Anglo American H1 profit down 31 percent as revenue slumps amid recession

August 18th, 2009 Target's 2Q profit falls 6.2 pct, beats estimatesNEW YORK — Target says its second-quarter profit fell 6.3 percent, but results surpassed Wall Street forecasts amid cost-cutting initiatives and improvements in its credit-card business. The Minneapolis-based discounter says Tuesday that it earned $594 million, or 79 cents per share, in the period.

August 6th, 2009 CBS 2Q net profit slumps 96 percent on weak adsNEW YORK — CBS Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter net profit fell sharply as softness in the advertising market continued.

August 4th, 2009 Xstrata posts 77 pct fall in first-half profit GENEVA — Mining company Xstrata PLC said net profit fell 77 percent in the first six months of the year as a result of lower commodity prices, and reiterated that its merger offer to rival Anglo American PLC would be "highly compelling" to both sets of shareholders. Xstrata's profit tumbled to $643 million, compared with $2.78 billion in the same period last year.

July 30th, 2009 Telefonica Q2 net down 6 percentMADRID — Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica said Thursday its second quarter net profit fell 6 percent from a year earlier due to higher taxes and lower revenues in recession-stricken Spain and Europe, offsetting a strong performance from the company's Latin American division. The company said profits fell to euro1.93 billion ($2.72 billion) between April and June compared to euro2.06 billion in the same period in 2008.

July 30th, 2009 British American Tobacco 1H profit up 16 pctLONDON — British American Tobacco PLC reported Thursday that its first half profit rose 16 percent compared to a year earlier to 1.45 billion pounds ($2.38 billion) as top brands such as Lucky Strike showed better sales. Revenue was up 24 percent to 6.78 billion pounds, a 14 percent gain on a constant currency basis.

July 23rd, 2009 Occidental Petroleum profits down 70 percentHOUSTON — Occidental Petroleum says its first-quarter profit fell 70 percent from a year ago as results were hit hard by lower oil and natural gas prices. The Los Angeles-based oil and gas producer said Thursday net income for the April-June period amounted to $682 million, or 84 cents a share.

July 16th, 2009 Google 2Q profit up 19 pct amid slowing ad salesMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google's second-quarter profit rose 19 percent despite the slowest revenue growth since the Internet search leader went public five years ago.

June 22nd, 2009 Anglo American, Xstrata mull mergerLONDON — Shares in mining company Anglo American PLC jumped nearly 5 percent on Monday after Anglo-Swiss rival Xstrata PLC made a preliminary approach seeking a merger. Xstrata's shares dropped almost 7 percent.

June 21st, 2009 Miner Xstrata seeks merger with Anglo AmericanZUG, Switzerland — Swiss mining giant Xstrata PLC said Sunday it is seeking a merger with rival Anglo American PLC. Xstrata said it "recently sent a written proposal to the board of Anglo American seeking their consideration of a merger of equals of the two companies." "A merger of these two world-class companies with complementary assets is highly compelling," the company said in a statement posted on its Web site, adding that substantial cost savings could result if the deal proceeds.

June 12th, 2009 Euro zone industrial output slumps in AprilLONDON — Industrial production in the 16 countries that use the euro slumped in April, official figures showed Friday, stoking fears that the euro zone remains in the grip of recession despite signs elsewhere that a recovery of sorts may be underway. The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said a 1.9 percent drop in April — the eighth consecutive monthly fall — pushed the annual rate of decline down to a record 21.6 percent.

May 8th, 2009 InVentiv 1Q profit slips on communications revenueSOMERSET, N.J. — InVentiv Health Inc., which provides services for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, said Friday its profit slipped 2 percent in the first quarter due to falling demand for its communications business.

April 29th, 2009 Taiwan's Acer says quarterly profit sinks 31 pctTAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese computer giant Acer Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter profit declined 31 percent over the same period in 2008 because of contracting revenue for its products amid the global slump.

April 28th, 2009 Baidu posts higher 1Q profit, revenueNEW YORK — Baidu Inc., which runs China's most popular search engine, said Monday its first-quarter profit grew, boosted by higher online marketing revenue. The results sent the Beijing-based company's American Depositary shares higher in after-hours trading.

April 23rd, 2009 AmEx 1Q profit drops 63 percent, but beats StreetNEW YORK — American Express says its earnings fell 63 percent in the first three months of the year, marking a sixth-straight quarter of profit declines at the credit card lender. But the results are better than analysts were expecting.

April 21st, 2009 Japan Airlines mulls state loans as travel slumpsTOKYO — Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's biggest carrier by sales, said Tuesday it is considering applying for government loans to cope with slumping travel demand amid the global downturn. The airline, also known as JAL, may get loans from the state-run Development Bank of Japan to boost its cash flow.