The Business Matrix: Thursday 30 April 2015

Galaxy phones boost for Samsung

Samsung expects sales of its new Galaxy S6 smartphones to break company records, helping the South Korean electronics giant to fight back against rivals at both ends of the market. Its first-quarter profits fell 36 per cent to £3.8bn as it struggled against Apple’s iPhone 6 as well as cheaper rivals in China.

Tweets help wipe $8bn off Twitter

Nasdaq, the leading US exchange, said its website accidentally released Twitter’s results ahead of the close on Tuesday, prompting a 25 per cent dive in the shares that wiped as much as $8bn (£5.2bn) off the microblogging site’s value. The data was removed within 45 seconds, but had already been retweeted.

Ben Bernanke to join Pimco

Ben Bernanke, the former US Fed chairman, is joining the bond giant Pimco as a senior adviser, as the firm seeks to bolster its star power following the departure of co-founder Bill Gross. Mr Bernanke, who last week signed on to consult for the hedge fund Citadel, told Reuters he will restrict his Wall Street advisory roles to two.

N Brown in profit slump

Plus-size fashion retailer N Brown posted a 13 per cent fall in underlying annual profits to £86m and said attempts to modernise the catalogue, online and stores business had “put a great deal of strain on our performance”. Sales, down nearly 3 per cent at £295m, were also hit by poor weather last September.

BAT sees fall in quarterly revenue

Smokers cutting back on sparking up and the strength of the pound against various currencies have hit British American Tobacco, which posted a 5.8 per cent fall in quarterly revenues. The Dunhill and Lucky Strike maker said sales rose 1.7 per cent, stripping out the impact of currencies.

Firm failure rate lowest in 7 years

The number of companies wound up has fallen to its lowest level for more than seven years. There were 3,385 company liquidations in the first three months of the year in England and Wales – down 0.5 per cent on the previous quarter and 8.6 per cent down on the same period last year.

Argos sales soar thanks to tablets

Argos expects more than half of its sales will be made through smartphones and tablets in the next couple of years. One in four purchases are already made using the devices at the retailer, which yesterday revealed its annual sales were up 1 per cent to £4.1bn.

Mother’s Day flop for Thorntons

Shoppers decided against Thorntons for Mother’s Day, the firm revealed yesterday. The chocolatier did better at Easter and Valentine’s Day but largely disappointed in the 15 weeks to 25 April, resulting in virtually flat same-store sales growth of 0.1 per cent.

Greggs serves up £20m dividend

Greggs has dished out a special £20m dividend after sales of its sandwiches, sausage rolls and new breakfast porridge beat City forecasts. The baker plans to open its first shop in Northern Ireland today, with a test site near Belfast.

House prices rise by 1 per cent

House prices rose 1 per cent between March and April, pushing the average price to £193,048, according to Nationwide. As a result, annual growth accelerated again for the first time since August, rising to 5.2 per cent.