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PPC, SA’s biggest cement producer, has been hit by continued weakness in the construction industry.

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U.S. stocks rallied, breaking a three-day losing streak for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid investor speculation that Japan will contain a nuclear crisis and as FedEx Corp.’s profit forecast beat estimates.

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Record corporate earnings and plush cash stockpiles have Carnival, Aetna and virtually all nonfinancial companies in the S&P 500-stock index maintaining or raising dividends

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Financial services group Sanlam has hiked its earnings by 16% and is pursuing “strategic” opportunities.

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Strong subscriber growth has bolstered MTN’s earnings and the firm has sharply lifted its dividend payment.

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Industrial services group Bidvest expects a a R300m to R400m profit boost from its sale of a stake in the Mumbai international airport.

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Bank of Montreal, Canada’s fourth- biggest bank by assets, said profit rose to a record on gains from investment banking and consumer lending.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. is set to disclose this week the pay of its top bankers, along with the financial performance of the British bank for 2010.

New HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver persuaded the bank’s board to make public the aggregate salaries and bonus pool for about 200 top earners. The disclosure comes on the heels of an earlier publication by HSBC of the five highest paid staff, in compliance with Hong Kong rules, without identifying the name of the top earners.

Gulliver, however, was named the highest paid bank official with a $15 million (GBP 10 million) package. Aside from the aggregate amount, HSBC will provide a breakdown of pay based on major bank divisions such as investment, corporate and retail banking.

HSBC is providing more details than mandated by law despite the much-criticized Project Merlin agreement by British banks with the coalition government that limited pay disclosure to the top five bankers reporting to the bank chairman. The HSBC list of top five earners included those inside and outside the boardroom.

HSBC is also expected to announce an $18 billion (GBP 12 billion) profit, boosted mainly by the bank’s growth in Asia.

The disclosure of the top 200 earners is mandated by the Financial Services Authority, however the regulation takes effect end of 2011. HSBC is complying with the FSA requirement nine months ahead of the rule’s implementation to help identify the key risk-takers and bank managers who influence the bank’s direction.

The FSA first implemented the disclosure rule, which covered 27 companies in London. Eventually, the authority found that 2,800 bankers got over $1.5 million (GBP 1 million) in 2009, but the banks did not provide a more detailed breakdown, prompting the new FSA requirement to mandate banks to provide more details.

Aside from HSBC, also expected to report this week their 2010 financial performance are Standard Chartered, expected to announce a more than $9 billion (GBP 6 billion) profit on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Royal Bank of Scotland announced a loss of $1.65 billion (GBP 1.1 billion), followed by Lloyds Banking Group which reported Friday a profit of $3.3 billion (GBP 2.2 billion).

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British banks are apparently regaining their profitability, based on the performance of the four largest banks in the country.

The four – Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Standard Chartered – will announce combined profits of $36.3 billion (GBP 24.2 billion). The higher profits represent a 10 percent rise from last year reported by the four banks at $32.24 billion (GBP 21.5 billion).

HSBC enjoyed the largest profit at $20.25 billion (GBP 13.5 billion), followed by Barclays at $7.65 billion (GBP 5.1 billion), Standard Chartered at $6.75 billion (GBP 4.5 billion) and Lloyds at $1.5 billion (GBP 1 billion).

HSBC’s profit more than doubled compared to 2009′s, while Barclays was reduced by almost half.

Taxpayers have a 42 percent share in Lloyds and 84 percent stake in another bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBS, however, is expected to report a $919.50 million (GBO 613 million) loss. Despite the loss and being funded mainly by taxpayers who are tightening their belts, RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester will reportedly receive a $3.66 million (GBP 2.44 million) bonus to be paid in shares cashable in three years.

Another British banker in the same situation is Michael Sherwood, head of Goldman Sach’s British operations, who reportedly will get $14.4 million (GBP 9 million) free shares or a 60 percent hike in value of stock award compared to what Sherwood got in 2009.

It is not only Sherwood who will enjoy a fatter paycheck at Goldman’s despite a 38 percent decline in the bank’s profits. Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein will receive a 233 percent rise in basic pay this year to $2 million (GBP 3 million) from $600,000 (GBP 900,000).

Despite the turnaround enjoyed by the banks, Financial Services Authority Chairman Lord Turner said at the World Economic Forum that the public still require a reassurance that the financial crisis would not be repeated. Turner admitted the regulatory overhaul of British banks, which was designed to ensure the crisis would not happen again, is not yet complete.

Among the components of the overhaul is more transparency and control in bankers’ bonuses and compensation.

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Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by assets, earned $6.3 billion from its global banking and markets division last year, giving that business almost double the annual profit of any other segment.

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