Roll on 4G: Needless delay has been expensive for businesses August 21, 2012 IT WON’T work with your iPad 3; there’ll be no more London 2012 events to stream on your phone by then; and Facebook’s still rubbish on mobiles. Is the imminent appearance of 4G in the UK really something worth caring about? According to the numbers, yes. In October last year, a report from Open Digital [...]
Best Buy’s earnings slump lays bare size of new chief’s mission August 21, 2012 ELECTRONICS retailer Best Buy suspended its earnings forecast yesterday over uncertainty about its ability to continue to compete as the company posted a 91 per cent fall in profits in its second quarter. The American firm, which appointed a new chief executive and knocked back an approach from founder Richard Schulze on Monday, saw shares [...]
Internet crime dents retailers August 21, 2012 THE BOOM in Britons shopping online and through their mobile devices has left the retail sector more vulnerable than ever to internet crime, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) published today. It claims that crimes such as phishing and identity fraud cost retailers an estimated £205.4m in 2011-12 and now poses [...]
Dell outlook disappoints August 21, 2012 DELL last night warned of a “challenging” second half as customers cut back on computer purchases in anticipation of the launch of Microsoft Windows 8 software late in 2012, sending its shares down three per cent. The American PC maker said revenues fell eight per cent to $14.5bn (£9.2bn), broadly as expected, but warned that [...]
CPP profits slump after FSA probe August 21, 2012 Shares in credit card protection firm CPP closed 23 per cent lower yesterday after the firm announced a 24 per cent drop in underlying pre-tax profits to £19.2m for the first half of 2012. The York-based company said it had said aside a further £7.5m to meet potential compensation claims relating to the ongoing Financial [...]
Moody’s downgrade Man Group August 21, 2012 Rating agency Moody’s yesterday followed the lead of equity analysts around the country and downgraded alternative fund manager Man Group following poor performance. The agency announced it had downgraded Man’s debt rating by one notch following the conclusion of a review started in April. It said the downgrade reflected the firm’s decline in assets under [...]
Siemens said to be mulling job cuts August 21, 2012 German engineering conglomerate Siemens is in early internal talks to cut thousands of jobs in response to a weakening economy, particularly in Europe, a German newspaper reported. Decisions could be made in October or November, according to daily Boersen-Zeitung, which did not specify its sources. A Siemens spokesman declined to comment. Siemens has 410,000 staff [...]
Virgin turns 50 shades of red over route loss August 21, 2012 VIRGIN Trains is pulling out all the stops in its attempts to get back the West Coast franchise, which it lost to FirstGroup last week. The firm’s spinners have dusted off their finest quills to pen a sprawling 50-point paean to just how great Virgin is at running trains. Though at least half the points [...]
For better or worse: 28-year-old wife steals Asil Nadir’s spotlight August 21, 2012 NOT much is known about how Polly Peck International founder Asil Nadir spent his 17-year exile in northern Cyprus. But one thing’s for sure – he wasted no time in wooing his wife Nur, who’s been a constant presence at the Old Bailey this week during her husband’s trial for theft. According to reports, Asil [...]
Shell planning to invest $1bn in China shale August 21, 2012 ROYAL Dutch Shell plans to spend at least $1bn a year exploiting China’s potentially vast resources of shale gas, the firm’s top China executive said yesterday, part of an aggressive strategy to expand in the world’s biggest energy market. Shell in March secured China’s first product sharing contract for shale gas, hoping that getting in [...]
