IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Google falls

Google Inc declined as much as 3 percent in NASDAQ trading after a report showed slower growth in the number of people clicking on Internet advertisements in February, the second straight month of disappointing results.

Clicks on Google's sponsored links, four-line ads that mostly run next to search results, rose 3 percent to 515 million in February from a year earlier, researcher ComScore Inc said yesterday.

Venture backed

India's cabinet yesterday approved a venture between Daimler AG, the world's largest truckmaker, and the Hero Group.

Daimler will have a 60 percent stake in the venture and will invest 16.5 billion rupees ($411 million), Deepak Sandhu, a government spokesman, said in New Delhi. The partnership will initially build trucks for the Indian market, with export production to follow later, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler said on Dec 14.

'No chance'

IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG's supervisory board denied blame from shareholders today for the near-collapse of the German bank over US subprime investments.

"We had no chance to recognize the risks and to avoid the life-threatening crisis," Ulrich Hartmann, head of IKB's supervisory board, said at the annual general meeting in Dusseldorf.

Oracle drops

Oracle Corp, the world's third-largest software maker, fell 8 percent in early trading after customers delayed orders for business applications on concern that the US economy is slowing.

A collapse in the subprime lending market and record home foreclosures have led to more than $200 billion in bank writedowns and credit losses. That has increased the threat of a US recession, prompting customers to be more careful in their technology spending, Oracle said.

US growth

The US economy grew at an annual pace of 0.6 percent from October though December, weakened by a deepening housing slump that may be bringing the six-year expansion to an end.

The gain in gross domestic product followed a 4.9 percent third-quarter growth rate, the Commerce Department said yesterday in Washington. Measures of inflation were revised down and corporate profits dropped.

Chloride climbs

Chloride Group Plc, Europe's largest maker of uninterruptible power supplies, gained the most in five years in London trading after it said full-year results will beat its forecasts.

Chloride rose 13 percent, the biggest increase since May 2003. Sales for the year through March will climb 30 percent, while operating profit will increase 50 percent, the London-based company said yesterday in a statement.

Possible writedown

Merrill Lynch & Co may write down $4.5 billion on collateralized debt obligations and post a first- quarter loss, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Merrill had about $30.4 billion in collateralized debt obligations on its balance sheet at the end of 2007, the most among its peers, analysts led by Brad Hintz in New York wrote yesterday in a note to clients.

Nuclear cooperation

Suez SA would be interested in nuclear cooperation with British Energy Group Plc rather than buying a stake as a purely financial investor.

"If it's just a question of buying a stake in British Energy as a financial investor, we aren't interested," Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet told reporters yesterday at a nuclear conference in Paris. Suez would be interested in a role with British Energy as an "operator, selling power".

Agencies

(China Daily 03/28/2008 page16)