THE DAILY BRIEFING
SONY SOARS Sony is back in the black with soaring profits thanks to the continued popularity of the Playstation. The electronics company made profits of £934m in the 12 months to March, after a loss of £800m a year earlier. Strong demand for its Playstation 4 console and games triggered an 11.8pc rise in sales for its computer games.
Its film and television unit performed well, with sales up 6.8pc at Sony Pictures thanks to series like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
PHONE LIFT The early release of a new smartphone lifted Samsung.
The South Korean company, the world’s largest smartphone maker, saw profits rise 14pc to £3.2bn in the three months to March, compared to the same period last year.
Samsung brought the launch of its Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone by one month, which triggered a rise in sales of 6pc to £30bn.
DEBT DEAL Mining giant Anglo-American continued its cuts to pay down debts by selling its niobium and phosphates businesses to China Molybdenum in a £1bn deal. Anglo has been hit by tumbling prices of metals including copper and iron ore. Shares rose 8pc, or 56.3p, to 753.2p.
OFFSHORE WIN Oil services firm Wood Group has won a £345m contract to provide services including engineering and construction management for eight offshore oil and gas facilities for BP in Azerbaijan. The five-year contract for Wood continues the group’s 40-year history of working with BP. Wood’s shares rose 1pc, or 6p, to 620p.
HACKING LIFT Cyber security firm NCC Group saw revenues soar 60pc because of the rising demand for protection against hacking.
It reported revenues of £166.1m in the 10 months to March, compared to £104.1m over the same period last year. The value of orders for security rose from £36.3m last year to £73.6m. Shares rose 2.8pc, by 7.5p, to 272.5p.
£160M CONTRACT Outsourcing company Serco has signed a £160m deal with the Australian government to build a research ship.
It will be 511ft long and will carry 150 people monitoring the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Shares fell 0.2pc, by 0.2p, to 97.7p. POWER GLOOM Aggreko, which provides temporary power for companies, has reported falling revenues weeks after issuing a profit warning.
Revenues fell 17pc in the three months to April 27, with the company citing difficult trading conditions in emerging markets, challenging geopolitical situations, and contracts coming to an end.
Its share price has fallen 35.4pc over the last year, but closed up 3.2pc, by 34p, to 1115p.