Paris - French pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi-Aventis said Wednesday it had surpassed expectations by posting profits of 7.186 billion euros (9.3 billion dollars) for last year, up 3.2 per cent on 2007.

Turnover rose by 3.7 per cent, to 27.568 billion euros, with sales in the United States increasing by more than 5 per cent, to 8.61 billion euros, the company said in a press statement.

New Sanofi-Aventis head Chris Viehbacher said in Paris that the firm would try to take advantage of its good results by expanding via the acquisition of small and mid-sized companies.

Paris - French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said Wednesday that it lost 343 million euros (444 million dollars) in 2008, after registering a profit of 885 million euros the previous year.

Badly hit by the economic crisis, which forced the company to close down production in the fourth quarter, Peugeot also saw its turnover fall by 7.4 per cent last year, to
54.356 billion euros.

Paris  - After a more pessimistic assessment of economic prospects by the International Monetary Fund, the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday again revised downward global oil demand for 2009.

"Global oil demand is now projected at 84.7 mb/d (million barrels per day) in 2009," the IEA said in its Monthly Oil Report issued in Paris.

This figure is 1.1 per cent lower than the oil demand for last year and 570,000 barrels per day lower than the IEA's previous forecast for 2009, which was issued in January.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has tried to ease British irritation over comments he made regarding Prime Minister Gordon Brown's strategy for fighting the economic crisis, Sarkozy's office said.

"The Elysee Palace has contacted Downing Street to assure Prime Minister Brown that President Sarkozy deplored the manner in which his comments on the British economy were reported in Britain," Sarkozy's office said in a statement.

Paris  - A powerful storm packing winds of over 140 kilometres per hour cut power to some 600,000 households in western and northern France and shut the two main airports serving the city of Paris, French media reported Tuesday.

A spokesman for the state-owned utility EDF said current was being gradually restored Tuesday in the west of the country, which bore the brunt of the storm.

The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) had banned take-offs and landings at Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports beginning at 1900 GMT on Monday.

As a result, the carrier Air France cancelled more than 200 flights. Some 3,000 passengers spent the night in hotels waiting for the airports to reopen.

Paris - The two main airports of the French capital Paris were closed late Monday after the national weather service forecast the arrival of a storm packing heavy rains and winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour (kph).

The ban imposed by the French Civil Aviation Agency (DGAC) on flights landing at and taking off from Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports was to be enforced at 1900 GMT and remain in effect until at least 0900 GMT Tuesday.