Dixons Retail beats forecasts with sales rise May 10, 2012 DIXONS RETAIL has shrugged off the high street gloom and managed to win over cash-strapped shoppers as the owner of Curry’s and PC World reported better-than-expected sales. The group, which runs 640 stores in the UK and Ireland as well as outlets across Europe, yesterday said improved customer service and better ranges of products had [...]
RAPID RESPONSES May 9, 2012 Facebook’s trials [Re: Is Facebook’s estimated market value excessively high?, Tuesday] Facebook is often compared to Microsoft. They’re both hugely successful companies that tens of millions use, but which few really love (in contrast to Apple). Facebook has shown impressive growth in revenues and profitability, but to become a $100bn company it must face two [...]
Toshiba eyes a rebound due to its iPhone chip May 8, 2012 Japan’s leading chip maker Toshiba said yesterday it expects a 45 per cent jump in profits this year, boosted by robust demand for its flash memory chips used in blockbuster Apple iPhones. The industrial electronics conglomerate, which makes everything from light bulbs to nuclear reactors, expects the electronic devices division that makes its NAND flash [...]
Maker of Angry Birds app soars to higher sales May 7, 2012 ROVIO Entertainment, the creator of the iconic Angry Birds app, yesterday reported a tenfold leap in sales. Full year revenue grew to €75.4m (£60.8m) – compared to estimated sales of £6.2m in 2010 – while pre-tax earnings increased to €48m. This is the first time Rovio has published its full year fiscal results, heating up [...]
As Facebook prepares to float, is its $96bn estimated market value excessively high? May 7, 2012 YES Aaron Padgham Based on 2011 earnings, an IPO at $96bn (£59.4bn) would leave Facebook trading on a price-to-earnings multiple of 96 times. A simple comparison shows that this towers above the more established technology giants of Apple (41 times) and Google (33 times), making Facebook’s shares some of the most expensive to be traded [...]
Samsung soars past rivals to top the tables May 2, 2012 THE DECLINE of Nokia’s prominence as the top mobile phone maker was emphasised yesterday in a report from the International Data Corporation, which showed that Samsung has pipped the creator of the eponymous ringtone to the coveted top spot. Samsung shipped 93.8m mobile phones in the first quarter of this year, soaring past Nokia whose shipments [...]
BSkyB beats forecasts with record profits May 2, 2012 BSKYB yesterday shrugged off the furore surrounding its parent firm News Corp to post a record profit for the nine months to March. As rumours swirled about the firm’s future following a parliamentary report criticising News Corp and owner Rupert Murdoch, BSkyB delivered operating profit of £908m. Pre-tax profit rose 27.5 per cent to £899m. [...]
One-man firms worth a billion could be reality May 2, 2012 RESEARCH by a leading M&A advisory firm suggests that we are approaching an age where companies can be worth billions despite having “near-zero” employees. Magister Advisers believe that the success of firms such as photo-sharing service Instagram – sold for $1bn (£617m) last month despite being less than two years old and having just thirteen [...]
Court in Germany rules against Microsoft in tech patent fight May 2, 2012 A COURT in Mannheim ruled yesterday that Microsoft had infringed Motorola Mobility’s patents, and ordered Microsoft to remove its popular Xbox 360 gaming consoles and Windows 7 operating system software from the German market. However, Microsoft said that the ruling did not mean that its products would be taken off retailers’ shelves because a US [...]
Smartphone makers go to war May 2, 2012 The big players in the smartphone world are preparing to deploy the latest weapons in their arsenal. At the high-end of the market, the battle between Apple and Samsung is hotting up with today’s release of the Galaxy S3. Meanwhile, RIM hopes to reaffirm its role as the “best of the rest” with its first [...]