The firm, whose brands also include Walkers crisps, Quaker oats and Copella fruit juice is looking to save $1.2bn (£681m) over three years.

The company saw third-quarter pre-tax profits fall 9.5% to $1.6bn – below what analysts had forecast.

Overall group sales rose to $11.2bn from $10.2bn.

The job losses at the firm, which will be made globally, represents just under 2% of the firm’s employees.

News reported by The BBC

The firm, which is cutting more than 1,000 jobs, said profit before tax totalled £137.3m in the year to 30 June, down 68% from a year earlier.

But Barratt said in light of “the extremely challenging market”, the results were satisfactory.

The firm said its average selling price had risen 6% because of high-value sales in upscale London locations.

“There is little prospect for any material improvement in trading conditions until mortgage finance and customer confidence return,” said the firm’s chief executive Mark Clare.

Barratt, like many housebuilders, is suffering as both house and land prices fall.

Barratt was forced to write down the value of its land and work in progress by £208.4m, following a fall in prices.

The firm also sustained £15.9m of reorganisation costs, including redundancies, however this figure did not include the costs related to the 1,200 jobs cuts announced in July.

“Given the performance of the business for the full year and the board’s view on the outlook for the current year, no final dividend for 2007/8 will be paid,” it announced.

News reported by The BBC

In the past 18 months, GM has lost $57.5bn (£31.36bn), $15.5bn in the second quarter of 2008 alone.

GM has closed factories and laid off staff but has struggled to counter a slowing economy and rising fuel prices.

If GM continues to cut costs and car sales recover in 2010 “we would hope to have the corporation profitable again by then,” vice chairman Bob Lutz said.

But he added: “At this point, the future is so cloudy in terms of the development of the market, when it’s going to pick up again.”

The company is losing money on all its model lines, Mr Lutz said.

Prices for small, more fuel-efficient, cars should rise as demand grows, he added.

Hummer slowdown

High fuel costs have dampened demand for the large sports utility vehicles that GM is known for.

The company has previously said it will consider selling the iconic Hummer brand.

Among the mooted buyers are Russian Machines, the engineering firm which makes trains, planes and some automobile parts and Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra.

GM bought the Hummer brand in 1998. In June, Hummer sales were slightly over 2,000, well below their peak.

News reported by The BBC

But the firm said the prospects for 2009 were less certain as US and European economies suffer and China’s growth begins to slow.

WPP’s profit before tax in the six months to June 30 totalled £338.5m, up 15.1% from a year earlier.

Emerging markets such as Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe boosted growth.

Uncertain prospects

“The group’s profit performance in the first half of the year was strong…despite the general economic tightening in the United States and Western Europe,” the company said.

“The prospects for 2009 remain less certain, particularly if the US and Western European economies continue to be impacted by the financial crisis.”

However, it said that 2010 looked more promising, with the World Cup in South Africa, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, mid-term elections in the US, the World Expo in Shanghai and the Asian Games in Guangzhou.

WPP shares closed up more than 3% at 491.50 pence on Friday.

News reported by The BBC

The Sunderland-based firm’s rail operating profits increased to £14.8m from £1.1m since acquiring the Aberdeen to Penzance franchise in 2007.

Arriva said it had also bucked rising fuel prices by securing supplies on fixed deals in advance.

The company runs more than 16,000 buses and trains across the UK and Europe.

Overall, group revenues were 59% higher at £1.44bn, with profits up to £66.3m from £47.3m a year earlier.

New vehicles

Chief executive David Martin said: “Our focus on Europe’s diverse transport markets gives us resilience and great potential for further growth.”

Arriva has warned that higher fuel prices and the economic downturn presents challenges for the future, but says its fuel costs this year have been “substantially fixed”, with two-thirds of the requirement for 2009 also secured in advance.

The company’s UK bus division increased operating profits by 20% to £45.5m, based on a 14% rise in revenues to £454.5m.

The firm is planning to bring more than 460 new vehicles into service on its regional bus network during this year.

The Arriva Trains Wales operation also contributed to the improved performance of the UK rail division.

Arriva shares closed up nearly 7% at 509.5 pence on Friday.

News reported by The BBC

The York-based firm said pre-tax profits for the half-year were £36.9m, down from £281.1m a year ago.

Sales were down more than 30% on last year, and profits were also hit by costs related to shrinking the business and write-downs of its land values.

The company has cut 2,000 jobs since the start of the year.

But with some indication that the market had stabilised since what the firm called a “significant downturn” in April, shares in the housebuilder rallied on Thursday.

They closed up 28.5 pence, or 9.5%, at 327p in London.

“The business has performed well in very difficult conditions” Persimmon chairman John White

Gloomy news on mortgage lending and house prices since the start of the year have taken their toll on shares in the sector, with Persimmon down more than 60% since its 2008 peak.

Mortgage problems

Persimmon said it sold 5,501 new homes in the first half of the year, down from 8,002 sales in the same period last year.

It blamed the drop in sales on a lack of affordable mortgages – a fact that also depressed the average selling price of a new home to £181,485 from £189,255 last year.

Persimmon remained cautious on the outlook for the property market, and reduced the value of its land bank.

It took a £40m write-down on the value of its owned land, and wrote-off a further £9m in fees relating to potential transactions that it has withdrawn from.

Persimmon took an additional £15m hit on restructuring costs, which included the closure of three offices, 2,000 job cuts and the postponement of starting work at some new sites.

Better prepared

“The business has performed well in very difficult conditions,” said Persimmon chairman John White.

“We are confident that our business, having been restructured, is in a strong position to move forward whenever the market improves.”

But the firm added that its prospects depended on the pick-up in the availability of affordable mortgages.

Richard Hunter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, was not optimistic for a swift recovery.

“The fact remains that the outlook is bleak,” he said.

News reported by The BBC

The firm made 97.7m Australian dollars ($84.5m; £45.6m) in the year to the end of June, from A$215.8m in the previous 12 months.

Last month, its biggest shareholder, Toll Holdings, offloaded most of its stake in the carrier to reduce exposure to the ailing industry.

This stoked speculation that Virgin Blue could become a takeover candidate.

The airline, which is a quarter owned by Sir Richard Branson, said it expected the current financial year would be “a challenge”, despite recent falls in the crude oil price.

It has launched a scheme to cut costs and increase income, including additional baggage charges and higher fares.

Virgin Blue has about a third of the Australian domestic aviation market. Its main rivals are Qantas Airways and Jetstar, Qantas’s budget airline.

Airlines have been hit by record oil prices and several have collapsed.

News reported by The BBC

While the 41 percent drop in second-quarter profit was the fourth straight quarterly decline, Bank of America was the latest big U.S. bank to exceed analysts’ forecasts.
The bank also said its July 1 acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender, will add to profit faster and result in deeper cost cuts than previously estimated.
Bank of America shares rose $2.40, or 8.7 percent, to $29.89 in premarket electronic trading.
Second-quarter net income for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank fell to $3.41 billion, or 72 cents per share, from $5.76 billion, or $1.28 per share, a year earlier.
Results included $212 million of merger and restructuring costs. Net revenue increased 4 percent to $20.32 billion.
Analysts on average had expected profit of 48 cents per share on revenue of $18.26 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said the bank had “solid results in a difficult financial environment,” with good results in virtually all businesses not tied to real estate.
Write-downs tied to disrupted capital markets totaled $1.22 billion, down from the first quarter’s $2.81 billion.
Results excluded a $2.33 billion loss at Countrywide — acquired the day after the second quarter ended — which reflected just under $4 billion of credit-related losses.
Bank of America expects the $2.5 billion merger to add to profit in 2008, after previously saying that it would not affect earnings per share for the year. It also said it has significantly increased estimated cost savings from the original $670 million.
Bank of America is the nation’s second-largest bank by assets, including the Countrywide acquisition.
Among other lenders, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co reported smaller-than-expected second-quarter profit declines, while Citigroup Inc had a milder-than-expected $2.5 billion loss.
BAD LOANS SOAR
Bank of America more than tripled the amount it set aside for bad loans to $5.83 billion, largely for consumer and commercial portfolios directly tied to the housing market, including home equity, residential mortgages and homebuilding.
The provision was nearly as large as the first quarter’s $6.01 billion. Net charge-offs, or loans the bank doesn’t expect to be paid back, more than doubled to $3.62 billion from $1.5 billion.
Bank of America’s Tier-1 capital ratio, a measure of its ability to cover losses, rose to 8.25 percent from the first quarter’s 7.51 percent. Regulators say 6 percent signals a “well-capitalized” bank.
Profit in consumer and small business banking fell 66 percent to $812 million. The corporate and investment bank saw profit rise 3 percent to $1.75 billion. In wealth and investment management, profit fell 1 percent to $573 million.
Bank of America ended the quarter with 6,131 branches in the United States and $1.72 trillion of assets. Through Friday, the bank’s shares had fallen 33 percent this year, compared with a 29 percent decline in the KBW Bank Index .BKX>. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Derek Caney and Gerald E. McCormick)

News reported by The Guardian

The vast majority of business failures is down to bad cash flow, if not all failures for that matter!

If you want to run a good business and a successful one at that you must keep an eye on cash flow. Whilst profitability is important, profit is no good to any business unless the money you invoice to your customers is collected in full and in time!

Forget balance sheets and profit and loss accounts if you are not accounting minded, but get to grips with your business cash flow. If you lose control of your cash flow you will lose control of your business either to the bank and or the receiver/liquidator!

If anything, with most new ventures the cash flow is over optimised. It is always worth while being realistic when planning cash flow for your business.

These words are probably stating the obvious, but they are worth writng, as many a time the business owner (whether new or established) take their eye off the ball. So what was a promising venture becomes a statistic due to a lack of control over the life blood of the business – CONTROL CASH FLOW!

What can and does happen, and in particular with new businesses, is that the company over expands and the cash flow does not keep up with the businesses expansion. The new business is having to buy new stock to keep up with demand, but the customers are either not paying on time or the new business is not chasing it’s customers hard enough to pay! So although the business is showing a healthy growth and profit, there is not enough cash flow (or working capital) and the business faulters or fails!

Many a time when a business is in this situation, the business owners turn to factoring of the debt. However, be careful with this solution! Once you have factored your debtors you are into higher cash costs and it is almost like selling your sole to the devil! Don’t get me wrong factoring has it’s place and I have considered it’s use many a time, but be very careful with it and try where possible to look at how to get out of it as soon as possible.

In a start up situation the other factor that is almostly certainly under estimated is how much working capital a business needs. Working capital is the amount of cash needed to run the business and is the difference between the highest balance in your bank account and the lowest balance in your account (or if you have an overdraft facility, the highest point in your overdraft facility). To be sure your business is successful your working capital should also include a buffer over and above the above difference. The amount of this buffer is entirely up to you, but I would suggest at least 25-50% extra, if possible!

Don’t be an ostrich! Never bury your head in the sand when things are going wrong, always act right away. Make sure you have a good credit controller in your business or where possible don’t offer credit. There are many ways to get your customers to pay without letting them have credit, for example, I am a great believer in getting customers to set up a standing order or if your business is big enough a direct debit (banks will not normally allow you to set up a direct debit facility until your turnover exceeds somewhere between £2-5 million).

Some must do’s in business for good cash flow:

– Always make sure you meet your payroll, if you don’t pay your employees your business will faulter!
– Always keep your existing customers happy, don’t just focus on new business.
– Always collect your debts on time and consider reducing the credit period given to your customers to as low a period as possible or even to a zero period by introducing standing orders or direct debits.
– If your customers are not paying and bad debts are on the increase, review your customers services to see if all is well with the products or services you supply.
– Always pay your suppliers and tax bills on time- please note that the Government puts more businesses into liquidation than any other organisation! So always pay your tax on time!

Finally, make sure you plan your cash flow by producing a cash flow forecast yourself or by employing a good accountant to do it for you.

If you are a “Non-accountant” and want an easy way to produce a cash flow forecast then click this link: “Cash flow forecasts made easy”