Business news with words annual+people+plans. 5 news.

Nifty Nut House will expand its operation on North St. Francis in 2008, starting with a new Internet site and continuing with facilities expansion that should be complete in a year. Owner Steve Jahn has finalized plans for a larger retail store and manufacturing facility at the current 537 N. St. Francis location, with completion planned before the 2008 Christmas season. He has purchased land and a vacant building on the south side of the St. Francis lot for future expansion, including parking. Jahn is trying to plan for the next decade for his nuts and candy business, which has a 10 to 15 percent annual sales growth. "People only remember mistakes, so I've been fairly cautious with our growth," he said.

GENERAL Motors Corp is considering increasing interest rates for car loans in China as part of moves to offset mounting expenses. GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance Co, a local auto financing tie-up of GMAC, the auto financing business of GM, plans to raise the lending rate at the same pace of the benchmark increase offered by People's Bank of China for previous contractors, industry sources said. For new clients, the rate will be even higher, the source said, adding details would be announced later. China's central bank yesterday raised the interest rate for the sixth time this year by adding a 0.09-percentage point on the benchmark one-to-three year lending rate to 7.56 percent and 7.74 percent for three-to-five year loans. GMAC-SAIC now offered annual car loans for one-to-three year contacts at 11.38 percent while 11.6 percent was capped for a three-to-five year loan. It would be the third time GMAC has raised the interest rate this year following a series of tightened monetary

POLIMEX-MOSTOSTAL SA, Poland's biggest construction company, plans to hire "several thousand" new workers next year to meet demand for new bridges and factories, Chief Executive Officer Konrad Jaskola said. "I have an unlimited need for people," Jaskola said in an interview with Bloomberg News yesterday at the company's Warsaw headquarters. Polimex already increased its workforce by 50 percent to about 13,000 this year, he said. Construction in Poland rose 20 percent in the first nine months of 2007 as the economy grew at an annual pace of 6.7 percent. Polimex needs to offer higher salaries to engineers and managers as skilled workers move abroad and local competition increases, Jaskola said. The company, which is building a desulphurization plant for Electrabel SA in Poland as well as sports halls, roads and bridges, reported a 19 percent gain in third-quarter profit to 21.6 million zloty (US$8.7 million). Sales increased by 41 percent to 934.8 million

SONEPAR SA offered to buy Hagemeyer NV for 2.51 billion euros (US$3.5 billion) to become the world's largest distributor of electrical sockets and switches. Closely held Sonepar bid 4.25 euros a share in cash and invited the board of the Naarden, Netherlands-based company to talks, according to a statement. The proposal is two percent higher than Hagemeyer's closing price on Monday. The stock traded as high as 4.53 euros in Amsterdam. Hagemeyer, founded in 1900 as a Dutch Indies trading company, would lift Paris-based Sonepar's revenue by two-thirds and push it ahead of market leader Rexel SA, Bloomberg News said. Shares of Hagemeyer, which returned to profit last year after job cuts and asset sales, are up 53 percent since September 28, on speculation about a possible offer from Rexel. "The offer is attractive," Martijn den Drijver, an Amsterdam-based analyst at SNS Securities, wrote in a note to investors yesterday. "We believe that Hagemeyer will not accept the bid immediately and may try to obtain a higher price." Paris-based Sonepar made its intentions known to Hagemeyer on Monday evening and the Dutch company said it's now deciding how to respond. Rexel spokeswoman Penelope Linage declined to comment on whether a counter bid is planned. Hagemeyer was trading at 4.48 euros as of 10:21am in Amsterdam, an advance of 7.7 percent. Hagemeyer would be Sonepar's second major acquisition in the Netherlands. Founded in 1969 by the Coisne and Lambert families, which still own the company, it bought Otra NV in 1982 to double its size. Sonepar's revenue totaled 9.45 billion euros last year. Hagemeyer's switches and sockets are sold to construction companies as well as industrial customers, including BASF AG, the world's largest chemicals maker, and German engineer Siemens AG. Manufacturers uses its power-safety equipment to upgrade and maintain factories. The company employed 17,519 people at the end of 2006. The management has plans to open distribution centers in Madrid and Barcelona to tap demand in Spain's construction market. Sonepar, which distributes gear in 29 countries and counts 23,000 employees, made 14 acquisitions in the first half, adding more than 500 million euros in revenue. Annual sales have grown above 10 percent over the last 20 years. "Sonepar intends to combine the qualities of both Hagemeyer and Sonepar management," the France-based company said.

3COM Corp, the money-losing computer networking equipment maker that agreed to be taken over by Bain Capital LLC, forecast yesterday it will be profitable in about four years, helped by demand in China and India. The company will earn a profit "around" 2011 as sales rise about 60 percent from last year to US$2 billion, said Jay Zager, chief financial officer of the Massachusetts-based company. 3Com plans to target emerging markets such as India, the world's fastest-growing major telecommunications market, and the Middle East, Zager said. The strategy may build on the success of 3Com's former venture in China with Huawei Technologies Inc, Bain's partner in the US$2.2 billion bid to buy the United States company. "The trick is to offer more products," Zager said. "We're going to focus on emerging markets like India and the Middle East, places where there's going to be greater annual growth." 3Com, which competes against leader Cisco in the US$16-billion global market for network switches, will post an operating profit in the year ending in May 2008, Zager said, declining to specify a figure. The average of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News is for a US$50.7 million profit. The purchase will lead to some job cuts at the research and development, supply-chain and information technology units of the company, which employs 6,000 people, Zager said, without providing a figure. Shenzhen-based Huawei will hold a 16.5 percent stake as part of the acquisition, scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2008. Bain said last week Huawei's involvement won't be a threat to US national security and the company has voluntarily submitted the acquisition agreement for a review by the US Committee on Foreign Investment.