Woolworths profit down 17pc, a first since 1999. Sue Mitchell New Woolworths chief executive Grant O’Brien expects his challenges to continue.
Photo: Rob Homer Woolworths has delivered its weakest profit growth for 13 years but reassured investors that more than $5 billion reinvested in its business and a renewed focus on costs will start to deliver returns in 2013. Heavy capital expenditure and a $300 million hit from its decision to sell its consumer electronics chain sent Woolworths’ bottom-line profit down almost 17 per cent to $966.9 million in the first half of 2012. Woolworths forges future after misstep. ECB LTRO 2: €529.5 Billion As 800 Banks Ask For A Handout, Total 3 Year ECB Liquidity > €1 Trillion. The results for the second European 3 year discount window operation, pardon LTRO are in, and the winner is...
Since the expected range was €200 billion - €1 trillion, and just above the median €500 billion, this is clearly within expectations, however notably less than what the Goldman investor survey expected at €680 billion. What is certainly scary is that the number of banks demanding a hand out was a whopping 800, well above the 523 from the first LTRO: clearly many banks are capital deprived. While unscientific, the fact that LTRO 1 saw €935.4 million, while LTRO 2 was at €661 million per bank, is probably not good at least optically, as it dilutes the average impact of the operation. RBA Backs Aussie Banks’ Claim That Funding Cost Went Up. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has backed the claim of Australian lenders that funding costs sourced from overseas have risen.
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said that while the central bank's cash rate has gone down 50 points since the middle of 2011, costs of funding the books has not come down that much. "Relative to the rate we set, the funding costs have gone up a little but because they haven't fallen as much as the cash rate and the banks have responded to that in a way that you would expect thy would," ABC quoted Mr Stevens.
Christian Carrillo, head of interest rate strategy of French lender, Societe Generale, said on Monday that the Australian banks' claim of higher funding costs is disproved by data from the RBA and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. Australian Bankers Association Chief Executive Stephen Munchenberg debunked Mr Carrillo's report. To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.com. Banks’ funding needs keep falling: NAB. BoQ picks its rival’s Rose. Suncorp sees need to mitigate natural disasters. AMP team talks deals in Tokyo.
QBE may need more repair. HSBC set to claw back 'mis-selling' bonuses. HSBC poised to claw back bonuses after fine for misselling. Staff tell of Westpac’s foreign affairs. How the US Lost Out on iPhone Work. But as of spoke, interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States?
Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas. Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Mr. The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. Apple has become one of the best-known, most admired and most imitated companies on earth, in part through an unrelenting mastery of global operations. However, what has vexed Mr. Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas, a small fraction of the over 400,000 American workers at General Motors in the 1950s, or the hundreds of thousands at General Electric in the 1980s.
Labor is stuck with Gillard until the bitter end. Oil spike could be as lethal as Greece. Political infighters ignore global risks. I'm Being Followed: How Google—and 104 Other Companies—Are Tracking Me on the Web - Alexis Madrigal - Technology. Who are these companies and what do they want from me?
A voyage into the invisible business that funds the web. This morning, if you opened your browser and went to NYTimes.com, an amazing thing happened in the milliseconds between your click and when the news about North Korea and James Murdoch appeared on your screen. Data from this single visit was sent to 10 different companies, including Microsoft and Google subsidiaries, a gaggle of traffic-logging sites, and other, smaller ad firms.
Nearly instantaneously, these companies can log your visit, place ads tailored for your eyes specifically, and add to the ever-growing online file about you. How To Change Your Settings. Opinion: Australia absent in Google privacy feud Today is your last chance to adjust your Google privacy settings before a major change to the way Google collects and collates data about you, its users.
From March 1, the company will begin to aggregate all the information it acquires about its users who are logged in to Google services into a single, unified pool of data. Dream portfolio for a gadget-mad minister. Stephen Conroy . . . the IT enthusiast and Minister for Communications, Broadband and the Digital Economy says the NBN’s ubiquity will change our lives.
