Automobiles • Ford

Car manufacturer Ford is to invest €51 million in its production facility in Genk in Limburg. The investment will modernise production of the S-Max, Galaxy and Mondeo. The Flemish government will contribute a further €7 million.

Aviation • Flying Group

The economic crisis is keeping many executive jets on the ground, either because their owners cannot afford them or because they want to avoid conspicuous luxury in hard times, according to Flying Group, which rents out and maintains private jets. The Antwerp-based company announced demand had fallen by as much as 20% since 2007.

Brewing • InBev

AB InBev, the Leuven-based brewer, has announced it is selling Labatt USA to venture capitalists KPS Capital Partners for an undisclosed price. The sale was a condition of the takeover by InBev of Anheuser Busch last year.

Containers • Ghent University

Ghent University last week began interviewing companies from Flanders and elsewhere for the provision of student accommodation in pre-fabricated containers. The university intends to install 250 container apartments in the academic year 2010-11 to cope with the accommodation shortage. So far 16 possible suppliers have been identified.

Menswear • Dirk Bikkembergs

Flemish fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs last week opened a store in Milan. The three-storey shop includes an entire apartment which will shortly be occupied by footballer Andrea Vasa. To publicise the opening, a bus with 100 footballers drove through the centre of the fashion Mecca. “Research in Italy showed that many people identified Bikkembergs with football,” said commercial director Serge Dewilde. “This kind of shop concept can only strengthen that idea.”

Postal services • De Post

De Post should be forced to repay a part of the annual subsidy it receives in compensation for the three-day work stoppage that took place this week, according to Open VLD deputy Ine Somers. She estimated the sum for the three lost days at €1 million.

Real estate • Cushman & Wakefield

Brussels fell one place to 29th position in the league table of office rental prices worldwide, according to a study by the real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield. London fell to second place after Hong Kong for the first time in nine years. The company called Brussels “a relatively small business city with an international feel”.

Telecommunications • Nokia Siemens

Nokia Siemens Networks have announced the loss of 62 jobs at the company’s establishments in Diegem, Herentals and Bergen. The company said the redundancies were the final part of a long-term restructuring which has so far seen the disappearance of 6,000 jobs worldwide. The workforce in Belgium had fallen from 800 to 400 before the latest wave of cuts was announced.