Business and Investing » Business Investing

IMF’s dire warning

Jesse Walker — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:04:28 +0000

THE world will face a “1930s moment” of the kind that brought on the Great Depression unless money can quickly be found to support nations such as Italy and Spain, the International Monetary Fund says.

Before releasing dramatically downgraded economic forecasts early this morning Australian time the IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, told an audience in Berlin $1 trillion would be needed to support ailing governments and stave off a deeper crisis – half of which would have to come from Fund backers such as Australia.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, backed Ms Lagarde, saying without “larger firewalls” to protect embattled European nations the global economy was at risk.

Christine Lagarde … self-control.

But the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, questioned whether such payments were in Australia’s national interest.

The IMF has shaved three quarters of 1 per cent off its previous global growth forecast, issued in September.

Report: Yahoo may name PayPal exec as CEO

Jesse Walker — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:30:22 +0000

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Updated Wednesday, January 4, 2012 | | | | tool goes here

NEW YORK — Yahoo Inc. may name Scott Thompson, president of eBay Inc.’s PayPal division, as its new CEO, according to a published report.

The struggling Internet company has been without a permanent CEO since early September, when it fired Carol Bartz after losing patience with her attempts to turn around the company during her 2 1/2 years on the job. Tim Morse, Yahoo’s chief financial officer, has been interim CEO since Bartz’s ouster.

The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D technology blog said late Tuesday that an announcement of a new CEO could come as early as Wednesday and that Thompson was “the leading candidate” for the job at the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.

The report said his selection would be somewhat of a surprise, as he had not been named in previous reports about Bartz’s potential successor.

A represe

JB Hi-Fi adds to gloom

Jesse Walker — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:48:09 +0000

Only 10 days before Christmas, electronics and entertainment retailer JB Hi-Fi, once the high-flying market darling for investors, has issued a profit downgrade warning that despite some improvement in sales margins its earnings had worsened.

JB Hi-Fi issued a statement to the ASX after the market closed saying that it now expects earnings before interest and tax for the half year 2012 to be about 5 per cent below its first-half last year, subject to Christmas trading performance being in line with recent months trend.

The company said the EBIT decline would result in earnings per share being roughly 1 per cent below last year.

Shares in JB Hi-Fi are expected to fall sharply tomorrow when the market opens and investors react to another dour warning of poor trading conditions from a leading national retailer.

In its statement to the ASX, JB Hi-Fi chief executive Terry Smart said sales growth for the five months to November 30 for its stores in Australia and New Zealand had hit 7.8 per cent, while like-for-like sales were actually down 1.8 per cent.

This is against like-for-like sales growth of negative 3.5 per cent for the first quarter.

An analyst said the sales were disappointing and said the market was likely to downgrade forecasts for the full year.

“Management is trying to put a brave face on what looks like being a very tough year,” said Peter Esho, chief market analyst at City Index.

Analysts had been expecting a 5 per cent rise in earnings before interest and tax for the year to June 2012, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Are you insured against floods?

Jesse Walker — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:39:24 +0000

Flood insurance denotes the specific insurance coverage against property loss from flooding. The protection offered by most policy covers losses incurred due to some failure at the home itself. However, Flood insurance indemnifies the insured for the loss of property that occurs specifically due to overflowing water bodies or flood. Flood insurance is specifically needed for properties situated in flood-prone areas.

Shubhodeep, a civil engineer by profession, led a very happy life in Orissa, with a beautiful life and two adorable kids. All in all after buying his own house, he thought he had everything that a humble man like himself would want. Unfortunately, nature had other plans for him. A devastating hurricane hit Orissa, flooding the area that he used to live in and Shubhodeep had to evacuate the house. In an instant he had lost his house that he had strove hard for and his beautiful life crumbled around him.

This is a situation that anyone of us who stay in area receiving heavy rainfalls might face.

Tata closes Llanwern hot strip mill.

Jesse Walker — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 02:06:38 +0000

STEELMAKER Tata has ceased production at its hot strip mill in Newport, in a move that will result in 115 job losses.

It said it expected the mill at Llanwern to remain mothballed until the UK economy and steel demand justify a restart.

The Indian-owned steel maker said in the meantime the market will be supplied with material from its other hot strip mill in Port Talbot, whose costs are lower.

The Llanwern cold rolling mill and’ galvanising line will continue in operation.

Jon Ferriman, Hub Director for the Strip Products UK hub based at Port Talbot and Llanwern, said: “It is with great regret that we have had to make this decision. I would like to pay tribute to those valuable people who have helped us make the flexible working model a success at Llanwern. Clearly this is a very difficult time for them.

“The Llanwern Hot Rolling Mill is an important operation for us, and our intention is to bring it back into operation as soon as market conditions permit.”

The mothballing is a result of continuing poor UK steel demand amid a deteriorating European economic outlook.

Mystery Ansett accounts

Jesse Walker — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:30:32 +0000

“The Ansett administration sets a lamentable precedent for regulation, disclosure and insolvency generally”.

Ten years of administration for the failed airline has proven a fees bonanza, but exactly how much no one knows, writes Michael West.

Mark Korda was casually non-committal last year when asked how much his insolvency firm had earned from the collapse of Ansett Australia.

It ”could be $20 million”, he told BusinessDay. And the rest? Ansett is probably the biggest and almost certainly the most profitable insolvency in Australian corporate history.

It shot Mark Korda and his partner Mark Mentha to stardom on the liquidators scene after the two young partners of Arthur Andersen set up shop on their own and took the Ansett business with them.

Mark Mentha …

How to calculate your HRA!

Jesse Walker — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:55:11 +0000

As long as you are paying rent for an accommodation, you can claim tax benefits on the HRA component of your salary, while also availing tax benefits on your home loan. This could be the case if your own home is rented out or you work from another city etc. However, you need to account for any rental income you receive from the property you own under income from other sources.

It is the beginning of one more brand new financial year. Though the words income tax start ringing a frantic bell towards the end of every financial year, the wise planner will have things sorted out when the year begins in April. There are many tax components you need to be clear about and also figure out how to plan your investments to gain maximum returns as well as maximum tax benefits.

Prof Brian Morgan to chair inquiry into impact of business rates on economic growth for Minister

Jesse Walker — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:01:10 +0000

THE impact of business rates on economic growth is to be assessed by an independent review panel set up by Business and Enterprise Minister Edwina Hart.

Brian Morgan, professor of entrepreneurship and director of the creative leadership and enterprise centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University (previously Uwic), is to chair the independent working group.

1.7 million lose power in East Coast snowstorm

Jesse Walker — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:14:40 +0000

PHILADELPHIA —

The unusually early snowstorm bringing heavy, wet snow to the East Coast has knocked out power to more than 1.7 million customers.

More than 540,000 people are without power in New Jersey, including Gov. Chris Christie, who declared a state of emergency Saturday. Two hospitals that lost power are operating on generators.

Utilities in Connecticut and Pennsylvania are each reporting more than 430,000 customers without power. In Philadelphia and its suburbs alone, more than 160,000 are in the dark.

In New York, more than 200,000 have lost power.

Western Maryland has more than 26,000 outages. More than 75,000 customers are without power in Massachusetts. <

Murdoch survives vote

Jesse Walker — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:05:43 +0000

Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch has thwarted attempts by dissident shareholders to remove him as chairman of News Corporation, the company he has headed for more than five decades.

All 15 directors, including Mr Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James, were believed to have been re-elected in a shareholder vote, but not before they came under attack over their response to the UK phone hacking scandal that has prompted questioning over how the media behemoth is governed.

In an at times testy annual meeting at the company’s Fox Studios in Los Angeles, representatives of several fund managers and advisory firms, as well as the Church of England, spoke in support of a resolution to decouple Mr Murdoch’s dual role as chairman and chief executive and which urged a greater future role for independent directors.

Julie Tanner, in charge of ethical investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services, which manages Catholic funds, condemned the “pervasive and value destroying scandal” at the company and urged greater accountability from a “truly independent chair”.

“I really expected the board to make some sweeping changes,” she told the meeting, attended by about 100 shareholders and their proxies.