 IN BRIEF (Page 16)
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 07:45 India bans corn exports India, the world's sixth-biggest corn supplier, banned exports of the grain to boost domestic supplies and curb inflation that accelerated to a 13-year high. The ban, effective yesterday, will be in force until Oct 15, the directorate general of trade said on its website today. Record raw-material prices have stoked inflation globally, prompting governments to take measures to safeguard supplies of food staples. Services contract UK services from banks to airlines contracted last month by the most since October 2001 and banks expect to curb lending further in the third quarter, adding to evidence that the United Kingdom is edging closer to a recession. An index based on replies from about 700 service companies fell to 47.1 in June from 49.8 a month earlier, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply said yesterday. Overseas expansion Ballarpur Industries Ltd, India's biggest papermaker, plans to invest about $1 billion buying overseas rivals and expanding plants at home to quadruple capacity in five years, its finance chief said. The papermaker and its units, part of billionaire Gautam Thapar's Avantha Group, will double capacity to 1 million tons next year and increase to 2 million tons by 2013, said B. Hariharan, group director of finance. Homebuilder's cuts Barratt Developments Plc, the United Kingdom's worst-performing homebuilder this year, plans to cut about 1,000 jobs as it closes and merges divisions. Barratt will close two divisions and a further eight will be merged into four, company spokesman Dan Bridgett said yesterday. The reduction may affect 1,000 jobs, a person familiar with the plan said. Getting smaller? General Motors Corp, the automaker that popularized the Hummer, may sell a mini-car 1.2 meters shorter than its biggest offering and more than a foot shorter than anything else it markets in the United States to win back buyers scared off by high fuel prices. GM may bring the production version of the Chevrolet Beat to the US, sources said. The car, which would normally be reserved for Asia and Latin America, gets as much as 40 miles a gallon, a fuel efficiency topped in the US only by hybrids. Bank's loss IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, the German bank being sold after a bailout of US subprime investments, said its group annual loss after tax for the year ended March 31 was 24 million euros. The difference in the preliminary figures from the management board's expectation at the end of April of a 200 million euro loss is explained by significantly lower deferred taxes than initially expected, IKB said in a statement on DGAP newswire yesterday. Pub profit up Greene King Plc, the UK pub owner that brews Old Speckled Hen ale, said annual profit rose 14 percent, helped by the takeover of the Loch Fyne restaurant chain. Net income climbed to 124.3 million pounds, or 89.7 pence a share, in the year ended May 4, from 108.6 million pounds, or 70.8 pence, in the prior period, the Bury St. Edmunds, England-based company said yesterday. SAS slides SAS Group, owner of the Nordic region's biggest airline, dropped to the lowest in more than five years in Stockholm trading after Goldman, Sachs & Co. cut its share-price projection and higher oil prices added to fuel costs. SAS fell as much as 1.7 kronor, or 5.5 percent, to 29.2 kronor, the lowest price since March 2003. The shares were down 4.2 percent as of 10:20 am, valuing the Stockholm-based owner of Scandinavian Airlines at 4.87 billion kronor ($818 million). Agencies (China Daily 07/04/2008 page16) |
