In Brief
Sentiment in Cyprus falls in August, survey shows NICOSIA (Reuters) – Economic sentiment in Cyprus fell 6.4 points in August on downbeat assessments from both consumers and businesses, a publicly funded survey showed yesterday. The island’s economic sentiment indicator fell to 60.8 points in August after an uptick in July. All Cypriot respondents reported a deteriorating business climate, the August survey from the Economic Research Centre of the University of Cyprus said. «Business sentiment in manufacturing showed the biggest decline,» the report said. Cyprus technically fell into a recession in the second quarter of 2009, showing the second successive quarter of negative growth of 0.5 percent, provisional official data has shown. The island’s economy represents 0.2 percent of the eurozone economy. RTL Group sees full-year profit despite fewer ads RTL Group, Europe’s biggest television company, anticipates a full-year profit as cost cuts will make up for lower advertising sales amid the current economic slowdown. Shares in RTL, which operates 45 TV channels and 32 radio stations in 11 countries, rose as much as 12 percent in Brussels trading. The company is «very convinced» it will post positive net income for the full year, CEO Gerhard Zeiler said on a conference call yesterday. RTL posted a first-half loss of 105 million euros ($150 million), compared with a profit a year earlier, as advertising clients slashed spending and the company wrote down the value of its businesses in the UK and Greece. RTL suffered as the slumping European economy forced consumers and advertising clients to reduce spending. It will slash costs at its core business «significantly» and «gradually» lower its production and acquisition expenses, Zeiler said. The Luxembourg-based company reiterated that it sees «no significant change» in the European TV advertising market in the second half of 2009 and its profit level will be «considerably down compared to 2008.» First-half results were also hurt by goodwill impairments for RTL’s Five channel in the UK and its Alpha Media business in Greece, RTL said. (Bloomberg) Airport contracts Foreign firms including South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries, Greece-based Consolidated Contractors Co and India’s Dodsal have been qualified to bid for three Omani airport contracts, officials said yesterday. «The Salalah airport will be converted from domestic to international, while the new Sohar airport is for airfield works and it will be Phase 2 for Duqm airport,» an official involved in the tender told Reuters. The submission of the bids for Salalah airport in the south of Oman is set for September 21, and September 28 for Duqm and Sohar, he said, adding local contractor Galfar and Turkey’s Makyol were among the bidders. (Reuters) Intralot earnings Intralot, the world’s second-largest lottery systems provider, is seen posting a 34 percent drop in first-half net profit, hurt by a weaker sports betting business and new operation start-up costs. Six analysts polled by Reuters forecast net profit of 39.9 million euros ($57 million) on average, down from 60.3 million a year ago. (Reuters)
