BUSINESS NEWS
17 Jul 09. IBM reported an unexpected surge in quarterly profit on Thursday, providing further evidence that the technology industry is poised for a comeback in the second half of the year. The technology group’s strong results followed a similar showing by top chipmaker Intel on Tuesday and came as internet search group Google said online advertising had steadied. Tech Blog – Oct-17Intel signals revival in chip demand – Jul-15In depth: Technology – Apr-16“It’s too early to start predicting what the economy is or is not going to do, but there’s clearly a tailwind as we get into the second half,” Mark Loughridge, IBM’s chief financial officer, told the Financial Times. He said that IBM was beginning to benefit from government efforts at stimulating the economy, as public agencies spent more directly and private companies bought in anticipation. Big Blue’s second-quarter earnings per share jumped 18 per cent from a year earlier, exceeding Wall Street expectations of a 3 per cent improvement, although sales slid a more-than-expected 7 per cent after currency adjustment. Workforce and other cost reductions boosted the pre-tax profit margin more than 4 percentage points to 18.3 per cent, delivering $3.1 bn of net income on sales of $23.3bn. IBM said that customers were still delaying discretionary purchases and looking to save money, and the wide-ranging performance of IBM’s services businesses reflected that. The weakest result was in management consulting, while the strongest was in outsourcing. A similar strategy is driving much of the savings at IBM. (Source: FT.com)
12 Jul 09. A 60-strong Indian business team representing the defence
and security sectors – the largest such from the country – is to visit Britain in September for talks that could lead to a massive boost in military business ties. The Indian companies they represent will be matched up with British firms to explore areas of mutual interest and expertise, former British trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt said. “We will try to match the Indian companies with up to 40 British companies,” Hewitt told IANS on the sidelines of an India-Britain business meeting in London. Hewitt will visit India in August in her capacity as the new Chair of the UK-India Business Council, keeping a strong focus on small and medium-size enterprises. “There is a huge potential in the area of defence and security,” said Hewitt, who hopes to take a major British business delegation to India in January 2010. The armed forces of India and Britain, facing the common threat of terrorism, have intensified joint exercises, exchanges and training courses inrecent years. (Source: Google)