Unilever's dividend

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Unilever Nepal’s 114th board meeting on Saturday has recommended Rs 680 per share cash dividend from the profits of fiscal year 2011-12. The company had posted a turnover of Rs 4,232 million with Rs 735 million net profit after tax in the last fiscal year. The board meeting has also proposed its annual general meeting on October 10.

Renault’s job cut plans

PARIS: French automaker Renault said that a voluntary job cut plan at its struggling South Korean unit Samsung Motors could affect up to 80 per cent of its staff, or almost 4,700 workers. The programme “concerns all salaried staff at Renault Samsung Motors except for the 1,000 in research and development, and design,” a spokeswoman said. She added that the company employed 5,667 people at the end of 2011. Workers would be let go “on a voluntary basis, with severance pay of up to two years pay depending on seniority,” the spokeswoman said. Employees who agree to leave are also to get two years of education fees for children and other allowances.

RBA hikes forecast

SYDNEY: Australia’s central bank upped its annual growth forecast after a strong first half, but it warned that resources investment –– a key driver of the economy –– would peak by 2014. Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it now expected growth of 3.5 per cent for 2012, instead of the three per cent forecast in May, with the domestic economy powering on at above-average pace in the first six months of the year. Australia’s mining-driven economy expanded by 1.3 per cent in the three months to March –– a result hailed as ‘remarkable’ by the government given cooling in China and Europe’s woes.