Korean Air turns around to profit

Korean Air turns around to profit

SEOUL: South Korea's national flag carrier Korean Air Co.
(KAL) Thursday posted a net profit of nearly US$290 million for
the first half of this year after a big loss a year earlier.

KAL attributed the turnaround to sales growth, foreign
exchange gains and cost-cutting efforts.

The net profit of 195.38 billion won ($287 million) in the six
months to June was in sharp contrast to a loss of 345.91 billion
won a year earlier, the company said.

Sales increased seven percent to 2.9 trillion won, it said.

KAL said the steady sales growth and more stable jet fuel
prices as the won strengthened won against dollar had helped the
company return to profit.

The turnaround, however, also rested heavily on foreign
exchange gains of 202.7 billion won compared with a loss of 98.9
billion won previously. -- AFP

Yamaha to double output in Vietnam

TOKYO: Yamaha Motor Co. said Thursday it plans to double the
capacity at its motorcycle factory in Vietnam by November to cash
in on the booming bike market in the country.

Japan's second largest motorcycle manufacturer plans to spend
several hundreds of millions of yen (several million dollars)
creating a new facility on land currently owned by Yamaha Motor
Vietnam Co. Ltd. to boost capacity to 10,000 units a month from
5,000.

By 2004, Yamaha plans to double capacity again to 20,000 units
a month.

"In Vietnam, the motorcycle industry in particular is very
big," said Yamaha spokesman Takashi Maeda.

"Compared to Indonesia or Thailand, it seems the road
infrastructure is not as advanced so motorcycles are used far
more than cars."

Yamaha, which set up its first plant in Vietnam in 1999. --
AFP

EMI sues AOL Time Warner over copyrights

LOS ANGELES: EMI Group has sued AOL Time Warner, claiming the
world's largest media company has been playing songs on its
Turner Broadcasting network and America Online Internet service
without paying for them.

The dispute pits the owners of two of the major recording
companies against each other at a time when they are working
together with the rest of the recording industry to fight against
copyright violations by various online operations.

EMI's publishing unit contends that AOL Time Warner is
illegally using songs for promotional purposes from "The Wizard
of Oz," "Singin' in the Rain," and other classic Metro-Goldwyn-
Mayer movies.

The suit, filed Wednesday in the Southern District Court of
New York, seeks unspecified monetary damages and injunctive
relief. -- AP

BMW stays in the fast lane for profits this year

MUNICH: BMW, the German maker of top-of-the-range cars, said
Thursday its net profit zoomed ahead by 11.9 percent to 629
million euros (US$616 million)in the second quarter of this year
and it was sticking to its full-year earnings targets.

BMW said in a statement pre-tax profit in the period from
April to June rose by 2.5 percent to 1.02 billion euros on an 8.9
percent increase in sales to 11.6 billion euros.

The group was therefore sticking to its forecast of an
increase of both sales and earnings for the whole year, the
statement said. -- AFP

Insurer's profits hit by Sept. 11 attack

LONDON: British insurer Royal and Sun Alliance said Thursday
first-half operating profits fell nearly 18 percent as it raised
provisions for the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center
in New York.

Operating profits in the six months to June 30 fell to 301
million pounds (476 million euros, US$462 million) from 367
million a year earlier, below the bottom end of the range of
analysts' forecasts.

Royal and Sun said its performance was adversely affected by
increased provisions for the WTC attack, which rose by 66 million
pounds, taking the total to 275 million pounds.

It said that was "due to developments in the size of business
interruption losses reported by insureds", with around 25 percent
attributable to actual claims notifications and three quarters to
anticipated claims. -- AFP

Cisco powers India's library-networking

INDIA: U.S. technology giant Cisco said Thursday it has completed
the first phase of India's largest library networking initiative
at the federal parliament library in New Delhi.

The new network would enable parliamentarians and the public
to access manuals, books, parliament debates and parliamentary
questions made into digital format from 900 computer terminals
spread over eight blocks in the parliament.

The company said in a statement its high-speed network would
support high bandwidth connections from other countries and also
enable the implementation of e-learning or distance education.

In the second phase of the project, for which tenders are
awaited from the government, global parliamentary libraries would
be connected to the network.

Sudhir Narang, vice-president of Cisco Systems India, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of the parent firm, said the parliament's
initiative would drive other government institutions to upgrade
their network. -- AFP