STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Volvo Group, the world’s second-largest truck maker, posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Wednesday thanks to increased sales, but warned the disaster in Japan could impact its second quarter. From January to March, the net profit of the Volvo Group — which owns of Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks and Mack — more than doubled compared to the same period last year, to 4.1 billion kronor (460 million euros, $674 million). Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a net profit of 3.4 billion kronor. The earnings were pushed up ...
Published On: 2011-04-27

BANGALORE: India’s third-largest software firm Wipro on Wednesday reported a 14 per cent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, almost in line with market estimates, although it gave a weak revenue outlook. Net profit for the quarter ending March was IRs 13.75 billion ($309 million) compared with IRs 12.09 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Total revenue for the three months increased to IRs 83.02 billion, an 18 per cent rise year on year, it added. The figures were only slightly down on industry expectations. Analysts had expe...
Published On: 2011-04-27

FRANKFURT: Volkswagen, the biggest European carmaker, said on Wednesday that its 2011 first-quarter net profit leapt three-fold to 1.71 billion euros ($2.5 billion), though it slightly missed market expectations. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a net profit of 1.84 billion euros for VW, which also said that for the first time it had sold two million vehicles in a single quarter. Shares in the group soared in midday trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange, as did those of two other German car makers, Daimler and BMW. In the first quarter of 2010, VW reported net profit of 47...
Published On: 2011-04-27

HELSINKI: The world’s leading mobile phone maker Nokia said on Wednesday it would cut 4,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2012 and transfer a further 3,000 employees to consulting firm Accenture. Nokia said it would outsource to Accenture the activities of its Symbian smartphone platform, including 3,000 employees, by the end of this year. “In addition, Nokia also plans to reduce its global workforce by about 4,000 employees by the end of 2012, with the majority of reductions in Denmark, Finland and the UK,” the company said. The announcement was expected after chief executiv...
Published On: 2011-04-27

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s latest land auction smashed pre-sale estimates on Wednesday, defying government efforts to rein in soaring prices and cool public anger at the city’s overheated property market. Hong Kong has staged a series of land auctions in the past year-and-a-half and the city’s financial chief vowed in February to continue boosting the land supply amid warnings of a looming real estate bubble. Authorities have also rolled out other cooling measures including tighter mortgage lending rules. But prices have continued to rocket, with a residential site in Hong Kong...
Published On: 2011-04-27

MUMBAI: Air India said more than 10 per cent of its flights were cancelled on Wednesday morning, including one on an international route, after pilots staged a lightning strike over pay. A Mumbai to Singapore flight was grounded as well as at least 12 others on domestic routes after members of the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association staged a walkout, the company told AFP. “So far, only 12 per cent of flights have been cancelled. A majority of passengers of these cancelled flights were accommodated on other flights,” Air India said in a statement. The ICPA represents about ...
Published On: 2011-04-27

ZURICH: US health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced on Wednesday an agreement on a $21.3-billion takeover of US-Swiss medical technology company Synthes in one of the biggest deals so far this year. The two companies “announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Johnson & Johnson will acquire Synthes for 159 Swiss francs per share, or $21.3 billion,” they said in a joint statement released on Synthes’s website. “The transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2012,” the companies added. Although the deal has been...
Published On: 2011-04-27

MUMBAI : Air India sacked six union leaders on Wednesday and suspended two others after a strike by hundreds of pilots forced the cancellation of dozens of flights, including on international routes. Airline officials said that six senior figures at the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (IPCA) were sacked after some 660 of the union's 800 members staged a walk-out. At least 24 flights were cancelled from midnight local time. Most of them were on domestic routes but flights to Kathmandu, Bangkok and Singapore were also scrapped, officials told AFP. Air India said in a statement that it h...
Published On: 2011-04-27

HELSINKI: Nokia Corp. said Wednesday it will slash 7,000 jobs worldwide, through both layoffs and outsourcing, as it strives to cut costs and catch up with its top rivals in the smartphone market. Most of the 4,000 layoffs, due by the end of 2012, will be in Denmark, Finland and Britain, Nokia said. It also plans to transfer 3,000 workers in China, Finland, India, Britain and the United States to Accenture PLC as it outsources Symbian platform operations to the global management-consulting firm, in a major shift of strategy. Nokia's share price jumped more than 3 percent to euro6.15 ($8.99)...
Published On: 2011-04-27

ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan on Wednesday began their first trade talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, opening a two-day session designed to boost business between the nuclear-armed rivals. India blamed the attack -- in which gunmen killed 166 people -- on the banned Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistan has acknowledged that the plot was hatched at least partly on its soil. Pakistan commerce and trade secretary Zafar Mahmood and his Indian counterpart Rahul Khullar led the talks at a five-star hotel in Islamabad. "I believe that this meeting will take the dialogu...
Published On: 2011-04-27