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Opening Bell: Netflix streams ahead, German finance minister laments Greek tragedy, Diageo sales dip

Netflix stocks are soaring this morning - despite the fact that the company's latest quarterly re...
Newstalk
Newstalk

08.06 16 Apr 2015


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Opening Bell: Netflix streams...

Opening Bell: Netflix streams ahead, German finance minister laments Greek tragedy, Diageo sales dip

Newstalk
Newstalk

08.06 16 Apr 2015


Share this article


Netflix stocks are soaring this morning - despite the fact that the company's latest quarterly report missed earning projections.

It posted a 24 percent sales gain over the last quarter - growing its subscriber numbers to over 62 million. 50 percent of these new subscribers were based in the US.

The company's share price has increased by over 40 percent since the start of 2015 - it is now worth more than prominent 'traditional' media companies like CBS and Viacom.

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Its profit dip was mainly down to "currency-related transaction losses."

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German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has been talking down the chances of a compromise between between Greece and its international creditors before the Eurogroup meeting of European finance ministers on Friday, April 24th.

Speaking in New York he said that "no one" realistically expects there to be a deal before then.

Mr Schaeuble has been a vocal critic of the Syriza-led Greek government - yesterday he said that it is "destroying" the progress that Antonis Samaras' government had made before January's election. He described the current situation as a "tragedy."

"Nobody has any idea how we can agree on an even more ambitious programme. You can’t spend hundreds of billions in a bottle without a bottom," he added.

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Dublin-based peer-to-peer currency exchange company, CurrencyFair has raised €10m in its latest funding round and plans to double its current number of employees here to about 100.

The company is also currently looking for larger offices than its current Ranelagh base.

In peer-to-peer exchanges, companies and individuals buy the foreign currency they require through the agency of a company like CurrencyFair, from another party that has the currency to sell, generally at a lower price than charged by banks and other financial institutions

CurrencyFair, which was established in 2009 and has operations in Australia, Britain and Poland, says it is currently trading transactions to a value of €5m per day.

One of its key target customer segments comprises of retired people and those who own properties abroad, who regularly send €2,000 or more in the form of pay, pensions and rents.

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Diageo has reported a dip in sales in its latest financial report - in the three months to March 31st they were down by 0.7 percent.

The group had a difficult 2014 - its revenues were flat in the second half of the year and its profits fell by 18 percent.

Overall Irish Diageo sales fell by 2 percent in 2014 - sales in its key-North American market also dipped by the same amount.

This will be the group's last quarterly report - from now on it will issue half-yearly statements.

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Ireland’s exports rose by 3 percent or about €240m in value during February to €8.5bn according to the latest figures published by the CSO.

Overseas sales were buoyed by continued strong output from the pharmaceuticals sectors, but also by a 9 percent increase in goods generally, indicating a positive performance across a broad range of industry sectors.

Economists expect exports to continue to grow in high single-digit numbers for the rest of the year - this will be aided by the weakness of the euro against both the dollar and sterling.

Ireland’s trade surplus  – the difference between our exports and imports, slipped by 1 percent in February, to €3.8bn due to a 6 percent increase in imports during the month.


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