iPHONE 4 ARRIVES IN THE UK June 23, 2010 APPLE ran out of white iPhone 4s yesterday on the eve of the launch of the hot-selling next-generation smartphone, the latest hiccup in the gadget’s global roll-out. The company moved 600,000 units of the $199 iPhone 4 in its first day of pre-sales in the US. The iPhone 4 goes on sale today in five [...]
Chip maker Imagination more than triples profits June 23, 2010 Graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies more than tripled its full-year pretax profit to £10.2m after it shipped 126m chips in smartphones, netbooks and set-top boxes. The company, whose designs are used by Apple and Intel – both shareholders – said yesterday its pipeline of licensing prospects, growth in design wins and momentum in chip volumes [...]
Bathroom cartel in hot water with EU June 23, 2010 EU competition regulators yesterday fined 17 bathroom fittings companies a total of €622m (£511m) for fixing prices, with five receiving lower penalties because of the economic crisis. The European Commission, the European Union competition watchdog, said the companies operated a cartel between 1992 and 2004 in Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Ideal [...]
Jobs market hots up in Asia-Pacific as pay leaps ahead June 23, 2010 Large numbers of finance professionals in Hong Kong have seen their pay jump between 20 and 40 per cent in the past six months as competition for top talent heats up, a study showed yesterday. Average salaries across the Asia-Pacific financial sector, which is the region’s highest paymaster, have risen or remained resilient in 2009/10 [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 23, 2010 BRITISH AIRWAYS Citigroup said that the pension deficit agreement at British Airways (BA) appears positive for the share price. Citi has given the airline group a “buy” rating and said that the agreed recovery plan takes into account the £2bn increase in the value of its pension assets since the deficit valuation date as of [...]
Sage in line for £41m takeover of Polish firm June 23, 2010 ACQUISITION hungry software giant Sage Group has bid £41m for Polish firm Teta. The offer is a 15 per cent premium on the Poland and Hungary-based firm’s average three month share price. Sage says the acquisition of the firm, which reported revenue of £21m and Ebitda of £3m last year, will compliment its existing east [...]
Toyota aims to restrict experts in US court case June 23, 2010 TOYOTA’S lawyers were expected to face off with product-liability attorneys in US court yesterday over rules for safeguarding company trade secrets in litigation stemming from complaints about its cars racing out of control. Toyota has asked a judge to bar any confidential information it must furnish in pre-trial proceedings from being disclosed to outside experts [...]
O2 owner sells stake in PT June 23, 2010 O2 owner Telefonica yesterday sold an eight per cent stake in Portugal Telecom (PT) to other PT shareholders in a deal worth up to €800m (£659m). The sale has been seen as evidence of an increasingly strained relationship between the two Iberian telecoms giants, centering around their battle to dominate the lucrative Brazilian mobile market. [...]
New forms of finance will drive UK’s growth June 23, 2010 THE need to restructure corporate debt and find new sources of financing is germinating a new breed of so-called “equity solutions” that, it could be argued, will be absolutely vital to the UK in the next year or so as we get to grips with the new economic environment. According to a report from City [...]
German chemicals giant BASF to snap up Cognis in a €3.1bn deal June 23, 2010 Chemical industry giant BASF has agreed to buy Cognis in a long-touted €3.1bn (£2.6bn) deal, including debt, betting on the cosmetic additives maker to protect it from economic turbulence. In the largest European chemical industry takeover this year, BASF will pay Cognis’ private equity owners Permira and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners an equity price of [...]