 IN BRIEF (Page 16)
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-23 07:40 Gates ups stake Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp, boosted his holdings in AutoNation Inc, the largest publicly traded US car dealer, to 9.9 million shares through his investment fund and charitable trust. AutoNation jumped 86 percent in trading after the New York Stock Exchange closed. Cascade Investment LLC holds 5.26 million shares, or 2.9 percent, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has 4.64 million, or 2.6 percent, Gates said in a US regulatory filing. The 5.5 percent total makes him AutoNation's third-largest stockholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Hermes bags higher sales Hermes International SCA, the French maker of Birkin handbags, said second-quarter sales rose 12 percent after new stores opened and shoppers bought more silk scarves. Sales climbed to 398.1 million euros from 355 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said yesterday. Airline plan Intesa Sanpaolo SpA plans to present to the government its plan to break up Alitalia SpA in coming days, Il Messaggero reported, citing a draft of the project. Private-equity firm Clessidra SpA, the Ligresti, Toto, Gavio and Fossati families and other partners will invest 800 million euros in the project, the newspaper said. Fall likely Anheuser-Busch Cos, the brewer being bought by InBev NV for $52 billion, may say tomorrow that second-quarter profit fell because of rising costs for barley and packaging materials. Net income of the biggest US beermaker may have declined 2 percent to $664.3 million, according to the average estimate of eight analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Earnings per share probably rose after the St. Louis-based company bought back stock. Possible profit Philip Morris International Inc, the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company, may say second-quarter profit rose on increased cigarette sales in Mexico and Indonesia. In the first full quarter since the company was spun off by Altria Group Inc, net income may have climbed 16 percent to $1.72 billion, or 83 cents a share, according to the average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The New York-based company may say revenue excluding excise taxes climbed 13 percent to $6.57 billion. Earnings under pressure Enterprise Inns, Britain's second-biggest pubs group, said yesterday group EBITDA had come under pressure in the first 42 weeks of its financial year due to a continuing fall in beer sales. Enterprise, which has about 7,700 pubs, behind Punch Taverns on around 8,500, said it has had to give more help to licensees who are having to cope with difficult trading conditions. Norsk drops Norsk Hydro ASA, Europe's second-largest aluminum producer, said second-quarter profit dropped 87 percent as energy costs gained and the price of the metal fell. Net income dropped to 786 million kroner ($155 million), from 5.95 billion kroner a year earlier, Oslo-based Norsk Hydro said yesterday. The year-earlier figure includes a 3.48 billion-kroner contribution from the oil and gas unit sold to Statoil ASA in October. Tiremaker declines Michelin & Cie, the world's second-largest tiremaker, fell as much as 4.7 percent in Paris trading after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock, citing sluggish consumer demand and rising raw-material costs. Michelin dropped as much as 2.20 euros to 44.93 euros and was down 4.5 percent at 12:17 pm in Paris. Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "overweight". Agencies (China Daily 07/23/2008 page16) |
