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☆ Unilever’s new boss whets appetite for split
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Unilever’s new chief executive is arguably a bit low fat. The appointment of board member Hein Schumacher, CEO of Dutch dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina, will instead have investors wondering whether Unilever needs to split its food and non-food arms. Unilever’s current share price is barely 40 euros per share. (By Aimee Donnellan)Follow @Breakingviews on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Rolls-Royce alarm is justified, if oddly expressed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Rolls-Royce's (RR.L) new boss Tufan Erginbilgic has the right sentiments, but arguably the wrong words. Cue a 4% drop in Rolls’ share price. In fairness, the Turkish-British national’s alarm is justified. Rolls is a bit like that: its share price has dropped 70% since 2014. JPMorgan reckons the sum of its parts implies an equity value of only 70 pence a share, 30% below the current share price.

☆ Artificial intelligence out-buzzes the blockchain
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The blockchain is so last year. The newest craze to excite investors is artificial intelligence. It’s a welcome boost for the $300 million company, whose stock price has been in the dumps since it merged with a blank-check firm in 2021. In 2017 shares in beverage company Long Island Iced Tea almost quadrupled in value after it rebranded as Long Blockchain. In the internet craze of the late 1990s, companies enjoyed a stock price boost by adding “dot-com” to their nameplate.

☆ Sainsbury’s latest bid chatter looks overblown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L) is in the crosshairs of discount shoppers. Although the news drove Sainsbury’s shares up 5%, a bid looks unlikely. Its 530 million pounds of EBITDA in 2022 was less than a quarter of Sainsbury’s, implying any deal would be a stretch. And Bestway would have to win over the Qataris and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky who together own nearly a quarter of Sainsbury’s. Before Friday’s share bump, Sainsbury’s traded at around 5.5 times its forward EBITDA compared to larger rival Tesco (TSCO.L) which trades on 6.5 times.

☆ Breakingviews: Toyota without Toyoda takes a small step forward
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Jan 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder of the world’s largest automaker, is handing over his title as Toyota (7203.T) president, which effectively means chief executive, to Koji Sato. The new boss is currently chief branding officer and president of the Lexus luxury unit. Sato’s role at Lexus might be more pleasing to climate activists who have lambasted Toyota for not transitioning to pure electric vehicles quickly enough. (By Pete Sweeney)Follow @Breakingviews on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ EU debt fears hinder U.S. green subsidies riposte
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Rebecca Christie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

That ties von der Leyen’s hands. Since September, von der Leyen has been pushing a “solidarity fund” to offset the imbalances that could arise out of freer-flowing EU subsidies. To move ahead, von der Leyen will just have to scatter some seeds and see what grows. Follow @rebeccawire on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a Jan. 17 speech at Davos on her forthcoming green technology strategy. Von der Leyen has since September been advocating for a “solidarity fund” to help smaller countries keep up with their bigger, richer peers.

As a result, investors have lowered their expectations for future interest rate hikes. Equities have recovered: the S&P 500 benchmark of leading stocks is up more than 5% in the past three months, boosting the paper wealth of many Davos executives and financiers. Companies typically cut back on investment in a downturn, but big groups have reasons to keep spending. Higher interest rates will prove more painful as households deplete savings built up during the pandemic. The Davos conflab has a well-deserved reputation for delivering a consensus which turns out to be wrong in the 12 months that follow.

☆ “Angry Birds” buyout may have more levels to beat
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Remember “Angry Birds”? Finland-listed Rovio Entertainment (ROVIO.HE) has used the round-headed creatures to create a long series of mobile games, two films, plush toys and more. That makes strong long-time brands like “Angry Birds” more attractive. Rovio’s share price was hovering around 7.50 euros on Friday morning, or 20% below Playtika’s bid. That’s probably because Rovio’s board, which said it learnt about the offer “nearly simultaneously” with its public release, sounded unimpressed.

☆ Cellnex takeover would disrupt key strategic pivot
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A week after founder Tobias Martinez resigned from his chief executive role, Cellnex (CLNX.MC) could also lose its shareholders. Meanwhile the departure of Martinez was expected to herald a return to sobriety in a sector where low interest rates and high leverage boosted consolidation. In the age of higher interest rates, it may be time for the former predator to become prey. Okdiario hints that Cellnex’s main shareholders, led by Italy’s Benetton family with an 8% stake, are inclined to sell. Everything has a price, but the high premium needed to convince shareholders to change tack amid a strategic pivot could be hard to justify.

☆ Snam rethink reflects Europe’s new energy reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MILAN, Jan 19 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Snam’s (SRG.MI) new business priorities highlight Europe’s revised energy needs. Indeed, Snam is reducing its investments in green projects like hydrogen and biomethane to 1 billion euros from 1.3 billion euros under the previous plan. That’s a 23% increase from the 8.1 billion euros unveiled under its previous 2021 to 2025 strategic plan. This compares with 1.3 billion euros under the previous plan. Snam said it targeted EBITDA growth of around 7% a year on average despite rising interest rates, up from 4.5% in the previous plan.

☆ Just Eat delivers right takeaway orders, finally
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Food delivery boss Jitse Groen has started the new year with a glimpse of hope. Pleasing investors after a round of missteps, the Dutch company also forecast a higher-than-expected EBITDA of 225 million euros this year. The 5.6 billion euro ($6 billion) group’s results point to a brighter future than what Just Eat experienced in 2022. Less than a year after acquiring U.S. rival Grubhub, Groen made a U-turn by putting it up for sale and writing down the value of the division by 3 billion euros. All this happened while investors started to lose faith in the high-growth low-profit food delivery sector: Just Eat Takeaway lost 60% of its market value last year.

☆ Bond spat is odd look for Melrose deal machine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

That process will have to decide, for example, whether the demerger constitutes a transfer of “substantially all” the company’s assets or not. The relevant bonds only amount to 130 million pounds. Redeeming them at par, rather than the current traded price, would only cost just over 20 million pounds. For a company that specialises in dealmaking and careful use of leverage, it all seems more trouble than it's worth. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ UK payments star can keep defying fintech slump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Volumes, a measure of the amount of currency that customers are changing, were 26.4 billion pounds - slightly lower than in the previous three-month stretch. Even after the selloff, Wise trades at a punchy 44 times forward earnings according to Refinitiv data. Volumes per retail customer indeed leapt to almost 4,000 pounds per quarter from April to September, before falling back to 3,500 pounds. Unlike other bombed-out fintech stocks, Wise’s revenue growth is strong, at 50% year-on-year in the most recent quarter, and it is highly profitable. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Investors sit on a plastic waste ticking bomb
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In the United States 73% of plastic waste ends up in landfills, where it takes up to 500 years to decompose. Using recycled plastic, while less energy-intensive than creating virgin plastic, can cost more overall. In March, 175 governments agreed to work out binding laws to end plastic pollution by end-2024. Reuters GraphicsFollow @LJucca on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSRepresentatives of 175 countries endorsed in March a landmark resolution to develop international legally binding instruments to end plastic pollution. In 2008 the Netherlands introduced a packaging waste management levy.

☆ EU’s frozen Russian assets plan is best put on ice
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Pierre Briancon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The European Commission has launched a plan to try using billions of dollars and euros of frozen Russian assets to help finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. Then an estimated 165 billion euros of frozen Russian reserves sitting in euro zone central banks. The pipe dream of confiscating Russian assets can only be a diversion. CONTEXT NEWSEstonia is preparing a legal framework that would allow the government to seize Russian assets frozen after the EU slapped sanctions on Moscow, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Jan. 9. The European Commission put forward on Nov. 30 a plan to seize and manage frozen Russian assets and use the proceeds for the war-torn country.

☆ Gaming’s winter of discontent bolsters M&A logic
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The holiday quarter is traditionally a bumper one for gaming groups, as punters stay home to play. As consumers and companies focus on “mega-brands”, smaller firms will struggle to attract staff, and match investment. Sony, for example, will need to bulk up in response to Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) $69 billion swoop on Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O). However, in a tougher environment, Guillemot will need to find some way to keep his hand on the joystick. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) (FAB.AD), the $50 billion Gulf lender that the brother of the United Arab Emirates’ president chairs, last week said it had considered a bid for the $23 billion UK-listed bank. Half its revenues come from Hong Kong, China and other Asian countries, where much of Abu Dhabi’s oil goes. StanChart’s commodities trading strength fits with Abu Dhabi’s keenness to become an energy trading hub. CONTEXT NEWSFirst Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) on Jan. 5 said it had considered a bid for London-listed Standard Chartered but was no longer doing so. The Abu Dhabi lender said it had been in "the very early stages of evaluating a possible offer".

☆ Smarter taxes could ease UK productivity crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Francesco Guerrera | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Britain’s sluggish productivity – the amount of output per hour worked – deters investment and limits growth, in turn depressing wages. After keeping pace with other developed countries for decades, UK productivity has grown by 0.3% a year since 2008. That is a third of the 0.9% averaged by G7 members, and well below the 1.2% rate recorded by the United States, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In 2021, gross fixed capital formation, a measure of investment, accounted for 17% of UK GDP, compared to 24% in France and 21% in the United States, according to the World Bank. Despite a long-standing scheme for research and development, UK businesses still only fund 55% of total R&D spending, below the 63% of the United States, according to a Cambridge University study.

Separately, Apple may allow other companies to set up app marketplaces on its iPhone, Bloomberg reported. But that won’t trouble Amazon much: private-label sales were 1% of its total, founder Jeff Bezos told the Congress in 2020. Any offer from Apple to allow competing app stores carries a similar risk. Chief Executive Tim Cook could conceivably try the same trick with third-party iPhone app stores, for example by making users plug their device into a computer. These include allowing app stores operated by third parties on its iPhone, according to the report.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is gearing up to supply cars, and the chips and batteries that go into them, to global marques. It sees automakers entrusting the company with production in Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the United States and beyond. Getting there requires Foxconn ditching a tried and tested business model. To make smartphones, the company relies on a few factories it owns in China and it has little say over the underlying supply chains and which components to use. Foxconn has also tied up with Ohio-based Lordstown Motors (RIDE.O) in the United States; its factory is already making electric pickup trucks and could start supplying to other American brands within a year.

☆ Soccer giants’ new owners may get tiny returns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Streisand Neto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Financial Times reported that PSG’s Qatari owners wanted to offload 15% of the French champions. Recent deals valued the National Football League’s Denver Broncos and basketball’s Utah Jazz at over 9 times revenue, according to Forbes. Possible Man United, Liverpool and PSG owners might hope that the teams will eventually reach such valuation heights. Fenway Sports Group would consider new shareholders for Liverpool, having frequently received expressions of interest from third parties, the English Premier League club’s owners said on Nov. 7. The Financial Times reported on Nov. 28 that Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari owners were considering selling 15% of the club.

As the cost of signing up new customers rises, “lifetime value” is set to become must-use jargon for technology executives, investors and analysts in 2023. The concept of lifetime value is not new, but a common definition remains elusive. The problem is that everyone seems to have a different definition of lifetime value. But lifetime value isn’t a silver bullet, as Gurley noted a decade ago. As with previous buzzwords, investors may find that references to lifetime value do more to confound than clarify.

If more female fans tune in, they will help Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali fuel revenue at his motor-racing division. Around 40% of F1 fans are now female, up 8% from 2017, and more women are attending races too, Domenicali said in November. One way to accelerate the trend could be featuring female drivers. She also boasts a fanbase of over half a million social media followers – more than the W Series itself. Unfortunately for Formula One, when financial pressures ended W Series 2022 early, she absconded to Andretti Autosport’s team for the U.S. IndyCar NXT races.

☆ I write and direct Christmas movies. It's easy to fall into a formula — this is how we try and keep ours fresh.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Jack Needham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Sandra L. Martin says it's a "huge challenge" to keep Christmas movies "fresh." I've directed 12 films so far, and I've done three Christmas movies in the past two years. I hadn't made a Christmas movie until 2020When COVID-19 locked everybody down, all of our work was canceled. Keeping Christmas movies fresh is a huge challengeIt's easy to fall into a formula where someone moves from the big city to a small town. Christmas movies are now an industry, and a booming industry at that.

☆ Bulb bailout exposes UK’s pseudo power market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Bulb is the biggest of dozens of flaky British power suppliers which opted not to hedge their future costs when energy prices were cheap. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the saga to cost taxpayers 6.5 billion pounds. Octopus itself thinks the loan could be more like 2.4 billion pounds, as wholesale prices have recently fallen. If that’s correct, regular payments by Bulb customers will cover the cost. With retail power prices fixed and the government on the hook for higher wholesale costs, Britain’s privatised power industry is operating in anything but a free market.

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