Consumer Goods & Retail
GE confirms plans to exit appliance business
BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co confirmed on Friday it may sell or spin off its century-old appliances unit, saying the business was too focused on the United States. Full Article
Abercrombie profit tops view; affirms outlook
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co reported higher quarterly profit on Friday, topping Wall Street estimates, as a lower tax rate and a better gross margin helped offset the impact of lower same-store sales. Full Article
Rothmans profit gets lift from higher prices
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Fourth-quarter profit at Rothmans Inc grew 17 percent, Canada's No 2 cigarette maker said on Friday, as price increases more than offset pressure from a growing trade in contraband tobacco. Full Article
Wal-Mart moves forward with new Marketside stores
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is now hiring store managers to work at Marketside, new smaller format stores the world's largest retailer is preparing to open in Arizona. Full Article
Macy's to have FAO Schwarz boutiques in stores
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Macy's Inc and FAO Schwarz said on Friday they signed an agreement under which the specialty U.S. toy retailer's toy stores will be opened in about 685 Macy's locations over the next two years. Full Article
Henkel sees agreement on Ecolab stake sale
* expects agreement on sale of Ecolab stake this year Full Article
Sharper Image says best bid is $51.25 mln
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bankrupt gadget retailer Sharper Image Corp said on Friday the best bid it received is a cash payment of $51.25 million, plus other consideration, from a group of privately funded investors. Full Article
INTERVIEW-Nespresso to hit hefty sales target this year
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nespresso, the premium coffee-capsule division of food group Nestle , expects to reach 2 billion Swiss francs (US$1.9 billion) in sales in 2008, two years earlier than planned, an executive of the company told Reuters. Full Article
Focus on Altadis rights isssue at Imperial results
LONDON (Reuters) - The size of a rights issue Imperial Tobacco plans to launch to pay for its purchase of Altadis will be the focus of the British group's half-year results next week, analysts said on Friday. Full Article
Metro CEO says to keep Real, no word on Kaufhof sale
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Metro AG , Germany's biggest retailer, has no plan to sell its restructuring Real hypermarket chain and has not yet entered concrete talks to divest its Galeria Kaufhof department stores. Full Article
Carlsberg discounts S&N rights by 40 percent
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish brewer Carlsberg announced a deeply discounted 30.5 billion crown (3.3 billion pound) rights issue to repay a bridging loan used to buy UK rival Scottish & Newcastle, in line with January's plans for the deal. Full Article
Australia's Woolworths: April food inflation slowed
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Woolworths Ltd , Australia's largest supermarket chain, said on Friday growth in its internal rate of food inflation slowed in April, but Australia would not be immune from the rocketing cost of food globally. Full Article
| Symbol | Bid | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| BRENT CRUDE | $124.65 | $124.67 |
| MINI GOLD | $898.10 | $898.20 |
| MINI SILVER | $16.94 | $16.95 |
