Siemens Q2 net doubles, Infineon sale gain LONDON (CBS.MW) -- German turbines-to-mobile phones conglomerate Siemens [: si] (DE:723610: news, chart, profile) said second quarter net profit doubled to 1.21 billion euros from 568 million euros a year-ago. The growth topped expectations from the analysts, according to AFX News. The bottom line included at 800 million euro gain from selling some of its stake in memory chipmaker Infineon Technologies (IFX: news, chart, profile) (DE:63100: news, chart, profile). Sales in the quarter declined to 17.794 billion euros from 18.230 billion a year ago. Handset sales surged 48 percent to 28 million units. New orders were showing a gain for the quarter at 19.716 billion euros from 19.1 billion a year earlier, AFX News reported. Siemens affirmed its outlook for fiscal year earnings.
ABN Amro Q1 jumps 35.4% on fewer loan loss provisions LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Dutch bank ABN Amro (ABN: news, chart, profile) (NL:30110: news, chart, profile) on Wednesday said first quarter net profits rose 35.4 percent to 934 million euros, helped by improving profits in its private client division and a drop in loan loss provisioning. Loan loss provisions dropped 43.1 percent to 195 million euros. Going forward, it said it would continue to improve net and operating profits in 2004.
Unilever 'not happy' as 1Q sales, profit lower LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Anglo-Dutch consumer products and foods group Unilever (UN: news, chart, profile) (UV: news, chart, profile) (UK:UNVL: news, chart, profile) said it was "not happy with the short-term sales performance" in the first quarter and that "action is being taken to address this... While there are clear signs of an improving economic outlook we are also currently seeing an increased level of competitor activity in some key markets." Pre-tax profit in the first quarter declined 8 percent to 931 million euros ($1.1 billion) while sales declined 2 percent to 9.788 billion euros, reflecting some disposals. Net profit dropped 15 percent to 530 euros, largely reflecting tax profits on disposals. Overall, underlying sales grew by 0.4 percent. Unilever said sales of leading brands rose 1.3 percent amid flat pricing. Commenting on European markets, "Germany, France and the Netherlands have been particularly difficult and we have lost some market share in spreads and laundry." In the U.S., Unilever said underlying sales declined by 1.8 percent "in weak markets, including a positive 0.6 percent from price." It said Slim-Fast and prestige fragrances diluted growth by 2.1 percent and that sales, including the impact of disposals, declined by 4 percent.
Gruß MadX |