British Airways Plcannounced orders for 220 new aircraft valued at Pound 8 billion on Tuesday, withthe lion's share of the business going to Airbus Industrie, the first timethe British airline has bought from the European consortium. The airlinesaid it has placed firm orders for 20 Airbus A320 and 39 A319 aircraft, tobe delivered from September next year, and taken options on a further 129 ofthese Airbus short-haul aircraft.

Mando in $200m deal with GM:

South Korea's Mando Machinery Corpsaid on Tuesday that it signed a contract with US automaker General MotorsCorp to sell $200 million worth of car brake systems. Mando will supply870,000 brake systems for seven years from 2001 for GM's sports cars, aspokesman at Mando said.Mando, South Korea's largest car parts maker and aunit of the Halla Group, defaulted on debt payment last December. Mando hassought court protection and was also seeking foreign capital investments.

Currently the company is mired in a labour dispute with about 4,500 of itsunionised workers on strike since August 17 in a protest against plannedlayoffs.

Methode sees fall in Q2 results:

Electronic components makerMethode Electronics Inc said it sees second quarter sales and earnings belowthose of a year ago. The Chicago company, which makes electronic componentsfor cars, consumer electronics, and communications equipment, postedfinancial 1998 second-quarter earnings of $0.27 per share or $9.47 millionon sales of $99.93 million. Analysts expected the company to earn $0.27 pershare for the 1999 second quarter which ends in October. In a statement,Methode said second-quarter profits should be stronger than those of thefirst quarter because of improved sales of certain electronic devices andsport utility automotive components.

The company said it expects to see a fiscal 1999 sales increase of about 20per cent. Methode reported first-quarter sales of $87.96 million for thethree months ended July 31, as compared to $91.90 million a year ago. Netincome was $7,68 million or $0.22 per share, down from $9.16 million and$0.26 per share last year.

Linde sees '98 profit, sales up 13%:

German engineering groupLinde AG said on Tuesday that it expects full year profit and sales to riseabout 13 per cent, boosted by foreign demand and an improving domesticeconomy. Linde, which makes fork-lift trucks and technical gases, reportedthat first-half pre-tax profit rose 17 per cent to 332 million marks ($185million) and that sales grew 16 per cent to 4.85 billion marks. Incomingorders jumped 16 per cent in the first six months to 5.57 billion marks.Linde said foreign sales accounted for 66.8 per cent of the group total, or3.24 billion marks, up slightly from the previous year.

The company said orders in hand rose to a new record high of 7.3 billionmarks in the period. The company also said that its plant building divisionsaw a sales rise of 52.5 per cent to 1.24 billion marks despite pressurefrom Asia's problems. Sales at Linde's core material handling unit rose 17.8per cent to 2.4 billion marks.

Villeroy & Boch post better first half:

German tableware andbathroom fittings group Villeroy & Boch AG on Tuesday reported higher firsthalf group sales and forecast better full-year operating profit in 1998 thanlast year. The group said sales rose 6.3 per cent to 754.8 millionmarks($420.3 million) in the first half of 1998. Villeroy & Boch said thatpre-tax profit in the first six months fell to 17.1 million marks from 20.8million marks, while income from ordinary activities dropped to 24.3 millionmarks from 30.9 million marks. It forecast 1998 operating profit to beslightly higher than 1997's operating profit and overall 1998 sales to behigher.

Tarkett doubles H1 sales to 1.51bn:

German floor-coveringsmanufacturer Tarkett Sommer AG on Tuesday reported it had doubled groupsales in the first six months of 1998. Tarkett said in a statement salesrose 100 per cent to 1.51billion marks ($841 million) in the first half andthat group net profit climbed to 47.6 million marks from 27.9 millionpreviously. Tarkett said profit before goodwill write-offs climbed 106.7 percent to 132.7 million marks. It added that on a comparative basis, prior toit acquiring France's Sommer Allibert last year, group sales rose four percent and operating profit climbed eight per cent.