IN BRIEF (Page 17)

TUI reports loss

TUI Travel, Europe's biggest travel firm, said yesterday it made an underlying loss before tax of 294 million pounds in the first half, compared with a 339 million loss the year before.

TUI Travel, created last year from the tie-up of TUI AG's travel division and the United Kingdom's First Choice, said the improvement reflected strong performances in the UK and Nordic countries and a "significant turnaround" in France.

Boost for SingTel

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Southeast Asia's largest telephone company, gained a record 13.8 million mobile-phone subscribers during its fourth quarter, led by customer gains in India.

SingTel, as the company is known, had a total of 185.3 million mobile-phone users in eight markets at the end of March, it said yesterday.

EMI staff cuts likely

Guy Hands, whose Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd owns EMI Group Plc, is planning to cut as many as 1,000 more jobs at the music company, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Hands told senior EMI directors last week the recorded music division, EMI Music, must be cut to 2,000 employees from 4,500, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources.

Staples ups offer

Staples Inc, the world's largest office-supplies retailer, increased its takeover bid for Corporate Express NV to 8 euros a share in an effort to expand sales of pens and paper directly to companies.

The offer compares with an original bid of 7.25 euros a share on Feb 19, Framingham, Massachusetts-based Staples said.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/14/2008 page17)