BUSINESS NEWS
27 Feb 09. Dell reported a steep drop in sales and profits as the global recession battered the PC business, while IBM, which recently shed its own PC operations, showed itself to be fairly resilient as it reaffirmed earnings guidance for the year. Despite the declines, Dell, the world’s second-largest personal computer maker, beat earnings expectations largely by cutting costs. Shares of Dell, which fell 58 per cent last year, rose slightly in after-hours trading. Dell’s net income fell 48 per cent to $351m, from $679m a year earlier. Earnings were 29 cents a share, beating expectations of 27 cents. Sales were down 16 per cent to $13.4bn, from $16bn a year earlier. (Source: FT.com)
25 Feb 09. KBR (NYSE:KBR) announced today that fourth quarter 2008 income from continuing operations and net income was $88m, or $0.54 per diluted share, which included a $20m, or $0.12 per diluted share, charge related to the final judgments which resolve the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations. This compares to income from continuing operations of $48m, or $0.28 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2007. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $71m, or $0.42 per diluted share, which included income from discontinued operations of $23m, or $0.14 per diluted share, related to post-closing activities for previously disposed businesses.
27 Feb 09. Thales UK had an exceptional year in 2008, especially in terms of winning business. Overall UK order intake for UK customers and the export market was more than £2.4bn – the most successful ever in Thales UK’s history. Thales UK’s largest contracts included the Aircraft Carrier programme (£425m) and the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme (£285m). Additional order intake associated with Piccadilly Line upgrade and contract changes on the Jubilee and Northern lines (approximately £250m), the Air Defence Availability Project (more than £200m), and work on the Manchester Metrolink (£82m) also made major contributions to order intake. The Company also delivered direct support to our Armed Forces in frontline operations through several key Urgent Operational Requirement contracts. In addition British Airways has agreed a multi-million pound deal for Thales’s in-flight entertainment system to be installed on its new delivery aircraft and next-generation aircraft. This will be delivered in partnership between Thales North America and Thales UK.
26 Feb 09. Iridium Satellite LLC announced financial results for the quarter and the year ended December 31, 2008. Fourth quarter results included approximately 320,000 subscribers, revenue of $76.8m, operational EBITDA of $25.0m and net income of $1.5m. As of December 31, 2008, Iridium had approximately 320,000 subscribers worldwide, an increase of 37% over the December 31, 2007 total of approximately 234,000. Revenue for the year 2008 was $320.9m, a 23% increase over 2007 revenues of $260.9m. Operational EBITDA for the year 2008 was $108.2m, a 42% increase compared to operational EBITDA of $76.5m for 2007. For 2008, Iridium posted $53.9m in net income, a 23% increase over 2007. During 2008, Iridium experienced growth in revenue for the full year in all of its verticals: handsets; industrial, maritime and aviation; machine-to-machine (M2M) and government. Iridium’s 2008 record revenues of $320.9m were driven by strong growth in all three of its key markets: commercial services; government services; and subscriber equipment. Commercial services revenue was $133.2m for the year, a 32% increase over the $101.2m of revenues in 2007. Subscriber equipment revenue was $119.9 million for 2008, an 18 % increase over the $101.9m of revenue for the prior year. Government services revenue was $67.8m for 2008, a 17% increase over the $57.9m of revenue for 2007. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2008 was $76.8m compared to $67.3m in the fourth quart