IN BRIEF (Page 16)
Electric car
Daimler AG is planning to begin testing a plug-in electric model of its Smart Fortwo microcar in London in mid-December, the Financial Times reported.
About 100 cars will be distributed in London, including to the London police, the FT said. Pilot projects will also take place in two other European cities, the newspaper said, citing Anders Jensen, head of the Smart brand team.
Dividend pays off
GIMV NV, Belgium's biggest buyout company, said fiscal first-half profit rose 25 percent and announced an extraordinary dividend.
Net income for the six months ended September 30 rose to 118.9 million euros from 95.5 million euros a year earlier, Antwerp, Belgium-based GIMV said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The company plans to pay an interim gross dividend of 2 euros a share.
Record gain
Public Power Corp, Greece's biggest utility, had a record gain in Athens trading after asking the government, its largest shareholder, to let it raise electricity prices by as much as a third.
Public Power, also known as PPC, jumped as much as 15 percent, the biggest increase since shares in the Athens-based company were first sold in December 2001.
Job cuts
Waterford Wedgwood Plc, the Irish maker of Royal Doulton crystal and tableware, plans to cut 1,400 jobs as costs rise and the dollar drops.
Waterford will cut almost a fifth of its staff worldwide, the Dublin-based company said in an e-mailed statement. Almost 500 people will leave its crystal unit in Ireland, about half the company's workforce in its domestic market.
Packager's profit
Nampak Ltd, Africa's largest packaging producer, said annual profit rose 22 percent because of increased demand and lower taxes.
Net income rose to 1.05 billion rand ($154.7 million), or 1.72 rand a share, in the year to September 30, from 861.8 million rand, or 1.44 rand, a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a stock exchange statement yesterday. Earnings are expected to increase in the current year, Nampak added.
Bid snubbed
Lakewood Capital Management LP has joined Pennant Capital Management LLC in snubbing a 9.6 billion-kronor ($1.5 billion) bid for Swedish burglar-alarm supplier Securitas Direct AB.
New York-based Lakewood said the 26 kronor-a-share offer from investors including Melker Schoerling and Gustaf Douglas is too low and it won't tender its 1.1 percent stake. Securitas Direct is "conservatively" worth 35 kronor to 50 kronor a share, it said in a letter to the Malmoe-based company.
Russian plant
PSA Peugeot Citroen SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp may open a car factory together in Russia, La Tribune said, citing an unnamed person in the industry.
Peugeot sold 28,000 cars in Russia in the first nine months of the year, up 32 percent from the previous period, the French newspaper reported.
Possible purchase
Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, may acquire assets of Burren Energy Plc, the Economic Times said, citing bankers it didn't identify.
Mittal's presence in Turkmenistan and Africa is an added reason for his interest in London-based Burren Energy, which produces crude oil in Turkmenistan and the Republic of Congo, the newspaper said.
The newspaper said that an unidentified Mittal spokesman had declined to comment.
Bloomberg News
(China Daily 11/23/2007 page16)
