BLOCKBUSTER YEAR June 11, 2009 BOLLYWOOD investment firm The Indian Film Company (IFC) saw profits double over the past year, despite the economic slowdown and the terror attacks in Mumbai. IFC said full year net profit increased by 98.5 per cent to £3.89m, on revenue which rose 257 per cent to £40.9m. The group released eight films over the year, [...]
US retail sales rose in May, driven by surging cost of petrol at the pumps June 11, 2009 US RETAIL sales rose for the first time in three months in May and the number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits last week hit the lowest level since January, suggesting the recession was abating. The Commerce Department said that sales at U.S. retailers rose 0.5 per cent last month, lifted by strong [...]
Crude rises to an eight-month high on hopes the global downturn is easing June 11, 2009 OIL climbed above $72 a barrel yesterday, an eight-month high, after research body the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its global forecast on rising hopes the economic recession is easing. Paris-based IEA, which advises 28 nations, boosted its global estimate for daily oil demand by 120,000 barrels to 83.3 million barrels in its monthly report. [...]
Brits rated most gloomy in retail June 11, 2009 The British are the most pessimistic about the future retail environment according to a survey out today on the recession by Datamonitor. Results from the survey conducted on-line between 30-31 May 2009 and based on a sample of 1,200 respondents across Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, reveal 78 per cent of respondents across [...]
The man from Del Monte June 11, 2009 Del Monte Foods yesterday posted a far higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by price increases, volume growth and cost cuts, and offered a strong fiscal-year forecast, sending its shares up 9.3 per cent. The maker of Meow Mix pet food and Del Monte canned fruits and vegetables said that net income jumped 42 per cent to [...]
Roche drug gets WHO backing June 11, 2009 The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to start distributing a further batch of 5.65m courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu from Swiss drug maker Roche Holding. Earlier WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said it was raising its pandemic alert to phase 6, the top of its six-point scale, because of the outbreak of swine [...]
JPM Caz sells Ross’s shares worth 75m June 11, 2009 STRUGGLING entrepreneur David Ross raised around £75m yesterday through the sale of shares in Carphone Warehouse and Big Yellow Group. Sources said that JP Morgan Cazenove sold the vast majority of Ross’s 9.02 per cent shareholding in storage group Big Yellow for around £36m and 2.6 per cent of Carphone Warehouse, which he co-founded with [...]
Latvia to cut pensions to avert currency devaluation June 11, 2009 LATVIA’S government said it will reduce old age pensions and public sector salaries but not raise taxes as it tries to head off currency devaluation. The five-party coalition government, led by Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, agreed with unions and employers on ways to find savings of 500m lats (£602m) to win further loans from the [...]
BAE Systems rolls out first Typhoon jet for Saudi Arabia June 11, 2009 BAE Systems rolled out its first two Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft ready for the Royal Saudi Air Force yesterday, as part of the controversial $20bn “Al-Salaam” deal. The rollout marks the start of delivery of 72 aircraft to Saudi Arabia, which is part of a more than twenty-year agreement between the UK and Saudi governments to [...]
Brits expect a rise in prices June 11, 2009 THERE were further signs yesterday that Britain’s recession was at an end with data showing improvement in the housing market and rising inflation expectations for the coming year. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed mortgage approvals rising 16 per cent in April to 35,600, indicating more life in the housing market. But [...]