Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, Saudi Aramco, has announced it is to form a joint venture to build and operate a chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.

The joint venture, Sadara Chemical Company, will be formed with the Dow Chemical Company of Michigan in the US to build what the companies have called a “world-scale, fully integrated chemicals complex”.

Despite the debt crisis in Europe, unrest in the Middle East and the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, leading US companies are turning in unexpectedly encouraging results.

A blitz of fresh quarterly results has hit news desks in the last few days, many of which are surprisingly good.

The South African seafood division of Lonrho has signed a deal to supply the US retailing giant Walmart.

Walmart will be stocking Oceanfresh’s pure hake fillets in 500 of its stores from October this year.

The Oceanfresh fillets come from wild caught, sustainably sourced white hake that is caught in the Benguela current off the coast of Southern Africa.

US aerospace and defense executives are looking at strategic acquisitions and expansion into new markets to promote company growth, according to a recent survey by KPMG.

Faced with tighter federal defense budgets, stiffer competition and a struggling home economy, nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of A&D executives say their companies will be involved in a merger or acquisition as a buyer in the next two years.

AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian helicopter company, has secured a contract that marks the first entry of its AW169 model into the UK market.

The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rome-based industrial group Finmeccanica, has signed a preliminary contract with the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) for two AW169 helicopters.

The aircraft will be delivered in 2015, and will be specially designed for the WNAA’s air ambulance mission requirements.

The boards of directors of Ecolab Inc. and Nalco Holding Company have unanimously approved a definitive agreement under which Nalco will merge with a subsidiary of Ecolab.

Ecolab Inc. is a global leader in cleaning, sanitizing, food safety and infection prevention products and services. Nalco is the world's largest sustainability services company focused on industrial water, energy and air applications, and is seen as a natural complement to Ecolab’s portfolio.

Paris-based communications giant Alcatel-Lucent has announced it is reviewing the future of its enterprise business.

The company said it is “exploring strategic options to enhance the future opportunities” of the unit, with all avenues being considered, including a sale to a third party.

HP, Cisco and Siemens Enterprise Communications are all thought to have been involved in recent discussions over a possible sale.

AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, announced landmark agreements today with both Airbus and Boeing to replace and transform American's narrowbody fleet over five years.

These new aircraft will allow American to reduce its operating and fuel costs and deliver state-of-the-art amenities to customers, while maximizing financial flexibility for the company.

Eurostar, the high-speed passenger rail service, has reported strong growth in first half sales revenues and passenger numbers.

Sales revenues were up four per cent from £404 million to £421 million in the first half of 2011, with passenger numbers rising three per cent from 4.6 million to 4.7 million year-on-year.