A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
AstraZeneca profit declines due to competition and job cut costs
AstraZeneca, Britain.'s second- largest drugmaker, US rival Bristol-Myers Squibb and Bayer, the inventor of Aspirin, reported first-quarter profit declines on generic competition and costs from job cutting.
AstraZeneca's net income unexpectedly fell 3.7 per cent to $1.5 billion, the London-based drugmaker said. Bristol-Myers' earnings dropped 4.2 per cent as costs offset soaring sales of its blood thinner Plavix.
Bayer's net income fell 73 per cent to €762 million after asset sales.
AstraZeneca said sales of the ulcer treatment Nexium fell in the US and western Europe, while New York-based Bristol-Myers won market share with the Plavix blood thinner after beating back generic competition.
Bayer bought Schering in 2006 to get the Yasmin birth control pill.
Drugmakers are cutting jobs and buying rivals as they adjust to price reductions from governments and insurers, tougher regulatory scrutiny and generic competition to their best-selling medicines. - Bloomberg
Xilinx revenues of €304m
Xilinx, the US semiconductor company which employs 400 in Dublin, has reported fourth quarter revenues of $475.8 million (€304 million) and pre-tax earnings of $119.4 million for its fourth quarter to the end of March.
Revenues for the full year were $1.84 billion and pre-tax profit was $474 million.
ConocoPhilips results hit
ConocoPhillips, the US's third largest oil and gas company, said its first-quarter results were hit by lower margins in its refining and marketing segment, as petrol prices failed to keep pace with rising crude oil prices. Despite a better than expected overall financial result, of $4.1 billion, or $2.62 per share, up from $3.6 billion, or $2.12 per share, for the year-earlier quarter, the company's refining segment suffered the effect of US petrol prices well below expectations, in addition to lower volumes on operational problems, unplanned downtime and asset dispositions. Financial Times
Pepsico profit rises by 4.7%
PepsiCo, the world's second- largest soft-drink maker, said first-quarter profit rose on price increases and higher snack sales in Russia and China. Net income increased 4.7 per cent to $1.15 billion, or 70 US cents a share. Sales gained 13 percent to $8.33 billion. PepsiCo plans to boost prices further through the third quarter to counter rising costs for wheat, cooking oil and fuel. - Bloomberg
Fundraising by Minco associate
MINCO'S CANADIAN subsidiary Orca Minerals has raised C$3.63 million (€ 2.28 million) through the placement of special warrants with Singapore Government-backed investment fund Pacific Road Resource Funds.
The fundraising follows a placement of more warrant which raised C$3.05 million ( € 1.91 million) and was announced on April 1.
In all, Orca has raised C$8.81 ( € 5.54 million since September last year through the issue of new warrants.
The funds raised will be used to further the exploration and development of Orca's Mexican mineral projects, AIM-listed Minco said yesterday in a statement.
Orca said it was progressing with the completion of a proposed merger with Antamena Capital Corp., and the subsequent trading of its shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. The transaction should be completed on or about June 30th, it said.
Credit Suisse shocks investors with writedown of €3.2 billion
Credit Suisse shocked investors yesterday with the continuing depth of the credit crunch, writing down a further SFr5.3 billion (€3.26 billion) and reporting a first-quarter loss of Sfr2.15 billion.
The Swiss bank, hit by over-pricing of assets by a "handful" of rogue City of London traders late last year, underlined the scale of the crisis by declaring net revenues of just SFr3 billion in the quarter, down 72 per cent.
The latest write-downs - half of them in collateralised debt obligations trading - come on top of those of SFr3.2 billion last year.
While the bank said it had reduced its exposure to leveraged finance by 41 per cent and to commercial mortgages by 25 per cent, investment banking recorded a pre-tax loss of SFr3.5 billion, compared with a profit of SFr2 billion a year earlier.
The losses, representing a Sfr5bn turndown from the first quarter of 2007, are Credit Suisse's first in five years. - Guardian service
Pan Andean restarts production in Gulf of Mexico oil well
Irish AIM-listed oil and gas explorer Pan Andean has re-started production at an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 75 barrels a day.
The company said yesterday that its High Island 30 well - in which it has a 63 per cent stake - was producing income of $75,000 a month.
It was also bringing forward the evaluation of a potential drilling target previously identified on the same block, the company said in a statement.
