AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – When Dutch mail firm PostNL NV (PTNL.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reports results on Monday it will be its comments on a multi-billion euro bid situation that are most likely to grab investors’ attention.

PostNL is the biggest single investor in freight and delivery firm TNT Express NV (TNTE.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), subject of a 9 euros per share approach from United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch freight and delivery group TNT Express (TNTE.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted weaker-than-expected results and highlighted a bleak economic outlook, undermining its attempts to extract a higher price from suitor United Parcel Service (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and attract others.

TNT, which said on Friday it was still in talks with UPS after rejecting a 4.9 billion euro ($6.5 billion) bid, swung to a fourth-quarter operating loss, hit by an impairment charge at its troubled Brazilian business, where it has struggled to integrate acquisitions.

AMSTERDAM, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Dutch freight and
delivery group TNT Express posted weaker-than-expected
quarterly results and highlighted a bleak economic outlook,
undermining its attempts to extract a higher price from its
suitor and attract others.

TNT, which said on Friday it was still in talks with United
Parcel Service after rejecting a 4.9 billion euro ($6.5
billion) bid, swung to a fourth-quarter operating loss, hit by
an impairment charge at its troubled Brazilian business.

AMSTERDAM/LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Investors in
Dutch freight and delivery firm TNT Express (TNTE.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) are
pressing for a higher offer from U.S.-based United Parcel
Services (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), driving shares up more than 50 percent on
Monday.

TNT said on Friday it had rejected an offer from UPS, the
world’s largest package delivery company, of 9 euros per share
which valued the company at 4.9 billion euros ($6.45 billion),
but that both companies were still in talks. [ID:nL5E8DH455]

AMSTERDAM, Feb 20 (Reuters) – With TNT Express
in play after rejecting United Parcel Service’s
4.9 billion euro offer, the stock will be in focus on
Monday, and investors will look beyond the numbers when the
Dutch freight and delivery firm reports results on Tuesday.

TNT said on Friday it is still in talks after turning down
UPS’s offer of 9 euros per share, a 42 percent premium to TNT’s
closing price of 6.343 euros.

AMSTERDAM, Feb 16 (Reuters) – AkzoNobel NV,
the world’s largest paintmaker and owner of the Dulux brand,
said on Thursday it was now passing on to customers most of the
rise in raw material prices that pulled down its fourth-quarter
core profit.

The escalating cost of materials such as titanium dioxide, a
paint pigment, and oil-related resins and solvents was
particularly painful last year for paintmakers such as AkzoNobel
and rival U.S. maker Sherwin-Williams Co.

THE HAGUE, Feb 14 (Reuters) – In a tiny office on
Zeestraat 100, Alice Helbing puts the final touches to a script
for an imaginary counter-terrorism exercise in the Netherlands.
A few doors down the corridor, staff from a legal aid group are
digging into real war crimes in Ivory Coast.

Nearby at Humanity House, a small museum devoted to raising
awareness about aid for the victims of disaster, visitors can
find out what it’s like to be a refugee – to have to flee your
home, leaving dinner on the table, with no money, no mobile
phone, no passport, just the clothes you are wearing.

AMSTERDAM, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Dutch maritime oil and
gas engineer SBM Offshore said a dispute with a client
would lead to “a significant additional adverse impact” on its
2011 results, and that its chief financial officer was quitting
in May.

The world’s largest supplier of floating production, storage
and offloading (FPSO) platforms shocked investors in July with
the announcement of a $450 million impairment charge, resulting
in a first-half operating loss and a shake-up at the top.

THE HAGUE/NAIROBI (Reuters) – Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s finance minister and son of its founder president, must stand trial at the International Criminal Court for directing a militia to murder and rape after a disputed 2007 election, ICC judges ruled Monday.

Three more Kenyans, including former minister William Ruto, must also face trial for crimes against humanity during post-election violence that killed at least 1,220 people.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Kenya’s presidential contenders Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, and two other men must stand trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity during post-election violence in 2008, a judge ruled on Monday.

The decision by the Hague-based court – whose proceedings have been closely followed in Kenya – is likely to have far-reaching political consequences for the biggest economy in east Africa.