Nintendo: Super Mario movie success helps drive 50 per cent sales surge August 3, 2023 Nintendo has smashed forecasts for its first quarter results as the ever-popular virtual icons Mario and Zelda continue to attract gamers. The Japanese gaming company reported net sales of 461.34bn yen (£2.5bn) for the three months ended 30 June – a 50 per cent increase from the same period of 2022 and ahead of Refinitiv [...]
Sports medicine boosts Smith & Nephew results as chief financial officer steps down August 3, 2023 Medical device manufacturer Smith & Nephew has reported revenue and profit increases due to higher demand for sports medicines as the chief financial officer steps down. Strong performance in sports medicine, advanced wound management, and orthopaedics, which together make up 60 per cent of their business, has led to a 7.3 per cent rise in [...]
‘Fanciful’ – EE’s legal claim against Virgin Mobile given brutal rebuff by High Court August 2, 2023 The High Court has dismissed EE’s legal claim against Virgin Mobile, describing it as “fanciful” with “no real prospect of succeeding”. British telecoms company EE attempted to sue Virgin Mobile for a reported £24.6m over a contract dispute back in August 2022. In a decision ruling in favour of the applicant, the court proclaimed EE’s [...]
The X-Phile: What does the Twitter transformation say about Elon Musk? August 2, 2023 Where to even begin? Over the last week Elon Musk changed the name of his $44bn toy from Twitter to, simply, “X”. In doing so he unleashed yet another torrent of confusion and indignation, something the eccentric billionaire must surely be somehow feeding upon, vampire-like, such is the frequency with which he invites it. But [...]
Arm aims for £55bn IPO valuation as potential anchor investors line up August 2, 2023 British chip innovator Arm has set its sights on a valuation target of $60bn (£47bn) to $70bn (£55bn) when it goes public, which could be as soon as this September. Arm is gearing up to float on New York’s Nasdaq in the first week of September with pricing for the IPO to arrive in the [...]
Grind One espresso pod machine review: Stylish and simple August 2, 2023 As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time making espresso – and reading about making espresso and buying espresso-related paraphernalia – I long ago grew out of the Nespresso pod machine that used to sit on my desk. There’s something meditative about the process of making espresso: weighing out exactly 18 grams of beans, [...]
Haleon: Chinese re-opening powers GSK spin-off to ‘consistent’ growth August 2, 2023 Strong sales of toothpaste and painkillers contributed to healthy results for Haleon, the newly-formed consumer healthcare firm spun out of GSK last year. In the first half of 2023, the Surrey-headquartered company’s revenue increased to £5.7bn, up 10.6 per cent compared to the same period last year. This was driven by Haleon’s ‘power brands’, such [...]
Pfizer’s revenue drops over 50 per cent as Covid-19 vaccine sales wither August 1, 2023 US drugmaker Pfizer today reported that revenue more than halved during the second quarter of the year as global demand for its Covid-19 vaccines plummeted. It reported disappointing revenues of $12.7bn (£9.9bn) in the three months April to June – down 54 per cent, or $15bn, from the second quarter last year. Pfizer blamed the [...]
Here is the first glimpse of London Underground’s 94 new (air conditioned) Piccadilly Line trains August 1, 2023 London is close to welcoming 94 new shiny new Piccadilly Line trains, after the first of a new Siemens-built batch went for testing in Germany. Transport for London said the state-of-the-art tube trains had gone for trials at a test and validation centre in Wegberg-Wildenrath, Germany. Consisting of nine carriages, the trains came off the [...]
Meta to launch AI-powered chatbots in a bid to cling on to users August 1, 2023 Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is reportedly gearing up to deploy a squadron of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots, each with their own distinctive personalities, in an effort to cling on to its users who have been dwindling lately. Meta has been crafting prototypes for these chatbots, aptly named “personas”, the Financial Times reported today, citing [...]