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World Business Quick Take

■ Semiconductors
Equipment orders rise
North American companies that sell equipment used to build semiconductors had a gain in orders last month from August, Semiconduc-tor Equipment and Mate-rials International said in a statement. The book-to-bill ratio for North American chip-tool makers was 0.95 last month, indicating that US$95 in orders were made for every US$100 in sales, the trade group said in a statement. The three-month average of worldwide book-ings last month was $760.5 million, up 3.9 percent from $731.8 million in August. Orders were 8.5 percent below the $832 million posted in September last year, the group said.

■ Robotics
Global sales rise 26%
Increased sales of industrial robots in North America and Europe have revived the global market for the machines, a UN report said. The annual World Robotics Survey, released yesterday, said a 26 percent rise in business orders coincides with an increase in the number of robots used around the home mow lawns and vacuum floors. The report said 80,000 robots were sold between January and June. Orders for new factory robots rose 35 percent in North America and 25 percent in Europe, compen-sating for a decline in Japan.

■ Manufacturing
3M profits jump 22%
Favorable currency factors helped 3M Corp show a 22 percent jump in third quar-ter earnings to US$663 million compared with a year ago, the company said on Monday. It posted a profit per share of US$0.83, better than the US$0.79 expected on Wall Street. Revenues increased 11.4 percent to US$4.616 billion. It boosted its outlook for the fourth quarter

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