MAN net profit almost doubles in 2006
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German engineering conglomerate MAN, which wants to take over Swedish truck maker Scania, has said cost-cutting measures and strong demand for its products enabled it to book record earnings last year.
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Sun doubled its profit in the quarter ended Dec. 30, although revenue was nearly flat compared with the same period a year earlier, the company announced Thursday.Net income for the quarter, the second of Sun&#39;s fiscal year, was $260 million, or $0.31 per share, up from $133 million and $0.15 per share in the same quarter of fiscal 2006, the company announced Thursday.Revenue was $3.62 billion, up just 1.4 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The growth came from Sun&#39;s services business, where revenue climbed 5 percent. Sales of servers and storage products, which account for about two-thirds of Sun&#39;s business, declined by 0.5 percent.Business was particularly slow in the U.S., where revenue declined 8 percent year over year. The EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region performed better with growth of 7 percent. EMEA accounted for 39 percent of revenue in the quarter, overtaking the U.S., which is usually Sun&#39;s biggest source of revenue.Despite the quarter&#39;s slow growth, Sun said its full-year growth would be better. On a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman said revenue for fiscal 2008 would increase in the &quot;low-to-mid single digits&quot; and predicted revenue growth in the second half of greater than 5 percent.Sun&#39;s profit benefited from its ongoing cost-cutting plan, which has included several hundred layoffs so far. Its $260 million profit included a restructuring charge of $32 million.Sun announced a surprise plan last week to buy MySQL, the biggest open-source database vendor, for $1 billion. Sun officials said Thursday they are unsure whether the MySQL acquisition will close in the second or third quarter, and have not yet calculated the long-term impact on Sun&#39;s financials. They expect to take a one-time charge of $30 million to $50 million when the deal closes.
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Raises forecast The phenomenal success of Nintendo's Wii games console has helped the Japanese manufacturer to double its profits during the six months to the end of September. Nintendo said on Thursday that net profit reached 132.42bn yen ($1.2bn) for the first half of its latest fiscal year, up from 54.4bn yen for the same time last year. Group sales more than doubled to 694.8bn yen ($6.1bn) from 298.82bn yen last time around.â¦
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German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp said its pre-tax profit more than doubled in the first three months of its current business year and it upgraded slightly its forecast for the full year.
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CEO turnover set a record in 2006 and could reach another one this year as investors demand higher returns.
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Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co (MTC) announced record net profits of 305.3 million dinars (1.056 billion dollars) in 2006, a 67.9 percent year-on-year rise.
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Third-quarter profit nearly doubled from a year ago as income from its government segment surged and the insurer reported a one-time gain.
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AK Steel said second-quarter earnings more than tripled on record sales and shipments, compared with a year ago when the company was in a lockout at its biggest plant.
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BHP Billiton, the world&#39;s biggest mining company, has doubled its profits in the second half of the year on the back of booming global commodity prices.
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EBay&#39;s third-quarter net income nearly doubled and revenue climbed 52 per cent, as the company&#39;s international auction business and a strong back-to-school season counteracted seasonally slow summer months.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said on Thursday that net profit rose by 15 percent to 6.2 billion pounds in 2006, boosted by its investment banking arm.
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Swedish heavy lorry maker Volvo AB says its net profit leapt 24.5 percent in 2006 to 16.318 billion kronor (1.8 billion euros, 2.4 billion dollars), on the back of record sales.
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ZURICH : Swiss reinsurance group Swiss Re said it had nearly doubled its net profit in the first half of the year thanks to a better-than-expected investment result.
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The manufacturerâs fourth-quarter profit jumped to $2.5 billion due to a large gain on the sale of its Bobcat machinery division, but results fell short of Wall Street forecasts.
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Continental Airlines Inc.  on  Thursday said second-quarter profit nearly doubled as higher  fares and wage cuts offset climbing fuel prices.
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The online auctioneerâs quarterly earnings beat Wall Street estimates by 2 cents a share, as sales were up 30 percent from a year earlier.
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Global mining giant Anglo American reported on Wednesday record profits in 2006 on the back of strong metal prices and keen Chinese demand.