Wednesday newspaper round-up: Ukraine, Lloyds, Yahoo

16th Apr 2014 07:20

In the early hours of the morning Ukraine began its "anti-terrorist" operation in the northern part of the Donetsk region. The country's President described it as "phased, responsible and balanced". Ukrainian military units took up positions around the region, setting up checkpoints along key roads. In one incident, soldiers repelled an armed mob from a military air base, The Wall Street Journal Europe reports. One of the most senior figures in Lloyds Banking Group's foreign exchange division, Darren Coote, has quit, it has emerged. That follows the regulator's investigation into the alleged manipulation of the world's biggest market. Sources familiar with the matter said Coote in fact left the division last week, but was apparently for 'personal reasons' and not related to the inquiry. Lloyd's declined to comment. The above follows the suspension, two months ago, of Martin Chantree, one of its foreign exchange traders, whom Lloyd's emphasised had not been accused of any wrongdoing, The Times reports. Yahoo! and Intel rose in after-hours trading following their latest quarterly results. Stock in the former shot up by 6%, with its performance during the period having been buoyed by its stake in Alibaba, which is expected to soon float on the US market. The company managed a rise of 2% in its revenues from display advertising, its main business area. The chipmaker, on the other hand, saw its shares gain 1%. The company is trying to tap into increased demand for wearable computing devices, The Times reports.Department store chain House of Fraser reported record revenue for last year thanks to booming internet and mobile sales. Turnover grew by 3% on a like-for-like basis to reach £1.2bn, on total revenue that was up by 3.6%. Earnings jumped by 8.3% to £60.2m. E-commerce sales soared 41% and now represent 12.2% of total income, The Scotsman writes. BSkyB has tied up with Twitter to launch a new offering which the company hopes will encourage the social network's 15m UK users to consume more of its programming. The new technology will allow viewers to either remotely record shows or stream them through Sky's TV on-demand software, The Daily Telegraph says. Following a rough Christmas that saw pre-tax profit contract by 25% to £85.2m Debenhams is negotiating with 12 suppliers, including Sports Direct, to increase sales of branded products. As a part of its efforts it is cutting promotions and rejigging space in 40 of its 158 UK shops, with the aim of being able to offer more products from other popular brands. However, the firm's chief, Michael Sharp, was adamant that the above does not mark a change of strategy from its policy of increasing Designers at Debenhams exclusive ranges, The Daily Express reports. AB