In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

EADs shares plunge amid Airbus delays

The share price of EADS, the Airbus parent group, plunged by a quarter yesterday, wiping more than €5 billion off its market capitalisation as investors punished the European aerospace concern for further costly delays in deliveries of the Airbus A380 superjumbo.

Airbus was further hit yesterday by the loss of another key sales battle to Boeing, its US rival, after Singapore Airlines placed a firm order for 20 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in preference to the Airbus A350. The order is worth $4.5 billion (€3.6 billion) at list prices before heavy discounts. Airbus had been fighting a rearguard action to persuade the airline to delay its decision until it could finalise plans for a more ambitious version of the A350 it hopes to unveil in mid-July. - (Financial Times service)

US consumer price index up by 0.3%

US consumer prices rose by more than expected in May, the US labour department reported yesterday. Despite forecasts of a 0.2 per cent increase, the core US consumer price index - which excludes volatile food and energy costs - rose by 0.3 per cent month-on-month. So-called core inflation has now increased by 3.8 per cent in the last three months, according to latest data.

"The inflation numbers validate the concern the central bank has with regard to inflation," Kathy Lien, chief strategist at Forex Capital Markets, said.

The news follows a stronger-than-expected rise in the so-called "core" producer price index for May. Analysts fear rising inflation pressure will prompt the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by a further half a per cent this year. - (Additional reporting: Reuters)

Vodafone to offer laptop broadband

Vodafone is to offer a broadband internet service for laptops, delivered over its existing 3G mobile network, for €49.

From next month, customers will be able to connect to the Vodafone Unlimited Data service by plugging one of the company's 3G Mobile Connect Cards into a laptop.

Later this year, PC makers Dell and Lenovo will offer laptops with built-in Vodafone 3G functionality.

Its pricing is similar to fixed-line broadband with unlimited download allowances. Vodafone said it would increase download speeds in coming months.

Germany to slash levies on profits

Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, has finalised the outlines of a corporate tax reform aimed at slashing levies on company profits by almost a quarter from 2008.

The changes would bring the average nominal tax burden on corporations, now the third highest in the developed world after the US and Japan, from 39 per cent to 30 per cent, below most of Germany's western European neighbours.

The initiative, details of which were leaked to the media, could help restore business confidence in the "grand coalition" of Angela Merkel. Her government has come under fire for dragging its feet on structural reforms and for its planned 3 percentage point rise in value-added tax next January. - (Financial Times service)

Kingspan director buys stake in firm

Brian Joyce, a non-executive director of building materials group Kingspan, has spent €245,000 acquiring a 0.01 per cent stake in the company.

Kingspan said Mr Joyce bought 20,000 shares for €12.25 each. Prior to this he had no holding in the group.