SEC to simplify mutual fund rules
Sadat Sayem
The Securities and Exchange Commission is working on simplification of mutual fund flotation system to bring in more such funds in the market and engage related firms in the process in a bigger way.
‘We are going to issue more simplified rules soon to bring more mutual funds into the market,’ said Mansur Alam, executive director of SEC.
He said bringing in more mutual funds will widen the doors for investors to put money in stocks under institutional frame.
‘We are working out easy rules that will offer more incentives to trust funds, pension funds, asset management companies, custodian companies and sponsor groups and encourage those to be involved in the floatation of mutual funds,’ the SEC official said.
The commission earlier offered 10 per cent reserved quota for the mutual funds in IPO subscription to lure more funds into the capital market, he said.
Presently, a total of 14 mutual funds are listed with the stock exchanges. Of them, state-owned Investment Corporation of Bangladesh and its subsidiaries have floated 11 mutual funds while state-run BSRS and private sector companies Aims and Grameen have one such fund each.
A subsidiary of the ICB also floated the initial offers of ICB AMCL First NRB Mutual Fund this year for the non-resident Bangladeshis.
The capital market watchdog recently brought the ICB mutual funds under the SEC (Mutual Fund) Rules, 2001 to create a level playing field.
ICB floated nine mutual funds prior to the enactment of mutual fund regulations, sources said.
The regulatory body earlier this month asked the ICB to tune its activities to the existing mutual fund rules and gave it two years’ time to readjust the investment areas and volumes of its mutual funds with the provisions of the SEC rules.
Presently, the net asset value and annual reports of the funds are published under the ICB regulations.
The SEC accepted the ICB proposal of not appointing a trustee and a custodian for the funds as the funds were already subscribed and there is no scope for the sponsors for subscription.
ICB unit funds are also exempted from annual fees and other conditions.
ICB has three unit funds, named ICB Unit Fund, ICB AMCL Unit Fund and AMCL Pension Holders’ Unit Fund.
The 1st BSRS mutual fund would also put under the SEC rules, regulators said.
Saudi investor wants to invest $3 billion
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka
Saudi business tycoon Nagi Al Awad is scheduled to arrive here on March 1 with an investment proposal of $3 billion.
Nagi Al Awad, also chairman of Al Awad Group, is interested to take over Bangladesh Shilpa Rin sangstha, set up a 500 MW power plant and a 100 per cent export-oriented oxygen manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, said a press release here Tuesday.
His representative visited Dhaka in January and expressed the investment interest, the release added.
They have so far finalised two initial agreements with their local counterparts on the power and oxygen plants.
Al Awad would meet finance and commerce advisor Dr Mirza Azizul Islam on March 1 and officially submit the investment proposal on March 3.
They would sign joint venture MoUs with Industry Power Company Limited for the power plant and Bangladesh Welding Electrodes for the oxygen plant.
The Saudi business group has business interest in medical oxygen, medical equipment, banking, leather and hydrocarbon business in different countries of the world.
One in six Europeans living
below poverty threshold
Agence France-Presse . Brussels
One in six Europeans is living below national poverty thresholds, with children particularly vulnerable, according to the results of an official study released Monday.
The European Commission’s annual report on ‘social protection and social inclusion’ also found 10 per cent of people living in households without anybody working as well as wide discrepancies between life expectancies between EU member states.
‘Recent reforms to make national systems more fiscally and socially sustainable are encouraging, but there are still big challenges ahead,’ said EU social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla.
‘The facts are clear, 16 per cent of Europeans remain at risk of poverty and 10 per cent live in jobless households,’ he said of the data which will be formally presented to EU leaders at a summit in Brussels next month.
The study shows a 13-year gap between the highest and lowest life expectancies for men, and spending on health and long-term care in the EU ranging from five per cent of GDP to 11 per cent.
‘But through mutual learning and by stimulating countries to set common goals, Europe can bring a real added value to national efforts to reinforce social cohesion,’ said Spidla.
In 2004, 16 per cent of EU citizens lived under the poverty threshold defined as 60 per cent of their country’s median income, ‘a situation likely to hamper their capacity to fully participate in society.’
The rate ranged from 9-10 per cent in Sweden and the Czech Republic to 21 per cent in Lithuania and Poland.
The figures, most from 2004, do not include Romania and Bulgaria which joined the EU last month.
Children are often at greater risk-of-poverty than the rest of the population, with 19 per cent below the poverty threshold, according to the study results.
Thailand aims to sign FTA with Japan
Agence France-Presse . Bangkok
Thailand’s post-coup government said Tuesday that a long-delayed free trade pact with Japan, initially drawn up under deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, could be signed as soon as April.
The Thai cabinet has told the foreign ministry to inform Japan that Thailand is ready to sign the bilateral free-trade agreement, as long as a few remaining issues are hammered out.
Opponents of the so-called Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement claim the deal will make Thailand a dumping ground for Japanese toxic waste, while allowing the Japanese side to patent micro-organisms in Thailand.
‘If we can reach a complete agreement on such issues, the JTEPA could be signed by early April,’ said Pisal Manawapat, the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary and head negotiator for the Thai side.
The pact, which was recently endorsed by Thailand’s military-appointed parliament, is the only free trade agreement to move forward under the new government, which came to power following a coup in September which overthrew Thaksin.
Sri Lanka telecom sector soars on
new cell phone connections
Agence France-Presse . Colombo
Sri Lanka’s telecom sector soared in 2006 to 7.3 million users, led by a 59 per cent jump in new mobile phone connections on competition and falling call rates, the telecom watchdog said Tuesday.
Despite a waiting list of around 366,000 for fixed-line phone services, the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said mobile phones, including GSM and CDMA systems, had allowed rural residents to get phone services immediately.
Fixed-line subscribers rose to 1.9 million in 2006 from 1.2 million a year ago after the commission gave CDMA (code division multiple access) licences allowing three firms to use the cheaper technology and expand in rural areas.
The number of cellular phone users grew to 5.4 million in 2006 from 3.4 million a year earlier, as operators slashed tariffs by up to 40 per cent.
The clear majority of new users buy pre-paid cards, the commission said.
With India’s largest private phone company, Bharti Airtel, lined up to be the fifth mobile phone player, analysts expect further price cuts, especially outside the capital, to tap rural users in the nation of 19 million.
Bharti, which is due to start services by year-end, has promised to invest 100 million dollars within the first year of operation.
However, Sri Lanka’s mobile phone market may grow at a slower pace this year as galloping inflation puts the breaks on tariff cuts, industry analysts said Tuesday.
‘We are looking at just over seven million customers in 2007 and about 8.9 million in 2008, which is a tad slower than the annual 50 per cent growth we have been seeing over the years,’ equity brokerage Capital Alliance said.
Hindustan Lever’s net
profit up nearly 32pc
Agence France-Presse . Mumbai
Hindustan Lever, India’s largest consumer goods firm, said Tuesday full-year net profit rose nearly 32 per cent led by soap sales, but high costs for vegetable oil hit fourth quarter earnings.
For the year ended December 2006, the company, which is a unit of Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever, said net profit reached 18.55 billion rupees (412 million dollars) from 14.08 billion rupees a year ago.
In the same period, sales rose 9.6 per cent to 124.57 billion rupees from 113.65 billion rupees.
‘We saw broad-based growth in home and personal care products,’ company chairman Harish Manwani said.
But the company said fourth quarter earnings fell from a year ago on higher prices for vegetable oil, used in baked goods and other packaged foods.
Dhaka stock prices, turnover up
Staff Correspondent
Dhaka stocks gained on Tuesday for the second day due to investors’ buying spree.
The blue chips index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSE20, gained 14.40 points or 0.98 per cent to close at 1480.18 on Tuesday, while the general index advanced by 2.61 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 1822.21.
Turnover on the DSE also increased to Tk 101.07 crore from the Monday’s total of Tk 82.99 crore.
Market sources said the retail investors shrugged off the fear triggered from the Sunday’s steep fall.
Gainers outnumbered the losers on Tuesday. A total of 209 issues were traded on the DSE. Of them, 125 issues advanced, 71 declined and 13 remained unchanged.
Businessman gets jailed in $2b fraud case
Agence France-Presse . Seoul
A South Korean businessman was jailed for 12 years Tuesday for running a fraudulent marketing company which lost investors almost two billion dollars.
The Seoul District Court found Ju Soo-Do, 51, guilty of luring about 1.8 trillion won (1.91 billion dollars) in investment funds with a fraudulent promise of high returns.
Ju, the head of South Korea’s largest pyramid-style marketing company JU Group, was also convicted of embezzling 28.4 billion won from company coffers.
Two accomplices received five and six years in prison.
Prosecutors had accused the three of bribing politicians and government officials to avoid an investigation into irregular sales operations and stock manipulation.
Kim Jung-Hoe, vice chief of the country’s influential financial watchdog, was arrested in January on charges of taking bribes from JU Group.
Judge Choi Kyu-Hong said Ju deserved a heavy sentence as he has yet to show remorse for deceiving about 110,000 marketers through a ‘carefully planned and systematic’ fraud.
‘A heavy sentence was inevitable because JU Group’s fraudulent marketing method had a very harmful influence on society,’ he said.
Opposition parties have urged prosecutors to expand their probe, alleging the group granted high returns to government officials and their family members who registered as its network marketers.
Prosecutors said they would appeal for a tougher sentence and a victims’ group also protested.
‘It is quite natural that he was found guilty but he received a far shorter jail term than expected, judging from the nature of his crime,’ Yang Jong-hwan, head of the group, told reporters.
Founded in 1999, the JU Group posted about two trillion won in sales in 2004 to become the nation’s main multilevel marketing company.
Nash for same target rate for
inflation by all currencies
Press Trust of India . Mumbai
Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Monday said inflation targetting would work if major currencies of the world collectively adopt the same target rate.
He cited the example of Italy and Greece, who have accepted the use of the newly established ‘Euro’, renouncing the use of their individual units Lira and Drachma for stable value.
‘In the near future, there may be a smaller number of major currencies used in the world and these may stand in competitive relations among themselves,’ Nash said here.
‘There is now the Euro and the inflationary tradition of of the Italian Lira seems to be past history now,’ he said at a lecture on ‘Ideal Money and Asymptotically Ideal Money’.
It was organised under the Nobel Laureate Series jointly organised by India’s External Affairs ministry and CII.
There could be a similar international currency for the Islamic world or for South Asia or South America, the mathematician honoured for his principles of game theory said.
Game theory is a branch of mathematics that examines rivalries among competitors with mixed interests and in this case, the currencies in competition for a stable value.
JetBlue to move toward rebuilding
its tarnished reputation
Associated Press . New York
After a drastic reboot of its flight schedule, JetBlue Airways made its first moves toward rebuilding its tarnished reputation, saying it would introduce a customer bill of rights and new procedures for handling operations disruptions.
The low-fare airline said it would detail the customer bill of rights programme, along with tools and resources for crew members and improved procedures on Tuesday, nearly a week after a weather-induced travel meltdown hobbled the carrier.
JetBlue canceled almost a quarter of its flights on Monday but said it planned to restore full operations on Tuesday.
The onslaught of angry and disgruntled travelers at JetBlue's terminal at John F Kennedy International Airport, its New York hub, appeared to ease on Monday as service desks functioned more smoothly and customer calm prevailed despite the cancellations of 139 of 600 scheduled flights at 11 other airports.
Last week's snow and bitterly cold temperatures froze equipment and grounded the company's planes at Kennedy, stranding passengers inside them for over 10 hours. JetBlue, which prides itself on low fares and great customer service, said it waited too long to call for help in getting the passengers off the planes because it hoped the weather would let up and the flights would be able to proceed.
The bad-weather delays and cancellations led to customer questions and complaints that overwhelmed the company's reservations system, and many of its pilots and flight crews wound up stuck in places other than where they were needed.
Monday's cancellations gave the airline the time to get equipment to the proper places and helped make sure all flight crews had legally mandated amounts of rest before flying again, JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White said.
Planes were being repositioned on Monday to be ready to go on Tuesday morning, he said.
UK health service overpays
for branded drugs
Agence France-Presse . London
Britain’s state-run health service is paying hundreds of millions of pounds too much for branded medicines, using up funds that could be spent on other needs, the competition watchdog said on Monday.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) called for replacing the current pricing scheme, where pharmaceutical firms are free to set their own prices within very broad profit margins, with one focused on the benefit to patients.
The OFT said such a change would give the state-run National Health Service (NHS) about 500 million pounds more to provide patients with medicines and other treatments which they may currently be denied.
It said some drugs currently prescribed in large volumes—such as those for cholesterol, blood pressure and stomach acid—were up to 10 times more expensive than substitutes which were just as effective.
The competition watchdog made its proposals after studying the effectiveness of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), which caps the profits drugs firms make from sales of drugs to the health service.
The purchase of branded prescription medicines costs the NHS about seven billion pounds annually.
‘This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the PPRS and identifies a number of areas where the scheme could be improved,’ said John Fingleton, the OFT’s chief executive.
‘Focusing prices on the needs of patients rather than on the costs of drug companies would be good for both patients and for business.
‘It would allow more patients better access to more effective treatments and it would focus drug company innovation and investment on the areas where patients need it the most, creating more valuable drugs in the future,’ he said.
The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Health now have 120 days to consider and respond to the OFT’s findings and recommendations.
BoJ to decide whether to raise rates
Associated Press . Tokyo
The state of Japan’s economic recovery and the lingering danger of falling prices are among the factors that the central bank is studying at its two-day policy meeting starting Tuesday.
Recent economic reports have sent mixed signals, and the market is divided over whether the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates from the current 0.25 per cent. Last week, the government said Japan’s economy grew at a stronger-than-expected annual pace of 4.8 per cent in the fourth quarter — the fastest pace in nearly three years.
But some economists said the jump in gross domestic product merely reflected a rebound in consumer spending from the previous quarter’s drop, and wasn’t enough to persuade the central bank to tighten credit.
And the Cabinet Office left its monthly appraisal of the economy unchanged in its February report, released Monday, warning about weak consumption.
The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.25 per cent from zero last July. It had kept rates at virtually zero since March 2001 to encourage the nation’s recovery after a decade of stagnation. While the world’s second-largest economy has been gaining strength over the last few years, authorities want to make sure that deflation — the downward spiraling of prices that plagued Japan during its slowdown — has been vanquished.
Consumer prices have been inching up in recent months, but top government officials still say deflation remains a threat and have urged the bank to hold off from raising rates so as not to quash the economic recovery.
Last month, the bank kept rates unchanged following warnings from government officials. However, Bank of Japan Gov Toshihiko Fukui defended the bank’s independence at that time, saying only economic factors figured in the board’s decision to keep rates steady.
Nissan Diesel accepts Volvo buyout
Agence France-Presse . Tokyo
Japanese truck maker Nissan Diesel on Tuesday accepted a billion-dollar buyout from largest shareholder Volvo, bracing for growing competition in heavy vehicles as global environmental rules tighten.
Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s second largest automaker, has already cut its capital ties with the truckmaker bearing its name to focus on more profitable, lighter vehicles.
Sweden’s Volvo AB, the world’s number two truckmaker which has reported healthy profits, said it eyed the Japanese company as it saw Asia as a key source for future growth.
‘Nissan Diesel holds a solid position in Japan and the rest of Asia where the Volvo Group foresees substantial growth potential,’ Volvo Chief Executive Officer Leif Johansson said in a statement.
The deal ‘offers both parties even greater possibilities to learn and benefit from each other’s know-how and resources,’ he said.
Volvo now owns a 19 per cent stake in Nissan Diesel Motor Co. Ltd. and an additional 27.5 per cent in preference shares.
Nissan Diesel, which has nearly a quarter of the Japanese truck market, said its board of directors accepted Volvo’s offer to buy the remaining shares for 7.5 billion Swedish kronor (one billion dollars).
‘We concluded that this will enable the company to provide greater satisfaction and growth opportunity to the stakeholders,’ a Nissan Diesel statement said.
It cited in particular the need to invest in development amid stricter environmental regulations around the world.
‘We consider that a united management scheme with Volvo Group will be more efficient’ to help the company ‘survive and keep growing in the face of business competition addressing tighter global environmental regulations.’
Volvo had proposed a 22-day tender offer starting on Wednesday with an offered price of 540 yen (4.52 dollars) per Nissan Diesel share until the company becomes a 100 per cent subsidiary.
Nissan Diesel said the offer was a ‘reasonable price’ as it represented a 32 per cent premium on the company’s average price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange over the past three months.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange moved the company’s shares to its supervision post in the wake of the announcement. The bourse will delist the issue when Nissan Diesel comes entirely under control of Volvo.
Nissan Diesel shares ended the morning session at a bid-only limit of 523 yen, up from Monday’s close of 443 yen.
Nissan Motor Co. has cut its capital ties with Nissan Diesel to focus on its core businesses of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
But Volvo has concentrated on trucks and stopped making cars entirely in 1998. In 2001, the Swedish company took over Renault Trucks, the heavy division of French group Renault which owns 44.4 per cent of Nissan.
The same year Volvo also took over US-based Mack Trucks.
Hyundai Motor building plant in Brazil
gence France-Presse . Seoul
South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor said Tuesday it is building a car plant in Brazil, its first in Latin America.
The CAOA group, a distributor of Hyundai cars in Brazil, will foot the entire bill for the construction while the South Korean firm supplies it with auto parts, Hyundai spokesman Ki Jin-Ho said.
‘Hyundai Motor is not investing money but shipping our modules to be assembled into cars at the plant in Brazil,’ Ki said, adding he was unaware of the total amount the Brazilian partner is investing.
Maeil Business Newspaper said CAOA was investing 250 million dollars in building the plant at Anapolis south of the capital Brasilia.
The plant, expected to open during the first half of this year, will produce 50,000 vehicles a year by 2009, Hyundai officials said. Production will start with small trucks and utility vehicles.
Hyundai Motor, together with its sister firm Kia Motors, accounts for 70 per cent of South Korea’s car market and is the world’s sixth largest automaker.
It has actively expanded its world business presence with factories in the United States, Europe, China, India and Turkey, partly to offset the effect of the strong won which makes Korean exports more expensive.
Sweden begins probe into Czech
BAE-Saab bribery deal
Agence France-Presse . London
Swedish government prosecutors are conducting an inquiry into bribery allegations to do with Saab’s involvement with British defence manufacturer BAE Systems’ dealings in the Czech Republic, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
BAE Systems holds a 20 per cent stake in Saab, the business daily reported. Citing Sweden’s chief prosecutor, the FT said that the country was investigating Saab’s involvement in the Czech deal, and was soon planning to make a decision on whether or not to launch a full inquiry.
The deal being investigated is a 2001 agreement worth 60 billion Czech koruny (2.13 billion euros, 2.8 billion dollars) which was later cancelled, involving the sale of 24 Gripen combat aircraft to the Czech military. Saab and BAE teamed up on a 50-50 joint venture for the deal, a joint venture now fully owned by Saab. According to the FT, the two companies still work together to market the aircraft.
‘The main issue here concerns BAE Systems, but seeing as Saab is connected to BAE, the problem is if bribes have been paid, whether Saab took any part in it,’ Swedish chief prosecutor Christer van der Kwast told the business daily.
Van der Kwast added that the Swedish investigation was ‘not being done independently,’ but would not say which partners were involved. Czech police have also said that they would begin investigating bribery allegations into BAE after a request by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which is investigating BAE’s dealings in the Czech Republic and five other countries—Romania, Chile, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania.
Mobile phones to fuel Internet growth
Agence France-Presse . Bangalore, India
Google vice president and chief Internet evangelist Vinton G Cerf predicted Tuesday that mobile phones, not personal computers, will fuel growth of the worldwide web as countries like India snap up millions of handsets monthly.
From 50 million in 1997, the number of people who have logged onto the Internet has exploded to nearly 1.1 billion, Cerf, who is considered one of the founding fathers of the Internet, said.
Yet, the Internet only reaches a sixth of the world’s population, Cerf told reporters during a visit to this southern city, known as India’s Silicon Valley, where Google has a research and development facility. ‘You will get those other 5.5 billion people only when affordability increases and the cost of communication goes down,’ said Cerf, 63, who joined Google in 2005. ‘The mobile phone has become an important factor in the Internet revolution.’
The silver-bearded scientist, dressed in a three-piece suit for a presentation on the Internet, is hearing-impared and had to read the lips of reporters who asked him questions.
Worldwide there are 2.5 billion mobile-phone users, whose numbers are growing rapidly in developing countries led by China and India, the world’s most populous countries, Cerf said in his presentation.
India, a country of 1.1 billion people, alone is adding seven million mobile-phone users a month, a powerful enough lure for British telecom giant Vodafone to pay 11.1 billion dollars for a controlling stake in local mobile firm Hutch-Essar this month.
Handset manufacturers and mobile-phone companies are offering an array of Internet-enabled features and services including payment and navigation systems while dropping charges under the pressure of growing competition that will bring many of the new subscribers to the Internet, Cerf said.
‘There are an enormous number of applications available on mobiles,’ said Cerf, who’s responsible for identifying new technologies and applications on the Internet for Google.
Google has rapidly expanded its research and service offices in the country at the cities of Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai besides Bangalore, but Cerf said he has been visiting India since the early 1990s to understand its tech scene.
The company wants to tap the talent of Indian engineers to innovate technologies and widen its range of services, said Cerf.
India is estimated to have 40 million people online, a meagre 3.5 per cent of its vast population, he said, adding Google will focus on local languages, culture, content and delivery of new business models to widen the reach of the Internet. Cerf was the co-designer with Robert Kahn of the basic architecture of the Internet.
In 2005, they both received the highest civilian honour bestowed in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which recognized that their work on the software code used to transmit data across the Internet has put them ‘at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication and entertainment.’
The Internet has brought access to the world’s information to users, introduced new business models, education services, ushered in a new advertising medium and enabled consumers to become producers, Cerf said.
It also has brought spam mail, computer viruses and worms, misinformation, fraud and social abuse, he conceded in his presentation.
‘This is a mirror to the population that uses it,’ the scientist said.
Cadbury 2006 profit sweetened by
sale beverage business
Agence France-Presse . London
British confectionery and soft drinks giant Cadbury Schweppes said on Tuesday that net profit jumped 50 per cent in 2006 to 1.165 billion pounds (3.372 billion dollars) following the sale of its Europe Beverages business.
Last year, Cadbury Schweppes finalized the sale of its European drinks business, including the brands Schweppes, Orangina and Oasis, to investment funds Blackstone Group International and Lion Capital for 1.3 billion pounds.
Cadbury gained also in 2006 from the sale of its drinks businesses in Syria and South Africa.
But a salmonella food scare to its confectionery business cost the group 30 million pounds after it was forced to recall more than a million chocolate bars.
Cadbury Schweppes meanwhile said that its pre-tax profit rose 7.6 per cent to 931 million pounds in 2006 compared with a year earlier.
This was below analysts’ forecasts of between 955 million and 988 million pounds.
Cadbury Schweppes chief executive Todd Stitzer said in the earnings release:
‘We start 2007 with optimism and are continuing to invest behind growth, with a strong innovation pipeline including the launch of Trident, our global gum brand, into the UK.’
Mittal picks 49pc stake in
Bhatinda refinery
Press Trust of India . New Delhi
India-born billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal will invest Rs 3,200 crore for a 49 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd’s (HPCL) under-construction Rs 16,200 crore refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab.
‘A partnership agreement for Bhatinda has been reached.
Mittal Investment Sarl and HPCL will hold 49 per cent stake each in the refinery project while the remaining two per cent will be offered to financial institutions,’ Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told PTI here.
State-run oil explorer Oil India Ltd (OIL) may join the project at a later date and may get 10-15 per cent equity stake, leaving HPCL with 36-41 per cent stake.
Deora said HPCL board Monday cleared Mittal joining the nine million tonnes per annum refinery, which is likely to be commissioned by 2010-end and the two companies will shortly sign a joint venture agreement.
Virgin Blue profits jump 80 per cent
Agence France-Presse . Sydney
Australia’s second-largest airline Virgin Blue said Tuesday its first half to December net profit jumped 80.9 per cent to 124.3 million dollars (97.8 million US dollars) due to more passengers and better yield.
Virgin also announced it was negotiating for seven Boeing 777-300ER aircraft at a total list price of 2.6 billion US dollars and options for a further six aircraft for use by its planned international long-haul airline.
The strong result was well ahead of analysts’ expectations of a net profit of about 100 million dollars for the first six months.
Virgin, now 62.3 per cent owned by Australia’s Toll Holdings Ltd, forecast further growth as it expands its domestic services and starts long-haul international services in the second half of 2008.
Oil prices slide under 58 dollars in London
Agence France-Presse . London
World oil prices fell on Tuesday, shedding more than a dollar in New York owing to expectations of warmer temperatures in the United States which should reduce demand for heating fuel, traders said.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for April delivery fell 38 cents to 57.76 dollars per barrel in electronic trading.
New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, dived 1.24 dollars to 58.13 dollars per barrel.
Oil prices fell ‘with investors concerned about lower end-of-winter oil demand in the US,’ Sucden analyst Michael Davies said.
‘Temperatures in March are expected to remain warmer than normally in the US,’ he added.
US price losses were meanwhile greater than in London as US traders played catch-up with their British counterparts. Pit trading had been closed in New York on Monday owing to a US public holiday.
Traders in New York were taking profits also ahead of the expiry of the March contract later Tuesday.
Prices had begun falling on Monday, despite fresh unrest in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer of crude.
Croatia’s foreign ministry said that two Croatians and a Montenegrin worker had been kidnapped in Nigeria.
They were the latest of dozens of foreigners kidnapped in the region over recent months. Ljubicic confirmed that the men were employed by HydroDive, an offshore engineering company that is a subcontractor for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Nigeria.
World oil prices had closed with a gain of more than a dollar on Friday after the US consulate in Nigeria had warned that one militant group there was planning to expand its attacks.
Nigeria is also the world’s sixth-biggest exporter of crude oil.
Oil prices also fell on Monday because Iran’s oil minister had said on Saturday that OPEC would not need to cut its production of crude further at the cartel’s next meeting in March.
His remarks were broadly in line with comments made last week by Ali al-Nuaimi, oil minister of OPEC’s number one producer Saudi Arabia.
European stocks drop amid
disappointing earnings news
Agence France-Presse . London
Europe’s main stock markets fell on Tuesday, as some leading companies posted annual earnings to a poor reception from investors.
The FTSE 100 index of leading shares fell 0.10 per cent to 6,437.70 points in late morning deals.
Amid takeover speculation in the mining and food sectors, it had ended at 6,444.40 points on Monday, the highest closing level since November 8, 2000.
Meanwhile in early afternoon Frankfurt trading on Tuesday, the DAX 30 index lost 0.13 per cent to 6,978.33 points. In Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.21 per cent to 5,727.74 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares declined 0.25 per cent to 4,255.58 points. The euro stood at 1.3144 dollars.
Markets were awaiting the reopening of Wall Street, which had been closed on Monday owing to a public holiday in the United States. Its blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average had closed at a record high on Friday.
Japanese share prices ended mixed on Tuesday amid jitters ahead of a Bank of Japan decision on interest rates but the broader TOPIX index briefly hit a 15-year high, dealers said.
In London, Scottish and Newcastle led the fallers after the brewer gave a cautious outlook alongside a rise in annual net profit, dealers said.
British confectionery and soft drinks giant Cadbury Schweppes meanwhile lost 1.47 per cent to 560 pence after its 2006 pre-tax profit came in below consensus estimates.
Cadbury said that its pre-tax profit rose 7.6 per cent to 931 million pounds in 2006 compared with a year earlier.
STOCK WATCH
Dividend
Sinobangla
The board of directors has recommended cash dividend @ 5per cent for the year 2005-2006. The annual general meeting of the company will be held at July 19 at the Factory Premises, Boro Baluakandi, Gazaria, Munshigonj. Book closure: June 28 to July 19.
NBL
The board of directors has recommended stock dividend @ 50 per cent for the year 2006. Annual general meeting of the company will be held on April 10 at the BDR Darbar Hall, Dhaka. Record Date: March 19.
Dhaka Bank
The board of directors has recommended cash dividend @ 10 per cent and bonus share @ 20per cent for the year 2006. Annual general meeting of the bank will be held on March 28 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Complex, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. Record date: March 7.
Price limit
Sinobangla
There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company on Febtuary 22 following its corporate declaration.
NBL
There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the bank on February 22 following its corporate declaration.
Dhaka Bank
There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the bank on February 22 following its corporate declaration.
Trade
Salam Crystal
Normal trading of the shares of the company
will resume from February 22 as announced
earlier.
Response to DSE query
Zeal Bangla
In response to a DSE query, the company has informed that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for recent unusual price hike.
Source: DSE, CSE
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on
February 24
GMZ HRD & Consultants Ltd, a human resource development firm focusing on specialised need-based training programmes on different disciplines, arranges a free seminar for job seekers on ‘Techniques of Facing Interview’ at 5:00pm on February 24 on its office premises at House-20, Road-18, Block-A, Banani, Dhaka 1213. A press release on Tuesday said specialised training programmes provided by the firm are designed for professionals of different levels to train up and equip them with proper tools and techniques in order to enhance their skills and knowledge needed in different stages of their career.
— New Age
Giorgio Armani prepared to sell fashion empire
Giorgio Armani, the Italian fashion designer, said in a newspaper interview published here on Tuesday that he was prepared to sell his fashion empire. ‘I’m prepared to sell to the highest bidder,’ Armani told the business daily Handelsblatt at the opening of an Armani exhibition in Milan. French group L’Oreal, which already cooperates with Armani in perfumes and cosmetics, has frequently been mooted as a possible buyer. ‘L’Oreal could be a partner. But if somebody else offers more, they could also be a partner,’ said the 72-year-old designer, who has no children. Experts estimate that Armani is worth about five billion euros (6.6 billion dollars).
— AFP
Cost-cutting
doubles VW profits
Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest car maker, said on Tuesday that earnings rose sharply last year on the back of cost-cutting measures and the sale of its Europcar car rental subsidiary. VW said in a statement that net profit more than doubled to 2.75 billion euros (3.6 billion dollars) in 2006 from 1.12 billion euros a year earlier. Operating profit before exceptional items jumped by 51.7 percent to 4.38 billion euros on an 11.6-percent rise in revenues to 104.87 billion euros, the statement said. The figures were boosted in part by windfall gains from divestments, such as the sale of Europcar for nearly 800 million euros. Changes in German corporate taxes also had a positive impact of 951 million euros, the car maker explained. At the same time, the extensive restructuring measures and deep cost cuts also began to pay off. Shareholders would benefit from the sharp rise in profits, with the dividend payout to be increased to 1.25 euros per share from 1.15 euros a year earlier.
— AFP
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