IN BRIEF (Page 16)

'Challenging time'

Ford Motor Co expects a challenging first half of 2008 for all automakers in the United States with a drop in industrywide retail sales, Ford's North American president said on Monday.

Mark Fields also said he hopes prior Federal Reserve rate cuts would begin to support the economy in the second half of the year, and that the US government would take a look at tax rates as part of an economic stimulus package.

Smaller stores

Wal-Mart Stores Inc will open small-format grocery stores in Arizona under the name "Marketside" to rival British retailer Tesco's Fresh & Easy markets, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The pilot stores are roughly 20,000 square feet in size, the Financial Times said. Wal-Mart's existing Neighborhood Markets, which sell fresh produce and other groceries, span more than double that area, according to the company's website.

Cautious outlook

Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui reiterated yesterday that Japan's economic growth is expected to slow for some time, reinforcing market views that the central bank will not raise interest rates this year.

His cautious view was shared by the market, with Japanese stock prices falling to a 26-month low on concern the yen's rise against the dollar could hurt exporters' earnings.

Overstated risk

French conglomerate Safran sought to allay concerns about its exposure to the US dollar yesterday as it reported 2007 revenues topping 12 billion euros, about in line with market expectations.

The aero engine and telecoms equipment maker, born of a merger between state and private concerns in 2004, has been singled out as one of the companies in its sector most at risk from the dollar, but has argued the risk is overstated.

Pumped up

Swiss engineering group Sulzer posted a 24 percent rise in full-year order intake yesterday, boosted by demand in the oil and gas sector, but said the growth rate was likely to slow in 2008.

Order intake at the group, which makes pumps for the oil and gas industry as well as surface coatings for jet engines, rose to 4.05 billion Swiss francs ($3.71 billion), narrowly missing the 4.11 billion francs forecast on average in a Reuters survey of seven analysts.

Tasty results

Britain's Northern Foods, maker of Goodfella's pizzas and Fox's biscuits, said yesterday underlying revenue in the third quarter increased by 3.5 percent versus the same period last year.

The Leeds-based firm, which also makes sandwiches and ready meals for Marks and Spencer, said this reflected a 3.5 percent increase in average prices and unchanged volumes.

Reliance IPO

India's Reliance Power raised $3 billion in India's biggest-ever initial public offering yesterday, with the sale fully subscribed within a minute and covered 2.5 times within 25 minutes of its opening.

Most bids for the 228 million shares on sale to the public were at the top end of the IPO price band at 450 rupees ($11.5) per share, data from the National Stock Exchange showed. The founder, billionaire Anil Ambani, on Monday had bought the owners' stake of 32 million shares at 450 rupees per share.

Vietnamese offering

National carrier Vietnam Airlines will hire an international consultant to advise on its initial public offering and could sell up to 20 percent of its shares to foreign strategic investors, the government said.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung had agreed the airline should hire a consultant for its partial sell-off which would leave 70-80 percent of the firm in state hands, the government said.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/16/2008 page16)