World Business Quick Take

■ Mobile phones
Nokia shares `undervalued'
Nokia Oyj's American Depositary shares are worth almost twice their current price because of the amount of cash the world's largest maker of mobile telephone generates, an analyst told Barron's. Albert Lin, a San Francisco-based analyst with American Technology Research, says the Finland-based phone maker's American shares are worth US$30, based on his analysis of the cash the company generates relative to its capital spending needs and shares outstanding and debt. Nokia shares have slipped 2 percent this year as the NASDAQ rose 34 percent. The stock trades for 19 times the company's expected earnings per share next year, a low level for the company. Nokia ADR's rose US$0.19 to US$15.26 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

■ Real estate
HK's land prices climbing
Hong Kong's property prices are starting to climb after years of sliding, Agence France Presse reported, citing Asia's wealthiest businessman Li Ka-shing. Li said the property market was seeing signs of a "gradual" rebound, though he complained about low profit margins stemming from the high cost of land and development, the report said. The businessman declined to comment on whether he would support further intervention by the Hong Kong government to revive the local property market, the report said. Hong Kong home prices have fallen about two-thirds in the last six years, forcing developers to write down the value of properties and sell some housing units at a loss.

■ Airlines
Virgin Blue halves NZ fares
Richard Branson's Virgin Blue Airlines Pty could cut fares for travel within New Zealand to as little as half those available from its rivals, the Sunday Star Times reported, citing the British entrepreneur. Virgin Blue plans to offer flights within New Zealand by the middle of next year, the newspaper said. The airline announced this month it will start services between Australia and New Zealand in February. Branson said Virgin Blue's operating costs are about 40 percent less than Air New Zealand Ltd and Qantas Airways Ltd -- the only airlines operating jetliners on New Zealand domestic routes, the newspaper reported. Virgin Blue is targeting a 30 percent share of the domestic air travel market, about the same share it won off Qantas on routes within Australia, Branson said according to the newspaper.

■ Media
BSkyB hires headhunters
British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, the UK pay-television company chaired by Rupert Murdoch, hired headhunters to find a successor to chief executive officer Tony Ball, the Sunday Telegraph reported without citing its sources. British newspapers including the Financial Times have said that Murdoch wants his 30-year-old son James to replace Ball. Executive recruitment firm Spencer Stuart will search for other candidates, the paper said. BSkyB will also consider Martin Stewart, the company's chief financial officer, and Richard Freudenstein, its chief operating officer, for the position, the paper said. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns 35 percent of BSkyB, which has a market value of ?11.9 billion (US$19.7 billion). James Murdoch joined Star, News Corp's Asian satellite business, as chairman and CEO in May 2000.