Despite a slight slowdown in Chinese growth, Coca-Cola’s profits increased by four percent compared to 2011, with Asia continuing to represent a key component of the firm’s success.

Particular areas of substantial growth during this period have included Thailand, where sales have jumped by 19 percent, and India, which has experienced a 15 percent rise. This growth comes after the company has already unveiled plans to increase its investment in the region in a bid to boost its market share.

Rising by 1.1 percent, sales were driven by the increased purchase of electronic goods, cars and petrol. With August’s retail sales figures also being revised up to 1.2 percent, the increases in both months represent the largest rises seen since October 2010.

Power generation and temperature control leader Aggreko has been called in to supply power to Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) for White Cement, one of the Emirate’s leading producers of high quality white cement.

The cement company called Aggreko when one of its gas turbines failed and standby power had been shut down for annual maintenance, causing a significant reduction in capacity.

RAK Co. for White Cement produces a specially blended white cement dust that is in high demand and is supplied all over the GCC - around 450,000 tonnes of cement a year.

The latest release of customs data shows China’s exports grew 9.9 percent compared to last year and by 2.7 percent compared to the month of August. At the same time the country’s import figures have shown a growth of 2.4 percent following three consecutive months of declines.

According to the data, China’s exports to the US increased at their fastest pace in three months, while copper imports rose to a four month high. Meanwhile, purchases of iron ore were the biggest since January 2011.

This ‘news story’ is pure PR, but it’s so pure in its originality that I couldn’t resist posting it on a Sunday when nothing more worthy has presented itself [ed].

“It's that time of the year again,” says Mark Hall, “when man flu strikes hard at the very heart of masculinity.”

The family’s offer to buy back its assets from the company for an estimated $1.4 billion has sent its shares rocketing by nearly 40 percent.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Bumi is a leading thermal coal group with interest in the largest coal producing assets in Indonesia. Reaction to the Bakrie family proposal has been overwhelmingly positive with analysts claiming it to be good news for Bumi’s shareholders.

According to said figures, the 13.8 million units shipped by the company in the third quarter of 2012 topped the 13.55 million shipped by Hewlett-Packard.

What the figures also show is that Lenovo was the only PC maker, among the world’s top five producers, to have actually increased its shipments to the US during the third quarter. This is despite global demand for PC’s being hit by the growing popularity of tablet devices.

Businesses that export grow by almost a third in just two years, according to new research from Barclays.

Businesses generate an average growth of 30 per cent after exporting for just two years, according to new research from Barclays.

A lighthearted look at our obsession with busyness from our competitive strategy analyst Richard Telofski.

Busy is as busy does.

You're in business. I'm in business.

And you're busy. I'm busy, as well. We're all busy. How do I know? Just ask someone in business the question, "Do you have some time for blah, blah, blah?" and what is the answer you will likely receive?

"Sorry, I'm busy."

You know that will be the response even before you pose your question. And why do you know that?