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Sentinel Management Group Inc., a cash-management firm, who froze client withdrawals on Tuesday, filed for bankruptcy after a federal judge blocked it from selling assets to Citadel Investment Group.

Illinois-based firm, which managed about $1.6 billion of assets, said while filing in the bankruptcy court Illinois that board decision is in the best interests of the corporation, its creditors and other interested parties that a voluntary petition be filed; in an effort to restructure the indebtedness of the corporation.

Low cost airline Ryanair has acquired majority stakes in Aer Lingus after buying 16 million shares from an unnamed seller.

The aggressive cut-price carrier has spent $49.52m or $3.15 per share for additional 16 million shares, which increases its stake from 25% to 28%. The airline had previously held a 25% stake in Aer Lingus.

Hewlett-Packard’s third-quarter profit beats Wall Street’s estimates, as the technology bellwether continued to cash in on brisk sales of personal computers.

HP’s net income for the third quarter was $1.78 billion or 66c per share, a 29% jump from the $1.38 billion in the year-ago period. Company’s revenues grew 16% to $25.4bn in the third fiscal quarter, led by a sharp increase in sales of personal computers.

Qantas Airways’ annual profit surged 50% to a record $587 million, despite a 19% hike in its annual fuel bill because of higher oil prices.

Qantas revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, rose 11% to $12.4 billion, whereas its pretax profit mounts to $841 million, in line with market expectations.

Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, plans to reduce workforce by 14% amid the fear of declining sales of its top-selling drug, Aranesp.

Board decision will leave some 2,200 to 2,600 people jobless, but will save $700 million approximately. After hit hard by decreasing sale of its best selling drug Aranesp, company quickly enforced restructure plan, which aims to save more than $1 billion in 2008.

The Blackstone Group’s second-quarter net income surged, more than tripled on fees and profits from its leveraged buyouts.

Revenue growth was strong across all four sectors of the firm, especially the core private equity and real estate units. But Blackstone acknowledged that the freeze in the credit markets can further damage its business.

RBS-led consortium is climbing step-by-step to ABN Amro. Shareholders in RBS voted overwhelmingly in favor of $97.2bn bid for Amro as 94.5% of RBS shareholders support the deal at an extraordinary meeting in Edinburgh.

RBS shareholders follow their counterparts at Santander and Fortis in approving the deal. The consortium is considered a strong favorite to win ABN after an acrimonious battle.

UK’s Flood not only inundates houses, but the profits of Aviva also flux in it.

Britain’s largest insurer, Aviva asserts that the recent bad weather, across the UK has cost the insurance firm $812.91m (£400m) so far. The firm discloses that the June’s flood and storms back in January had cost it $477.58m (£235m), while July’s floods would contribute a further $335.32m (£165m).

Despite corruption charges, BAE, the British defense firm has posted higher-than-expected profit, thanks to insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BAE’s half-year revenues rise by 10% as its pre-tax profit increased to £657m ($1.4bn), compared to $768.21m (£378m) a year earlier. Defense Company’s operating profits surge 19% to $1,31bn (£643 million), beats expectation of $1,23bn (£614 m).

American International Group Inc. (AIG) net profit for the second fiscal quarter jumped 34%, amid the mortgage insurance woes that loses $78-million.

The New York-based company, the world’s largest insurer, sought to calm investors’ nerves about its exposure to the home mortgage market, but some analysts remained concerned. The president and chief executive, of AIG, Martin J. Sullivan, said:

We continue to be very comfortable with our exposure to the U.S. residential mortgage market, both in our operations and our investment activities

In the second-quarter, insurance giant’s net earning surged to $4.28 billion, or $1.64 a share, from $3.19 billion, or $1.21, a year earlier. Despite, volatility in the subprime mortgage, company’s quarterly result succeed to push its shares up in the New York Stock Exchange as in late electronic trading, A.I.G. shares rose to $66.66 a share from their close at $66.48.

A.I.G’s overall profit, excluding certain items rose to $4.63 billion, or $1.77 a share, up from $4.16 billion, or $1.58, a year earlier, whereas analysts were expecting $1.62 a share earning.

US insurance market was in a great crunch, due to weakness in the U.S. housing market, which eroded its $78-million compared to year-ago income of $110m. But the higher premiums in life and property insurance had successfully offset a drop at its consumer finance arm in the quarter.

Quarter result also reported lower operating profit for its consumer finance arm as it dropped to $58 million from $199 million. Delinquencies and defaults on second mortgages, a category that includes home-equity loans and lines of credit, were the major contributors to the mortgage unit’s poor performance in the latest quarter, but losses on policies covering primary home loans also rose.

Despite volatility in the US house market, AIG made profit in the quarter, but for latest quarter, it is not looking like to make work again and mortgage insurance crises can also affect its annual results.

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Via: New York Times