Chip makers fined for price fixing in new EU procedure May 19, 2010 NINE memory chip makers, including world leader Samsung Electronics, were fined a total €331m (£284m) by EU regulators yesterday for illegally fixing prices. The EU antitrust watchdog levied its biggest penalty of €145.73m against Samsung, while Infineon was fined €56.70m and Hynix Semiconductor €51.47m for a cartel of Dram (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip makers [...]
Accor’s spin-off hotels group details its growth plans as seeks to expand May 19, 2010 ACCOR Hospitality, the hotel unit of France’s Accor, said more than half of its 2010 plan to sell assets to cut debt had been secured by the end of April and that it was stepping up expansion in Europe and Asia. The company, aiming to grab the world number three spot by 2015 and become [...]
General Electric bullish on 2010, eyes buybacks May 19, 2010 GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE) sees “upside” to its 2010 financial framework, which calls for profit to be roughly flat with last year, and expects to resume share buybacks by the end of this year. The largest US conglomerate has seen growth in its rate of orders and expects earnings to rise beginning in the current second [...]
RALPH LAUREN DOUBLES PROFITS May 19, 2010 POLO Ralph Lauren reported a fourth quarter profit yesterday that more than doubled, as strong sales at its retail stores helped offset a decline in wholesale revenue. The fashion firm, home to brands like Polo and Club Monaco, said net income was $114.1m (£79.3m) for the quarter ended 3 April, up from $44.5m a year [...]
WORLD CUP FOOTBALL FANTASY WINS THE HEARTS OF THE LADIES May 19, 2010 PUT A bunch of ladies in a room for a corporate networking event, and what’s the last topic you’d choose to centre the discussion on? Football? So when The Capitalist rocked up yesterday at the swanky Mayfair hotel for a “Ladies’ Day” organised by law firm Crowell & Moring, it was surprising, to say the [...]
FTSE hit by German ban on shorting May 19, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares fell steeply yesterday, as commodity-linked stocks and banks were hit by Germany’s attempt to stop speculators driving down the euro, bonds and share prices by limiting short-selling. The FTSE 100 closed down 149.26 points, or 2.8 per cent, at 5,158.08, having added 0.9 per cent on Tuesday, as Germany’s move shook markets [...]
Fears over Eurozone debt rock US May 19, 2010 US stocks fell yesterday as Germany’s unilateral action to ban specific trades on some stocks and bonds sparked a fresh wave of uncertainty and risk aversion among anxious investors. Markets already fear the Eurozone’s credit woes could cut into economic growth. But not all the news was bad, as the broad S&P 500 bounced off [...]
There is value to be found in private equity May 19, 2010 AFTER two years in the investment wilderness listed private equity companies have emerged fresher, leaner, less debt-ridden and ripe to outperform the overall stock market, according to some analysts. Traditionally private equity houses tend to be a good play on a cyclical economic recovery. Their share prices should rise when their portfolio companies start to [...]
The heat is on for the steel price this year May 19, 2010 THE price of industrial metals has been hit during the recent bout of market turbulence. But against this backdrop pressures have been building that could drive the price of steel higher again. The industrial metal, widely used for the production of infrastructure, is being bolstered by several factors. The first is supply and demand. Supply [...]
THE TIPSTER May 19, 2010 THE airline that once billed itself as the world’s favourite is set to report fourth quarter results on Friday, but it has hardly been an upbeat few months for British Airways. Although these profit figures will not include the disruption caused by the volcano in Iceland, the carrier has been mired in an industrial dispute [...]
