Business News & Financial News

premier site for news and financial information

Archive for the ‘business success’ Category

Retail sales are backed up against all odds by 0.3% in Germany in July, posting a second consecutive month of decline in monthly, announced Tuesday the Federal Office of Statistics.

Over a year, retail sales rose 0.8%.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a monthly increase of 0.5% and an increase of 1.4% over one year.

Violent protests in tens of thousands of textile workers in Bangladesh have led to the closure Tuesday of 700 plants supplying most major brands of western clothing.

The riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas on the workers in the industrial area of Ashulia, north of the capital Dhaka.In this sector, workers, requiring a higher minimum wage of 25-70 dollars, have erected barricades of old tires, set fire to trucks for delivery and launched missiles at the police for fourth consecutive day.

Some 800,000 workers spend many factories closed down 700, but "tens of thousands" more are on the streets, forcing shops to close, "said deputy chief of police in Dhaka Monowar Hosain.

Plants that have been forced to close their doors provide Western chains such as Wal-Mart, H & M, Tesco, Carrefour and Metro, as well as major brands like Tommy Hilfiger, GAP and Levi Strauss. The workers demanded wage of at least 5,000 taka (70 dollars) per month.The current minimum wage set in 2006 is only $ 25.

Read also: Foxconn increases wages by 70% in China

Under the patronage of manufacturers and exporters of textiles (BGMEA), the violent protests, which began Saturday, has created a climate of "panic and anarchy, forcing factories to close until further notice. "More than 50 factories were ransacked by protesters who prevented and deliver orders on time, resulting in losses totaling millions of dollars," said Vice-President of the BGMEA, M. Mohiuddin Shafiul Islam.

Labour Minister Mosharraf Hossain promised after an emergency meeting with the management of textile wage increases, but has threatened "strong action" demonstrators.Textiles account for 80% of annual exports of Bangladesh and its factories employing 40% of the workforce of the industrial countries, most of them women.

News Corp. has been beneficial in the fourth fiscal quarter thanks to strong performance of its cable networks and advertising revenue growth of its newspapers.

The media company posted a profit of 875 million, or 33 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, against a loss of 203 million (eight cents per share) a year ago when News Corp recorded a asset impairment charge.

Turnover rose 5% to 8.11 billion dollars. The Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S gave a turnover of 8.05 billion.

Action News Corp. gained 2.9% to 14.25 dollars after the close of Wall Street, in response to these results.It grew by 12% since the beginning of the year, while the S & P movies and entertainment took 8% in the same time.

Rebound in advertising revenue and lower costs led to a growth in operating income by 20% in the press in the U.S. and internationally. The operating profit of its cable division has increased 31%.

In contrast, there was decline results from the satellite television and commercial services, and loss of the digital divide, including social network MySpace.

Carphone Warehouse, the first European distributor of mobile phones, publishes quarterly results above its forecast, thanks to smartphone demand, pushing up the stock price of more than 5%.

The British group showed some caution about the economic climate but said he was confident, however, achieve its goal for the year in April.

Of the thirteen weeks to July 3, the first fiscal quarter, sales in stores open at least a year rose 3.7% at constant exchange rates in the European market.

This increase is greater than analysts' forecasts that anticipated growth of 2%, according to a survey conducted by the company.

Carphone has also said that the three new stores opened since April in Britain under the name Best Buy have been successful had a "very positive", without giving figures.

Asked by Reuters about the economic outlook, the group general manager Roger Taylor said: "I am not a prophet of doom. But I do not presume to rapid growth, either."

The title gained 5.09% to 227 pence at 10h00 GMT, the FTSE 100 yielded 0.19%.

Manitou Tuesday reported a sharp rise in quarterly sales, but said the second half anticipate a slowdown in orders and a possible impact on delivery times its turnover.

The specialist said all terrain truck build for 2010 growth of 10% to 15% of its turnover, after announcing a 36% increase in sales in the second quarter to 225 million euros, 8.3% throughout the first half, to 387 million euros.

The backlog reached a record level of 5,400 machines at the end of June, said Manitou.

"We focus on our ability to issue orders in a fluid and operational chain still very tense," the group said in a statement.

Manitou has estimated that its order intake for the second quarter allowed him to secure part of his turnover for the second half, but the group expects a slowdown in the second half of the year.

"We continue to believe that these orders are from reports of investment in 2009, the natural cycles of replacement of machinery, and the traditional seasonal effect," the company said.

"However, we do not always signal a real recovery in volumes, either through rental building, expansion of agricultural markets or just a restocking distribution networks," Has added.

The action Manitou closed Tuesday up 1.30%, to 11.68 euros in a market capitalization of around 440 million euros.

The U.S. stocks have ended without major trend Wednesday as investors wondering about the tone set by the Fed in the minutes of the last meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee.

The Federal Reserve said that its members should be prepared to adopt new measures to support the economy if the environment deteriorates.

See Fed talk about slowing down and hear that she may have to provide more support and cash undoubtedly shaken the markets, "said Bruce Zaro, chief investment strategist for Delta Global Advisors.

The Dow Jones, which includes the thirty most important values of American industry, was up 0.04% to 10.366.72 points, the S & P 500 index fund managers, dropped 0.02% to 1095.17 points.

The Nasdaq's side showed signs of resistance, clinching 0.35% to 2224.84 points, thanks to technology, supported by better than expected results released Tuesday by Intel. The title of the Informatics Group closed up 1.67% to 21.36 dollars.

Investors have also learned the consequences of the publication of statistics showing that business inventories had risen less sharply than expected in the United States in May while sales fell for the first time since March 2009.

The S & P showing variations of values related to consumption has dropped 0.54%.Abercrombie & Fitch has lost 0.83% to 35.93 dollars while JCPenney yielded 0.86% to 22.99 dollars.

The bank has also been the subject of intense clearances pending the results of resistance testing is suffered by 91 European banks.

The KBW index of sectoral sector fell 1.61%.

A reversal of the trend, GlaxoSmithKline closed up 1.76% to 36.35 dollars after the positive vote from the Food and Drug Administration on a diabetic, developed by the laboratory.

Fiat announced Friday it would invest 700 million euros to produce the Panda in its factory near Naples Pomigliano after a landmark agreement with unions.

The decision to relocate production in Italy of the best-selling small car in Europe, built up in Poland, has been a while appear compromised because only 62% of factory workers in Naples had voted in favor of the plan Fiat, which also includes a significant change in working conditions.

The agreement gives Fiat more flexibility regarding the fees, limits the number of strikes and sick-leave.

It is part of an investment program of Fiat to eight billion euros until 2011 which is designed to make the group more efficient and competitive in a market that has experienced a severe crisis.

Fiat has finally decided to pursue his project after meeting with the four unions that support the project, FIM, UILM, Fismic and UGL.

Fiom, only union opposed the agreement, said it will help the government dismantle the labor law.

The union's national coordinator, Enzo Masini, said the union would consider a lawsuit for infringement of the rights of employees.

The Secretary General of the UILM Palombella Rocco told Reuters: "We hope the employees who voted against the plan will realize that the investment is important and it is in their own interest."

The Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has written a four-page letter to convince employees.

"What we're doing is (…) to use all possible means to save the work, even work on which the Italian Republic is founded," says the boss of the group.

He added that his entire strategy for Italy depends on the agreement at Pomigliano.

The government of Silvio Berlusconi welcomed the announcement of Fiat.

The plant in Naples, which employs 5,000 people, shows the lowest productivity of the five Italian factories of Fiat. It is lower than that of the Polish site, which, with just over 6,000 workers, produced 600,000 cars per year.

The CEO of BP's Tony Hayward met with officials of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), one of the largest SWFs in the world, said an official source of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A UAE source told Reuters on Tuesday that BP had approached sovereign wealth funds to find a strategic partner to preserve it from any takeover attempt as it is mobilized by an oil spill that has caused the Gulf of Mexico.

Tony Hayward has made various "options" at this meeting, added the official source, without being more explicit.

Adia was not immediately available for comment.

A Saudi financial daily reported Wednesday that Saudi investors wishing to enter the capital of BP at 10% to 15%.

A delegation of these investors will travel to London to begin a dialogue with BP, said al-Eqtisadiyah, the main financial newspaper in the kingdom, without citing sources.

Action BP has lost more than half its value since the oil spill that began last April.

The British oil giant said it hoped to raise 10 billion this year to finance a fund for cleaning $ 20 billion that had opened under pressure from Washington.

Action BP earns 4.17% to 360 pence in morning.

Nicolas Sarkozy announced Monday the appointment of Rémy Pflimlin, current head of the press operator Presstalis (ex NMPP) to chair the group France Televisions in place of Patrick de Carolis.

56 years old, Remy Pflimlin, former director of France 3, is the chief executive of France Televisions appointed by the Head of State under the reform of public broadcasting, which had already brought Jean-Luc Hees to head of Radio France.

The term of five years Patrick de Carolis ends next August 24.

"The President intends to appoint Pflimlin Remy as president of the company France Televisions," said a statement from the Elysee.

After the Act of March 2009 on the appointment of chairmen of public broadcasting, the choice of the Head of State requires the favorable opinion of the Supreme Council of Audiovisual (CSA) and the cultural affairs committees of the Senate and the National Assembly.

The CSA has already received the proposal from Nicolas Sarkozy, said the statement from the presidency.

A recurrent rumor until recently gave Alexandre Bompard, current head of Europe 1 (Lagardère Group), a favorite for the job.

Alexandre Bompard is regarded both as close to Nicolas Sarkozy and the businessman Stephane Courbit, which almost redeemed, in tandem with Publicis, the advertising of France Televisions.

THE SITE OF THE BOARD

Remy Pflimlin among other tasks will take a decision on restarting the process of privatization of France Television Advertising, suspended in mid-April by the Board of Directors, chaired by Patrick de Carolis.

The board was then raised uncertainties about the possible maintenance of advertising on its antennae day after 2011, especially after an attack in this direction led by Jean-Francois Cope, president of the UMP group in the National Assembly.

The law of March 2009, which endorsed the decision after the fact of advertising from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 in January 2009, provides for the complete elimination of advertising screens on satellite public in late 2011, when the extinction of the television broadcasting analog.

France Televisions has earned 405 million euros in advertising revenue between 6 hours and 20 hours in 2009 – against 260 million originally projected in its budget.

These advertising performance helped France Televisions to rebalance their accounts in 2009 three years ahead of its business plan and generate a net profit of 19.6 million euros instead of a projected deficit of 135.3 million.

The Board of Directors of France Television said Tuesday, June 29 that a return to balance the books reached in 2009 should continue into 2010.

Major European stock markets ended near their highest of the day and even down to Frankfurt and Zurich, investors remain concerned about the apparent fragility of economic recovery following the announcement of job destruction in the United States that many more 'Early in June

The Paris Bourse ended the session up 0.25% to 3348.37 points. However in the week, it sold 4.87%.

The U.S. economy has destroyed 125,000 non-agricultural jobs in June, according to Labor Department statistics, a figure slightly higher than expected.This is the first time since the beginning of the year that the U.S. economy is destroying jobs.

Moreover, following the division of Accor effective Friday, with the IPO of his ex-services division, became an independent entity called Edenred, it has jumped almost 30% compared to the reference price announced Thursday, while Accor has dropped from 4.64% to 23.53 euros.

In turn, Dana Petroleum has gained 22.34%, after being approached for a takeover, a possibility which has benefited other values in the oil or oil-related UK, as Premier Oil, Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil who gained 5.18 to 7.91%.

On the downside, Sanofi-Aventis has yielded 2.42%, according to press reports suggesting a proposed acquisition in the U.S. could reach 20 billion dollars.