IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Minicar maker rises

Daihatsu Motor Co, Japan's biggest minicar maker, rose by the daily limit and gained the most in more than seven years on the Tokyo stock exchange, after it raised its profit forecast.

Daihatsu rose 100 yen, or 10 percent, to close at 1,082 yen in Tokyo after it increased forecast on Wednesday because of higher sales in Indonesia and Malaysia. The share rise was the most since July 12, 2000.

Sales weaken

WH Smith Plc, the United Kingdom's largest magazine retailer, said sales weakened over Christmas as fewer shoppers visited town-center stores. The company also said it would return 90 million pounds to shareholders.

Revenue at stores open at least a year dropped 2 percent in the 21 weeks ended Jan 26, the Swindon, England-based company said in a Regulatory News Service statement yesterday. That compares with a 1 percent drop in the first 10 weeks of the fiscal year.

Profit doubles

Altana AG, the world's largest maker of additives for coating and plastic parts, said full-year profit more than doubled as booming economies in Asia and Eastern Europe spur demand.

Pretax profit amounted to 214 million euros from 93 million euros a year earlier, the Wesel-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analysts forecast a profit of 213.3 million euros, according to the median of eight estimates.

Moving east

Daimler AG may start producing Mercedes cars in eastern Europe at an assembly plant in Poland or Romania that would employ thousands, the Financial Times reported.

Daimler has narrowed its choice to two locations, one near the German border, west of the western Polish city of Wroclaw, and one near Cluj, in northwestern Romania, the FT said, citing an unidentified investment adviser. Mercedes declined to comment on possible locations, the newspaper said.

Suez climbs

Suez SA, the French energy and water utility planning to merge with Gaz de France SA, increased revenue 11 percent in the fourth quarter after selling more electricity in Europe at higher prices.

Sales rose to 13.2 billion euros ($19.7 billion) from 11.9 billion euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Revenue for the full year rose 7.2 percent to 47.5 billion euros.

H&M slows

Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe's second-largest clothing retailer, said profit growth slowed in the fourth quarter on lower consumer spending in Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden, its biggest markets.

Net income rose 22 percent to 4.65 billion kronor ($730 million), or 5.62 kronor a share, in the three months ended Nov 30, the Stockholm-based retailer said yesterday.

Estimate raised

India yesterday revised upwards its 2006/07 gross domestic product growth estimate to 9.6 percent from an earlier 9.4 percent, which was its highest in 18 years, according to a government statement.

Manufacturing output growth was 12.0 percent for the year to March 2007, while growth in farm output was pegged at 3.8 percent.

Drugmaker increases

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, Japan's biggest drug maker, booked a 24.5 percent rise in profit for the first nine months of the business year yesterday as more diabetes patients turned to its Actos pill after a rival drug was hit by safety concerns.

Takeda said net profit climbed to 331.4 billion yen ($3.12 billion) for the April-December period, up from 266.2 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/01/2008 page16)