Lowe's Cos., the nation's second biggest home improvement chain, said Monday that its first-quarter profit fell 22 percent, but exceeded Wall Street expectations.  Profit dropped to $476 million, or 32 cents a share, from $607 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier. Sales in the three months ended May 1 were $11.8 billion, the company said today in a statement. Analysts had projected profit of 26 cents on sales of $11.6 billion, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

German car giant Volkswagen has said it is suspending talks with Porsche after agreeing to a merger last week, urging the luxury car maker to decrease its debt.┬á At the heart of the dispute is some Ôé¼9 billion in net debt that Porsche ÔÇö at the time Germany's most successful car maker ÔÇö has racked up while it attempted to increase its stake in VW.┬á Porsche built a 51 percent stake in Volkswagen, and appeared to be in the driver's seat, but as auto markets turned down and credit tightened, Porsche moved instead to merge operations with Volkswagen and forge a 10 bran

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has announced flat profits of $3.02 billion and slightly lower sales of $93.5 billion, down from $94 billion, for the first three months of this year compared with a year ago.   For the current quarter, the world's biggest retailer forecast results roughly in line with analysts' expectations as it faces tough comparisons with a year ago, when it got a boost from customers spending tax rebate cash in its stores.  "We're pleased to report that fiscal year 2010 is off to a very good start," said Wal-Mart chief executive Mike Duke.

The worldÔÇÖs second-largest brewer, SABMiller has reported a 9 percent fall in annual profits to $2.96 billion, despite putting up the prices of its beers in response to rising commodity costs, and said it plans to scale back investment. ┬á The company's beer brands include Peroni, Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell and Miller Lite. ┬á London-based SABMiller said it is looking to trim expenses ÔÇ£country by countryÔÇØ as it stops price increases in weaker markets such as South Africa and Colombia.

The worldÔÇÖs second-largest brewer, SABMiller has reported a 9 percent fall in annual profits to $2.96 billion, despite putting up the prices of its beers in response to rising commodity costs, and said it plans to scale back investment. ┬á The company's beer brands include Peroni, Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell and Miller Lite. ┬á London-based SABMiller said it is looking to trim expenses ÔÇ£country by countryÔÇØ as it stops price increases in weaker markets such as South Africa and Colombia.

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Europe's largest energy firm, E.On, has reported an 18 percent increase in quarterly profits thanks to a revenue growth in Italy and Spain, offsetting a recent decline in the UK. ┬á E.OnÔÇÖs net profit of 2.5 billion euros in January to March is up from 2.1 billion euros last year. ┬á The German firm said that the recession had hit UK electricity usage, with sales falling 8 percent compared to the same period last year, but revenue was still boosted by the opening of new power stations in Italy and Spain.

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