Weak TV, laptop sales hurt Best Buy 3Q profit

New Weak TV, laptop sales hurt Best Buy 3Q profit

Lower-than-expected spending on TVs and other electronics sends Best Buy 3Q net income down

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Best Buy Co.'s third-quarter net income fell more than expected as it lost sales of TVs and laptops to competitors. It also cut its full-year outlook Tuesday.

Shares of the largest U.S. electronics chain fell nearly 13 percent in premarket trading as the results raised fears over the holiday season.

The company, which benefited when Circuit City went out of business last year, is facing stepped-up competition from online and discount stores.

Best Buy, based in Minneapolis, said its market share in TVs, mobile computing and video game software fell. Americans are also buying fewer TVs and other electronics. Best Buy said there were larger than expected industry declines in key U.S. consumer electronics categories for the three months ended Oct. 31.

"There remains a significant amount of business still ahead of us in the holiday selling season and we don't have complete visibility to how customers will behave over the next several weeks," said CFO Jim Muehlbauer.

Revenue in stores open at least 14 months fell 5 percent in the U.S., hurt by lower revenue from TVs and entertainment hardware and software. Best Buy sold fewer TVS, and prices have fallen as the industry works through a glut in TV supply.

That was partly offset by strength in mobile phones and tablet computers.

Net income in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 27, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, fell 4 percent to $217 million, or 54 cents per share, from $227 million, or 53 cents per share, last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected 61 cents per share.

Revenue fell 1 percent to $11.89 billion, from $12.02 billion last year. Analysts expected revenue of $12.45 billion.

Revenue in stores open at least 14 months fell 3.3 percent.

The measure is considered an important measure of a retailer's financial health because it excludes stores that open or close during the period.

But he said the company's view today is it now expects net income of $3.20 to $3.40 per share, from a prior range of $3.55 to $3.70 per share, hurt by lower revenue in the U.S. Analysts expect $3.59 per share.

Shares fell $5.27, or 12.6 percent, to $36.43 in premarket trading.

Biman grounds to a halt

Biman grounds to a halt

Biman grounds to a halt

Dhaka, Oct 28 (http://breakingnews99.blogspot.com) — Biman has cancelled all flights scheduled on Friday and Saturday, except Hajj flights.

The national flag carrier's public relations officer, Khan Mosharraf                               Hossain, told bdnews24.com that the airline was compelled to resort to such a measure because of an 'unprecedented situation'.

A pilots strike has crippled the national flag carrier. Biman had to cancel eight of its 15 flights on Thursday, although authorities had earlier vowed to keep things normal.

A brewing crisis came to a head when Bangladesh Airlines Pilots' Association (BAPA) went on strike on Tuesday to protest the suspension of four of its members including the acting president and general secretary.

Thursday saw Biman flight schedules in a shambles as more than half of its flights had to be cancelled.

Two international flights and one domestic flight have been delayed. Moreover, passengers of two flights were boarded on a single aircraft, a Biman schedule said on Thursday.

Khan Mosharraf Hossain, however, said the hajj flights had gone smoothly.

The carrier and pilots pointed the finger at each for the crisis.

Biman managing director Zakiul Islam told a press conference that the carrier will run according to its normal regulation. "Anyone who wants to create a turmoil will be dealt with strictly."

"Biman is facing an internal instability," the Biman boss stated referring to the pilots' strike.

FLIGHTS MUDDLED

The Biman PRO said eight flights—Dhaka-Bahrain-Kuwait, Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Delhi, Dhaka-Kathmandu, Dhaka-Abu Dhabi, Dhaka-Dubai, Dhaka-Cox's Bazar and Dhaka-Chittagong—were cancelled due to shortage of pilots.

Several other flights were delayed and rescheduled.

The national carrier on Thursday morning issued a notice to pilots warning them of stern action if they do not join work by 11am on Saturday.

Biman pilots have decided to defy the 48-hour ultimatum to join work.

M A Basit Mahtab, secretary general of the Bangladesh Airlines Pilot Association (BAPA), told a press conference at 2:30pm on Thursday that they will not even sit for a meeting with the authorities until the suspension of its four members are withdrawn.

Biman temporarily suspended four of its pilots on Tuesday. Immediately following the suspension, 116-strong BAPA went for a strike.

Biman officials who have flying experience were reassigned to fly planes including two directors and a director general. Moreover, seven contractually appointed pilots who are not members of BAPA were also flying planes.

Diabetes to double or triple in US by 2050

WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (breakingnews99.com) - Up to a third of US adults could have diabetes by 2050 if Americans continue to gain weight and avoid exercise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projected on Friday.

The numbers are certain to go up as the population gets older, but they will accelerate even more unless Americans change their behavior, the CDC said.

"We project that, over the next 40 years, the prevalence of total diabetes (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in the United States will increase from its current level of about one in 10 adults to between one in five and one in three adults in 2050," the CDC's James Boyle and colleagues wrote in their report.

"These are alarming numbers that show how critical it is to change the course of type-2 diabetes," CDC diabetes expert Ann Albright said in a statement.

"Successful programs to improve lifestyle choices on healthy eating and physical activity must be made more widely available because the stakes are too high and the personal toll too devastating to fail."

The CDC says about 24 million US adults have diabetes now, most of them type-2 diabetes linked strongly with poor diet and lack of exercise.

Boyle's team took census numbers and data on current diabetes cases to make models projecting a trend. No matter what, diabetes will become more common, they said.

"These projected increases are largely attributable to the aging of the US population, increasing numbers of members of higher-risk minority groups in the population, and people with diabetes living longer," they wrote.

Diabetes was the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States in 2007, and is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults under age 75, as well as kidney failure, and leg and foot amputations not caused by injury.

"Diabetes, costing the United States more than $174 billion per year in 2007, is expected to take an increasingly large financial toll in subsequent years," Boyle's team wrote.