Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Overall trading at the Dhaka Stock Exchange continued to remain flat on Monday with investors cautiously waiting to see the results of a good number of companies, especially the banking, expected in March.
   However, strong corporate declaration swelled price of United Leasing Company Ltd, which posted a 48 per cent or Tk806 gain on heavy buying.
   The weaker-than-expected declaration pulled down the price of the Prime Bank Ltd by 5 per cent to Tk847.
   The leasing company stock saw no price ceiling on the day due to its announced 100 per cent stock and 60 per cent cash dividend for the year 2004 and closed at Tk2500 per share against the face value of Tk100. The price rose as high as Tk3000 at midday trading.
   Prime Bank announced 40 per cent stock dividend, while Square Textile’s declaration of 30 per cent cash and 10 per cent stock dividend came after the closing bell Sunday.
   Both the stocks will see no price cap, which is usually relaxed after any corporate announcement, on Tuesday.
   Investors expected better declaration from Prime Bank when it had announced a couple of months back that it would raise paid up capital to Tk400 crore, market observers said. Speculative buying had then pushed up the price of the banking company’s stock to around Tk900-1000 from the level of Tk700, they added.
   ‘Perhaps investors were instantly shocked by the declaration,’ said a leading broker at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
   However, market analysts believe that the declaration was not appalling if one looks at the costing of the shares.
   Kaiser Islam, managing director, LRK Securities Ltd, said that share supply of United Leasing Company is low in the market compared to the demand that surged after the new corporate announcement.
   He anticipated some price correction of the share as the stock might also see a selling pressure after the day’s massive gain.
   The leasing company posted a net profit of over Tk15 crore in 2004 with earning per share (profit divided by the number of shares) approximated to Tk220.
   The Prime Bank is yet to disclose its profit and earning per share.
   On Monday the DSE general index slipped marginally for the third straight session by 0.6 point to 1835.6 points with losers outnumbering gainers 87 to 64.
   The DSE top 20 shares also drifted downward to 14.3 points to 2021.9 points.
   However, the turnover at the DSE rose significantly to Tk39 crore with not much fluctuation in prices.
   ‘Many of the stocks have already reached their peaks. So there is no big rush for bidding on a stock unless the result is revealed,’ said another stockbroker, explaining the reasons for flat trading over the last few days.
   ‘Market would get the momentum in March once more declarations will come,’ he said expecting good corporate declaration as many of the companies, which ended year on December 31, posted healthy profits.
   Meanwhile, speculation is rife around the brokerage houses about the corporate declaration of various companies, capital market sources said.
   It was heard that Prime Bank would declare cash dividend much before the formal announcement came, they added.
   Also speculative buying pushed up the price of Dhaka Bank, which jumped from a level of Tk800 and was hovering around Tk1000 for few days. The bank is expected to come up with positive results soon.
   Also there is a growing expectation that NCC Bank is likely to come up with good declaration as the bank called an extra general meeting possibly to seek a rise in paid up capital, market sources said.

Export earnings from the handicraft sector slid to Tk 11.94 crore during the first six months of the current fiscal compared to that of the previous fiscal, maintaining a steady decline in last few years.
   The country fetched Tk 18 crore from this sector in the previous fiscal while the earning was Tk 43.26 crore in the 2000-2001 fiscal, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.
   Speakers at a seminar on Crafts Sector in Bangladesh: Promises and Challenges attributed the gradual decline in export earning from the sector to lack of policy support, credit and marketing facilities and unskilled techniques.
   A good number of entrepreneurs and exporters were present at the seminar. The Ecota Fair Trade Forum, a Bangladesh representative of the Worldwide Fair Trade Movement, organised the programme at the National Press Club.
   The director general of the Export Promotion Bureau, Mostafa Mohiuddin, attended the seminar as the chief guest. The president of the Ecota Fair Trade Forum, Abdul Awal, moderated it while the coordinator of the BATU-SARC Sub Regional Secretariat, Dr Syed Tarique-uz-Zaman, presented a paper at the session.
   They said India earns Tk 11,000 crore annually by exporting handicrafts, Nepal Tk 125 crore and Sri Lanka Tk 7, 700 crore.
   The paper presented at the seminar said manufacturing of handicrafts still remains a unreliable source of livelihood for poor people because of lack of support from the government, private sector and voluntary agencies.
   Tarique-uz-Zaman in his paper pointed out some major problems the sector now faces, which include, inadequacy of raw materials and working capital, absence of any effort in improving quality and designs of handicrafts, lack of marketing facilities and policy support.
   He also said that majority of the artisans engaged in the sector live below the poverty line.
   Describing the efforts put in by some non-government organisations and funding agencies for improving the living standard of such artisans inadequate, he said unless their living condition is improved, promotional activities for this sector will not yield optimum results.
   It recommended that specific focus should be there on all relevant policies like industrial, tax and export with emphasis on promotion of the sector, which could be one of the key strategies to poverty alleviation through employment generation.

India’s communist-backed coalition government unveiled a budget on Monday aimed at combating poverty in Asia’s fourth-largest economy alongside initiatives to extend the tax net as part of fiscal reforms.
   But, in a programme that proposed ploughing funds into India’s rural infrastructure, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram warned that the government would have to slow its efforts to rein in the bloated fiscal deficit.
   ‘India is not a poor country. Yet a significant number of our people are poor,’ he told parliament.
   ‘The whole purpose of democratic government is to eliminate poverty and to give to every citizen the opportunity to be educated, to learn a skill and to be gainfully employed.’
   About 260 million Indians live below the poverty line and around two-thirds of India’s population of more than a billion are dependent on agriculture.
   The Congress-led coalition was voted into power unexpectedly last May after promising to improve their lot.
   Chidambaram effectively suspended attempts to drive down the government’s fiscal deficit, which he said would hit 4.5 per cent of gross domestic
   product (GDP) in the year to March 2005, a tenth of a point higher than targeted in last July’s budget.
   A fiscal discipline law passed last year stipulates the deficit must fall by 0.3 per centage point of GDP each year but Chidambaram said the 2005/06 target was 4.3 per cent.
   ‘I was left with no option but to press the pause button vis a vis the (fiscal responsibility) act,’ he said, expressing confidence that the effort could be resumed from 2006/07.
   ‘I may add that we are perilously close to the limits of fiscal prudence and there is no more room for spending beyond our means.’
   Analysts said the measures showed the government was struggling to keep its finances in order at the same time as trying to keep its communist allies happy by raising spending.
   ‘This budget shows the finance minister is trying to do a difficult balancing act,’ said Chandra Prakash Bhambri, dean of the school of social sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
   ‘He is trying to postpone the inevitable political warfare in the ruling coalition. But where is the money for all this new spending?’
   Chidambaram, releasing the government’s second budget since it came to power last May, said the central theme was job creation and he allocated 250 billion rupees for social programmes in 2005/06.
   Funding to build up the country’s rural infrastructure was also high on the agenda and he proposed using a portion of India’s foreign exchange reserves, currently about $133 billion, to develop roads, ports, airports and tourism.
   ‘The importance of infrastructure for rapid economic development cannot be overstated,’ he said.
   In a move to liberalise the state-controlled bank sector, the finance minister proposed a bill to amend existing
   bank law and said he would look at more foreign direct investment in mining and pensions.
   Tax rates are to be restructured, with top rates on personal tax reduced, and the service tax is to be extended. The service sector accounts for 50 per cent of GDP but only about 5 per cent of tax revenue.
   The corporate tax rate for domestic firms was cut to an effective rate of 33 per cent including a surcharge from 35 per cent, which helped push up share prices in Bombay.
   Chidambaram also proposed assistance for key industries including sugar, tea and textiles.

The communist-backed coalition government on Monday unveiled a budget aimed at spending billions of dollars to fight poverty in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
   But in a programme which proposed ploughing funds into building up rural infrastructure, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram also warned the government had come to a temporary halt in efforts to rein in its bloated fiscal deficit.
   Here are highlights of the budget for 2005/06 (April-March):
   o GDP growth of 7-8 percent
   o Focus on infrastructure and rural sectors
   o Inflation at 4-5 per cent
   o Deficit 4.3 per cent of GDP, from 4.5 per cent in 2004/05.
   o Defence spending raised 8 per cent to $19 billion.
   o No target for sales of stakes in government firms, compared with 40.91 billion rupees ($940 million) in the previous year.
   o Record foreign exchange reserves can be used to fund domestic infrastructure projects. A proposal to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been mooted to fund them. The borrowing limit of the SPV is set at 100 billion Indian rupee ($2.3 billion) for the financial year to March 31, 2006.
   o No increase in foreign direct investment limits, but promises to look into it for pension funds, retail and mining.
   o Revenue deficit at 2.7pc of GDP, unchanged from the previous year.
   o Nominal GDP growth assumed at 12 per cent

About 150 million Chinese were glued to their TV screens as 100 artists representing the cream of the nation's pop scene performed at an anti-piracy concert in Beijing, state media said Sunday. Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwan celebrities including Fang Bingbing, Hacken Lee and William So took to the stage of the Capital Stadium urging their audience to buy the real thing rather than pirated CDs, the Beijing Times said.
   'A copyrighted CD for 200 yuan (24 dollars), pirated one for 10 yuan, which will you buy?' an unnamed performer asked from the CD-shaped platform asked, according to Xinhua news agency. 'The pirated one,' the crowd gathered at the stadium roared back.
   The concert was just one in a series anti-piracy events that took place in Beijing Saturday to raise public awareness of the issue, Xinhua reported.
   Earlier in the day, three truckloads of confiscated books, tapes, DVDs, CDs, and computer discs were dumped on a red carpet and publicly smashed to pieces.
   Copyright officials and representatives from the entertainment industry were invited to help destroy the pirated products.
   'If Beijing fails to solve piracy soon, we will not deserve to host the Olympics in 2008,' Feng Xiaogang, a director, said according to Xinhua.
   Last year copyright administrations across China confiscated about 85.1 million pirated products, 25 per cent more than that in 2003.
   In response, the judicial authorities lowered the legal threshold criminalizing intellectual property rights (IPR)
   violators.

Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman told the Jatiya Sangsad today that Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank disbursed Tk2,640.87 crore as agricultural loan during 2003-04 fiscal.
   Replying to a question from Helaluzzaman Talukdar Lalu (Bogra- 7), he said the two banks realised Tk1,930.61 crore loan during this period.
   The minister said as per existing rule agricultural loan is being provided to a farmer without any collateral for cultivating up to 2.5 acres of land.
   He said the amount of defaulted loan was Tk18,726.43 crore as on December 31.
   The governmnt has taken several steps to realise default loans through Artha Rin Adalat, Committee on Defaulted loans and task force cell.
   The minister said the amount of outstanding dues of the four nationalised commercial banks to the state owned enterprises was Tk10,651.29 crore.
   He said the target of realsing income tax in the current fiscal was fixed at Tk32,190 crore and 47.37 per cent of the target has been achieved till January 2005.

IDLC of Bangladesh Ltd. has formed a strategic alliance with SBI Capital Markets Limited, one of the leading banks in India, says a press release.
   To this effect, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two organisations at a city hotel on Sunday.
   Under the agreement, SBI Capital Markets will provide cooperation and support to IDLC, to improve deliver services like corporate advisory and structured finance, infrastructure advisory, mergers, take-overs and acquisitions, syndications and project appraisals..
   The chief executive officer and managing director of IDLC, Anis A Khan and the chief executive officer and managing director of SBI Capital Markets Ltd, Indrajit Gupta, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides.
   RR Dash, minister (economic and commercial), Indian High Commission, AG Kalmankar, deputy managing director and group executive (associates and subsidiaries), State Bank of India and Anwarul Huq, chairman, board of directors of IDLC were also present at the signing ceremony.
   In his welcome speech, Anwarul Huq said that the opportunity of working with one of the leading investment banks in the region, will allow IDLC to deliver more value added services to the financial markets in Bangladesh.
   Anis A. Khan, reaffirmed IDLC's strong commitment to the development of diversified financial products and services to meet the need of their customers.
   Speaking on the occasion, AG Kalmankar, emphasized on cooperation between the leading financial sector players in the two neighboring countries.

GrameenPhone Ltd. distributed awards to the winners of its sales incentive programme ‘Going Beyond’ on Monday, says a press release.
   The managing director of GrameenPhone, Erik Aas, handed over round-trip air tickets for a four-day tour of Malaysia with accommodation facilities to the 18 winners at a function.
   Mehboob Chowdhury, director, sales and marketing, Mahboob Hossain, general manager and head of distribution, Ghalib Ahmed Ansari, head of marketing, among others, were also present.
   Speaking on the occasion, the managing director praised the sales efforts of the channel partners to help GrameenPhone achieve its sales targets.
   GrameenPhone launched the incentive programme to give recognition to its channel partners for their selling efforts.

A training workshop on ‘CNG conversion and trouble shooting’ organised by Rahimafrooz CNG was held in Dhaka on Sunday, says a press release.
   Engr. Miggiliolaro Gianpietro, managing director of Lo.gas s.r.l Italy, along with a technical team from Rahimafrooz CNG conducted the training workshop.
   Technicians from over 15 CNG workshops participated in the training programme held on the premises of Rahimafrooz CNG conversion centre.
   Under the supervision of Miggiliolaro, the technicians converted different cars to CNG.

A training course on ‘proper letter of credit (L/C) procedures for import and export operation’ organised by the DCCI Business Institute (DBI) was held in Dhaka on Saturday, says a press release.
   The acting executive director of DBI, Md Hossain Ali inaugurated the training programme.
   In his speech, Hossain underscored the need for acquiring proper knowledge about the function of letter of credit as it relates to export and import operations.
   He added that letter of credit or LIC is a very important document in export-import business. A little flaws in the document on the part of a company concerned may lead to great loss of business, he said.
   SM Shamsul Alam, senior executive vice-president of Bank Asia Limited and Md Shamsuddin Azad, assistant secretary (programmer) were present on the occasion.
   The joint secretary (project and planning) of DBI, Hasanur Rahman Chowdhury, welcomed the participants and moderated the inaugural ceremony.
   Thirty-three participants from different business organisations attended the training course.

The 396th board meeting of Bangladesh Krishi Bank was held in Dhaka on Sunday, says a press release.
   The chairman, board of directors of the bank, Ahbab Ahmad, presided over the meeting held at the bank’s board room.
   Board directors, managing director, deputy managing directors, general managers, secretary of board secretary and deputy general managers of the bank attended the board meeting.

Indian textile makers welcomed a slew of positive proposals in the federal budget on Monday, but shares were mixed after the finance minister failed to address labour law reform, industry experts and analysts said.
   Palaniappan Chidambaram proposed to halve customs duty for textile machinery to 10 per cent and cut excise duty on polyester filament to 16 per cent from 24 per cent. He also proposed a 10 per cent capital subsidy.
   Other proposals included augmenting a technology upgradation fund and a cut in import duty on textile products to 15 per cent.
   ‘The government has acknowledged that the textile industry is in a major growth phase and these measures are an important step to attracting greater investment,’ said Pradeep Bhandari, deputy group president of suit and apparel maker Raymond Ltd.
   Shares in Raymond were down 2 per cent at 335 rupees after climbing as much as 3.8 per cent to a new 52-week high of 355 rupees earlier.
   Shares in the biggest denim fabric maker, Arvind Mills Ltd., rose as much as 3.4 per cent to 132.95 rupees and home linen maker Welspun India Ltd. rose as much as 3 per cent to 135.80 rupees.
   ‘This is an exemplary budget ... the 10 per cent capital subsidy will give an impetus, and the reduction in duty on textile machinery and on polyester yarn are also big positives,’
   said Dilip Jiwrajka, managing director of Alok Industries Ltd.
   Shares in Alok were down more than 1 per cent at 67.75 rupees after rising as much as 5 per cent to 72 rupees earlier.
   But the industry was disappointed by a failure to address labour law reform, seen as particularly vital after the lifting of textile quotas on Jan. 1, 2005.
   ‘We were expecting some changes in the labour law to make the industry more competitive in comparison with China and other low-cost centres, but that did not come,’ said Bhandari.
   China is expected to grab half of all US clothing imports, and experts estimate India’s share of the $400 billion world textiles market should quickly double to 6 per cent.
   ‘There are a lot of positives for the industry, but there is big disappointment on the lack of progress on labour law reform,’ said Chirag Shah, an analyst at SKKI Securities.
   ‘That’s what’s keeping investors wary of textile stocks.’

Malaysia moved on Monday to ease the burden of fuel subsidies on state finances, announcing a six per cent jump in the regulated price of diesel.
   Fuel subsidies, which ensure Malaysians enjoy some of the lowest fuel prices in the region, are burning a hole in the government’s pocket, costing taxpayers over $1 billion last year.
   Caught between high oil prices and a pledge to cut a chronic budget deficit, the government had little choice on Monday but to take the politically unpopular decision to scale back subsidies.
   Diesel fuel, used heavily by road transport operators, farmers and fishermen, is set to rise by six per cent from March 1, Domestic Trade Minister Shafie Apdal told reporters.
   Diesel subsidies account for about 3.3 billion ringgit ($868.6 million) of the total 4.8 billion ringgit in fuel subsidies handed out last year, economic planning minister Mustapa Mohamed said in a separate news conference.
   The government has allocated 3 billion ringgit in total fuel subsidies this year, Mustapa said, adding that they would be scaled back gradually and would not be eliminated.
   ‘We are not going to eliminate subsidies completely but are reducing them gradually or on a staggered basis,’ he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
   The government stopped short of raising petrol prices but declined to rule out such a rise this year, with crude oil prices hitting fresh four-month highs above $52 a barrel on Monday.
   ‘I cannot give you assurances that it will not rise,’ Shafie said. ‘We are monitoring.’
   In October last year, Malaysia raised petrol pump prices for the second time in five months, though at 1.42 ringgit per litre, premium petrol prices were still among the region’s lowest.
   Malaysia is a net exporter of crude but the cost of keeping down the retail price of petrol, diesel and liquefied natural gas threatens to jeopardise the government’s deficit-reduction plan at a time when economic growth is also slowing.
   The government aims to cut the budget deficit this year to 3.8 per cent of gross domestic product from 4.5 per cent in 2004.

Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said Monday that he does not expect the Japanese economy to fall into a serious downturn after contracting for most of 2004.
   ‘In light of recent softer economic indicators, such as (gross domestic product) data and the coincident index, we cannot rule out the possibility of the economy falling into recession,’ the central bank chief said in a speech.
   ‘However, overall, I see a low risk of the economy falling into a serious recession,’ Fukui said.
   Although the government does not officially call 2004’s economic performance a ‘recession’, Fukui said he could not deny that the economy was in a technical recession.
   His comments followed news earlier Monday that January industrial output
   rose 2.1 per cent, well above economist forecasts for a gain of 0.8 per cent after a fall of 0.8 per cent in December.
   The trade ministry also said commercial sales in Japan, or total sales at the wholesale and retail levels, rose 3.1 per cent year-on-year in January, the eighth consecutive monthly increase.
   Last week, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said the economy should pick up later this year on firmer
   exports and recovering consumption.
   Official data showed that Japan’s GDP has contracted mildly since April, slipping into a technical recession as slower exports and consumption hit total output.
   The three quarters’ downturn is the worst since the economy contracted for four consecutive quarters from April-June 2001 to January-March 2002, when it was hit by the bursting of the information technology bubble.
   Economists have said the world’s second-largest economy should be back on track later this year in line with an expected global economic recovery.
   They also said consumption should rebound after a slump in the October-December quarter, when temporary factors such as natural disasters and a warm winter depressed spending.

French farmers have been joining co-operatives for generations, but the custom remains relatively rare in the UK.
   While farmers across France have long teamed up with their neighbours to pool both resources and output, British farming has traditionally been a much more individualistic affair.
   Yet with UK farmers continuing to feel the financial pinch, more and more farmers are beginning to realise that joining a co-operative could give them strength in numbers and better bargaining power with buyers.
   Here Russell Lawson, from the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, takes a look at how farming co-operatives can work.
   Adam Sharping, Norfolk, UK
   With a great many farms struggling and having to diversify, I wonder whether the practice of forming co-operatives might be the way forward.
   It is very popular in France and elsewhere on the continent, but you hardly hear about them over here.
   If I was to go into partnership with like-minded neighbouring farmers, how exactly would or could it work? How would we share profits and come to agreements?
   Russell Lawson, Federation of Small Businesses Wales
   From the perspective of farmers, working collectively can make co-operatives more attractive than contracting with non co-operative firms.
   Small farmers especially can achieve diversification and capture value-added profits by working together interdependently via a co-operative.
   When farmers have common goals and characteristics, as well as a shared entrepreneurial spirit, they can collectively achieve those goals more easily than if they worked alone.
   Ask Russell Lawson a question
   But with diverse membership comes a number of challenges - co-operatives must continue to adapt and offer a variety of services.
   They should also ensure they have sufficient and current membership information, creating a database, for example, containing various membership characteristics.
   As agriculture changes, so too will the composition of agricultural co-operatives’ membership.
   Being cost efficient simply gets you into the food industry game, it doesn’t mean that you will win. To be truly competitive in the future food industry, co-operatives will have to strive for additional achievements.
   For example, they will need to do a much better job at knowing and meeting continually-changing customer demands.
   Customer relationships, with food industry segments and consumers, need to be strengthened through better and more tailored services.
   Food manufacturers have to be easy, low-cost and reliable business partners. Retailers don’t care if manufacturers are co-operatives; they do care about customer relevance.
   Uniquely meeting customer needs will be required in the emerging food system.
   Continued innovation and aggressive behaviour will be keys to success.
   Co-operatives need to be ready to provide products when, where and how customers want them.
   They should continue to pursue new distribution options and new product development, proactively adapting to industry changes.
   Co-ops need to compete in part on the basis of speed of response to industry and consumer trends and must also become more aggressive in capturing new markets or they will be too late.
   If you still want to take this forward, then the best thing to do is contact the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ Farm Business Advice Service which offers all farm businesses free advice whether they’re looking for ideas for additional income or simply need advice on how to take the business forward.

People in their 60s are happiest at work, while those in their 30s enjoy it least, according to a survey.
   Some 93 per cent of 60 to 69-year-olds said they felt happy most work days, and four out of 10 were happy to work until 70 - more than in any other age group.
   One in four school leavers said they had faced age discrimination, compared with 21 per cent of those over 50 and 18 per cent of people over 60, the poll also found. Employers Forum on Age (EFA) questioned 1,600 people aged between 16 and 69.
   EFA said its findings challenged ‘traditional age stereotypes’, revealing ‘unexpected new truths about every age group at work’.
   Some 74 per cent of over-50s said they liked to keep up with new technology - only 5 per cent less than among teenagers.
   Workers between the age of 20 and 49 were most likely to say they lacked interesting challenges.
   And thirtysomethings were least happy with their work-life balance, with 17 per cent happy to work until 70 - the lowest per centage of any age group.
   EFA director Sam Mercer said: ‘This is a wake-up call for employers. We need to break the stereotype habit and be much more aware of peoples’ needs at different stages of their working lives.
   ‘Employers must recognise that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to management based on stereotypes is flawed.
   ‘It would make much more sense to find ways to retain and motivate workers, and offer flexibility, training and development, irrespective of age.’
   The survey also found women’s promotion prospects suffered from their 20s, with 24 per cent in that age group reaching management positions compared with 37 per cent of men.

The Financial Times cut its losses to just £9m last year, as the pink paper returned to profit in the final three months of the year.
   Over the past four years the paper has slashed its costs by a third, or £110m, and was buoyed last year by an improved advertising market.
   The FT’s owner, Pearson, said it was expecting the paper to be around the break-even point in 2005 provided advertising continued to grow at the same rate.
   Sales at the paper last year increased by 3 per cent to £208m, with advertising up 2 per cent and circulation revenues also better than a year earlier, in spite of a 3 per cent fall in average circulation figures to 435,000.
   Pearson said the paper’s advertising performance had been mixed across categories - while recruitment and luxury goods were up by more than 20 per cent, business to business and technology showed ‘few signs of recovery’.
   Growth in Europe and Asia was offset by a ‘very weak’ corporate advertising market in the US, the company said.
   The FT’s losses were down by nearly three quarters from £32m in 2003 to £9m last year - some £3m better than previous guidance given by the company.

UK firms have been hit with a bill of £39bn to implement ‘major regulations’ introduced since 1998, the British Chambers of Commerce says.
   Its Business Barometer, complied by London and Manchester Business Schools, says 46 new pieces of legislation have been introduced in six years.
   ‘British businesses are fed up with the spiralling costs of regulation,’ said BCC director general David Frost.
   He said the annual cost to UK business was now over £15m a year.
   ‘Held back’
   Frost warned that business ‘must be free to compete in the global economy’.
   ‘They simply cannot afford to be held back by the mounting cost of complying with regulation,’ he said.
   ‘As well as the cost, firms tell us all the time that they are spending too long dealing with paperwork and trying to get their heads around each and every regulation.’
   He said small firms believed abiding by regulations was taking large chunks out of their working day.

HSBC Holdings, the world’s second-largest bank, posted 2004 profit towards the low end of forecasts, but was upbeat on prospects for its US business as it rejected big deals there and in South Korea.
   Pretax profit for the year ended Dec. 31 rose 37 per cent to $17.61 billion, HSBC said on Monday, compared with a consensus figure of $17.83 billion in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts with a range of $17.20 billion to $18.92 billion.
   ‘Conditions in the US this year look favourable to (HSBC’s) kind of model,’ Finance Director Douglas Flint told reporters on a conference call.
   With those conditions and American banks highly priced, it would take ‘a pretty extraordinary opportunity to make one want to do something’ in the United States, he said.
   Unsecured lending, which has been sluggish amid rising house prices, should pick up for HSBC in the United States by the end of the first half, he added.
   Flint also ruled out a big buy in South Korea, where HSBC lost out to rival Standard Chartered in an auction for Korea First Bank last month.
   ‘I don’t think we will make an acquisition in Korea,’ he said.
   The 2004 figures benefited from acquisitions, including a full year from its Household US consumer finance unit, and about 10 months from Bank of Bermuda, purchased a year ago.
   Some analysts had expected the acquisitive global bank to make further takeovers to boost profit after growth stagnated at Household in the third quarter. HSBC tied itself to the US consumer when it bought Household, its biggest acquisition, for $14.8 billion in March 2003.
   ‘I’m quite happy with them saying they will continue to focus on their existing businesses in the United States,’ said Gerrard banking analyst Andy Penman. ‘In South Korea ... it has become very competitive.’
   Revenue rose 23 per cent to $50.59 billion, at the same rate as operating costs, which increased to $25.88 billion. Bad debts rose to $6.36 billion from $6.09 billion a year earlier.
   ‘We are not talking about a major outperformance on income or costs which was what people usually want to see,’ said James Leal, an analyst with brokers Teather & Greenwood, who has a ‘hold’ recommendation on the stock.

Share prices closed 2.19 per cent higher Monday at a record as investors cheered government budget measures aimed at boosting spending
   on infrastructure and cutting corporate taxes, brokers said.
   The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex rose 144.14 points to 6,713.86, a record closing high, topping the previous peak of 6,679.33 set on February 14.
   Total volume on the Bombay Stock Exchange was 29.40 billion rupees (674 million dollars).
   Share prices had rallied in the afternoon as many foreign investors who had kept funds out of the market ahead of the budget, invested again once the measures had been announced, Vijay Tilakraj, manager at Cholamandalam Securities, said.
   ‘On a scale of 10, I would give this budget a seven as
   it is a growth boosting
   policy that addresses the key issues of infrastructure, health care, taxes and education,’ he said.
   Tilakraj said the index was now seen further rising in the near term to around the 6,850 level.
   Analysts said the budget for the financial year starting April 1 focused on developing infrastructure and agriculture-key areas that would trigger consumer demand in Asia's fourth largest economy.
   ‘There has been no tinkering around with capital gains (tax), it provides a stable tax regime, it correctly emphasises the importance of the financial system,’ Uday Kotak, vice-chairman of Kotak Mahindra Finance, said.
   Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that ‘nearly all engines of the economy were running at full speed’ with growth forecast at 6.9 per cent for the current financial year.
   Because of patchy monsoon rains, growth was slower than the previous year's 8.5 per cent, but better-than-expected at the start of the current financial year.
   Dealers said Monday's gains had shown investor faith in the Congress-led coalition govern-ment, originally perceived as anti-business when it came to power in May 2003.
   ‘This government has proved that despite the presence of Marxists it will continue to take the right decisions as far as the economy is concerned,’ Prakash Lala, managing director at Centaur Capital, said.
   Transport and software companies gained after the budget on hopes for higher foreign investment.
   The country's largest scooter and motorcycle maker Hero Honda rose 23.75 rupees to 544.25 rupees.
   Shares of software giant Infosys gained 57.20 rupees to 2,237.15, while Wipro
   rose 24.70 rupees to
   699.15.
   Banking shares also rose ahead of new policy guidelines allowing greater freedom for financial transactions by the Reserve Bank of India. Government-owned State Bank of India, the country's largest bank, gained 29.45 rupees to 714.40
   The rupee climbed on Monday as foreign funds poured into a rallying stock market after the budget cut corporate taxes, but gains were crimped by a central bank keen to keep exports competitive. The unit closed at 43.6750/6850 per dollar, 0.13 per cent stronger than Friday's close of 43.7250/7400, but off a session peak of 43.61.
   ‘If not for the central bank we could have even seen the rupee go all the way towards 43.50 Monday,’ a trader at a state-run bank said. ‘They (state-run banks) really clamped down and kept buying (dollars) for most of the session.’

NBR achieves 47pc of revenue target
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) achieved 47 per cent of its target in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Parliament was told Monday. Replying to Muhammad Giasuddin (BNP-Narayanganj), Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman said that Tk 32,190 crore was the target of NBR controlled taxes for the current fiscal.
— UNB

RCCI biennial election held in Rajshahi
The combined panel bagged all the 12 executive posts in the biennial election (2005-07) of the Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCC) held in Rajshahi on Sunday. Incumbent president of the RCCI Lutfor Rahman led the winning panel. RCCI sources said, the elected directors are Lutfor Rahman, Khandaker Mainul Islam, Imrul Kayesh, Abu Taha, Abul Hossain, Safiul Alam, Abdus Salam, Khandakar Mijanur Rahman, SM Ayub, Shahidullah and Toufiqur Rahman. The new directors will elect the president and two vice-presidents today.
— BSS

Reverse repo auction held
The reverse repo auction of the Bangladesh Bank for commercial banks and financial institutions was held in Dhaka Monday. Two bids of 1-day tenor amounting to Tk 230.00 crore was received and accepted. The rate of interest against the accepted bid was 2.80 percent per annum, said a BB press release.
— UNB

DSE closes lower
Trading at Dhaka Stock Exchange closed lower on Monday with the losers dominating the gainers. The DSE General Price Index decreased by 0.5312 points or 0.02893 per cent to close at 1835.6210 points. A total of 170 issues traded on Monday. Of them, 64 gained, 87 declined and 19 remained unchanged.
— New Age

CSE closes lower
Trading at the Chittagong Stock Exchange closed lower Monday with the losers dominating the gainers. The CSE All Share Price Index declined by 20.51 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 3345.29 points from 3365.80 points on Sunday. The CSE-30 Index also decreased by 17.43 points or 0.54 per cent to close at 3192.53 points from Sunday’s 3209.96 points. Of the 77 issues traded Monday, 27 gained, 44 declined and six remained unchanged. Some 1,376,755 shares and debentures worth Tk 8.07 crore changed hands against 1,520,170 shares and debentures valued Tk 6.30 crore on the previous trading day. The market capitalisation stood at Tk 202.39 billion as against Tk 203.45 billion on Sunday.
— UNB

Sri Lanka posts record trade deficit
Sri Lanka’s trade deficit rose to a record 2.22 billion dollars in 2004, driven by higher costs for imported oil, the central bank said Monday. Exports increased 12 per cent 5.75 billion dollars in 2004 while imports jumped 20 per cent to 7.97 billion dollars, including 372 million dollars more in oil imports, the central bank said. The previous record deficit was set in 2000 at 1.79 billion dollars. ‘This deficit has been financed largely with remittances, net earnings in services and inflows in the financial and capital accounts,’ the central bank said. Last year, Sri Lanka said it was facing a foreign exchange crisis and slapped higher taxes on cars and other imported luxury goods as the rupee weakened by nearly 9.0 per cent against the dollar to a low of 105 rupees in 2004. However, following the tsunami disaster on December 26 and the subsequent inflow of foreign aid, the local currency recovered ground against the dollar. On Monday the rupee was quoted at 99.43 to the dollar.
— AFP

GM to build mid-size cars in Germany
General Motors, the world’s biggest car maker, has chosen its German unit Opel over Swedish subsidiary Saab to make its mid-size cars in future, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Monday. The decision will guarantee, at least until 2010, the future of Opel’s main German site in Ruesselsheim near Frankfurt, the newspaper said. Ruesselsheim was competing with Saab’s Trollhaettan plant to build GM’s new mid-size cars in Europe, including Opel’s Vectra model and Saab’s 9.3, aimed at competing with BMW’s 3-series and Mercedes’s C-Class. In addition, GM would base at the Ruesselsheim site all research and development activities for its compact car, the Opel Astra, the newspaper continued. But the future of Saab’s Trollhaettan plant was also secure in the medium term, since it would build the Cadillac BLS model until 2007, the report added.
— AFP

M&S cuts prices by average of 24pc
Marks & Spencer has cut prices in London and the regions by an average of 24%, according to research from a City investment bank. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said: ‘In spite of the snow in the UK, it still feels very early to be cutting prices of spring merchandise.’ Stuart Rose, head of M&S, said last year its prices were too high. ‘We are bringing in ranges at new price points to compete against mid-market retailers like Next,’ said M&S. Next is one of M&S’s biggest competitors and the move may force it to lower prices. DrKW said the cuts are either to clear stock or could indicate a longer term ‘step change in pricing in certain areas’ at M&S. ‘Either way, this cannot be good news for M&S’ margin,’ it added. ‘We have brought in quite a lot of new clothing at new price points as part of Stuart Rose’s strategy of quality, style -and price,’ said the M&S spokesman.
— BBC

Fiat posts 2004 net loss of 1.5 billion euros
The Italian industrial group Fiat posted Monday a 2004 net loss of 1.548 billion euros (2.0 billion dollars), an improvement on its loss a year earlier of 1.95 billion. The group said it had no plans to list shares in its Ferrari sports car unit. Fiat managed to turn an operating profit of 22 million euros, compared with a loss of 510 million in 2003, on a five-per cent rise in group sales to 46.7 billion euros, the group said in a statement. Its troubled car division, Fiat Auto, reduced its operating loss slightly, to 840 million euros last year from 979 million a year earlier. The group’s operating result was in line with analysts’ forecasts, which ranged from a loss of 40 million euros to a profit of 45 million. The net loss exceeded forecasts of 1.24-1.45 billion euros, however. Chief executive Sergio Marchionne told a press conference that Fiat had no immediate plans to list Ferrari shares on the stock market. ‘That is not among our projects for 2005 and I do not even know if it will happen. We are not working on it,’ said Marchionne, who took over at Fiat in early June.
— AFP