A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Price cuts eat away at Intel earnings
Intel has posted a 35 per cent fall in quarterly profit due to price cuts, but indicated its battle over prices with Advanced Micro Devices may be easing.
Intel, which makes the vast majority of chips for personal computers, gave a revenue forecast for the crucial fourth quarter that matched expectations, a relief for many investors frustrated with bearish guidance from Intel all year.
"What's good about Intel is that they're pointing to sequential growth on the top line and are also pointing to a 100 basis-point increase in gross margins," said Ray Rund, managing director of Shaker Investments.
Intel chief financial officer Andy Bryant said in an interview that he believed the world's biggest chipmaker gained market share back from its smaller rival AMD. - (Reuters)
Sutherland in line for service award
A leading transatlantic business organisation has decided to give an award to Peter Sutherland for his record in public service.
British American Business, which has offices in New York and London, will announce its decision today and Mr Sutherland will pick up his award at a gala dinner in New York.
Mr Sutherland is chairman of BP and Goldman Sachs International. The award is for "his exceptional record of institutional leadership at the global, transatlantic and European levels", said the organisation. It said Mr Sutherland had advanced the "economic and societal interest of the international community".
Oppenheim to sell through Rabo
Oppenheim Investment Managers is to sell its managed funds through online investment and savings bank RaboDirect in a bid to strengthen its position in the retail market. The company's main focus to date has been in the institutional market.
RaboDirect, which currently holds €21 million in investment funds and €960 million in deposits, said it expected a strong flow of retail investors through the funds based on Oppenheim's performance track record.
Great Western shares in demand
Dublin-based exploration group Great Western Mining said demand for its shares had been strong on its first day of trading on London's Ofex.
The shares closed up 4.5 pence, at 10 pence, with almost 10 per cent of the free floating stock changing hands. The company didn't raise any money from the listing.
Great Western is searching for gold, silver and uranium, and is about to start drilling a site in Nevada to assess whether original data from 1980 is correct in determining its mineral content.
Viridian bid draws scrutiny
The UK's office of fair trading yesterday called for submissions on the proposed acquisition of Viridian, the North's main supplier of electricity, by Bahrain's Arcapita Bank.
The regulator said it was considering whether the proposed acquisition could be seen as a merger and, if so, whether it would result in any substantial lessening of competition within the UK electricity market.
