Volvo declines comment on car sale report: Swedish vehicle maker AB Volvo onThursday declined to comment on a report in Britain's Financial Times that it had appointed a leading US investment bank to explore a possible sale or merger of its car division. "There's no reason to comment on this rumour, that's our policy," Volvo's information head Per Lojdquist told Reuters. "We don't comment on any rumours regardless of their substance."

No plan to revise sales target, Matsushita: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd said on Thursday it had no plans to revise down the forecast of its group sales target in the year to March 2001. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun financial daily reported on Thursday in its evening edition that Matsushita was set to lower that target to 8.5 trillion yen from the initial target of nine trillion yen. "That (8.5 trillion yen) was...speculation. As our president said late last year, it is tough to achieve group sales of nine trillion yen in 2000-01 because of the current situation mainly in Asian and Japanese economies. But at this moment, we have no plansto revise our forecast," a Matsushita spokesman said. In October, Matsushita revised down its forecast of group sales for 1998-99 to 7.83 trillion yen from a May forecast of eight trillion yen against an actual 7.89 trillion yen a year earlier.

Bull open to partnerships: French computer group Bull aims to boost its rank in IT outsourcing services to fifth in Europe from ninth currently and is prepared to form partnerships to this end, its chairman Guy de Panafieu was quoted as saying on Thursday. "These partnerships could take the form of joint ventures or capital agreements," De Panafieu told daily Le Figaro in an interview. The French state owns 17.3 per cent of Bull's capital and a reduction of this seemed logical over time, "but must involve a reinforcement of Bull's stable shareholders", he said. On chips and services integration, he said Bull could forman alliance with another leader in the sector, as it had with electronic payments systems group Ingenico. Calling 1999 a transition year, hesaid the company aimed to cut costs through launching a billion franc restructuring plan. De Panafieu said the majority of Bull's activities in the integration of services -- a strategic priority -- was profitable.

Kirch group values itself at 20 bn marks: German media group Kirch has told potential investors that its assets are worth more than 20 billion marks ($12.02 billion) and that it has lower debt than has been estimated, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. Kirch could not immediately be reached for comment. The newspaper reported that Kirch had told Italian media company Mediaset and two other investors, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Saudi investor Prince Al Waleed, that its net debt is 2.8 billion marks. Kirch had scaled back the cash it was seeking from the three investors to $250 million each, the newspaper said. It added that Kirch provided the confidential figures to investors last week and that they were the first indication of the value it may seek in theforthcoming flotation of its television and film assets, likely to take place within 18 months.

Majority of Danes would vote to join EMU: More than 50 per cent of Danes would vote in favour of joining the European Union's new single currency, the euro, the financial daily Borsen said on Thursday. An opinion poll by the Greens institute conducted on Monday and Tuesday -- the two first days of trading in the euro -- among 1,049 voters found that "more than 50 per cent" would vote in favour while 32 per cent would say "No" if a referendum were held now, the paper said. It did not publish an exact figure for the supporters, but a graphic illustration of the survey results indicated that the "Yes" camp's score was between 50 and 51 per cent. Sixteen per cent were undecided, Borsen said. Danish government bonds have risen, outperforming GermanBunds, early this year amid expectations that Denmark will decide to join the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The Greens poll was the eighth of nine surveys sinceOctober implying that supporters have turned the tables on opponents, who had consistently been in front ever since Danes in a 1992 referendum rejected the EU's Maastricht Treaty on monetary union.