Essen, Germany - Italian confectionery group Ferrero has awarded a 91-million-euro (1

New York - Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, on Wednesday reported 2nd quarter net income of 2.78 billion dollars, compared to 1.27 billion in the same quarter in 2007, an increase of 119 per cent.

The maker of the best-selling male potency drug Viagra also saw second quarter revenues rise by 9 per cent, moving from 11.1 billion in 2007 to 12.1 billion.

The massive quarterly jump in profits was down to favourable foreign exchange as well as lower restructuring charges associated with cost-reduction initiatives in addition to savings from these initiatives, the company said.

Indian conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd.'s wholly-owned unit Tata Capital has entered into an alliance with the Mizuho Corporate Bank Limited, for cooperation in various business areas including Ninja Lo

Technology giant, IBM has informed that it has opened its service management centre of excellence in Pune, which will act as a regional hub for IBM Tivoli service management software and strategy.

Pune is a strategic location for India Software Lab for IBM Tivoli software development, support and service teams. The centre will focus on high value areas like telecom, security, automation and asset management.

Infrastructure firm Era Infra Engineering Ltd has received a contract worth Rs 30.98 crore from National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) for Construction of Buildings

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo on Wednesday reported a 25 per cent increase in pre-tax income for second quarter 2008, citing strong growth in Eastern Europe, South America and Asia.

Pre-tax income was 7.48 billion kronor (1.25 billion dollars), compared to 5.97 billion kronor in the corresponding period 2007 for the Volvo group, excluding the Ford-owned car division.

Net sales were up 13 per cent to 80.4 billion kronor, compared to 71 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2007 while net income increased 28 per cent to 5.1 billion kronor.