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World Business Quick Take

■ AEROSPACE
EADS' Gut to step down
Jean-Paul Gut, the chief operating officer at European aeronautics and defense giant EADS, said yesterday he was stepping down from his post because of a disagreement over strategy. The 46-year-old Frenchman will be replaced by Marwan Lahoud, presently the head at missiles maker MBDA, the newspaper Le Figaro said. "I am leaving now because we have not managed to reach an agreement after several months of discussions with Louis Gallois and Thomas Enders, the two co-chief executives of EADS, on the integration of marketing functions, sales and strategy that I judged necessary to meet the challenges ahead," Gut told Le Figaro in an interview.

■ PACKAGING
Rexam to buy plastics firm
British company Rexam, the world's biggest maker of beverage cans, said yesterday it had agreed to buy US group O-I Plastics for US$1.825 billion in cash. Rexam, which produces more than 50 billion cans per year, said it would buy plastic healthcare packager O-I Plastics from parent company Owen-Illinois Incorporated. "The acquisition of O-I Plastics will transform our Plastic Packaging business and is consistent with our strategy to expand our positions in growth markets," said Rexam chief executive Leslie Van de Walle.

■ PETROLEUM
Iran plans Asian refineries
Oil-rich Iran yesterday announced it would help build five new refineries across Asia with a total capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day in a bid to strengthen ties in the region. "Iran has finalized feasibility studies for five refining projects in five Asian countries with a total capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day," Seyed Kazam Vaziri Hamaneh, Iran's petroleum minister said. Seyed Kazam later told reporters that refineries would be built in China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Syria.

■ TRADE
China's May surplus soars
China's monthly trade surplus soared 73 percent last month from a year ago, a state news agency reported yesterday, amid US pressure on Beijing for action on its yawning trade gap or face possible sanctions. Exports exceeded imports by US$22.5 billion, Xinhua news agency said, citing data from China's customs agency. That figure, close to the all-time record high monthly surplus of US$23.8 billion reported in October, came despite repeated Chinese pledges to take steps to narrow the gap by boosting imports and rein in fevered export growth.

■ ECONOMY
Japan's growth rate rises
Japan's economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent in the three months to March, faster than previously thought, thanks to rising corporate capital spending, the government said yesterday. Japan's GDP grew by 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to March, the Cabinet Office said. A preliminary estimate last month had shown quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.6 percent or an annualized rate of 2.4 percent. It was a ninth straight quarter of positive growth, although slower than the three months to December when GDP grew by a revised 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter. Corporate capital spending was upgraded to show a 0.3 percent gain quarter-on-quarter compared with a decline of 0.9 reported last month.


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