BGN Entrepreneur

Thomas Cook Losses Double to £90m

Sky — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:55:46 +0000

According to Thomas Cook, it is said that turmoil of the company at the tour group late last year did not appear to have driven away significant numbers of customers, with the company’s UK share of winter and summer bookings “broadly stable”.
However, political unrest in the Middle East and the influence of weak European economies on consumer spending contributed to a underlying operating loss of £91m in the quarter, in accordance with the expectations of the analyst but more than double the loss of £37m a year ago.

Statoil Enjoys Benefits of Higher Oil Prices

Sky — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:12:08 +0000

Due to the increase in oil prices, Norway’s largest oil and gas company–Statoil just reported fourth-quarter adjusted net income of 14.5bn Norwegian crowns, which makes a 34% increase on 2011.
According to Statoil’s chief executive–Lund, it is stated that Statoil delivered record financial results, further improved safety and made important strategic progress in last year. The company is said to have a good year for exploration in 2011, with discoveries in the North Sea as well as the Barents Sea.

Citigroup to Issue China Credit Cards

Sky — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:10:40 +0000

After a slow start due to a lack of payments infrastructure, the credit card market in China has started to grow more dramatically in the recent years. Sccording to Citi, it is said that the number of cards in issue recorded by the Chinese central bank reached 268m by last September, which was over 5 times the level at the end of 2006.
The market is restricted to a single card-processing company–Union Pay. Consumers’ use of credit cards lags behind the number in issue. However, according to the bank, the market’s growth potential is enormous, as processing improves and more merchants accept the cards. According to the 2010 annual report from the People’s Bank of China, it is revealed that all card-based transactions grew by more than 50% by value to Rmb10.4trn.
Citigroup will become the first western bank to issue credit cards in mainland China under its own brand. The move become another foot in the door for Citi on the mainland after it also won the preliminary approval in January to launch a joint-venture securities company with Orient Securities.

HTC Expects Big Fall in Sales

Sky — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:48:32 +0000

The world’s fourth biggest smartphone maker by shipments–HTC, is getting prepared for another big fall in its sales in the first quarter of 2012 as the company scrambles to find its next hit phone.
The Taiwanese smartphone maker had already seen its sales fell by 22% from the third to the last quarter of 2011. According to the company, it is announced today that it expects the revenues to drop by a further 35.5% in the first quarter of the year.
HTC’s operating margins will drop to 7.5%, compared to 14.8% for the full year last year.

Seeing Yourself as Others See You

Sky — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:28:58 +0000

A common tactic employers draw upon is to ask you how different people may rate or describe you. The knack in answering this question during a job interview is to talk up the positive remarks that others may say or have said about you while playing down some of the negative comments.
Always remember not to lie to the interviewee. If your previous boss or colleague at work says that you are really bad at certain skill, avoid mentioning it during the interview. Remember that employers often check references as a condition of offering you a job. A reference that describes you as the complete opposite of how you have described yourself will definitely be a really deal breaker.

How Do You Respond to Authority

Sky — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:30:09 +0000

Nobody wants to take on an argumentative employee who is resistant to authority. However, depending on the nature of the organization, expected answer to the question of “how well do you respond to authority” could vary.
In traditional and hierarchical organizations, employees are expected to know their own place and defer to people more senior. Then, it is important for the interviewees to jobs in such organizations to show their keen appreciation of the need to defer to authority in their answer.
However, if you think you are having an interview with a progressive organization, position yourself as a more freethinking candidates is recommended. It shows that you will be able to fit into the free organizational culture much easier.

Unilever Faces Tougher Times in Emerging Markets

Sky — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:24:27 +0000

The maker of Dove soap and Magnum ice cream–Unilever, said that the company was facing a tougher trading environment in Russia and Brazil as it posted a pre-tax profit of €6.25bn for 2011.
The emerging markets operations of the group has witness the underlying year-on-year sales growth drop from 13% in the third quarter of the year to 12.3% in the last quarter, driving the annual growth rate to be 11.5% in these territories.
According to Unilever, it is said in the annual result statement that emerging markets in particular have seen a moderation in volume growth, albeit from high levels, whilst developed markets remain broadly flat.

Shell Outlines Aggressive Growth Strategy

Sky — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:54:28 +0000

The rise in crude prices helped Royal Dutch Shell, which is the largest oil company by market capitalisation in Europe. The Anglo-Dutch group just reported a rise in earnings for the fourth quarter in spite of weak refining margins and low natural gas prices.
In spite of the weaker quarter, the company set out an aggressive medium-term growth agenda, with new projects and higher exploration spending expected to increase the cash flow over the next 3 years by 30-50%. Shell also heralded a return to dividend growth in 2012 for the first time ever since 2009.

How to Describe Your Time Management Skills

Sky — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:34:00 +0000

For most jobs, employers are looking for time management skills, which refers to the ability to distinguish between what needs to be done immediately and what can wait. Without doubt that interviewees need to answer to that they have good time management skills.
A good tactic is to say that you always prioritize the most important and urgent tasks to the tops of the pile. It is wise to give a few examples of a time when you had to prioritize between different tasks to help further demonstrate your capability. When that doesn’t work, indicate that you enlist colleagues to help or check whether the deadline can be moved. As the last option, you can demonstrate that you simply get on with the work and stay late to get everything done on time.

Banks Set to Double Crisis Loans from ECB

Sky — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:31:58 +0000

European banks are getting ready to tap the emergency funding scheme of European Central Bank for up to twice as much as the bank supplied in its debut auction of €489bn last month. The news provides further evidence of liquidity squeeze in the sector.
Several of the biggest banks in the eurozone have indicated that they could well double or even triple their request for funds in the three-year money auction of ECB.