Adobe shares dip as it plays safe

Shares in US software firm Adobe fell 6% in after-hours trading after it unveiled worse-than-expected profits and made a cautious quarterly forecast.

The firm, known for its Acrobat and Photoshop software, saw second-quarter profits rise 37% to $149.8m (£82m). Sales rose to $496m, helped by sales of its Creative Suite 2 software bundle. However, Adobe did not update its full-year guidance and forecast third-quarter profit of $470m to $490m, slightly below analysts' expectations. The company said it would provide a mid-quarter update. Its shares fell to $30.42 in electronic after-hours trading in New York.

Year ahead

Adobe is going through a period of transition where it is trying to raise its profile with business customers It wants to strengthen its position as a provider of software for managing electronic documents. The firm agreed to buy software firm Macromedia for $3.4bn earlier this year and said the deal was on track to be completed in the autumn. The Macromedia acquisition fits in with this strategy because it has a number of leading products for creating and livening up websites, for example with computer animation. Adobe said sales of its Creative Suite 2 suite, which includes Acrobat software for displaying electronic documents and its Photoshop software for editing digital photos, were going well. It has also introduced a new version of Acrobat. \1200\

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Ikea plans small high street shop

Swedish home-furnishing chain Ikea has unveiled plans to open a small-scale High Street store.

Ikea confirmed that the new-style shop reflects a change in its expansion tactics after planning permission for a large store in Stockport was refused. Its expansion plans have hit problems recently amid local opposition to its larger stores. The proposed site in Hillingdon, north-west London, will contain an Ikea store and 240 one and two-bed flats. It will also include a public square with facilities for other shops.

Planning battles

In February, the group lost out on the chance to build its first store in Greater Manchester when the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott turned down its plans for a huge out-of-town warehouse style store. It has faced opposition from local residents and councils in other parts of the country. Despite the problems, the group says it plans to open 10 new UK stores over the next three years. Its proposals for the Hillingdon site say that 117 of the 240 flats will be affordable units, which "will help support the Mayor's target for affordable housing".

"The concept will be very different to anything we have built before in the IKEA world," Ikea property manager Scott Cordrey said.

The company will submit its plans to the local council in two weeks time. It said that its location next to a London Underground station will increase accessibility. \1186\

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Ears recommended for biometrics

A scientist in the UK has proposed that the unique pattern inside each individual's ear could be used as a biometric identifier, in the same way fingerprints are used.

Professor Mark Nixon of University of Southampton told BBC World Service's Outlook programme that ears do not change much as we get older, unlike other body parts. This, he believes, means they are well suited for identification purposes, giving them a "unique advantage" in terms of age and expression.

"If you compare it with faces, the advantage of these is that they're both non-invasive biometrics - you don't have to make contact. But the disadvantage with faces is that they smile, they get old, you get wrinkles," he said.

"Your ear just carries on growing and it preserves its structure as you get older.

"That makes it quite advantageous in terms of biometrics."

Ear pattern

Biometric signatures are typically taken from teeth, fingerprints and the retina in our eyes. Various governments have been looking into using them for systems such as ID cards and passports. Biometrics have also already been put to use in areas such as computing, where a fingerprint can be taken to register a user. And biometric facial recognition has already become a reality, with one police force describing it as the biggest forensic breakthrough since DNA. But the problems of people's faces changing prompted Dr Nixon to look into using the ear as an alternative. He pointed out that, for example, people do not tend to "decorate" their ear, as opposed to their face, with things such as make-up. Two years ago the Canadian Passport Office ordered that smiling was banned from passport photos, as was wearing hairpieces that "substantially" altered a person's appearance.

"The problem with ears is obviously that you have hair, and sometimes the hair can obscure it, but with imaging technology we should be able to solve that," added Prof Nixon.

"What we've shown is that you can use it to recognise people, and people seem to be quite individual by their ear pattern." /2030/

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