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Toyota profits drop

Toyota Motor is pulling on the brakes. The world’s second biggest automaker is forecasting a 29.5 per cent drop in operating profits this fiscal year as sales dip 5 per cent

ArcelorMittal and steel

Spot prices for the metal have leapt this year, in response to the dramatic increase in prices for coking coal and iron ore – the two main ingredients of steel

Potashtic

With potash inventories at record lows and supply lagging demand, Morgan Stanley expects delivered prices of the commodity – used in fertiliser, along with nitrogen and phosphorus – could hit $1,000 per tonne by the end of 2008

Weyerhaeuser’s loss

Should the paper and timber giant convert to a REIT?

ABB in emerging markets

On Thursday sector bellwether Atlas Copco reported a slow down in order growth during the first quarter. Yet ABB bucked the trend, beating expectations in all areas with its numbers

Philips’ test

For the Dutch conglomerate, 2008 could be the year that vindicates or calls into question its strategy of the past four years

Flying fertiliser

The fertiliser has hit the fan. Chemicals to boost crop yields are more important than ever. Arable land has become scarcer, compounded by the expansion of biofuel crops, while Asia’s farm-hands are deserting the land for cities

Adios Eiffage

Sighs of relief all round. Last week Sacyr Vallehermoso was let off an €8bn hook by a French court overturning a decision that would have forced the company to launch a cash bid for the whole of Eiffage

Staffing in a downturn

Staffing slowdowns can be sudden and savage, especially for recruiters focused on permanent hires of highly-paid professionals

Resilient US steel

So let’s get this straight. The US may already be in a recession, yet the price of hot-rolled coil steel has surged 40 per cent since the start of the year

Motorola’s split

Paper cuts

Saint-Gobain and Wendel

Rentokil regime change

Siemens warning

UK outsourcers

Hello, ENRC

Japanese consumer electronics

EADS and the A380

GM and America

Optimistic engineers

Rolls-Royce’s cash

Carmakers in China