Earnings: Nortel’s loss shrinks as mobile sales gainSAN FRANCISCO: Nortel’s loss shrinks as mobile sales gain
Nortel Networks, the biggest North American maker of telephone equipment, said Tuesday that its loss shrank in the third quarter on rising sales to providers of mobile phone service. The stock fell as sales forecasts missed some analysts’ estimates.
The loss narrowed to $99 million, from $136 million a year earlier. Sales rose 17 percent to $2.96 billion. Nortel, which is based in Toronto, forecast that sales would grow to as much as $3.27 billion in the next quarter, but that was lower than some forecasts.
The Nortel chief executive, Mike Zafirovski, has sought to fuel sales growth by doubling spending this year on WiMax, a technology that allows faster wireless Internet downloads.
“WiMax is still an immature technology,” said Inder Singh of Prudential Equity Group. “It’s a bit early to think that it’ll drive a lot of expansion.”
Nortel shares fell 24 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $2.47 in afternoon trading in New York. They had fallen 22 percent this year before Tuesday.
GAS NATURAL,
the Spanish natural-gas supplier that is bidding for Endesa, the largest Spanish power company, said profit in the third quarter climbed 19 percent on surging earnings from electricity sales. Net income rose to €191 million, or $244 million, the Barcelona-based company said. Power production in the quarter rose 64 percent to 5,033 gigawatt-hours from 3,067 gigawatt- hours a year earlier.$@
ABERTIS, which plans to buy Autostrade to form the world’s biggest highway company, said profit in the first nine months of the year rose 11 percent as traffic rose on its Spanish toll roads and the Barcelona- based company bought a French highway operator, Sanef. Net income climbed to €456 million. Revenue for the period through September advanced 71 percent to €2.51 billion. $@ - Joao Lima
MARKS & SPENCER, the largest British clothing retailer, reported its highest first-half profit in nine years after it redesigned women’s wear and increased advertising to win back shoppers. Net income for the six months ended Sept. 30 rose 32 percent to £281.3 million, or $535.6 million, the London-based company said. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 6.4 percent, led by a 7.9 percent gain for clothing and home furnishings. $@ - Neil Craven
PIRELLI & C., which controls the biggest shareholder in Telecom Italia, reported third-quarter loss after writing down the value of its investment in the telephone company, the largest in Italy. The net loss was €1.6 billion, compared with net income of €105.8 million a year earlier. The company, based in Milan, had write-downs of €2.1 billion related to Telecom Italia and a capital gain of €416 million from selling a stake in Pirelli Tyre. Sales rose 13 percent to €1.18 billion. $@ - Chiara Remondini
MEDIASET, the television company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, said third-quarter profit dropped 3.7 percent on sluggish advertising sales in Italy. Net income fell to €36.6 million. Sales rose 8.8 percent to €677.4 million. Operating profit, which fell 3.4 percent to €88.6 million, will likely be “slightly lower” this year than the €1.2 billion last year, Mediaset said. $@ - Chiara Remondini
TOLL BROTHERS, the largest U.S. builder of luxury houses, said revenue in its fourth quarter from home construction fell 10 percent and orders tumbled by more than half. Home-building sales declined to $1.81 billion in the three months through Oct. 31 from $2.01 billion a year earlier, the Horsham, Pennsylvania-based company said. Orders plummeted 58 percent and more than one-third of Toll’s contracts were canceled. $@ - Brian Louis
YELL GROUP, the publisher of Yellow Pages phone books in Britain, said first-half profit dropped 44 percent on costs related to the acquisition of TPI, a directories publisher based in Madrid, and the effects of a weaker dollar. Net income at Yell fell to £57.5 million for the six months ended Sept. 30. Sales rose 19 percent to £848.8 million for the company, which is based in Reading, England. $@ - Mark Herlihy
ECHOSTAR, the second-largest U.S. satellite-television provider after DirecTV, said third-quarter profit fell after the company spent more on marketing, but sales jumped 16 percent to $2.47 billion. Net income fell 33 percent to $140 million. EchoStar added 295,000 net new subscribers in the third quarter, up from 195,000 in the second quarter. $@ - Christopher Stern
PLDT, or Philippine Long Distance Telephone, said net income surged 27 percent to 10.4 billion pesos, or $209 million, its first increase this year, as the strengthening peso cut interest costs. Revenue rose 5 percent to 33 billion pesos. $@ - Clarissa Batino
Source- iht Wireless Mobile Telecom
