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World Business Quick Take

■ Steel
Severstal reveals LSE plans
Severstal, Russia's second-largest steel maker, said yesterday it would hold an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange by the end of the year. "Severstal announces today its intention to list Global Depositary Receipts [GDRs] representing its ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange," it said in a statement. "It is currently anticipated that the global offering will take place and that the GDRs will be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange by the end of the year."

■ Banking
Deutsche Bank eyes growth
Deutsche Bank AG said on Thursday it is targeting a big jump in earnings over the next two years with both organic growth and acquisitions. Germany's biggest bank said it was aiming to raise its pre-tax profit to 8.4 billion euros (US$10.7 billion) in 2008, It posted pre-tax profit of 6.1 billion euros last year. Chief executive Josef Ackermann said in a statement that several recent takeovers "prove our determination to expand our franchise." Ackermann said the group wants to expand units including private banking and asset management while becoming more competitive in corporate and investment banking.

■ Taxation
Euro tax plans on course
Plans for a pan-European tax system will go ahead, despite opposition from seven EU member states, the EU's tax commissioner said in an interview published in the Financial Times yesterday. Laszlo Kovacs said if seven member states continue to oppose the plans, thus far strongly backed by 10 states, and tentatively by the remaining eight, the common tax base could be used by a limited group of countries, much like the euro or Schengen agreement. Among the many obstacles facing the creation of a pan-European corporate tax system is how to distribute revenues between jurisdictions, along with issues raised by income earned outside the EU.

■ Computers
Hitachi to recall batteries
Japan's Hitachi Corp said yesterday that it plans to recall about 16,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp, a company spokesman said, the latest in a massive global recall of the batteries that can overheat and catch fire. The battery packs were installed in the company's Flora 210W and Flora Se210 laptop personal computers for the Japanese market, Hitachi spokesman Masahiro Takahashi said. Hitachi has not received any reports of problems with the batteries, the company said in a statement. It said it is undertaking the recall "for its customers' peace of mind." Almost every major laptop maker has told customers to return Sony-made lithium-ion batteries, which can overheat and catch fire.

■ Trade
PRC slams EU shoe tariffs
China criticized EU antidumping tariffs on Chinese shoes as unlawful and threatened possible retaliation. The tariffs violate WTO regulations and the EU's own antidumping laws, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Thursday. The Chinese government "reserves the right to take relevant measures," a ministry spokesman said in the statement. EU ministers agreed on Thursday to impose higher tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes for two years in order to prevent low-cost imports from flooding European markets. Shoes from China will be charged an extra 16.5 percent duty.

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