Pocket camcorders February 9, 2011 PUT it down to the rise of the video blogger, the omnipotence of YouTube or the influence of mobile phones and digital cameras with video options, but the game has changed when it comes to recording moving images. Everyone’s a filmmaker these days, and you don’t need mini-DV to do it. A couple of years [...]
CBA in record first-half profit February 9, 2011 Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) the country’s top home lender, reported a record first-half cash profit but predicted credit growth would pick up only slowly and warned funding costs would continue to rise. CBA’s cash profit in the six months to December rose to A$3.34bn ($2.1bn) from A$2.9 billion a year ago and beat analyst [...]
All-clear for Toyota from US February 9, 2011 A US government probe cleared Toyota Motor’s electronics of causing unintended acceleration, a big victory for the world’s top automaker as it seeks to recover from the hit it took over runaway vehicle accidents. Toyota’s US-traded shares closed four per cent higher, buoyed by the government findings and the automaker’s smaller than expected dip in [...]
Centro picks bidders for US malls February 9, 2011 Australia’s Centro Properties Group has narrowed down bidders for its $9.5bn US shopping mall assets to three consortiums, including private equity firm Blackstone Group , accoridng to sources. The suitors are Blackstone; Morgan Stanley Real Estate which has teamed up with Starwood Capital Group; and a third consortium led by New York-based NRDC Equity but [...]
SAS REPORTS BIGGER-THAN-EXPECTED LOSS February 9, 2011 Scandinavian airline SAS reported a bigger than expected fourth-quarter loss yesterday but said it hopes to be back in profit this year. Pretax losses in the fourth quarter shrank to 464m crowns ($72m) from 1.52bn crowns in the same period of 2009, but analysts had expected a sharper reduction, to 174m crowns.
FTSE slips as metal price drop weighs on mining firm shares February 9, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index closed down yesterday, hurt by heavyweight stocks trading ex-dividend and miners following metals prices lower. The FTSE 100 closed down 39.04 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 6,052.29, having closed up 0.7 per cent on Tuesday at its best level since May 2008. “You have to consider (the FTSE 100) lost [...]
Profit takers drive Wall Street lower February 9, 2011 INVESTORS took profits after a recent rise in US stocks today, but a late-hour rally in Bank of America shares helped the Dow squeeze out its eighth straight day of gains. Market participants remain confident that solid corporate earnings will inspire further advances, but a recent string of lightly traded sessions raises worries that buying [...]
WHAT’S NEW IN GADGETS AND TECHNOLOGY February 9, 2011 ALL NEW IPAD ON THE WAY Get those sleeping bags, thermos flasks and cagoules ready and prepare again for the kind of ultra-queuing hardship that occurs only with the release of a new Apple gadget. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere yesterday, the iPad 2 is now in production. Thinner, lighter [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 9, 2011 Avoca Capital Holdings The European credit investment manager has hired Robert Burns (pictured) as director for sales and marketing, based in London. Burns has more than 20 years’ experience in sales. He joins the firm from Citigroup, where he was director of structured product sales, and has worked previously at Lehman Brothers in Europe, where [...]
Use mobile tech to make the most of la vie amoureuse February 9, 2011 NICK BOOTH TECH TALK ANYONE whose romantic agenda is set by the retail industry deserves all the disappointment that should be coming to them. On the other hand, anyone half-clever will realise they can use their smart phones to organise their love lives efficiently. There are scores of romantic mobile match makers: Gaydar, Flirtomatic, Crush [...]
