Market research
Barney Jopson and David Pilling of the Financial Times report that Nobuo Kuroyanagi, president of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (MTFG), aims to increase profits after the bank's recent emergence from a bad-debt funk. MTFG has managed to reduce non-performing loans to 2.9% of total loans, a significant
Market research
Telstra and PCCW's joint venture, Reach, has been plagued by financial struggles, including annual interest bills of around $70 million and a decline in network prices. The debt restructuring has alleviated some of the burden, but the future of further financial handouts remains uncertain. Reach's financial
Business planning
Volkswagen is evaluating the expansion of its €2 billion cost-cutting plan, just three months after its unveiling, due to the challenging German market. The existing plan, dubbed ForMotion, was criticized by Standard & Poor's, which downgraded VW's credit score and warned of potential future downgrades. The
Business planning
Nokia, the world's largest producer of mobile phones, has admitted its market share in the first quarter fell to 32 percent, a sharper decline than initially indicated. Despite this setback, the company is holding onto its long-term target of gaining 40 percent of the global handset market. However,
Market research
Japanese manufacturer Elpida Memory is set to invest up to Y500bn ($4.56bn) over three years to build the world's largest memory chip plant, a move that highlights the pressure on D-Ram makers to boost investment to remain competitive. This massive investment will enable Elpida to leapfrog into
Market research
China's power generation capacity has been increasing steadily over the past 20 years, but the country is facing a severe power crisis due to unprecedented demand growth. National power consumption is forecast to rise by 4.3% annually, reaching 3,596 GWh by 2025. However, the pace of
Corporate finance
Marks and Spencer, one of the UK's largest retailers, is facing significant changes as its CEO, Roger Holmes, admitted that significant improvements are needed across almost all areas of the business. Holmes announced annual results in line with City forecasts, but analysts remain unconvinced, citing a lack of
Corporate finance
The Slovak banking sector, once on the brink of collapse, has undergone a remarkable turnaround after a costly rescue program in 1999-2002. The sector is now dominated by foreign banks, with Austrian and Italian investors holding a 95% stake in the country's banking assets. Three leading Slovak banks,
Corporate finance
Retailers in the UK are experiencing a sharp decline in sales as the weather remains poor and sunny summer clothing remains unsold. Chairman of Next, David Jones, is expected to report flat like-for-like sales at the firm's annual meeting, marking a slowdown from the 3% growth in the
Corporate finance
Cisco Systems, a leading networking equipment supplier, has reported robust sales and earnings for the third quarter, with revenues and earnings per share exceeding Wall Street's expectations. The company's CEO, John Chambers, attributed the positive results to sequential growth across all major product categories, with particularly
Corporate finance
SAS, the region's largest carrier, has reported another heavy first-quarter loss, marking the effects of low fares and overcapacity in the Scandinavian airline market. The company's chief executive, Jorgen Lindegaard, described the results as "very weak," citing a 15 percent fall in yield per
Corporate finance
C&Cs launch of an initial public offering on May 19 is set to tempt investors with a generous dividend. The company, preparing to raise Euros 440m (Pounds 307m) ahead of expenses, has announced that its full-year dividend will be covered at least two times by earnings before amortisation
