A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Dell shares fall 6% over profit warning
Dell issued a profit warning last night, sending shares down by nearly 6 per cent.
The company said in a trading statement that quarterly profit fell short of its forecast after it cut prices to boost revenue growth.
Dell has been struggling with slowing growth as competition has increased from rivals HP and Asian competitors such as Lenovo and Acer Computer.
Prices for PCs sold through retailers have been declining, eroding the advantage Dell had enjoyed because of its direct-sales business model. Dell said it expected to report first-quarter earnings per share of about 33 US cents compared to its February forecast of 36-38 cent.
Revenue was $14.2 billion(€11.2 billion), at the low end of its forecast of $14.2- $14.6 billion. - Reuters
Amarin appoints advisory board
Amarin, the biopharmaceutical company, has appointed a scientific advisory board to guide it on evaluating new product opportunities and to counsel it on clinical and regulatory pathways.
The board will be chaired by Icon founder Dr John Climax. It will also include Jan Wallace, a Yale neurologist; Reid Patterson, former vice-president of drug and preclinical safety at Abbott Laboratories, and Mark Pierce, former senior vice-president of clinical research at Pfizer.
Mittal offers to raise Arcelor bid
Lakshmi Mittal yesterday offered to raise his €20.7 billion offer for Arcelor, on condition that the Luxembourg steelmaker drop its opposition to the deal. While last night there seemed little prospect of Arcelor agreeing immediately to start discussions with Mittal Steel, Mr Mittal said that he was "resolute" in his intention to see the deal through. - (Financial Times service)
Founder 'made Parmalat decisions'
Fausto Tonna, the former chief financial officer of Parmalat, yesterday said the company's founder, Calisto Tanzi, was responsible for crucial decisions in the run-up to the dairy group's collapse from fraud.
Tonna, testifying at Mr Tanzi's trial in Milan, said: "The decisive powers rested solely with Calisto Tanzi."
Parmalat collapsed at the end of 2003 amid revelations of fraud. Tonna and other former senior executives pleaded guilty to misleading investors. He was sentenced to 30 months last June.
Mr Tanzi said banks had been chasing Parmalat to carry out more finance deals and had contributed to hiding its true financial position. - (Financial Times service)
Ryanair to name new routes, bases
Ryanair is expected to announce a number of new routes and bases today.
These are understood to include the low-cost airline's first airport hub in France. Market sources said a direct route between Dublin and Berlin is also expected to feature in the announcement. A spokeswoman for the airline last night declined to comment on market speculation. Shares in the airline drifted yesterday, closing more than 2 per cent weaker at €6.82.
NTL UK to cut 6,000 jobs
NTL UK reported a small first-quarter operating profit yesterday and announced plans to reduce its workforce by about one- third following its merger with rival Telewest. Of the 6,000 job cuts, half will be outsourced. It will not impact on NTL in Ireland, which was sold to UPC. - (Reuters)
