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10:22 PM
gtventic
21 September 2011 Last updated at 07:20 GMT 
Global expansion is helping to drive increased sales The world's largest clothes retailer, Inditex, has reported a sharp rise in profits and sales as it continues to open new stores and take on staff.
Global expansion is helping to drive increased sales The world's largest clothes retailer, Inditex, has reported a sharp rise in profits and sales as it continues to open new stores and take on staff.The owner of the Zara fashion chain said net income for the first six months of the year was 717m euros ($981m; £625m), up 14% on the 628m euros it made a year earlier.
Net sales rose by 12% to 6.2bn euros.
While luxury brands have generally performed well during the downturn, many High Street brands have struggled.
In a short statement, Inditex said it had opened 177 stores during the period and had nearly 10% more staff than a year ago.
The group said Zara planned to enter South Africa, Taiwan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Peru in the coming months.
Inditex's other brands include Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka.
ABS-CBN Corporation, posted lower first-half profits at P1.7 billion, down 26% on weak sales and lower advertising revenues.The profit drop was limited due to a P674-million one-time gain on the sale of Sky Cable Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to Singapore's STT Communications.However, it was not enough to make up for the absence of political advertising which totaled P1.3 billion in the midst of national and local elections last year.Consolidated revenues hit P13.9 billion, a decline of 18% on year. Advertising revenues likewise dipped 24% at P8.8 billion.Stripping out the sale of Sky Cable's PDRs and political advertising last year, total revenues rose 1% and advertising revenues at 4%.Consumer sales for the first half was also down 4% at P5.1 billion, mainly from ABS-CBN Global, while revenues dropped 14% on year, on lower subscriber growth and stronger peso versus the dollar.ABS-CBN Global's overall viewer count dropped 1% on year, led by declines in the Middle East, Europe and Japan, but it's the contrary in markets like Canada, Asia-Pacific and Australia.The company set a P3 billion profit target for 2011, which the firm acknowledged may be tough to achieve."It will be a challenging year," ABS-CBN chief financial officer Ron Valdueza said.ABS-CBN Corp. is the parent firm of ABS-CBNNews.com.- by Liza Reyes of ABS-CBN News
British Gas says it has been selling at a loss British Gas owner Centrica has reported operating profits of £1.3bn in the six months to 30 June, down 19% on the same period last year.
Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News "These profits come at a terrible time for people who are being clobbered by these 18% rises in gas bills and 16% rises in electricity bills," he said.
Starbucks wants to earn half its revenues from outside the US US coffee giant Starbucks has reported a sharp rise in profits and increased its full-year forecasts as global sales continued to grow.
