A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Revenue at Goldman Sachs doubles
Goldman Sachs yesterday said net revenue and earnings more than doubled in the second quarter on strong trading results and was its best investment banking performance since the end of the IT boom.
Goldman said it earned $2.31 billion (€1.84 billion), or $4.78 per share, in the quarter, compared with $865 million, or $1.71 per share, in the second quarter of 2005. The results far outpaced analysts' expectations of $4.28 per share. Net revenue in the quarter jumped from $4.8 billion last year to $10.1 billion. - (Financial Times service)
Ambitious forecast for Mittal Steel
Mittal Steel yesterday unveiled ambitious growth forecasts for the next few years in an effort to woo executives and shareholders of Arcelor, its rival and the subject of its hostile €25.8 billion bid.
Arcelor has rejected the bid, and has backed an alternative merger with Severstal of Russia. But the Luxembourg-based steelmaker has left the door open for further talks with Mittal, if Mittal is prepared to improve its bid. The two sides have already discussed Mittal's proposed business plan, but did not reach an agreement.
Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and chief executive of Mittal Steel, insisted that he would not raise his cash-and-shares bid for Arcelor, but said that talks between the two sides would go ahead this week. - (Financial Times service)
LG Card creditors face sale delay
South Korean regulators are considering forcing creditors of LG Card to sell their stake in the credit card company through a public tender process rather than a trade sale. Such a move could delay one of the country's biggest corporate disposals.
About 14 creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, have been seeking to sell a stake of at least 51 per cent in LG Card directly to strategic investors through an auction process. The creditors' total shareholding is 72 per cent. However, regulators are reviewing whether a potential buyer of LG Card should be forced to conform with securities law and launch an offer for the entire company, including minority stakes, or should be granted an exemption. - (Financial Times service)
Confidence in Germany slips
Higher oil prices and a rising euro has hit investor confidence in the future of the German economy, a leading German research institute said yesterday. The Mannheim-based ZEW institute's index of business expectations fell sharply in June from 50 to 37.8, the fifth monthly fall in succession.
Top 1000 companies
There were a number of errors in the table of the Top 1000 companies compiled by Businessworld and published on May 26th.
The managing director of BMW Group Ireland is Mr Sean Green and not Ms Jean Green. The correct phone number for CIT Group Finance is 01 2796271
Barry Fitzwilliam Maxium made an estimated profit of €2.2 million and not a loss of €2.2 million.
The chief executive of Scotiabank is Mr Barry Luter and not Mr Bob Masters. The chief executive of National Irish Bank is Andrew Healy and not Mr John Trethowan. Its website is www.nationalirishbank.ie.
Amarin cash reserves
In a short last Saturday, June 10th, it was reported that Amarin has cash reserves of $3.3 million. The figure should have read $33 million.
