IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Overtime boost

Toyota will boost overtime pay to their assembly line workers for their voluntary efforts to improve production quality, the company said yesterday, in the latest effort in Japan Inc to quell growing criticism about a workaholic corporate culture.

The decision follows a court ruling that found a Toyota worker, who collapsed at a plant, had died of overwork, or "karoshi". Such rulings are surprisingly common in Japan and allow the family of the deceased to collect government compensation for work-related deaths.

Overseas plans

Kia Motors Corp, South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, said it aims to lift overseas sales by 75 percent by 2010, betting on new models and increased output outside of its home market.

Kia plans to sell 1.9 million vehicles outside of Korea in 2010, compared with 1.09 million units last year, the Seoul-based carmaker said yesterday.

Paper's profits

Daily Mail and General Trust Plc, the publisher of the United Kingdom's Daily Mail newspaper, said profit dropped as costs increased.

Net income declined to 58.5 million pounds from 87.1 million pounds a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement yesterday. Sales rose 5 percent to 1.17 billion pounds.

Petrobras' order

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, owner of the Western Hemisphere's largest oil discovery in three decades, plans to order 40 drilling ships and platforms worth about $30 billion for delivery by 2017.

The deep-water drilling ships and semi-submersible rigs will explore for oil and gas in seas up to 3 km deep, said Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/23/2008 page16)