CINCINNATI - Authorities in the United Kingdom are investigating potential antitrust violations involving an unnamed Procter & Gamble Co. subsidiary, the consumer products company said Thursday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

U.K. authorities started their investigation into the unnamed subsidiary in April, and European Commission officials started an investigation in June of potential competition law violations in a variety of countries across the EU, the filing said.

National authorities in Spain and Italy also are investigating potential antitrust concerns, the Cincinnati-based company said in its filing.

"In connection with these investigations, a number of the company's subsidiaries were visited and documents seized," P&G said.

The company or its subsidiaries are also involved in other competition law investigations in Belgium, Romania and Greece, according to the filing.

"We will fully cooperate with any and all investigations," said P&G spokesman Paul Fox, who had no additional comment Thursday night.

The company said it believes all the investigations involve a number of other consumer products companies and/or retail customers. It also said no formal claims have been made against the company or any of its subsidiaries in connection with the investigations.

Competition and antitrust law investigations often continue for several years and can result in substantial fines if violations are found, the company said.

The company did note in its filing that during the fiscal year just ended, certain subsidiaries in Germany received a formal complaint alleging violations of antitrust laws. P&G is discussing the situation with German authorities, the company said.

P&G said it could not predict what financial impact may ultimately result from the probes, but added that the company "has taken and will take reserves as appropriate."

Shares of P&G rose 95 cents, or 1.36 percent, Thursday to close at $71.01.

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -
Diversified U.S. chipmaker
Marvell Technology Group Ltd (MRVL.O) gave a conservative
outlook for the third quarter, sending shares lower, even after
it posted better-than-expected profit helped by increased sales
in the wireless and storage sectors.

Marvell, whose chips are used in Apple Inc's (AAPL.O)
iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd's (RIM.TO) BlackBerry, said
on Thursday it is still uncertain of the impact of the
weakening U.S. economy and predicted revenue growth below Wall
Street expectations.

"They had a strong quarter, which was widely expected, but
the outlook was light," said John Dryden, analyst at Charter
Equity Research.

The company reported second-quarter net income of $71.4
million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a net loss of
$56.5 million, or 10 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Non-GAAP profit quadrupled to 24 cents a share.

Revenue rose 28 percent to $842.6 million from $656.7
million a year earlier.

The results beat Wall Street analysts' average forecasts of
non-GAAP profit of 21 cents a share and revenue of $836
million, according to Reuters Estimates.

"The results for our second quarter were better than we had
anticipated," Sehat Sutardja, Marvell chairman and chief
executive officer, said in a statement.

Marvell said profit was helped by strong revenue growth
across its range of products led by wireless and storage
products.

WEAK OUTLOOK

The company said it expects non-GAAP profit for its third
quarter to come in between 24 cents and 26 cents a share, which
would be about 13 cents a share lower than GAAP earnings. It
said third-quarter revenue would come in at $860 million to
$880 million.

Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters Estimates have on
average forecast non-GAAP profit of 24 cents on revenue of
$886.8 million for the third quarter.

"The shortfall in October-period revenue is disappointing
due to expectations for market share gains in storage at both
Western Digital and Seagate, which didn't come through in the
outlook," said Dryden.

Marvell Chief Financial Officer Clyde Hosein told Reuters
the company was been "cautious" with its outlook because of
uncertainty with the weakening U.S. economy.

"I would agree we were conservative," said Hosein. "Yet
even with a tepid view of the economy we are forecasting 14 to
16 percent revenue growth year-over-year, which is way ahead of
forecasts for the semiconductor industry."

Marvell shares traded down 50 cents, or 3.4 percent, at
$14.26 following the earnings report, after closing up 32
cents, or 2.2 percent, at $14.76 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Gary Hill and Andre
Grenon)

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DENVER - A Colorado Springs man and his two oil and gas companies have agreed to pay $510,000 to settle civil fraud allegations, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.

The SEC alleged that between March 2002 and December 2006, Donald H. Allen and his companies H&M Petroleum Corp. and American Energy Resources Corp. raised about $9.9 million from more than 350 investors nationwide without disclosing that they had never generated profits for investors.

Allen did not immediately respond to a telephone message.

Allen was accused of spending $2.3 million of investor funds to pay for items including a custom speedboat, ski vacations, fitness equipment and jewelry.

The SEC alleged Allen and his companies touted annual returns of up to 354 percent without disclosing the speculative nature of the projections; incorrectly told investors that AER and H&M invested in their own projects; that securities were improperly sold in unregistered transactions; and that Allen acted as an unregistered broker.

Allen and his companies settled the case without admitting or denying the allegations.

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