Sony Corp reported a second straight quarterly loss as the stronger yen pushed the company further behind Samsung Electronics Co in television sales and the global recession drove down demand for video-game machines. The net loss was 37.1 billion yen ($390 million) in the quarter ended June 30, compared with profit of 35 billion yen a year earlier, the Tokyo-based maker of Bravia TVs and Cyber-shot cameras said on Friday.
Motorola posts loss
Motorola Inc, the biggest US mobile-phone maker, posted a narrower second-quarter loss than analysts projected after job cuts reduced costs and handset sales recovered. The stock rose as much as 6.5 per cent. The loss, excluding some costs, was 1 cent a share, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said on Friday in a statement.
VW profit beats estimates
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, reported a smaller-than-anticipated decline in profit and said growth in emerging markets will help the Audi manufacturer outperform the industry in the second half. Second-quarter net income fell 83 per cent to ¤283 million ($398 million) from a year earlier, Wolfsburg, Germany- based Volkswagen said on Friday in a statement.
BAT beats analyst estimates
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British American Tobacco Plc, the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes, joined Philip Morris International Inc and Reynolds American Inc in reporting profit that beat analysts’ estimates on price increases. First-half net income climbed 16 per cent to £1.45 billion ($2.38 billion), or 72.75 pence a share, the London-based company said on Friday.
AstraZeneca’s profit rises
AstraZeneca Plc’s second-quarter profit gained 5.4 per cent, boosted by the strength of the dollar and delays to competition to the heart medicine Toprol XL and prostate cancer drug Casodex. The UK drugmaker raised its full-year forecast. Net income increased to $1.71 billion from $1.62 billion a year earlier, London-based AstraZeneca said in a statement on Friday. Sales were little changed at $7.96 billion. AstraZeneca shares gained as much as 4.5 per cent in London trading.
Shell profit falls 67%
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, plans to reduce capital spending by about 10 per cent next year and make further “substantial” job cuts, saying the economy won’t recover any time soon. The budget to buy and maintain assets will drop to about $28 billion in 2010 from as much as $32 bn this year.