Shareholders in Dana Petroleum are attempting to force the UK-based oil explorer to open takeover talks with South Korean suitor Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), according to reports.

The Financial Times has reported that Schroders, Dana's biggest shareholder with a 13 per cent stake, has urged its board to engage with KNOC over its £1.67 billion indicative offer.

Reporting its second quarter 2010 results today, Ford Motor Company announced the company’s best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2004, with each of its major business operations around the world recording improved profits.

The company posted net income of $2.6 billion (61 cents per share), an improvement of $338 million over the second quarter of 2009.

Johnson Controls, a global technology and industrial leader, has reported a 22 percent increase in revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, with higher sales in each of its three business segments.

Net income in the quarter ended June 30 rose to $418 million (61 cents per share), up from $163 million (26 cents per share), in the same period last year. Revenue rose 22 percent to $8.54 billion. The company also said earnings for fiscal 2010 are expected to be at the high end of its previously disclosed guidance.

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.