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World Business News Quick Take

■ MARKETS

LSE launches trading system

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced yesterday the launch of a new pan-European equity trading platform in partnership with investment bank Lehman Brothers in the face of mounting competitive pressure. The exchange said the trading platform, named Baikal, would allow investors to trade shares in 14 European countries and enable them to keep their identities partially concealed. On Tuesday, NYSE Euronext said that it had agreed to buy 25 percent of the Doha Stock Exchange for US$250 million.



■ BEVERAGES

Anheuser-Busch to reject bid

US brewer Anheuser-Busch plans to reject a takeover offer from Belgian rival InBev, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site late on Wednesday. Citing an Anheuser-Busch insider, the paper reported that the US beer giant, based in St Louis, Missouri, plans to reject InBev’s offer of about US$46 billion. A hostile takeover attempt could follow. Anheuser-Busch’s major US brands include Budweiser and Michelob, along with a stable of international brands.



■ TOURISM

Coral islands to be leased

The Maldives, one of the world’s most exotic holiday destinations, plans to lease 19 uninhabited coral islands to be developed as upmarket resorts, officials said yesterday. The new resorts will add to the 44 islands that are either to be leased out this year or at various stages of development, Tourism Minister Mahamoud Shougee said by telephone from the capital Male. “Once the new investors are identified, they have four years to build the resort,” Shougee said.



■ MARKETS

Good times for palm oil firms

High global prices for palm oil mean good times ahead for Asian producers over the next 12 to 18 months, but little growth in much-touted biofuels, credit rating agency Moody’s said yesterday. “A rapid rise and continued high prices for crude palm oil [CPO] during the past 18 months have strengthened balance sheets in Asian palm-oil producers, who responded by buying more plantations and increased planting of greenfield properties,” Moody’s said in a report. But while the doubling of CPO prices between January last year and last March have left major producers with healthy balance sheets, the high cost of feedstock means biofuel projects have been delayed, it said.



■ SOFTWARE

Oracle posts higher profits

Enterprise software maker Oracle posted a 27 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday as income rose to US$2.04 billion, or US$0.39 a share, from US$1.6 billion, or US$0.31, in the year-earlier period. Based in Redwood City, California, Oracle said that it benefited from increases in international sales and rebounding US orders. It was aided by income from new acquisitions, including the US$8.5 billion purchase of BEA Systems.



■ RUBBER

Goodyear shuts Aussie plant

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has announced plans to close a high-cost Australian plant that employs 600 people. The shutdown of the South Pacific Tyres plant in Somerton, Victoria, by Dec. 31 will save Goodyear about US$35 million a year, the company said on Wednesday. “This completes our commitment to reduce high-cost capacity by about 25 million units and achieve annual cost savings of more than $150 million,” Goodyear chairman and chief executive Robert Keegan said in a news release.
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