Europe

BP has announced the sale of its Southern African forecourt network to Puma Energy, a unit of international commodities trader Trafigura, for $296 million.

BP is selling its interests in forecourts and supply businesses in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi. The sales do not include BP's refining and marketing businesses in Mozambique or South Africa.

Angola's state-owned oil company Sonangol will buy a 10 per cent stake in Puma's newly acquired assets.

Volkswagen is devising a plan to take full control of Swedish truckmaker Scania and Germany’s MAN, according to reports.

The German automotive giant is said to be planning to increase its 46 per cent stake in Scania, thereby assuming full control—after which it would then transfer its 29.9 per cent stake in truck and diesel engine group MAN to Soedertaelje, Sweden-based Scania.

The plan was first reported in German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.

It is thought that VW would increase its stake in Scania to between 75 and 80 per cent.

London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources has reported an 83 per cent jump in its first-half profits, aided by higher metals prices.

Pre-tax profits rose to $1.1 billion (approximately £685 million) from $605 million during the same period last year, on revenues of $4.6 billion (approx. £2.9 billion), which rose by 54 per cent.

Vedanta said it saw record production of zinc-lead, aluminium, iron ore and silver. Emerging markets continued to drive the global economy, resulting in price rises across most commodities, the company said.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide (CWW) has won a £10.3 million contract with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

The contract is for London-based CWW to provide voice services, including online video and audio communication, across all of DFID’s 44 sites. The services are to enable fast and reliable connection and better communication between DFID staff worldwide.

This is expected to help the DFID deliver more effective aid to poorer countries; and is also expected to increase inter-departmental collaboration.

UK mobile telecoms giant Vodafone has continued with its drive to sell off minority assets, with the sale of its stake in Japanese telecoms group Softbank for £3.1 billion.

Vodafone’s stake in Softbank was left over from the £8.9 billion sale of Vodafone Japan in 2006. The Japanese carrier will now buy back Vodafone’s interests.

Carr’s Milling, the UK-based animal feed and agricultural machinery group, has reported a strong growth in profits during the year ending August 2010.

The Carlisle-based company, which owns fertiliser manufacturing and fuel operations, saw pre-tax profits rise 27.4 per cent to £9 million.

Germany’s E.ON is in talks to sell its UK electricity distribution network for between £3.5 billion and £4 billion.

The utility group is understood to be in advanced discussions with a consortium consisting of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Canada Pension Fund and Macquarie for the purchase of its distribution network.

Italian tyre maker Pirelli has announced plans to invest €1.9 billion over the next five years in its core tyre business, with a focus on its premium range as well as emerging markets.

Revealing its 2011-2013 Industrial Plan and Vision to 2015, Milan-based Pirelli, Europe’s largest tyre maker, forecast annual revenue growth of eight per cent over the next three years, with profitability expected to rise to between 10.5 and 11.5 per cent.

The company is also planning a rise in total output to around 88 million units in 2015 from 61.8 million this year.

Italian automaker Piaggio, the maker of Vespa scooters, is planning to launch an eco-friendly mini-car in India that will rival the Tata Nano.

The prototype was revealed at the Milan bike show, with the finished product scheduled to be launched within the next three years.

Anglo Swiss mining giant Xstrata has raised its cash offer to buy Australia’s Sphere Minerals by 20 per cent to A$514 million (approximately €365 million).

Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata said the offer was final and would lapse if shareholder acceptances stayed below 50 per cent by 12 November. 8.1 per cent of Sphere’s shareholders had accepted the initial offer as of 2 November.