REYKJAVIK/AMSTERDAM, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Iceland’s business
lobby said on Tuesday it had seen the outline of a draft deal on
repaying Britain and the Netherlands, which it said was much
improved from one rejected by voters in March.

The head of the business lobby spoke after an Icelandic
television station reported that a draft deal had been reached
which would involve Iceland repaying 40-60 billion Icelandic
crowns ($356-533 million) to the British and Dutch.

AMSTERDAM/LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Dutch publisher Wolters
Kluwer (WLSNc.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to buy Reed Elsevier’s (REL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
(ELSN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Lexis Nexis Deutschland, strengthening its leading
position in German legal services with an online platform.

The parties did not disclose financial terms for the sale of
the business, which has more than 200 employees and is based in
the northern city of Muenster. Reed will retain Lexis Nexis’s
German business information activities, with about 20 staff.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Dutch engineering consultancy
Arcadis (ARDS.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Dutch construction company Grontmij
(GRONc.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Thursday warned that proposed government spending
cuts could hurt growth over the next couple of years.

Arcadis, which has a war chest of 100 million euros ($138
million), said it would depend more on acquisitions to drive
sales growth and cut its target for annual sales growth for
existing operations to 5-7 percent, from 7.5 percent previously,
citing the impact of government austerity measures.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Dutch biotech firm Crucell
(CRCL.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the subject of a cash offer by Johnson & Johnson,
reported a third-quarter loss as it took a charge related to
production problems of vaccines at a South Korean plant.

The group now sees full-year revenues in line with last year
but expects a 2010 operating loss of 20-25 million euros
($27.8-$34.8 million).

AMSTERDAM, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Dutch builder Royal BAM Group
(BAMN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it had taken a 127 million euro
($179.6 million) impairment charge because of an increasingly
gloomy Dutch housing market and now expects to break even this
year.
The largest Dutch construction group said the domestic
residential market showed no signs of recovery in recent months
as the number of projects that have been postponed or
discontinued continued to increase.

BAM said it would take an impairment charge for property
positions at its Dutch property development firm AM and that it
expects AM to report a full-year operating loss of 50 million
euros.

AMSTERDAM, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Dutch chemicals group DSM
(DSMN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported third-quarter operating profit at the low end
of estimates, ending a run of positive earnings surprises, as
margins came under pressure from rising raw materials prices.

DSM, which supplies products to the cyclical electronics and
automotive markets, said its margins came under pressure because
of a time lag in passing on higher raw materials costs,
particularly at its engineering plastics and resins business.

FRANKFURT/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Strong results from Bayer(BAYGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Dow Chemical(DOW.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and BASF(BASFn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday show that demand for chemicals continues to improve across the globe, a positive sign for the broader economy.

BASF, the world’s largest chemical maker, and Bayer both received a boost from the recovering auto industry while peer Solvay struggled with its reliance on the anemic construction sector.

FRANKFURT/AMSTERDAM, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Chemical makers
Bayer (BAYGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BASF (BASFn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) received a boost from the
recovering auto industry while peer Solvay (SOLB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) struggled
with its reliance on the anaemic construction sector.
Bayer’s third-quarter underlying earnings beat forecasts on
rebounding demand for its plastics – used in car head and tail
lights – but were tarnished by looming damages from a case
involving U.S. rice farmers. [ID:nLDE69L14P]

BASF, which last week predicted a gain in 2010 operating
profit by at least two thirds, said quarterly net income shot to
1.2 billion euros ($1.66 billion) from 237 million a year ago.

DUSSELDORF (Reuters) – Belgian chemicals group Solvay (SOLB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is seeking bolt-on deals while it hunts for a major acquisition that would provide innovation and growth in emerging markets, its plastics chief said.

Solvay sold its drugs unit in February for 4.5 billion euros ($6.3 billion) but has since shed little light on its hunt for a transformational deal that would spur earnings growth.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch court on Friday approved a request from anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders to have new judges for his trial on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims, forcing the court to start the case again.

Wilders’ lawyer had asked the court to replace the current judges, raising concerns about bias after they did not immediately approve a request to hear an expert witness.