BRIEFS

PMP's $50m Sensis deal

The printing and distribution company PMP Limited says it has secured a contract to print the Yellow Pages and White Pages directories for the Telstra unit Sensis. The seven-year agreement was worth an estimated $50 million in revenue in the first year, said PMP, which lost its chief executive Brian Evans, its big customer Coles and $27.2 million last financial year after admitting to having misled some customers over its junk mail delivery.

BANK BONUSES

Citigroup avoids clash

Citigroup is letting go of its $US100 million man, Andrew Hall, and the lucrative energy trading business he ran, after Washington threatened a showdown over his nine-figure bonus. The bank handed its energy trading operation Phibro to Occidental Petroleum last week, averting one of the most closely watched clashes between a Wall Street firm and the Obama Administration over executive pay. The bonuses have also been a political nightmare for Citigroup, in which the government took a nearly 34 per cent stake after injecting $US45 billion taxpayer money.

RETAIL

Woolies offer extended

Woolworths has extended the deadline in its takeover offer for the local hardware group Danks Holdings from October 20 to November 19. Carboxy Pty, a Woolworths subsidiary being used to grab control of Danks, has raised its stake in Danks to 89.16 per cent. In August Woolworths began a $87.6 million takeover bid for Danks as part of its push into the Australian hardware industry that included a joint venture with the US hardware giant Lowe's.

IRON ORE

China's import boom

Iron ore imports by China, the world's largest buyer, have exceeded real demand by 50 million metric tonnes this year, the country's steel association says. The recent gains in spot iron ore prices were "speculative," said Luo Bingsheng, vice-chairman of the China Iron & Steel Association.