Samsung Electronics Co., Korea’s leading tech firm, said Sunday it has won a three-year contract to supply printers to the state government of California.The company did not specify the amount of the deal, but said it will supply laser-jet printers to 150 government offices of California for the next three years. Samsung also said the deal marked the company’s largest contract with a government.Samsung currently has the second-largest share of about 20 percent in the global market for laser-jet

Foreign bank branches in South Korea saw their net fall 16.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier due mainly to a decline in profit from stock investment and interest earnings, the financial regulator said Sunday.The combined net income of 38 foreign lenders’ local branches reached 1.23 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in 2011, compared with 1.47 trillion won in the previous year, according to preliminary data by the Financial Supervisory Service.Of the total, 33 foreign bank branches reaped profits,

Los Angeles (Yonhap News) ― Hana Financial Group Inc., Korea’s No. 4 banking group, said that it is pushing to acquire a Korean American commercial bank in the United States as part of its bid to accelerate expansion abroad. The move comes as Hana Financial Group seeks to boost overseas revenue by taking over the Korea Exchange Bank, Korea’s No. 5 lender, in one of the biggest banking deals in South Korean history. “We are eying (targets) on the East and West coasts where a large number of overs

Korean stocks are expected to move in a narrow range in this week, as foreign buying may turn lackluster and pressure from the latest gains is likely to slow down a further gain by the key index, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark KOSPI closed on Friday at 1,972.34, up 0.38 percent, or 7.51 points, from one week ago. Although foreign investors propped up the KOSPI earlier this week, the key index failed to surpass the 2,000 level likely to have cheered investors. The last time the KOSPI trade

A growing number of small and medium-sized companies in Korea are facing a shortage of operating cash in the midst of the economic slowdown and more stringent loan conditions, data showed Sunday. Cash and cash equivalents at 612 listed companies reached 52.2 trillion won (46.8 billion) as of the end of September down 3.39 percent from December of 2010, according to the Korea Exchange.Due to the eurozone fiscal crisis and deepening concerns about a global economic slowdown, local lenders are relu

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Korea will be forced to slash its oil imports from Iran by at least 18 percent if the U.S. Treasury Department accepts lawmakers’ guidelines on implementing a new Iran sanctions law mainly aimed at curbing its oil sales, sources here said Thursday.The U.S. has been calling for international cooperation in implementing the 2012 National Defense Authorized Act.“Some senators requested a 18-percent cut for a foreign country to be eligible for the waiver of sanctions on it

Honda Motor Co., coming off its worst year in the U.S., has produced two offbeat Super Bowl ads with stars Matthew Broderick and Jerry Seinfeld to revive interest in its brands.Honda will air the two 60-second spots during Feb. 5’s Super Bowl after sitting out last year’s game. A commercial promoting its CR-V crossover has actor Broderick behaving like his character in 1986’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” An Acura ad has car collectors Seinfeld and “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno competing for the fi

ISTANBUL (Yonhap News) -- South Korean firms will sign a preliminary agreement to build a thermal power plant in southern Turkey on the sidelines of President Lee Myung-bak's trip to the Eurasian nation, officials said Sunday.A consortium of SK E&C and the state-run Korea South-East Power Co. will s

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- The image Steve Appleton cultivated as a stunt pilot and off-road rally driver became the perfect metaphor for his wild, 18-year ride as the leader of Micron Technology Inc., where stomach-churning swings from billion-dollar profit to billion-dollar loss required the constitutio