FRANKFURT (Reuters) – SMA Solar, Germany’s top solar company by market value, expects its operating margin to drop next year as it warned that falling subsidies for solar power could cause the market to shrink.

Demand for solar products has been spiking in Germany ahead of expected subsidy cuts there, prompting SMA Solar to raise its 2010 outlook for the second time since July. Rivals Q-Cells and Centrotherm also hiked their sales forecasts last month.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A new set of banking rules expected to be finalised over the weekend will not be as tough as feared by some market participants, a BlackRock fund manager said, but cautioned about the sector’s long-term momentum.

Regulators and central bank officials are expected to wrap up discussions about new capital rules for the financial sector as soon as this weekend, German Bundesbank President Axel Weber said on Wednesday.

FRANKFURT, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom AG
(DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Europe’s biggest telecoms group by sales, has
delivered a stable if uninspiring stock performance, but its
shares may suffer from uncertainty over the future of its U.S.
operations.

T-Mobile USA, once the group’s cash cow, has been struggling
with customer losses and margin pressure. It is a distant fourth
in the U.S. market behind AT&T (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Verizon (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sprint
Nextel (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A new Union Investment fund is aiming for rapid expansion to up to half a billion euros as it banks on the consumption boom in market behemoths China and India, its manager told Reuters in an interview.

China and India together account for more than a third of the world’s population. Analysts expect growing middle class prosperity to boost spending on consumer goods.

FRANKFURT, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Shares in Germany’s utilities
E.ON (EONGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) climbed on hopes for billions
of euros of extra profits from a decision to extend the
lifespans of nuclear power plants in Europe’s biggest economy.
Late on Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition
agreed that the 17 nuclear power plants operating in Germany
would get approval to operate longer depending on their age,
giving each power plant an average extension of about 12 years.
[ID:nLDE6840EZ]

Nuclear power stations are the most profitable large-scale
power plants once building costs are paid off, as the fuel is
cheaper than fossil fuels, companies don’t need carbon
certificates and don’t have to fully insure them.
“Our first reaction is positive because the extension is
longer than we expected,” said Merck Finck analyst Theo Kitz.

FRANKFURT, Aug 23 (Reuters) – German blue-chip Beiersdorf
(BEIG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) failed to inspire investors when it offered a mixed
bag of results this month and only confirmed its vague 2010
outlook of sales growing faster than the market. [ID:nLDE6731N3]

The market is divided whether the maker of Nivea skin care
products and Labello lip balm makes a good investment. Thirteen
out of 40 analysts rate it “buy”, 12 “sell”, while the remaining
15 have a “hold” rating, Thomson Reuters StarMine shows.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The explosion in smartphone gaming has traditional console makers in a quandary: join the mobile trend and risk cannibalizing your business or hope the rich, home video gaming experience will always trump convenience on the move.

The three big console hardware makers, Nintendo (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sony (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), have been struggling to lure new customers and retain old ones.

FRANKFURT, Aug 19 (Reuters) – The explosion in smartphone
gaming has traditional console makers in a quandary: join the
mobile trend and risk cannibalising your business or hope the
rich, home video gaming experience will always trump convenience
on the move.

The three big console hardware makers, Nintendo (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz),
Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sony (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), have been struggling to
lure new customers and retain old ones.

LOS ANGELES/COLOGNE, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Sony Corp’s
(6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Playstation 3 will feature higher-capacity hard drives
in North America this fall to let consumers download more games
and entertainment, the company said on Tuesday.

The game console will come with about 33 percent more
storage capacity than previous versions, but at least one
analyst said that it is not likely to be a major selling point
for consumers.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The mobile revolution is forcing change in traditional gaming, the chief operating officer of Electronic Arts (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said, as games on mobile phones and social network sites become a major industry trigger.

“The days when people were just putting a CD in a console are over. The industry is changing and I think the CD can be a starting point,” John Schappert told Reuters in an interview ahead of Gamescom, Europe’s biggest video games trade fair.