(MarketWatch) -- Australia and New Zealand Banking Group said Wednesday its net profit and cash profit for the fiscal first-half fell due to burgeoning bad debt on its ledger, with the cash profit result missing analysts' expectations.
For the six months ended March 31, ANZ Group said its cash profit -- a closely watched metric for banks -- dropped to 954 million Australian dollars ($673 million) from 1.67 billion Australian dollars at the same time last year.
A Dow Jones Newswires survey had put analysts' average expectations for cash profit at 1.19 billion Australian dollars.
Bottom-line net profit, meanwhile, fell to 1.42 billion Australian dollars from 1.96 billion Australian dollars in the year-ago half.
Bad loans for the recent period more than doubled to 1.37 billion Australian dollars.
ANZ Chief Executive Mike Smith was quoted by Dow Jones as saying the outlook for bad loans in the second half of the fiscal year was "difficult" and the bank won't meet an earlier forecast to limit provisions to between 2.4 billion and 2.5 billion Australian dollars for the entire 2008-09 fiscal year.
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Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Monday, 27 April 2009
Top S.Africa ANC official sees ongoing role for Manuel
(Reuters) - South Africa's veteran Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will continue to have an important role in government after last week's elections, a senior official in the ruling African National Congress told Reuters on Monday.
ANC Treasurer General Mathews Phosa, a former lawyer and ally of new South African President Jacob Zuma, said the final decision on Manuel's future would be made in the next two weeks.
Manuel's fate is being closely watched by financial markets, and Phosa was in London to meet with and reassure investors. He said the most common question he had been asked was over Manuel.
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ANC Treasurer General Mathews Phosa, a former lawyer and ally of new South African President Jacob Zuma, said the final decision on Manuel's future would be made in the next two weeks.
Manuel's fate is being closely watched by financial markets, and Phosa was in London to meet with and reassure investors. He said the most common question he had been asked was over Manuel.
Read more here
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Microsoft sales fall for first time in 23 years
(CNNMoney.com) -- Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that declining PC sales hurt revenue, as the software giant reported quarterly sales that fell for the first time in its 23-year history as a public company.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company said sales fell 6% from a year earlier to $13.7 billion, missing analysts' expectations of $14.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the company's net income fell 32% to $2.98 billion, or 33 cents per share, in its third quarter ended March 31.
Results included charges totaling 6 cents per share for job cuts and investments that took place in the quarter. Without the charges, Microsoft earned 39 per share, in line with forecasts by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, which typically exclude one-time items.
Microsoft said weakness in the global PC market negatively impacted its results.
Still, shares of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) rose 4% after hours, as the company performed roughly in-line with expectations. In the previous quarter, results came in well below forecasts, and Microsoft rescinded its prior outlook for 2009.
"Expectations were much more tempered now," said Katherine Egbert, analyst with Jefferies & Co. "People now understand that near-term business won't be so good."
On a conference call with analysts, Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said the current recession has been "the most difficult economic environment we've faced in our history." He noted that he expects the recovery to be slow and gradual, but again he declined to give a specific outlook for the next three-month period.
Still, Liddell said he was encouraged by the company's ability to cut costs.
"While I can't be happy in any quarter in which our revenue and earnings per share decrease, I'm pleased with our relative performance," he added.
Demand quagmire: The company has had a difficult time combating slumping demand for its Windows operating system, as the economic slowdown has dragged PC sales down 7% to 9%, according to Microsoft's estimates.
The recession has also prompted many consumers to opt for cheaper, scaled-down "netbooks" that perform only basic tasks such as e-mail and accessing the Internet. They typically run a lower-cost version of Windows or an open-source operating system such as Linux.
"The trouble for Microsoft is that its cash cow is shifting," said Carl Howe, analyst with Yankee Group. "PC sales are troubled, and they're getting hurt by the move to cheaper notebooks."
In January, Microsoft announced its first mass job cuts in its 34-year history in an effort to bolster its bottom line The company slashed 1,400 position during the quarter with another 3,600 expected to be cut by mid-2010. At that time, the company said it was also adding a few thousand positions, mainly in its online advertising division.
"While market conditions remained weak during the quarter, I was pleased with the organization's ability to offset revenue pressures with the swift implementation of cost-savings initiatives," said Liddell. "We expect the weakness to continue through at least the next quarter."
Sales and profit fell in all of Microsoft's businesses, except its server business, which managed to squeeze out a 7% rise in revenue and a 24% jump in earnings. The entertainment and devices division, which includes the Xbox 360, suffered a 2% revenue decline and an operating loss of $31 million from a year earlier. The company's business division sales dropped 5%.
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The Redmond, Wash.-based company said sales fell 6% from a year earlier to $13.7 billion, missing analysts' expectations of $14.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the company's net income fell 32% to $2.98 billion, or 33 cents per share, in its third quarter ended March 31.
Results included charges totaling 6 cents per share for job cuts and investments that took place in the quarter. Without the charges, Microsoft earned 39 per share, in line with forecasts by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, which typically exclude one-time items.
Microsoft said weakness in the global PC market negatively impacted its results.
Still, shares of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) rose 4% after hours, as the company performed roughly in-line with expectations. In the previous quarter, results came in well below forecasts, and Microsoft rescinded its prior outlook for 2009.
"Expectations were much more tempered now," said Katherine Egbert, analyst with Jefferies & Co. "People now understand that near-term business won't be so good."
On a conference call with analysts, Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said the current recession has been "the most difficult economic environment we've faced in our history." He noted that he expects the recovery to be slow and gradual, but again he declined to give a specific outlook for the next three-month period.
Still, Liddell said he was encouraged by the company's ability to cut costs.
"While I can't be happy in any quarter in which our revenue and earnings per share decrease, I'm pleased with our relative performance," he added.
Demand quagmire: The company has had a difficult time combating slumping demand for its Windows operating system, as the economic slowdown has dragged PC sales down 7% to 9%, according to Microsoft's estimates.
The recession has also prompted many consumers to opt for cheaper, scaled-down "netbooks" that perform only basic tasks such as e-mail and accessing the Internet. They typically run a lower-cost version of Windows or an open-source operating system such as Linux.
"The trouble for Microsoft is that its cash cow is shifting," said Carl Howe, analyst with Yankee Group. "PC sales are troubled, and they're getting hurt by the move to cheaper notebooks."
In January, Microsoft announced its first mass job cuts in its 34-year history in an effort to bolster its bottom line The company slashed 1,400 position during the quarter with another 3,600 expected to be cut by mid-2010. At that time, the company said it was also adding a few thousand positions, mainly in its online advertising division.
"While market conditions remained weak during the quarter, I was pleased with the organization's ability to offset revenue pressures with the swift implementation of cost-savings initiatives," said Liddell. "We expect the weakness to continue through at least the next quarter."
Sales and profit fell in all of Microsoft's businesses, except its server business, which managed to squeeze out a 7% rise in revenue and a 24% jump in earnings. The entertainment and devices division, which includes the Xbox 360, suffered a 2% revenue decline and an operating loss of $31 million from a year earlier. The company's business division sales dropped 5%.
Read more here
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Soaring U.S. Budget Deficit Will Mean Billions in Bond Sales
(Bloomberg) -- Millions of lost jobs mean billions in lost tax revenue for the U.S. government, and billions in additional Treasury debt to fund a federal budget deficit that may soar to more than four times last year’s record $454.7 billion.
Employers cut 3.7 million positions from their payrolls in the six months since the fiscal year began Oct. 1, and the unemployment rate reached a 25-year high of 8.5 percent in March. That suggests receipts for April -- the biggest month for tax collection -- are likely to come in well below April 2008, analysts said.
With spending on unemployment insurance and other safety- net programs rising, the deficit is already at a record $956.8 billion six months into the fiscal year. To help close that gap, the Treasury Department has more than quadrupled borrowing, pushing the government deeper into debt.
“Tax receipts are just collapsing,” said Chris Ahrens, head of interest-rate strategy at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, one of 16 primary dealers required to bid at Treasury auctions. The need to sell more debt “is a big issue in the Treasury market and it is ongoing. The surging budget deficit is the primary cause.”
The government will have to sell $2.4 trillion in new bills, notes and bonds in fiscal 2009, according to UBS. From October through December, the Treasury sold a record $569 billion, up from $82 billion in the same period a year earlier, and auctioned another $493 billion in the last quarter, up from $156 billion. That helps to make up for the drop in tax receipts, pay for the rise in spending and refinance maturing debt. Along with the principal, the sales add additional interest costs to the deficit for years to come.
Unemployment Benefits
At the same time, government spending has climbed 33 percent in the fiscal year through March, as relief programs such as unemployment benefits expand. Labor Department expenditures have more than doubled to $52.7 billion and payments by the Department of Health and Human Services have risen by $40.6 billion, or 12 percent. Spending by the Agriculture Department, which runs the food-stamp program, is 18 percent higher, or $9.9 billion more than in the same period a year ago.
These increases will contribute to a record federal budget deficit this fiscal year. On March 20, the Congressional Budget Office forecast the shortfall will reach $1.85 trillion, dwarfing the previous peak. UBS estimates a budget deficit of $1.65 trillion, Ahrens said.
Read more here
Employers cut 3.7 million positions from their payrolls in the six months since the fiscal year began Oct. 1, and the unemployment rate reached a 25-year high of 8.5 percent in March. That suggests receipts for April -- the biggest month for tax collection -- are likely to come in well below April 2008, analysts said.
With spending on unemployment insurance and other safety- net programs rising, the deficit is already at a record $956.8 billion six months into the fiscal year. To help close that gap, the Treasury Department has more than quadrupled borrowing, pushing the government deeper into debt.
“Tax receipts are just collapsing,” said Chris Ahrens, head of interest-rate strategy at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, one of 16 primary dealers required to bid at Treasury auctions. The need to sell more debt “is a big issue in the Treasury market and it is ongoing. The surging budget deficit is the primary cause.”
The government will have to sell $2.4 trillion in new bills, notes and bonds in fiscal 2009, according to UBS. From October through December, the Treasury sold a record $569 billion, up from $82 billion in the same period a year earlier, and auctioned another $493 billion in the last quarter, up from $156 billion. That helps to make up for the drop in tax receipts, pay for the rise in spending and refinance maturing debt. Along with the principal, the sales add additional interest costs to the deficit for years to come.
Unemployment Benefits
At the same time, government spending has climbed 33 percent in the fiscal year through March, as relief programs such as unemployment benefits expand. Labor Department expenditures have more than doubled to $52.7 billion and payments by the Department of Health and Human Services have risen by $40.6 billion, or 12 percent. Spending by the Agriculture Department, which runs the food-stamp program, is 18 percent higher, or $9.9 billion more than in the same period a year ago.
These increases will contribute to a record federal budget deficit this fiscal year. On March 20, the Congressional Budget Office forecast the shortfall will reach $1.85 trillion, dwarfing the previous peak. UBS estimates a budget deficit of $1.65 trillion, Ahrens said.
Read more here
Monday, 20 April 2009
Ivanhoe’s Merlin Rhenium Deposit May Make It Largest Supplier
(Bloomberg) -- Ivanhoe Australia Ltd., a unit of billionaire Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., may become the world’s biggest supplier of rhenium used in jet engine turbine blades once production starts at its Merlin project.
The Merlin rhenium and molybdenum resource in Australia’s Queensland state contains metal worth $4.6 billion at today’s prices and is the world’s highest grade deposit of the two rare metals, Melbourne-based Ivanhoe said today in a statement.
Production may start in two years, Ivanhoe Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Reeve said today in an interview. General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce Group Plc are among the world’s biggest users of rhenium and Ivanhoe will seek long-term sales partners as development proceeds, Reeve said. The stock jumped to a nine-month high in Sydney trading.
“We can probably become the dominant supplier of rhenium in the world,” Reeve said in an interview by phone from Melbourne today. “We would try and tie up with a long-term end- user contract.”
Read more here
The Merlin rhenium and molybdenum resource in Australia’s Queensland state contains metal worth $4.6 billion at today’s prices and is the world’s highest grade deposit of the two rare metals, Melbourne-based Ivanhoe said today in a statement.
Production may start in two years, Ivanhoe Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Reeve said today in an interview. General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce Group Plc are among the world’s biggest users of rhenium and Ivanhoe will seek long-term sales partners as development proceeds, Reeve said. The stock jumped to a nine-month high in Sydney trading.
“We can probably become the dominant supplier of rhenium in the world,” Reeve said in an interview by phone from Melbourne today. “We would try and tie up with a long-term end- user contract.”
Read more here
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Google shares unable to hang onto gains
(MarketWatch) -- Google Inc. shares fell late Thursday, losing grip of gains that had arrived following the search giant's better-than-expected quarterly results.
The stock was last down 0.7% at $388.50 after trading more than 5% higher in the wake of the company's report of net income of $1.4 billion, or $4.49 a share. Last year, Google made $1.3 billion or $4.12 a share. Net revenue was $4.07 billion for the most recent period.
On a conference call, the company said its business model demonstrated resilience during the period, but that it's "absolutely" feeling the impact of the economic downturn.
Earnings at Google excluding special items were $5.16 a share. Analysts had expected Google to post earnings excluding special items of $4.93 a share on $4.08 billion in net revenue, according a Thomson Reuters survey of analysts
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The stock was last down 0.7% at $388.50 after trading more than 5% higher in the wake of the company's report of net income of $1.4 billion, or $4.49 a share. Last year, Google made $1.3 billion or $4.12 a share. Net revenue was $4.07 billion for the most recent period.
On a conference call, the company said its business model demonstrated resilience during the period, but that it's "absolutely" feeling the impact of the economic downturn.
Earnings at Google excluding special items were $5.16 a share. Analysts had expected Google to post earnings excluding special items of $4.93 a share on $4.08 billion in net revenue, according a Thomson Reuters survey of analysts
Read more here
Asian Stocks Climb as Toshiba, JPMorgan Fuel Growth Optimism
(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks advanced, with the regional benchmark index heading for its sixth-consecutive weekly gain, as earnings reports from Toshiba Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted confidence the global recession is easing.
Toshiba, Japan’s largest semiconductor maker, jumped 4.4 percent after posting a smaller operating loss than previously forecast. HSBC Holdings Plc, which owns a U.S. mortgage business, climbed 2.6 percent in Hong Kong on optimism banking profits are recovering. Woolworths Ltd., Australia’s largest retailer, gained 3.1 percent in Sydney on better-than-estimated sales.
“Investors are optimistic that we will see better news from the second quarter onwards, said Tat Auyeung, a fund manager at Apex Capital Management in Hong Kong, which oversees $500 million. ‘‘Confidence in the market is returning.’’
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.5 percent to 90.26 at 12:04 p.m. in Tokyo, erasing its losses for the year. The gauge has risen 2.6 percent this week. A sixth weekly gain would be the longest winning streak since December 2006.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 2.2 percent to 8,949.55. South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.8 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 1.6 percent. All markets open for trading advanced except China.
Nippon Steel Corp., the world’s No. 2 maker of the alloy, surged 9 percent in Tokyo trading on speculation that price cuts offered to automakers were less than anticipated. Megaworld Corp., the third-largest Philippine builder by market value, advanced 7.8 percent in Manila on higher profit.
Jobless Claims
Futures on the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent. The gauge gained 1.6 percent yesterday as JPMorgan, the country’s second-largest bank by assets, reported a 10 percent decline in first-quarter earnings to $2.14 billion, or 40 cents a share. That beat the estimate of 32 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has rallied 27 percent from a more than five-year low reached on March 9 amid signs government measures worldwide to ease the global recession are working. The U.S. Labor Department reported yesterday new jobless claims in the week ended April 11 fell by the fewest since January.
Analysts’ earnings estimates for companies included in the MSCI benchmark started to rise this month after a year of falling predictions, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Toshiba added 4.4 percent to 332 yen in Tokyo. The operating loss, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, was 250 billion yen ($2.5 billion), or 11 percent smaller than the company’s previous 280 billion yen loss projection, the company said.
Nokia, Google
Computer-memory chipmakers climbed after prices of the benchmark dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips climbed 7.6 percent yesterday to the highest since Oct. 14. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. gained 7.6 percent to 14,250 won, while largest memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. rose 3.1 percent to 599,000 won in Seoul.
Technology shares also rose after Nokia Oyj, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, said yesterday that demand was stabilizing. Google Inc., the world’s most popular search engine, said first-quarter profit rose 8.9 percent, exceeding analysts’ estimates.
Finance stocks on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index accounted for 22 percent of the gauge’s advance today. The shares are the third-best performers of the MSCI measure’s 10 industry groups in the past month.
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Toshiba, Japan’s largest semiconductor maker, jumped 4.4 percent after posting a smaller operating loss than previously forecast. HSBC Holdings Plc, which owns a U.S. mortgage business, climbed 2.6 percent in Hong Kong on optimism banking profits are recovering. Woolworths Ltd., Australia’s largest retailer, gained 3.1 percent in Sydney on better-than-estimated sales.
“Investors are optimistic that we will see better news from the second quarter onwards, said Tat Auyeung, a fund manager at Apex Capital Management in Hong Kong, which oversees $500 million. ‘‘Confidence in the market is returning.’’
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.5 percent to 90.26 at 12:04 p.m. in Tokyo, erasing its losses for the year. The gauge has risen 2.6 percent this week. A sixth weekly gain would be the longest winning streak since December 2006.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 2.2 percent to 8,949.55. South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.8 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 1.6 percent. All markets open for trading advanced except China.
Nippon Steel Corp., the world’s No. 2 maker of the alloy, surged 9 percent in Tokyo trading on speculation that price cuts offered to automakers were less than anticipated. Megaworld Corp., the third-largest Philippine builder by market value, advanced 7.8 percent in Manila on higher profit.
Jobless Claims
Futures on the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent. The gauge gained 1.6 percent yesterday as JPMorgan, the country’s second-largest bank by assets, reported a 10 percent decline in first-quarter earnings to $2.14 billion, or 40 cents a share. That beat the estimate of 32 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has rallied 27 percent from a more than five-year low reached on March 9 amid signs government measures worldwide to ease the global recession are working. The U.S. Labor Department reported yesterday new jobless claims in the week ended April 11 fell by the fewest since January.
Analysts’ earnings estimates for companies included in the MSCI benchmark started to rise this month after a year of falling predictions, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Toshiba added 4.4 percent to 332 yen in Tokyo. The operating loss, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, was 250 billion yen ($2.5 billion), or 11 percent smaller than the company’s previous 280 billion yen loss projection, the company said.
Nokia, Google
Computer-memory chipmakers climbed after prices of the benchmark dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips climbed 7.6 percent yesterday to the highest since Oct. 14. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. gained 7.6 percent to 14,250 won, while largest memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. rose 3.1 percent to 599,000 won in Seoul.
Technology shares also rose after Nokia Oyj, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, said yesterday that demand was stabilizing. Google Inc., the world’s most popular search engine, said first-quarter profit rose 8.9 percent, exceeding analysts’ estimates.
Finance stocks on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index accounted for 22 percent of the gauge’s advance today. The shares are the third-best performers of the MSCI measure’s 10 industry groups in the past month.
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