World Briefing
Nissan to raise investment in Thailand Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Tuesday it was considering raising its investment in its Thai joint venture with Siam Motors Co and boosting its stake from the current 25 per cent. The move would be designed to strengthen the venture's financial base, but a spokesman for Nissan said no decision had been made on details such as the timing or the scale of additional investment, or to what extent Nissan's stake would be raised. Japan's lead demand dull: Japanese demand for refined lead is likely to slip this year as the country's car production is expected to be flat at best, traders said on Tuesday. Traders said it was too early to make exact projections for1998 demand. They estimated Japanese demand in 1997 was around 300,000 tonnes, of which some 70 percent was used to produce car batteries. They said they were carefully watching car production data, as about 50 to 60 per cent of refined lead used for car batteries last year was for new
automobiles. Degussa's first-quarter profit up: German chemicals and metals company Degussa AG said on Tuesday that its first-quarter pre-tax profits climbed 26 per cent to 145 million marks, with group sales rising 15 percent to 4.0 billion marks. The company said that excluding precious metals trading,sales rose 16 per cent in the first quarter to end-December. Japan is top ship exporter: Japan remained the world's largest ship exporter in 1997 with shipbuilders receiving overseas orders for 310 vessels, or 12.96 million gross registered tons (GRT), an industry group said on Tuesday. Japan narrowly surpassed rival South Korea, which won export contracts for 200 vessels, or 12.74 million GRT, said a spokesman for the Japan Ship Exporters' Association. Australian insurance giants to merge: Insurers National Mutual Holdings Ltd and Lend Lease Corp Ltd's MLC unit confirmed their merger plans on Tuesday, preparing along the way to fight challenges from local and overseas rivals. The
companies, which revealed they were in talks last October, said they agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to guide a merger of their funds management and life insurance businesses in Australia and New Zealand.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
|
