• Anheuser-Busch Companies (calendar Q4)
Quarterly earnings rose 9% as A-B increased prices and sold more products like its Michelob Ultra low-carbohydrate beer.
The company reported fourth-quarter profit of $294 million (€234.24m; £160.37m), or $0.36 a share, up year-on-year from $269.2 million ($0.32). Sales rose to $3.72 billion from $3.59bn.
The total volume of Anheuser-Busch products sold rose 2%. Domestic volume rose 0.5%.
• DaimlerChrysler (calendar Q4)
The maker of Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler and Jeep brands posted net of €448 million ($562.24m; £306.68m), compared year-on-year with €4.72 billion. The results included a €2 billion noncash write-down for a decline in the value of its 33% stake in aerospace company EADS.
Revenue fell 7.4% to €136.44 billion (from €147.37bn) due to the effect of the strong euro. Adjusted for currency variations, revenue increased 3%. The company will announce full Q4 figures and profits for Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz at a news conference February 19.
• Hitachi (fiscal Q3)
The Japanese electronics giant returned to profitability in its fiscal third quarter on strong sales of digital products such as hard-disk drives and liquid-crystal displays, as well as sales of its securities holdings.
Hitachi reported group net profit of ¥2.5 billion ($23.6m €18.84m; £12.89m) for the period ended December, compared with a ¥2.2bn loss a year earlier.
Group operating profit jumped to ¥63.3 billion from ¥12.9 billion. Sales rose 7% to ¥2.047 trillion from ¥1.921 trillion.
For the full year, Hitachi continues to expect net of 10 billion yen on sales of ¥8.35 trillion and an operating profit of ¥170 billion.
The company predicts more than ¥400 billion in group operating profit for the year ending March 2006 on sales of about ¥9 trillion.
• Toyota Motor Corporation (fiscal Q4)
Group net profit soared 60% in the October-December quarter due to brisk sales in the US and Asia, and cost cuts.
Toyota, which outsold Ford in 2003 to become the globe's second largest automaker, posted a group net profit of ¥286.47 billion ($2.72bn; €2.19bn; £1.48bn) for the quarter, up sharply from ¥179.36 billion in the year-earlier period.
Group sales rose 8.2% year-on-year to ¥4.386 trillion from ¥4.053; while group operating profit rose 11% to ¥401.6bn from ¥361.23bn.
• Vivendi Universal (calendar Q4)
The Paris-headquartered media company, reported a 50% fall in fourth-quarter sales on Thursday as the impact of disposals combined with difficult market conditions in many divisions. Disposals over the last year, dragged down sales to €7.22bn ($9.06bn; £4.94bn) compared with €15.97bn in the same period last year, broadly in line with analysts' expectations.
Sales at Universal Music fell 19% to €1.69bn owing to difficult trading conditions in France and Germany and currency effects. At Universal Entertainment sales slipped 4% to €1.76bn, but grew 14% on a pro forma basis and at constant currencies.
European pay-TV unit Canal Plus, recorded a 265% sales slide due to asset disposals, while the Games Division reported a drop in revenues of 13%, or 1% at constant currencies.
Vivendi also reported group sales for the full-year year ended December 31 of €25.48bn compared with €58.15bn in 2002. It also reiterated targets for 2003 of a substantial rise in operating income and cash flow.
Data sourced from multiple origins; additional content by WARC staff
