IN BRIEF (Page 17)

GE in the running

General Electric Co is the latest company to be seeking the assets of troubled Australian asset manager Allco Finance Group, The Australian Financial Review newspaper reported yesterday.

GE is a new contender for the aircraft and shipping leasing, property and power assets of Allco, the business daily said, without naming a source. The paper did not elaborate.

Lego beats forecast

Lego A/S, Europe's largest toymaker, said pretax profit beat its forecast in 2007.

Profit rose 10 percent to 1.41 billion kroner ($280 million) before taxes from 1.28 billion kroner in 2006, the Billund, Denmark-based company said yesterday on its website. Lego had forecast a drop to 900 million kroner in August.

Russia boosts brewer

Carlsberg A/S reported a fourth-quarter profit after selling more beer in Russia, where the largest Nordic brewer is taking full control of a joint venture, and forecast stronger sales growth this year.

Net income was 37 million kroner ($7.3 million), compared with a year-earlier loss of 80 million kroner, the Valby, Denmark-based company said yesterday.

Barclays slides

Barclays Plc, the United Kingdom's third-biggest bank, said second-half profit fell 21 percent on asset writedowns and a slump in revenue from fixed-income trading.

Net income declined to 1.78 billion, or 26.6 pence a share, the bank said in a statement yesterday. The securities unit posted 1.6 billion pounds in net writedowns related to assets such as collateralized debt obligations and loans for leveraged buyouts.

Costly error

Credit Suisse Group discovered pricing errors on bonds that will cut first-quarter profit by about $1 billion, prompting the biggest share decline in more than five years.

Switzerland's second-largest bank took $2.85 billion of writedowns on asset-backed securities after an internal review found "mismarkings" by a group of traders and credit markets worsened. The Zurich-based bank said in a statement yesterday that it is assessing whether 2007 earnings were also affected.

Price cut

Apple Inc, the maker of the iPod media player and Macintosh computers, cut the price on the iPod Shuffle model to $49.

The company, based in Cupertino, California, also is introducing a new version of the Shuffle for $69, according to a statement yesterday.

Oil near $98

Crude oil rose to its highest in more than five weeks on speculation OPEC will curb production and refinery disruptions may limit fuel supplies.

Crude oil for March delivery rose as much as $2.37, or 2.5 percent, from its Feb 15 close to $97.87 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the highest intraday price since Jan 9.

Dunton replaced

MBIA Inc, under threat of losing its AAA credit rating after losses on subprime mortgages, replaced Chief Executive Officer Gary Dunton.

Joseph Brown, who had been CEO until 2004, will resume the post, Armonk, New York-based MBIA said yesterday.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/20/2008 page17)