Business this week [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Business this week Apr 25th 2002 From The Economist print edition Mobile woes Ericsson confirmed the worst fears of mobile-phone pessimists by announcing that it would lay off up to 20,000 staff by the end of 2003, some 20% of the total. Losses at the Swedish mobile-phone and equipment maker in the first quarter totalled SKr5.4 billion ($517m), after orders from heavily indebted mobile operators suffered. The shares plunged by 24%, and the company announced a rights issue to raise SKr30 billion. See article:Mobile phones that take pictures Kamps, Germany's biggest baker, dropped its objections to a takeover and accepted a bid from Barilla, the world's biggest pasta maker, after the Italian company added an extra slice of cash to its offer. Barilla is paying just over euro1 billion ($892m) to extend its grip on European mealtimes. CGNU, a British insurer, met resistance at a shareholder meeting to a dividend cut and its plan to change its name to Aviva. Too similar to Arriva, a British bus company, complained investors: symbolic of life, growth and vitality, retorted the company, of the cod-Latin rebranding. The European Commission drew up a list of American goods that it plans to hit with trade sanctions in retaliation for the steel tariffs that the Americans announced last month. In order to target states that are politically sensitive to President George Bush, the list includes steel products, as well as such diverse items as quinces, crocheted vests, protective goggles and pinball machines. The Americans urged the EU to postpone its mid-June deadline for imposing the sanctions. Going, going, gone Alfred Taubman was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $7.5m for his part in an illegal price-fixing scheme between Sotheby's, an auction house of which he was chairman, and Christie's, a "rival" auctioneer. See article:Auction houses in the dock AOLTime Warner, the world's biggest media company, announced the world's biggest write-off of goodwill, taking losses in the first quarter to a staggering $54.2 billion. Ford responded to the departure of Wolfgang Reitzle, head of the group's luxury-car division, and the recent ascendancy of General Motors, with a management reshuffle. Mark Fields, head of the less prestigious Ford-controlled Mazda Motor, will take over the European luxury brandsVolvo, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover. Lincoln-Mercury will revert to control by the North American unit. ExxonMobil's profits fell by 58% in the first quarter compared with a year agowhich had been a record quarter for the companyto $2.2 billion. Good weather combined with recession and the September 11th attacks to cut demand. Bill Gates appeared in court for the first time in the Microsoft antitrust trial. He argued strongly against the draconian remedies to the software giant's monopolistic behaviour that are being demanded by nine hardline states. Mr Gates, hoping to convince the court that less stringent remedies hammered out between Microsoft and the Justice Department would suffice, argued that a more drastic solution would hobble innovation at Microsoft, computers everywhereand indeed the world economy. See article:Bill Gates takes the stand Enron's new bosses said that the bankrupt energy trader's assets were inflated by some $14 billion when the company filed for bankruptcy late last year. As much as another $10 billion could be wiped away by liabilities from energy-trading derivatives contracts. Paul Volcker, the former Fed chairman who has been trying to save Andersen, the accounting firm that audited Enron, seems ready to quit. Andersen's partners appear unwilling to make the changes necessary for its survival. Meanwhile, the firm made a last attempt to settle with America's Justice Department. New York state's attorney-general, Eliot Spitzer, continued his investigation of Wall Street. He announced a multi-state task-force to probe investment banks and said that federal regulators are on the case. Merrill Lynch, accused of having misleading investment research, hired Rudolph Giuliani, a former mayor of New York (and federal prosecutor), as a legal adviser. Lost in the furore: neither Merrill nor any other firm has been accused of a crime. Celera Genomics appointed Kathy Ordoñez as president, to replace Craig Venter, who left in January. It is also to transfer its genome-database business, including its version of the human genome, to a sister company, Applied Biosystems. Celera will concentrate on drug development. Bouncing back The OECD is optimistic about the prospects for the world economy, according to its latest Economic Outlook. Even Japan's recession-blighted economy is predicted to grow a little in 2003. --- ANTI-NATO INFORM
Business this week [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Business this week Apr 18th 2002 From The Economist print edition The axe falls In a tough week for Jean-Marie Messier, Vivendi's boss cancelled a Caribbean holiday to make time to sack Pierre Lescure, the over-independent chief executive of Canal Plus, a loss-making pay-TV unit, only days after the departure of Mr Lescure's deputy. Uproar followed from France's establishment, which fears that Canal Plus may not remain a staunch defender of French cultural exceptionalism for much longer. See article:Face value: Jean-Marie Messier United Pan-Europe Communications, a heavily indebted cable group, announced losses for 2001 of euro4.4 billion ($3.9 billion), up from euro2 billion in 2000. The Dutch-based company's shares plunged amid concerns that bankruptcy beckoned, as debt-restructuring negotiations dragged on. UPC has around euro11.2 billion in debts, some of which it hopes to convert to equity. NTL, Britain's biggest cable operation, announced a long-awaited restructuring of its debts. Some $10.6 billion out of a total of over $17 billion will be swapped for equity to head off a financial crunch. The deal must be approved by other creditors that have lent some $6 billion. Hewlett-Packard said that its shareholders had approved its takeover of Compaq Computer by a 2.8% margin, enough for it to go through despite any court challenges to the voting. Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission cited HP over its relationship with Deutsche Bank, an HP shareholder. And the district attorney's office for the southern district of New York asked for documents about the votes of Deutsche and Northern Trust, which is the subject of dispute. Barilla's taste for carbohydrates turned bitter after the world's biggest pasta maker had its offer of close to euro1 billion ($890m) sent back to the kitchen by Kamps, Europe's biggest baker. Barilla will have to make its offer more palatable if it is to swallow up the German firm. Loss of goodwill Ford, the world's second-largest car maker, lost $800m in the first quarter compared with a profit of $1.1 billion a year ago. Part of the loss was attributable to new accounting standards which forced Ford to write off goodwill from acquisitions, including $708m at Kwik-Fit, its British car-repair chain. Boeing reported a loss of $1.25 billion in the first quarter. It wrote off $1.8 billion of goodwill. Coca-Cola lost $125m in the first quarter, its first loss in 20 years, after the world's leading soft-drink company accounted for the falling value of acquisitions to the tune of $926m. Russian roulette Auditor-bashing broke out in unfamiliar territory: Russia. Foreign investors started legal action against PricewaterhouseCoopers over its audit of Gazprom, a partly state-owned gas giant, alleging a failure to detect asset-stripping. False and misleading, said overseas shareholders of the audit; completely unfounded responded PwC. See article:Troubled Russian audits Rumours of an imminent settlement between Andersen and the Department of Justice over the criminal indictment of the accounting firm over its audit of Enron proved premature, after the lawyers for several interested parties fell out. In a big vote of confidence BP made an about-turn with a big investment in Russia, after getting its fingers burned last time. The British oil company exhibited few fears about the financial probity of Russian business, raising its stake in Sidanco, a Russian oil firm, from 10% to 25%, at a cost of $375m. In the bank The EU's wavering spirit of consensus manifested itself in the nomination for vice-president of the European Central Bank. Lucas Papademos, governor of Greece's central bank and an inflation hawk, got the nod only after Belgium's finance minister, favouring his own candidate, abstained after fraught discussions. See article:Succession at the ECB J.P. Morgan Chase announced that profits had dipped to $982m in the first quarter, compared with $1.2 billion a year earlier. The firm's investment-banking operation contributed the bulk of the profit. Merrill Lynch, the world's leading stockbroker, also suffered a first-quarter decline in profits to $647m, down from $874m a year ago. GE Capital, the financial-services arm of General Electric, is to cut 7,000 jobs out of a total of 90,000 and save a further $1 billion in 2003 as a way of boosting profits. The company also made big job cuts last year. Prices rising America's consumer prices rose by 0.3% in March. Inflation hit 1.5% over the year to March, as rising energy costs hit home. Prices continued rising in the euro area too; by 0.6% in March alone, and by 2.5% over the year. --- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^ This email was sent
Business this week [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Business this weekJan 10th 2002From The Economist print edition Restarting computer sales Compaq Computer, the world's second-largest PC maker, said that surprisingly strong fourth-quarter sales, particularly in Europe, would produce a modest profit rather than the expected loss. The turnaround might even improve the chances of Compaq's proposed merger with Hewlett-Packard. SAP, Europe's leading software company, said that sales in the fourth quarter had exceeded analysts' expectations, topping euro1 billion ($885m). America's Justice Department confirmed that it was pursuing a criminal investigation into events surrounding the bankruptcy of Enron, the erstwhile energy-trading giant. The company has close links with the Bush administration. Season of no GOODWILL AOL Time Warner is to write off as much as $60 billion in the first quarter thanks to new rules over accounting for GOODWILL. The write-off reflects some of the company's expensive dotcom acquisitions. It also forecast that advertising revenues would decline for at least the first half of the year, confirming the miserable outlook for all media companies. ATT is to take a provision of $1 billion in the latest quarter, mainly to pay for 10,000 job cuts. The telecoms giant has already laid off half this number and the rest will go in 2002. Merrill Lynch, an investment bank, also said it would take a charge of $2.2 billion in the quarter, the cost of 9,000 redundancies. Accenture, the world's biggest management consultancy, reported that profits for its latest quarter were up by 11% over a year ago to $258m and that it had made its highest-ever quarterly revenues. Perhaps, at a tough time for many businesses, Accenture was able to provide valuable advice on downsizing. EasyJet propelled EasyJet showed the bullishness of Europe's low-cost airlines with plans to buy 75 new passenger jets worth some $4 billion. In an effort to secure a favourable deal, easyJet signalled that it would consider buying from Airbus Industrie rather than Boeing, the usual supplier to no-frills carriers. Club Mediterranée, a French resort group, said it would report losses for 2001 of euro70m ($62m); the company blamed the effects of a sagging world economy, compounded by the events of September 11th. Others blamed a weak business plan. DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi and Hyundai unveiled plans to develop and produce an engine to power a range of smaller cars. Significant cost savings are expected as adaptations of the power unit could come to propel more than 1m vehicles. The Detroit motor show was dominated by gloom over expected job cuts at Ford, the world's second-biggest car maker. The Bush administration also announced a new push to encourage the development of fuel-cell-powered vehicles. See article: Fuel cells and cars Out of the picture Patricia Russo, charged with reviving Eastman Kodak's fortunes in the digital age, left after less than nine months as chief operating officer and president and returned from whence she came, to Lucent Technologies. She will become chief executive of the struggling telecoms-equipment company. Vizzavi, a European Internet portal that came rather late to the game, said its chief executive and 100 other staff would go. The joint venture between Vodafone and Vivendi Universal cost some euro1.6 billion ($1.4 billion) to set up but has attracted fewer subscribers than hoped for and has had trouble making money. Investor indifference met Vivendi Universal's stockmarket offer of a 5% stake in the company. Shares fell below the opening price, leaving the two banks underwriting the deal stuck with big holdings. Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminium firm, launched a bid for the 60% that it does not yet own of Norway's number two aluminium concern, Elkem, valuing the company at some $850m. Elkem described the offer as very bad. Norsk Hydro, Norway's leading aluminium maker, agreed to pay euro3.1 billion ($2.8 billion) to Germany's E.ON for its VAW aluminium unit, to make it the world's number three aluminium company. Fashion statement Yves Saint Laurent said that he would hang up his hat. The ageing haute couture guru expressed disillusionment with today's more commercial fashion industry. See article: Yves Saint Laurent retires Stockmarkets around the world have continued their steady recovery since the post-September 11th lows, as investors hope for a swift end to America's recession. Both American and European markets have gained, though Japan is less perky. See article: Is irrational exuberance in the air again? ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to:
Business this week [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Title: Message HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Business this weekDecember 13th 2001From The Economist print edition Downward march America's Federal Reserve responded to continuing signs of economic weakness with its eleventh interest-rate cut of the year. A reduction of a quarter-point brings rates down to 1.75%, the lowest for 40 years. See article: Don't bet on a swift recovery The value of global merger and acquisition activity in 2001 was $1.6 trillion, half what it was worth the previous year, according to data from Dealogic. In 2000, the inflated value of high-tech shares fuelled many a deal that now looks unwise. CSFB is to hand over some of the cash it had made from the dotcom boom. The investment bank has reportedly agreed to pay $100m to settle an investigation by America's regulators into claims that it had rigged initial public offerings of high-tech shares by allocating big tranches to favoured customers in return for a slice of the profits in the form of inflated commissions. Zurich Financial Services reshuffled its top management yet again. Dinos Iordanou, who had been promoted to head of group operations last year and was tipped to take over the top job, left to run an insurance start-up. Perhaps as a result, Converium, a reinsurance business Zurich has spun off, made a quiet stockmarket debut. The weak economy claimed more victims at American Express. It announced that up to 6,500 more jobs would go, on top of the 7,700 announced in the past 12 months, a total of 15% of its workforce. Compaq's merger with Hewlett-Packard seemed doomed after the Packard foundation rejected the deal. Hewlett family members had already dismissed the merger; together they own 18% of the company. Compaq shares sank, but both it and HP optimistically insisted that the deal would succeed with the aid of institutional shareholders. See article: Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard Telecom troubles The global telecoms slump hit Eastern Europe. Telekomunikacja Polska announced that it would get rid of 12,000 employees next year, some 20% of its workforce. France Telecom, which acquired 35% of the former state monopoly from the Polish government last year, had said that job cuts would come but had agreed with powerful unions that it would wait four years. Struggling British Telecom appointed Ben Verwaayen, a Dutchman from struggling Lucent Technologies, as its new chief executive, to replace Sir Peter Bonfield, who recently said he would depart from BT a year ahead of schedule. Nokia provided some relief from the gloom surrounding high-tech companies. The Finnish mobile-phone behemoth announced that fourth-quarter profits were likely to be better than previously forecast after handsets sold in greater quantities than expected. But fourth-quarter profits will not match last year's; and its infrastructure business still languishes. Consignia, once known as Britain's Post Office, may have to lay off some 30,000 workers over the next year and a half, twice previous estimates for redundancies needed to save costs as postal growth slips. Unions reacted to the state-owned company's announcement with outrage and threatened to strike. Yahoo!, the world's biggest Internet portal, made an unsolicited offer of $436m for HotJobs, a careers website that was planning to merge with its rival, TMP Worldwide. Drug culture Corporate Japan suffered its biggest foreign intrusion with the purchase by Roche of a controlling interest in Chugai, a large drug company, for up to ¥198 billion ($1.59 billion). The Swiss drug firm assuaged Japanese sensitivities by dressing the deal up as an alliance with Roche as an invited partner. Pfizer threatened to stop supplying France with new medicines in protest at the country's drug-pricing policies. It hopes competitors will join the struggle to squeeze extra cash from France's government; it would go to research and developing better cures, says Pfizer. Merck shocked investors and sent its shares reeling with the news that profits would not grow in 2002. The American drug firm blamed the expiry of patents and slowing sales. Fixing the car maker Fiat unveiled plans for a restructuring that would see the loss of 6,000 jobs, the sale of non-core assets and the possible demise of up to 18 of its factories. The head of its car-making division, Roberto Testore, resigned. See article: Fiat's problems Five German banks felt the wrath of the European Commission. In its latest round of cartel-busting, the commission levied fines of euro101m ($90.4m) for fixing commissions on the exchange of the 12 euro-area currencies since 1997. Three banks said they would appeal. ==^ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here:
Business this week [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Business this week November 29th 2001 From The Economist print edition Out of energy The planned takeover of Enron by Dynegy collapsed after Dynegy pulled out, accusing its rival Texan oil-trading giant of misleading it. Earlier Standard Poor's, a credit-rating agency, had downgraded Enron's debt to junk status. American regulators remain fretful about the impact of a probable collapse of Enron on financial markets. See http://theeconomist.s.maildart.net/link_35372_6676349_2_142057444_87298 492_1_9a article: Upended E+ http://www.economist.com/images/dingbats/e5.gif America's recession is now official. The National Bureau of Economic Research said it had begun in March, ending the longest expansion of the economy on record. The current recession is unusual: employment has not so far fallen dramatically and real incomes have not yet declined at all. See http://theeconomist.s.maildart.net/link_35371_6676349_2_142057444_87298 492_1_99 article: Say R http://www.economist.com/images/20011201/CWW018.gif Gordon Brown, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, is confident the British economy will be less affected by the global recession than its G7 peers. In periods of global economic slowdown in the past, Britain's economy suffered more than most. But Mr Brown predicted 2-2.5% growth next year and even faster growth in 2003. See http://theeconomist.s.maildart.net/link_35373_6676349_2_142057444_87298 492_1_9b article: Pushing the boat out European Union governments are proposing to scrap extra fees for credit-card payments and cash withdrawals of up to euro12,500 ($11,000) by July 1st 2002, and for cross-border money transfers in the same value range a year later. New broom Josef Ackermann, who is to head Deutsche Bank in six months' time, is planning to shake up the bank's cosy management traditions. But Mr Ackermann dismissed rumours that Rolf Breuer, Deutsche's current head, would leave the bank earlier than next May. Mr Breuer has been under fire ever since Deutsche's merger with Dresdner Bank, its arch-rival, collapsed last year. Standard Chartered, a mainly emerging-markets bank listed in Britain, ousted its chief executive, Rana Talwar. The news increased speculation that the bank might be a takeover target, with both Barclays and Lloyds TSB talked of as suitors. Standard denies any discussions on a sale. Any potential buyer would have to win agreement from Khoo Teck Puat, a Malaysian who is the bank's biggest shareholder. Michel David-Weill, chairman of Lazard, an investment bank, is trying to stem the exodus of the bank's senior executives by letting the bank's 140 or so working partners have a stake in the franchise. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (MTFG) reported an interim loss, but it is still the only one of Japan's top four banks to expect a profit for the past year. Against the backdrop of a stagnating economy and an increase in corporate bankruptcies, the bank's three peers bolstered their provisions for loan losses. MTFG announced up to 4,500 job cuts by March 2005. Reuters http://www.economist.com/images/20011201/4801WW4.jpg Lloyd's of London, the insurance market, is facing far bigger losses from terrorist attacks on September 11th than it had first predicted. It now estimates its net losses (ie, losses after reinsurance) to be £1.9 billion ($2.7 billion), about £600m more than originally forecast. The biggest loss in Lloyd's 300-year history hit just when the market appeared to have turned the corner after root-and-branch reforms. Kvaerner, an Anglo-Norwegian engineering giant, agreed to merge with another Norwegian firm, Aker Maritime. By doing so, Kvaerner has staved off bankruptcy as well as thwarting a rival takeover bid from Yukos, a Russian oil giant. See http://theeconomist.s.maildart.net/link_35374_6676349_2_142057444_87298 492_1_9c article: Kvaerner's emergency merger E+ http://www.economist.com/images/dingbats/e5.gif Warning signs BAE Systems, a British aerospace and defence group, issued its second profits warning of the year. It is shutting down its regional-jet manufacturing operation and will be cutting 1,669 jobs. British Telecommunications will receive £2.38m ($3.4m) from the sale of most of its property portfolio to Telereal, a joint venture of Land Securities and the Pears Group. The portfolio includes offices, warehouses, telephone exchanges, call and computer centres, but not the BT tower and the BT centre in London. The deal, Britain's largest corporate property outsourcing to date, is meant to ease BT's debt burden. Consolidation in Europe's retail market continued as Kingfisher and Dixons, two British retailers, made inroads into the German and Italian markets, respectively. Kingfisher bought 25% of Hornbach, a German do-it-yourself chain. Dixons, Britain's leading
