“Continental Loses $18 Million in Third Quarter - ABC News” plus 4 more |
- Continental Loses $18 Million in Third Quarter - ABC News
- Merck posts big profit jump, slight rise in sales - Asbury Park Press
- Clerk says she felt God's presence while praying with gunman during ... - Newser
- McDonald's sees profit climb 6 pct - San Francisco Chronicle
- CA-BUSINESS Summary - ReportonBusiness.com
| Continental Loses $18 Million in Third Quarter - ABC News Posted: 21 Oct 2009 12:02 PM PDT
Continental Airlines Inc. lost money in the third quarter as business travelers stayed home, causing a nosedive in airline revenue. But not everything was bleak for Continental. Traffic picked up in September, even if it took cheap fares to get them on board. And the financial results were much better than a year ago. Stay Up to Date on the Latest Travel Trends from ABC News on Twitter Houston-based Continental said it lost $18 million, or 14 cents per share. In the same quarter last year, Continental lost $230 million as it struggled with soaring jet fuel prices. Excluding charges for severance payments and write-downs, the company said it would have earned $2 million this summer, or 2 cents per share. Analysts, who exclude such items from their forecasts, had predicted Continental would lose 6 cents per share. Revenue plunged 20.2 percent, to $3.32 billion. Continental blamed the revenue downturn on business travelers, who were flying less and buying cheaper coach tickets due to the recession. Overall traffic declined less than 1 percent compared with the same period last year, and planes were more full than last year. But many of those passengers only responded to cheap fares, and they weren't buying high-priced tickets in first or business class. The weak sales cut across all of Continental's markets, with trans-Atlantic business particularly sluggish. Continental caught a break from falling jet fuel prices. The average price of a gallon of fuel fell 48.4 percent from a year ago, and with fewer flights, the airline burned 5.1 percent less fuel. Continental said the percentage of seats booked over the next six weeks is flat to up 1 percentage point compared with last year for most of its routes, and up 4 to 5 points on trans-Atlantic routes. In other words, things aren't getting worse, but there's not much evidence of an impending rebound in travel either. The airline expects fourth-quarter passenger-carrying capacity to be 0.8 percent below a year ago — it's not cutting flights as often as it was earlier in the year. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Merck posts big profit jump, slight rise in sales - Asbury Park Press Posted: 22 Oct 2009 08:04 AM PDT (2 of 2) Last Friday, GlaxoSmithKline PLC's rival HPV vaccine, Cervarix, got approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Then on Wednesday, the influential U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices decided not to recommend routine vaccination of boys to prevent them from getting genital warts or infecting girls with HPV. That's despite the FDA approving Gardasil for boys a week ago. Meanwhile, concerns about the swine flu epidemic have boosted sales of another Merck vaccine, Pneumovax, which protects against 23 strains of pneumococcal disease that can cause pneumonia. Sales are up about 80 percent from a year ago, to $130 million, as government agencies have been buying the vaccine and health officials push steps to prevent pneumonia, a common flu complication that can be deadly. Merck and Schering-Plough have been partners for several years on the cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia, but their once-surging sales have been declining steadily since January 2008. That's when reports began surfacing that question whether they work any better than a much-cheaper generic cholesterol pill. In the third quarter, their combined sales fell nearly 7 percent, to $1.03 billion. That partnership made their combination a natural. In addition, Merck really needed Schering-Plough's much stronger stable of experimental drugs in development. And as Pfizer has just done, Merck is looking to diversify beyond its strength in vaccines and traditional pills. Buying Schering-Plough gives it a strong biotech operation, more veterinary medicines and a host of well-known consumer health products such as the Coppertone sun care and Dr. Scholl's foot care lines. Clark said the combined company will be focused on health care reform, "anticipating customer needs" and growth areas including emerging markets, biotech drugs and vaccines. Merck has suffered some setbacks with experimental drugs, including a September announcement it will stop developing a potential treatment for acute migraines, MK-3207, because of potential liver problems. But late in September, Merck entered an exclusive deal with Australian flu vaccine maker CSL Biotherapies to distribute its Afluria seasonal flu shot in the U.S. starting next fall. The deal pays Merck based on how many Afluria doses it distributes and runs through the 2015-16 flu season. In morning trading, Merck shares fell 38 cents to $32.30. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Clerk says she felt God's presence while praying with gunman during ... - Newser Posted: 22 Oct 2009 07:43 AM PDT What is Newser?Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most important stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more. © 2009 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| McDonald's sees profit climb 6 pct - San Francisco Chronicle Posted: 22 Oct 2009 07:50 AM PDT The world's largest burger chain, which has been among the notable winners of the recession because of its cheap menu and value meals, cautioned that the fast-food business was slowing around the globe but that McDonald's would continue to see growth. In a statement, CEO Jim Skinner cited a "declining informal eating out market around the world" in October and said McDonald's sales in U.S. restaurants open at least a year — an important measure of a restaurant's performance — would be "flat to slightly negative" in October. "This is due in part to the current economy environment and strong results from a a year ago," he told investors during a conference call. "But we do not believe this is a change in the trend of performance in the U.S." Last year, the figure climbed 5.3 percent. During the third quarter, McDonald's said sales in U.S. restaurants open at least a year rose 2.5 percent. The U.S. performance was helped by Americans' healthy appetite for the third-pound premium burgers that debuted nationwide this July as well as its cheap menu options and its espresso coffee drinks. Around the globe, the measure rose 3.8 percent. For the three months that ended Sept. 30, McDonald's earned $1.26 billion, or $1.15 per share. That compares with a year-ago profit of $1.19 billion, or $1.05 per share. But revenue slid 3.5 percent to $6.05 billion, dragged down by fluctuating global currencies. Excluding the impact of those currency fluctuations, McDonald's said its third quarter revenue grew 2 percent. Profit was better than Wall Street forecasts, even though the fast food company's revenue fell just short of expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the Oak Brook, Ill.-based restaurant chain to earn $1.11 per share on revenue of nearly $6.1 billion. Also Thursday, Skinner said McDonald's shelving openings for about 100 stores this year — almost of them in China. "The marketplace there continues to be stagnant," he said. McDonald's shares climbed $1.17, or 2 percent, to $59.50 in midday trading Thursday. It had been trading as high as $60.60 before Skinner's comments on U.S. expectations. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| CA-BUSINESS Summary - ReportonBusiness.com Posted: 22 Oct 2009 09:09 AM PDT Bank of Canada assumes loonie will stay strong OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada said on Thursday it assumed the Canadian dollar would remain substantially stronger than it was just three months ago, but it said the economy was growing again, and signaled no immediate action to counteract the currency's drag on growth. Its quarterly Monetary Policy Report assumes the Canadian currency will be worth 96 U.S. cents (or C$1.0417 per U.S. dollar), its value over the past 10 days. That is much higher than the 87 U.S. cents (C$1.1494 per U.S. dollar) it had assumed in July. TSX drops on lower oil price, Potash earnings TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index was lower on Thursday morning as a drop in oil prices weighed on energy shares, while Potash Corp Retail sales gain hints Canada edging to recovery OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian retail sales posted better than expected gains in August, data showed on Thursday, adding to recent evidence that the economy is crawling toward recovery. Higher sales at gasoline stations and new car dealers drove sales up by 0.8 percent in August, more than retracing the unexpected drop of 0.5 percent in July, Statistics Canada said. Potash Corp profit tumbles; outlook narrowed TORONTO (Reuters) - Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Canada's Cossette says global players eye books TORONTO (Reuters) - Cossette Inc has opened its books to as many as 10 parties interested in a possible takeover of the company, which has handled Canadian advertising for multinationals such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola during its 40 years in business. Marcel Barthe, vice-president for corporate affairs at Cossette Corus profit gains thanks to TV subscriber growth TORONTO (Reuters) - Specialty TV and radio group Corus Entertainment Inc South Korea wins biggest energy deal with Canada's Harvest SEOUL/NEW YORK (Reuters) - South Korea ended a frustrating losing streak in overseas resource deals with the agreed $1.7 billion takeover of Canada's Harvest Energy Trust Loonie flat as BoC maintains tone on currency TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's currency pared earlier losses and was flat versus the U.S. dollar on Thursday morning as the Bank of Canada's Monetary Policy Report did not alter the tone the bank delivered earlier this week when it said it was concerned about the strong Canadian dollar. Still, the currency did not stage a significant rally as traders lost their appetite for riskier assets after some disappointing corporate earnings and instead piled into the U.S. dollar. Oil falls below $81 as dollar rises LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slipped below $81 on Thursday as a stronger dollar encouraged investors to lock into profits from a 12-month high hit the previous day. U.S. crude oil futures fell 68 cents to $80.69 a barrel by 1359 GMT (9:59 a.m. EDT), having dipped as low as $79.90. London Brent crude fell 57 cents to $79.11. Cost controls boost McDonald's profit CHICAGO (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp © Reuters Limited. All Rights Reserved. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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