OPERATING PROFIT NEWS ON FASTMOVING

Sony Corp reported a higher than expected first-quarter operating profit on Thursday, boosted by strong sales of its flagship Xperia smartphones in Japan and rising shipments of image sensors to phone makers.  read more

Musica, the South African music and entertainment retailer, is optimistic that the arrival of iTunes in South Africa will complement its offering and stimulate the local music industry. read more

Johannesburg - Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM] expects no growth in margins until the end of 2013 as the unit of Wal-Mart Stores forges ahead with an aggressive cut-price strategy to double market share in food sales. read more

Hot on the heels of a sturdy operating profit announcement earlier this month, the Oceana Group, the biggest seller of canned fish in South Africa, reported that it had “zero” strikes in the past year, which was testimony to its good industrial relations. read more

Massmart’s first year as a Walmart subsidiary has delivered strong sales growth. Good trading momentum was maintained amid intensified competition, while the group invested significantly in stores and infrastructure.  read more

Zurich - The world's biggest food company Nestlé  read more

Poultry producer Astral Foods said yesterday it had sold its 50% stake in its bakery business for R96m to Fedoha Proprietary.  read more

Johannesburg - Integrated poultry producer Astral Foods [JSE:ARL] on Monday reported a 19% rise in diluted headline earnings per share from 959c to 1 145c for the year ended September 30 2011. read more

Branded fast-moving consumer packaged goods company Tiger Brands (TBS) said on Tuesday that it expected headline earnings per share (HEPS) to reflect an increase of between 10% and 15% for the year ended September 2011, from R13.93 previously. read more