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World Business Quick Take

■ Automobiles
Blaze delays Toyota line
An overnight fire at an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp has stopped production at a plant yesterday for about week, a company spokeswoman said. The fire, at Toyota Auto Body Co, which produces about 1,000 vehicles of five Toyota models a day, broke out in an area of the plant used to dry cars after they've been painted, company spokeswoman Hiroko Kojima said. About a week will be required before the production line can get back to normal, she said. Toyota, which owns 56 percent of the affiliate, is still checking on how the fire may affect production, Toyota spokesman Tomomi Imai said. The cause of the blaze, which was put out in about four hours, is still under investigation.

■ Economy
Growth forecast for US
US economic growth will remain on track through next year with minimal impact from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a survey of business economists showed yesterday. The survey by the National Association of Business Economists projected growth of 3.6 percent for all of 2005 and 3.3 percent for 2006 -- nearly unchanged from prior forecasts of growth of 3.5 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. Inflation is higher than earlier forecasts, but this is seen as a temporary phenomenon. The consumer price index is now expected to advance by 3.8 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, up from 3.5 percent projected in the September survey.

■ Hospitality
Hilton sells 15 hotels
Hilton Group Plc said yesterday it had sold 15 UK hotels for £382.4 million (US$657.9 million) in cash. The hotels, which have a net book value of £341.4 million, have been bought by the Managed Hotels Unit Trust, with funding arranged by Royal Bank of Scotland, Hilton said. Hilton said it expects to raise more than £400 million from selling more hotels, including the Hilton London Metropole and Hilton Birmingham Metropole. The company, which said it was in advanced talks to sell the Hilton hotel at Edinburgh Airport in Scotland to the same trust, said sale proceeds will initially be used to pay down debt. As part of the deal, the 15 hotels will continue to be branded as Hilton under long-term agreements with an initial term of 30 years.

■ Electronics
Sanyo downgraded by S&P
Standard and Poor's yesterday cut its long-term credit rating on Sanyo Electric Co to junk investment status, expressing concern about the future of the Japanese electronics maker which is sinking deeper into loss. They downgraded Sanyo's long-term corporate credit rating by two notches to BB from BBB-minus, meaning its bonds are considered to have speculative elements and do not carry good safeguards. The agency said many of the measures unveiled in Sanyo's restructuring plan released on Nov. 18 were still being negotiated and the plan failed to clear uncertainty over the prospects for an earnings recovery. The company might also incur additional restructuring costs. On Monday, Moody's, another leading ratings agency, downgraded Sanyo's long-term debt from Baa1 to Baa2, two notches away from junk status. Sanyo said on Friday it plunged to an interim first-half net loss of ?142.52 billion (US$1.2 billion).

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