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LONDON (Reuters) - The country's biggest pub owner Punch Taverns (PUB.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday half-yearly profit rose 13 percent and that the second half had started well as it looked to sell a further 380 pubs in the next six months. The company, which in January completed a deal to acquire the Spirit pub group -- adding 1,800 larger pubs to its estate -- said profit before  ...

French oil firm Total has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to build an oil refinery, at an estimated cost of $6bn. The refinery, to be built in Jubail on the Gulf coast, will process 400,000 barrels of crude a day and is expected to be up and running by 2011. Under the deal, Total and state oil firm Saudi Aramco will form a joint venture firm with each holding a 35% stake in the new company. The remaining shares will be offered to the Saudi public at a future date. Stronger links "This propo ...

By Risa Maeda TOKYO (Reuters) - The Nikkei average rose 0.51 percent on Monday as a recovery in U.S. stocks after a week of sharp losses encouraged investors to buy blue-chip shares, many of which hit multiweek lows last week. Honda Motor Co Ltd. (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) are among stocks luring buying given signs of stability returnin ...

Japanese stocks started the week higher Monday as a rise in the dollar helped shares of big exporters, but losses by commodities-oriented companies dragged Hong Kong's market lower. In morning trading, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 Index ended its morning session up 0.6% to 16,238.99. The broader Topix Index stood at 1,651.84, up 0.8% . Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was dipped 0.4%. The volatil ...

By Risa Maeda TOKYO (Reuters) - The Nikkei average rose 0.51 percent on Monday as a recovery in U.S. stocks after a week of sharp losses encouraged investors to buy blue-chip shares, many of which hit multi-week lows last week. Honda Motor Co Ltd. (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) are among stocks luring buying given signs of stability returni ...

Arcelor gave a relatively conciliatory response on Sunday night to the new €22.7bn (£15.4bn) offer from Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal who hopes to create the world’s biggest steelmaker by taking over the Luxembourg group. // Joseph Kinsch, Arcelor’s chairman, said after a meeting of his company’s board that Friday’s offer – in which Mr Mittal increased his valuation of his intended prize by m ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Internet search firm Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) could see its shares rise sharply in the coming year as investors pay greater heed to its array of money-making services, Barron's said in its May 22 edition. Yahoo shares have been spurned for the nearly two years since rival Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) went public, even though Yahoo has the b ...