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LONDON (Reuters) - Dairy firm Arla Foods UK (ARU.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday that trading in the six months to date was in line with its expectations. The firm, whose brands include Lurpak and Anchor butter, also said in a statement that total milk volumes to supermarkets were 3 percent ahead of the previous corresponding period, with notable increases in its Cravendale brand. Arla said that it was winning the battle against rising costs, which it said in January would have a  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's second-biggest pub owner Enterprise Inns Plc (ETI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday trading was in line with its expectations as it continued to perform well in challenging markets. Enterprise, which runs about 8,600 tenanted pubs, said it expects pretax and operating profit for the six months to end-March to be in line with expectations and that it was ahe ...

Rising inflation in Japan has prompted speculation that interest rates in the country may soon rise from record lows. Core consumer price inflation (CPI), which excludes food, rose 0.5% in February compared to a year earlier. Meanwhile, Japan's unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in February from 4.4%, its biggest drop on record. Experts said the figures underlined hopes that healthy consumer spending will push up prices, leading to a rise in interest rates from almost zero. "The jobless rate cou ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Leading shares are expected to fall at Friday's opening, thinning out some of Thursday's strong gains after Wall Street fell on renewed inflation concerns following U.S. economic data on prices and spending. Traders expect business on the last day of the quarter to be volatile and financial bookmakers call the FTSE 100 index about 20 points lower at the opening, after it close ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Genesis Microchip Inc. late Thursday trimmed its fiscal fourth-quarter sales target due to weaker demand for its television chips in Europe and China. The company also cut its gross margin target, a key barometer of profitability, due to a performance issue for its newest TV chip. In after-hours trading, the stock (GNSS) fell more than 10% to $16.56. Genesis M ...

HONG KONG (Dow Jones) -- Asian stocks traded higher Friday, led by gains in South Korea, while Japan's Nikkei Average was little changed above the 17,000 level as gains in banks offset loses in some industrial stocks. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Average gained as much as 0.06% to 17,056.25. The Topix index was up as much as 3.6 points at 1,730.28 Data released before the start of trading showed ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) --Major indexes in Canada closed higher Thursday as the materials sector surged as gold and silver prices hit levels not seen in a quarter-century. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index (:,,) rose 16 points, or 0.13%, to 12, 206.95. The S&P/TSX 60 Index of blue chips ticked up 0.8%, and the S&P/TSX Venture Composite rose 52 points, or 1.8%, to 2,899.50.  ...

James Coney, Daily Mail31 March 2006 HUNDREDS of victims of the split-capital investment trust scandal will have to pursue individual court claims against the firms that sold them. OTHER STORIES Market report: Thursday close Smaller companies report: Thursday close New on the market Year's biggest float boosts gaming stocks Standard Life raises windfall flag THE EDITOR'S CHOI ...

Strength in banking and real estate stocks countered falls in carmakers, keeping the Japanese stock market unchanged on Friday morning. // By midday the Nikkei 225 was 0.1 per cent lower at 17,032.98. But the Topix, which has a higher weighting for banking stocks, was up 0.1 per cent to 1,728.43. The banks continued to gain from expectations of higher fee income and wider loan margins. After ri ...

An all-American top four still leads the latest annual Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest companies. Banking giant Citigroup topped the table for the third year in succession, followed by industrial group General Electric in second place. In third place was Bank of America, while in fourth was insurance firm American International Group. UK bank HSBC was the highest ranking non-American firm, picking up fifth place for the second year running. Banks and oil firms HSBC was follow ...