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World Business Quick Take

■ Business
Profit margins fall
Top South Korean companies saw their profit margins fall in the past two years due to the won's strength, weakening competitiveness and rising raw material prices, official data showed yesterday. The combined operating margin of the top 30 listed companies dropped from 12 percent in 2004 to 9.4 percent in 2005 and 7.8 percent last year, said the Korea Exchange, which operates both the stock spot and futures markets plus the high-tech KOSDAQ board.

■ Internet
Web police on the hunt
South Korean police said yesterday they are hunting the Internet users who posted pornographic clips that became the most viewed videos on Yahoo Korea. The portal publicly apologized over the clips, posted for more than six hours from late on Sunday on its multimedia service "Yammi." "Our staff failed to notice the obscene video clips for hours until the clips became the two most viewed videos on the site," a spokeswoman for Yahoo Korea said. The cyber crime team at Seoul police said this kind of crime can be punished with up to one year's imprisonment or a 10 million won (US$10,600) fine.

■ Shipping
FedEx to offer new service
US logistics giant FedEx said yesterday it will offer next-business-day domestic express service in China in a bid to take advantage of the country's fast-growing economy. The new service, beginning on May 28, will offer next-day delivery services both within China and around the world. "Up to 90 percent of existing FedEx customers in China have expressed the need for a reliable domestic express service," said Eddy Chan, senior vice president of FedEx China. "This is a strong signal to us that many companies view domestic express service in China as a catalyst for growth and competitiveness in this exploding market."

■ Mergers
ABN in talks with Barclays
ABN Amro Holding NV, the Netherlands' largest bank, said on Monday it was in preliminary talks to be acquired by British bank Barclays PLC. In a statement, ABN said the talks were "exclusive preliminary discussions with Barclays PLC concerning a potential combination of the two organizations." Barclays, which would be the senior partner in a merger, said on Monday that it would update the market on its position toward ABN by yesterday. If it takes place, the deal would be one of the biggest cross-border mergers in European banking history.

■ Securities
China imposes restrictions
China has banned firms flush with new share sale proceeds from investing the money in securities in the latest regulatory move aimed at cooling stock market fever, the government said yesterday. "Companies should not directly or indirectly use newly acquired funds to buy stocks or derivatives or convertible company bonds," the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on its Web site. Firms must use the proceeds from share sales for the intended purposes, the statement said. If the enterprises intend to spend more than 10 percent of the raised capital on items that the share sale was not originally aimed at funding, they must get board approval and arrange an online shareholder vote, it said.

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