Low demand hurts Blackberry maker

15 September 2011 Last updated at 21:25 GMT RIM shipped 10.6 million smartphones between June and August but expects a pick-up in the next quarter Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has seen its second-quarter profits more than halve, hurt by low demand for its older models.

The firm rolled out new smartphones but only late in the quarter.

Net profit fell to $329m (£208m) for the three months to 27 August, from $797m in the same period a year earlier.

In July, the company said it would cut 2,000 jobs - 11% of its workforce - as part of a shake-up of its operations.

Revenue for the second quarter fell to $4.2bn, a drop of 10% on the same three months last year.

During the quarter, RIM shipped some 10.6 million Blackberry smartphones and about 200,000 Blackberry PlayBook tablets, which was well below analysts' expectations.

Following the results announcement, RIM's shares fell by as much as 10% in after-hours trading in New York.

The Canadian firm said it expected things to improve in the third quarter though, forecasting shipments of between 13.5 million and 14.5 million smartphones and revenues of between $5.3bn and $5.6bn.

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Rents 'increase on strong demand'

19 August 2011 Last updated at 10:04 GMT Rents are being driven higher by tenants whose home-owning ambitions have been thwarted Private rents in England and Wales rose to an average £705 per month in July, according to a survey by LSL Property Services, a firm of letting agents.

The increase of 0.6% last month was the sixth monthly increase in a row.

LSL said the continued rise meant average rents were now £29 a month higher than a year ago.

Rents have risen fastest in London, where they are now 7.1% higher than a year ago, at an average of £1,009 per month.

"Rents are on an upward trajectory, and it is unlikely that tenants will gain respite any time soon," said David Newnes, of LSL.

"Demand from thousands of frustrated buyers each month is underpinning buoyant competition for rental homes, enabling landlords to increase prices."

Bank of mum and dad

Mr Newnes said the phenomenon of parents providing a deposit for their adult children to buy a home was now spreading to the deposits required by landlords.

"As rents climbs, so does the size of the average deposit a new renter must find," he said.

"Thousands of new buyers each year rely on the bank of mum and dad to help fund a deposit.

"However, now it is becoming increasingly commonplace for renters to get parental help to fund their first deposit on a rental home, with the typical one-month deposit on a property in London more than £1,000."

Jonathan Moore, of Easyroommate, said tenants were caught in a vicious circle.

"First-time buyers cannot get mortgages, so demand for rented homes soars," he said.

"Rents shoot up, tenants find it even harder to save a deposit to buy, and rental demand strengthens further."

The rental website Citylets reported recently that in Scotland, average private rents had reached £663 a month in the second quarter of the year.

This was the highest level it had recorded since the third quarter of 2008 and was partly due to demand being boosted by people who could not buy a home instead.

House prices

The latest UK house price forecast is unlikely to cheer those looking to get on the property ladder.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said that it expected the price of the average home to fall in 2011, but then rise at an accelerating pace in the following years.

It predicted that a shortage of homes would push prices up by 2.4% in 2012, rising to a 4% increase in 2015.

"We forecast an average of 110,000 new homes to be built every year over the medium term," said CEBR economist Shehan Mohamed.

"This is significantly lower than the 225,000 homes that need to be created every year to keep pace with current housing needs, population growth and the trend towards reduced household sizes."

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Global oil demand 'set to rise'

13 July 2011 Last updated at 09:59 GMT Continue reading the main story Global oil demand will increase further next year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted.

The IEA, which represents the main oil consuming nations, said the increase in crude usage would continue to be driven by emerging economies.

It estimates that demand will grow by an average of 1.47 million barrels a day in 2012, up from the current 2011 average daily growth of 1.2 million.

Last month, IEA members released oil stocks to try to reduce prices.

The move came after oil producers' cartel Opec voted against increasing supplies, although the world's largest producer, Saudi Arabia, did unilaterally raise its export levels.

US light crude oil was down 14 cents at $97.29 a barrel in Wednesday trading, while Brent was eight cents lower at $117.67.

Oil prices have fallen over the past week as concerns have risen that the debt crisis in the eurozone may spread to Italy and Spain, thereby reducing crude consumption in Europe.

However, crude prices have risen over the past year, led by strong demand from China and other fast-developing economies.

US light crude hit a record high of $147 a barrel in July 2008 before the global financial crisis hit global growth.

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Samsung profit dips on low demand

29 July 2011 Last updated at 05:27 GMT Falling demand for LCD televisions has hit profits of electronics manufacturers in Asia Samsung has become the latest electronics maker to report a drop in profits due to a weak demand for TVs.

Samsung said net profit was 3.5tn won ($3.3bn; £2bn) in the second quarter, an 18% drop from a year earlier.

The company said its TV unit made a loss for the second successive quarter as sales of Liquid Crystal Display's (LCDs) fell 15%.

On Thursday, Sony reported a loss of $199m for the first quarter due to falling TV sales.

Analysts said weak demand for TVs would continue to hurt its profits in the short term.

"It will be difficult to boost earnings sharply in the third quarter as demand for memory chips and TVs will continue to remain depressed," said Song Myung-sup, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities.

"Its loss-making flat-screen business will also report break-even at best," he added.

However, the company reported robust growth in its mobile phone business with a 43% surge in sales.

Profits in the telecom unit rose by 6.3% from a year earlier to 1.7tn won.

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