Business news for Thu, 29 Nov 2007 & with word profits. 38 news.

Dell sees quarterly profits rise on stronger laptop sales, but narrowly misses analyst forecasts.

Warner Music's fourth-quarter profits fell 58 per cent as a result of the continuing slide in compact disc sales, and a weak performance in the UK

Sears sees quarterly profits fall 99%, after poor sales at its Sears and Kmart outlets and predicts tough times ahead.

The retailer barely breaks even for the quarter, sending shares sharply lower.

Warner Music Group and the estate of Frank Sinatra are singing a duet on a new joint venture designed to milk greater profits out of the music and likeness of "Ol' Blue Eyes." The new partnership, called Frank Sinatra Enterprises, will pool money...

Sears Holdings, owner of the American discount retailer Kmart, has reported a eye-watering 99pc plunge in third quarter profits.

Reuters - Stocks fell on Thursday, surrendering some of Wednesday's large gains, as retailers stumbled after several disappointing quarterly earnings reports, including Sears Holdings Corp .

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Thursday, surrendering some of Wednesday's large gains, as retailers stumbled after several disappointing quarterly earnings reports, including Sears Holdings Corp .

TD Bank Financial Group said growth across all of its businesses helped its post stronger profits for the fourth quarter.

TD Bank Financial Group has reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.09 billion, up 44 per cent from $762 million in the year-ago period.

Shares in Alliance & Leicester jumped as it revealed impairment charges that were lower than many had feared, while rival Bradford & Bingley also rose after it said it would meet profits forecasts

More people are going “shopping” at electronic stores without buying a thing. The trend isn't expected to eat into the profits of retailers as gadgets topped this year's holiday wish list.

After 15 years of gloom, Japan's companies have emerged with a new, hybrid model a bit closer to America's, says Tom Standage ONCE it was the Walkman. Then it was the PlayStation. Today it is the Toyota Prius that epitomises Japan's technological and industrial prowess. Built by Japan's largest company, which is now on the verge of becoming the world's largest carmaker, the Prius is a hybrid car propelled by the combination of a petrol engine (for range) and an electric motor (for energy-efficiency). The Prius was the first commercial hybrid car and has become by far the most successful, with sales of over 1m since its launch in 1997. Although that is a modest figure compared with Toyota's annual output of around 8m vehicles, it has transformed the company's image. Toyota is now known for greenery and innovation as well as manufacturing efficiency. But the Prius also symbolises another transformation: that of Japan itself. Just as a hybrid car combines the distinct advantages of petrol and electric propulsion systems, Japan has been developing a new hybrid model of capitalism that brings together aspects of the old Japanese model, which ran into trouble in the early 1990s, with carefully chosen elements of the more dynamic American or Anglo-Saxon variety of capitalism. The resulting hybrid model has been adopted by many firms and has already helped to transform Japan's fortunes. After wrenching political and corporate reforms, the country in 2002 emerged from over a decade of economic stagnation. Since then the recovery, originally export-led, has spread to the economy as a whole (see chart 1). Japanese firms have restructured, paid down their debts and are now posting record profits. The banking system has been cleaned up. Yet despite this progress, Japan still faces huge problems. ...

Love them or hate them, Germany's two power giants keep the lights on IN AN apparent victory for the little man, the burghers of Ensdorf this week successfully blocked plans by RWE, a huge German power company, to build a spanking new coal-fired power station in their back yard. But those Saarland villagers have won an incomplete victory. Germany needs to add about 35,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity by 2020, plus another 16,000MW if its nuclear plants are to be phased out by then, as planned. So new power stations will have to be built somewhere. RWE and E.ON, the other German power giant, are treading on eggshells these days. Their duopoly over electricity generation and distribution in Germany is under attack from almost every quarter: the European Commission, the Federal Cartel Office, the Federal Network Agency and, of course, consumers. People are livid that the two giants recently announced price rises of 7-10% for next year, despite record profits in the first three quarters and windfall gains from CO2 emission certificates that they were given free. ...

SPREAD betting firm WorldSpreads Group has more than doubled its first-half profits.

RECORD profits at Anglo Irish Bank helped Irish financial shares gain more than ?2 billion in value yesterday.

PROFITS at Anglo Irish Bank passed the ?1 billion mark for the first time, though the lender says it expects earnings growth to slow in the coming year.

Home shopping and educational supplies company Findel has reported record first half sales and profits.