Stockholm - Swedish state-owned energy group Vattenfall on Thursday posted higher operating profits for third-quarter 2008, boosted by its operations in the Nordic region.

Operating profit before tax and interest was 5.59 billion kronor (726 million dollars), up 17 per cent year-on-year.

Third-quarter turnover increased by 17 per cent to 37 billion kronor, while the net profit fell some 29 per cent to 2.48 billion kronor.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned mining group LKAB announced plans to invest 12.5 billion kronor (1.5 billion dollars) to expand its mining operations in Kiruna, northern Sweden.

The investment in a new main level was expected to secure LKAB's iron ore mining and processing operations in Kiruna until 2030, the group said.

"This is in line with the company's long-term strategy and it backs up investments totaling about 20 billion kronor that we have already made in facilities at surface level," LKAB chief executive Ola Johnsson said.

The mine in Kiruna has high-grade iron ore that is converted into pellets.

Stockholm  - Nordic telecommunications group Telia Sonera on Tuesday posted higher pre-tax income for third-quarter 2008, citing strong sales for its mobile and broadband operations.

The group said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 8.94 billion kronor (1.03 billion dollars), up 3 per cent on the corresponding business period 2007.

Sales in the quarter increased 4 per cent to 25.81 billion kronor.

Commenting on the impact of the global financial turmoil, chief executive Lars Nyberg said that the group "has a strong balance sheet and operates in a relatively non-cyclical industry."

Stockholm  - Banking shares took a hit Monday on the Stockholm stock exchange as the Swedish central bank said it would offer a 1-billion-kronor (125 million dollars) loan to the Carnegie Investment Bank AB.

The group's shares continued their recent slide, and had plunged some 60 per cent at midday but late-afternoon were down 50 per cent. The Stockholm OMXS index also recovered some ground and was off 3 per cent.

Stockholm - Two of Sweden's 10 nuclear reactors were to be offline for at least a month as checks continued on the control rods used to control the nuclear fission process, officials said Monday.

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority last week ordered operators to check the control rods after cracks were detected in the control rods at one of the three reactors at the Oskarhamn nuclear plant, south-eastern Sweden.

Reactor Number 3 at the Oskarshamn plant was due to be back online December 3, Oskarhamn, spokeswoman Annika Carlsson told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Stockholm - Banking shares took a hit Monday on the Stockholm stock exchange as the Swedish central bank said it would offer a 1-billion-kronor (125 million dollars) loan to the Carnegie Investment Bank AB.

The group's shares plunged and were down some 60 per cent at midday. The Stockholm OMXS index was down over 5 per cent.

"The bank has suffered liquidity problems. Given the currently prevailing anxiety, the Riksbank has decided to grant liquidity assistance to Carnegie to reduce the risk of a serious disruption to the financial system," Riksbank governor Stefan Ingves said.