DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Global dividends slide in Q3 as miners drag
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Global dividends fell 0.9% to $421.9 billion in the third quarter due to lower special dividends and a small number of corporations making large cuts to investor remuneration, a report showed on Wednesday. Janus said total dividends were slightly better than expected in the quarter despite lower one-off special payouts and exchange rate effects. "Special dividends have decreased, reflecting less M&A activity and the disappearance of windfall profits in sectors like mining," he added. The largest cuts to payouts were made by Brazilian oil group Petrobras (PETR4.SA) and Australian miner BHP (BHP.AX). More than half of mining companies reduced their payouts while 89% of companies overall raised their dividends or held them during the period, the report said.

Persons: Janus Henderson, Janus, Ben Lofthouse, Banks, Danilo Masoni, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: MILAN, Petrobras, PETR4, BHP, Chemicals, China Construction Bank Corp, China Mobile, HK, Thomson Locations: Brazil, Taiwan, Czech, Asia, PetroChina, Europe

Czech Power Company CEZ Says Its Net Profit Is $1.3 Billion for 3 Quarters of the YearThe Czech power utility CEZ says its net profit was $1.3 billion for the three quarters of the year, a 43% decline from a year ago

Persons: Czech Power Company CEZ Organizations: Czech Power Company Locations: Czech

The winner of the lucrative contract will then have an option to build three more nuclear reactors in the country. Last year, the Czech government excluded Russia’s energy giant Rosatom and China’s CNG from the tender process on security grounds. Political Cartoons View All 1227 ImagesPrime Minister Petr Fiala said Russian participation in the project, which is critical for the Czech Republic's energy security, was “unimaginable” following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Czech Republic already relies on six nuclear reactors to generate more than a third of its total electricity. In a separate deal, CEZ had signed a deal with U.S. energy giant Westinghouse Electric Co. to supply nuclear fuel for the Dukovany nuclear plant, eliminating dependence on Russia for such fuel.

Persons: Korea’s, CEZ, Petr Fiala Organizations: U.S, Westinghouse, France’s EdF, Union, Westinghouse Electric Co Locations: PRAGUE, Czech, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Dukovany, Austria, Germany, Central Europe, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Russia

☆ Exclusive: CEZ plans to bid for Czech gas distribution network GasNet
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Electricity transmission lines carry power from CEZ's Ledvice coal-fired power plant near the village of Ledvice, Czech Republic, February 9, 2016. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File PhotoPRAGUE, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Czech electricity producer CEZ (CEZP.PR) plans to bid for the country's gas distribution network GasNet if it goes on sale, CEZ's deputy chairman said, as it would complement CEZ's expansion into gas, a transitional fuel in the shift from coal to clean energy. Pavel Cyrani told Reuters that CEZ would bid when a formal sale process is launched for GasNet, adding the unit would also be a good fit for CEZ's electricity distribution business. GasNet, owned through Czech Gas Network Investments by a consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management and including British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and Allianz Capital, covers 80% of the country's gas distribution through a network of 65,000 km of gas pipelines. "Having gas distribution in the hands of a strong local player would clearly help us in this effort," a spokesman said.

Persons: David W Cerny, Pavel Cyrani, Cyrani, Macquarie, GasNet, Jan Lopatka, Jason Hovet, Susan Fenton, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Czech Gas Network Investments, Macquarie Asset Management, Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Allianz Capital, Thomson Locations: Ledvice, Czech Republic, Czech, Prague, Ukraine

☆ Czech government will try to meet 2023 budget deficit target, PM says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PRAGUE, June 4 (Reuters) - The Czech government will try to meet its 2023 budget deficit target of 295 billion crowns ($13.4 billion) although the gap almost expanded to that level already in May, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Sunday. The central state budget deficit reached 271.4 billion crowns in January-May, its highest level ever for that period, hit by higher pension payments, spending on energy price subsidies and growing debt servicing costs. "It has not been evolving well, but I still cannot say that we will not meet (the deficit target)," Fiala said in a live debate on CNNPrima News TV station. Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said on Thursday that his ministry will next week propose savings worth at least 20 billion crowns in this year's budget to stem the swelling deficit. ($1 = 22.0100 Czech crowns)Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Petr Fiala, Fiala, Zbynek Stanjura, Robert Muller, Emelia Sithole Organizations: CNNPrima News, European Union, Finance, Thomson Locations: PRAGUE, Czech

☆ Three companies vie to build new Czech nuclear plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Czech Republic has been a strong backer of nuclear energy as a carbon-free power source for the future, unlike European Union neighbours Germany and Austria. CEZ plans to build three more nuclear units - on top of the one now planned - at its Dukovany and Temelin nuclear sites, as the country diversifies away from coal. It is also planning to build smaller modular nuclear power plants. Poland picked Westinghouse last month to build its first nuclear power plant, and also agreed to cooperate with South Korea on potential further units. In 2020, the cost of the project - not including financing and inflation - was estimated at 6 billion euros ($6.2 billion).

☆ Slovakia's InoBat eyes electric vehicle battery plant in Serbia
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Nick Carey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Serbian government has agreed to provide funding of up to 419 million euros ($431 million) including grants and tax incentives to support the project, InoBat said. InoBat has said it wants to build a gigafactory in western Europe and one in eastern Europe. Last month InoBat said it had signed a declaration of intent with Spain's government to build a gigafactory in Valladolid. The company aims to build battery production capacity in 4 GWh increments starting in 2025 - costing around 350 million euros each - as contracts are signed. Ideanomics is an investor in InoBat, as are mining group Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Czech utility CEZ (CEZP.PR).

☆ Czech proposed power revenue cap to bring much higher revenue than expected, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Industry Ministry has proposed caps ranging from 70 euros per megawatt/hour of electricity made at nuclear power plants to 230 euros for power made at some lignite plants. "As proposed, it will bring much higher revenue than 15 billion," Stanjura told reporters. Overall, he said the ministry's forecast of raising 100 billion crowns from the windfall tax and the revenue caps next year was conservative and final takings may be higher, he said. The company expected to be most affected by the revenue caps and the windfall tax is the majority state-owned electricity producer CEZ (CEZP.PR). The Czech revenue cap proposal goes beyond the EU agreement by suggesting validity from Dec. 1 this year until the end of 2023, while the EU agreement only runs until June 30, 2023.

The status of Russian metal has been a key talking-point at the many seminars and parties this week in London. Should the LME suspend deliveries of Russian aluminium, copper and nickel or should it maintain its policy of not preempting official sanctions? German copper producer Aurubis (NAFG.DE) has joined U.S. aluminium producer Alcoa (AA.N) in publicly calling for an LME ban on Russian metal. There is a lot of metal supply at stake here. An LME ban on deliveries of Russian metal would clearly have significant ramifications for both LME and physical market pricing.

☆ CEZ seeks higher capacity at Dutch LNG terminal, wants damages from Gazprom
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PRAGUE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Czech power utility CEZ is in talks to raise the capacity it has booked at a new Dutch liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, Chief Executive Daniel Benes said on Czech Television on Sunday. Benes said CEZ would also seek damages from Russia's Gazprom for failing to meet its contract obligations in gas supplies. CEZ has booked 3 billion cubic metres per year in LNG import capacity - about a third of Czech annual consumption -- at the new Dutch LNG terminal at Eemshaven, and has started receiving first shipments through there. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We are in talks on an increase in the Netherlands," Benes said. He said CEZ would seek damages, which he said in the order of hundreds of millions to low single billions of crowns, through arbitration.

☆ Prague bourse warns govt about rattling markets the way UK did
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PRAGUE, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Czech politicians should avoid rattling markets the way Britain has recently, as the country discusses plans for a windfall tax, the Prague Stock Exchange's chief said on Friday, after comments from ruling party members this week sent stocks tumbling. The Czech government has been discussing imposing a windfall tax on excessive profits in the energy and banking sectors since the summer, which has weighed on markets. "Trust is the fundamental value that every capital market aims for in its investors," Prague Stock Exchange chairman Petr Koblic wrote in a commentary in financial daily Hospodarske Noviny. The Czech government is putting a windfall tax in place to fund measures such as a cap on electricity prices, aimed at easing the impact of Europe's energy crisis on its citizens. Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said late on Wednesday the government was still "leaning" towards applying it from 2023.

Czech markets were jolted on Wednesday on news the government could widen its proposed tax on excessive profits to include 2022 earnings, earlier than existing plans applying only to 2023-2025. Stanjura told reporters after the government met that the cabinet still leaned towards putting the windfall tax in place for 2023, calming markets somewhat. A government source had earlier said legal implications for the tax were still being considered. The windfall tax should be imposed on banks with more than 6 billion crowns ($240 million) of net interest income in 2021. A windfall tax would help cover protective measures such as a cap on electricity prices.

☆ Krejcikova back in business with victory over Swiatek
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Tennis - WTA 500 - Ostrava Open - CEZ Arena, Ostrava, Czech Republic - October 9, 2022 Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova celebrates with a trophy after winning the singles final against Poland's Iga Swiatek REUTERS/David W CernyOct 10 (Reuters) - Czech Barbora Krejcikova edged world number one Iga Swiatek in the duel between French Open champions in Ostrava on Sunday to continue her late flourish in an injury-hit season. The 26-year-old climbed to a career-high ranking of two in February before being sidelined for months due to an elbow injury. She failed to make another semi-final until winning two titles in consecutive weeks in Tallinn, Estonia, and at home in Ostrava. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterKrejcikova's 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3 win handed twice French Open winner Swiatek her first defeat in a final since 2019. "It was difficult because I think the beginning of the season was great," Krejcikova told the WTA following her win that took three hours and 16 minutes.

Search resuls for: "CEZ"

13 mentions found