BRIEFS - GM declares dividend

• GM declares dividend

DETROIT (AP):

General Motors Co says it will pay out US$59.4 million in quarterly dividends on its Series B mandatory convertible junior preferred stock.

The automaker said on Thursday its board of directors approved a dividend of 0.594 cent per share on the preferred stock.

The dividend will be paid June 1 to shareholders of record on May 15.

This is the second dividend declared by GM on its Series B shares this year.

In January, the company declared a dividend of 0.647 cent per share, or a total payout of US$64.7 million.

• Volvo contract talks under way

DUBLIN, Va (AP):

Volvo Trucks North America says the contract at its plant in Dublin has been extended for 24 hours while negotiations with the United Auto Workers continue.

The existing contract at the New River Valley Assembly Plant expired at midnight on Wednesday.

Volvo says all employees should report to work on Thursday.

The company says in a statement posted online that negotiations with the United Auto Workers Local 2069 have been "open, frank and professional".

Volvo says it needs to cut costs to ensure the Dublin plant's long-term survival. Its proposals include maintaining existing pay and benefits for active employees and offering laid-off workers who accept recall a different wage and benefit structure.

• Japan car makers hobble

TOYKO (AP):

The Japanese auto industry remained largely hobbled Thursday, nearly a week after the country's worst-ever earthquake laid waste to its industrial northeast, although some manufacturers announced plans to resume limited operations.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world's top automaker, will start up plants for producing repair or replacement parts on Thursday. However, the company said it would keep its assembly plants throughout Japan closed through next Tuesday, affecting the production of 95,000 vehicles.

The company said it has not decided when full production will resume.

• Porsche says merger still on

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP):

Porsche says it is going ahead with a capital increase to reduce debt and pave the way for a merger with Volkswagen - even if legal hurdles and a share-trading investigation by German prosecutors delay it until 2012.

Martin Winterkorn, who is both VW CEO and chairman of the executive board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, says that "the most important milestone of the current fiscal year 2011 is the capital increase."

The increase is to raise €5 billion (US$7 billion) to reduce debt at Porsche SE, a holding which owns Porsche's auto business. But the investigation into share-dealing by previous Porsche managers means the full merger might not happen this year as planned.

Winterkorn said that if the legal issues are cleared up the merger will go ahead after the end of the year.