1.   Many companies delay payment as long as they can while maintaining an accounts section charged with chasing their own debtors for early settlement of accounts.

2.   As a result, several companies have delayed plans to sell bonds until the stock and bond markets steady and investor appetite picks up.

3.   Both companies have delayed original plans as they grapple with the challenges of electronic commerce.

4.   A second would allow oil companies to delay paying their fair share of royalties on oil they extract from public lands.

5.   But if the company delayed its offering to alert investors to the name change, the froth on the market could subside and Miningco.com could lose its windfall.

6.   But under the new rules, a company might delay conversion to avoid the effect on its earnings per share.

7.   Chang said that the company would delay the construction of two chip factories, known as fabs, in southern Taiwan.

8.   Company executives dismissed the declines as a blip that came because several Bell companies delayed big purchases of networking gear until next year.

9.   Earlier this week, Business Times reported that three companies have delayed plans for share sales in the coming months because of the poor environment for such offerings.