Profits surge at Murdoch’s News Corp August 7, 2008 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp yesterday reported a 27 per cent increase in fourth-quarter profit, but warned investors that it faces tough times ahead. The media giant said that its film studios, national American newspapers and Fox News channel had done well, helping it to report profits of £1.13bn (£565m). Fox Interactive Media, the division in [...]
Why lad’s mag websites are beating the media gloom August 6, 2008 After Michael Gove, shadow secretary for education, attacked lads’ magazines for their supposedly corrupting influence earlier this week, the industry needed a good news story. Yesterday’s announcement that the online version of IPC Media’s lads’ mag Nuts had doubled its audience in a year was just the ticket. In June, 1.4m unique users (web speak [...]
Imperial surges as India and China launch rival bids August 5, 2008 China and India are going head to head in a bidding war to take over British oil and gas firm Imperial Energy, sending its shares shooting up by 8 per cent yesterday. China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, the state-owned oil company commonly known as Sinopec, has approached Imperial with an offer in the region of [...]
Sage expects to deflect the credit crunch August 5, 2008 Business software maker Sage yesterday said that its second quarter profits were up by 12 per cent, fuelling hopes that it will hold strong in the face of challenging market conditions. Despite increased competition in the small to medium enterprise (SME) market, the company continued to grow ahead of market expectations, posting an increase of [...]
New chair of Hermes is ex Gartmore CEO August 4, 2008 The manager of the UK’s largest pension fund yesterday said it had recruited Glyn Jones, the former chief executive of investment manager Gartmore, as its new chair. The appointment of Jones, who spent his time at Gartner building up a big hedge fund boutique, is part of Hermes’ plan to become more independent from its [...]
Sinopec to launch a bid for Imperial August 4, 2008 Oil exploration firm Imperial Energy is expected to rise this morning, after reports that one of China’s biggest state-owned oil companies is launching a bid to buy the company. The China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, commonly known as Sinopec, approached the firm last week and has already begun due diligence. It is thought that the [...]
BT stock falls on profit slip August 1, 2008 Telecoms giant BT fell the most in more than eight years yesterday, after reporting its fourth consecutive quarterly decline in profit and warning that margins at its global services unit may drop. Its shares fell 12 per cent, the sharpest fall since February 2000, closing at 173.9p. The firm’s share price has lost 28 per [...]
Slowing sales of broadband August 1, 2008 Growth in sales of broadband connections, which surged in recent years, has peaked and is now slowing rapidly, according to figures released by the UK’s leading broadband providers. Carphone Warehouse yesterday said it had missed its fixed line revenue growth targets, adding just 41,000 broadband customers in its first quarter, compared to earlier forecasts of [...]
Wii to win war of the consoles July 31, 2008 Video games veteran Nintendo, which makes the immensely popular Wii console, looks set to replace Sony as the king of the video game world, posting a 31.5 per cent increase in first quarter profits. Sales of the Wii console, which has a motion-sensing controller that can be swung like a bat, rose by 51 per [...]
RAB funds are on the rocks July 31, 2008 RAB Capital, the hedge fund that was one of Northern Rock’s biggest shareholders when the bank was nationalised, yesterday reported dismal results with first half profit down 44 per cent and a decline in assets under management. But the stock rose by 9.1 per cent to 42p on rumours that management would be willing to [...]
