NEW YORK: American Express Co. said Tuesday it is selling its international banking unit to a London-based bank for about $1.1 billion to focus more on its core business of credit cards.

Standard Chartered PLC, which draws the bulk of its revenue from outside Britain in Asia and Africa, will buy American Express Bank Ltd. for the value of its assets plus $300 million.

As of June 30, that combined value amounted to $860 million Д representing 14.3 times the subsidiarys net income in the first half of 2007, and 1.5 times the value of its net assets.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

A year and a half after that, Standard Chartered will also buy American Express International Deposit Co. for the value of its assets, which was $212 million at the end of June.

The American Express Bank Ltd. subsidiary accounted for approximately 2.8 percent of the New York-based credit card networks first-half income of about $2.12 billion.

American Express Chief Executive Kenneth I. Chenault said in a statement that the company wants to give more attention to its payments businesses in credit cards and travel. The international banking subsidiary would be better run by a financial institution with similar businesses, he said.

American Express Bank has over 10,000 private banking clients and total assets under management of about $22.5 billion. The unit provides estate planning, payment processing and investment management to investors and the wealthy in 47 countries including Singapore, India, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and Germany.

Standard Charter, which intends to finance the buy with its own cash and debt funding, said American Express Bank will double the size of its U.S. dollar clearing business and speed up the development of the Standard Chartered Private Bank.

“AEBs balance sheet is highly liquid and its income is predominantly fee-based,” said Standard Charters Group Chief Executive Peter Sands in a statement.

American Express shares slipped 12 cents to $58.08 in morning trading Tuesday.

Standard Charter posted first-half profit of $1.37 billion, a 26 percent jump compared to the first half of 2006. Its been quite acquisitive over the past few years, especially in Asia: in 2005 it bought Taiwans Hsinchu International Bank for $1.2 billion and Korea First Bank for $3.3 billion.

(09-18) 07:48 PDT San Francisco (AP) —

Shares of software maker Adobe Systems Inc. rose Tuesday, a day after reporting its third-quarter profit more than doubled on a 41 percent revenue increase.

After the markets closed Monday, Adobe executives said the company expects to sustain double-digit growth even as it winds down its biggest-ever product launch.

Adobe shares rose 71 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $43.77 in morning trading Tuesday after rising earlier as high as $44.80.

On Monday, the company reported its profit for the three months ended Aug. 31 climbed to $205.2 million, or 34 cents a share, from $94.4 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier.

Third-quarter sales were a record $851.7 million, up from $602.2 million in the third quarter of 2006.

Excluding some expenses, including stock-based compensation and restructuring charges related to the December 2005 acquisition of Macromedia Inc., profit was $269.4 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with $171.5 million, or 29 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

On that basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of $246.6 million, or 40 cents per share, on revenue of $789.3 million.

“It was an extraordinary quarter,” said Shantanu Narayen, Adobe’s president and chief operating officer. “As long as the economy continues to perform, we believe we can be a double-digit growth company for many years to come.”

Adobe executives said they expect fourth-quarter revenue of $860 million to $890 million, which would set a new record. They expect net income of 35 cents to 37 cents per share, or 46 cents to 48 cents per share excluding certain one-time expenses.

Some analysts questioned how Adobe would maintain momentum after the new product pipeline ran dry.

In June, Adobe unveiled its Visual Communicator 3 software, which is designed to create video broadcasts. In July came Production Premium and Master Collection versions of its Creative Suite 3, which launched in April.

Adobe offers six versions of the suite, for $1,599 to $2,499. Customers also may buy individual upgrades on 13 standalone applications.

Last month, Adobe introduced a beta update to its Flash Player 9, which includes support for the H.264 video standard used in Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition DVDs and other satellite and cable TV set-top boxes. At the time, Adobe anticipated the final version of the update would be available in the fall.

“After May 2008, they run into tougher comparisons,” said Walter Pritchard, an analyst at Cowen and Company LLC.

It will be a challenge, Pritchard said, to stay ahead of competing products from Microsoft Corp. and of open-source software that rivals Adobe mainstays such as Flash.

Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen bristled when an analyst in a conference call Monday asked how the company would sustain its growth. Chizen said the company is expanding beyond its core niche of photographers, videographers and Web designers; “Photoshop Extended” targets people in medical and dental imaging professions, and LiveCycle Enterprise Suite targets deep-pocketed corporate clients.

Adobe is also faring far better overseas than executives anticipated, which would cushion the company if the U.S. economy stumbles. Europeans purchased $281.5 million in Adobe software last quarter Д 33 percent of total revenue.

Martin Pyykkonen, analyst at Global Crown Capital LLC, said no software company could entirely evade the cyclical rhythm of product launches. But Pyykkonen, who has a $52 price target on Adobe stock, said the company wouldn’t likely hit its “sweet spot” until early 2008.

“The real gurus bought CS3 right away Д the independent design houses and freelance designers,” Pyykkonen said. “The corporate purchase process is slower, and the advanced amateurs who have a good digital camera will also hold off for a bit. … Sales aren’t going to fall off a cliff anytime soon.”

NEW evidence has been found to show cholesterol-lowering drugs can protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers in the United States say they have uncovered the first direct evidence that statins - used by three million people in Britain - could ward off the illness.

A large-scale study from Boston University in 2002 found the drugs could cut the risk of Alzheimer’s by as much as 79 per cent, even in people believed to be genetically predisposed to the disease.

The lead author of the latest study, Dr Gail Li, said hers was the first to compare the brains of people who had received statins with those who had not.

She and her colleagues examined the brains of 110 people

aged 65 to 79 who had donated their brains for research after their death.

The two changes in the brain considered the most definitive hallmarks of Alzheimer’s are brain “plaques” and “tangles”. These are protein deposits that appear to spread in the brain, although the exact cause of Alzheimer’s is not yet fully understood.

The researchers found significantly fewer tangles in the brains of people who had taken statins. The findings were true even after controlling for variables such as the age at death, gender and a history of strokes.

Eric Larson, a co-author of the report, said: “These results are exciting, novel and have important implications for prevention strategies.”

He said further studies were needed to confirm the findings but praised the research’s reliance on automated pharmacy records and post-mortem examinations of people both with and without dementia.

Dr Li, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, said: “People with Alzheimer’s are diverse. Statins are probably more likely to help prevent the disease in certain kinds of people than others.

“Some day, we may be able to know more precisely which individuals will benefit from which types of statins for preventing the changes of Alzheimer’s disease.”

In June, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published draft guidance saying millions of people should be assessed to find out how many more would benefit from statins.

It said that information routinely collected by GPs should be used to identify those most at risk of developing cardiovascular disease and prioritise them for further tests.

Adults who have a 20 per cent or greater risk of developing heart disease over the next decade should be offered statins, according to NICE.

Such a move would double the number of people taking the drug on prescription - from some three million at present to about six million.

Final guidance from the institute is expected in January.

The number of annual prescriptions for statins has increased from about eight million in 2000 to 40 million now, according to the Department of Health.

In July, US researchers in Massachusetts found people who took statins had a small increased risk of cancer.

Statins reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein, the “bad” form of cholesterol.

There are currently 700,000 people with dementia in the UK, of whom about two-thirds have Alzheimer’s. CLAIMS DISPUTED

STATIN drugs are prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels in people with, or at risk from, cardiovascular disease, strokes or related diseases.

They work by blocking the action of HMG0CoAreductuse - a chemical enzyme - in the liver, needed to make cholesterol.

First marketed in 1976, some scientists now dispute their effectiveness and claim the expanded use of statins to fight cardiovascular disease is not supported by medical evidence.

Statins can be bought over the counter.

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