INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Minneapolis – Best Buy reported a net loss of almost 10% for first quarter fiscal 2014, seeing its revenue drop from roughly $10.34 billion the prior year to $9.38 billion. Increased price competition and the closure of 49 large-format stores contributed to the electronics retailer’s decline in revenue. A shift in the Super Bowl, which typically drives TV sales, to the prior quarter and reduced non-core sales also impacted revenue. read more

Harare - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday on a business visit praising Beijing's ties with the southern African country. read more

Indian to head world’s top liquor company Mumbai: India-born Ivan Menezes is the new CEO of Diageo, the world's largest drinks company-a development that reinforces the growing trend of Indians heading high-profile global corporate giants.  read more

New Delhi: Liquor prices are set to rise in the coming weeks as the cabinet cleared the new excise policy on Monday. While the policy leaves the licence fee untouched for the financial year 2013-2014, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) will be dearer by 5% and country liquor by 11% once the new rates are notified in June.  read more

Marks & Spencer Group Plc (MKS), the U.K.’s largest clothing retailer, said annual profit fell 5.8 percent as consumers spent less on its fashion goods, even as food sales increased.  read more

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Co. reported a deeper-than-expected loss of $348 million for its first quarter, compared to $163 million in the year-ago period, amid a 16.4% decline in revenue. The results came as the company seeks to undo the damage caused by former CEO Ron Johnson’s costly and largely failed makeover.  read more

Prague - Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev says it no longer has plans to acquire Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, with whom it has been fighting a long legal battle over the use of the “Budweiser” brand. read more

London – Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, said on Sunday that it planned to open more than 50 new franchise stores, worldwide, for its clothing brand over the next five years. read more

Madrid - At least 24 retail companies, including Hennes & Mauritz and Inditex, have agreed to improve safety at Bangladeshi textile factories by contributing up to 2.5 million dollars each towards that goal.  read more

Frankfurt -The German economy, Europe's biggest, got off to an unexpectedly weak start to the year, as it battled freezing winter weather, sagging exports and weak investment, official data showed on Wednesday.  read more

Sainsbury's has posted a fall in pre-tax profits despite a rise in sales, as conditions remain 'challenging'.  read more

Retailers suffered a 2.2% drop in sales last month compared with a year ago, thanks to the timing of Easter and wintry weather, according to industry figures. read more

New York - There's expensive and then there's Hong Kong. read more

Sony forecast annual profit that missed analysts’ estimates on Friday as chief executive Kazuo Hirai rolls out new Xperia smartphones and Bravia televisions to recapture market share lost to Samsung Electronics. read more

The gloves are off in the fight for a giant share of Kenya’s multi-billion shilling beauty industry as French multinational acquires part of the company that owns Nice & Lovely. read more

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday named Amy Hood, head of finance of its Office division, as its new chief financial officer.  read more

New York -- Target isn’t letting any grass grow under its feet when it comes to the suddenly hot category of home goods and home furnishings. The discounter has installed a giant, two-story dollhouse — some 21 ft. high and occupying some 1,500 sq. ft. of space, smack in the middle of Vanderbuilt Hall in New York City’s Grand Central Station.  read more

Austin, Texas. Whole Foods Market on Tuesday reported that its second-quarter net income rose to $142 million from $118 million a year earlier, beating analysts estimates. The chain also raised its full-year forecast. read more

Asda will open its controversial multi-million-pound store in East Cleveland this summer, the retail giant has confirmed. read more

Copenhagen - Danish brewer Carlsberg's first-quarter operating profit and revenue beat forecasts on Tuesday, as strong beer sales in Asia cushioned sluggish mature European markets and a decline in its former growth driver Russia. read more

New York -- The world’s largest retailers have been scaling back their global expansion activities, particularly in Asia, and turning their attention inward by integrating operations and strengthening their store, Internet and mobile sales channels, according to a new report by Accenture. read more

New York - Wal-Mart Stores once again leads Fortune's list of the 500 biggest US companies by revenue, as the world's biggest retailer succeeded in posting strong growth despite a challenging economy for its shoppers. read more

An estimated 405 million handsets, including 197 million smartphones, were shipped in the first quarter of 2013, according to market intelligence firm ABI Research.  read more

London - British manufacturing contracted by the narrowest of margins in April, and much less than expected, the first major set of data for the second quarter of the year showed on Wednesday. read more

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp will struggle to improve its margins this year as it increases marketing spend for its latest model in a bid to catch up to rivals Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc. read more

San Francisco/New York - Intel chose veteran insider Brian Krzanich as chief executive, disappointing some investors who hoped an outsider would push for aggressive changes to help the world's largest chipmaker catch up in the mobile revolution. read more

Zurich - Luxury goods group Richemont [JSE:CFR] said its annual profit rose nearly a third from the previous year's €1.54bn, helped by favourable currency swings.  read more

Pretoria - Germany is to increase its economic investment in South Africa and other African states, Foreign Affairs Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Pretoria on Monday. read more

April 29 - Bankrupt photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co said it will sell two of its remaining imaging businesses to its UK pension fund for $650m. read more

Not only is Germany forming a last line of defence against the euro’s implosion, the land of steins and beer kellers also offers fertile ground to distillers foraging for sales in Western Europe’s withered landscape. read more

Seoul, April 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's consumer electronics giant LG Electronics said Monday that it began sales of curved organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV for the first time in the global industry.  read more

H&M, the world's second-largest global clothing retailer, made the list of all its supplier-factories public. The list including the factories of Bangladesh, aims to contribute to building a more transparent and, ultimately, a more sustainable 'fashion industry'. read more

The Middle East and Africa PC market experienced a significant decline of 14.1% year on year during the first quarter of 2013, with tablets eating into market share in South Africa. read more

Unilever’s breadth of businesses and markets would enable it to ride out the tough environment in Europe, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company said yesterday as it reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter growth. read more

Beijing - Manufacturing activity slowed in China in April as exports were hit by sluggish overseas demand, HSBC said on Tuesday, fuelling concerns about the strength of the world's second-largest economy. read more

Seoul - Samsung on Friday released the latest version of its flagship Galaxy smartphone, as it announced record first quarter profits driven by surging sales growth in its mobile division. read more

London - Britain's economy dodged a return to recession and grew faster than expected in the first three months of this year, providing some political relief for a government under fire over its austerity drive. read more

London - Asda, Britain's second-biggest grocer, said on Tuesday it would invest over £700m ($1bn) this year in its online operations, new and existing stores and its supply chain, helping to create 2 500 new jobs. read more

San Francisco - Apple reported on Tuesday that its quarterly profit dipped for the first time in nearly a decade as it squeezed less money from its champions in the competitive smartphone and tablet markets. read more

Demand for Peroni has pushed brewing giant SABMiller to an increase in UK sales, despite an overall decline in the domestic lager market. read more

(Reuters) - China's largest makers of popular, fiery "baijiu" liquor are bracing for a slowdown this year after nearly a decade of heady growth as a crackdown on lavish official spending starts to hit home. read more

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and the U.S. Justice Department reached an agreement over the company’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo SAB, two people familiar with the matter said. read more

United Breweries Ltd. (UBBL), India’s largest brewer, expects sales of Heineken NV’s (HEIA) namesake brand to climb more than 50 percent in the country this fiscal year as it ramps up distribution of the pricier foreign beer. read more

New York - US stocks climbed on Monday as last week's sharp losses brought buyers back to the market and Microsoft shares jumped after an activist investor took a stake in the company. read more

While not coming anywhere near global giants such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JP Morgan Chase and General Electric, 20 prominent South African companies have made Forbes’ list of 2000 biggest companies in the world. read more

Technology company IBM is mulling up to 1,400 job cuts in France over the next two years, three trade-union representatives told Reuters on Thursday. read more

On Tesco’s full-year results, David Gray, Retail Analyst at Planet Retail, commented:  read more

On Casino’s first quarter results, Gildas Aitamer, Retail Analyst at Planet Retail, commented:  read more

London -- Grocery chain Fresh & Easy’s British parent Tesco confirmed Wednesday that it will abandon its U.S. business, selling off the 199-store chain and taking a $3.5 billion write-down read more

Johannesburg - Aspen Pharmacare Holdings [JSE:APN] has plans to buy Nestle's infant nutritional business for $215m, the company said on Thursday.  read more

London - Global brewer SABMiller said on Thursday it had posted a 7 percent rise in full year organic revenue, boosted by strong demand in Africa and a surprisingly robust performance in Europe.  read more

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson beat Wall Street's quarterly profit estimates on sharply lower taxes, strong sales of prescription drugs and a revival of over-the-counter medicines that had been recalled over quality control problems. read more

Paris - French food group Danone said Tuesday the explosion in demand for baby formula in China helped lift sales by 4.3% in the first quarter of the year to €5.3bn ($6.9bn). read more

New York - U.S. retail sales fell 0.4% in March, the biggest decrease in nine months, amid a slowdown in hiring and higher taxes. Excluding sales of autos, gas and building materials, core sales dropped 0.2% in March, following a 0.3% increase in January. read more

Nokia’s push to expand sales of its Lumia smartphones in new markets such as China should help shrink an overall revenue decline and reduce its first-quarter loss, easing some of the pressure on CEO Stephen Elop.  read more

Montreal - Smartphone maker BlackBerry on Friday slammed as "false and misleading" a brokerage research note which claimed consumers were returning the new Z10 handsets at a high rate. read more

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores reported Wednesday that net income for the quarter ended March 2 edged up to $140.1 million, compared with $136.4 million in the year-ago period. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa has imposed new rules requiring goods imported from occupied Palestinian territories display special labels, a government official said on Thursday.  read more

Holding $7.33 billion in cash at the end of fiscal 2013, Walmart has many options on how to expand its global reach through acquisitions in Turkey, Colombia and other nations. read more

New York - The Dow Jones Industrial Average shook off early weakness on Tuesday and pressed through to another record close, led by strong gains in tech shares Microsoft and Intel. read more

New York -- Costco Wholesale appears to be eyeing China's online commerce market, according to published reports. read more

Stockholm - Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson said on Monday it had agreed to buy Microsoft's Internet Protocol television (IPTV) business Media Room for an undisclosed sum. read more

Richardson, Texas -- Samsung Electronics and Best Buy Co. have entered into a partnership to install Samsung in-store shops in more than 1,400 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores across the U.S. beginning this month. read more

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Smart Connected Device Tracker, worldwide shipments of smart connected devices grew 29.1% year over year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units shipped with a value of $576.9 billion.  read more

Munich - Apple has lost its patent protection in Germany for "slide to unlock," one of the most familiar features of its iPhones and iPads, with a court ruling that it was not a solution to something that had previously been a technical problem.  read more

Seoul - South Korea's Samsung Electronics said on Friday it expected a sharp increase in first-quarter operating profit to 8.7-trillion won ($7.7-billion), up 52.9 percent from the first three months of 2012. read more

Milan - Family owned Italian fashion house Versace is ready to sell some of the company to outside investors to help fund expansion in foreign markets such as Asia, its chief executive said in an interview.  read more

New York - The Wall Street Journal says Apple is set for a possible summer launch of the next iPhone, rather than a fall launch like the last two models. read more

Tesco-owned convenience store chain One Stop Store Limited has revealed plans to launch a new franchise model with local independent retailers. read more

Elim Mall became the latest shopping mall to open in Limpopo province, on March 28 2013, bringing Elim consumers a new generation premium-grade retail experience. read more

New York -- Cache announced that Daphne Pappas has joined the company as EVP, chief merchandise officer. For the past 10 years, she served as VP general merchandising manager for Burberry America’s where she led the company’s women’s business.  read more

London - The Dow Jones industrial average touched another record high Tuesday after reports on auto sales and factory orders provided the latest evidence that the US economy is strengthening. read more

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, is trying out new delivery methods and adding to its mobile technology to improve Web-based shopping and step up its challenge to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) read more

Rome - An Italian court has ordered the Dolce & Gabbana fashion house to pay a fine of €343 million (about R4 billion) plus interest for failing to declare millions of euros in revenue to tax authorities, local media reported. read more

Toronto - BlackBerry announced an unexpected quarterly profit on demand for the new touchscreen device that holds the key to its successful turnaround, but revenue remained far below year-earlier levels.  read more

Zurich - Swiss premium chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli has lost a court battle to protect its gold foil-wrapped Easter bunnies from imitation by a German rival. read more

Plano, Texas -- A Tuesday report by Reuters said that embattled J.C. Penney Co. has recently revived its previously abandoned pricing strategy of raising prices on its own brands then discounting them as a way to spike sales and margins.  read more

New York - US retail giant Walmart said on Tuesday it expected to suffer financial losses amid an ongoing probe into corruption scandals involving foreign subsidiaries. read more

Johannesburg - Growth in the manufacturing base will enable the Brics countries to achieve their desired economic growth and job creation, Indian Minister of Commerce Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.  read more

Pretoria - South Africa and China have signed the terms of reference of a joint inter-ministerial working group to strengthen co-operation, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.  read more

China is becoming an increasingly important market for New Zealand wine and a group of local firms is hoping to boost sales further by making an appearance this week at one of the Asian superpower's biggest international trade shows, the Chengdu Wine Fair.  read more

(Reuters) - Global wine production fell sharply last year due to bad weather in Europe and a recent policy to drain its "wine lakes", while Chile and United States saw a jump in harvests, according to a recent report. read more

South Africa is anticipating a grape crop of more than 1.3-million tons for 2013 – a record in the wine industry’s history – which could, depending on market demand, potentially aid wine exports. The country’s wine exports reached a record of 417-million litres in 2012, up 17% from 2011. read more

Bangalore: While Americans and Europeans prefer their beer to be light on alcohol content, Indians have traditionally been partial to a stronger brew, a preference that’s become further accentuated of late along with an improvement in the image associated with such beverages. read more

AFP - German antitrust authorities said on Monday that they had opened an investigation against several brewers over the suspected price fixing of beer. read more

South Africa, the eighth-biggest wine producer, is seeking to regain a foothold in the US market lost to imports from Australia to Argentina by promoting brands at Walmart Stores and Whole Foods Market, a diplomat said last week.  read more

Lisbon - No matter how Cyprus's financial drama ends, its troubles show yet again that rich countries enfeebled by the great financial crisis remain a weak link in the world economy. read more

Lonrho’s Oceanfresh Seafoods, local purveyor of fresh and frozen seafood, has recently been listed in Sam’s Club stores in the US.  read more

New York -- In another sign that British retail giant Tesco is reconsidering its U.S. Fresh & Easy division, the company sent an email sent to shoppers in which it acknowledged that the grocer doesn't know "if Tesco will continue to own the company," the Los Angeles Times reported. read more

Nicosia - The two main banks at the centre of Cyprus's financial crisis slashed the daily cash withdrawal limits from ATM machines on Sunday, state media reported. read more

Taipei - Taiwan's HTC on Sunday announced its much-anticipated new flagship smartphone will go on sale in three countries this week, although the rollout elsewhere will only take place by the end of April. read more

Dayton, Ohio -- Walmart holds on to the top spot in the annual ranking of the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands from branding consultancy firm Interbrand.  read more

New York -- Walgreens reported a better-than-expected profit on flat sales for its second quarter Tuesday morning and unveiled an expanded partnership with AmerisourceBergen that could give the pharmacy operator an equity position and seat on the drug wholesaler’s board. read more

Zurich - Swiss luxury chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli said it was confident people would keep buying its sweet treats this year despite weak consumer sentiment in its key market, Europe.  read more

Oslo - The Norwegian Food Safety Authority said on Friday it would file a police complaint against a food company after finding large quantities of pork in its halaal-labelled products. read more

VENTURES AFRICA – Barloworld Logistics, a unit of the JSE-listed diversified industrials giant, Barloworld Goup, is expanding its specialised logistics solutions to the Arab states of the Gulf, it said on Monday. read more

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. has made two e-commerce acquisitions aimed at expanding its presence in the growing cooking and kitchenware market. The retailer said it has acquired CHEFS Catalog and assets of Cooking.com in two separate transactions.  read more

Paris - Economic growth in G20 countries climbed by 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2012, slowing only slightly from the 0.6% pace recorded in the previous three-month period despite heavy contractions across Europe, preliminary estimates from the OECD showed on Wednesday. read more

Cape Town - Slashing petrol prices worth up to £2 per fill-up of petrol have sparked a price war among supermarkets, in the wake of months of hikes, reported the UK's Mail Online. read more

New York - Hostess is moving ahead with plans to sell its Twinkies and other snack cakes to two investment firms after no other competitive offers were made. read more