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World Business Quick Take

■ Computers
Dell opens Singapore center
Dell Inc, the world's largest personal computer maker, will open a design center in Singapore tomorrow, according to an invitation to the event. Dell President and Chief Executive Kevin Rollins will open the center, Dell said in the e-mailed invitation. Dell, which last month opened a call center in India, is expanding its presence in Asia as orders slow in the US, where it gets two-thirds of its business. Dell has 14,700 employees in Asia Pacific and has manufacturing facilities in Penang, Malaysia and Xiamen, China, according to the company's Web site. Dell operates service centers in Kawasaki, Japan, and Xiamen and plans to open a third one, senior vice president William Amelio said in February.

■ Auto industry
BMW sales fall in China
German luxury carmaker BMW expects China will become one of its five biggest markets in the world in a decade, the company's chairman said as he shrugged off a drop in sales, state media reported yesterday. BMW's sales in China tumbled 11 percent year-on-year to 3,977 in the first quarter of this year, the newspaper said, citing figures from the company's Beijing office. Sales also slumped last year, with BMW selling 15,500 vehicles in China, down 16 percent from 2003. "We will perform better this year than last year in China," BMW chairman Helmut Panke in an interview with China Daily. He said BMW will introduce a newly-developed 3-Series sedan from its joint venture in northeast China in the second half of this year and extend its dealership network to boost sales. It will also increase the number of its authorized dealers in China to 60 at the end of this year from 40 at present, Panke said.

■ Electronics
Sharp reports record profit
Japanese electronics maker Sharp said yesterday it posted a record net profit in the year to last month on continued robust demand for liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and camera-equipped cellphones. Net profit rose 26.6 percent to ?76.85 billion (US$725 million) as operating profit climbed 24.1 percent to ?151.02 billion and sales jumped 12.5 percent to ?2.54 trillion, also record figures. The outcome was slightly ahead of the company's own forecast. For the current year to March 2006, Sharp forecast even better results -- a net profit of ?87 billion and operating profit at ?160 billion on revenue of ?2.75 trillion. The company sees rising crude oil and other raw material prices and slowing exports as a downside risk to profits. "We will work to further improve the competitiveness of LCD color TVs," Sharp said in a statement.

■ Casinos
Singapore invites proposals
Singapore announced it has invited 14 companies and consortiums to bid for the right to build and operate the city-state's two planned casinos. The Singapore Tourism Board said on Monday that its initial request for concepts for the proposed resorts with casinos in December last year had attracted 19 submissions from 16 companies. Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said the government will issue a formal request for proposals for casino resorts from 14 companies in this quarter, with a submission deadline slated for the third quarter. The government expects to make its decision before the year's end.

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