Turin, Italy - Italian industrial group Fiat reported Wednesday a 3-per-cent rise in second-quarter profit over the previous year - a performance sustained by an increase of sales in its auto division including strong growth in the Brazilian market.

Net profit before minority interests totalled 646 million euros (1.02 billion dollars) from 627 million euros for the same period last year, the Turin-based company said in a statement.

Sales rose by nearly 12 per cent to 17 billion euros, it said.

The company's main auto division, which makes Fiat branded models - including the Punto, Bravo and Fiat 500 - as well as Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati and Ferrari, recorded a 14-per-cent climb in sales to 8.4 billion euros.

Steel authority of India limited (SAIL), country’s largest steel producer, recently posted a profit of Rs 1,835 crore for the quarter ended June 30.

The company has registered a growth of 20.3 % over corresponding period of the prvious financial year. In the first quarter of fiscal 2007-08, SAIL has a net profit of Rs 1,525.12 crore.

From Rs 8,346.40 crore in the year-ago period, the company’s total income has rose by 36.85 % bringing it up to Rs 11,421.99 crore in the latest quarter.

Despite of the burden of Rs 1,434 crore because of higher costs of coal, freight, ferro-alloys, fuels and maintaining a constant price line during May-June period, the company still showed improvement in its financial performance.

The net profit of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories fell down by 26 per cent in Q1 of the exiting fiscal. This fall is noticed due to increase in selling and general and administrative expenses suffered by company for the period of Q1.

The net profit of the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki fell down by 6.75 percent for the first quarter ended June 2008. This fall in the profit is due to rising cost of raw materials, a change in accounting norms and a loss from derivative instruments. Maruti reported a net loss of Rs13.90 crore from derivative instruments.

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the country's largest steel producing company, has posted a 20.32% jump in its net profit for the April-June quarter, driven by higher sales volumes, increased

Berlin - Despite rising gas prices, Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen AG's global sales climbed by 5.8 per cent in the first six months of the year, powered ahead by surging demand in emerging markets.

The rise in VW's worldwide deliveries to 3.27 million was the highest figure reached by the carmaker during the first six months of the year but warned world car markets were facing tougher conditions.

The increase during the first six months of the year followed a 23.2-per-cent jump in sales in China along with a 21.8-per-cent rise in Brazil and an 18.7-per-cent increase in Central and Eastern Europe's booming car markets.