DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

March 1 (Reuters) - Drug distributors Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N), McKesson Corp (MCK.N) and JM Smith Corp on Wednesday prevailed at trial in Georgia in a case brought by families of opioid addicts accusing the companies of acting as drug dealers. It was the first trial of opioid claims brought by individual plaintiffs, rather than government entities. Plaintiffs said the distributors fueled illegal opioid use by filling illegitimate pharmacy orders and failing to report suspicious opioid purchases to law enforcement, as required by the federal Controlled Substances Act. Litigation by more than 3,300 state, local and tribal governments against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies has resulted in more than $50 billion in settlements. The agency has said opioid overdoses surged further during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing 38% in 2020 over the previous year and another 15% in 2021.

☆ One year of war in Europe: How the dollar, energy and food prices swirled
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has disrupted economies and markets around the world, from energy and food prices to European banks, emerging market stocks and the Russian currency. Below are five charts that show how Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two has shaped global financial markets in the last 12 months. But when Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in late February, European natural gas prices rocketed by almost 400% in two weeks. Energy prices soared, bringing the threat of blackouts, recession and a worrying switch back to dirtier sources of fuel. Food price pressures are easing, but that does little to soften the blow for many developing nations, where food and energy prices make up a larger share of spending.

☆ U.S. probes Wells Fargo's retention of employee communications
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are investigating Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) retention of employee communications over "unapproved" messaging tools, the bank said on Tuesday, the latest in a crackdown that has already sparked billions of dollars in fines. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission have undertaken the probes, the fourth-largest U.S. bank disclosed in a filing. The scrutiny highlights the challenges Wall Street institutions have faced in tracking staff communications in the work-from-home pandemic era, particularly over personal devices and apps like WhatsApp. In September, the SEC fined 16 financial firms, including major global banks, a combined $1.8 billion after staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps. Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies Johnson & Johnson FollowFeb 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand a $302 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) in a lawsuit brought by the state of California accusing the company of concealing the risks of its pelvic mesh products. J&J had argued to the Supreme Court that state consumer protection laws like California's are too vague, exposing companies to unpredictable state lawsuits. The case stemmed from a multistate investigation into J&J subsidiary Ethicon Inc's marketing of pelvic mesh devices, which are surgical implants that were used to treat incontinence and other conditions. J&J, which stopped selling pelvic mesh in 2012, has denied wrongdoing. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered all pelvic mesh devices off the market.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/IllustrationFeb 16 (Reuters) - GSK Plc (GSK.L) is expected to urge a California judge on Thursday to limit what expert testimony jurors can hear in the first trial over claims that the company's heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer. The trial, scheduled to begin Feb. 27 before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo, will offer the first test of how Zantac cancer claims may fare in state courts. The plaintiff in the upcoming trial, James Goetz, says he developed bladder cancer from taking Zantac sold by British drugmaker GSK. Lawsuits began piling up soon after the recalls began from people who said they developed cancer after taking Zantac. Cases have been filed linking Zantac to at least 10 types of cancer.

The planned listing will end a prolonged hiatus in initial public offerings (IPO) on Spain's main market since renewables company Opdenergy's (OPDE.MC) lackluster debut in July. EiDF Solar, which installs solar panels, currently trades on the junior market of the BME Exchange and plans to relist its shares on the senior stock market, known as Mercado Continuo. The group must place more shares with investors to meet a 25% minimum free-float requirement for the country's main market. Shares in EiDF, one of the most actively traded stocks on BME Growth, have rocketed since its stock market debut in 2021. It posted third-quarter 2022 revenues of 315.54 million euros, up from 30.55 million euros the previous year, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 46.86 million euros, up from 7.10 million euros.

The reported group net income for the three months ending in December came at 1.16 billion euros ($1.24 billion), beating the analyst consensus of 834 million euros provided by Visible Alpha. SocGen's quarterly net income was however 35% lower than the same period a year ago, as the bank's hiked provisions for failing loans, which increased by close to fivehold to 413 millions in an uncertain economic environment. Group revenues were up by 4% to 6.89 billion euros in the fourth quarter, also beating the Visible Alpha consensus. Like its bigger French rival BNP Paribas(BNPP.PA), SocGen is enjoying higher revenues from debt and trading in volatile markets. It plans a 440 million-euro share buyback in 2023, on top of a cash dividend of 1.70 euro per share.

Feb 1 (Reuters) - A group of 20 Republican state attorneys general on Wednesday told Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA.O) and CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) that they risk running afoul of federal and state law if they dispense the abortion drug mifepristone by mail. Walgreens and CVS have said they intend to become certified and dispense the drug in states where abortion is legal, though neither has yet done so. Mifepristone, used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, is approved for abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The attorneys general called this interpretation "bizarre" and warned that mailing the drug could violate some states' laws. Meanwhile, generic mifepristone manufacturer GenBioPro and a doctor have challenged restrictions on the drug in West Virginia and North Carolina, respectively.

SummarySummary Companies Top EU court dismisses HSBC challenge over cartel participationUpholds annulment of Euribor cartel fineHSBC separately challenging reduced Euribor fineBRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L) on Thursday failed to overturn a court ruling that it had participated in a cartel to rig benchmark Euribor rates in 2007, but Europe's top court confirmed that a 33.6 million euro ($36 million) fine had been scrapped. The European Court of Justice, Europe's highest court, rejected HSBC's attempt to clear its name by challenging a 2019 lower court decision that it had colluded with others to try to manipulate key Euribor (euro interbank offered rate) rates. The European Commission, the bloc's executive body, ruled in 2016 that HSBC and six other banks had tried to distort Euribor, a benchmark for rates on financial products, fining the lender 33.6 million euros. Three years later, a lower tribunal scrapped the fine because of insufficient reasoning, but dismissed the bank's attempt to shake off the ruling that it had taken part in a cartel. The European Commission subsequently imposed a slightly lower fine of 31.7 million euros in 2021, which HSBC is separately challenging.

☆ HSBC wins appeal against $36 mln Euribor cartel fine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L) has won an appeal against a decision by European antitrust regulators to fine Europe's second-largest bank 33.6 million euros ($36 million) over its role in a cartel to manipulate benchmark Euribor interest rates in 2007. HSBC, penalised alongside JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), challenged the decision and in 2019, a lower tribunal scrapped the fine because of insufficient reasoning. The European Commission subsequently re-imposed a slightly lower fine of 31.7 million euros in 2021. HSBC, JPMorgan and Credit Agricole opted against settling with European regulators and, following a full investigation, JPMorgan was fined 337.2 million euros and Credit Agricole was ordered to pay 114.7 million euros. EU, U.S. and British regulators have fined banks billions of euros for manipulating benchmark interest rates and the foreign exchange market.

The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, targets Eli Lilly and Co , Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOb.CO) and Sanofi SA (SASY.PA), which together make more than 90% of the insulin drugs sold globally. Insulin drugs are used to control blood sugar in patients with diabetes. Eli Lilly and Sanofi both previously announced that they would cap the cost of a 30-day supply of insulin at $35 for uninsured patients. California said that the companies' dominance in the market has allowed them to hike insulin prices at patients' expense, violating the state's Unfair Competition Law. Prices of top-selling insulin drugs have soared in recent years.

☆ Amundi to co-invest in Alantra's 1.7 bln euro solar platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Andres Gonzalez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The Amundi company logo is seen at their headquarters in Paris, France, October 7, 2015. N-Sun aims to raise 700 million euros ($752.36 million) in equity and 1 billion in debt. Amundi and Reichmuth will contribute to the equity portion, Alantra's spokesperson said. The solar farms are in different stages of development and will be fully operative by the end of 2025, the companies said. Once completed, the portfolio will generate the equivalent of the annual consumption of more than 800,000 households and more than 180 million euros in revenues.

The rule will make medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions, more accessible in states where abortion remains legal, but its impact in states that have banned abortion will be limited. Most significantly, the FDA's new regulation will not help patients get abortion pills in states that have banned abortion, said Amanda Allen of the Lawyering Project, a legal group that defends abortion rights. Nonetheless, Allen said, the rule could make it easier to travel out of state for a medication abortion. Currently, a patient seeking a medication abortion in another state must both obtain the prescription and the pill in that state. Some conservative policy groups and lawmakers have proposed laws that would make it a crime to help someone travel to another state for abortion or mail them abortion pills.

☆ Analysis: Russian gold removed from some Western funds after Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Peter Hobson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

But the data, compiled by Reuters, shows Russian gold being removed at a significantly faster pace than that from other countries. One said he had asked the bank paid to store his fund's gold to allocate as little Russian metal as possible to it. Russian gold removed from such funds was often reassigned to other owners in the same location, the bankers said. JP Morgan, which stored around 1,050 tonnes of gold for the funds, trimmed Russian gold by 13% and non-Russian gold by 9%. However, the two largest funds, BlackRock's (BLK.N) iShares Gold Trust and the World Gold Council's SPDR Gold Shares, actually increased their proportion of Russian gold.

Banks still have to mark the loan to its market value on their books and set aside funds for losses that are reported in quarterly results. The deliberations of how some of these banks are thinking about accounting for these losses have not been previously reported. Three banking industry sources said the remaining $3 billion, which is unsecured, could lead to steeper losses for the seven Twitter banks. Some market participants expect the losses from the debt to be significant unless market conditions improve. Some $35 billion to $40 billion of such loans are stuck on banks' books, according to two fixed income bankers.

☆ Banks’ buyout-debt machine defies quick jumpstart
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Asset managers like Blackstone (BX.N) or Axa (AXAF.PA) pick the underlying loans, while investment banks underwrite the CLO securities and place them with credit investors. Many of the bonds that come out the other side get an ultra-safe AAA credit rating. The combination of higher funding costs and slower private-equity dealmaking has pushed sales of European CLO securities down 67% year-on-year, according to JPMorgan analysts. So, for example, 70% of the whole portfolio would have to default, with the creditors recovering just half of their money, before AAA tranches see a loss. That means banks’ biggest CLO risk is an even sharper slowdown, not a blowup.

☆ Analysis: EU avoids sledgehammer to crack euro clearing nut - for now
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

EU financial services chief Mairead McGuinness has likened ending the bloc's heavy reliance on London for clearing euro contracts to weaning the EU off Russian gas so that Brussels builds "open strategic autonomy" in capital markets to safeguard financial stability. This will help build a more efficient market that makes relocation of clearing from London attractive, McGuinness said. Industry officials note EU based clearing liquidity in this contract would effectively need to be built up from scratch, which could take time. These conditions would mean that in practice EU banks will still be clearing some derivatives in London after June 2025. Nevertheless, EU banks still face systems changes to report and track how much is being cleared, a cost that UK and U.S. banks won't face.

Dec 6 (Reuters) - Drugmakers GSK Plc (GSK.L), Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) and Boehringer Ingelheim on Tuesday were spared thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as a judge found the claims were not backed by sound science. A spokesperson for GSK said the company welcomed the decision and Pfizer said it was pleased by the outcome. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, it was later sold successively to Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and finally Sanofi. Lawsuits began piling up soon after the recalls began from people who said they developed cancer after taking Zantac. State court judges will also have to rule on whether to allow plaintiffs' experts on Zantac's alleged cancer risks before state cases can go to trial.

Dec 6 (Reuters) - Drugmakers GSK Plc (GSK.L), Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) and Boehringer Ingelheim on Tuesday defeated thousands of lawsuits in U.S. federal court claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as a judge found the claims were not backed by sound science. Zantac, first approved in 1983, became the world's best selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first-ever drugs to top $1 billion in annual sales. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, it was later sold successively to Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and finally Sanofi. Numerous generic drugmakers also launched versions of the medicine, but are not part of the federal mass tort litigation. Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Stelara accounted for $9.1 billion of J&J's $52 billion in global drug sales last year. The drug is also approved to treat Crohn's disease, the skin condition psoriasis and a related form of arthritis. However, J&J alleges that Amgen failed to follow the legal process required by that law for the companies to litigate any patent disputes. If Amgen launches its drug, J&J said it would infringe J&J's patent on the drug's active ingredient and on its use for treating ulcerative colitis. J&J said in a statement that Janssen is "confident in its intellectual property and has filed suit to protect its rights."

Organizations: & &'

[1/2] Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange, attends the MEDEF union summer forum "La Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France, LaREF" at the Paris Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, August 30, 2022. 1 telecoms operator Orange (ORAN.PA) said on Wednesday, as the prospect of energy rationing looms amid the war in Ukraine. Executives said at the time there were not enough back-up systems in many European countries to handle widespread power cuts. "The operators put pressure so that we don't cut their antennas, there's a kind of arm wrestling," the source told Reuters. Only a few thousands mobile antennas would be completely shielded from potential power cuts at this stage, a telecoms industry source said, thus covering a fraction of the population and of the territory.

☆ SocGen and Alliance Bernstein to launch global equities venture
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Gabriel Araujo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), France's third-biggest listed bank, and U.S. investment management company Alliance Bernstein (AB.N) plan to form a joint venture focusing on global cash equities and equity research, they said on Tuesday. SocGen plans to take a 51% interest in the venture, with an option to take 100% ownership after five years, the French bank said, adding that the business would boost its profit from 2025 onwards. The joint venture will be run as a long-term partnership under the Bernstein name and will be headquartered in London. Robert van Brugge, CEO of Bernstein Research Services, will become CEO of the new entity for an initial term of five years, with Stephane Loiseau, head of SocGen's cash equities business, becoming his deputy. Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The following are major companies that were accused of contributing to the crisis, and settlements or judgments involving those companies. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA)-In November, finalized claims nationwide for $4.25 billion, some of which is to be paid as a supply of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. AbbVie Inc (ABBV.N)-In November, finalized a $2.37 billion nationwide settlement resolving claims against Allergan, a company it acquired in 2020. Endo International Plc (ENDPQ.PK)-Reached a $450 million settlement with more than 30 states as part of a bankruptcy filing in August. Mallinckrodt Plc (MNK.A)-Reached a $1.7 billion nationwide settlement as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan, approved in February.

☆ SocGen’s BNP envy carries a cost
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It mimics BNP Paribas’s (BNPP.PA) deal with European peer Exane, which the French group took over last year. SocGen research analysts cover around 500 mostly European stocks, according to JPMorgan, compared with AllianceBernstein’s more international coverage of roughly 800 companies. Second, the venture makes the French bank’s equities business less reliant on derivatives and structured products, which led to heavy losses in 2020. Trading cash equities and selling research typically chews up much less capital and leads to fewer blow-ups. And the wider equities trading business is increasingly dominated by larger players, especially U.S. banks.

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) and AbbVie Inc (ABBV.N) have finalized the terms of settlements worth more than $6.6 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits by U.S. state and local governments over the marketing of opioid painkillers, the companies and lawyers for the governments said Tuesday. Under the deals, first announced in July, Israel-based Teva will pay up to $4.25 billion, including a supply of the overdose drug naloxone. AbbVie will pay up to $2.37 billion. The final amounts of the settlements will depend on how many state and local governments opt into them. The sprawling litigation over opioids, which began in 2017, has yielded more than $40 billion in settlements with drugmakers, distributors and pharmacy chains.

Search resuls for: "N.P"

25 mentions found