A round-up of today's other stories in brief
CMC makes €2.3m profit on German deal
Property and wealth management firm CMC has earned a €2.3 million profit on the sale of a German investment, writes Barry O'Halloran.
The Cork-based firm, associated with accountants Crowley & McCarthy, said yesterday that it had earned a total return for investors of 45 per cent on the deal.
The company sold Barthels Hof, a major retail and office property in central Leipzig for €15.1 million. It bought the property in April last year for €12.8 million.
CMC is currently raising €20 million in equity from Irish backers for a €100 million fund which it intends investing exclusively in German commercial property.
It recently bought the A10 shopping mall outside Berlin with an unnamed UK partner for €245 million. The A10 is said to be Germany's biggest shopping centre.
Nissan board to forgo bonuses
Carlos Ghosn said yesterday that the Nissan board would forgo bonuses this year after the Japanese carmaker failed to achieve annual performance targets.
"In 2006, we did not meet our fiscal year performance objectives and we are taking that responsibility seriously," Mr Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and its French alliance partner Renault, said at the company's annual meeting.
Japan's third-largest carmaker - 44 per cent owned by Renault - last year reported its first drop in profits in eight years due to slower sales in the US and Japanese markets. - (Financial Times service)
Wal-Mart worker gets $2m award
A jury in Massachusetts has awarded almost $2 million to a former employee of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., after finding that the retailer underpaid her and then fired her as a result of gender discrimination.
The woman who brought the suit, Cynthia Haddad, worked at Wal-Mart as a pharmacist from 1993 to 2004, before she was fired by the company, according to court papers.
The world's largest retailer has been plagued by complaints of underpaying its workers. It is also facing the biggest sexual discrimination case in US history. - (Reuters)
Morgan Stanley earnings up 40%
Morgan Stanley yesterday beat analysts' expectations with a 40 per cent jump in second-quarter earnings, boosted by its investment banking and equities businesses which helped overcome turmoil in the mortgage sector.
The strong results follow weaker performances at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, its Wall Street rivals, which are more exposed to the market for risky mortgages and were hit in the second quarter.
Overall, Morgan Stanley's net income for the fiscal second quarter jumped from $1.8 billion last year to a record $2.6 billion, as net revenues rose 32 per cent to a record $11.5 billion. - (Financial Times service)
King outvoted on rate increase
Mervyn King, Bank of England governor, wanted to increase interest rates earlier this month but was outvoted for only the second time in his tenure.
Minutes published yesterday of the June meeting of the monetary policy committee, the bank's rate-setting body, showed members voted five to four to leave the cost of borrowing at 5.5 per cent.
Mr King, Sir John Gieve, deputy governor responsible for financial stability, and regular hawks Tim Besley and Andrew Sentance voted for quarter percentage point increase. - (Financial Times service)
