Lenovo smashes forecasts as its push in smartphones bears fruit August 15, 2013 LENOVO, the world’s largest PC maker, yesterday delivered its second best ever quarterly results with a 23 per cent rise in net profits. The jump came despite the overall PC sector declining by 11 per cent during the same period, according to Lenovo. The company reported a $174m (£112m) net profit, beating market estimates, as [...]
Heatwave hits Rank Group but its customers are spending more August 15, 2013 THE RECENT heatwave has kept gamblers away from Rank Group’s casinos and bingo halls, the firm said yesterday. Chief executive Ian Burke said that despite good progress in integrating Gala Coral, the “hot weather has adversely impacted trading in the first weeks of the new financial year”. Rank, which owns Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino, [...]
Earnings up at China Mobile August 15, 2013 China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, posted a two per cent rise in second-quarter net profit yesterday, roughly in line with market expectations, buoyed by an increase in 3G subscribers. China Mobile’s net profit for the April-June quarter came in at 35.2bn yuan (£3.7bn). China Mobile, the only Chinese carrier that does [...]
Ophir drops as losses narrow August 15, 2013 Shares in Ophir Energy fell 14 per cent yesterday in spite of the oil and gas explorer posting narrower losses for the first six months of the year. The firm, which is exploring in Tanzania, Kenya and Gabon with BG Group, said it made a loss of $19.4m in the period due to the cost [...]
Talvivaara further in the red August 15, 2013 Finnish mining group Talvivaara posted wider losses for the last six months yesterday, sending its shares 6.9 per cent lower in spite of a rise in production. The London-listed company posted an operating loss of €43.8m (£37.4m), compared to €22.3m a year ago. Talvivaara said it was able to restart operations in May, following stoppages [...]
City Moves for 16 August 2013 | Who’s switching jobs August 15, 2013 PwC The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Patrick Figgis as global health industries leader. Figgis is a chartered accountant and has spent his career at PwC advising global and local organisations. Coutts Mark Esner has joined the bank’s Manchester office as wealth manager. Esner has over 15 years’ experience in the financial services [...]
Best of the Brokers for 16 August 2013 August 15, 2013 MICHAEL PAGE Oriel upgrades Michael Page to add from hold despite its first half results on Tuesday which showed an 11.4 per cent fall in first half pre-tax profits. Oriel expects recent upbeat economic data to feed through into Michael Page’s markets. FERREXPO Investec lifts its target price to 201p from on iron ore producer [...]
London Report: FTSE in retreat as early interest rate hike feared August 15, 2013 THE UK’S main equity index had its worst intraday fall in nearly two months yesterday, as strong retail sales reignited the chance of an earlier-than-expected interest rate rise that could push traders back into bonds from equities. The benchmark FTSE 100 index fell by 1.6 per cent, or 104.09 points, to 6,483.34 points yesterday. [...]
New York Report: Wal-Mart and Cisco weigh on the Dow Jones August 15, 2013 US STOCKS had the biggest one-day percentage drop since late June yesterday in higher-than-average trading volume after poor results and outlooks from Dow components Wal-Mart and Cisco. Consumer and technology stocks were among the biggest decliners after Wal-Mart Stores’ shares fell on a surprise decline in quarterly same-store sales and Cisco Systems shares dropped one [...]
Britain’s education revolution is now bearing fruit but still has further to go August 15, 2013 TEENAGERS across the country will today be suffering from a day of celebrations, following the release of A-level results yesterday. This time every year TV screens and newspapers are plastered with the joyful faces of students who have finally found out how they did, and whether they’ve got the place at university they were after. [...]
