World Business Quick Take

■ MANUFACTURING
UK factory output drops
UK factory output dropped the most in seven months in September, a sign that the pound's appreciation to a 26-year high is hurting the UK economy. Production fell 0.6 percent, compared with a revised 0.5 percent gain in August, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.1 percent, according to the median of 30 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. UK services expanded at the slowest pace in four years last month, a survey by Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc showed. Manufacturing, which accounts for 15 percent of the UK economy, is starting to weaken as companies endure record oil prices and the pound's strength makes their goods more expensive.

■ ENERGY
Coal prices hit record high
Power-station coal prices at Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest export harbor for the fuel, rose to a record on expectations of higher demand before the Northern Hemisphere winter amid supply constraints. Coal for immediate delivery at Newcastle climbed US$5.13, or 6.7 percent, to US$82.08 a tonne in the week that ended last Friday, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. The previous record was US$76.95 a week earlier. The index has surged 24 percent since the first week of September. Firms in Australia's Hunter Valley shipped 6.3 percent less coal than targeted through Newcastle last month because of maintenance work and cargo loading constraints.

■ INSURANCE
Danish firm takes a hit
Topdanmark A/S, Denmark's second-largest insurer, may write down the value of its structured-products portfolio by 110 million kroner (US$21.4 million) in the second half following the US subprime market crisis. The insurer has written down 60 million kroner in the third quarter and may follow that up with a 50 million writedown in the last three months of the year, Ballerup, Denmark-based Topdanmark said in a statement to the Copenhagen stock exchange yesterday. Topdanmark also reiterated its forecast for net income of 1.2 billion kroner to 1.3 billion kroner this year. An increase in earnings will offset the writedowns, it said.

■ ACQUISITIONS
Delta drops Sainsbury bid
Delta (Two) Ltd dropped plans for a ?10.5 billion (US$21.9 billion) takeover of J Sainsbury Plc after the "deterioration" of credit markets made it too expensive to buy Britain's third-largest supermarket company. It is "not in the best interests of stakeholders to proceed" with the offer, Delta said yesterday in a Regulatory News Service statement. The fund said on Oct. 26 it was seeking an additional ?500 million of equity funding to finance the 600 pence-a-share bid it made in July for the 75 percent of the London-based retailer it doesn't own.

■ ENTERTAINMENT
HK may help Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland could be given a government bailout, Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Frederick Ma (馬時亨) was quoted as saying yesterday by the Standard. "I don't want to hear visitors saying they are seeing the same things they saw last year and lose interest in Disneyland," Ma was quoted as saying. The government had previously ruled out adding to the HK$25 billion (US$3.2 billion) it has already invested, the report said.