Tag: losses

Car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings has seen losses narrow significantly over the fourth quarter of financial year, following a recovery in the key US car rental market and a cost cutting drive.

While the New Jersey based organisation reported a net loss of $30.9 million (£19 million) for the quarter, this compares to a $1.21 billion (£0.8 billion) loss for the same period a year ago.

Foreign visitor numbers to Japan slumped at the fastest rate in nearly four decades due to the global downturn, swine flu fears and a strong yen, according to new data released by the Japan National Tourism Organisation.

International visitor numbers to Japan in 2009 fell 18.7 percent to 6.79 million from a record 8.35 million the previous year.

We believe Japan has a lot to attract foreign tourists, but the year 2009 was hit by the yens rise, which made trips to Japan more expensive when the travel industry was reeling from an economic slump, a JNTO researcher said.

Scares over the new influenza also contributed to the drop, he said.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Rain from Tropical Storm Ida further slowed the cotton, soybean and sweet potato harvest in Mississippi, where crop losses were devastating even before the storm hit, a state agriculture official said on Thursday.

"We're seeing catastrophic losses," Andy Prosser, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, said in a phone interview.