IN BRIEF (Page 16)

German jobless down

German unemployment fell by a larger-than-expected 75,000 on the month in February in seasonally adjusted terms, the Federal Labour Office confirmed yesterday.

February's decline took the adjusted jobless total down to 3.336 million, the Office said. The adjusted jobless rate fell to 8.0 percent from 8.1 percent in the prior month. The headline unadjusted jobless total fell to 3.617 million in February.

Offices raided

Japan's Fair Trade Commission said it had raided offices at Sharp Corp and Hitachi Displays on suspicion of price-fixing in liquid crystal displays for Nintendo Co Ltd's DS and DS Lite game players.

Hitachi Displays is a wholly owned LCD display unit of Hitachi Ltd. The anti-monopoly watchdog is investigating the two firms over possible rigging of offer prices for LCD panels aimed at holding up sales prices to Nintendo, an FTC official said.

Rhodia rises

Rhodia SA, France's largest maker of specialty chemicals, said fourth-quarter earnings rose 2 percent after raising prices to counter higher raw-material costs. The company plans to pay its first dividend for five years.

Earnings before interests, tax, amortization and depreciation climbed to 199 million euros from 195 million euros, the Paris-based company said yesterday.

Bayer plummets

Bayer AG, Germany's largest drugmaker, said fourth-quarter profit fell 78 percent, more than analysts expected, after a one-time tax gain boosted year-earlier results.

Net income fell to 67 million euros, from 311 million euros a year earlier, the Leverkusen, Germany-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Injection backed

Shareholders in UBS backed a 13 billion Swiss franc ($11.94 billion) capital injection from Singapore and an unidentified Middle East investor but heaped scorn on the bank's chairman, Marcel Ospel, over subprime losses.

The vote, carried by a large majority at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, came after Ospel appealed to investors, saying the funds were vital to the bank's future.

Result peps up Pernod

French wine and spirits group Pernod Ricard yesterday posted a 17.7 percent rise in first-half net profit and slightly raised its full-year operating profit growth forecast.

The maker of Chivas whisky, Martell cognac and Mumm champagne made a net attributable profit of 588 million euros in the six months to Dec 31, up from 500 million in the same period last year.

Pfizer diverts tests

Pfizer Inc, the world's biggest drugmaker, is diverting drug studies and tests from Japan as part of an industry push to avoid the nation's regulatory delays and higher costs.

The New York-based maker of Lipitor, the world's most-used cholesterol medicine, is increasing development spending in South Korea, said Akihisa Harada, head of clinical research at Pfizer's local unit in Tokyo.

Crude bounces back

Crude rebounded after a report that an attack in Nigeria may have added to production cuts in Africa's biggest producer. Production was reduced by 50,000 barrels a day to around 120,000 barrels a day, one of the traders said.

Crude oil for April delivery traded for $99.89 a barrel, an increase of 25 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:56 am London time.

More writedowns likely

Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann said he expects further writedowns at banks worldwide as they digest unrealized losses from assets linked to US subprime mortgages.

"One must expect that the next six to nine months will remain difficult for the financial markets," Ackermann said.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/29/2008 page16)