LABU (Feb 8): AkzoNobel ended 2011 by launching a Dulux SHE@School, a Health, Safety and Environmental programme for Primary School community at Sekolah Kebangsaan Labu Batu 10, in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

KUANTAN (Feb 8): The Pahang government has spent RM3.37mil allocation from Tourism Ministry to repair and upgrade facilities at Teluk Chempedak beach here.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Kimlun Corp Bhd's unit SPC Industries Sdn Bhd has been appointed by Mass Rapid Transit Corp Sdn Bhd to supply RM223.18 million worth of segmental box girders (SBG) to certain packages of the Mass Rapid Transit Lembah Kelang project.

In a statement on Wednesday, Kimlun said the supply of the SBG for the Sungai Buloh-Kajang range was for about 40 months.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Property-based company Hua Yang Bhd is confident that net profit for the current year ending March 31, 2012, would be higher than the consensus of RM42 million.

"The consensus for our net profit is RM42 million. I think we should do better than that. It will be a strong year for us," its chief executive officer Ho Wen Yan told Bernama.

HONG KONG (Feb 8): Prices of car parking spaces in Hong Kong are expected to show slower growth this year, and may fall, as global economic uncertainty stems the sharp rises recorded last year.

HONG KONG (Feb 8): Disputes over the valuations placed on old industrial buildings are likely to prove an obstruction to attempts by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to redevelop them, analysts say.

HONG KONG (Feb 8): While Hong Kong developers lure home buyers with pricey kitchens and bathrooms, a growing number of mainland developers are returning to low-cost basics.

For some, with their cash flows squeezed and loans unavailable, that means building "bare shell" flats in a bid to cut costs and put cheaper homes on the market to promote quick sales.

ZURICH (Feb 8): An index of Swiss real estate hit its highest level in nearly 20 years, highlighting the danger of the housing market overheating as record-low interest rates prompt an influx into property.

HONG KONG (Feb 8): On the interior design scene, brothers are doing it for themselves. Designers whose bent was at one time skewed towards the female vote are increasingly parading their maleness in interiors and home-product design.

HONG KONG (Feb 8): SOHO China, a real estate developer that concentrates on projects in Beijing and Shanghai, said on Wednesday it had set its sales target for 2012 at 23 billion yuan (RM10.97 billion).