Rothesay Life racks up biggest buy-in of 2015 with new £1.6bn CAAPS deal July 21, 2015 Insurance firm Rothesay Life has completed a £1.6bn bulk annuity deal with the Civil Aviation Authority Pensions Scheme (CAAPS), the second largest buy-in ever secured by a UK pension scheme. The arrangement is also the largest de-risking transaction completed so far this year. Rothesay Life has now written £3.4bn of new business year-to-date in 2015. [...]
Apple Watch sales “beat internal forecasts”, selling more than iPad or iPhone in its first quarter July 21, 2015 As Apple released the first set of results from the tech giant to include Apple Watch sales, the one question everyone wanted answered was: How has the Apple Watch fared? A flop or a success for the company? Curious investors were left to wonder, however, as Apple did not break out unit sales for its [...]
Apple earnings: Profits soar as China continues to boost iPhone 6 sales – but share price slides seven per cent July 21, 2015 Despite beating analysts' sales and revenue expectations again, Apple share fell by seven per cent after the company reported selling fewer iPhones than forecast and lowered fourth quarter profit guidance. The figures Smashing through what is traditionally its slowest sales period, Apple has reported a quarterly record-high revenue of $49.6bn, beating analysts' forecasts for the [...]
Yahoo beats analysts’ expectations with fastest revenue growth since 2010 July 21, 2015 The figures At $1.24bn, Yahoo's sales smashed analysts' expectations. The company was expected to report a sinking revenue, with analysts forecasting revenues of $1.03bn, but instead reported a 15 per cent growth against the same period last year. Earnings are squeezed, however, with the company reporting earnings per share of $0.16, against expectations of $0.18. [...]
Tesla Motor’s share price down as analysts expect growth will “disappoint” July 21, 2015 Tesla shares were down after a UBS analyst downgraded it to “sell”, expecting disappointing growth from the company’s electric car and home battery segments. Shares slid 4.7 per cent for Tesla, the electric car manufacturer that has attracted a cult following, and were down to $269.10. UBS analyst Colin Langan wrote in a statement to [...]
Apple says Itunes and App Store suffering “glitches” – unavailable for some users July 21, 2015 Apple users are reporting technical glitches, with a whole host of their media functions struggling today, including the App Store and Itunes. The services are currently completely unavailable for some of its users. Apple has posted a statement: We are investigating and will update the status as more information becomes available. At least twelve Apple [...]
Novartis earnings plummet but major drug release paves the way for improvement July 21, 2015 Earnings fell by 32 per cent at Novartis in the second quarter, but new medicine releases are expected to counteract the negative impact. Read more: Novartis accused of losing money for the NHS by blocking competitor drug trial During the three months ending June, net income was $1.86bn (£1.2bn) for the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, [...]
Red tape officers must allow banks to take risks: There’s no business without it July 21, 2015 It's clear there is still a major gap in understanding how growth can be maintained and stimulated by effective risk management, rather than restricted by focusing purely on compliance control as this recent report on soaring pay for so-called red tape officers shows. Some still blame excessive regulation for a stalling in financial firms’ [...]
Boeing says world needs 558,000 commercial airline pilots over the next 20 years July 21, 2015 There's good news for anyone who secretly harbours dreams of being an airline pilot – Boeing reckons that the world will need 558,000 new pilots over the next 20 years, four per cent more than forecast a year ago. The "pilot and technician outlook" said that airliners will spend more than $5.6 trillion to buy [...]
Strong dollar causes Harley-Davidson to hit the breaks – but motorcycle maker says it will meet expectations July 21, 2015 The figures It turns out riding isn't so easy these days, after the stronger dollar pushed second quarter net income at Harley-Davidson down to $299.8m, down from $354.2m a year ago. But the company said it's on track to meet expectations (which it lowered in April), with earnings per share at $1.44 compared with $1.62 in the same period last year. [...]