IBM issues bullish earnings view September 8, 2009 International Business Machines (IBM) yesterday said it was “well ahead” of its plan of achieving earnings per share of $10 to $11 by 2010. IBM, which has shifted its focus from computers to higher-margin software and services over the past decade, reiterated expectations of earnings of $9.70 a share this year. The group first raised [...]
Oil market healthy, says Saudi September 8, 2009 The oil price of between $68 (£41) and $73 a barrel is healthy, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday. Speaking before today’s meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) taking place in Vienna, al-Naimi said the oil market was “very well supplied” and in “good shape”. Analysts at Wall Street bank [...]
Superfly guys September 7, 2009 TURNING a passion into a business is the dream of most budding entrepreneurs. But three American men already successful in their chosen fields are pouring their energies into a new venture designed to elevate their love of historic aircraft into a successful commercial operation. Spearheading aviation website asb.tv are Ed Shipley, Jim Beasley and Dan [...]
Swiss Re says reinsurance prices rising September 7, 2009 SWISS Re, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, yesterday said reinsurance prices were rising overall despite difficult times in the insurance market.The reinsurer also said it was well positioned for the January 2010 renewals season. “We are observing a broad upward trend in overall reinsurance pricing, although this varies significantly between different lines of business,” said Michel [...]
London sees record rise in business confidence but lags rest of the UK September 7, 2009 CONFIDENCE among business professionals in London has risen by a record 35 points since last quarter – though the capital remains the least confident in the region, according to a new survey. The latest research from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) showed that confidence rose from -36.2 to -1.1, the [...]
TD Waterhouse heads to Eire September 7, 2009 EXECUTION-only stockbroker TD Waterhouse will on Saturday launch an online equity trading service in Ireland in the latest step of its European expansion strategy. The broker plans to provide Irish investors with online trading services on both local and international equity markets, as well as delivery direct access to a number of international trading exchanges. [...]
Spotify goes mobile with new iPhone agreement September 7, 2009 SPOTIFY, the digital music firm, has secured a deal to launch a mobile offering on Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and phones using the Android platform. The Swedish firm said yesterday that a mobile application is now available for its premium subscribers in the UK, Sweden, Spain, France and Norway on the three devices, and in [...]
Murdoch plans internal wire service to increase NewsCorp’s content sharing September 7, 2009 RUPERT Murdoch’s News Corporation is planning to launch a newswire service that will give all parts of its global network immediate access to all its stories and videos. The new service will be called NewsCore and will collate all of the media giant’s news stories, satellite feeds and web content for instant access by News [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 7, 2009 C&C GROUPCitigroup upgraded Magners owner C&C Group from a “hold” to a “buy” with a €2.95 target price. It said that underlying trading is challenging, but that management has made significant progress to improve the cost structure of the group. As a consequence, the broker believes top-line growth will be a key driver for the [...]
REI boosted by property recovery September 7, 2009 Property group Real Estate Investors saw its profits spike over the first half of the year as property markets began to emerge from the doldrums. The firm said its rental income was up by 55 per cent to £1.7m over the six months to end of June, while pre-tax profit grew to £1.3m, from £0.7m [...]