A roundup of today's other stories in brief:
Nokia profits rise 21% amid soaring sales
Nokia is set to increase its share of the global phones market, according to Jorma Ollila, its outgoing chief executive.
The Finnish market leader yesterday released quarterly results that showed it had beaten expectations by a wide margin, with net profits up 21 per cent.
The company said it had increased first-quarter shipments by 40 per cent year-on-year to 75.1 million handsets, corresponding to a market share of 35 per cent - a rise of 3 per cent.
Soaring sales in emerging markets helped lift Nokia's first-quarter net sales by 29 per cent year-on-year to €9.5 billion, compared with expectations of about €9 billion. Net profits rose 21 per cent to€€1.05 billion, well ahead of forecasts of about €940 million.
Nokia's shares jumped 5.6 per cent to €18.40 in Helsinki.
- (Financial Times service)
MasterCard files case against Fifa
MasterCard International has filed a complaint in the US district court seeking an injunction against Fifa to prevent the world soccer body from cementing an agreement with Visa International to sponsor the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
MasterCard is a sponsor of the 2006 World Cup in Germany and says it had the right of first refusal on the future events.
MasterCard said Fifa entered into the relationship with Visa "despite having a contractual agreement giving MasterCard the right of first refusal to continue to be the category-exclusive sponsor of those events".
Markus Siegler, Fifa's director of communications, said: "We have no comment yet." Visa International was not immediately available for comment.
- (Reuters)
Merck raises full-year outlook
Merck said quarterly profit rose a better-than- expected 11 per cent on demand for its cholesterol and asthma medicines and raised its full-year outlook.
Shares of Merck, whose patent on cholesterol drug Zocor will expire in June and which faces thousands of lawsuits over its withdrawn Vioxx arthritis drug, rose about 2 per cent.
Merck also forecast earnings for the current quarter above Wall Street estimates and said that by 2010, it was confident it could achieve double-digit earnings per share growth compared with 2005.
The drug maker reported first-quarter net profit of $1.52 billion (€1.23 billion), or 69 cents per share, compared with $1.37 billion, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier.
- (Reuters)
SAP beats sales expectations
SAP AG raised sales of software licences by 22 per cent in the first quarter, beating analysts' forecasts as it continued to gain market share from rival Oracle, but lagged expectations on profits.
The world's biggest maker of software applications for business stuck to its 2006 forecasts to raise profits as well as sales as it continued to grow in the key US market. In the first quarter, SAP's licence sales rose to €528 million.
General Motors posts $323m loss
General Motors posted its sixth straight quarterly loss as it took more than $1 billion (€811 billion) in restructuring- related charges, but the company's stock shot higher as investors reacted to signs the car maker's turnaround was gaining traction.
The world's largest car maker reported a first-quarter loss of $323 million, or 57 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.3 billion, or $2.22 per share a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $52.2 billion from $45.8 billion a year earlier.
- (Reuters)
Uniphar results
In a report on Uniphar's results in yesterday's edition it was stated that the maximum dividend due to its shareholders was €300,000. The figure should have read €30,000.
