BMW Group has adjusted its outlook to difficult market conditions with the risk provision expense increased to 695 mln euros, an expense of 107 mln euros for personnel measures, higher raw material costs, negative market environment in the second half of the year and an improvement at operating level in the first half of year.

CNP Assurances, the leading personal insurer in France, with operations in the rest of Europe and in South America, has announced its premium income figures for the second quarter and first half of 2008, whereby new money declined 13.9% year-on-year in the second quarter, marking a slight improvement compared with the 19.1% decline in the

Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 by more than 3-to-1 in Japan in July, a game magazine publisher said. Nintendo sold 171,851 units of the Wii in the four weeks ending July 27, compared with 54,823 units of the PS3, Enterbrain said on Friday. In the handheld game market,

U.S. federal agents have been given new powers to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold then for unspecified periods the Washington Post reported on Friday. Under recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security policies, such seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing, the newspaper said, quoting policies issued

Exxon Mobil Corp broke its own record for the highest-ever quarterly profit for a U.S. company on Thursday, but it was lower than Wall Street expected largely due to lost output from Venezuela and Nigeria and lower yields from some oil fields. The average price of a barrel of oil was slightly less than $125

British Airways posted a fall of 88% in first quarter profit and said the trading environment was the worst the industry has ever faced as high oil prices, the economic slowdown and weak consumer confidence hit. The British carrier reduced its annual revenue target to 3% from 4% previously and said it would raise ticket

General Motors Corp investors expect the No. 1 U.S. automaker to post a steep second-quarter loss on Friday, reflecting the pressure from a deepening downturn in the U.S. auto industry. GMAC LLC, GM's former financing arm, on Thursday posted a $2.48 bln loss, including a $716 mln write-down on leases from the slumping value of

European shares were down in early trade on Friday, tracking hefty losses in global equities and weighed down further by a profit warning from carmaker BMW and a 55-percent tumble in Irish drugmaker Elan. By 0713 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares fell 0.7% to 1,171.58. Carmakers were among the biggest losers