* Some caution in new orders from some customers notedHAMBURG, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Chinese and European copper demand remains firm which should help support global prices, Aurubis , Europe’s biggest copper producer, said on Tuesday.”There is little to indicate a sharp drop in demand just now,” Aurubis said in a report. “In view of the continuing inadequate level of copper production, the copper price should therefore be fundamentally well buttressed against any decrease.”Euro zone industrial activity remains high despite the sovereign debt crisis, it said. London Metal Exchange copper stocks have also fallen.”This leads to the impression that there is a discrepancy between the ‘perceived’ crisis and actual business operations, though economic weaknesses will indeed become more noticeable in the future,” it said.The drop in LME copper prices in past weeks, sometimes falling below $7,000 a tonne, has opened an arbitrage window for Chinese importers, it said. Chinese importers traditionally buy more when LME prices fall below Chinese markets.This window allowed Chinese imports of raw copper and copper products to climb by almost 12 percent in September compared with the previous month, it said.”This is the highest level in 16 months, and the trend is expected to continue,” it said. “That is indicated particularly by the amount of copper in LME warehouses waiting to be shipped: most of the total of 51,850 tonnes of cathodes is waiting at South Korean sites to be delivered to China.”But it said some customers were becoming more reserved about copper purchasing which was adding to difficulties assessing European demand.”Customers have become noticeably more cautious in the way they order,” it said. “They are avoiding stockpiling copper even more than before, particularly as the year draws to an end, their sights are set on the shorter term, and they are more interested in flexible deliveries, in order to be able to respond immediately to changes in their order books.”

* Company violated U.S. law; sold to Iran, othersBy Clare BaldwinOct 13 (Reuters) - Wireless equipment maker Ubiquiti Networks Inc broke a two-month drought in the U.S. IPO market on Thursday pricing shares in its initial public offering at the low end of the expected range.The company and its owners sold 7.04 million shares for $15 each, raising $105.6 million. They had planned to sell 7 million shares for $15 to $17 each. Earlier on Thursday the company lowered its price range from $20 to $22 per share.Prior to Ubiquiti, the U.S. IPO market had been shut for two months. It closed in August for a traditional summer holiday, but then failed to reopen as concerns about Europe’s debt crisis and a weak economic recovery in the United States made markets volatile.Yet even as Ubiquiti has been successful in completing its IPO, it faces a big challenge in addressing concerns about its corporate governance.Ubiquiti, whose shares will trade on Nasdaq under the stock symbol UBNT.O, makes wireless networking and video surveillance equipment. It said in its prospectus that certain of its products were sold to Iran, Cuba, Syria, the Sudan and North Korea and that some of its encryption components were sold without the appropriate export authorization.A review of Ubiquiti’s sales to Iran by the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement earlier this year resulted in a warning letter, but no criminal or administrative prosecution or other penalties — but Ubiquiti remains under review by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.Depending on the outcome of that review, Ubiquiti could face fines, lose its ability to export and be referred for criminal prosecution, it said in its IPO prospectus.Seventy percent of Ubiquiti’s fiscal 2011 revenue came from overseas. U.S. relations with Iran are particularly sensitive right now because of an alleged attempt by Iran to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington.”Our lack of sufficient familiarity was largely due to our lean corporate infrastructure, the inexperience of our management team in these matters and the fact that our products are manufactured outside the United States and most of our products never enter the United States,” the company wrote in its IPO prospectus.The company said it did not mean to violate U.S. law. In fiscal 2010, it recorded an expense of $1.6 million for export compliance, which it said is its best estimate of its exposure to fines. It said its business could suffer if any actual fines are materially different.Ubiquiti was not available for comment.Nick Einhorn, an analyst at Connecticut-based IPO research and investment house Renaissance Capital, said Ubiquiti’s sales to countries such as Iran were unlikely to be a deal-breaker.”The numbers that the company has shown so far are impressive and definitely enough to interest investors,” Einhorn said. “They’ve grown very quickly and have good operating margins.”For the year ended June 30, Ubiquiti posted a net income attributable to common stockholders of $4.98 million on revenue of $197.87 million.SMALL OPERATIONAs of June 30, Ubiquiti had about 92 full time-equivalent employees in four offices globally. It has no direct sales force, but instead relies on distributors, resellers and original equipment manufacturers.Chief Executive Robert Pera is a former wireless engineer at Apple Inc . Other company executives currently include former Cushcraft Corporation/Laird Technologies engineers and a lawyer. The Chief Financial Officer is a former CFO at digital printing company Electronics for Imaging Inc.Ubiquiti said it first learned that its products could not be sold into Iran or other countries subject to U.S. embargo in March 2010, in connection with due diligence performed as part of a transaction with investor Summit Partners.One Ubiquiti distributor continued selling products to Iran after it was told not to and another was discovered doing so. Ubiquiti also continued to use incorrect export authorizations for its encryption components for a time after discovering the problem because it did not understand how to comply.Ubiquiti said it has since revised its distribution agreements, disabled software downloads in certain countries and obtained the appropriate paperwork for its encryption products.Most of the shares sold in the IPO were expected to come from Ubiquiti’s owners. The company was only planning to issue 2.4 million new shares, the proceeds of which it said it would use to repay debt.When Ubiquiti cut its price range on Thursday, it said Board member John Ocampo, who owned less than 1 percent of the company, had indicated he was interested in purchasing stock in the IPO. That indication was nonbinding.The IPO’s underwriters were led by UBS Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank Securities and Raymond James. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the symbol “UBNT.”

French judges had asked the ECJ for a clarification on the issue. A court adviser had said in March a ban on Internet sales restricted competition.”A clause in a selective distribution contract banning the distributors of the company Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique from selling its products online amounts to a restriction on competition by object, unless that clause is objectively justified,” the court said.”Such a ban may not benefit from a block exemption but may, if certain conditions are met, benefit from an individual exemption,” it said.It is now up to French judges to assess whether there are legitimate reasons for PFDC’s ban.PFDC, maker of the Avene, Klorane, Galenic and Ducray brands, requires distributors to sell its products only in shops and with a qualified pharmacist.Luxury brand owners have long argued that bricks-and-mortar outlets are key to protecting their image and exclusivity, while online retailers and markets such as eBay have challenged such claims.

The plain sailing Manchester United would have expected in the group stage of their Champions League campaign has turned into a rough ride after Tuesday’s 3-3 home draw with Swiss side Basel, who were unlucky not to have come away from Old Trafford with the three points. Two draws in their last two games, away to Stoke City in the Premier League and the late escape against Basel, will have rooted out any complacency that might have crept into Alex Ferguson’s men after their flying start to the season which included an 8-2 drubbing of Arsenal. United’s last two performances also showed that despite their three big summer signings in David De Gea, Phil Jones and Ashley Young, the team still lack depth when key players are injured. With Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Javier Hernandez and the increasingly influential Chris Smalling all sidelined, United’s makeshift 11 with Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia filling in at right back looked bereft of ideas up front against Stoke and utterly unconvincing even when they were 2-0 up against Basel, when only a late Young header spared them from paying in full for a comedy of errors at the back. Any thoughts of wrestling the Champions League title away from holders Barcelona will have also taken a back seat for the time being, especially given they also drew 1-1 at Benfica in their opener, as Ferguson could face fresh dilemmas with what to do with one or two players. Dimitar Berbatov looks confined to the fringes, behind four other strikers in the pecking order, and Ferguson might be tempted to offload the Bulgarian during the January transfer window when he can still get a decent bargain for last season’s joint top scorer in the Premier League. Michael Owen won widespread praise for his brace in the 3-0 League Cup win over Leeds United last week but looked rather flat against Stoke and played no part on Tuesday, while Rio Ferdinand was completely at sea against Basel’s 32-year old striker Alexander Frei. Midfielder Michael Carrick told Manchester United television after the game that it was a one-off blip United should easily bounce back from, as they were expected to after a poor start in the 2005-06 campaign. United finished bottom of the group that season, behind Villarreal, Benfica and Lille, having missed out on even the consolation prize of carrying on in the UEFA Cup after the winter break. Does Ferguson, hence, need to add more signings in January if the Premier League champions are to retain their domestic title and challenge for their fourth European Cup? Or, will United’s patchy form turn out to be a harmless glitch, as Carrick predicted, when they are back to full strength?