The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Carrefour posts net loss in 1st half
- Danish economy not in a recession, data shows
- China's Wen says controlling inflation still goal
| Carrefour posts net loss in 1st half Posted: 31 Aug 2011 04:18 PM PDT PARIS (AP) - Europe's largest retailer Carrefour SA Wednesday posted an unexpected net loss in the first half and abandoned its growth target for the year amid the economic slowdown. The French retailer reported a net loss of 249 million ($359 million) in the first six months of the year, compared with a profit of 97 million a year earlier. Carrefour said it expects its operating profit to decline this year, reversing a target the retailer set in March when it said an ongoing and expensive "transformation plan" would raise profits this year. The company's share price slumped on the Paris stock exchange as investors took fright at the suddenly worsened outlook for the giant retailer, which which operates chains of grocery stores and hypermarkets across Europe as well as in Latin America and Asia. By mid-morning Carrefour shares were down 4 percent at 17.88. As it did last year, Carrefour booked what it calls "significant one-off charges" again in the first half. They amounted to 884 million in the first half, over half of which went to writing down the value of Carrefour's Italian assets. Worringly for Carrefour, after years of failed attempts to turn-around profitability in its core French market, earnings fell 40 percent in the first half. The company blamed a reorganization of its processes and systems which caused large inventory shortages, as well as rising raw commodity costs and sharpened price competition among retailers fighting to draw in increasingly budget-minded consumers. |
| Danish economy not in a recession, data shows Posted: 31 Aug 2011 04:17 PM PDT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - New data shows that Denmark is no longer in a recession and technically wasn't in a recession in previous quarters either. Statistics Denmark said Wednesday the economy grew 1.0 percent in the second quarter of 2011, compared with the previous three-month period. It also revised its figures for the first quarter, saying the economy grew 0.1 percent in the January-March period. Its previous estimate of a 0.5 percent drop suggested Denmark was in a recession because it would have been the second consecutive quarterly decline. The economy will be a key issue in Denmark's parliamentary election on Sept. 15. The left-wing opposition has the lead in the polls over Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen's center-right party. |
| China's Wen says controlling inflation still goal Posted: 31 Aug 2011 04:15 PM PDT BEIJING (AP) - The Chinese government remains focused on reining in surging prices despite global instability and has no plans to change controls that have caused its economy to slow, said Premier Wen Jiabao in comments released Wednesday. The global slowdown has prompted suggestions Beijing might ease its controls, but Wen said in comments on the Cabinet website that the cooling in China's rapid economic growth is in line with government plans. Wen is the country's top economic official and No. 3 in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy. "Stabilizing general price levels still is the most important mission of macro-controls and the orientation of macro-controls cannot change," Wen said in an essay to be published Thursday in a party magazine, according to the website. Beijing has hiked interest rates repeatedly and tightened investment curbs to steer rapid growth to a more sustainable level just as the United States and other major economies are trying to shore up their weak economies. China's economy expanded by 9.5 percent in the April-June quarter and inflation rose to a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July. |
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