Blow for Amazon as its third quarter losses rise to $274m October 25, 2012 AMAZON, the online retailer, was hit by a $274m (£170m) net loss yesterday as it was dragged into the red by struggling online business LivingSocial. Despite an impressive 27 per cent increase in third quarter sales, the firm’s investment and capital expenditure programme cancelled out $13.8bn of sales to incur a bottom line loss equal [...]
Branson plays down interest in RBS branches October 25, 2012 SIR Richard Branson has played down rumours that Virgin Money is at the forefront of a bidding war for 316 bank branches put back on the market by RBS. The founder of Virgin Group told City A.M. yesterday that while Virgin Money could look at the assets, “the bank is singing, and it’s doing great… [...]
Santander hit by rise in bad Spanish loans October 25, 2012 PROFITS plunged at Santander as ever more Spanish loans turned bad in the country’s ongoing recession, the bank’s third quarter results showed yesterday. The Spanish bank’s UK arm performed more strongly, though it too was slowed by shipping loan problems, increased provisions against corporate debt it bought in the credit crunch, and a cost from [...]
Credit Suisse plans new round of job cuts as profits collapse October 25, 2012 SWISS banking giant Credit Suisse saw profits plunge on debt charges and tougher regulations, as it revealed its third quarter results yesterday. Profits came in at SFr254m (£168.6m) in the three month period, down 63 per cent on the same period of last year and prompting the bank to increase its costs savings target from [...]
Microsoft pins its hopes on Windows 8 October 25, 2012 MICROSOFT last night took the wraps off Windows 8, the most radical redesign in the operating system’s history, in a bid to reignite consumer interest in the company ahead of today’s launch. Steve Ballmer, the technology giant’s chief executive, also showed off the Surface, Microsoft’s first tablet computer, at yesterday’s event in New York. “We [...]
Wheatley says bank watchdog needs new staff October 25, 2012 REGULATORS need more and better staff to have any chance of really checking if banks are treating customers well, top official Martin Wheatley told MPs and peers yesterday. And he rowed back on earlier comments that he will “shoot first and ask questions later” when regulating potentially dodgy bank products, admitting that regulators will have [...]
Tucker broadens bank bail-in proposals to deposit insurance October 25, 2012 FORCING creditors to take losses up front with a bail-in mechanism could help save failing banks and stop a wasteful liquidation, Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker said yesterday. And bailing-in by the deposit insurer could further help protect the valuable parts of a failed bank, he told an industry conference. A bail-in process [...]
Barclays looks to bring fresh talent to board October 25, 2012 BARCLAYS is planning a gradual realignment of its board in the coming months, with some of the longer-serving members preparing to make way for fresh blood. The bank has no set limit or target size for the board and chairman Sir David Walker is known to be on the lookout for new talent. The bank [...]
It’s too late to buy a parachute when you’re in mid-air October 25, 2012 AMERICA is teetering on the edge of a so-called fiscal cliff, which falls at the end of this year. If its politicians need more encouragement to avoid falling over it, perhaps they should take a look at the damage already wrought by another metaphorical precipice: the patent cliff. Three pharmaceutical firms yesterday saw their revenues [...]
US corporate results round-up October 25, 2012 Evercore suffers in weak market EVERCORE Partners adjusted profit fell in the third quarter as a difficult mergers and acquisitions market weighed on its revenue but the boutique investment bank said it remains cautiously optimistic about the economic environment. Evercore said investment banking revenue fell seven per cent to $128.2m (£79.5m). Colgate-Palmolive brushes up COLGATE-PALMOLIVE, [...]
