Building supplies specialist Wolseley has reported a jump in trading profits on the back of healthy growth in the US, it has been announced.

The UK-based company’s trading profits for the three months ending 30 April rose to £131 million, up 30 per cent from a year earlier. Revenue also rose, by one per cent to £3.27 billion.

Growth of 10 per cent in like-for-like revenue in the US helped to offset weaker growth in the UK, due to a slowdown in the construction industry.

Noble Energy has announced the discovery of oil at its Santiago exploration prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Around 60 feet of oil pay was identified in the well, which was located in 6,500 feet of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 519 and drilled to a total depth of approximately 18,920 feet.

Noble Energy is the operator at Santiago, with a 23.25 percent working interest. Houston Energy holds 10 percent, Red Willow Offshore has 20.25 percent, and BP Exploration & Production holds the remaining 46.5 percent.  

Desire Petroleum has announced that new data on its acreage offshore the Falklands has pointed to potential new prospects for oil.

The London-based company, which is wholly focused on the North Falkland Basin, said that initial indications for two new prospects—Beverley and Shona—were encouraging, based on preliminary raw data.

Desire said that the Shona lead is at the same stratigraphic level as the Sea Lion discovery made in May last year by rival exploration company Rockhopper, which was the first oil discovery in the North Falkland Basin.

Seattle-based clean water technology company HaloSource has established a wholly owned Brazilian subsidiary to manufacture, import and distribute its products for partners in Brazil.  

HaloSource Water Purification Importacoes Ltda will deal in the company’s HaloPure powered components, cartridges and devices.

French electrical group Schneider Electric has acquired 74 per cent of Indian manufacturer Luminous, it has been announced.

Japanese auto manufacturer Honda has said that North American production should return to normal in August—ahead of the original recovery plan—for all models except the new Honda Civic.

North American production was cut by half last month because of parts shortages from Japanese manufacturers whose production had been interrupted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Tullow Oil has announced its second acquisition in the space of seven days—this time purchasing the interests of EO Group, which include those offshore Ghana.

The deal, worth $305 million, will increase Tullow's interest in the West Cape Three Points licence offshore Ghana by 3.5 per cent to 26.4 per cent. It will also increase its interest in the Jubilee Oil field, which it already operates, by 1.75 per cent to 36.5 per cent.

The agreement is conditional upon various approvals, including from the government of Ghana.

Chrysler Group LLC has announced the repayment of $7.6 billion in outstanding US and Canadian government loans following the completion of new refinancing transactions.

The original loans were repaid in full, more than six years ahead of schedule, along with the payment of accrued interest and additional consideration.

Online retailing giant Amazon has announced that more than 900 new permanent and temporary jobs will be created over the next five years with the opening of its new customer service centre at Waverley Gate in Edinburgh.

The new centre, due to open this August, will handle customer enquiries regarding Amazon.co.uk, including technical support for the Amazon Kindle and MP3.