Unilever profit rises but fails to impress August 5, 2010 CONSUMER goods giant Unilever warned of rising pressure from rivals and higher commodity costs yesterday as it missed analysts’ forecasts with a 3.6 per cent rise in second-quarter sales despite strong emerging market growth. Unilever’s caution reflects the message from competitors like Procter & Gamble who have to spend heavily on new products to attract [...]
AT&T launches 12 new Google smartphones January 6, 2011 GOOGLE won a major vote of confidence in its mobile phone platform Android yesterday, after America’s second largest network said it would launch 12 new handsets which run the software. AT&T announced four times as many smartphones as it did this time a year ago, backed heavily by Google software, highlighting the urgency of its [...]
FTSE gains ground as mining shares are lifted by US data August 31, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares closed up yesterday as miners gained on firmer US economic data which eased investor anxiety on the global economic recovery, while ARM Holdings jumped on renewed takeover talk. The FTSE 100 gained 23.66 points, or 0.5 per cent at 5,225.22, adding to the 0.9 per cent gain on Friday, as UK traders [...]
TECH NEWS | IN BRIEF January 25, 2011 Psion hit by forex losses Psion forecast a normalised operating loss for the full-year, hurt by forex losses, but said it remained confident of strong growth in 2011. Shares of the company fell five per cent in trading yesterday. The provider of mobile computing services expects a normalised operating loss of £1.5m to £2.5m for [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 10, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BIG SOCIETY PLAN “WILL NOT PLUG CUTS GAP” The Big Society Bank and other social finance initiatives will not be enough to replace charitable projects hit by government spending cuts, according to figures compiled by the Financial Times and the Young Foundation think-tank. Geoff Mulgan, former strategy director at Number 10 and head [...]
Eurozone GDP grows by 1pc August 13, 2010 EUROZONE gross domestic product (GDP) grew at its fastest pace in more than three years in the second quarter, boosted by a strong performance by Germany and France, but concerns remain that the rebound could falter. European Union statistics agency Eurostat said GDP in the 16-nation currency zone expanded by one per cent in the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL THE FESTIVE PERIOD KICKSTART SALES AND HELP CONFIDENCE RETURN TO RETAIL? December 12, 2010 HOWARD ARCHER | IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT “Things are improving slightly but there is still a lot of caution. Wage rises have fallen behind inflation and there is still the impact of government cuts to be fully felt next year.” STEPHEN ROBERTSON | BRITISH RETAIL CONSORTIUM “It is reassuring to see a majority of retailers believe [...]
Kesa profit squeezed by Comet sales January 19, 2011 ELECTRICALS retailer Kesa yesterday warned that profits would be at the lower end of expectations due to weaker sales at its UK chain Comet. Total like-for-like sales for the period between 1 November and 18 January were down four per cent. But Comet sales plummeted 7.3 per cent as tough competition, lukewarm consumer sentiment and [...]
THE TIPSTER August 23, 2010 POLITICAL turmoil and the prospect of a hung parliament pushed the Australian dollar to its lowest level in more than a month against the greenback yesterday. Independent MPs have now become the kingmakers and the uncertainty as to whether they will lean more towards the Conservatives or Labour has weakened the Aussie dollar. Will the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW IS KINGFISHER HOLDING UP IN LEAN TIMES? July 22, 2010 NICK BUBB | ARDEN PARTNERS We had hoped to see a small positive, on the view that the weather has been helpful and the World Cup impact overstated. The UK is in fact disappointing, with B&Q like-for-like sales down by 4.3 per cent, albeit gross margins are good. The read-across for Homebase and Home Retail [...]