IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Porsche falls

Porsche SE, maker of the 911 sports car, fell as much as 3.5 percent in German trading yesterday after reporting North American sales slumped 24 percent in March because the market was "gripped by recession fears".

Deliveries in the world's largest automobile market declined to 2,624 cars and sport-utility vehicles last month, Stuttgart, Germany-based Porsche said on Tuesday after the close of trading.

Chipmakers advance

Samsung Electronics Co and Toshiba Corp, the world's two biggest makers of flash memory chips, rose in Seoul and Tokyo trading after Hynix Semiconductor Inc said falling prices forced it to delay production of the chip.

Samsung gained 3.9 percent to close at 661,000 won on the Korea Exchange, the highest close since July 20. Toshiba climbed 7 percent to close at 735 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the biggest advance since Feb 14.

Imperial declines

Imperial Energy Plc, the United Kingdom-based oil company working in western Siberia, fell the most ever after saying it may sell as much as $600 million of new shares to fund exploration and development.

Imperial Energy fell 21 percent to 999 pence at 8:45 am in London, valuing the company at 510.7 million pounds. The decline is the biggest since the shares started trading in April 2004.

Low-emission focus

Nissan Motor Co, Japan's third-largest automaker, will focus on developing low-emissions vehicles over the next five years to challenge rivals Toyota Motor Co and Honda Motor Co.

The company's new mid-term business plan, which started on Tuesday, also includes an emphasis on emerging markets, spokesman Sadayuki Hamaguchi said by phone yesterday. The plan will be officially announced next month.

Russian interest

OAO Aeroflot may be interested in participating in a new auction for Alitalia SpA, news agency Radiocor reported, citing an Aeroflot spokesman.

The Russian airline is ready to consider joining a new bidding process if talks between the Italian state-controlled airline and Air France-KLM Group fail, Radiocor reported.

Retailer down

KappAhl Holding AB, the Swedish clothing retailer that tried to buy competitor Lindex in 2007, said second-quarter profit fell 78 percent without a year-earlier gain related to taxes.

Net income dropped to 74 million kronor ($12.3 million), or 0.99 krona a share, in the three months through February from 338 million kronor, or 4.50 kronor, a year earlier, the Moelndal, Sweden-based company said yesterday.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/03/2008 page16)