IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Important market

Nestle SA, the world's largest food company, plans to continue investing in Africa because it views the market as "strategically important", Le Temps said, citing Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke.

Bulcke made the comment after spending a week touring Nestle's units on the continent, where the company has 26 factories and 22 sales offices that employ 11,500 people, according to the newspaper.

Savings envisaged

Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest company by market value, will start selling natural gas this year at the equivalent of a fifth of global prices, easing the nation's import bill at a time of record crude oil costs.

Reliance will sell gas at $25.20 a barrel of oil equivalent, compared with more than $135 in global markets, Chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders in Mumbai yesterday.

Retailer fined

Woolworths Group Plc, the discount retailer with 820 UK stores, was fined 350,000 pounds for taking too long to say changes to a contract with Tesco Plc would reduce earnings by 8 million pounds.

Investors were only told four weeks after Woolworths had become aware of the new terms, the UK Financial Services Authority said yesterday in a statement. The information should have been revealed promptly because it might have affected the London-based company's shares, the regulator said.

Possible targets

Swiss family-owned watchmakers may become takeover targets as Swatch Group AG, the world's biggest watchmaker, and Cie Financiere Richemont SA seek to add to their collections of brands, a Bank Vontobel analyst said.

Ulysse Nardin, Corum and Roger Dubuis are among the closely held companies that investors speculate might interest larger rivals, Rene Weber, the analyst, wrote.

Surprising move

Aker Yards ASA, Europe's biggest shipbuilder, said it was "surprised" to learn that the French government is seeking a stake in its French unit.

Oslo-based Aker commented yesterday in a statement distributed by Hugin newswire.

Oil down

Crude oil fell as the rising US dollar reduced the appeal of commodities as a hedge against the currency.

Crude oil for July delivery declined as much as $3.78, or 2.8 percent, to $132.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $133.32 a barrel at 1:42 pm London time.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/13/2008 page17)