Leading home-builder of the country, Persimmon has reported a rise in its profits of more than 10% after seeing a period of strong sales in the spring season.

The company has reported a pre-tax profit of 101.4 million pounds in the first six months of this year compared to 9.8 million pounds of the same time period of last year. The company has said that it was much focused on reducing the debts and increasing the margins.

China’s second-ranking wireless operator, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. Has recently posted a steeper-than-anticipated drop in its net profit for the first-half of 2010. The carrier said that its whopping 54 percent drop in the net profits resulted largely from increased spending on mobile phone subsidies.

The Dutch brewer Heineken has seen a rise in its profit in the last six months despite of reducing beer sales.

The net profit of the company has climbed up to 621 million euros in the first six months of this year, which was up by 17% in the same time period of last year.

According to the company, the rise in profit was boosted by the cost cuts and the company achieved profit despite of a 2.3% fall in its beer sales.

The bookstore chain of US, Barnes & Noble has seen a loss in the three months between the months of April to June because of the legal costs which were incurred in a dispute with its major shareholders.

The bookstore chain has reported a net loss of 63 million dollars in the second quarter of the year compared to a profit of 12 million dollars in the same time period of a year before.

The world's largest advertising group WPP has reported pre-tax profits of 224 million pounds up by 36% in the first six months of this year.

Women's clothing retailer AnnTaylor Stores Corp has informed that it has posted a superior sales report in the second quarter of the year. The company has received better sales from its merchandise in various part of the globe.

The sales of the Ann Taylor chain have gone up by 19.6% in the second quarter of the year.