Business Company Earnings News Headlines

AP - Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's No. 4 PC maker, said Thursday its quarterly profit rose 65 percent as strong sales in China and emerging economies offset weakness in the United States.

AP - Blockbuster Inc.'s second-quarter loss deepened, but the struggling movie rental chain showed some signs of progress by wringing more revenue from its stores while lowering its costs.

AP - Deutsche Telekom AG said Thursday its second-quarter net profit dropped 35 percent as the strength of the euro, the continued exit of traditional landline consumers and higher debt costs ate into revenues. However, Europe's biggest telecom maintained its full-year earnings forecast.

AP - Toyota's fiscal first-quarter profit plunged 28 percent from the previous year as slipping North American sales, a strong yen and rising material costs dented the earnings of the Japanese automaker.

Reuters - American International Group Inc posted its third consecutive quarterly net loss of more than $5 billion on Wednesday as it wrote down bad mortgage-related investments, sending its shares down almost 8 percent.

Reuters - Avis Budget Group Inc , a provider of vehicle rental services, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and said it was cutting jobs and reducing its fleet size to tackle the challenging travel environment, sending its shares up as much as 9 percent.

Reuters - Allianz beat expectations with a 29 percent fall in net profit to 1.524 billion euros ($2.36 billion) in the second quarter, despite losses at Dresdner Bank, but said it was abandoning its 2009 profit goal in face of difficult markets.

Reuters - Blackstone Group LP , the private equity company, reported lower quarterly profit on Wednesday, but still topped estimates, and said it sees increasing investment opportunities despite volatile markets.

AP - Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, said Wednesday it swung to a second-quarter loss on severance and other charges but still beat Wall Street expectations.

Reuters - Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted its fourth straight quarterly loss as it braced for a prolonged housing crisis by setting aside twice as much money for bad loans and setting plans to slash its dividend by at least 80 percent.