Nissan to invest $200m in UK car project April 10, 2012 Japanese carmaker Nissan said it will spend $200m to build a new hatchback at its UK plant as Prime Minister David Cameron began a tour of Japan and Southeast Asia aimed at boosting trade and investment ties. The investment, announced hours before Cameron’s plane touched down at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, underscored the business focus of [...]
Sony forecasts $6.4bn annual loss April 10, 2012 Sony Corp forecast a record $6.4bn net loss for the business year just ended, its fourth straight year of losses and double earlier forecasts, inflated by writing off deferred tax assets in the United States. In a bid to ease investor concerns over its deteriorating bottom line, the Japanese consumer electronics giant said it would [...]
German exports rise again April 10, 2012 Germany’s exports were up in February, marking the second consecutive month of growth. Exports were up 1.6 per cent following a 3.4 per cent increase in January. German firms had the most success in markets outside the eurozone where they recorded growth of 13.4 per cent compared with the year before.
Vedanta hit by fall in iron ore output April 10, 2012 India-focused miner Vedanta posted a drop in full-year iron ore output, as a ban on mining in the southern Indian state of Karnataka and logistical bottlenecks continued to bite. Iron ore is typically one of London-listed Vedanta’s most profitable products along with zinc, accounting for almost a third of profits. The miner said its iron [...]
China in export led trade surplus April 10, 2012 China returned to an export-led trade surplus of $5.35bn in March, heralding the prospect that a rebound in the global economy is lifting overseas orders just in time to compensate for a slowdown in domestic demand The surprise return to surplus from February’s $31.5bn deficit confounded expectations that trade would remain $1.3bn in the red, [...]
Facebook to pay $1bn for firm with 13 staff April 9, 2012 SOCIAL NETWORKING giant Facebook has snapped up Instagram, a two-year-old photo-sharing application that employs just 13 staff, for $1bn (£629m) in its largest acquisition to date. The hugely popular application allows users to add filters and special effects to photos taken on their smartphones and share them through Instagram or other networking sites like Facebook, [...]
Greece falls deeper into recession as Portuguese banks ask for record ECB funds April 9, 2012 GREECE’S economic nightmare continued apace last month as industrial output plummeted again, according to figures released yesterday, while Portugal’s banks were forced to tap the European Central Bank (ECB) for a record amount of funding. Unemployment figures due out on Thursday are expected to show another rise in Greek joblessness in January – 21 per [...]
Firms won’t be forced to offer third way pensions April 9, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT will not force companies to offer new “defined ambition” pensions, minister Steve Webb said yesterday as he announced plans to find a third way for private sector workers to save for their retirements. Webb wants more businesses to offer pensions that guarantee some certainty for employees, despite the near extinction of defined benefit [...]
Microsoft buys patents from AOL for $1.1bn April 9, 2012 AOL announced yesterday it is to sell 800 of its technology patents to Microsoft for nearly $1.1bn (£690m), sending shares in the internet firm soaring by 43 per cent. The company did not say what these patents cover but they are said to include rights from its current and former businesses, spanning from Netscape and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 9, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES AstraZeneca faces calls for shake-up Some of the biggest investors in AstraZeneca are calling for a radical shake-up of the board and executive team, as a new chairman prepares to join the underperforming Anglo-Swedish pharma group. With the company trading on the lowest price/earnings multiple in the sector, some shareholders have been lobbying [...]