Showing posts with label Revenue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revenue. Show all posts

Friday, February 7, 2014

Quarterly Profit Tumbles at Fox, but Revenue Growth Is Strong

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Intel Gives Lukewarm Revenue Forecast

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Sunday, November 17, 2013

News Corp. Revenue Falls Well Short of Forecasts

A steep drop in Australian newspapers took its toll on the company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London. News Corporation said net income attributable to common shareholders was $27 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, the first of its fiscal year. That compared with a loss of $92 million in the same quarter last year.

Shares of the company fell more than 2 percent in after-hours trading on disappointment over the $2.07 billion revenue figure, which missed a Thomson Reuters forecast for $2.2 billion in revenue.

“The revenue was clearly weaker than expected,” said Doug Arthur, an analyst with Evercore Research.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned $17 million, or 3 cents a share, missing the consensus forecast of 5 cents.

A steep decline in newspapers in Australia, where Mr. Murdoch was born, weighed heavily on the results.

“The weakness of the Australian newspapers was well known, but the sales decline of 22 percent was even worse than I had expected,” Michael Corty, a Morningstar analyst, said.

In July, News Corporation separated its publishing business from its much more lucrative entertainment assets, including its movie studio, cable and television properties, which are now part of 21st Century Fox.

This is the first time that News Corporation, which retained the name and is based in New York, is reporting as a stand-alone company, which includes the book publisher HarperCollins, Australian pay-TV and digital real estate stakes, and Amplify, a fledgling education unit.

Newspapers are facing difficult challenges because advertisers are shunning them in favor of splashier digital properties and readers are canceling print subscriptions.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Coca-Cola’s Net Income Rises Despite a Drop in Revenue

Muhtar A. Kent, the chief executive of the world’s largest soft drink company, said in a conference call with analysts and investors that Coca-Cola would proceed by investing in its brands and seeking acquisitions.

“There’s some headwind in emerging markets, but we believe they are very temporary” because the middle class in those countries is growing, he said.

In the third quarter, Coca-Cola’s net income rose 6 percent to $2.45 billion, or 54 cents a share, from $2.31 billion, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported earnings of 53 cents a share, in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell 3 percent, to $12.03 billion from $12.34 billion, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $12.05 billion. The decline was largely a result of weaker-than-expected currencies in many emerging markets and the costs of revamping bottling operations in Brazil and the Philippines.

Coca-Cola’s chief financial officer, Gary P. Fayard, said he expected currency weaknesses to lower operating income by 5 to 6 percent in the fourth quarter.

A Morningstar analyst, Thomas Mullarkey, said he was encouraged by Coke’s global growth, which reached 2 percent overall, as well as the popularity of the Coca-Cola brand in North America.

“Soda is not doing great overall in the U.S.,” he said, “but the Coke brand is the leading soda brand, and so the company continues to push it forward.”

Mr. Kent said the Coke brand was resilient, helping the company deliver a record 181 billion beverage servings in the quarter.

In North America, sales volume increased 2 percent overall, largely because of the strong performance of Coke’s nonsoda offerings. Sales of noncarbonated drinks like juices and bottled water rose 5 percent, and teas, which include Honest Tea and Fuze, had double-digit percentage growth. Sales of sparkling drinks in the region were flat.

Friday, July 19, 2013

A.M.D. Sees Higher Revenue In Move Into Game Market

Still, A.M.D. said gross margins would fall as it sought a foothold in game consoles.

A.M.D., which for decades has competed against the semiconductor market leader, Intel, in supplying chips for PCs, is rushing to refocus on new markets as consumers buy fewer laptops and more tablets and smartphones.

A.M.D. processors are being used in Microsoft’s coming Xbox One and Sony’s next-generation PlayStation game consoles. These devices are largely behind A.M.D.’s upbeat revenue forecast.

A.M.D. said its gross margin in the second quarter was 40 percent and would fall to about 36 percent in the third quarter. Analysts on average had expected a third-quarter gross margin of 39 percent.

With consumers increasingly playing games on tablets, it is also unclear how many of the new consoles Microsoft and Sony will sell, but optimism about the impact on A.M.D.’s revenue has helped drive its stock up 73 percent since the beginning of April.

Intel warned on Wednesday that it did not expect revenue to grow in 2013 because of slowing PC industry.

Global shipments of personal computers dropped 11 percent in the second quarter, the fifth consecutive quarterly decline in a market that has been devastated by the popularity of tablets.

A.M.D. reported second-quarter revenue of $1.16 billion, down from $1.41 billion a year earlier. It said third-quarter revenue would rise 22 percent, plus or minus 3 percent, compared with the June quarter. That increase would take it to about $1.42 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of $1.11 billion in the second quarter and $1.22 billion in the third quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.

A.M.D. posted a net loss of $74 million, or 10 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with a profit of $37 million, or 5 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.

The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., said that excluding onetime items, its loss was 9 cents a share, better than the 12-cent loss expected by analysts.

Monday, May 13, 2013

News Corp.’s Quarterly Profit and Revenue Rise

Its revenue rose 14 percent from a year earlier to $9.5 billion in the quarter, ended March 31, News Corp said on Wednesday. The company posted adjusted earnings of 36 cents per share, just beating the 35 cents expected on average by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

News Corp shares rose 3.6 percent to $33.00 in after-hours trading, after closing at $31.86 on the Nasdaq.

One-time items, including the purchase of a controlling stake in German pay TV operator Sky Deutschland and the sale of an ownership stake in New Zealand's Sky Network Television, helped lift net income to $2.85 billion, a jump from $937 million a year earlier.

The New York-based company said it is on track to separate its cable channels, movie studio and other fast growing entertainment assets from its newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, near the end of its fiscal year in June.

Its entertainment assets helped boost revenue and earnings for the quarter, led by its cable networks business, which includes the Fox News Channel, FX and regional sports networks.

Operating income at the cable network programming unit rose 17 percent from a year earlier to $993 million, as channels in the United States and abroad commanded higher fees from cable operators and more advertising revenue.

News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said the company will invest to build new cable networks, with the launch in August of Fox Sports 1, a competitor to Walt Disney Co's ESPN, and FXX, aimed at young adults, in September. The company intends to spend "a couple hundred million and change" over the next year to build those channels and some international networks, Carey said.

The media company is also trying to improve the Fox broadcast network, whose ratings slid this fall as aging singing competition "American Idol" drew a smaller audience.

"We are clearly disappointed with this season's ratings at the Fox broadcast network, and are taking steps now to improve next season's lineup," Carey told analysts on a conference call.

Lower advertising revenue for "Idol" dragged down the performance of the television unit, whose operating income still increased 15 percent, the company said.

The 20th Century Fox movie studio gained from the success of Oscar-winning film "Life of Pi," which grossed $600 million at theaters worldwide, and home entertainment sales from thriller "Taken 2" and animated hit "Ice Age: Continental Drift."

Operating income at the publishing unit, which includes its newspapers and the HarperCollins book publishing business, declined to $85 million, from $130 million a year earlier.

The company recorded $42 million in the quarter for costs related to investigations of phone hacking at its newspapers in Britain.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Groupon’s Quarterly Revenue Tops Estimates, and Shares Jump

Shares in the company, one of the most feted Internet market debutantes of 2011 before daily deals mania cooled, climbed almost 10 percent in after-hours trade. They have gained about 40 percent since the February ouster of co-founder and former CEO Andrew Mason, who was criticized for lacking the experience to run an increasingly global, public company.

Wall Street was cautious ahead of Groupon's results, so the company's "solid" performance triggered a particularly big gain in Groupon shares on Wednesday, analysts say.

"Margins came in better and they are re-affirming their full-year income guidance. It could have been worse," said Ken Sena, an analyst at Evercore Partners.

Groupon has been trying to revive a sluggish European business, while juggling the fast-rising cost of ensnaring new customers, and merchants to partner on Internet coupons for everything from spa treatments to fine dining.

The Chicago-based company finally fired Mason in February after a string of disappointing results wiped out three-quarters of its market value since its 2011 IPO.

On Wednesday, it reported first-quarter revenue rose to $601.4 million from $559.3 million a year earlier, surpassing the $590 million analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Consolidated segment operating income, or CSOI, a closely watched measure of Groupon's profitability, came in at $51.2 million in the latest period. Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, was expecting CSOI of $26 million.

Its North American revenue rose 42 percent, while international revenue fell 18 percent.

Groupon, which has lost several other key executives, is on the lookout for a new permanent chief executive. Interim co-CEOs Eric Lefkofsky and Ted Leonsis continue to grapple with its struggling European business, while expanding in the United States.

Lefkofsky, who co-founded Groupon with Mason and is chairman, led the earnings conference call with analysts for the first time, acknowledging missteps and announcing a "new chapter" focused on the company's local commerce roots.

Analysts expect a slimmed-down company under new leadership.

"At times as an organization we spread ourselves too thin and fail to focus on the things that will have the greatest impact," Lefkofsky said.

LOCAL MARKETPLACE FOCUS

Groupon has been building an online deal marketplace called Pull that lets people search for and buy deals in their area. This is a big change from Groupon's original business, which sent a daily email to subscribers offering one or two deals.

Emails accounted for less than 45 percent of North American transactions in the first quarter, suggesting the Pull marketplace is gaining momentum. A Groupon spokesman declined to say how many transactions came from online searches.

Lefkofsky said the marketplace approach has potential because more people are carrying smartphones and can search for what they want to do and buy locally as they move around.

About 45 percent of North American transactions came from mobile devices in March, up from about 20 percent two years ago, Lefkofsky noted.

That Pull marketplace however needs a lot of merchants to offer deals for longer periods, something Lefkofsky said the company was making progress on.

At the end of March, Groupon was offering almost 40,000 active deals from merchants in North America, up from about 1,000 when the company went public in late 2011.

Lefkofsky said that over half of Groupon's local transactions in North America came from this "deal bank" of longer-term merchant offers. In March more than 60 percent of the contracts Groupon signed with merchants were for longer-term deals, he said.

For now, Groupon's board of directors has formed a special committee that has begun a search for a new chief executive for the company, interim co-CEO Ted Leonsis said on Wednesday.

RBC's Mahaney said Lefkofsky did a "nice job" on the conference call and asked if he was interested in the full-time CEO role. The co-founder did not respond, asking Ted Leonsis, Groupon's other interim CEO, to chime in.

The current leadership team is "gelling very very nicely," giving the search committee more time to find "the ideal long-term CEO," Leonsis added.

Groupon spokesman Paul Taaffe said Lefkofsky has not put himself forward as a candidate and is not being considered by the committee for the role.

Leonsis is leading the search committee, which Lefkofsky will not be on. Groupon's Taaffe declined to say who else is part of the group.

(Editing by Carol Bishopric, Matthew Lewis and Eric Walsh)

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Chamberlain Hrdlicka Grows Revenue by 13 Percent

Houston-based tax-boutique-turned-general-practice-firm Chamberlain Hrdlicka grew its gross revenue by nearly 13 percent in 2012 and is now focusing on expanding the capabilities of its Philadelphia-area office beyond just tax law.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Time Warner Revenue Is Flat, Despite Cable Gains

The parent company of HBO, CNN, TNT and TBS reported revenue of $6.9 billion in the quarter that ended March 31, down 1 percent from the same period last year. Net income grew 23.5 percent to $720 million, or 75 cents a share, compared with $583 million and 59 cents a share in 2012.

“We’re off to a strong start in 2013, making us even more confident in our full-year outlook,” Jeffrey L. Bewkes, chairman and chief executive of Time Warner, told analysts. He specifically pointed to the success of the company’s cable TV business, driven this quarter by an average nightly audience of 10.7 million for the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament broadcast on several Turner channels.

But Time Warner’s legacy businesses continued to lag. Later this year, the company is expected to complete the spinoff of its Time Inc. publishing unit into a separate, publicly traded company. Revenue at Time Inc., which publishes Time, People, Sports Illustrated and InStyle, fell 5 percent to $737 million, reflecting an 11 percent dip in subscription revenues.

Time Inc. eliminated roughly 6 percent of its total worldwide staff of 8,000 in the first quarter, resulting in $53 million in restructuring and severance charges. “We remain very focused on taking costs out of the business,” said John K. Martin, chief financial and administrative officer at Time Warner. Cost cutting, he added, is “an important step in preparing Time Inc. to function as a stand-alone public company.'’

Revenues at the Warner Brothers studio fell 4 percent to $2.7 billion, while operating income increased by 23 percent to $263 million. “Both ‘Gangster Squad’ and ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ fell below our expectations,” Mr. Bewkes said.

He remained optimistic about the studio’s slate of upcoming films, including “The Great Gatsby” and “The Hangover Part III.” Warner Brothers had a strong television season with “Revolution,” an apocalyptic drama on NBC, and “Game of Thrones,” the HBO fantasy series that averages 13.4 million viewers per episode.

Mr. Bewkes defended CNN under the leadership of Jeff Zucker, the recently named president of CNN Worldwide. But, he said, the channel still needed to evolve from a trusted source of breaking news to a more regularly watched outlet. “CNN can’t just be politics and wars,” Mr. Bewkes said.

He rebuffed questions about whether the HBO Go on-demand app would be made available on an à la carte basis through a broadband connection, making the premium cable channel more like the streaming service Netflix. “We would do it if we thought it was in our economic best interest,” Mr. Bewkes said. “At this point, we don’t think it makes sense.”

Thursday, May 2, 2013

MasterCard Profit Rises but Revenue Misses Estimates

Visa reported rising growth in the key U.S. market in contrast to MasterCard, which has suffered as some of its biggest issuers, including Citigroup Inc, struggle.

Visa stock rose 2.2 percent in after-hours trading while shares in MasterCard, which reported earlier in the day, closed down 2.4 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

Both reported purchase volume increases of 9-10 percent from a year earlier, after adjustment for currency fluctuations, but MasterCard said its growth was slowing in the United States, the biggest market.

Annual growth in MasterCard's U.S. purchase volumes eased to 4.6 percent from 7.1 percent in the previous quarter. Visa's annual growth edged up to 4.1 percent from 3.0 percent. (http://link.reuters.com/xep77t)

As well, MasterCard was downbeat about coming months.

"In the U.S., the second quarter right now looks a little bit dodgy, but there could be some upside going into the second half of 2013 as far as U.S. economic growth is concerned," MasterCard Chief Executive Ajay Banga said on a post-earnings conference call.

Visa raised its fiscal 2013 earnings forecast to around 20 percent in earnings per share from a previous outlook for gains in the high-teens.

Consumer sentiment across the globe has remained muted, given the uncertainty in Europe and China's slowing growth. U.S. consumer spending has taken a hit from higher payroll taxes.

MasterCard said it signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Alibaba Group, Asia's largest e-commerce company, to offer epayment services to potentially 800 million Alibaba customers.

Both MasterCard and Visa are trying to capture new business as consumers turn increasingly to cards and digital payments instead of cash.

They are also experimenting with mobile payments as they fear losing business to upstart technology companies.

Digital wallets are electronic versions of real wallets that store card and bank information and can be used to buy things online quickly and anonymously. They are increasingly being used on smartphones to shop in retail stores, posing a threat to networks such as MasterCard, Visa and American Express.

Visa's net profit fell to $1.27 billion (815.7 million pounds) from $1.29 billion a year earlier. But, on a per-share basis, profit rose to $1.92 per Class A share from $1.91, after share buybacks.

Total operating revenue rose 15 percent to $2.96 billion.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.81 per share on revenue of $2.85 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MasterCard net income rose to $766 million, or $6.23 per share, in the first quarter, from $682 million, or $5.36 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn $6.18 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 8.4 percent to $1.91 billion but fell short of the average analyst estimate of $1.93 billion.

Visa shares were up 2.2 percent at $169.64 in after market trade on Wednesday.

MasterCard shares closed down 2.3 percent at $539.82 on Wednesday. They had previously risen about 6 percent this year.

(Editing by Rodney Joyce)

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Stevens & Lee Grows Revenue 1.3 Percent, PPP 1 Percent

Small increases in gross revenue and profits per equity partner (PPP) brought Stevens & Lee to all-time highs in those categories for 2012. The Reading, Pa.-based firm grew its gross revenue 1.3 percent from $113 million in 2011 to $114.5 million in 2012.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Sprint Posts Higher-Than-Expected Revenue

Sprint, the No. 3 American wireless provider after Verizon and AT&T, recorded higher-than-expected revenue, but it said the Nextel network shutdown was stunting growth in its remaining network because large business customers were leaving.

Sprint added only 12,000 customers to its network, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of almost 198,000 customers.

The company’s top priority is to persuade Nextel customers to move to the Sprint network ahead of the shutdown at the end of this quarter. Some Nextel business clients also canceled subscriptions to Sprint’s remaining network, the company’s chief executive, Dan Hesse, told analysts in a conference call.

Including the Nextel network defections, Sprint lost 560,000 subscribers, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of a loss of almost 525,000.

By contrast, Verizon Wireless, the top American cellphone company, added 677,000 subscribers in the quarter, and the second-ranked AT&T added 296,000.

Sprint reported that its first-quarter loss narrowed to $643 million, or 21 cents a share, from $863 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected on average a loss of 33 cents a share, according to those surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Sprint’s revenue rose to $8.79 billion from $8.73 billion. Analysts had expected $8.71 billion.

The company now expects 2013 adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization to reach the high end of its previously announced goal of $5.2 billion to $5.5 billion, excluding costs of closing strategic transactions.

Sprint’s board is evaluating a $25.5 billion acquisition offer from Dish, a satellite TV service, which has challenged the company’s October agreement to sell 70 percent of itself to SoftBank for $20.1 billion.

During a conference call with analysts, Sprint did not comment on the Dish offer but it said the SoftBank deal could close as soon as July 1.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Cozen O'Connor Grows Revenue 5.6 Percent, PPP 8.4 Percent

Cozen O'Connor saw increases in its key financial metrics in 2012 thanks to strength in nearly all of its core practice areas, the firm said.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Duane Morris Sees Revenue Grow 1.2 Percent, PPP 1.7 Percent

Philadelphia-based Duane Morris saw modest increases in its revenue and profits per equity partner (PPP) in 2012, a fiscal year that Chairman John J. Soroko characterized as "almost an instant replay" of the prior fiscal year in terms of financial growth.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Reed Smith Crosses Billion-Dollar Revenue Mark

Reed Smith saw increases in its key financial metrics between 2011 and 2012 that the firm attributed in large part to its cross-selling to its core industry groups.

Reed Smith Crosses Billion-Dollar Revenue Mark

Reed Smith saw increases in its key financial metrics between 2011 and 2012 that the firm attributed in large part to its cross-selling to its core industry groups.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Coca-Cola's Revenue Misses Wall Street Expectations

The world's biggest soft-drink maker, with brands such as Sprite, Fanta and Minute Maid, also said revenue and profit were hurt by the stronger U.S. dollar, which reduces the value of overseas sales.

Still, earnings were in line with analysts' expectations and Coca-Cola shares fell only 27 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $37.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Coca-Cola gets most of its sales from outside the United States, so shifts in currency can have a big effect. In the third quarter that ended on September 28, the strong dollar shaved 5 percentage points of growth from net revenue and 7 points from operating income.

Aside from currency, results in Asia, particularly China, disappointed some analysts, though Sanford Bernstein analyst Ali Dibadj said it was not surprising, given the softening of consumer sentiment and the slowing of an economy that had been a growth engine for multinational companies in recent years.

"China is slowing down a little bit for the long-term benefit of China. As China will settle, there's a little bit of adjustment," Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent told Reuters. "Take a plane -- when it leaves cruising altitude and is going to land, the ride gets rougher. But it will settle."

Kent said he expects settling into a lower growth rate will happen within the next few months.

Sales volume rose 3 percent in the Pacific region; JP Morgan analyst John Faucher expected 4.5 percent growth.

In addition, European consumers have been hurt by the debt crisis. In the latest quarter, consumers were buying bottled soft drinks to take home, which is less profitable for the company than drinks sold in restaurants.

"Go to Madrid and look at the cafes. There aren't a lot of people sitting around drinking Cokes or coffee or whatever," Gary Fayard, chief financial officer, said on a conference call.

Also, European sales are growing most Eastern and Central Europe where prices are lower, Kent said. This helps volume of sales but hurts revenue.

Third-quarter net income for Coca-Cola was $2.31 billion, or 50 cents per share, up from $2.22 billion, or 48 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, earnings were 51 cents per share, in line with analysts' average estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 1 percent to $12.34 billion. Analysts were expecting $12.41 billion.

Worldwide sales volume rose 4 percent in the quarter, driven by gains in all regions. Volume rose 1 percent in Europe, 2 percent in North America, 5 percent in Latin America and 11 percent in the Eurasia and Africa region.

Sales volume in the Philippines was flat, due to typhoons. In Japan, soda volume fell 5 percent from the year-earlier period when new products boosted sales. Volume rose 2 percent in China.

Closer to home, North American revenue and profit rose, helped by a recent acquisition and the impact of certain commodities hedges.

Coke is also seeing tougher competition from PepsiCo Inc, which is working hard to improve its North American beverage business. It has increased marketing spending with a focus on core brands like Pepsi-Cola and analysts have been saying that the renewed effort is working.

Through Monday's close, Coke shares were up 9 percent year-to-date, while the Dow Jones U.S. Beverage Index gained 10 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 14.5 percent.

(Additional reporting by Brad Dorfman in Chicago; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Phil Berlowitz)

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

DealBook: Goldman Sachs Swings to Profit as Revenue Surges

Lloyd Blankfein, chief of Goldman Sachs.Mark Lennihan/Associated PressLloyd Blankfein, chief of Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday that it swung to a profit in the third quarter, a strong comeback from a year ago, when it reported a rare quarterly stumble in the wake of losses in its private equity portfolio and broader global economic issues.

For the quarter, the firm reported net earnings applicable to common shareholders of $1.46 billion, or $2.85 a share, compared with a loss of $428 million, or 84 cents a share, in the quarter a year earlier.

Goldman’s revenue more than doubled, to $8.35 billion, from $3.59 billion in the year-ago period. The results exceeded the consensus of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

“This quarter’s performance was generally solid in the context of a still challenging economic environment,” Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

The better-than-expected performance is welcome news for Goldman, which has had a tough year as it has struggled against both economic challenges at home and abroad and new regulations that have reduced profitability.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman is not alone in feeling the profit pinch, and this quarter its rivals were aided by revenue from a boom in mortgage refinancing, a corner of the market in which Goldman does not have a big presence.

Still, net revenue in Goldman’s powerful fixed income, currency and commodities unit came in at $2.22 billion, 28 percent higher than the third quarter of 2011. The company said the increase reflected “significantly higher” revenue from trading in mortgages as well as a bump in revenue from trading items like currencies and interest-rate products.

During the first half of the year the firm earned roughly $3 billion in profit, down 20 percent from the same period last year.

The results also included a bump in the firm’s quarterly dividend, which the board recently voted to increase by 4 cents, to 50 cents a share.

Goldman’s annualized return on equity, a critical measure of profitability which effectively measures the profits a bank was able to generate on its capital, was 8.6 percent in the quarter. This is roughly the same as this time last year and up from 5.4 percent in the second quarter.

Still, Goldman’s single-digit return on equity is a stark reminder of how much more difficult today’s operating environment is. In 2006, its return on equity was 32.8 percent.

The firm set aside $3.68 billion, or 44 percent of its revenue, to pay employees. This is in line with previous accruals. The firm does not actually pay much of that out until early 2013, after it knows the year-end performance.

At the end of September Goldman had 32,600 staff consultants and temporary workers on the payroll, down 5 percent from a year ago. Goldman and its rivals have been moving to cut staff to make up for revenue shortfalls in a number of areas.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Tesla Cuts 2012 Revenue Forecast Due to Slow Model S Rollout

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