SPORT | IN BRIEF November 8, 2011 No freestyle final for Thorpe OLYMPICS: Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe suffered a blow on his first freestyle race since 2004 by failing to qualify for the 100m freestyle final in Beijing. The Australian finished sixth in his heat and 15th overall at the World Cup meet. The 29-year-old also competed in the 100m individual [...]
Voda results robust despite euro woes November 8, 2011 THE EUROZONE crisis tainted an otherwise robust set of results for Vodafone, with a £450m writedown on its Greek business helping push profits down 11 per cent. Vodafone, facing tough comparatives against last year when it booked the sale of its minority shareholding in China Mobile, saw its revenues increase 4.1 per cent to £23.5bn, [...]
Shareholders have reasons to cheer November 8, 2011 It’s not just Angela Merkel who has discovered PIGS in her ointment. Vodafone’s solid first half was (slightly) tarnished by a drop in the key service revenue metric in Italy (2.3 per cent) and Spain (9.6 per cent), while Greece received its second writedown in a year, bringing the total to £1.2bn. Chief executive Vittorio [...]
VODAFONE’S RESULTS IN NUMBERS November 8, 2011 £23.5bn Group revenues jumped 4.1 per cent after outperforming estimates across the board £21.9bn The key service revenue metric was up 3.1 per cent, boosted by emerging markets 1/8th of all dividends paid out by FTSE 100 companies now come from Vodafone, one of the highest in the UK £450m Writedown on Vodafone’s Greek business, [...]
Sony Ericsson sees parts shortage November 8, 2011 Sony Ericsson said yesterday a shortage of key components will limit the production of some of its feature phones in the key holiday sales period. A spokesman for the world’s ninth-biggest handset maker did not specify which components were in short supply but said the problem was not related to the Thai floods. “We are [...]
Chime hit by loss of its biggest contract November 8, 2011 LORD Bell’s Chime Communications has been hit by the shock loss of its contract with the US government, prompting a dramatic refocusing of its business. It now says it is not forecasting any significant income from the US government, its biggest client, next year. The company will be forced to lay off staff and take a [...]
Yell doubles profits despite sales drop November 8, 2011 Directories publisher Yell Group’s first-half profit has more than doubled thanks to a significant fall in interest charges as a result of lower debt. The company, which was slow to adapt to the shift to online advertising, said its sales fell 12 per cent to £787.2m as growth in digital services only partly offset the [...]
Carphone shares lose 7 per cent November 8, 2011 CARPHONE Warehouse tanked yesterday as investors appeared to cool on its announcement that it has offloaded its US mobile retail business. The firm said it has sold the high-growth unit for $1.3bn (£810m) – roughly equal to analysts’ sum-of-the-parts valuations. The firm’s shares closed up following the announcement on Monday but lost 7.2 per cent [...]
HARMAN SLAMS PREDATORY BOOKIES November 8, 2011 HARRIET Harman yesterday accused bookies of being “predatory” as she launched a campaign against high street betting in poor areas. She published an incendiary report claiming gambling is “destroying” neighbourhoods. But the Association of British Bookmakers hit back, saying: “We are extremely disappointed by this statement. There is no evidence to support this unwarranted attack [...]
Bwin shrugs off Eurozone turmoil November 8, 2011 Bwin.party Digital, the world’s biggest listed online gaming company, shrugged off economic worries to post a rise in third-quarter revenue, helped by the launch of new games in Italy and strong growth in its casino division. The Gibraltar-based company, whose brands include bwin, PartyPoker.com, PartyCasino.com and Foxy Bingo, said total revenues grew three per cent [...]
