Fiberweb said the proposed joint venture with Petropar SA(PTPA4.SA), focused on the hygiene fabrics market, is expectedto be complete by July 31. But it expects some recovery in the airlaid materials inAsia in the second half. Strong cash generation, improvements in working capital anda stronger sterling helped reduce the net debt to less than 130million pounds ($212.8 million), it said. However, industrial markets remained challenging, whileairlaid markets in Asia were impacted by poor volumes at amajor customer, Fiberweb said.

The company said during the first half ended June 30, thecivil engineering markets performed well, with its Terram unit,which supplies geosynthetics for road and rail construction,benefiting from increased sales resource. However, the company warned that rising oil prices couldhurt its second-half results. “While the group benefited from the weak polymer prices inthe first half, the recent rise in oil prices is beginning toaffect raw material costs which may have some impact in thesecond half,” Fiberweb said in a statement. * Says industrial markets remain challenging * Says higher oil prices may hurt H2 * Net debt falls to 130 mln stg * JV with Petropar to be completed on July 31 (Adds details) July 3 (Reuters) – Fiberweb Plc (FWEB.L) said on Fridayfirst-half volumes were down from last year but improvingmargins and low raw material costs helped the nonwoven fabricsmaker trade in line with its expectations. The shares closed at 69.5 pence on Thursday, valuing thecompany at 27.7 million pounds ($45.5 million) (Reporting by Julie Crust; Editing by Myles Neligan) ($1=.6093 POUND). Shares in WorldSpreads, Ireland’s largest spread tradingcompany, were untraded in London. For latest earnings estimates made by Toyo Keizai, pleasedouble click on 7463.TK1..

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – Financial spread betting companyWorldSpreads Group Plc (WSPR.L) (WSPR.I) said on Friday itreceived an approach for its Irish division from certain membersof its management. French utility EDF (EDF.PA) was Europe’s biggest loser, down3.8 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “equalweight” from “overwheight” (Reporting by Blaise Robinson) Stocks European Markets. July 3 (Reuters) -ADVAN CO LTDCONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (in billions of yen unless specified) 3 months ended3 months ended6 months to Year to Jun 30, 2009Jun 30, 2008Sep 30, 2009Mar 31, 2010 LATESTYEAR-AGOH1LATEST RESULTS RESULTS FORECASTFORECAST Sales 2.773.516.79 13.50 (-21.2 pct) Operating484 mln 416 mln1.142.37 (+16.4 pct) Recurring503 mln 474 mln1.202.47 (+6.2 pct) Net312 mln78 mln 650 mln1.34 (+301.0 pct) EPS Y13.89 Y3.33Y28.85Y59.48 Diluted EPSY13.33 Y3.04 NOTE – Advan Co Ltd sells construction materials like stones and tiles. Stocks  |  European Markets At 0729 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of topEuropean shares was up 0.1 percent at 844.14 points aftertocuhing a low of 841.47 earlier in the session. PARIS, July 3 (Reuters) – European stocks pared early gainsand briefly turned negative to hit a one-week low in morningtrade on Friday following the previous session’s sharp selloffsparked by grim U.S jobs data. “They still look very interesting.”He added that short-selling — betting on a lower price for a security in the future — was “too dangerous” at the moment due to market illiquidity.(To read the Reuters Hedge Fund Blog click on blogs.reuters /hedgehub; for the Global Investing Blog click here) Hedge Funds.