IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Boost for Boots

Alliance Boots Ltd, the UK drugstore chain bought by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co in Europe's biggest leveraged buyout, said annual profit climbed 20 percent on foreign expansion and lower costs.

So-called trading profit, or operating profit before one- time items and amortization, rose to 771 million pounds in the year through March, the company said yesterday in a Regulatory News Service statement without reporting net income.

Delivery delay

European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co has delayed delivery of an Airbus A380 to Air France-KLM Group until August 2009, La Tribune said, citing an unnamed person at the airline.

The four-month delay means Paris-based Air France won't have the superjumbo airplane during the peak summer travel season. The plane would become operational several weeks after delivery because of crew training, the newspaper said.

Gazprom going Stateside?

Russia's OAO Gazprom may try to buy a US company as a way into the North American market, the Financial Times reported, citing Vitaly Vasiliev, who heads UK-based Gazprom Marketing & Trading.

In an interview with the newspaper, Vasiliev said the state-controlled gas company has three options: starting from scratch in North America, establishing a partnership there or making an acquisition.

London listing

Reliance Communications Ltd, India's second-largest mobile-phone operator, is planning a secondary listing in London when its proposed merger with South Africa's MTN Group Ltd is completed, the London-based Times reported.

Reliance is in talks with MTN about forming a telecommunications company valued at about $70 billion, with 116 million subscribers, the newspaper said.

Damages sought

Discover Financial Services is seeking $6 billion in damages from Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc in an antitrust lawsuit accusing the bigger credit-card rivals of squashing competition.

The damages, which may be tripled, were included in confidential filings unsealed today in federal court in the Southern District of New York. Visa said the amount was "dramatically overstated" and MasterCard called the suit "baseless".

Sale talks

German media group Bertelsmann is in talks with Japanese partner Sony on the sale of Bertelsmann's half in their jointly owned music company Sony BMG, a newspaper said yesterday.

Each has owned half of the music publishing firm since 2004, and Sony has an option to buy should Bertelsmann decide to sell its stake, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper said, without identifying its source.

Club Med slims down

French leisure group Club Med said it had sold its tour operating unit Jet Tours and most of its gyms, two moves allowing it to re-focus on vacation villages, its core business.

The sale of Jet Tours to Thomas Cook and its Club Med Gym network to the investment fund 21 Centrale Partners will earn it 100 million euros, Club Med said.

Orders rise

Japan said yesterday core machinery orders rose for the first time in three months, easing worries about the outlook for corporate investment in new equipment and factories.

Orders climbed at a faster-than-expected pace of 5.5 percent in April from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said. Business investment has been a key pillar of the recovery in Asia's largest economy from a slump stretching back more than a decade.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/11/2008 page16)