New York - The tool maker Black & Decker barely scraped into the black with its first quarter results as floundering European demand and the rising dollar ate into profit margins, company results released Thursday showed.
The US firm is projecting diminishing returns for the rest of the year, after earnings dropped by more than 90 per cent from the first quarter last year, to 5 million dollars. Revenues were down by 30 per cent to 1.1 billion dollars.
The results were worse than the firm had expected, prompting an even harsher search to save money, the company said.
Tokyo - Japan's three biggest banking groups were expected to report net losses for the fiscal year that ended March 31 amid worsening global financial turmoil, media reports said Thursday.
Such losses would mark the first time in six years that all of Japan's three megabanks would swing into the red.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc was to incur a net loss of more than 500 billion yen (5 billion dollars) because of massive stock and credit losses, Jiji Press quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying.
Taipei - Dutch insurer Aegon NV is to sell its Taiwanese life insurance unit to local investors to boost its cash flow, local media reported Thursday.
Aegon said in a statement that it had agreed to transfer its local business to Taipei-based consortium Zhongwei Co for 84.5 million dollars, the Taipei Times reported.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of third quarter, pending regulatory approval, the company said.
Singapore - Singapore is preparing to deal with casino-related offences, such as cheating and prostitution, ahead of the opening of two casino-anchored resorts, the first of which is due to open in December, media reports said Saturday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng noted that newly opened casinos are often the subject of syndicate scams, and to combat such schemes, the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) would increase its staff to 116 by the end of the year from a current 75.
New York, Apr. 17 : In another step in its transformation from an online jumble of amateur videos to a destination for mainstream TV programs and movies, YouTube said Thursday that it had signed deals with Hollywood studios to showcase thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies on its Web site.
Google, which owns YouTube, said it might eventually bring another innovation to the site: payment for some premium content.
New York - The tool maker Black & Decker barely scraped into the black with its first quarter results as floundering European demand and the rising dollar ate into profit margins, company results released Thursday showed.
Tokyo - Japan's three biggest banking groups were expected to report net losses for the fiscal year that ended March 31 amid worsening global financial turmoil, media reports said Thursday.
Taipei - Dutch insurer Aegon NV is to sell its Taiwanese life insurance unit to local investors to boost its cash flow, local media reported Thursday.
New York - Sof
Singapore - Singapore is preparing to deal with casino-related offences, such as cheating and prostitution, ahead of the opening of two casino-anchored resorts, the first of which is due to open in December, media reports said Saturday.
New York, Apr. 17 : In another step in its transformation from an online jumble of amateur videos to a destination for mainstream TV programs and movies, YouTube said Thursday that it had signed deals with Hollywood studios to showcase thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies on its Web site.
