Sony soaring on a windfall October 28, 2005 Sony reported a better-than-expected rise in second-quarter profits due to a pensions windfall that offset falling prices in electronic products and high restructuring charges. The electronics giant announced a 52 per cent rise in operating profits to Y65.9bn (£320m) for the three months to 30 September, although sales remained the same as last year at [...]
Amazon’s ebbs and flows October 27, 2005 The dotcom giant is at the forefront of growth in the online retail industry. Its sales have just kept on growing, hitting $1bn in America and Canada. But yet its share price has taken a tumble this week. Wall Street is always falling in and out of love with Amazon. In the online retailer’s 10-year [...]
Toyota revs up October 27, 2005 As the wheels come off at GM, Toyota makes its passing move. Roger Baird surveys the wreckage General Motors will have to change the first line of its company profile. It’s not going to be the world’s biggest car maker for much longer. Detroit is being replaced by Tokyo. It may not be able to [...]
EMH bucks car sales trend October 27, 2005 Car dealership European Motor Holdings (EMH) outperformed the market in the first half despite a sluggish demand for new cars from cash strapped consumers. EMH said the number of new cars sold at its franchises increased marginally over the period despite a 6 per cent fall in the registrations of new cars in Britain during [...]
Relief at CAT Abbott deal October 27, 2005 Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) has reached an agreement with American pharmaceutical firm Abbott about how much it should get in royalties from the sale of the blockbuster arthritis drug Humira. The deal, which sent shares in the loss-making British biopharmaceutical company up almost 4 per cent, has headed off a Court of Appeal’s case scheduled [...]
Five join the rush to AIM October 27, 2005 The rush of companies floating on AIM continues apace, with three companies making their debuts yesterday and two more announcing their IPOs on the junior market in the coming days. They join the growing number of companies quoting on AIM, where 389 firms have floated since the start of the year. In comparison, only 71 [...]
Another bidder enters Refco lists October 27, 2005 The race to take over the futures business of collapsed broker Refco hotted up as another group emerged as a possible bidder. TradeLink, a Chicago-based futures commission merchant, its co-founder, Walt Weissman, and Nickolas Neubauer, a member of the board of directors of the Chicago Board of Trade, are forming an investor group to consider [...]
Anglo investors share $1bn return October 27, 2005 The world’s third-largest mining company Anglo American revealed a plan yesterday to return $1bn (£560m) to investors in 2006. CEO Tony Trahar said: “Through a series of measures we are creating a more focused mining group.” As part of the wide-ranging review Anglo is to cut its 51 per cent stake in gold producer AngloGold [...]
Prudential decides to keep Egg October 27, 2005 The CEO of Prudential yesterday vowed to work on closer integration of three key businesses as he revealed results of a long-awaited strategy review. Mark Tucker said the insurer planned to integrate M&G more closely with online bank Egg and the British insurance business, raising the prospect of job cuts. He said that closer integration [...]
Jobs cutting will speed up, says CBI October 27, 2005 Manufactures expect to cut jobs over the next quarter at a faster rate than the last three months to October, according to the CBI. “The decline in headcount was broadly in line with expectations, though firms expect to cut jobs at a moderately faster rate over the next three months,” the business group announced in [...]