- Stocks gain on reassurance from a top Fed official - May 21 2013 15:26
NEW YORK (AP) — Reassuring comments from a Federal Reserve official and better earnings from two big retailers helped push the stock market higher Tuesday. - S.Africa stocks hit record high on weaker rand - May 21 2013 01:00
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's JSE Top-40 blue-chip index hit a lifetime high on Tuesday as a weaker rand currency at helped boost some exporters such as Anglo American and Kumba Iron Ore. Exporters benefit from a depreciating rand, which lifts their profits when overseas earnings are brought home. The index rose 1.37 percent to 37,044.09. - Kenya's CFC Stanbic's pretax profit soars in first quarter - May 21 2013 00:49
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's CFC Stanbic Bank posted a 79.5 percent jump in pretax profit for the first quarter from a year ago to 1.46 billion shillings. Banks in east Africa's biggest economy have reported higher earnings for the first three months of this year, buoyed by the growth of lending on the back of a robust economy in the region. CFC Stanbic, which is controlled by South Africa's Standard Group, said on Tuesday its net interest income increased to 1.75 billion shillings as interest paid on deposits tumbled after policymakers cut lending rates. Earnings per share rose to 5. ... - Apple to argue for tax reform, defend tax practices on Tuesday - May 20 2013 14:05
By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc will argue for a comprehensive corporate tax reform that will levy a "reasonable tax" on foreign earnings and is not dependent on a company's revenue when it goes before a Senate panel on Tuesday to explain its offshore tax practices. In prepared testimony released by the company and submitted ahead of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook's hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Apple denied it employed "tax gimmicks" like using Cayman Islands bank accounts or shifting intellectual property abroad. ... - GE Capital plans to pay $6.5 billion in dividends to GE - May 20 2013 07:48
(Reuters) - General Electric Co said its financial unit GE Capital Corp would pay $6.5 billion in dividends to the parent in 2013 as part of a plan to reduce the unit's size. "This announcement is consistent with our goal to reduce the overall size of GE Capital and for it to return significant cash to GE," GE CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement on Monday. The dividend payment includes a special dividend of $4.5 billion, the company said. The dividend payments are planned at 30 percent of GE Capital's total 2013 earnings, GE said. ... - Algeria energy earnings fall 9 pct Jan-April vs same 2012 period - May 20 2013 05:50
ALGIERS (Reuters) - The value of Algeria's oil and gas exports, which account for about 97 of total sales abroad, fell by 9 percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2012 due to lower global crude prices, official figures showed on Monday. That pushed the OPEC member north African country's trade surplus down 39 percent to $7.16 billion in the January-April period of 2013, according to data released by the customs department and reported by the official APS news agency. Earnings from energy exports dropped to $24.1 billion from $26. ... - Mauritius tourism revenue drops 12.4 pct yr/yr in Q1 - May 20 2013 03:01
PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius's earnings from tourism dropped 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 12.06 billion rupees in the first three months of this year as the weak economic environment in Europe hurt visitors' spending. Statistics Mauritius cut its forecast for visitor arrivals this year to 990,000 from a previous estimate of 1 million, but said it expected tourism revenue to increase to 46.1 billion rupees, from 44.3 billion in 2012. Visitor numbers grew 1. ... - S.Africa's Vodacom FY earnings up 23 pct on Africa units - May 19 2013 23:53
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Vodacom Group reported a 23 percent rise in full-year profit on Monday underpinned by a strong performance by its African subsidiaries and growth in data usage. The unit of Britain's Vodafone Group said diluted headline earnings per share, which is the benchmark measure of profit in South Africa, totalled 870.2 cents in the year to end- March, from 706 cents a year earlier. The company had previously said headline earnings would rise by 25 percent higher. ... - S.Africa's Barloworld boosts H1 profit, Russia unit robust - May 19 2013 23:53
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African industrial group Barloworld Ltd boosted first-half profit by a third on Monday, as a solid result in its Russian mining equipment business offset slack demand at home. Barloworld, which also sells cars and forklifts, said headline earnings per share totalled 321 cents in the six months to end-March compared with 245 cents a year earlier. Headline EPS, the primary measure of profit in South Africa, strips out certain one-off items. ... - S.Africa's Netcare H1 profit up 25 pct, local unit robust - May 19 2013 23:52
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Netcare Ltd, Africa's third-biggest private hospital group, posted a 25 percent rise in half-year profit on Monday, helped by a strong performance in South Africa and favourable currency swings. Netcare, which also runs hospitals in Britain, said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 65.8 cents in the six months to end-March compared with 52.7 cents a year earlier. ... - S.Africa's African Bank H1 profit slides as bad debts bite - May 19 2013 23:52
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African mass market lender African Bank Investments posted a 26 percent drop in first-half earnings on Monday, hit by rising bad debts from its heavily leveraged customers. The company also warned its retail furniture business would likely fall to a loss for the year, as demand from cash-strapped consumers wanes. African Bank, known as Abil, said headline earnings for the six months to March totalled 125.7 cents, compared with 170.4 cents a year earlier. The bank targets millions of low-income South Africans through loans and furniture, which it sells on credit. ... - Swiss propose corporate tax reforms after EU pressure - May 17 2013 07:28
By Caroline Copley BERNE (Reuters) - Switzerland outlined plans on Friday to reform the way it taxes companies as it seeks to counter criticism from Brussels while trying to remain attractive to the many multinationals based in the country. The Swiss have lured thousands of foreign companies including online retailer eBay and trading giant Glencore by taxing foreign profits at a lower rate than domestic earnings, a practice known as "ring fencing". ... - Stocks edge higher in early trading on Wall Street - May 17 2013 06:47
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slightly higher in early trading on Wall Street, even as several big retailers slumped after reporting disappointing earnings. - Nigeria's Fidelity Bank says Q1 pretax profit up 40 pct - May 17 2013 04:22
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's Fidelity Bank said on Friday its first-quarter pretax profit rose 40.42 percent year-on-year to 5.94 billion naira, up from 4.23 billion naira a year ago, the bank said. Gross earnings at the mid-tier lender rose to 31.43 billion naira during the three months as against 22.43 billion naira in the same period last year. - Nigeria earns 621 bln naira in revenues in April - May 16 2013 23:29
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's government received 621 billion naira in revenues in April, up from 595.7 billion the previous month owing to improved earnings from domestic crude and a petroleum profit tax, the accountant general said on Thursday Accountant General Jonah Otunla said Nigeria had distributed 721.5 billion naira to its three tiers of government -- federal, state and local -- including funds from a repayment by the state oil firm and savings from lower fuel subsidy costs.