Microsoft sees its profits double as Xbox sales rise October 28, 2010 MICROSOFT reported a higher-than-expected jump in first quarter profits of 51 per cent yesterday, helped by increased sales of its flagship Windows and Office software and the launch of the latest blockbuster Halo video game. The world’s largest software company posted profits of $5.41bn (£3.4bn), or 62 cents per share, in the three months to [...]
Blackstone’s earnings soar as slump ends October 28, 2010 PRIVATE equity firm Blackstone Group yesterday posted quarterly earnings that beat market forecasts, and said the value of its private equity and real estate portfolios rose, although the amount invested in new deals was steady. The firm, which has investments in companies including Hilton Hotels and casino operator Harrah’s Entertainment, said third-quarter economic net income, [...]
France Telecom beats hopes October 28, 2010 FRANCE Telecom posted forecast-beating third-quarter results after a marked turnaround in its all-important home market. Its results were fuelled by new bundles of mobile, fixed-line, broadband and TV and a boom in smartphones. Europe’s third-largest telecom operator by revenue also tweaked its outlook for 2010 revenue, saying it would be “slightly up” on a comparable [...]
Lazard posts surprise gains October 27, 2010 LAZARD posted better-than-expected quarterly results yesterday, as the New York-based firm enjoyed a boom in its asset management unit but slower gains in advisory revenue. Net profit for the third quarter jumped 18 per cent on last year to $62.2m (£39.5m), or 46 cents a share, while revenue rose 11 per cent to $462.4m. Analysts [...]
Post Offices to get £1.3bn of new funding October 27, 2010 The government yesterday unveiled a £1.3bn funding package for the UK’s post office network. The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills said the 11,500 post offices would receive more than £330m a year for four years to maintain and modernise the network. Business secretary Vince Cable said the cash would allow post offices to extend [...]
Royal Mail managers may strike October 24, 2010 Managers at Royal Mail Group will be balloted on industrial action for the first time since 1979 over job losses, the Unite union said this morning. Unite is preparing a ballot for the start of November for 8,535 members working across Royal Mail, Parcelforce and Post Office Limited over the threat of compulsory redundancies. The [...]
Ex BP boss Lord Browne to head advisory board at Stanhope Capital Capital October 24, 2010 FORMER BP chief executive Lord Browne is to head up the newly-formed advisory board of boutique wealth manager Stanhope Capital, it emerged yesterday. Stanhope is believed to be lining up Browne to chair the three-man board and to help it attract investors from the worlds of business and charity and the arts, in which he [...]
Meet the CEO of the most important City firm you have never heard of October 24, 2010 As he saunters into his office in the City, Tim Howell, the chief executive of European settlement house Euroclear, looks cool and collected. He certainly doesn’t look like a man caught in the most classic of all business squeezes – with clients wanting him to improve his services while being adamant they should pay less [...]
Credit Suisse profits latest to be felled by trading fall October 21, 2010 Swiss institution is the latest bulge bracket bank to report a decline in investment banking revenues A SLUMP in investment revenues yesterday passed over from the US banks to Credit Suisse, as the Swiss bank said group income had slumped by 62 per cent over the third quarter of the year. Credit Suisse said net [...]
Xerox beats forecasts but will cut jobs October 21, 2010 OFFICE equipment giant Xerox posted higher-than expected quarterly profit yesterday, but warned it would cut 2,500 jobs over the next year as part of a restructuring linked to an acquisition in 2009. Sales at US-based Xerox climbed 48 per cent to $5.43bn (£3.46bn) thanks to its purchase of Affiliated Computer Services. Without last year’s acquisition, [...]