KUNMING,CHINA: PT Timah Tbk, the world's biggest integrated

KUNMING,CHINA: PT Timah Tbk, the world's biggest integrated tin firm, said on Tuesday it was sticking to its earlier target of producing less tin in 2002 even though global prices staged a recent recovery.

"If we get concentrates from small-scale mines then we can increase our production, but in my plan it (output) is around 34,000 tones, the same as before," Thobrani Alwi, Timah's President Director, told Reuters in an interview.

Timah produced 38,081 tones of tin last year.

Alwi said he expected Indonesia's tin output to hit about 50,000 tones this year, with the bulk of production coming from Timah and PT Koba, another major Indonesian tin producer.

Alwi shrugged off the market's concerns that Indonesia's proposed tin ore export ban could spark smuggling in the region.

Indonesia has said it would bring forward a ban on tin ore exports to June 1 from June 15, as it strives to halt rampant illegal mining that has ravaged the environment across the archipelago and pressured prices through increased supply.

Global tin prices have wallowed at historic lows over the past year but bounced back to five-month highs in early May. LME three-month tin closed Monday's kerb session down US$30 at $4,120 and was range-bound at about $4,130 in later inter-office trade. --Reuters

Nintendo cuts Japan GameCube price

TOKYO: Game-maker Nintendo Co. slashed the Japanese price of its GameCube video-game console machine on Tuesday by 5,200 yen (US$ 41) to 19,800 yen ($ 157) following price cuts on rival machines from Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

Nintendo of America cut the U.S. GameCube price overnight by $50 to $149, effective Tuesday. The new Japanese price starts June 3.

Nintendo spokesman Ken Toyoda denied the Kyoto company was lowering prices to keep up with the recent price war that has pitted GameCube against Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox - both more sophisticated machines than GameCube.

Last week, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, which had been selling for $299, were reduced to $199. In Japan, the Xbox begins selling Wednesday at 24,800 yen ($197), down from 34,800 yen ($276).

Such price cuts meant that GameCube can no longer enjoy price advantage over its rivals. --AP

Citigroup processes credit card in S'pore

SINGAPORE: Citigroup, the world's largest issuer of credit cards, plans to process all its card transactions outside of the United States in Singapore, a news report said on Tuesday.

The move, reported by The Business Times, marks a major reversal of the trend among big banks to switch processing to low-cost countries such as China and India.

Citigroup's card operation in Singapore is already the second- largest processing center in the world, performing data entries and updates for more than 10 million cards in 32 countries, and issuing 2 million cards a year.

Krishnakumar said the bank's operation in Singapore has proved highly competitive on price, productivity and quality.--DPA

MLP net profit jumps 32%

FRANKFURT: Marschollek, Lautenschlaeger und Partner (MLP), one of the leading private finance groups in Europe, reported on Tuesday a successful start to 2002, with both net and pre-tax profit rising 32 percent in the first three months.

MLP said in a statement its net profit jumped to 15 million euros (US$13.7 million) in the period from January to March, up from 11.3 million euros in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Pre-tax profit jumped to 24.5 million euros from 18.6 million euros and total group revenues were up 21 percent at 242.7 million euros, the statement said.

MLP also said it was standing by its forecast that pre-tax profit would grow by 30 percent to around 195 million euros this year. --AFP

Marks & Spencer 31% pre-tax profit

LONDON: British retailer Marks and Spencer reported on Tuesday a surge in annual profits and hailed a turnaround in its business after several difficult years.

Underlying pre-tax profit rose by 31 percent to 646.7 million pounds (1.0 billion euros, US$938 million) in the year to March, on turnover which rose by four percent to 7.62 billion pounds.

"We have made good progress and believe that we have turned the corner," said chairman and chief executive Luc Vandevelde.

Marks and Spencer suffered an alarming slump in performance after profits had topped more than one billion pounds in 1998.

Once the undisputed leader of the British high-street and renowned and respected for its classic clothing and quality food, Marks and Spencer endured a dramatic fall from grace as uninspiring ranges drove customers into the arms of new, more fashionable high-street rivals.--AFP