New York - Retailing giant Wal-Mart reported Tuesday that its net earnings fell nearly 8 p

Patni Computer Systems announced financial results, reporting 9 per cent decline in net profit, for the period ended December 31, 2008.

Patni's net stood at Rs 483.01 crore in the reporting period, due to decline in demand in Information Technology segment under the impact of global slowdown, as compared to Rs 483.63 crore in the same period last year.

Patni Computer Chairman and CEO, Mr. Narendra K Patni said, "The effect of the global meltdown has been more than expected for everyone and this is impacting our business in the short run."

Country's largest cement maker, ACC announced financial results for year ended December31, 2008. The firm posted 23 per cent decline in net profit following high input costs and low demand in realty sector in the midst of global financial crisis. Its net stood at Rs 1,099 crore in the reporting quarter as compared to Rs 1,427 crore in the same period last year.

London - British Airways (BA) Friday reported a pre-tax loss of 70 million pounds (100 million dollars) in the nine months to 31 December, compared with a profit of 816 million pounds in the same period in 2007.

BA said Friday that the decline in the value of the pound and the airline's high costs in dollars added to pressures of last summer's steep oil price rise.

"The industry continues to face very difficult trading conditions on the back of a weak economic environment," the airline said.

Hinduja Group owned automobile company, Ashok Leyland reported decline in sales in January due to slump in demand and high auto interest rates. The company sold 2,444 units of commercial vehicles in January 2009, registering decline of 73.17% as compared to sales figures of last year.
 

Tokyo - Sanyo Electric Co on Thursday reported a net loss of 14.33 billion yen (160.33 million dollars) during the quarter that ended December 31 amid the global economic downturn and the yen's surge against the dollar.

The Japanese electronics company logged a net profit of 12.78 billion yen during the same quarter a year earlier.

Sanyo's operating income plunged in its third quarter to 6.87 billion yen from 28.96 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales dropped 22.4 per cent to 427.52 billion yen.