The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- KLCI falls more than 13pts in early trade
- Advertising Standards Authority Rules For Tesco In Spat With Sainsbury's
- Siemens chief faces exit as board votes on his job
| KLCI falls more than 13pts in early trade Posted: KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips fell sharply in early trade on Wednesday, dragged down by losses in Maybank, Hong Leong Bank and Petronas Dagangan. At 9.28am, the FBM KLCI was down 13.51 points to 1,781.57, the lowest in recent weeks. Turnover was 281.03 million shares valued at RM221.77mil. There were 77 gainers, 341 losers and 165 counters unchanged. Maybank KE Research said after the KLCI fell 3.70 points to close at 1,795.08 on Tuesday, its resistance levels of 1,795 and 1,815 would cap market gains, whilst weaker support levels are at 1,774 and 1,792. "The KLCI's recent swings are 1,826.22 (high), 1,723.74 (low) and 1,811.65 (high). We prefer to take a 'Range Trading' stance as a gap-up move has existed since May 6. The gap was partially filled by the drop to 1,723.74. The index will remain weaker on persistent foreign selling, as a secondary peak was formed at 1,811.65 on July 26," it said. Maybank fell 22 sen to RM10.34 while insurer LPI and Hong Leong Bank fell 20 sen each to RM15 and RM13.98. Petronas Daganagan fell 22 sen to RM26.78 and Petronas Gas 16 sen to RM20.76. Among plantations, KL Kepong lost 20 sen to RM21 and United Plantations 18 sen lower at RM26.02. Sona-WA fell two sen to 24 sen and Sona shed 1.5 sen to 43 sen in active trade. |
| Advertising Standards Authority Rules For Tesco In Spat With Sainsbury's Posted: LONDON: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled in favour of supermarket leader Tesco in a spat over price comparisons with third-largest J Sainsbury, which reacted by launching a campaign to emphasize product quality. Britain's supermarkets, despite their focus on essential goods, are battling intensely for market share as the economy has been sluggish. Advertising is a major battleground. The ASA said on Wednesday it had decided not to uphold Sainsbury's challenge to Tesco's "Price Promise" campaign. Tesco launched "Price Promise" in March, comparing the overall cost of a basket of its branded, own-label and fresh food against the same or equivalent products from Sainsbury's, Britain's second-largest grocer Wal-Mart's Asda and fourth-largest Wm Morrison. If the comparison shows the basket would have been cheaper at a competitor, Tesco automatically issues a coupon for the difference up to 10 pounds when customers receive their shopping receipts. Sainsbury's alleged that Tesco's advertised claim that "You won't lose out on big brands, own-label or fresh food" was misleading in relation to the own-label and fresh food items, because it did not take into account product attributes such as provenance and ethics. It argued that comparing products such as Tesco's non-Fairtrade bananas with Sainsbury's Fairtrade bananas or Tesco's Everyday Value ham, which is produced in the European Union, with Sainsbury's basics ham, which is British, was unfair. The ASA ruled, "While we acknowledged there would be differences in animal welfare and country of origin for the ingredients, we were satisfied that Tesco had taken those elements into account when identifying and matching products and had compared on the basis of them meeting the same need." Tesco's UK marketing director, David Wood, said the ASA's verdict vindicated the retailer's decision to "go the extra mile for customers" and offer a price-matching scheme based on a full basket of shopping. CAMPAIGN OF ITS OWN Sainsbury's, whose "Brand Match" scheme compares the prices of branded products only, said it had yet to decide whether to appeal the ASA ruling. Its immediate reaction was to launch a "Same price, different values" print advertising campaign across national media. "If there's one big lesson that we should all have learned from the horsemeat scandal, it's that customers care deeply about where their food comes from and how it is produced," said Mike Coupe,Sainsbury's commercial director. Unlike Tesco and Asda, Sainsbury's was not implicated in the horsemeat scandal. None of its products testing positive for equine DNA. The advertising spat is the latest in a long list of disputes between the two grocers. In January, Sainsbury's accused Tesco of being "a bit disingenuous" in headlining its Christmas trading statement with a figure that included sales activity related to coupons. Though Tesco overtook Sainsbury's at Britain's No. 1 retailer in 1995, Sainsbury's has performed better of late. Tesco issued its first profit warning in over 20 years in January 2012, while Sainsbury has posted 34 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth. - Reuters |
| Siemens chief faces exit as board votes on his job Posted: FRANKFURT (Reuters): The supervisory board of Siemens will seal the fate of Chief Executive Peter Loescher on Wednesday when it votes for his early dismissal in one of Germany's most dramatic boardroom battles in years. The board meeting comes after Siemens last week issued its second profit warning this year, adding to signs that Loescher was struggling to turn around one of Germany's biggest engineering conglomerates. Loescher had in the past promised that the company, whose products range from gas turbines to fast trains and ultrasound machines, would grow faster than rivals such as ABB, General Electric and Philips. But bungled acquisitions, charges for project delays and a focus on sales growth caused Siemens to fall behind. Last week, Siemens rattled shareholders by abruptly abandoning its target of boosting its core operating profit margin to at least 12 percent from 9.5 percent by 2014. That turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back. A majority sided against Loescher in emergency meetings of supervisory board members over the weekend, prompting Siemens to issue a tersely worded statement saying that the board would decide at its meeting on Wednesday on Loescher's early departure. A newspaper cited sources on Monday as saying Loescher was not yet prepared to give up and would fight for his job or else drag supervisory board chairman Gerhard Cromme, who hired him six years ago, down with him. A spokesman for Siemens denied at the time that Loescher wants Cromme to leave as well, while Loescher did not comment. The most likely candidate to replace Loescher is finance chief Joe Kaeser, a Siemens veteran who was already on the management board when Loescher joined. Having earned a reputation as a hands-on pragmatist during his 33 years with the company, Kaeser is seen as having an understanding of Siemens' business and culture that Loescher, an Austrian who was brought in as an external candidate, has always been felt to lack. Analysts said Kaeser should be well-placed to gradually get Siemens back on track by tightening project control, by selling off more non-core businesses, such as those that make rail technology or healthcare software, and by setting more conservative and realistic targets. |
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