Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Total profit rises by 9%

Total profit rises by 9%
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newsbyte on 07 May, 2008 02:54:32
 
Paris: French oil group Total on Wednesday reported that adjusted first quarter
net profit had risen by nine per cent on a 12-month basis to 3.254 billion
euros, but operating profit from refining and ret-ailing slumped. Dow-nstream
activities had been hit by "the erosion of refining margins," the company said.
This arose from "a worsening of margins on petrol linked to a fall of American
demand." Others factors were the fall of the dollar and "the squeezing of
marketing margins at the end of the quarter." The increase in adjusted net
profit had been driven mainly by upstream exploration and production activity,
the French oil group said.
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Dollar climbs against euro
London: The dollar climbed against the euro and yen on Wednesday, supported by
hopes that the worst of the credit crunch is over, and on the eve of a rate
decision by the European Central Bank, dealers said. Elsewhere, the European
Commission on Wednesday gave Slovakia the green light to adopt the euro, setting
the ex-communist country on a path to become next January the 16th eurozone
country. In European trade, the euro fell to $1.5470 from $1.5530 in New York
late on Tuesday. The dollar gained to 105.28 yen from 104.75.
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EasyJet loses deepen in H2
London: No-frills airline easyJet said on Wednesday that losses deepened in the
first half of its financial year as record high oil prices ram-ped up the cost
of kerosene or jet fuel. The carrier recorded a net loss of £43.3 million in
the six months to March 31, 2008, as the group was also hit by costs from the
takeover of GB Airways. The group’s loss in the year ago period was £12.7
million. "Oil remains the biggest challenge," said the chief executive, Mr Andy
Harrison.
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UBS executive under probe
Zurich: UBS bank said on Wednesday that one of its senior executives had been
detained by the US authorities, with the status of a witness, in relation to a
tax evasion probe. "We are cooperating with the authorities, but it is too early
to say what would be the consequences of this investigation," a UBS spokesman
said, after the Financial Times reported the matter. The bank said that the US
department of justice was looking into whether some of its citizens had sought
"with the assistance of UBS client advisors, to evade their US tax obligations".