Aug 1--PRNewswire/AsiaNetANNUAL BOOK AWARDS WINNERS... NAPIER: The winners of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards were announced today, revealing the unusual choice of joint winners in the History and Biography categories. Sharon Crosbie, the Awards' convenor and chief executive of Radio New Zealand, commented "our writers have the courage to ask some tough questions and confront the answers, explore new ideas and commit them to the printed page."INVESTMENT ACQUISITION... SYDNEY: Canada's largest custodian, Royal Trust Global Securities Services, has closed a deal to buy Perpetual Fund Services, the investment, administration and unit registry business of Australian-listed company, Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited.CHINESE TIN INDUSTRY DEAL... LONDON: Tin industry representatives, Tin Technology, has made an inroad into the Chinese tin industry, today announcing a cooperation deal with Yunnan Tin Corporation, the nation's largest producer.ISLAMIC BANKING & FINANCE... KUALA LUMPUR: The vision and prospects of Islamic banking & finance will be addressed when the Islamic Bank of Brunei Berhad and the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia host this year's Brunei International Conference on the industry at the Empire Hotel & Country Club, Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei Darussalam.AUTOMOTIVE PARTS ADVANCEMENT... SYDNEY: International automotive industry IT developer, Infomedia Ltd, will supply Daihatsu Motor Company's Caribbean, South and Central American dealers with its Microcat electronic parts catalogue, described as "a milestone in the global distribution of the company's flagship system."CHINESE OIL PRODUCTION DEAL... BEIJING: China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Husky Oil China have inked a production sharing deal for Pearl River Mouth near Wenchang, China, according to a news release.GREATER CHINA IP EXPANSION... HONG KONG: Diyixian.com Limited, the Greater China IP company, has stepped up its investment in Taiwan's Internet Data Centre (IDC), launching IDCs in Taichung and Kaohsiung, the company said today. AUTOMOTIVE DISTRIBUTION DEAL... CANTON: The Timken Company has signed a deal with Permatex Inc to sell its range of automotive and maintenance products in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, a company news release stated today.NITROGEN CONTRACT SIGNED... LEHIGH VALLEY: Air Products and Chemicals Inc and San Fu Chemicals company, its Taiwanese joint venture partner, have been awarded a long term contract to supply on-site nitrogen and other bulk gases to AU Optronics Corporation. ANOTHER AIRLINE TO THE HANGER... DALLAS: Aviation e-commerce marketplace, Aeroxchange, has announced that Dragonair is the latest airline to join its network of 19 other aviation buyers and suppliers. LEGAL APPROVAL SOUGHT... VANCOUVER: Bresea Resources Ltd has made a legal request for a "Plan of Arrangement" under the Canadian Business Corporations Act.BETA DEBUGGER LAUNCHED... MOBILE: Accelerated Technology Inc today announced the market availability of the beta release code|lab Debug, a hardware-assisted remote debugger for various computer processors.INTERNET VOICE TECHNOLOGY... STOCKHOLM: Global IP Sound AB will showcase its Internet voice technology at Hong Kong's iLocus Show 2001. Attendees would be able to try out the groundbreaking GIPS SoundWare by calling Stockholm, Boston, and San Francisco over the public Internet, the company said.SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING EXPO... TAIPEI: SEMICON Taiwan, Asia's annual semiconductor manufacturing expo, will feature at the Taipei World Trade Centre from September 17 - 19, according to a news release.FINANCIAL RESULTS:LONDON: "Although we have to face the fact that economic conditions are deteriorating around the world, we confidently expect to continue building sustainable shareholder value, " British American Tobacco announced today, reporting an operating profit of GBP 1,317 million, up 11 per cent on last year.CALGARY: Gulf Indonesia Resources Limited today reported its second quarter 2001 oil and gas exploration successes, reporting a "big-hit" success rate of 57 per cent.NORWALK: Priceline.com today announced record revenues of $364.8 million for second quarter 2001.NEW YORK: Crosswave Communications Inc, the Japanese broadband communications company, said today that it would release its first quarter 2001 financial results on Monday 13 August, tailing this with a conference call the following day.WALNUT CREEK: Homestake Mining Company (NYSE: HM; Australia: HSM; Toronto: HCX) today reported net income of $20.1 million for the second quarter of 2001, compared to a net loss of $17.2 million for the corresponding quarter of 2000. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated press releases for worldwide clients. Contact: www.asianet.com.au for full-text versions).