22 Jan 10. Profits at General Electric, the industrial bellwether, fell sharply in the fourth quarter but came in marginally ahead of expectations as the company reassured investors that it was seeing a more benign economic outlook. “GE’s environment has improved and we saw some encouraging signs at year-end,” said Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and chief executive. GE’s wide portfolio includes products from gas turbines to medical-imaging equipment and aviation loans. (Source: FT.com)
20 Jan 10. IBM said on Tuesday that its revenues had barely grown in the final quarter of 2009 as customers had held off signing big new contracts, highlighting the slow pace of the hotly expected technology recovery. In spite of that, the US tech bellwether continued to report surging profits on the back of deep cost-cutting, capping the seventh consecutive year in which earnings per share grew by at least 10 per cent. (Source: FT.com)
20 Jan 10. Eurocopter met its business and delivery objectives for 2009 and stabilised its turnover at the level of its record year, 2008. The world economic crisis caused a sharp order decline in the civil market for light helicopters. However, governmental orders have over-compensated in value the drop in commercial unit sales, leading to the second-best result of order intakes in Eurocopter’s history. In line with Eurocopter’s roadmap, the Support and Services business was also strengthened with the signature of a number of significant contracts. Deliveries remained stable with 558 new civil and military helicopters delivered in 2009 and almost matching the peak level of 2008. This figure reinforces Eurocopter’s position as a major branded business division within EADS, accounting for a consolidated turnover of 4.6bn Euros. Order bookings suffered a decline in terms of units sold, but not in value. A net total of 344 new aircraft, including 81 Super Puma/Cougar/EC225/EC725 family helicopters, were sold, amounting to 5.8bn Euros. With around 460 gross orders, Eurocopter secured its No. 1 market position in the civil and parapublic market. The company’s total order backlog at the end of 2009 amounted to a robust 1,300 helicopters or the equivalent of 15.1bn Euros, an increase of more than 1bn Euros compared to the end of 2008. While governmental markets remain stable despite of budget constraints, a full recovery of the commercial markets in 2010 is not evident. The lower order intake for light helicopters in 2009 will lead to lower production rates in 2010, while military helicopter rates will increase, a situation Eurocopter should be able to manage with its built-in flexibility. 55 percent of the company’s turnover achieved in 2009 was related to serial helicopters (equalling 2.5bn Euros), 35 percent (1.6bn Euros) derived out of support and services, whereas 10 percent (0.5bn Euros) were realized from development and other activities. While 52 percent of the turnover derived from civil and parapublic sales, 48 percent was related to Eurocopter’s military products. The company thereby retained its healthy
balance between the civil and military markets. The export share is 65 percent, with 35 percent achieved in the company’s domestic markets (i.e., France, Germany, Spain), proving Eurocopter’s successful strategy of expanding its activities to emerging markets.
17 Jan 10. Anil Ambani Group’s venture capital arm, Reliance Technology Ventures (RTVL) aims to seal 3-6 deals by June including two by end-March, a New teen CEOs top company official said. The corporate VC firm would focus strongly on cleantech and energy, defence and aerospace, financial services and media-related firms, besides its traditional technology and tech-enabled companies, the official said. “On an average, we have invested in around 3-4 companies every year in the last three-years. This year we scent an immense potential and are hopeful of sealing 3-6-deals in the next six months,” RTVL’s CEO, Harshal J Shah, told PTI here. (Source: G