IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Speculation dismissed

Porsche SE, maker of the 911 sports car, rejected speculation the company is buying Volkswagen AG shares in advance of VW's annual shareholders meeting.

"We've said before, and we're saying it again, that we're waiting for regulatory approval first before increasing our stake," Frank Scholtys, a spokesman, said in an interview from Porsche's Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters yesterday.

Massive fall

Mitchells & Butlers Plc fell the most ever in London trading after a Lehman Brothers analyst said the owner of the All Bar One pub chain may be short of cash.

"The company could require a cash injection," Lehman analyst Julian Easthope wrote in a note. He almost halved his share-price estimate to 235 pence from 450 pence, and rates Mitchells "underweight".

Forecast cut

Toshiba lowered its earnings forecast for this fiscal year yesterday, blaming the reduction in part on 45 billion yen ($460 million) in costs associated with pulling the plug on its HD DVD next-generation video business.

Toshiba also said it would rack up a 65 billion yen ($666 million) operating loss in its HD DVD business.

Fuel cost warning

UK budget airline EasyJet said record fuel costs would erode its full-year profit if they didn't fall soon, hitting its shares and those of other airlines.

EasyJet shares fell 16.4 percent to 313 pence by 0901 GMT, as brokerage Panmure and investment bank UBS downgraded their ratings of the stock. Budget rival Ryanair fell 10.1 percent, while British Airways was 4 percent lower, Air France-KLM was down 1.8 percent and Lufthansa was down 0.9 percent.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/20/2008 page17)