DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Sharp Chinese rebound pushes LVMH sales up 17% in second quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Mimosa Spencer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, July 25 (Reuters) - Sales at the world's top luxury group LVMH (LVMH.PA) rose by 17% in the second quarter, with a sharp rebound in China helping to offset a decline in the United States, where inflation and economic turbulence have dented demand for high-end goods. The 17% increase at constant exchange rates was a touch better than analyst expectations for 16% growth, according to a Visible Alpha consensus. Finance chief Jean-Jacques Guiony told reporters he was "very satisfied" with the rebound in China, which makes up the bulk of Asian sales. The region - excluding Japan - posted 34% growth compared to last year, when strict COVID-19 restrictions hit sales and emptied stores in China. In the United States, we see it's not as good as it was," he added.

Persons: Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Tiffany, Jean, Jacques Guiony, Cartier, Richemont, Guiony, Mimosa Spencer, Silvia Aloisi Organizations: Dior, Finance, Vuitton, Thomson Locations: China, United States, Japan

☆ BHP posts record full-year iron ore output, flags rising costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BHP Group's logo adorning the side of its global headquarters in Melbourne on February 21, 2023. BHP Group on Thursday reported its highest ever annual iron ore production, helped by the continued ramp up at its South Flank operations in Western Australia but flagged it faces rising costs. BHP's iron ore production in Western Australia was aided by improved rail performance at the mines, but production was partially hit by unfavorable impacts from tropical Cyclone Ilsa in the quarter. It said iron ore production from Western Australia, on a 100% basis, was 72.7 million tonnes (Mt) in the three months to June 30, a touch lower than Visible Alpha estimates of 73 Mt, according to UBS. The company expects fiscal 2024 output for Western Australia iron ore between 282 million and 294 million metric tons, the mid-point of which is 0.9% higher than annual production of 285.3 million metric tons for fiscal 2023.

Organizations: BHP, BHP Group, UBS, Western Locations: Melbourne, Western Australia

Prices of iron ore, from which Rio Tinto derives around 70% of its profits, eased over the second quarter on concerns over China's debt-ridden property sector, but could improve after Beijing on Tuesday pledged to roll out policies to boost growth. "China's economic recovery has fallen short of initial market expectations, as the property market downturn continues to weigh on the economy and consumers remain cautious despite monetary policy easing," Rio Tinto said in its quarterly report. Rio Q2 Shipments easeRio downgraded its expectations for refined copper production, alumina production, and output at its Canadian iron ore operations and warned of rising costs. "Production downgrades during the quarter highlight that we still have much more to do," Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said in the report. Wildfires in Northern Quebec impacted Canadian iron ore production, it said.

Persons: Rio, Glyn Lawcock, Jakob Stausholm, Melanie Burton, Navya Mittal, Rishav Chatterjee, Shounak Dasgupta, Sonali Paul Organizations: Rio Tinto, Alpha, Tinto Chief, Thomson Locations: MELBOURNE, Rio, Beijing, Barrenjoey, Sydney, Utah, Northern Quebec, Rincon, Argentina, Melbourne, Bengaluru

☆ Next Gucci CEO may have toughest job in luxury
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Gucci is getting a new look. Gucci took a harder hit during the pandemic than some mega-brand rivals, then struggled to bounce back. That’s way below the 10% and 15% rise brokers are pencilling in for Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior (DIOR.PA) respectively. All of that makes Gucci CEO job one of the most interesting in the luxury sector – but also possibly the toughest. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Gucci, Marco Bizzarri, Jean, François, Kering’s, Bizzarri, Roberto Eggs, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Karen Kwok, Xavier Niel’s, Liam Proud, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, Tuesday, Gucci, JPMorgan, Revenue, Alpha, Louis, Hermès, Barclays, Bain & Company, Twitter, Xavier Niel’s GAM, Commonwealth Games, Thomson Locations: Milan, Italian, Kering’s Paris, China, People’s Republic

☆ Netflix shielded from Hollywood strike by global crew, strong pipeline
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Samrhitha A | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Some of the people on strike are also picketing the Netflix offices in Los Angeles. Netflix's international production capabilities are a "huge differentiator", and a lot of their content comes from countries that are not involved in the strike, analysts at SVB MoffettNathanson, Credit Suisse and Insider Intelligence said. Netflix is expected to have added a net 1.77 million subscribers, according to Refinitiv, in what is typically a weak quarter due to school holidays. The company lost nearly 1 million subscribers in the year-ago period. The second quarter also featured some strong programming from Netflix, including hits like "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" and "Never Have I Ever Season 4".

Persons: Gal, Michael Nathanson, Nathanson, Jamie Lumley, Charlotte, Samrhitha, Aditya Soni, Shounak Organizations: Netflix, U.S, Credit Suisse, Insider Intelligence, Disney, Reuters, Macquarie, Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Hollywood, Los Angeles, United States, U.S, Bengaluru

Tesla's earnings on Wednesday are expected to show its gross profit margin declined to 18.9% in the second quarter, according to 19 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. "Tesla's market share for the EV segment is likely to decline over time," said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said. "However, I think the more appropriate metric to look at is Tesla's total auto market share, which continues to grow as they continue to grow deliveries." Reuters GraphicsCHARGING AHEADAs EV sales slow, Tesla has been moving aggressively to capture a larger share of the U.S charging market in a bid to diversify its revenue. Piper Sandler estimates Tesla's revenue from its charging network to hit $9.65 billion in 2032, with more than half the sales coming from EVs made by other carmakers using its network.

Persons: Elon, Tesla, Vitaly Golomb, Seth Goldstein, Piper Sandler, EVs, Akash Sriram, Aditya Soni, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: stoke, Ford, Visible Alpha, Reuters, Reuters Graphics, General Motors, Thomson Locations: BYD, China, U.S, Bengaluru

July 3 (Reuters) - Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O) beat market estimates for second-quarter deliveries on higher production and stable demand for its electric vehicles, sending the company's shares up more than 14% on Monday. Rivian, which makes R1T pickup trucks and R1S SUVs, delivered 12,640 vehicles in the second quarter, compared with Visible Alpha estimates of 11,000 vehicles. The company made 13,992 vehicles at its facility in Normal, Illinois, which was 4,597 more than in the first quarter. Rivian's production and delivery numbers come just a day after Tesla beat estimates with record deliveries in the second quarter. Rivian posted a smaller loss in the first quarter in May and its finance chief said last month the company expects demand to remain stable through 2023.

Persons: Tesla, Rivian, Needham, Chris Pierce, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, Chavi Mehta, Vinay Dwivedi, Shounak Organizations: Rivian, EV, Thomson Locations: Normal , Illinois, Bengaluru

☆ UK banks are appropriate airbag for mortgage crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Last year this was 2.9% on average for Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays. Hunt may be able to get banks to hike their savings rates merely by veiled threats. After all, the government would only be getting banks to do what they should be doing anyway. “It is taking too long for the increase in interest rates to be passed on to savers, particularly with instant access accounts,” Hunt told parliament. Around 60% of household deposits are held in instant access accounts, the committee said.

Persons: Banks, Jeremy Hunt, shouldn’t, it’s, Hunt, ” Hunt, “, Neil Unmack, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Monday, Banking Group, NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds, JPMorgan, NatWest –, Alpha, Treasury, Bank of England, Labour Party, National Savings and Investments, of, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Barclays –, Thomson

☆ Private equity risks gorging on its secret sauce
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Investors prefer pedestrian but steady management fees over the lumpy share of fund profit that is the industry’s special sauce. Private equity firms with a public listing funnel some of the carry to employees and some to shareholders. TPG (TPG.O) last year went public with a similar strategy of paying around two-thirds of performance-related revenue to employees. Assuming the general idea is to keep overall earnings steady, then higher fee-based income for shareholders must be matched by lower cash compensation for employees. It suggests that for KKR, TPG and the rest, there is a limit to just how much of their own secret sauce employees can eat.

Persons: Steve Schwarzman, Carlyle, Blackstone’s, Schwarzman, Henry Kravis, George Roberts, EQT, Blackstone, Harvey Schwartz, Rowe Price, Thoma Bravo, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, JPMorgan, Reuters Graphics, TPG, Apollo, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Alpha, Bain Capital, Thoma, Ares Management, Thomson Locations: BlackRock

☆ Microsoft's end-to-end platform is 'really powerful' for its business, says investment tech firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMicrosoft's end-to-end platform is 'really powerful' for its business, says investment tech firmMelissa Otto of Visible Alpha says Microsoft's end-to-end platform will enable developers to run "super high-powered" artificial intelligence models, which will be the "gateway" to enabling workplace productivity and innovation.

Persons: Melissa Otto

☆ Grab beats quarterly revenue estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Grab Holdings Ltd (GRAB.O) beat first-quarter revenue estimates on Thursday, driven by growth in its core rideshare and food-delivery businesses. Revenue more than doubled to $525 million in the quarter ended March, inching past analysts' estimate of $504.3 million, according to Visible Alpha. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Swedish drugmaker finds alluring poison pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sweden’s rare disease drug maker is experiencing unfortunate deal side effects. On Wednesday, shares in Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (SOBI) (SOBIV.ST) fell 15% after it announced a plan to buy CTI BioPharma (CTIC.O), a specialist in rare blood cancers, for $1.7 billion. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker refused to tender its shares amid a squabble over the U.S. rights for a respiratory drug. But SOBI’s new deal, which will be funded by a rights issue backed by main shareholder Investor AB (INVEb.ST), suggests Oelkers has support for a solo future. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Disney's Iger may have to add slowing growth to his turnaround checklist
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Disney is also embroiled in a legal fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over state efforts to control Disney World. The media and entertainment giant's Disney+ streaming service is expected to add a net 1.3 million subscribers in the second quarter, compared with additions of 7.9 million a year ago, according to Visible Alpha. "Star Wars" spin-off "The Mandalorian" was Disney+'s most in-demand series both in the U.S. and worldwide during the quarter, according to data provider Parrot Analytics. The streaming unit's operating loss is expected to widen to about $750 million from a loss of nearly $670 million a year earlier. That would mark the slowest growth since the second quarter of 2021, as the company's cable business also takes a hit from an ad market slowdown.

May 8 (Reuters) - Australia's Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) on Monday threw out a cost-cutting target citing inflation and flagged thinner profit margins going ahead, but investors pushed its shares higher after it handily beat expectations for first-half profit. Westpac shares closed 2% higher, ahead of a broader market advance (.AXJO) of 0.8%, as the market cheered the better-than-expected profit. Costs for Westpac came to A$5 billion for the half, down from A$5.2 billion a year earlier. Westpac declared an interim dividend of 70 Australian cents per share, up from 61 Australian cents last year. ($1 = 1.4810 Australian dollars)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. electric-vehicle startups are expected to report another quarter of dwindling cash reserves next week, piling pressure on a group of companies that are struggling to ramp up production and have few options for funding in a turbulent economy. Lucid Group (LCID.O) kicks off first-quarter earnings for the group on Monday, with the company expected to report a 36% sequential slide in cash reserves, according to Visible Alpha. Rivian Automotive (RIVN.O), meanwhile, will likely report on Tuesday that its cash balance fell by 6.8% to $10.78 billion from the preceding quarter, per a Visible Alpha estimate. Fisker Inc (FSR.N) and Nikola (NKLA.O), both of which report earnings on Tuesday, are expected to see their cash reserves decline by 5% and 15%, respectively, according to Visible Alpha. Its earnings in an unscheduled release on Thursday showed Lordstown's cash balance fell 11% sequentially.

May 4 (Reuters) - Paramount Global Inc (PARA.O) missed first-quarter revenue estimates on Thursday amid a weak advertising market in its TV business and cut its dividend. The company incurred a $1.7 billion charge in connection with its plan to integrate Showtime into its Paramount+ streaming service and remove certain programming. Paramount Global said its dividend cut to 5 cents per share will result in approximately $500 million in annualized cash savings. Paramount+, the company's flagship streaming platform, added 4.1 million subscribers during the quarter, compared with 9.9 million in the preceding quarter. Sales for its TV media segment declined by 8% from a year earlier and advertising revenue fell by 11%.

☆ Macquarie sees higher income from commodities arm, logs record profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Australia's Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) on Friday forecast higher short-term income from its lucrative commodities trading business as price volatility and increased hedging boosted the company's annual profit to a record high. The Sydney-based firm's Commodities and Global Markets segment posted a net profit of about A$6 billion ($4.02 billion), 54% higher than last year, as more customers hedged against volatile energy markets. In the short term, the company expects consistent contributions from client and trading activity in the financial markets platform. It also bumped up its final dividend to A$4.50 per share from A$3.50 per share a year earlier. ($1 = 1.4932 Australian dollars)Reporting by Roushni Nair and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Novo Nordisk’s chunky valuation risks crash diet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Aimee Donnellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Novo Nordisk’s (NOVOb.CO) weighty valuation could be headed for a crash diet. This lofty position is thanks to its domination of the obesity market via its Wegovy drug. Obesity sales for Novo are still only expected to reach $12 billion by 2027, according to estimates from Visible Alpha. It also remains unclear how fast the obesity drug market will grow. Novo reported earnings before interest and taxes of 25 billion Danish crowns ($3.72 billion), above an average analyst forecast of 22.4 billion, according to a Refinitiv poll.

☆ BNP only partly earns title of Europe’s JPMorgan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bank investors and analysts often like to say that BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) is the closest Europe has to a JPMorgan (JPM.N), the goliath of U.S. banking that just bought First Republic Bank (FRC.N). Compare that with Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), whose deposits fell by 4.7% over the same period. JPMorgan will earn a 19% return on tangible equity this year, using Visible Alpha consensus data, which is good even for a U.S. bank. There’s no shame in losing to a bigger stateside rival on returns, but BNP also risks falling behind regional peers. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Hardware sales are set to decline over 7% to $71.93 billion in the second quarter, according to 23 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. Mac sales, which account for nearly a tenth of Apple's revenue, likely fell by a quarter, while revenue from flagship iPhone is estimated to have declined by over 3%. Davidson, who expects iPhone sales there to rise. That would mark its second lowest growth rate since at least the first quarter of fiscal 2017. He expects Apple to have added 30 million users to its active installed user base - the number of active Apple devices in the world.

☆ Auto-Parts Growth Story Still Adds Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jinjoo Lee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

O’Reilly Automotive said in earnings results released late Wednesday that comparable-store sales rose 10.8% in the first quarter. Same-store sales growth has turned negative recently at auto-dealer chains such as Lithia Motors and AutoNation , as well as used-car retailer CarMax . O’Reilly Automotive , the largest auto-parts retailer by market cap, said in earnings results released late Wednesday that comparable-store sales rose 10.8% in the first quarter, well outpacing the 6.8% pace Wall Street analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected. That makes it the 12th consecutive quarter of year-over-year comparable-store sales growth. Analysts expect AutoZone , the largest auto-parts retailer by revenue, to see U.S. same-store sales grow 4.3% in its quarter ending May.

The company forecast revenue in its main segments for the current quarter would match or top Wall Street targets. Those results and Microsoft's helped boost shares of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), another major cloud operator, 4.8% in after hours trading. Microsoft revenue rose 7% to $52.9 billion in the quarter ended March, inching past analyst estimates of $51.02 billion, according to Refinitiv. The bulk of Microsoft sales still come from selling software and cloud computing services to customers. The sales drop in the segment was less severe than analysts expected, with Microsoft reporting revenue of $13.3 billion versus analyst estimates of $12.19 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ Philips’ convalescence has way longer to run
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of 359 million euros beat analysts’ average estimate of 226 million euros, per Visible Alpha data. The recall of faulty breathing devices and ventilators means Philips needs to set aside another 575 million euros for lawsuits on top of over 1 billion euros last year, but that’s less than Bernstein analysts’ expectation of 2.4 billion euros. Still, probes by the U.S. Department of Justice and further claims from injured patients mean Philips may need to cough up more money. Jakobs still faces some fundamental questions: Philips’ 7% EBITA margin last year was way off rival Siemens Healthineers’ (SHLG.DE) 18%. That explains why the latter trades on 28 times its 2023 earnings, versus Philips’ 19 times.

☆ AT&T's dismal cash flow sparks selloff in telecoms sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Tiyashi Datta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 20 (Reuters) - U.S. wireless carrier AT&T Inc (T.N) missed market estimates for first-quarter revenue and free cash flow, underscoring the toll from strained consumer wallets and sparking a selloff in the telecoms sector on Thursday. In the first three months of the year, AT&T added 424,000 postpaid phone subscribers, almost in line with a Factset estimate of 422,800 additions. The metric is closely watched by Wall Street as postpaid customers pay a recurring monthly bill, making them valuable to the carriers. "It was not all bad news, and some aspects of AT&T's operations came in above estimates, but it is the free cash flow figure that seems to have caused all the damage, given that it points to likely lower dividend payouts going forward," said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital. AT&T's free cash flow came in at $1 billion, compared with the $2.61 billion estimated by 18 analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

Elon Musk-led Tesla reported total gross margin of 19.3%, compared with expectations of 22.4%, according to 14 analysts polled by Refinitiv. For the first quarter, Tesla's automotive gross margins, a closely watched figure by analysts and investors, dropped. Finance chief Zachary Kirkhorn promised in January that Tesla would not go below automotive gross margins of 20% and an average selling price of $47,000 across models. Excluding items, Tesla reported a profit of 85 cents, in line with estimates. Deliveries of higher-priced Model S and Model X vehicles slumped from the previous quarter, it said.

Search resuls for: "Visible Alpha"

25 mentions found