Toyota set to lose top spot after quake April 25, 2011 TOYOTA looks set to slip to number three in the global carmaker production rankings, behind General Motors and Volkswagen, after the Japanese earthquake and nuclear crisis slashed output by almost two-thirds in March. A shortage of parts in the wake of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami has savaged Japan’s car supply chain, while damage to a [...]
Nintendo will launch new Wii to reverse slump in its profits April 25, 2011 NINTENDO has said it will launch a successor to its ageing Wii game console in 2012 as it struggles to win back users from rivals Microsoft and Sony and seeks to reverse a slump in profits. Nintendo said yesterday that it expects profits to remain almost flat in the current financial year, despite the launch [...]
Bank of Japan governor hopes for growth in the third quarter April 25, 2011 BANK of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa yesterday expressed hope that the country’s economic growth will turn positive in the third quarter of this year as supply constraints ease. Shirakawa also dismissed calls for the central bank to underwrite government bonds to finance reconstruction, which has been called for by some Japanese politicians. Business and household [...]
Profits surge at Netflix but stock slumps April 25, 2011 MOVIE rental firm Netflix announced a surge in profits and revenues yesterday but saw its stock tumble after disappointing investors with its second quarter outlook. It added 3.3m new customers in the quarter to overtake Comcast as the largest paid video service in the US with 23.6m subscribers. Year-on-year its global subscriber base has risen [...]
Kleenex maker warns on costs April 25, 2011 KLEENEX tissue-maker Kimberly-Clark saw its profits slide 8.9 per cent in the first quarter as higer raw material prices eroded its margins. The firm saw its profits fall to $350m (£212.5m) from $384m, missing analyst forecasts. Its revenues climbed four per cent to $5.03bn, beating forecasts of $4.98bn. Chief executive Thomas Falk said: “We continue [...]
Radioshack sees dip in earnings April 25, 2011 QUARTERLY earnings at US electricals retailer Radioshack fell on weakness in its T-Mobile business and higher costs, prompting the firm to cut its profit outlook. In the first quarter, it earned $35.1m (£21.3m), down from $50.1m a year earlier. Sales rose 2.1 per cent to $1.06bn, missing analysts’ expectations of $1.07bn. RadioShack reduced the top end [...]
Coalition plans to reduce immigration will hinder recovery, says our readers’ panel April 25, 2011 VOICE OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT plans to reduce immigration will hinder Britain’s economic recovery, according to members of our Voice of the City panel. Forty-three per cent of panellists said policies designed to reduce net immigration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands would be either “very damaging” or “fairly damaging” to [...]
New counting firm emerges amid AV row April 25, 2011 A SECOND vote-counting machine boss, whose firm stands to gain from a switch to the Alternative Vote, has extolled the virtues of scrapping Britain’s first past the post electoral system. Anne Marie-Slavin, chief executive of Opt2Vote, a vote-counting firm that has a contract for all of Scotland’s council and by-elections, said: “The introduction of electronic [...]
Corporation tax cut would boost wages: report April 25, 2011 BRITISH workers would get an average £552 pay rise if corporation tax was cut by five per cent, a new report has claimed. Reducing the tax on British firms – currently 27.9 per cent – and bringing it closer to the OECD average of 18.6 per cent would enable companies to increase wages, according to [...]
HSBC axes its Russian retail banking unit April 25, 2011 HSBC has become the latest international lender to pull the plug on its retail operations in Russia, as foreign banks struggle to crack the dominance of the country’s state-backed giants. The London-based bank’s exit follows that of Barclays, which quit its Russian retail banking operation last month. Barclay’s boss Bob Diamond said at the time [...]
