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World Business Quick Take

■ Engineering
Siemens fills Chinese plant
German engineering conglomerate Siemens plans to relocate up to 600 jobs at its fixed telecom networks factory in southern Germany to China, a company spokeswoman said on Friday. "Negotiations are underway" with employee representatives at group's factory in Bruchsal in south west Germany, the spokes-woman said, adding that "up to 600 jobs" from a total 1,400 at the factory would be affected. The plant makes digital subscriber line (DSL) modems which "could be built where cost conditions are more favorable," the spokeswoman said. "We're considering a relocation to China." Siemens already said in mid-December that it hoped to benefit from the eastwards expansion of the EU to relocate up to 10,000 jobs to countries where labour costs were lower.

■ Telecoms
Ericsson is optimistic
Swedish telecommunica-tions equipment giant Ericsson said yesterday that the worst is over for the global mobile market, which could even see a modest resumption of growth this year. Presenting last year's results, Ericsson reported a return to profit in the fourth quarter, after ten quarters of deficits at the net level, but remained in loss for the full year. "We believe that the market has stabilized and our view is that the global mobile systems market in 2004, measured in US dollars, will be in line with, or show slight growth, compared to 2003," chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said. During its painful period of readjust-ment since 2000, Ericsson's workforce halved from over 100,000 to 51,600 by the end of last year, and further bloodletting is to take its payroll to 47,000 this year.

■ Transportation
Maglev has few passengers
Low use of the Shanghai high-speed magnetic-levitation transport system is leaving the Transrapid practically empty as it shuttles between the airport and an underground stop at the outskirts of the city. "We are not lucky with ticket sales," Fang Haiqing, vice director of the Chinese operating company, said yesterday. There are only 500 to 600 tickets sold each day for the world's first commercial maglev line. Trains depart every 10 minutes and can hold 450 riders. With a top speed of 430kph, the Shanghai trains whisk passengers 30km to the airport in just eight minutes. However, they only run half a day during the week and all day on the weekends. Fang doesn't think the ticket prices, 75 yuan (US$9), are too high, saying that the more money people earn, the more riders the Transrapid system will have.

■ Food
McDonald's gets new head
The Japanese unit of US hamburger chain McDonald's has tapped the head of Apple Computer in Japan as its new chief executive pending shareholder approval. The appointment of Eiko Harada, Apple Japan president since 1997, still needs approval at a company shareholders' meeting next month, Shoji Mizutani, spokesman for McDonald's Holdings Co, said yesterday. Harada is stepping down this month as president of Apple Japan to be replaced on an interim basis by Timothy Cook from Apple Computer in the US, Apple Japan spokesman Takashi Takebayashi said. The Japanese unit, 50 percent owned by McDonald's of the US, has closed unprofitable stores, cut jobs through costly retirement packages and begun a new TV advertising blitz. But menu additions such as the tofu burger have not wooed people back to the Golden Arches.

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