BAT Half-Year Profits up 22% - Interviews With CEO and FD

August 5th, 2009 LONDON - BBA Aviation, the leading provider of flight support and aftermarket services and systems to the aviation industry, said while revenues in the first half were down 13 per cent, operating profits only fell 2 per cent on a like-for-like basis, to GBP50.6m, thanks to the "difficult" measures it had taken to mitigate against the downturn. "One of the reasons that we have been so resilient through this first half is all our businesses demonstrate a low level of operational gearing and this means we can flex our cost base to meet the environment that we face," Simon Pryce, Chief Executive, said in a video interview with Cantos.

August 5th, 2009 LONDON - Unilever, the consumer goods-maker, unveils half year results reflecting increased volumes and overall progress on pricing and margins driven by innovation and increased A&P spend. In a video interview, CEO Paul Polman said: "We're pretty pleased with the progress we're making, although we recognise we've still got a lot to do.

August 3rd, 2009 LONDON - In video interviews on cantos.com, Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, and Richard Meddings, Group FD, of Standard Chartered talk about the reasons behind the bank's record first half performance, why they've decided to raise additional equity and their confidence for the future. The interviews and transcripts are available now on w3.cantos.com.

August 2nd, 2009 LONDON - International banking group HSBC today announced its half-year 2009 results. In a video interview on cantos.com, Group CEO Michael Geoghegan looks at the results, the group's business performances including Global Banking and Markets as well as an update on its North America operations.

July 28th, 2009 LONDON - In video interviews released today, Cadbury, the global confectionary company, said its performance in the second quarter had improved "quite markedly" across all its categories - chocolate, gum and candy - confirming its belief that the de-stocking problems of the first quarter were now largely in the past. Commenting on the first half results in a video interview with cantos.com, Todd Stitzer, CEO, said: "Given the external circumstances, we were really pleased with the revenue growth we did deliver.

July 23rd, 2009 LONDON - World-leading agri business Syngenta has pointed to strong levels of global demand for its products as it unveiled financial results for the first half of 2009. The company, based in Basel, Switzerland, has announced reported sales and profits down from its record performance in 2008 but stressed that this underlying performance was 'resilient' given the economic conditions.

July 21st, 2009 LONDON - GSK announced its sales and turnover fell by less than expected in Q2. The Pharma giant also said there had been good growth in the consumer, vaccine, european and emerging markets businesses and whilst the US remains under pressure from older products going off patent, the rate of decline has slowed down.

July 18th, 2009 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Al Rajhi Bank CEO, Mr. Abdullah Sulaiman Al Rajhi announced that the Bank posted a net profit of SR 3,503 million, compared to SR 3,344 million during the same period last year, representing a 5% increase.

May 11th, 2009 LONDON - Profits at Imperial Tobacco have bucked the economic downturn with a 49% rise. The world's fourth largest tobacco manufacturer attributed the jump in earnings to the impact of its acquisition of French giant Altadis in 2008.

April 11th, 2009 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Al Rajhi Bank CEO, Mr. Abdullah Sulaiman Al Rajhi announced the financial results of the first quarter of 2009 where the Bank achieved SR 1,732 million in net profits compared to last year's net profits which were at SR 1,424 representing an increase of 21.6%.

August 6th, 2009 NICOSIA - The largest firms of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) saw their profits drop by more than 39 per cent in the first half of the current year, Emirates Business has reported. Research by the business newspaper showed that net profits of the biggest firms by market capitalisation fell by more than AED10bn.

September 18th, 2009 Obama in media blitz to push health care overhaulWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is sitting down for interviews with five television networks this afternoon, a highly unusual schedule even for a president who regularly uses the media to get his message across. Obama will be taping interviews with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Univision that will be shown during the networks' Sunday morning talk shows.

July 30th, 2009 Mediaset profits down by 48 percent in ItalyMILAN — The Mediaset television empire founded by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday that first half net profit fell by 48 percent because of a drop in advertising in its two main markets, Italy and Spain. Italy's largest private broadcaster reported net profit of euro180.8 million ($254.08 million) in the first half of the year, down from euro350 million in the same period of 2008.

July 15th, 2009 Air China forecasts 50 percent profit riseBEIJING — Air China Ltd., one of China's three major state-owned carriers, said Wednesday it expects first-half profits to rise at least 50 percent from a year earlier as it recovers from a huge 2008 loss. The Beijing-based airline said its first-half 2008 profit was 1.3 billion yuan under Chinese accounting standards, which would make its profit from January to June this year at least 1.9 billion yuan ($284 million).

July 31st, 2009 Enel first half profits up 28 percentROME — Italian utility Enel SpA on Friday reported a 28 percent increase in first half profit as income at its newly acquired Spanish unit Endesa offset a drop in electricity sales in its home Italian market. The Rome-based company said in a statement Friday that first-half net income rose to euro3.52 billion ($4.9 billion), up from euro2.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.

September 1st, 2009 GENEVA - Over 50 global carriers lost $6 billion (Rs.30,000 crore) in January-June this year, according to the sector's representative body International Air Transport Association. In a statement Tuesday, IATA also said the losses stood at $2.02 billion (Rs.10,000 crore) in the second quarter this year (April-June) and forecast cumulative losses of $9 billion (Rs.45,000) for the year.

July 30th, 2009 Repsol-YPF reports 2Q profits down 59 percentMADRID — Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF said Thursday its net profits for the second quarter dropped by 59 percent because of lower oil prices and the global economic slowdown. Repsol-YPF reported earnings of euro373 million ($526.08 million), compared with euro905 million for the same period last year.

July 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Budget carrier SpiceJet Tuesday reported net profits of Rs.263.42 million for the first quarter of this fiscal, against a loss of Rs.1.29 billion in the like quarter of 2008-09, despite some trying times for the aviation sector. The company's total income also registered a 10.55 percent increase at Rs.5.34 billion during the quarter, as against Rs.4.83 billion in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal, said a regulatory filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

January 26th, 2009 NEW YORK - Credit card company American Express said Monday its profits plunged 72 percent as customers fell behind on loan payments and were also spending less amid the widening recession. Profits fell to $238 million from $858 million a year earlier.

June 3rd, 2009 Bombardier reports dip in 1Q profits, revenueTORONTO — Bombardier Inc. says general economic weakness and order cancellations in its aerospace division have led to a decline in both profits and revenues during the first quarter of fiscal 2010.