France Telecom-Orange and Publicis Groupe have partnered with Iris Capital Management to invest in technology companies, it has been announced.

Orange said the partnership would create one of Europe’s premier venture capital investors in the digital economy. Together, Orange and Publicis Groupe will contribute €150 million to the initiative; when added to Iris’ pre-existing funding commitments from investors, this will result in a total investment capacity of more than €300 million.

The latest figures from the US Department of Labor and the Commerce Department give rise to optimism for the recovery of the US economy.

The Labor Department has reported an increase of 233,000 private sector jobs last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 8.3 percent, its lowest level in nearly three years.

The number of new jobs being created has been consistently above 200,000 in each of the past three months, fuelling hopes that the US recovery is gathering pace.

UK engineering giant GKN is said to be at advanced stages of talks to buy the aerospace unit of Volvo.

According to a report in the UK’s Sunday Times, GKN could pay up to £800 million for Volvo Aero, which manufactures aircraft engines and components.

GKN has plants in Bristol and Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Its aerospace business, which manufactures aircraft components, is its second biggest division, with sales last year of £1.5 billion.

Part of GKN’s strategy is to expand in aerospace.

US pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc. today announced plans to build a new corporate headquarters near its current location in the Southpointe Office Park in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

"Mylan's global operations have experienced transformational and phenomenal growth over the last five years, and we expect this growth will only continue in the years to come,” said Mylan executive chairman Robert J. Coury.

Dutch construction firm Ballast Nedam has reported a strong performance in its 2011 results, released today.

The company reported operating profits of €19 million, with net profits of €9 million on revenues of €1.4 billion.

Ballast Nedam said it performed well considering the bleak market conditions, increasing competition and price pressure, a situation it said would persist over the coming years.

Excellent results were achieved on several large multi-year projects and in the niche markets, the company said.

Netherlands-based EADS, the owner of Airbus, has today reported better-than-expected results for the full year 2011.

Despite what it called a “volatile macro-economic context”, in 2011 EADS continued to grow and to improve financial performance, particularly thanks to commercial momentum backed by strong air traffic figures.

EADS’ order book in 2011 stood at a record €541 billion; and revenues amounted to €49.1 billion, up seven per cent from a year earlier.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) in partnership with Auburn University released the third annual State of the Retail Supply Chain Report today.

The report findings reveal a shift by retailers and supply chain management (SCM) executives from cost cutting to growth. The report also places emphasis on multichannel retailing and explores how retailers are working to meet the increased consumer demand for continual access to products from any channel.

Statistics show that companies that export tend to do better at home. Sheila Khatri, president of Moti International, has some valuable advice for companies thinking of exporting services to India.

Recently, I was enjoying a café latte with a university professor who is a thought-leader in a cutting-edge field useful to vaccine development. Not only is he smart with a Ph.D., having established his biotechnology company five years ago, he’s also entrepreneurial.