De Beers, the name synonymous with diamonds, reported increased earnings for the six months ended June 30, with both sales volumes and prices increasing significantly following an increase in demand for rough diamonds.

In a statement released today, De Beers reported net earnings of $301 million, up from $3 million a year ago. Production increased by 133 percent to 15.4 million carats and sales of rough diamonds were up 84 percent to $2.6 billion.

UK-based snack food manufacturer United Biscuits, whose brands include McVitie's, Jacob’s and KP Nuts, is to be put up for sale by its private equity owners, Blackstone and PAI Partners.

A number of banks, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, are understood to be in competition to handle the sale, which is likely to begin in the autumn.

For an unprecedented third year in a row, Lockheed Martin was named Top-Performing Company in the "Revenues Greater than $20 Billion" category by AVIATION WEEK.

Companies were rated in several categories that relate to operational excellence in program management, budget and schedule discipline, risk management, fair-price acquisitions, scale and common process, supplier innovation and operational excellence.

Apple has announced record revenue of $15.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion for the third quarter ended 26 June 2010. International sales accounted for 52 percent of the quarter’s revenue. In the same quarter last year revenue amounted to $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit was $1.83 billion.

Orders for new aircraft are flying in at the biennial Farnborough International Airshow, the largest of its kind in the world, and an event at which aerospace companies traditionally make major announcements.

After spending $11 billion on Airbus A380s at last month's Berlin Airshow, Emirates led the way at Farnborough with an order for 30 Boeing 777 aircraft worth £5.9 billion ($9.1 billion). The airline was originally expected to order only twenty.

Oil field services provider Halliburton reported an 83 percent rise in profits for the second quarter, despite the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks to an increase in land-based drilling activity in North America and improved business abroad, net income came in at $480 million (53 cents a share) for the three months April through June, compared with $262 million (29 cents a share) in the same quarter last year. The results beat analysts' expectations by about 15 cents.

Spanish telecoms provider Telefónica has withdrawn its bid to acquire a further €7.15 billion stake in Brazil’s leading cell phone company, Vivo, currently owned by Portugal Telecom.

Telefónica and Portugal Telecom each own 50 per cent of Brasilcel, a Dutch registered holding company which owns 60 per cent of Vivo. Brasilcel is also listed on the Brazilian stock market, where the remaining 40 percent of its stock is publicly traded.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner landed at Farnborough in the UK Sunday for its first appearance at an international air show. “This is the first time we've had a new airplane at an air show since the early 1990s," said Jim Albaugh, head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

The 787 Dreamliner is considered a revolutionary new aircraft, as it is largely built from light-weight composite material. It is now two years behind schedule, however, after delays caused by a series of hitches, and rival Airbus has been catching up with its new model, the A 350.

For the first time since 1997, domestic auto brands, collectively, have surpassed import brands as a whole in vehicle appeal, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study just released.