Apple earnings fall despite rising iPhone sales

San Francisco: Apple’s quarterly earnings are still sagging even as sales of its iPhones are rising, a vexing phenomenon feeding investor worries about whether stiffer competition in the mobile device market will continue to undercut the company’s prosperity.

The fiscal fourth-quarter results announced on Monday closed the books on a sobering year that saw Apple’s market value plunge by about 25 per cent, or about $160 billion (Dh587.7 billion). The Cupertino, California-based company earned $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per share, during the three months ending September 28. That compared to income of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per share, last year.

The latest quarterly earnings topped the average estimate of $7.92 per share among analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 4 per cent to $37.5 billion — about $600 million above analyst predictions.

Third-quarter net loss of €91 million (Dh461.5 million) compared with a net loss of €969 million a year earlier, while revenue fell more than 20 per cent to €5.6 billion.

The struggling company said it sold 8.8 million Lumia smartphones, a 40 per cent increase from 3 million a year earlier and slightly more than markets had expected.

But that was not enough to keep Nokia Corp. from giving a negative outlook for the devices and services unit it has agreed to sell to Microsoft Corp. for $7.2 billion.

BP blamed a drop in refining margins for the decrease in net profit to $3.5 billion in the quarter ended September 30 from $5.28 billion in the same period a year earlier.

But investors were encouraged by the company’s plans to increase its quarterly dividend by 5.6 per cent, to 9.5 cents a share, payable in December.

Chief executive Bob Dudley also said the company plans to sell off $10 billion in assets before the end of 2015, with the proceeds set to go to shareholders, such as in the form of share buybacks.

Shares in BP were up 4.5 per cent in midday trading in London.

Kingdom Holding Co profit edged up 1%

Dubai: Kingdom Holding Co., an investment company controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, said on Tuesday its third-quarter net profit edged up 1 per cent on higher income from its investments.

Riyadh-listed Kingdom, which is building the world’s tallest tower in Saudi Arabia, said net profit for the quarter rose to 219.9 million Saudi riyals (Dh215.3 million), up from SAR217.8 million the same period last year, according to figures posted on the Saudi bourse website.

The investment group attributed the profit rise to an “increase in gain on investments and decrease in general and administrative expenses despite the increase in loss from associate and finance charges.”

Prince Al Waleed owns 95 per cent of Kingdom Holding, according to Zawya.com. He holds sizeable stakes in companies including Citigroup Inc. (C), News Corp. (NWS), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX).

Lloyds Q3 loss widens after loan insurance provision

Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, posted a wider third-quarter loss after setting aside an additional £750 million (Dh4.4 billion) to compensate clients wrongly sold loan insurance.

The net loss was about £1.3 billion in the three months to the end of September from £390 million in the year-earlier period, the London-based bank said in a statement on Tuesday. It reported £626 million of losses on asset sales.

The bank, which is in the midst of a massive restructuring after turmoil during the financial crisis, posted a third-quarter net profit of 577 million Swiss francs (Dh2.4 billion), from a 2.1-billion-franc loss a year earlier.

But operating profit slipped slightly to 6.2 billion Swiss francs.

Analysts polled by financial newswire AWP had expected the bank, the biggest in Switzerland, to report a net profit of 600 million francs and an operating profit of 6.6 billion francs.

The London-based but Asia-focused bank said its income and operating profit grew by a “low single digit” for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, compared to the same period last year.

Income for the third quarter was down by a “low single digit” percentage compared to the same period in 2012.

Operating profit for consumer banking for the first nine months of the year was down by a “mid single digit percentage”, with its operations in Korea having a “material impact”, the group said in a statement.