Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell by 1.46 dollars Tuesday, according OPEC data from Wednesday, amid indications that the

Vienna - Austria's Erste Bank on Wednesday reported a 12.5 per cent increase in net profits to 636.6 million euros (993.1 million dollars) for the first half of 2008.

Strong performances of subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as record operating income in the second quarter contributed to the growth, the retail bank said.

Operating income rose 17.2 per cent to 3.51 billion euros in the first six months of 2008, from 2.99 million euros last year.

Paris/Amsterdam - European aerospace giant EADS on Wednesday reported that its profits in the first half of 2008 had risen more than five-fold, to 403 million euros (635 million dollars), compared to the same period in 2007.

Turnover for the period stood at 19.74 billion euros, up by 7.5 per cent over the first half of last year, EADS said in a press statement.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and exceptionals (EBITDA) rose by 70 per cent, to 1.94 billion euros.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned energy group Vattenfall posted higher operating profits for the second-quarter of 2008, boosted by its operations in the Nordic region, the group said Wednesday.

Operating profit before tax and interest was 6.3 billion kronor (1 billion dollars), up 11 per cent on the corresponding business period in 2007.

Second-quarter turnover increased by 9.9 per cent to 35.4 billion kronor.

Vattenfall Chief Executive Lars G Josefsson said the group's Nordic Business unit contributed to the increased operating profit.

Higher electricity prices on the local electricity market in the Nordic region contributed to the profits.

Frankfurt - Germany's Postbank AG reported Wednesday a 21 per cent drop in second-quarter earnings on the back of writedowns stemming from the global financial crisis.

Net income dropped to 119 million euros (186 million dollars) from 151 million euros a year ago after Postbank booked write downs totalling 143 million euros.

Postbank's parent, the German mail and logistics group Deutsche Post AG, is considering selling off the group later this year amid speculation that it could eventually form part of a new financial powerhouse in Germany.

Berlin - German chemicals and pharmaceuticals concern Bayer Wednesday raised its forecast for sales over 2008, following an unexpectedly strong second quarter in which the Crop Science division performed strongly.

"The successful first half of 2008 has strengthened our confidence for the full year," company chairman Werner Wenning said. "We now plan to increase group sales by more than 5 per cent on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis."

The company had previously set 5 per cent as the target.

"We are particularly pleased at the strong performance of Bayer Crop Science and are again raising our full-year guidance for this subgroup," Wenning said.