A round-up of other business news in brief
Eight staff let go at Hooke MacDonald
Estate agent Hooke MacDonald has let eight staff go in a bid to combat the property slump.
The company confirmed yesterday that it had let staff go from commercial property, administration and other areas, and about 30 staff remained.
Managing partner Ken MacDonald said the firm held on to staff for as long as it could, but was left with no choice. Commercial property sales had been particularly weak and the firm could not justify the staffing levels in that division, he said.
Romania's rating cut to 'junk' status
Fitch Ratings has cut Romania's credit to "junk" status in one of four emerging market downgrades and says the global crisis had put the ratings of South Korea, South Africa, Russia and Mexico at risk.
The agency's move comes after a Standard Poor's downgrade turned the east European country into the only EU member with a non- investment grade rating.
Fitch also cut its ratings on Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Hungary. - (Reuters)
iPhone tops US mobile sales
Apple's iPhone was the best-selling mobile handset in the US in the third quarter, surpassing the Motorola Razr, which has held top spot for the past three years, according to new data from NPD Group. Apple increased sales as the total number of handsets fell by 15 per cent.
Fannie Mae records loss of $29bn
Fannie Mae, the largest provider of funding for US residential mortgages, said it lost a record $29 billion (€22.77 billion) in the third quarter as it wrote down a tax-related asset that has buoyed capital and the housing slump deepened.
The quarterly loss is the fifth consecutive loss for the company, which has been operating under a government conservatorship since September. Its loss was $13 a share, compared with a loss of $1.56 a share a year earlier. - (Reuters)
M&T describes AIB as 'well run'
M&T, the US bank in which AIB holds a 24 per cent stake, described the Irish bank as "well run" in a presentation to a conference in Washington last Friday and said that in the past it had "done a pretty good job on capital management".
The US bank refused to be drawn on a possible sale by AIB of its stake in the company, which many financial analysts expect as part of the bank's plan to increase its capital levels.
9,500 jobs to go as DHL service closes
DHL's express delivery service within the US is to close with the loss of 9,500 jobs after Deutsche Post, its parent company, abandoned its attempt to compete with FedEx and United Parcel Service on their home turf.
The withdrawal from all ground and air domestic deliveries is a radical response by Deutsche Post to the widening losses in DHL's US express business. - (Financial Times service)
Circuit City files for protection
US electronics retailer Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, admitting it was struggling to persuade suppliers to keep its stores in stock for the holiday season.
With more than 700 stores and 40,000 staff, Circuit City is the largest US retailer to fall victim to the credit crisis.
Credit-card spending, which accounts for three- quarters of its business, was particularly hard hit. - ( Financial Timesservice)
