Friday, September 20, 2024
Home Blog Page 714

ProSiebenSat.1 Q1 EBITDA up 16.1 pct on higher TV advertising revenues

Sam Allcock
-
0

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) – ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG said first-quarter EBITDA rose 16.1 pct to 82.0 mln eur from 70.6 mln a year earlier on the back of rising advertising revenues.

The result beat the 78.7 mln eur consensus forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Financial News partner dpa-AFX.

Sales in the three months through March grew to 501.2 mln eur from 465.3 mln eur, the German broadcaster said. Analysts had expected 495.1 mln.

Net profit for the period grew to 40.6 mln eur from 30.7 mln eur, compared with the consensus forecast of 39.5 mln.

‘The ProSiebenSat.1 Group got off to a good start this year. We saw growth in both our core business in Free TV and our new operations,’ chief executive Guillaume de Posch said.

‘We are confident that our stations’ programming will pick up further strength, while we continue to build up our diversification and online initiatives.’

ProSieben also reaffirmed that it expects its advertising revenues to grow slightly faster than the German TV advertising market as a whole, which is expected to show net growth of 2-3 pct.

ProSieben also expects revenues and earnings, as well as its profitability, to increase this year.

ProSieben, which was last year taken over by private equity groups KKR and Permira, affirmed it expects both sales and earnings to increase this year as it anticipates the German TV advertising market will grow 2-3 pct.

KKR and Permira now own 88 pct of voting common shares and about 13 pct of non-voting preference shares, collectively representing about 50.5 pct of the aggregate share capital.

De Posch last month said the company could take over SBS Broadcasting Group by the fourth quarter of this year in a bid to create one of Europe’s leading television companies.

ProSiebenSat.1 will make a decision on whether to make a bid for SBS by the end of July, after completing due diligence, de Posch said.

The company would finance the takeover with loans rather than a capital increase, to take advantage of its low debt level, he said.

alfred.kueppers@thomson.com

amk/slj

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

Ericsson, Sun to collaborate on open source Java technology multimedia

Sam Allcock
-
0

STOCKHOLM (Thomson Financial) – LM Ericsson AB said it is to collaborate with Sun Microsystems Inc to develop an open source Java technology-based multimedia application server, as well as a supporting programme for (software) developers.

Ericsson said it will contribute parts of its server development to the open source project GlassFish.

‘The supporting program includes a variety of tools and expertise to support developer communities, as well as a possibility for developers to test their applications on a live IP Multimedia Subsystem-based network, Ericsson said.

TF.TFN-EuropeStockholm@thomson.com

hc/gp

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

AP Moller Maersk believes oil production in North Sea has reached its peak

Sam Allcock
-
0

COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) – Management at AP Moller Maersk’s Maersk Oil & Gas division believe oil production in the North Sea has reached its peak, daily Boersen reported.

‘Production is, under all circumstances, expected to decline during coming years, but our task is to counteract this as far as possible,’ Maersk Oil & Gas deputy director Anders Wurtzen said according to Boersen.

However, the Danish Energy authority expects new technology will help increase oil production in the North Sea, Boersen added.

AP Moller Maersk said in April that oil production at its partly owned Dansk Undergrunds Consortium’s 14 oil fields in the North Sea had fallen 8 pct year-on-year in March 2007.

gustav.sandstrom@thomson.com

gs/bsd

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

 

Piaggio to launch 55-56 new models this year

ABC Staff
-
0

MILAN (Thomson Financial) – Piaggio SpA’s chairman Roberto Colaninno said the motor bike and scooter firm will launch 55-56 new models this year, including 25-26 completely new products for the group’s various brands.

Speaking at the annual shareholder meeting, he said the recently-launched three-wheel MP3 scooter is ‘a big success’, while in September, the Gilera brand will launch a scooter with an 800 cubic centimetre-sized engine, which will reach a speed of 200 kilometres per hour.

In India, he said production is expected to reach 160,000-170,000 units, up from 140,000 in 2006.

nigel.tutt@thomson.com

nt/lam

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

WPP Group’s Wunderman acquires Belgium marketing agency These Days

Sam Allcock
-
0

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – WPP Group PLC said its wholly-owned operating unit Wunderman, a direct, promotion and marketing network, has acquired Belgium-based These Days NV, for an undisclosed sum.

These Days, an interactive marketing agency, reported a full-year revenue of 4.6 mln eur for the year to end December 2006, and had gross assets of 3.7 mln eur.

Earlier today, WPP had said its wholly-owned operating unit Grey Healthcare Group, a healthcare-communications network, has acquired the business of WestawayGillis Consulting for an undisclosed sum.

TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com

kkb/tsm/jag

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

TGS-Nopec Q1 pretax profit 51.3 mln usd, sees strong demand for 2007

Elliot
-
0

OSLO (Thomson Financial) – Seismic exploration company TGS-Nopec posted first quarter pretax profit of 51.3 mln usd, an increase from 49 mln usd in the first quarter of 2006, but below what the market had been expecting.One broker, who asked not to be named, said consensus expectations were for 56.8 mln.Sales for the Norwegian seismic surveyor for the oil industry came in at 95.4 mln usd, up from 89.7 mln, a 6 pct rise.The company said a comparison of results was complicated by the fact that the previous year’s figures included 14 mln usd in net revenues and associated amortisation charges which would normally have been included in the Q4 2005 report, but which were transferred to the next quarter due to a change of accounting rules.Looking ahead, the company said that TGS’ growth in the first quarter was hampered by delayed deliveries of new seismic vessels, but demand for the company’s products and services remained strong.TGS said for 2007, it expected net revenue growth in the range of 20-25 pct.patrick.mcloughlin@thomson.compm/cmrCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

Sinatra furnishings among Sands sale

Sam Allcock
-
0

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – Here’s one way to look at the giant liquidation sale that will take place later this week at the former Sands Casino Hotel: It’s one last chance to take home a nostalgic piece of the place where Frank Sinatra once held court.

Here’s another: Falter in Atlantic City, and they’ll pick your bones clean.
Both will happen on Thursday when the contents of the famous gambling hall and its hotel rooms, kitchens and stages go on sale to the public. Once the stuff is gone, the Sands will be demolished to make way for a new billion-dollar casino.

‘When you pull these places apart, people are fascinated,’ said Kim Townsend, executive vice president of Pinnacle Atlantic City, the company that bought the Sands property. ‘Whenever things are hidden away behind walls or in private areas, it just increases the speculation.’

There will be hidden treasures aplenty, including everything from the Plaza Club — a swank 19th-floor hideout that became Sinatra’s private playground whenever he stayed at the Sands. Chandeliers ($4,250), a marble and wood bar, and leather chairs are among the furnishings from the club that are expected to go quickly.

Rocky Merrill, a maintenance worker for 25 of the Sands’ 26 years, did custom work for The Chairman of the Board during several of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ stints there.

‘He was really private,’ Merrill recalled. ‘We took a whole floor and I had to cut doors between each room so he could walk from one end of the floor to another where his people were, without having to go into the hallway.’

‘He asked for it, he got it,’ Merrill said.

All told, about $1.5 million worth of merchandise is being sold off, from $1 towels and linens to the giant red velvet curtain that rose and fell on acts at The Copa Room, which could fetch $5,000 to $10,000.

The sale is not an auction; each item is tagged with an assigned price, and buyers have to cough up an additional 10 percent ‘buyers’ premium.’ The sale will continue until everything is sold.

The Sands opened as the Brighton Hotel & Casino in August 1980. Within a year, it was sold and renamed the Sands. In the 1980s it became a hub for by-then aging Rat Packers and in the early ’90s was among the first Atlantic City casinos to offer poker.
But the sands of time were running out for the Sands by 2003 when The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa opened, bringing with it restaurants from big-name chefs, pulsing nightclubs and upscale shopping — and no drop-off zones for buses.

The trend toward Las Vegas-style destination resorts moved away from the buffets and bus terminals for blue-haired old ladies that places like the Sands offered. Last September, mogul Carl Icahn, who owned the Sands for six years, sold it to Pinnacle Entertainment, which closed it down in November.

Before the building is imploded this fall, everything has to be cleared out. The gambling equipment has all been transferred to other Pinnacle casinos except for the chips, which will be destroyed in a few weeks.

The sale includes 200 television sets, priced as low as $89; the marble bar and four stools from the posh Hollywood Suite (just under $2,000); the room’s king-size canopy bed ($2,250) and its whirlpool bath with waterfall jets ($1,495).

Brass Champagne buckets go for $175, a light-up ceiling sign that reads ‘CRAPS’ sells for $95, and a high-backed dining room chair that seems more appropriate for a beach house than a glitzy casino is tagged at $65. Vinyl lounge chairs are $145 each.

Then there are thousands of pieces of kitchen and restaurant equipment, including plates, glasses, baking trays and serving racks. The drums from the Copa Room’s house band must go, along with hundreds of high-powered color stage lights.

Even the huge dressing room mirror into which Sinatra peered before each show, and the in-house speaker box through which an assistant called him to the stage will be sold.

So, too, will the fully functional window that Rosemary Clooney insisted be installed in her room as a condition of her performing there, and the steam room that Don Rickles demanded be built for him, Merrill said.

Even the huge gambling icons on the Sands’ facade, such as the giant logo, the ‘777’ slot machine panel, and yellow gambling chips are for sale. But bring your own construction crew to pry them loose.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Anglo American awarded Michiquillay copper project in Peru for 403 mln usd

Sam Allcock
-
0

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Anglo American PLC said that after its successful tender in the privatisation process it has been awarded the Michiquillay copper project in Peru for 403 mln usd.

The 403 mln usd will be paid by Anglo American to the Peruvian government, staged over the first five years of the project. Half of this payment will be allocated to a trust fund for the development and benefit of the local communities.

Michiquillay is a large, advanced exploration project located in Cajamarca State in northern Peru, a highly prospective mineral district which already hosts a number of mines, Anglo said.

The group believes that there is significant additional exploration potential associated with this deposit.

CEO Cynthia Carroll said ‘Michiquillay is one of the best undeveloped copper prospects in the world with significant upside potential.’

tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com

slm

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

Sri Lanka flights grounded by rebel air strikes – airline officials

Sam Allcock
-
0

COLOMBO (XFN-ASIA) – Three international airlines have stopped or altered flights to Sri Lanka following air raids by the Tamil Tigers near the international airport, airline officials said.

Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific said it had suspended all flights to the island in the wake of yesterday’s pre-dawn air strike by the Tamil Tigers, who used light aircraft to bomb two fuel depots near Colombo.

Singapore Airlines said it will only fly into Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) – which shares a runway with the Sri Lankan air force – during daylight hours.

‘As a security precaution with regards to the extenuating circumstances in Colombo, we have rescheduled our flight departure and arrival times,’ a Singapore Airlines official told Agence France-Presse.

‘It will be a day time flight instead of a night flight.’

Dubai’s Emirates airline, which briefly suspended flights to Colombo in the wake of the attack, said it had taken the same decision to only offer daytime services.

The decisions come despite assurances from Sri Lanka that the authorities are capable of dealing with the air threat from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The country’s media minister, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, said in a statement that the ‘government is fully capable of meeting any challenges from the LTTE terrorist outfit.’

He also promised ‘all effective steps would be taken to ensure the safety of the nation and its people.’

afp/kmq

FOCUS Australian uranium stocks move higher as opposition to mining ends

ABC Staff
-
0

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) – Australian uranium mining hopefuls now have more chance moving into production after the Australian Labor Party (ALP) dropped its longstanding ‘no new uranium mines’ policy at its national conference during the weekend, analysts said.
They said the ALP’s move saw support for uranium stocks during today’s trading session and particularly stocks which have deposits in South Australia and The Northern Territory where there is no opposition to new uranium mining at a state level.
Policy opposing new uranium mines was dropped at the federal level ahead of national elections this year as opinion polls give the party the best chance of winning power in more than a decade from the conservative government, led by Prime Minister John Howard, which came to power in 1996.
Australia holds 40 pct of the world’s known uranium reserves but falls behind Canada in production because the ALP has capped the number of mines at just three since 1984.
These are BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam project in South Australia, Rio Tinto controlled Energy Resources of Australia Ltd’s Ranger mine in The Northern Territory and US-based General Atomics’ Beverley mine in South Australia.
It is now up to individual states, which are all ruled by ALP governments, to endorse uranium mining at a state level.
ABN Amro resources analyst Warren Edney said uranium mining hopefuls with projects in South Australia and The Northern Territory will benefit most in the near-term.
Edney said the South Australian government has already relaxed to opposition to new uranium mines which hosts the already producing world-class Olympic Dam uranium project and the next uranium mine likely to be developed – the Honeymoon project owned by Toronto-listed sxr Uranium Inc.
He said the Northern Territory government last year handed over power to approve new mines to the federal government which puts companies with uranium projects in Australia’s top end in the position to contemplate development now that the ALP has dropped its opposition.
‘It is a move forward in that the ALP has said yes they will allow uranium mining but they have also allowed the states to choose, so what it does is free up the federal government to go ahead and allow uranium mining in the Northern Territory without going against ALP policy,’ Edney said.
‘In South Australia, there’s really no change as they have been letting people go down the track to development which will allow Honeymoon to go ahead.’
Edney said there are other projects in the South Australia and The Northern Territory that have already had feasibility studies down, which may now move ahead to development.
But governments in the other two states where there are known uranium deposits are maintaining their opposition.
‘There’s more uncertainty with Western Australia and Queensland though there would be bigger upside say in Western Australia if the government there changes its mind,’ Edney said.
The Australian Uranium Association welcomed the ALP’s decision to remove its prohibition on the development of new uranium mines.
The association executive director Michael Angwin said for the first time in 30 years, there is broad-based political support for the expansion of uranium exploration, mining and exports.
‘This will help build the confidence of the industry to invest and grow,’ Angwin said.
ABN Amro’s Edney said the ALP’s policy change saw support for uranium stocks with projects in the Northern Territory during today’s trading session.
He said stocks to benefit included Deep Yellow Ltd, which has a deposit in The Northern Territory, Nova Energy Ltd, which has uranium interests in South Australia, Western Australia and The Northern Territory and PepinNini Minerals Ltd which has deposits in South Australia.
China’s Sinosteel Corp Ltd is acquiring a 60 pct interest in PepinNini’s uranium assets.
Edney said uranium stocks have the potential to be re-rated following the ALP’s ending its no new mines policy.
‘As their Canada peers are trading on higher (net present value) multiples to those companies with deposits in South Australia and the territory are likely to trade more in line with those,’ Edney said.
‘Overall, it provides a bit more confidence that if you have a deposit there’s more chance of it being turned into a mine.’
At 3.00 pm here Deep Yellow was trading up 0.045 aud or 7.09 pct at 0.68, Nova Energy was up 0.20 or 5.13 pct at 4.10 and PepinNini was up 0.14 or 5.28 pct at 2.79.
(1 usd = 1.21 aud)
bruce.hextall@xfn.com

1...713714715...747Page 714 of 747

Reach Us

Advertising Enquiries

advertise@abcmoney.co.uk

Contributing Enquiries

editor@abcmoney.co.uk

Top Topics

Sitemap

© 2022 ABCMoney.co.uk. All Rights Reserved.

sakarya escort bayan Eskişehir escort bayan