Google faces EU probe into complaints over search rankings and adverts

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By
Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 2:25 AM on 25th February 2010

Google said the investigation revolves around how it ranks websites in its search resultsGoogle is facing a preliminary investigation by the European Commission into allegations that it demotes rival sites in its search rankings.Three complaints about unfair competition have been made against the world’s number one search engine.A British and a French firm have complained about being ranked low in the U.S giant’s searches while Microsoft Corp’s Ciao! from Bing has filed a complaint about Google’s standard terms and conditions.The low rankings complaint is significant because high rankings in Google searches drive higher volumes of traffic to websites.It is the European Commission’s job to ensure that companies do not abuse any dominant position in the 27-country EU.They can fine firms up to 10 per cent of their revenues for violations.

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‘Microhoo’ search deal given go-ahead

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Microsoft and Yahoo! have won regulatory approval for their search partnership
to challenge Google, the marker leader.

Under the terms of the ten-year “Microhoo” partnership, Yahoo! will
use Microsoft’s new Bing search engine technology on its own sites, while
Yahoo! will act as the exclusive global sales force for the companies’
premium search advertisers.

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Diageo keeps spirits up with off-licence sales

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While the recession may be keeping drinkers out of bars and pubs, they continue to drown their sorrows at home. And strong sales of a $3,000 bottle of whisky made by Diageo suggest that the super-rich are still spending on aspirational brands.
Diageo, which makes Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff, said yesterday that its off-licence trade had grown in North America and Europe as business in bars declined. Paul Walsh, chief executive, said: “I think in certain markets the on-trade market will not recover, but in others it will. In the UK there’s a gradual move towards off-premises drinking and we think that will continue.”
Diageo’s latest financial figures reveal that sales in the UK have been particularly strong — up 5 per cent in the last three months of 2009, including the crucial Christmas period, after a big promotional push on spirits and Blossom Hill wine. Meanwhile, intensive marketing to celebrate the 250th birthday of Guinness helped the black stuff to gain market share in Britain and Ireland.
John Black, a hand-blended Scotch whisky that costs $3,000 a bottle and can only be bought in a few duty-free stores, has sold out of the first batch of 660 bottles. The product has been particularly popular in China and Singapore and Diageo hopes that expensive bottles, much like designer handbags, will lure customers to buy other, cheaper products in the brand range.

The world’s leading maker of spirits said that pre-tax profits in the first half to December 31, 2009 had fallen from £1.41 billion to £1.39 billion, below analysts’ expectations. Underlying sales grew 2 per cent in the quarter to December, after a 6 per cent fall in the previous quarter.
Mr Walsh said he could not predict when the company’s growth would return to pre-recession levels, but he expected sales to improve in the first half of this year.
He also urged the Government to penalise binge drinking more heavily: “If you have to pay a £500 fine or do community work on a Saturday or Sunday, that would be some form of consequence. The trouble now is that, for many, there’s no consequence.”
Mr Walsh called on the Conservatives to halt the Government’s increasing tax on alcohol if they win power in the election. He argued that introducing minimum pricing for alcohol, one of the measures under consideration, would only penalise people who wanted to have a quiet drink at home.
Diageo’s profits were hit by falling sales in North America, down 6 per cent, and Europe, down 5 per cent. It also had to pay out £95 million in restructuring costs as it streamlined operations in Ireland and Scotland.
Management at the company are expecting higher bonuses this year but senior executive pay is still frozen.
In Spain, one of the European countries worst hit by the credit crisis, Diageo’s net sales fell 12 per cent in a “challenging macroeconomic environment” marked by trading down and much less drinking out. Russian drinkers switched from the higher-priced Johnnie Walker to cheaper brands such as Bell’s and White Horse.
It will expand distribution in emerging markets, which have become the main driver of growth for the business, with an 8 per cent rise in net sales.
Diageo is confident of hitting its target for a low percentage rise in operating profit for the year to June 2010. It increased its interim dividend by 5 per cent to 14.6p.
• Two of the UK’s biggest companies fired warning shots over tax at the Government yesterday.
Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, said: “It’s a competitive world out there and if we continue to see tax increases at the corporate and individual level, we will look at other options. The Government should not take us or any other multinational corporation for granted.”
He added that the brewer of Guinness has no current plans to move from London.
Unilever, the consumer goods giant, also attracted attention as Paul Polman, the chief executive, hinted that it could relocate from the UK. There are no plans to do so at the moment. A spokesman said: “It is important that the UK remains competitive in terms of both corporate and personal taxation … so that it can continue to retain and attract the very best wealth-creating businesses.”
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Ryanair raises full-year profit forecast

Published: 7:35AM GMT 01 Feb 2010

The airline said it was lifting its forecast for the current year to 275m
euros having previously indicated profits would come in at the lower end of
a 200m to 300m euro range. Ryanair said that a better mix of new routes will
help ensure the money the airline makes from each seat doesn’t fall as much
as it had initially feared.

Micheal O’Leary, Ryanair’s maverick chief executive, has previously said that
Ryanair enjoys downturns as it’s an opportunity to win market share from
rivals. The airline today said although overall market conditions remain
“difficult” it expects to increase market share in Italy, Spain, Scandinavia
and the UK.

However, Ryanair recorded a loss of 10.9m euros in the last three months of
2009 compared with a loss of 118.8m euros in the same period in 2008.

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Ericsson’s profits tumble

Published: 8:27AM GMT 25 Jan 2010

The Swedish company saw net profits decline to 314m kronor ($43.4m) from
3.89bn kronor a year earlier. Analysts had expected profits of 2.5bn kronor,
according to Bloomberg.

Ericsson has seen its customers cut their spending on older networks without
speeding up spending on newer, high-capacity networks enough to plug the
gap. Shares in Ericsson fell 3pc in trading in Stockholm.

“It’s going to be challenging to both maintain market share and
secure healthy financial development, with Chinese equipment manufacturers
being so aggressive and the latest contracts likely having been signed on
cut-throat margins,” Fredrik Thoresen, an Oslo-based analyst with DnB
NOR Markets, told Bloomberg.

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Nokia maps out defence in smartphone battle

By Una Galani, Reuters Breakingviews

Published: 11:36PM GMT 21 Jan 2010

The goal is to boost sales of its high-end devices by leveraging the expensive
2008 acquisition of digital mapping firm Navteq. The move is bold, but has a
hint of desperation. Nokia’s wants to stop rivals such as Google and Apple
from stealing more of its market share.

It’s easy to see why Nokia is frustrated. Smartphones – internet enabled
mobile devices – now account for 15 percent of global mobile phone
shipments. That share is expected to rise to 45 per cent by 2013. Yet
Nokia’s slice of this premium market fell from 44 to 35 per cent between the
second and third quarters of 2009, according to research firm Canalys.

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Bill Miller expects US shares to rise 20pc in 2010

By Matt Goodburn

Published: 7:11AM GMT 06 Jan 2010

Legg Mason Capital Management’s veteran chief investment officer and chairman,
Bill Miller, believes the market is underestimating the potential rate of US
GDP growth in 2010.

Mr Miller is tipping the US stockmarket to rise by up to 20pc over the next 12
months, on the back of significant GDP growth, which he predicts could be as
high as 8pc.

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Electronic book sales outsell physical books for first time ever on Amazon

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:12 PM on 27th December 2009

The Amazon Kindle has become the most gifted item in the company’s history, with Kindle books outselling physical books for the first time ever on Christmas Day. Amazon.com announced the important milestone on Saturday but didn’t release any specific figures. They did, though, reveal that on its peak business day - December 14 - customers ordered over 9.5 million items worldwide; a record-breaking 110 items per second.

Record breaker: The Amazon Kindle dominates the e-reader market

Kindle, billed as the gadget that would do for books what the Ipod did for music, has a unique wireless operating system has seen it dominate the
e-book market, taking a 65 per cent of the market share. Sony’s
E-Reader is second with 35 per cent. The ‘Nook’ from American
bookseller giants Barnes & Noble, sold out a month in advance of
Christmas and looks set to challenge Kindle in 2010.
‘We are grateful to our customers for making Kindle the most gifted
item ever in our history,’ said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of
Amazon.com. ‘On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the world, we
wish everyone happy holidays and happy reading.’
The Kindle’s store now includes over 390,000 books and the largest
selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New
York Times best sellers and new releases.

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Could bank charges be good for customers?

By Philip Aldrick, Banking Editor

Published: 7:14PM GMT 22 Dec 2009

After 24 years of it, the surprise is that banks have any customer service
reputation left to trash.

Penalty overdraft fees are a legacy of Midland Bank‘s decision to scrap
current account charges in a bid to grab market share in 1975. It worked so
well that the rest of the high street had no choice but follow, and so the
era of “free banking” was born.

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Skipton Building Society sells credit checking arm Callcredit

Published: 12:15PM GMT 08 Dec 2009

Although Skipton – the country’s fifth-largest society – did not disclose the
sum paid, it said: “The deal generates around £40m of additional
profit, boosting the society’s capital base.” The disposal lifts its
core tier one capital ratio from 7.19pc to 8.7pc.

Callcredit is the UK’s third-largest credit checking business after Experian
and Equifax. The management, led by chief executive John McAndrew, owns a
small stake and will remain at the helm. Skipton founded Callcredit, which
has an annual turnover of around £50m and last year recorded a £5m profit,
in 2000.

The society retains a number of other unusual building society interests,
including the 460-branch estate agent Connells, five independent financial
advisers and mortgage servicing business Homeloan Management.

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