Baxter’s profits are higher than expected

 

Baxter's factory in Malta

Baxter International, the world’s biggest maker of blood-disease treatments which is also based in Malta, beat analysts’ expectations yesterday after it posted profits of $569 million for the last three months of 2008, up from $478 million posted in the same period the year before.

“Baxter is not playing defense, but rather investing heavily [in capital improvements and research and development] to fund future growth,” a source quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times says.

This is yet another case where investment in innovation and constant improvement pays off.

Cows are stronger than Brown: They can survive recession

As Gordon Brown announces the UK is following the US in recession, saying it was caused by ‘complete market failure’, data shows that cattle ranching is experiencing double-digit growth in the US.

So, if you’re looking for a job and you’re worried the British financial services sector will shrink over the coming two years, why not try work on a cattle ranch, where growth and peace of mind are guaranteed.

Recession hits tech and telecommunication companies

Sony posted a loss for the first time in 14 years

 

 

The tech and telecommunication sectors took a big blow in teh past 24 hours as company announcements showed the vulnerability of such sector.

Sony was the first company to start the round of negative announcements as it posted its first loss in 14 years. 

Nokia then followed. It said that its sales were set to go down by 10% in 2009. This means that the mobile phone market will get smaller and more competitive in 2009.

But, possibly the worst result of the day was Microsoft which announced it is going to axe 5,000 workers for the first time since 1975. This is 5% of Microsoft’s workforce. 

It was Samsung’s turn early this morning when it posted its first quartlerly loss ever. This sent its shares in Seoul down 4%.

However, Google saved the day posting financial results that beat analysts’ expectations.

Photo of the Day: Cars-in-waiting

 

Cars waiting to be sold in the UK

This picture, taken from The Guardian, shows Nissan cars waiting to be sold in the UK. Demand for cars globally has plummeted forcing producers to cut production. In the UK only, car production was halved in December 2008. As a result, global steel production fell for the first time in ten years.

Meanwhile, Fiat continues its rise with rumours suggesting that it might merge with French carmaker Peugeot.

Global problems require social solutions

I’ve had problems logging onto the internet all morning but, finally, I managed.

I am still energised by the extremely important role the inernet played yesterday during President Obama’s inaguruation. It was fantastic seeing people comment on Twitter and Facebook and watching the inauguration live on Cnn.com/live. 

However, as soon as I came back to check the market’s reaction following Obama’s inauguration speech, I found that that the outlook on Wall Street was still bleak. Why?

Wall Street thrives on results. But, so far, we have only seen rhetoric coming from Obama. So that might be a reason. However, I think there’s more than what meets the eye.

Let’s assume that financial markets are places where people meet to take decisions. Now, we all know that the best decisions are informed-decisions. So we need informaton in order to take decisions.

Are we sure the kind of information markets are receiving is enough? I don’t think so. The current crisis is proof of wrong decisions taken on wrong information.

This means information needs to change. How? Social media might be the answer.

In fact, the World Economic Forum, which groups more than 2,500 experts from al over the world is this year using MySpace and YouTube to get the reactions of normal people ahead of a summit with a special title: Shaping the Post-Crisis World.

The post-crisis world should be based on greater social itneraction. We are already witnessing the beginning of change. But more needs to be done.

When investment in innovation pays off

You might ask: But how has Fiat managed to buy 35% of Chrysler in the midst of a crisis hardly hitting car makers all around the world?

The answer is the successful launch of two models onto the market – the Fiat 500 and the Fiat Punto – and a successful investment in making its operations more efficient, says Forbes.com.

How much has Fiat paid for its stake in Chrysler? Fiat has paid technology.

In fact, Fiat did not even pay  single cent into the company but has instead agreed to transfer its technology in the production of small and mid-sized cars.

Simply put, this is an example of the benefits of years of investment in innovation.

If Fiat can do it, everyone can.

Tesco starts tweeting

British retail giant Tesco started tweeting through its US arm Fresh & Easy, The Telegraph reports:

A sample Twitter exchange from earlier this week involves a customer called “songrytr” noting that stock levels had seemed “a little sparse” on recent visits to his local branch, to which Fresh & Easy responds that levels tend to be a bit low at the end of the year due to shipping schedules.

Though perhaps not gripping correspondence, Twitter does help to establish loyalty by giving customers an active way of communicating with the company’s management.

Britain’s economic fall is deepest since 1931 – experts argue

Britain may be experiencing the worst economic decline in peaceful times since 1931, argues a report to be released by Ernst & Young Item club next week which was seen by The Times today.

Unemployment in Britian is expected to hit the 3.25m mark, the same report says.

Meanwhile, the British government prepares to bail out its banks with a further £100 billion, The Times says. 

The past hour in news was not, however, all doom and gloom.

Barclays is in fact set to report a £6 billion pre-tax profit next month, The Telegraph says. The bank had announced 2,100 layoffs earlier this week.

Uncle Sam says: Buy a car!

American car web site Edmunds.com is offering $10 million of its advertising space for adverts encouraging Americans to buy cars, AdAge.com reported yesterday.

The ad, which will run for 90 days, argues that this is a great time to buy a car in the US as there are huge discounts available.

Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com argued that his company felt impelled to show its support to the American car industry. ‘We’ve got to shock people into the market,’ he said.

MFSA to investigate money transfer tariffs

The Malta Financial Services Authority has announced todat that it will investigate tariffs that are charged by banks and financial institutions for money transferred from Malta to other countries, timesofmalta.com reports.

Messages contained in the comment section of the same web site state state that a local bank has raised its online banking fees after it reported an increase in maintenance costs.