Print

Mail

wiki links

World Business Quick Take

■ Financial
Citigroup reports profit
Citigroup Inc, the world's biggest financial-services company by market value, reported a better-than-expected 3.6 percent increase in first-quarter profit, buoyed by record investment-banking revenue. Net income climbed to US$5.64 billion, or US$1.12 a share, from US$5.44 billion, or US$1.04, in the same period a year ago, New York-based Citigroup said in a Business Wire release. Revenue rose to US$22.2 billion. Citigroup's securities unit, the biggest of any bank, helped CEO Charles Prince report a seventh straight increase in quarterly profit as rising short-term interest rates crimped profit in other divisions.

■ Free trade
Thailand, Japan to ink pact
Thailand plans to sign a free trade pact with Japan in July after a postponement from this month due to Bangkok's political crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said yesterday. "Early July is the appropriate time when everything is ready and Thailand will have a new government by then," Somkid told reporters. The two countries reached a basic deal late last year after being held up by a Japanese insistence that only goods originating in Thailand would be covered. "After several rounds of talks, Japan eased some of the rules and that made Thai exporters happier," a Thai official said. About 500 Thai agricultural products are covered by the agreement. In 2004, exports of those products to Japan amounted to 42 billion baht (US$1.7 billion). Thailand's main concessions were lower tariffs on steel and automobiles, while Japan will lift all tariffs on Thai canned tuna, cooked chicken, shrimp and vegetables.

■ Aviation
BAA rejects takeover bid
BAA Plc, the world's largest airports operator, said it rejected a takeover bid from a consortium led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc as it didn't reflect the company's "true value." The "preliminary, highly conditional" bid was made on March 30, London-based BAA said in an e-mailed statement on Sunday. That was one week before the company rejected a hostile bid from Grupo Ferrovial SA, Spain's second-largest builder, that valued it at £8.75 billion (US$15.3 billion). BAA rejected Goldman's approach "because it clearly fails to reflect the true value of the company," the statement said. Goldman is seeking to increase its infrastructure investments and last month bid US$3.8 billion for Associated British Ports Holdings Plc, the largest UK operator of ports.

■ Investment
OECD urges more opening
China could attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) if it set up transparent merger and acquisition procedures and fully opened its capital markets, the OECD said yesterday. "There is a possibility of even more investment in China," Ken Davies, senior economist at the OECD, told reporters. "China attracts a lot of FDI, more than any other developing country, but less FDI per head than 29 out of the 30 OECD countries." Davis was speaking at yesterday's launch of the OECD's Investment Policy Review -- China, which recommends Beijing fully open its capital markets and set up merger and acquisition standards in accordance with international practice. Relaxing foreign ownership restrictions and increasing regulatory transparency would also help increase FDI inflows, he said. China last year attracted US$60.33 billion in realized FDI, down 0.5 percent year-on-year.

This story has been viewed 979 times.