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Intel Profits Fall as PC Slump Cuts Demand for Chips

April 16, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

The earnings decline points to the challenges facing the big chip maker as it struggles to make the transition beyond its lucrative stronghold as the leading supplier of the chips that power PCs.

As people do more and more of their computing on tablets and smartphones, personal computer sales are falling.

The company reported net income to $2.05 billion, a decline of 25 percent from $2.74 billion in the period a year earlier.

Intel’s earnings fell to 40 cents a share, compared with 53 cents a share a year ago. The quarter’s performance was just below Wall Street’s average estimate of 41 cents a share, as compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue in the first quarter slipped to $12.58 billion, down from $12.91 billion in the first quarter of 2012. That was in line with analysts’ forecast of $12.6 billion.

In after-hours trading, Intel shares were flat. In the regular trading session, the company’s shares added 54 cents a share, or 2.5 percent, to close at $21.92.

In a conference call to discuss the results, Intel executives were more optimistic about the rest of the year.

Stacy J. Smith, the chief financial officer, said the company should return to growth in the second half, and probably achieve “double-digit revenue growth for the year.”

An improving economy should help, as well as new products like its Haswell chips, a power-saving processor that supports touch-screen computing on ultrabook computers, which are hybrids of notebooks and tablets.

Haswell chips, Mr. Smith said, will be in products that will begin to ship this quarter.

A year ago, Intel was not positioned to follow demand into higher-growing markets like hybrid and tablet computers, said Paul S. Otellini, the chief executive, who plans to retire in May.

Now it is, he said. “Never before has our ability to compete across the spectrum of computing been greater,” Mr. Otellini said.

Intel’s business of selling high-end chips to power the server computers in data centers is growing. Its data center group reported a 7 percent increase in revenue in the quarter, to $2.6 billion.

But strength elsewhere is not enough to offset Intel’s dependence on the personal computer market.

In 2012, the company’s PC chip division accounted for 64 percent of Intel’s total revenue and 89 percent of its operating income.

Last week, the research firm IDC reported that worldwide personal computer shipments declined by nearly 14 percent in the first quarter of this year, the biggest drop since the research firm began tracking quarterly PC sales in 1994.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/technology/intel-profits-fall-as-pc-slump-cuts-demand-for-chips.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: net income, personal computer sales, reuters

Europe Rejects Bid to Raise Cost of Carbon Emissions

April 16, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

LONDON — The European Parliament narrowly rejected an effort to raise companies’ costs of emitting greenhouse gases, a potential death blow to Europe’s world-leading effort to combat climate change.

The Emissions Trading System, or E.T.S., in the European Union has been losing credibility even as other countries like China and Australia consider adopting similar measures to help bring down greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists have linked to global warming.

But in the 334-to-315 vote, members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg seemed to focus less on the global implications than on not wanting to add to industry’s energy costs. Natural gas prices in Europe are roughly three times those in the United States, which is benefiting from the shale gas boom.

Advocates of systems like the E.T.S. as the most efficient means of bringing down greenhouse gases conceded that the vote was a severe blow to the European effort.

“This is a crisis in European leadership on the climate issue,” said Anthony Hobley, head of the climate change practice at Norton Rose, a law firm in London. “We have reached the stage where the E.U. E.T.S. has ceased to be an effective environmental tool.”

After the vote, the price of a carbon allowance, which allows a factory to emit one ton of carbon, fell sharply to just above 3 euros per ton from about 4.50 euros per ton an hour earlier.

At that price level, the system was failing in its intended purpose of encouraging companies to cut emissions and invest in clean energy technologies. Analysts say a price of 30 euros a ton or higher is needed to influence companies’ behavior.

Stig Schjolset, an analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon, an Oslo-based research firm, said prices might remain in the current low range “for some time.” He said the current effort to fix the market by withdrawing allowances was “mostly dead.”

“Prices will sink very low – potentially below €1/ton — and liquidity will dry up,” wrote Kash Burchett, an analyst at market research firm I.H.S. in London, in a note. “Europe’s flagship climate change policy tool – will become irrelevant for the near term at least.”

The Parliament turned down a proposal from the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, to bolster the price of carbon allowances by withdrawing about a quarter of the allowances scheduled to be auctioned through 2015.

Some industry groups and conservative politicians applauded the defeat of the measure, which would probably have put upward pressure on electricity prices as well as adding to the costs of businesses and consumers.

“Arbitrary interventions in the carbon market would just make it more difficult for businesses to produce cost-effectively in the E.U.,” said Eurochambres, which represents millions of European businesses, in a statement after the vote.

Even before the vote, the price of allowances had plunged from 25 euros a ton in 2008, to 7 euros a year ago, to less than 3 euros earlier this year. The main reason for the collapse is the economic crisis in Europe, which has meant reduced industrial activity and a glut of allowances.

Laura Dzelzyte, a director at CF Partners, a carbon trading and investment firm in London, said those who opposed the measure were concerned about other things than just a technical fix. “It turned into a much larger debate on energy and where Europe stands in terms of its economy,” she said.

Connie Hedegaard, the European Union’s commissioner for climate action, expressed “regrets” for the vote and said it would be sent back to the Parliament’s environment committee for further consideration.

In a statement, the European Socialists and Democrats bloc in the Parliament said it had supported the measure and “expressed their deep concern that a conservative-led majority today failed to act responsibly, not only to make sure we have effective climate policies, but to secure the E.U.’s global leadership against climate change and create an efficient policy framework for those companies investing in energy efficiency.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/business/global/europe-rejects-carbon-plan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: gas prices in europe, reuters

DealBook: Citigroup’s Earnings Rose 30% in First Quarter

April 15, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

Keith Bedford/ReutersA Citibank branch in New York.

2:20 p.m. | Updated

Citigroup on Monday reported first-quarter profit of $3.8 billion, or $1.23 a share, exceeding analysts’ estimates, as the bank continued to reduce costs and unload troubled assets.

The bank also reported higher revenue of $20.5 billion, buoyed by continued gains in its investment banking business.

G.M. to Invest $5.2 Billion in Opel Through 2016

April 10, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

GM is aiming for a slight improvement in its European business this year, but not enough to avoid a 14th straight annual loss as car sales on the continent plunge to their lowest in almost two decades.

Speculation has persisted that GM might shift Opel’s assets off its balance sheet into a joint venture with struggling French ally PSA Peugeot Citroen, or even sell Opel entirely.

“As a global automotive company, GM needs a strong presence in Europe – both in design and development as in manufacturing and sales,” GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson told reporters at Opel’s headquarters in Ruesselsheim.

“Opel is key to our success and enjoys the full support of its parent company,” he added.

When asked specifically whether the 4 billion euro investment pledge guaranteed that Opel would remain a fully-owned unit of GM through 2016, Akerson declined to comment.

But his top lieutenant, Opel Chairman Steve Girsky, told Reuters that speculation of a disposal was unfounded.

GM’s board met in Ruesselsheim to examine progress in the brand’s turnaround plan dubbed “DRIVE!2022” and the difficulties faced by Europe’s auto industry.

The company’s adjusted operating loss in Europe widened to $1.8 billion last year from $700 million in 2011 and it only expects to achieve profitability in the middle of the decade.

New product launches should help it meet that goal, with Opel planning 23 new models including the upcoming Cascada cabriolet and 13 new engines.

GM’s problems in Europe are anything but unique.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said the company’s losses in Europe could be worse than expected this year. According to industry estimates, western Europe’s car market shrunk by roughly 10 percent in the first quarter.

Earlier on Wednesday, German premium carmaker Daimler said it may cut its 2013 profit forecast this month given the alarming rate at which Europe’s car market is declining.

The current double-digit drop in car demand is all the more remarkable given that 2012 volumes had already plumbed lows not seen in 17 years. (1 = 0.7658 euros)

(Reporting By Christiaan Hetzner)

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/04/10/business/10reuters-gm-opel.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: auto industry, reuters, western europe

Vivendi Beats Full-Year Earnings Target

February 26, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

PARIS — Vivendi, the French entertainment-to-telecommunications conglomerate, said Tuesday that it beat its full-year earnings target, helped by sales of video games and a smaller-than-expected drop in profit at its French mobile unit SFR, which has been hammered by a price war.

Vivendi posted full-year adjusted net income of €2.86 billion, or $3.78 billion, before one-time financial events, exceeding its target of €2.7 billion. Revenue rose 0.6 percent to €28.99 billion, compared with the average estimate of €28.51 billion in a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of analysts.

SFR saw full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, fall 10.6 percent, before one-time charges, to €3.3 billion, better than the group’s target for a drop of close to 12 percent.

The company’s Activision Blizzard video game maker posted increases of 9.8 percent in revenue to €3.77 billion and 13.6 percent in Ebitda to €1.15 billion last year as it launched new games like Black Ops II.

The division is not expected to match last year’s performance in 2013, however, because of a “challenged global economy” and a smaller number of game releases, Vivendi said, adding that the Ebitda target was still above $1 billion.

Vivendi’s chief financial officer, Philippe Capron said Vivendi was not in a hurry to push through asset sales. Vivendi’s financial position meant it was not forced to make a “fire sale,” he told analysts Tuesday.

“We are not under pressure in our disposals processes,” Mr. Capron said in a conference call. “If the prices are not good, we will take our time.”

Vivendi is looking to sell assets including its 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom and GVT, a Brazilian telecommunications and television subsidiary, as part of an overhaul to cut debt and reduce its exposure to the capital-intensive telecommunications business.

Les Échos newspaper said Tuesday that Vivendi had failed to obtain offers near its preferred price of €7 billion for GVT and was delaying the sale.

Shares in Vivendi, whose businesses range from video games, music and pay-TV to telecommunications, have lost about two-fifths of their value in the last five years. The company is penalized by a conglomerate discount, meaning investors undervalue its intrinsic value because of the range of subsidiaries. Vivendi has said it wants to shake this off to improve its valuation.

“If disposals disappoint, investor focus will switch back to weak earnings momentum and the limited credit rating headroom,” UBS analysts wrote in a note.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/technology/vivendi-beats-full-year-earnings-target.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: black ops, conglomerate, reuters

H.P. Reports Decline in First-Quarter Revenue and Profit

February 21, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

SAN FRANCISCO — Battling a declining demand for personal computers, Hewlett-Packard, the PC maker, reported lower quarterly earnings on Thursday.

The earnings were significantly higher than analysts had expected, however.

“The turnaround is starting to gain traction as a result of the actions we took in 2012 to lay the foundation of H.P.’s future,” Meg Whitman, the chief executive, said in a statement accompanying the earnings. “I feel good about the rest of the year.”

H.P. said net income fell 16 percent to $1.2 billion, or 63 cents a share, from the year-ago quarter.

The company said revenue fell 6 percent, to $28.4 billion.

Wall Street analysts had expected net income of 71 cents a share and revenue of $27.8 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.

H.P., based in Palo Alto, Calif., is one of the world’s largest suppliers of both PCs and computer servers. Demand for PCs has been shrinking, because of the popularity of tablets and smartphones, which H.P. doesn’t make. Servers face shrinking profit margins as more companies look beyond brand names and buy low-priced machines in bulk from Asian vendors.

Under Ms. Whitman, H.P. has focused on restructuring its printers and high-end server business to incorporate more data-analysis software that searches for documents and compiles reports like the energy use of the data center. She has warned, however, that the turnaround may take until 2017. In 2012, the company announced it would lay off 29,000 employees.

H.P.’s earnings announcement followed by two days a report of lower revenue and earnings by Dell Computer, H.P.’s main American rival.

Dell said its first-quarter revenue fell 11 percent, to $14.3 billion, while net income was off 31 percent, to $530 million, or 30 cents a share.

Michael Dell, Dell’s founder, has proposed taking his company private, for about $24.4 billion, to focus on restructuring the company away from the eyes of Wall Street.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/technology/hp-reports-decline-in-revenue-and-profit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: data analysis software, personal computers, reuters

Trade Deficit Narrows, Countering a Report of a Contraction

February 8, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

The country’s trade deficit narrowed to $38.5 billion in December, its lowest reading in nearly three years, Commerce Department data showed. The decrease was driven by a drop in oil imports and a surge in exports. The overall trade gap was far smaller than analysts polled by Reuters had expected.

“Trade data for December paint a reassuring and encouraging picture of the U.S. economy at the end of last year,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that wholesale inventories unexpectedly declined in December, a factor that could hamper the stronger trade figures’ effect on growth.

Still, the two reports together suggested the government could revise up its reading on fourth-quarter G.D.P., which showed the economy contracting at a 0.1 percent annual rate. That decline was driven by an expected drop in exports, smaller gains in inventories and a plunge in military spending.

Barclays said that even with December’s decline in wholesale inventories, the economy most likely expanded 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, thanks to the higher export numbers in Friday’s trade report.

American exports increased by $8.6 billion in December over the year-ago month, lifted by sales of industrial supplies, including a $1.2 billion rise from November in nonmonetary gold.

Reflecting the country’s current boom in oil and natural gas, petroleum exports rose by nearly $1 billion during the month to a record high.

A fall in petroleum purchases led overall imports to decline by $4.6 billion in December from the year-ago period.

For the entire year, the country’s imports of crude oil fell to their lowest levels since 1997 in terms of volume.

Stocks prices on American exchanges rose as investors took note of the strong trade data, which included the United States figures as well as readings showing stronger exports and imports in China during January. The price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note also rose.

For all of 2012, the United States trade gap shrank by 3.5 percent, to $540.4 billion. Running trade deficits means the country loses dollars, which drags on the economy; rising exports reduce that effect.

Exports last year rose 4.4 percent.

Even the American trade balance with China had a silver lining. While imports from China increased to a record high last year, so did American exports there. The December trade deficit in goods with China, not seasonally adjusted, narrowed by $4.5 billion from the previous month on a drop in imports.

Also in December, United States wholesale inventories unexpectedly fell as auto dealers and agricultural suppliers drew down their stocks.

The Commerce Department said stocks of unsold goods at wholesalers dropped 0.1 percent during the month and grew less than initially estimated in November.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected wholesale inventories to rise 0.4 percent.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/business/us-trade-deficit-shrinks.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: commerce department, plunge, reuters

AOL Profit Rises on Strong Ad Sales

February 8, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

AOL reported its best quarterly revenue growth in eight years because of strong search and advertising sales, and its shares rose sharply.

The company said Friday that total revenue rose 4 percent to nearly $600 million in the fourth quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $573.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

Advertising revenue, an important measurement for the company as it moves away from subscription-based dial-up services and emphasizes its media properties like The Huffington Post and Patch, rose 13 percent to $410.6 million.

It was advertising sold through AOL’s third-party network that helped lift overall revenue. Revenue jumped 37 percent to $183.5 million at AOL Networks, a market to sell inventory on behalf of publishers.

Net income rose to $35.7 million, or 41 cents per share, in the fourth quarter from $22.8 million, or 23 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings per share were in line with analysts’ estimates.

While advertising sales represent AOL’s future growth, the subscription unit, which is now called the membership group and includes the legacy dial-up service, is still providing the bulk of profit.

Excluding special items, operating income before depreciation and amortization for the membership group was $158.7 million for the quarter, representing the vast majority of the total.

“It’s not great to see so much of the bottom-line contribution coming from the revenue segment in decline,” said Ken Sen, an analyst at Evercore. Mr. Sena said the company has made “steady progress” over the past two years, but “still has a ways to go.”

AOL’s board also authorized the repurchase of $100 million in stock.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/business/aol-profit-rises-on-strong-ad-sales.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: bottom line, quarterly revenue, reuters

After Posting Lower Profit, Glaxo to Cut Costs

February 6, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

The company, Britain’s biggest drug maker, said on Wednesday that a new program to restructure European operations, drug manufacturing and research would save at least about $1.6 billion annually by 2016.

After putting a number of major drug patent losses behind it, Glaxo had originally banked on pulling out of its trough in 2012. In the event, sales were held back by larger-than-expected drug price cuts in austerity-hit Europe.

The company reported that its net profit fell 35 percent, to £839 million (about $1.35 billion), from £1.28 billion in the fourth quarter a year earlier. Sales in the quarter fell 3 percent, to £6.80 billion. Excluding onetime items, Glaxo said it earned 32.6 pence a share, up 4 percent.

Analysts had forecast sales of £6.88 billion and earnings of 31.3 pence a share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Glaxo’s chief executive, Andrew P. Witty, hopes to do better this year. He predicted on Wednesday that earnings per share, after stripping out some items, would grow by 3 to 4 percent at constant exchange rates in 2013, with sales rising about 1 percent.

Still, the forecast increase in sales and earnings this year was less than some analysts had hoped. A Deutsche Bank analyst, Mark Clark, also noted Glaxo gave a cautious outlook for profit margins, since these are expected to improve only “over the medium term.”

Europe has been a weak point for many drug makers, but Glaxo’s portfolio has been particularly hard hit by government budget cuts. As a result, Mr. Witty said he was taking action to ”reduce costs, improve efficiencies and reallocate resources.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/business/after-posting-lower-profit-glaxo-to-cut-costs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: drug patent, exchange rates, reuters

Canon Forecast Falls Short of Expectations

January 30, 2013 by NewsMaker Leave a Comment

TOKYO — Canon expects a 26.6 percent increase in operating profit this year as it cuts costs and increases revenue — but the projection Wednesday still fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Canon, a camera and printer maker considered a leader in profitability in corporate Japan with its aggressive cost-cutting, is angling for a foothold in the growing market for mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses, where it faces stiff competition from Sony, Olympus and Nikon.

Canon’s operating profit for the three months that ended Dec. 31 fell 17.9 percent, to ¥77.7 billion, or $853 million, below the average estimate of ¥100.9 billion among seven analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

“Both its full-year earnings and forecast are below market consensus, so the results were seen as negative,” said Makoto Kikuchi, the chief executive of Myojo Asset Management. “Investors have bought Canon on overly high expectations that a weaker yen will lift its bottom line, but such excitement should recede.”

Demand for compact cameras is shrinking as consumers shift to smartphones, while stretched budgets among customers in Europe have eroded sales of Canon’s office printers. And the company, which derives 80 percent of its revenue from overseas, was badly hit by the firmness of the Japanese currency last year. Canon officials said Wednesday that economic recovery in India and China, as well as aggressive economic stimulus policies in Japan, were likely to support the company’s earnings.

The company set its exchange rate assumptions for the business year ending in December at ¥85 to the dollar and ¥115 to the euro, weaker than the average last year of ¥79.96 per dollar and ¥102.8 per euro.

As one of the first blue-chip Japanese companies to report quarterly results, Canon is often seen as a barometer for technology sector earnings.

The company forecast a full-year operating profit of ¥410 billion for the current year through December, compared with the average expectation of a ¥443.3 billion profit among 21 analysts, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

Canon’s shares have fallen about 1 percent since the start of last year, underperforming the Nikkei average’s gain of 31 percent. The shares slipped to a three-year low in July, when Canon cut its outlook on fears of shrinking demand in China.

The stock ended nearly 3 percent higher Wednesday before the earnings announcement.

Xerox, with which Canon competes for a share of the global printer market, overshot expectations with its quarterly earnings and maintained its full-year targets as it restructures parts of its business and commits to further cost cuts.

Nikon is due to report its results next Wednesday, with Sony following the next day.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/technology/canon-forecast-falls-short-of-expectations.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: economic recovery, quarterly results, reuters