A roundup of today's other stories in brief.

Daily Star group profits increase 58%

Independent Star Limited, the publishers of the Irish Daily Star newspaper and its sister, the Irish Daily Star Sunday, has reported a 58 per cent increase in operating profits to €4.65 million.

The company - a joint venture between Express Newspapers and Independent News & Media said net margins increased from 7.5 per cent to 11.6 per cent, with the increase in margin due to a tighter control of costs.

If the €3.393 million gain on the sale and leaseback arrangement on its Terenure headquarters of is taken into account profits after tax for the year increased to €6.862 milllion.

Poor forecasts from US chiefs

More top US chief executive officers believe the economy is going to deteriorate over the next six months than expect improvement, according to a study of 70 top chief executives released yesterday.

A study by the Business Council and the Conference Board found that 45.6 per cent of top chief executives forecast economic conditions to worsen over the next six months, while 41.2 per cent believe conditions will improve. That marks the first time in the survey's two-year history that the largest segment of respondents expected conditions to deteriorate and is a sharp increase from the 16 per cent of respondents in February who saw conditions worsening. "Results . . . show increased caution about the US and global economies," Kenneth Chenault, chairman and chief executive of American Express, wrote in a preface to the study. - (Reuters)