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SAN FRANCISCO Adobe Systems on Thursday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $ 222.33 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with a profit of $ 173.72 million, or 35 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was $ 1.153 billion, up slightly from $ 1.152 billion. Adjusted profit was 61 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet on average were expecting a profit of 56 cents a share, on revenue of $ 1.1 billion. Shares of Adobe were up 1.8% in after-hours trading.

LONDON Britain’s Sage Group posted a 4 percent rise in profit on Wednesday after higher sales of subscriptions for IT support offset weaker demand for its software in key markets such as France and Spain. The company, whose software is used by more than 6 million small businesses to run payroll and accounts, posted adjusted pretax profit of 356.3 million pounds ($ 574 million) for the year to end-September. Analysts were expecting 346.6 million, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 21 brokers. Underlying revenue edged up 2 percent to 1.3 billion pounds, half the growth rate recorded in [...]

General Electric Co plans to unveil on Thursday a new push into service businesses, with a series of programs to help airlines, railroads and hospitals that use its heavy equipment operate more efficiently. The drive is part of the largest U.S. conglomerate’s effort to boost its margins and make more money in a sluggish economy, as sales of services are more profitable equipment than sales of jet engines, locomotives and other equipment. GE’s pitch is that by tweaking how they operate, its customers can cut their own costs. For example, a 1 percent cut in the amount of fuel the [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Dell Inc’s profit slid 47 percent, hurt by lower PC sales and weaker demand from large corporations, but the No. 3 personal computer maker said it expects revenue to grow as much as 5 percent in the current quarter. Dell shares fell 2.3 percent in after-hours trade. The company, once the world’s top PC maker and a pioneer in computer supply chain management, is struggling to defend its market share against Asian rivals like Lenovo. It is trying to bolster growth by focusing on products and services to corporations. The company founded by Chief Executive Michael Dell warned [...]

Viacom Inc reported a rise in quarterly profit, defying weak box-office sales and a challenging advertising environment. The company said on Thursday that fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 12 percent to $ 643 million even though revenue fell 17 percent. “At the end of the day, I think they are really focused on operating efficiency,” Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group, said. “It’s a company that can still grow its margin even in a weak advertising market.” Viacom’s shares rose nearly 3 percent to $ 49.32 in morning trading. Investors seemed undaunted by the challenges Viacom faces at [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Nvidia Corp. on Thursday reported a third-quarter profit of $ 209.1 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with a profit of $ 178.3 million, or 29 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was $ 1.2 billion, up from $ 1.07 billion. Adjusted profit was 39 cents a share. Analysts were expecting the chipmaker to report a profit of 30 cents a share, on revenue of $ 1.19 billion, according to a consensus survey by FactSet. For the current quarter, the company said it expects revenue in the range of $ 1.025 billion and $ 1.175 [...]

Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP on Thursday said the United States remained the world’s best place to invest, citing low interest rates and the recovering housing market, as it reported a return to profitability in the third quarter. The strong comments by Carlyle co-chief executive William Conway of faith in U.S. investment opportunities came after Wednesday’s massive sell-off on Wall Street as many investors gave a wary reception to President Barack Obama’s re-election victory. Carlyle said it invested $ 1.6 billion in equity in 86 new or follow-on investments in the third quarter. It has committed to invest more [...]

AOL Inc reported higher-than-expected revenue and profit on the strongest advertising growth the company has seen in seven years. AOL said on Tuesday that third-quarter revenue was flat at $ 531.7 million, ahead of analysts’ average estimate of $ 521.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Advertising revenue rose 7 percent to $ 340 million, while subscription revenue for AOL’s dial-up services fell 10 percent to $ 173.5 million. Subscription revenue had its lowest rate of decline in six years. AOL shares rose 11 percent to $ 39.61 in morning trade. “Things look great,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Andre Sequin [...]

Freddie Mac reported a third-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven by a U.S. housing market on the mend, and said it was not requesting additional funds from the U.S. Treasury to stay solvent. The government’s second-largest mortgage funding entity, which said its portfolio of late-paying loans was the lowest in two years, had sufficient income to make a $ 1.8 billion dividend payment to the Treasury. Freddie Mac had net earnings of $ 2.9 billion in the quarter that ended September 30, contrasting a $ 4.4 billion loss a year earlier. This is the first time Freddie Mac reported earnings since [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Demand Media Inc. on Monday reported a third-quarter profit of $ 3.2 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue excluding traffic-acquisition costs of $ 92.8 million. During the same period a year ago, the Internet content and media company lost $ 4.1 million, or 5 cents a share, on $ 78.1 million in sales, excluding the costs of acquiring traffic. On an adjusted basis, Demand Media would have earned 11 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Demand Media to earn 10 cents a share on $ 91.5 million in revenue. For its fourth quarter, [...]