Dutch electronics giant Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV reported Monday a drop in fourth-quarter profit due to one-off charges.

Intel Corp.'s poor performance in the last three months of 2005 turned out to be good news for rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc., (AMD) which on Wednesday reported better-than-expected financial results for the period. With sales of AMD's microprocessor division increasing nearly 80 percent from the previous year, the company reported revenue of US$1.84 billion.

Sharp Corp. is planning to increase production at its two LCD (liquid crystal display) factories in Japan in response to anticipated soaring demand for flat-panel LCD televisions over the next few years, it said Wednesday. The company also expects to report record sales in 2006.

Information theft scammers are increasingly spoofing SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates in a bid to fool Web users, Netcraft Ltd. reports.