Carphone stays quiet on merger as revenues rise April 29, 2014 MOBILE phone retailer Carphone Warehouse stayed silent yesterday on the progress of its potential £4bn merger with Dixons Retail as it posted a rise in fourth quarter revenues across its core business. The group did not comment on its talks with Dixons Retail, however discussions are understood to be progressing well with an announcement expected [...]
Samsung’s smartphones sales slide on increasing competition April 29, 2014 SAMSUNG Electronics, the division of the South Korean tech superpower responsible for smartphones and household appliances, saw profits slip 3.3 per cent during the quarter to March as its margins were squeezed by competition to its Galaxy phones. Profit from Samsung’s mobile division was 6.43 trillion won (£3.71bn), down 1.2 per cent from 6.51 trillion [...]
Carphone Warehouse revenue up as new stores open for business April 29, 2014 Carphone Warehouse has announced a rise in like-for-like revenue of 2.3 per cent for the 13 weeks ended 29 March. However, overall connections dropped 10 per cent thanks to the continued weakness in the prepay market. The company gained momentum from 4G services, which drove rising levels of data take-up compared to the previous period [...]
Panasonic returns to profit after three years due to weaker yen April 28, 2014 JAPANESE electronics giant Panasonic reported its first full year profit in three years yesterday, with sales boosted by the weaker yen. The maker of Lumix cameras posted profits of 120.4bn yen (£710m) for the year to March, up from the 754.3bn yen loss the previous year. Panasonic has been withdrawing from loss-making operations such as [...]
Microsoft faces fight to keep sales in Europe April 28, 2014 MICROSOFT may have completed its €5.44bn (£4.48bn) takeover of Nokia’s smartphone arm on Friday, but the software giant is facing an uphill battle in Europe as its share of smartphone sales stumbles in its historic stronghold. Microsoft’s Windows Phone, which in the last quarter of 2013 ran on 10 per cent of smartphones sold across [...]
Arm shares hit as profit growth begins to slow April 23, 2014 ARM Holdings, whose chip technology powers Apple’s iPhone, saw its shares slide yesterday after a disappointing end to 2013 resulted in first-quarter profit rising less than in previous years. Sales of top-end smartphones, a market dominated by Apple and Samsung, were lower than predicted during the Christmas holiday season, leading to worries that the market [...]
Samsung smartphone division posts a second profit warning April 8, 2014 SAMSUNG Electronics, the subsidiary of Samsung behind its Galaxy smartphones, has warned of a four per cent drop in operating profit for the quarter to March, marking the second quarterly decline in a row. The South Korean firm said that sales for the quarter are expected to be 53 trillion won (£30.2bn), flat on last [...]
Nokia gets the go-ahead for Microsoft sale April 8, 2014 The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has approved Nokia's planned sale of its devices & services business to Microsoft, the company said on Tuesday. The deal reached in September saw Nokia sell the business to Microsoft for €5.4bn (£4.4bn). However, Nokia retained its patent portfolio, which is seen by some analysts as an up-and-coming source of [...]
What you need to know before the open April 8, 2014 A lower open for European markets this morning, as they continue the sell-off seen yesterday. With first quarter earnings season beginning in the US, stocks have seen some sharp declines. Although some European companies have been affected, markets will remain safely above their recent range lows. Having said that, ongoing tension over Ukraine remains in [...]
HTC’s losses widen as flagship smartphone attracts slim sales April 7, 2014 TAIWANESE smartphone firm HTC reported a wider than expected first-quarter loss as its flagship smartphones continue to attract modest sales. Despite the rave reviews that HTC’s recent devices have received, the company posted a 22.6 per cent drop in revenues to 33.12bn Taiwanese dollars (£659m). “The company expects to see positive trajectory of its revenue [...]