The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views
The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views |
| Nokia axes dividend to save cash for Lumia push Posted: 24 Jan 2013 07:22 AM PST  A man holds a Nokia smartphone in this photo illustration taken January 23, 2013. — Reuters pic The company, which has fallen a long way behind market leaders Samsung and Apple in the smartphone race, said today that the suspension of the dividend, which cost €750 million (RM3 billion) last year, would give it "strategic flexibility". Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, who was hired from Microsoft in 2010 and promptly tied the company's fortunes to the untried Windows Phone operating system made by his former employer, said the company was "still moving through a very challenging transition", but had "removed the cloud of liquidity concerns". Nokia ended the year with net cash of €4.4 billion, down 22 per cent on a year earlier, but up on the previous quarter and above the market estimate of 3.4 billion, mostly due to a turnaround at Nokia Siemens Networks, its telecom equipment venture with Siemens. The company has also been making better use of its rich portfolio of technology patent, winning royalty payments from other technology companies. It also received US$250 million from Microsoft in the quarter in return for using Windows Phone. While Nokia, which this month flagged a return to underlying profitability on cost cuts and stronger sales of its new Lumia smartphones, appeared to gain some breathing space through cost cuts, analysts said it was too early to call a recovery as it was still a long way behind smartphone rivals. Tough turnaround Elop is under intense pressure to show he made the right decision in February 2011 to drop Nokia's own operating system in favour of Windows Phone. He has said it would take two years for a successful transition, and that period is almost over. "It is too early to say that they have definitely made it," said Alandsbanken analyst Lars Soderfjell, though Nokia's cash flow was stronger than he had expected. Many see the new Lumia 820 and 920, which use the latest Windows Phone 8 software, as make-or-break models for Nokia. Nokia said it sold 4.4 million Lumia devices in the fourth quarter, but analysts estimate Nokia's market share in the high-margin smartphone business is only around 5 per cent. And while Apple's results overnight fell short of expectations, it still shipped a record 47.8 million iPhones in the December quarter. "It doesn't look like Apple would start losing their volume strength in any remarkable way," said Pohjola analyst Hannu Rauhala. Nokia shares were down 4.9 per cent at €3.32 at 1245 GMT (2045 Malaysian time). They had risen 70 per cent over the past three months, but were also the most shorted among the euro zone's blue chips ahead of the results. — Reuters |
| Grumpy Torres gets another vote of no-confidence Posted: 24 Jan 2013 07:04 AM PST
Sadly for the Spaniard (picture), that was not the case. As votes of no-confidence go, it was about as emphatic as it gets with the former Atletico Madrid and Liverpool goal machine left kicking his heels on the bench for 81 minutes. Chelsea began the second leg in south Wales 2-0 down and desperate for goals, yet Benitez refused to unleash Torres on Swansea's defence until the game was almost up. The manager bemoaned his side's lack of firepower in their quest to overturn a first-leg deficit, a complaint completely undermined by his failure to trust Torres to partner new signing Demba Ba in attack. Since Chelsea signed Ba from Newcastle United, Benitez has refused to start the pair together. A cup semi-final appeared to be the perfect moment to veer away from his policy yet Benitez, who has been at pains to defend Torres from the criticism that regularly comes his way, refused to bend. When Torres did finally get on the pitch he hardly got a kick as Swansea proved that the best way to defend a lead is to stop the opposition having the ball. "We knew we had to score three goals, but we didn't take the chances we had, especially in the last 20 minutes of the first half," Benitez told Chelsea's website. "We had pressure, they were dealing with it well and we have to congratulate them, we cannot change the situation again. "I was convinced that we could score. We were on top of them and pushing and pushing, but we didn't take our chances. This was the same as in the first leg. "We knew we had to score first to change things." It is two years since Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich broke the British transfer record to sign Torres from Liverpool. Three managers, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo, all struggled to consistently inspire the off-key striker, and Benitez appears no closer to sparking the player into life. Torres has not scored since the 8-0 thrashing of Aston Villa on Dec. 23 and he cut a grumpy figure on the bench on Wednesday. With his reputation tarnished it is hard to see any of Europe's leading club offering Torres a way out of Stamford Bridge while his wages and the fee Chelsea would demand also make a transfer window move unlikely. So it seems that Benitez, an interim manager who may not even be at Chelsea next season, must find a way of reviving Torres if Chelsea's season is not to fizzle out completely. Out of the Champions League and effectively out of the Premier League title race, Chelsea travel to third tier Brentford this weekend in the FA Cup clinging on to their last realistic chance of silverware this season. – Reuters |
LONDON, Jan 24 – With Chelsea needing to score twice to level up their League Cup semi-final against Swansea City, it should have been safe to assume that US$79 million (RM240.26 million) striker Fernando Torres would be a central part of manager Rafa Benitez's game plan on Wednesday.| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: ALL To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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