PROFIT NEWS ON FASTMOVING

San Francisco - Apple on Tuesday reported a rise in its quarterly profit to $8.8bn on hot iPad sales but missed lofty Wall Street expectations due, in part, to iPhone lovers waiting for a rumoured new model.  read more

Target Corp. (TGT), the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, posted fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded some analysts’ estimates, helped by discount card initiatives and grocery sales.  read more

Esprit Holdings Ltd. (330), the clothing retailer pushing to recover from a three-year earnings decline, expects to save HK$1 billion ($129 million) by June 2015 as it adds sourcing offices in India and Indonesia.  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

South African grocery chain Spar Group on Wednesday reported a 3.3% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 522.8 cents for the year ended September 2011 from 506.3 cents a year ago read more

Retailer of building materials and associated products, Cashbuild (CSB) on Monday reported an 8% rise in revenue in the first quarter from the previous comparative period. read more

Packaging group Nampak (NPK) advised on Monday that its headline earnings per share for the year ended September 2011 from continuing operations, are expected to be between 15% and 25% higher than the 142.2 cents per share in 2010. read more