BRIEFS

FUEL

Petrol 'steady'

Petrol prices are expected to stabilise for a while, having fallen by 3¢ a litre on average in the past week, to a national average of 141.9¢, Commonwealth Securities economists say.

HEALTHCARE

Hills sells up

Hills Holdings is selling its healthcare equipment business. The troubled manufacturing company, famous for the Hills Hoist, is selling the Perth business, for an undisclosed sum, to K Care, which is owned by a management team and a private equity firm, Anacacia Capital. The sale comes as Hills undertakes a restructure under its new managing director, Ted Pretty. The company is expected to make hundreds of workers redundant in the restructure.

MINING

Perseus moves

Mark Calderwood has stepped down as managing director of the gold producer Perseus Mining. He will be replaced by his chief financial officer, Jeff Quartermaine. Mr Calderwood has held the position since Perseus listed in 2004. He will stay with the company in a "part-time technical role". He owns almost 1 per cent of the company.

BANKING

CEO resigns

Britain's Barclays bank has moved swiftly to part company with a senior executive after investigators alleged that he had shredded a critical analysis of the maverick culture and bullying at the flagship Barclays Wealth business. Andrew Tinney, chief operating officer at the £180 billion ($271 billion) business, resigned after an inquiry into the matter. Barclays said he left without a payout. His pay and perks package is estimated to have been worth £4 million a year.

TECHNOLOGY

Huawei up

Huawei's Australian operation recorded a revenue surge of 50 per cent last year, despite Canberra's unofficial ban on its participation in the national broadband network. Its Chinese parent company said on Monday that its global revenue rose by more than 8 per cent and its revenue by a third.