italy's biggest bank, said third-quarter profit increased 1.1 percent, beating analysts' estimates, on a gain in lending income. The shares rose.
Operating profit gained to 2.41 billion euros from 2.38 billion euros a year earlier, the Milan-based bank said yesterday in a statement. Net income fell 23 percent to 1.12 billion euros after gains from the sale of an investment-services unit weren't repeated.
Tycoon raises stakes
Ukrainian billionaire Gennadiy Bogolyubov raised his bid for Consolidated Minerals Ltd, beating an offer by Pallinghurst Resources Australia Ltd for the producer of 10 percent of the world's high-grade manganese.
Bogolyubov's Palmary Enterprises Ltd investment vehicle increased its offer by 20 Australian cents to A$4.70 a share, the company said yesterday in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
BW hit hard
BW Gas ASA, the world's largest owner of gas tankers, said third-quarter profit fell 59 percent as rental rates for its ships slumped and the price of refueling surged.
Net income dropped to $17 million, or 10 cents a share, from $41.8 million, or 30 cents, a year ago, the company said in a statement to the Oslo stock exchange yesterday.
New investment body
The United Arab Emirates issued a federal law to establish the Emirates Investment Authority, state news agency WAM reported.
The body will invest federal funds to generate new revenue for the government, WAM said, citing Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE president.
Iluka surges
Iluka Resources Ltd, the world's biggest zircon producer, rose the most in 16 years in Sydney after Citigroup Inc said the company's iron ore royalty accord with BHP Billiton Ltd may be worth more than A$1 billion ($900 million) .
The revised value of the royalty on sales from a BHP project in Western Australia state is worth more than Perth-based Iluka's market valuation, Clarke Wilkins, an analyst at Citigroup, said yesterday.
French growth
French economic growth accelerated in the third quarter as households increased spending and exports rose.
Gross domestic product in Europe's third-largest economy expanded 0.7 percent, the past pace in five quarters, from the three months through June, when it grew 0.3 percent, national statistics office Insee said yesterday in Paris.
Bloomberg News
(China Daily 11/15/2007 page16)
