Good year for Rolls-Royce
Aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce said it has made good progress in the first quarter of the year. 

It noted engine orders from Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi and a decision by Britain to select the AirTanker consortium as preferred bidder on a military refuelling programme, which could be worth 700 million pounds to Rolls-Royce.
 
Alcoa profits drop
Alcoa, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, has reported a 27 per cent drop in quarterly profit on restructuring and other costs, but higher metals prices and strong industrial demand boosted sales. The Pittsburgh (US)-based company, which last year launched a massive restructuring to cut costs, posted first-quarter earnings before charges that were roughly in line with Wall Street expectations. Alcoa said net income was $260 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with $355 million, or 41 cents, a year ago.

UK output down
Britain’s manufacturing output fell unexpectedly sharply in February to record the first drop in production for five months, official data showed.
Manufacturing output, which accounts for 80 per cent of British industrial production, fell by 0.5 per cent in February from the previous month and against expectations of a modest 0.1 per cent fall, the National Statistics Office said. This was the first monthly decline since August 2004, when output fell by 0.6 per cent.

Toyota’s vehicle target
Japan’s largest carmaker and world-ranked number two, Toyota Motor, aims to produce 9.7 million vehicles in 2008, up 29 per cent from 2004, a newspaper report said.
A Toyota spokeswoman declined to confirm the report, saying only that the group plans to sell 8.5 million vehicles in 2006 globally. But the Asahi Shimbun said Toyota would hit the 9.7 million target by boosting production and making environmentally friendly hybrid cars in North America and China.
The target figure includes production by its subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors.