The Festival of Words: From Gyles Brandreth to Anthony Scaramucci – all you need to know about the Fleet Street Quarter festival
PZ Cussons says trading is tough after first-half miss December 8, 2011 BRITISH soap and shampoo maker PZ Cussons said its first half profit was below expectations and it expected trading conditions to remain tough given pressures on consumer spending. The maker of Imperial Leather soaps and Carex anti-bacterial hand washes said high raw material costs and adverse exchange rate movements impacted margins, while trading conditions remained [...]
French court denies iPhone ban December 8, 2011 A French court yesterday rejected Samsung’s request for an injunction to prevent Apple from selling its iPhone 4S in France, sought on the grounds it copied elements of Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobiles. Calling the request out of proportion, the court also ordered Samsung to pay €100,000 of Apple’s legal fees.
Alibaba seeks financing for Yahoo December 8, 2011 Alibaba Group is seeking up to $4bn in debt financing, sources said yesterday, in a deal expected to help the Chinese e-commerce giant buy back a 40 per cent stake in the company owned by Yahoo. As Alibaba Group is private, there is no public figure on what Yahoo’s stake is worth, though some analysts [...]
IBM buys DemandTec for $440m December 8, 2011 International Business Machines (IBM) plans to buy analytics software provider DemandTec for about $440m (£281.5m) in cash. IBM said DemandTec will extend what it calls its smarter commerce initiative, which helps retailers analyse and predict consumer behavior to adjust prices and products accordingly.
Samsung confident on 2011 target December 8, 2011 Samsung Electronics, the world’s top TV brand, said yesterday its television sales hit a record 5.7m units in November, helped by strong US sales during the long Thanksgiving weekend. November sales grew 14 per cent from the 5m units sold in October and Samsung is certain to keep its top global title for all of [...]
Ashtead lifts outlook as US market grows December 8, 2011 INDUSTRIAL equipment hire firm Ashtead has raised profit expectations for the second time this year after a strong first half, boosted by cash-strapped customers in its core US market choosing to rent rather than buy. The FTSE 250 firm, which in September raised full-year expectations after more than doubling first quarter profit, continued the trend [...]
TomTom looks to cut ten per cent of its workforce December 8, 2011 TOMTOM, the satellite navigation system company, yesterday announced plans to cut 10 per cent of its workforce in an attempt to cut costs. The reduction of 457 jobs, 255 of which will be redundancies, is part of a move to save €50m (£43m) in 2012. The Dutch company has struggled in the wake of free [...]
Amazon joins Bango in vague new agreement December 8, 2011 TECHNOLOGY provider Bango has agreed to provide services to internet retail giant Amazon but refused to elaborate further. The Aim-listed mobile phone payments company said in a statement: “The terms of this agreement are not being disclosed. “The Board believes it is too early in the relationship to accurately forecast the level of business which [...]
Work hours decline with sectoral shift December 8, 2011 UK employees have a shorter working week because their firms offer more flexible hours, and jobs have shifted from manufacturing into services over the last 20 years, according to data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics. The average number of hours worked fell from 38.1 per cent in the second quarter of 1992 [...]
Japan slows on Eurozone crisis and strong currency December 8, 2011 JAPAN’S machinery orders fell much faster than expected in October, suggesting firms are slashing capital spending as the Eurozone debt crisis and yen strength cast a pall over the economy’s tentative recovery. Core machinery orders, an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, slumped 6.9 per cent in October from the [...]
