Financial crisis weighs on executives' minds

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The most serious financial crisis in decades has caused business executives and government officials around the world to rein in their expectations for short- and long-term growth and warn that business volatility will be around for some time to come.

In a series of interviews with Reuters reporters, these executives -- from industries as varied as Internet retailing to mining to baked goods -- spoke of the widening global credit crisis and their many concerns.

Most said they were keeping a close eye on Washington, to see how the $700 billion bailout package designed to halt the crisis would work.

What's more, on Monday, markets around the world fell on concerns that the bailout would not be enough.

This is Reuters' fourth wrap-up of comments on this crisis.

The following are excerpts and highlights from interviews with executives on Monday:

JOHN DONOHOE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF EBAY INC

Donohoe said the company is in a "very strong position" with no debt, available credit lines, and over $3 billion in cash. The bigger question, he said, is "What do we see happening to consumer spending?"

"There is no doubt consumer spending has tightened, we see that both on eBay and PayPal and as well the strength of the dollar is influencing cross-border trade.

"We anticipate a fairly competitive holiday season where consumers will be looking to save that extra buck. Similarly, there are people who will be looking to make a little more money, to sell something. We're focused ... on helping consumers get through this time and holiday season by offering the lowest prices."

BRENDA BARNES, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, SARA LEE

"We certainly hope that the credit market eases up because it's putting a squeeze on us and our customers.

She insisted Sara Lee was OK. "We're fine. We haven't run into trouble. We also have cash, which we can access."

"During the early days there were some days when it was very tight. We had a credit facility that we certainly relied upon."

WAL-MART STORES INC'S CRAIG HERKERT, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE AMERICAS

The U.S. economic slowdown is not crimping Wal-Mart's expansion plans in Mexico or the other American markets where it operates outside of the United States, Herkert said.

"We're not rolling back on our growth plans at all," he said, when asked in an interview about the largest global retailer's plans to open new stores in Mexico.

Herkert oversees Wal-Mart's businesses in the Americas, excluding the United States.

SUNPOWER CEO TOM WERNER

Werner said the global credit crisis that has driven up borrowing costs has not so far hurt the solar power market, which has seen demand rise steadily in recent years.

"Is it good? Absolutely not. But is it going to slow things down? We haven't seen that," Werner said.

"As you think of credit moving toward higher quality investments, solar is now seen as one of those higher quality investments," he said.

TAMWEEL CHAIRMAN SHEIKH KHALED AL-NAHAYAN

Tamweel said it was planning to launch up to 2 billion dirhams ($544.5 million) in Islamic bonds in the first quarter of 2009 despite the global liquidity crunch.

"There are ideas to sell sukuk to the local market ... They would be in the range of 1-2 billion dirhams," al-Nahayan told Reuters on the sidelines of a property fair.

"Already there is a desire (for sukuk)," he said, adding that the liquidity squeeze had only affected certain companies in the financial sector.

Sheikh Khaled said the global crisis had not affected Tamweel because it had diverse sources of finance.

"No, because we have taken precautionary steps. Tamweel was expecting it and we were prepared for liquidity squeeze," he said.

NORDEX AG CHIEF EXECUTIVE THOMAS RICHTERICH

The German wind turbine maker sees some of its projects at risk should the financial market crisis continue throughout 2009, Richterich told Reuters.

"This means that we would not be able to grow that strongly," he added, but said that so far there are no indications this will happen. He said the group still expected to generate decent growth in 2009.

Richterich said the financial crisis will only have a marginal impact on the company in 2008, adding he sees no indications that the company will have to alter its outlook.

RIO TINTO LTD/PLC CEO TOM ALBANESE

Rio Tinto is better placed than some mining firms to ride out the credit crisis and still firmly opposes BHP Billiton's $88.5 billion takeover bid, its chief executive said.

Albanese told Reuters that Rio Tinto, the number two miner behind BHP, was helped by low-cost operations and links to China, where growth is slowing but is still far stronger than in western nations.

"Rio Tinto with low-cost operations focused on the Chinese markets, which to some extent ... are somewhat insulated from the global financial system, is less exposed than others at this time," he said on the sidelines of an environmental congress.

He said he was pleased that the United States had worked out a financial bailout package. Greater stability "would improve the economic prospects of the mining sector and a whole range of other sectors," he said.

"The focus right now is on the banking sector, as it should be, but there are no industries that would be immune," he said.

HUDBAY MINERALS CEO ALLEN PALMIERE

HudBay Minerals has so far seen no impact on its expected production or future projects from the current financial crisis, and is still making money despite softness in metals markets, the Canadian miner's CEO said.

Palmiere said HudBay is in a good position due to its cash hoard -- C$730 million ($662 million) at the end of the last quarter -- and lack of debt, although he said a continued decline in metals prices could force the company to try and preserve capital.

"At today's commodity prices, we're still making money, so we're in a very comfortable position," he said.

"(However), the duration of this and the ultimate place at which commodity prices come to rest could have an impact on future projects," he said.

KENYA PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA

The global financial crisis will hit Kenya's economy badly, Odinga told Reuters, rejecting previous assertions that the African state would emerge largely unscathed from the chaos.

Emerging markets, which benefited greatly from the boom in commodities demand and surging global expansion in the last three years, have started to tremble in recent days and Odinga said the consequences would be severe in Africa.

"They say that when America sneezes, Europe catches a cold, Asia develops pneumonia and Africa's tuberculosis gets worse. This is what we are beginning to see," Odinga said on the sidelines of an international conference in southeast France.

"This will impact very negatively on the Kenyan economy in the short and medium term," he added.

(Reporting by Alister Doyle, Nicole Maestri, James Kelleher, Cameron French, Crispian Balmer, Matt Daily, Alexandria Sage, Ola Galal and Jan Christoph Schwartz)