Verizon pledges to deliver cost cutting January 22, 2013 VERIZON Communications posted a weaker-than-expected wireless operating profit margin yesterday due to hefty costs from smartphones like Apple’s iPhone, but the US telephone company promised a big improvement this year as it cuts costs. While Verizon’s fourth quarter bottom line was weaker than anticipated, investors were encouraged when finance chief Fran Shammo said yesterday that [...]
J&J profit tops forecast as it mulls unit sale January 22, 2013 JOHNSON & Johnson reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings yesterday, due in part to a favourable tax rate, and said it is considering selling a $2bn (£1.2bn)-a-year diagnostics business. J&J said it earned $1.19 per share, excluding one-time items, in the fourth quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.17. The firm said it may sell Ortho Clinical [...]
Android maintains command of smartphone sales at Christmas January 22, 2013 SALES of phones running Google’s Android operating system continued to grow over the Christmas period, despite the release of Apple’s iPhone 5. Data from researchers Kantar Worldpanel found that Android increased its market share in key territories – the US, the UK, China and the EU – although Microsoft’s Windows Phone software is showing signs [...]
Undertaker hits decade high on takeover deal January 22, 2013 The UK’s only listed undertaker soared to its highest share price ever yesterday after unveiling plans to buy a northern funeral business. Dignity, which famously buried Sir Winston Churchill, has agreed to buy privately owned business Yew Holdings for £58.3m, giving it 40 additional funeral parlours and two crematoria to add to its 600 locations [...]
Tesco is already bouncing back from burger debacle January 22, 2013 SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has faced a brand crisis with the revelation that it sold beef burgers contaminated by horse meat in its stores. In such situations, daily tracking of the public’s perceptions of the under-pressure brand really comes into its own. So – how quickly did the news spread and what was the impact on [...]
Rolls-Royce to axe nearly 400 jobs January 22, 2013 Rolls-Royce is to axe up to 378 jobs at its Ansty plant near Coventry, according to union Unite. The aerospace firm said it was consulting with the unions over reductions in the defence workforce, and that it hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies.
WANdisco sets up in China January 22, 2013 British software company WANdisco has opened a base in China, as the newly-listed company expands in the country. The firm said establishing itself in the southwestern city of Chengdu, where many other western technology companies have based themselves, would allow them to seek more clients in the wake of its contract with Huawei.
British Empire outperforms January 22, 2013 British Empire Securities and General Trust yesterday revealed it surpassed its benchmark to deliver a 7.9 per cent net asset value return for the three months ending December. The firm had an overall annual return of 18.8 per cent, aided by French telecom stock Vivendi.
EDF issues perpetual bonds January 22, 2013 French energy firm EDF made the most of a buoyant bond market yesterday to raise €4bn (£3.36bn) through perpetual hybrid bonds in euros and sterling, its first such issue in 16 years.
Sir Stuart’s in line for a shelf stacking role January 22, 2013 SIR STUART ROSE’S retail track record stretches as far back as the 1970s, when he was known to sweep the warehouse floors during his time as a management trainee at Marks & Spencer. Since then his career has taken in shelf stacking, pyjama folding and clothes hanging before he took the top job at Marks [...]
