BNP Paribas bullish as SocGen talk grows

BNP Paribas, the French bank, offered a note of optimism amid the sub-prime gloom as it posted a rise in 2007 profits and delivered a bullish message for this year. Baudouin Prot, its chief executive, refused to say whether he intended to launch a takeover bid for Société Générale, its rival bank, adding to speculation that he is seeking a green light from the French Government before making a move. BNP Paribas registered a 7per cent increase in annual net profit to €7.8billion (£5.9 billion), with sales up 11 per cent to €31 billion. However fourth-quarter net profit fell 42 per cent to €1billion.

KKR affiliate’s delay

Shares in private equity firms fell as KKR Financial Holdings, the listed affiliate of the private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, delayed repaying billions of dollars of commercial paper for a second time, raising fears of more credit market problems. KKR Financial said that it would extend to March 3 repayment of notes due last Friday. It also said that it had begun restructuring discussions.

EDF beats forecasts

EDF, the French power group, reported stronger than expected underlying earnings growth for 2007 but disappointed investors with a soft outlook, sending its shares down more than 9 per cent to €67.05. EDF said that 2008 earnings growth would be slowed by sharply higher investment costs, while its forecast for 2009 and 2010 fell short of some analysts' expectations.

Crime fear in ‘.asia’

The web domain “.asia” appears to have flopped, with only about 31,000 businesses registering for sites ending with the suffix, compared with about ten times as many wanting “.eu” addresses at the same point in its creation. It is thought that low demand risks allowing criminals to register bogus sites so that they can dupe consumers. From today, anybody can register for a .asia site.

GMAC cuts 930 jobs

GMAC, the finance company, is to restructure its car finance unit, cutting about 930 jobs and closing offices to conduct business from five regional offices in North America. The job cuts represent about 15 per cent of the 6,275 workers in GMAC's car finance business. General Motors owns 49 per cent of GMAC. A group led by Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm, owns 51 per cent.

Gambia mine charge

A British mining engineer will appear in the Gambian High Court today after his company was accused of uranium smuggling. Charlie Northfield, 49, from Plymouth, works for Carnegie Minerals. Gambia has accused the company of smuggling silicon and uranium. Carnegie insists that silicon is only sand and that only trace levels of uranium were found in deposits.

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