Archives of Business & Finance

1. Angola skewed lending said to stifle economy

   2013-05-19 06:27:36 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

   LUANDA: There is no shortage of cash or credit in Angola Africa's second oil producer but the struggle small businesses face to get loans is stimying efforts to diversify the economy.According to the central bank there was more than $22 billion in credit issued in Angola last year, around a fifth of total economic output.A fledgling banking sector, prodded by the government to make loans avail...

2. Greece Piraeus hire banks to advise on share issue: sources

   2013-05-18 15:10:46 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

   ATHENS: Greece's second-largest lender Piraeus Bank has hired four international investment banks as advisers on its 7.33 billion euro ($9.4 billion) share issue, two bankers close to the procedure told Reuters on Saturday."Goldman, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch will be acting as advisers," one of the bankers said.Greece's top four banks, including Piraeus, need...

3. Rate cuts possible Polish inflation to low: central banker

   2013-05-18 15:05:55 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

   RYTRO: There is little chance that consumer inflation in Poland will quickly return to the central bank's 2.5 percent target, a Monetary Policy Council member said on Saturday, leaving scope for further monetary easing.Jerzy Hausner, one of the central bank's 10 rate-setters, also told Reuters that economic growth could accelerate to about 3 percent late next year, but there was also the r...

4. New Xbox more than a game console for Microsoft

   2013-05-18 14:45:05 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

   SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Corp is set to make a splash this week with the eagerly awaited unveiling of its new Xbox game console, eight years after the last version, as it seeks a larger share of the $65 billion a year global computer gaming industry.But the small device faces some big competition from the PlayStation 4 by Sony Corp and the Wii U by Nintendo Co Ltd in a shifting market.Gamers are g...

5. Japan to provide $2bn in Africa

   2013-05-18 12:51:26 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

   TOKYO: Japan will provide $2 billion worth of financial support over five years to back Japanese firms' resources development projects in Africa, media reported on Saturday.Japan's Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi made the announcement at the Africa-Japan Ministerial Meeting for Resources Development held in Tokyo on Saturday, Japanese news agencies Kyodo and Jiji said.The financial suppor...

6. Tata Motors subsidiary issues $280 mln senior notes

   2013-05-18 12:01:58 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

   MUMBAI: India's Tata Motors Ltd said its subsidiary TML Holdings Pte Ltd had issued and allotted S$350 million ($280 million) of senior notes due 2018.The notes carry an interest rate of 4.25 percent, Tata Motors, part of the salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group, said in a statement on Saturday.Net proceeds from the issue will be used to redeem preference shares issued to Tata Motors and for ...

7. Maersk profits, sales fall in first quarter

   2013-05-17 15:57:27 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

   COPENHAGEN: Danish conglomerate A.P. Moeller-Maersk reported on Friday a drop in net profit and sales in the first quarter amid sluggish economies in North America and Europe.Net profit fell by 33 percent to 4.46 billion kroner (598 million euros, $771 million), but was significantly higher than the 3.4 billion forecast by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.The 2012 first quarter figure was ...

8. Nigeria interbank rates rise on cash shortage

   2013-05-17 14:14:52 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

   LAGOS: Nigerian interbank lending rates rose 1.25 percentage points on Friday to an average of 14.5 percent, compared with 13.25 percent last week as payment for foreign exchange and bonds purchases drained liquidity, traders said."The market opened with a very minimal cash balance on Friday, while the payment for foreign exchange and bonds further drained liquidity in the market pushing up cost o...

9. Indian bank loans up 15pc in two weeks

   2013-05-17 12:05:17 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

   MUMBAI: Indian bank loans grew 15 percent from a year earlier in the two weeks to May 3, while deposits were up 13.5 percent, the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement showed on Friday.Outstanding loans rose 509.5 billion rupees to 53.41 trillion rupees ($972.7 billion) in the two weeks to May 3.Non-food credit rose 311.2 billion rupees to 52.25 trillion rupees, while food cred...

10. Indian central bank buys 96.58bn rupees bonds

    2013-05-17 12:00:48 GMT : (Business & Finance/Managed Funds)

    MUMBAI; The Reserve Bank of India has bought 96.58 billion rupees ($1.8 billion) of bonds, but did not sell any debt in the week to May 10 through outright open market operations (OMOs), it said in a statement on Friday.The central bank did not buy or sell bonds through outright OMOs in the previous week.Copyright Reuters, 2013 ...

11. Prices gain on weak US economic data, low inflation

    2013-05-16 22:07:13 GMT : (Business & Finance/Managed Funds)

    NEW YORK: US Treasuries prices rose on Thursday after data on housing, jobs, prices and manufacturing raised questions about the US economy's strength and made it look more likely that the Federal Reserve would keep monetary policy accommodative.The government said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance benefits last week jumped 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 360...

12. Virgin Atlantic posts record full-year loss

    2013-05-16 14:20:47 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

    LONDON: British airline Virgin Atlantic said tough economic conditions over the last year dragged it to a record annual loss.The airline, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, on Thursday reported a loss of 93 million pounds ($141.60 million) for the year to the end of February, worse than the 80 million loss it reported a year earlier.Its group pretax loss was 69.9 million pounds after ...

13. After ATM heist, India's IT sector again in unwelcome spotlight

    2013-05-16 07:26:14 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

    MUMBAI/BANGALORE: A breach of security at two payment card processing companies in India that led to heists at cash machines around the world has reopened questions on the risks of outsourcing sensitive financial services to the Asian nation.Global banks that ship work to be processed in India, either in-house or to big IT services vendors, were already under pressure to step up oversight of back-...

14. Gilts slide after Bank of England turns hopeful on economy

    2013-05-15 20:58:17 GMT : (Business & Finance/Managed Funds)

    LONDON: British government bonds drifted lower on Wednesday after the Bank of England struck a rare upbeat note on the economy, although the bank's caution about the economy's underlying strength capped gilts' losses.For the first time in years, the central bank predicted that Britain's economic growth would be faster and inflation lower than it expected three months earlier. Howev...

15. Prices edge up as manufacturing weak, inflation subdued

    2013-05-15 20:55:26 GMT : (Business & Finance/Managed Funds)

    NEW YORK: US Treasury debt prices edged higher on Wednesday after a week of losses as manufacturing data pointed to lingering weakness in the economy and price pressures remained subdued, but a continued rally in riskier assets kept gains modest.US industrial production fell more than expected in April, down 0.5 percent. Regional data suggested more contraction could be coming, too, with the New Y...

16. French telecom Iliad sees sales soar from mobile entry

    2013-05-15 15:17:08 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

    PARIS: French telecom and Internet company Iliad's sales soared by nearly 40 percent in the first quarter, the company said Wednesday, boosted by the success of its mobile operator Free.The company said sales hit 907 million euros ($1.17 bn) in the first quarter, with nearly a third (294.5 million) from mobile services launched in January 2012.The entry of Free with low cost offers has shaken ...

17. HSBC sees no change to UK bank levy policy

    2013-05-15 15:03:36 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

    LONDON: HSBC said it does not expect Britain to change its bank levy policy before the next general election due in 2015 and said it is likely to pay about $800 million on the tax this year.HSBC has said the levy unfairly hits banks with big overseas operations. Half its payment last year was on non-UK banking activity."We have had all the conversations we could possibly have with all the people w...

18. Air India's Dreamliner takes to the skies again

    2013-05-15 14:34:33 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

    NEW DELHI: State-run Air India on Wednesday resumed flights of its Dreamliner jets four months after global regulators grounded the Boeing planes following technical glitches in the passenger aircraft.All 50 Dreamliners operating globally were grounded in January after a fire aboard a parked Japan Airlines 787 in January and a smoking battery that forced the emergency landing of an All Nippon Airw...

19. Caterer Compass posts flat interim profits

    2013-05-15 14:11:37 GMT : (Business & Finance/Industries & Sectors)

    LONDON: Compass Group, the world's biggest caterer by sales, said on Wednesday logged flat net profits for the first half of its financial year amid difficult trade in Europe and Japan.Profits after taxation stood at £424 million ($647 million, 499 million euros) in the six months to the end of March, compared with £427 million a year earlier, Compass said in a results statement.Underlying o...

20. PIMCO asset surge powers Allianz quarterly earnings

    2013-05-15 12:12:20 GMT : (Business & Finance/Banking & Finance)

    FRANKFURT: Money poured into asset manager PIMCO's funds in the first three months of 2013, giving a strong boost to earnings of its parent company, German insurer Allianz.The Pacific Investment Management Company, which runs the world's biggest bond fund, recorded net inflows of third-party assets of over 40 billion euros ($51.9 billion) from January to March, nearly double those in the y...