Taking Apple as an example, a quick search of British sites yielded the following:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/inside-t...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14196153

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14181329

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/18/apple-htc-a...

...all of which use Apple as singular. In fact, I didn't come across any article that used Apple as plural.