DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Toyota, AMD, Shell, UnitedHealth and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Toyota cars are displayed on the sales lot at Toyota Marin in San Rafael, California, May 11, 2022. Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading. Vodafone — The cellphone network added nearly 3% in premarket trading after Vodafone and CK Hutchison agreed to merge their U.K. businesses. Shell — The European oil stock was up 2.3% after Shell boosted its dividend and share buybacks and said it would keep oil production steady until 2030. SoFi Technologies — Shares added 3.25% premarket.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Bracken Darrell, CK Hutchison, UnitedHealth, John Rex, BTIG, — CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Jesse Pound Organizations: Toyota, Toyota Marin, Logitech, Citi, Vodafone, CK, Devices, Amazon, Services, Reuters, Humana, Lumen Technologies, Google, Microsoft, Shell, SoFi Locations: San Rafael , California, Japan

[1/2] Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle poses in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters on May 16, 2023. "For Vodafone this transaction is a game changer in our home market," Della Valle, a 29-year company veteran, told reporters. That is likely to take time, but Kester Mann, a director at CCS Insight, said the British announcement would give Della Valle a boost. "She has shown clear intent to make changes at Vodafone as she bids to turn the embattled company's performance around," he said. "Securing approval for a tie-up with (Hutchison's) Three would be a major boost to her early tenure."

Persons: Margherita Della Valle, Della Valle, CK Hutchison, Nick Read, Kester Mann, Kate Holton, Sinead Cruise, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Vodafone, Reuters, Handout, REUTERS, HK, CCS Insight, Thomson Locations: Britain, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, Italy, British

Vodafone and CK Hutchison, which owns the Three UK mobile network, agreed to merge their U.K. businesses, following talks that have been ongoing since last year, the companies said Wednesday. Vodafone will own 51% of the combined business, leaving CK Hutchison the minority stake. "This long-awaited mega merger represents the biggest shake-up in the UK mobile market for over a decade," Kester Mann, director for consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight said in emailed comments. Current Vodafone UK CEO Ahmed Essam will lead the new enterprise, while the present Three UK Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Darren Purkis will assume the CFO position at the merged business. BT acquired EE in 2016, while Telefonica and Liberty Global launched Virgin Media O2 in 2021.

Persons: CK Hutchison, Kester Mann, Ahmed Essam, Darren Purkis, Nick Read, Margherita Della Valle Organizations: Vodafone, CK, CK Hutchison, Insight, BT, Virgin Media O2, EE, O2, Telefonica, Liberty Global, Markets Authority, CMA, Activision Blizzard

Under the terms, Vodafone will own 51% and Hutchison 49% of the combined group, which will be led by current Vodafone UK boss Ahmed Essam. The finance chief of Hutchison's Three UK, Darren Purkis, will take the same role in the new group. The combined operator will have about 27 million customers, overtaking BT's (BT.L) EE and VM O2, jointly owned by Telefonica (TEF.MC) and Liberty Global (LBTYA.O). Vodafone, which is currently Britain's third-biggest mobile operator, and fourth-placed Hutchison will have options which would allow Vodafone to acquire the Hong Kong-based conglomerate's 49% stake in the future. Shares in Vodafone, which fell to a 25-year low of 71 pence on Tuesday, rose 3.6% after the deal was announced.

Persons: CK Hutchison, Canning Fok, Ahmed Essam, Darren Purkis, Hutchison, Vodafone's Essam, Robert Finnegan, Gail Cartmail, Paul Sandle, Clare Jim, Kate Holton, Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Vodafone, CK, HK, Hutchison, Hutchison's, BT's, VM O2, Telefonica, Liberty Global, Britain's Competition, Markets Authority, CMA, Unite, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Britain, Hong Kong, China, London

☆ Republican response to Trump indictment shows they're stitching their own straitjacket
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The roar of outrage from Republican leaders to that indictment restored Trump’s grip on the party after frustration over his role in the GOP’s disappointing 2022 midterm elections had loosened it. Repeating the pattern from other moments of maximum threat to Trump, the GOP response has been marked by a pronounced communications imbalance. (The poll was conducted after Trump’s indictment in Manhattan but before the recent federal charges.) At another point Trump insisted, “These criminals cannot be rewarded” – presumably by frightening Republican voters away from nominating him. Yet, Robinson believes, by echoing Trump’s claims of unfair treatment, the other candidates are encouraging Republican voters to accept his framing of the race.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, Kevin McCarthy, South Carolina Sen, Lindsey Graham, Trump’s, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, –, William Barr, John Bolton, John Thune –, ”, he’s, Ruth Ben, Ghiat, thrall, “, “ Strongmen, Mussolini, Silvio Berlusconi, Berlusconi, machina, Bill Kristol, Jack Smith, Fani Willis –, Dave Wilson, Craig Robinson, “ Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Jennifer Horn, ” –, “ They’ve, Donald Trump, ” Robinson, Robinson, Asa Hutchison, ” Kristol, Biden, Nikki Haley –, Mike Pence, Pence, she’s, ” Ben Organizations: CNN, Republican, Trump, GOP, Marxist, Republicans, NPR, PBS, Marist, Whites, CBS, Forza Italia, New York University, District, Iowa Republican Party, New, Georgia GOP, “, Trump “ Locations: Manhattan, South Carolina, lockstep, Fulton County , Georgia, New Hampshire, Georgia, America, Thune, Trump, Trump’s, South Africa, Chile

☆ London stocks inch higher on mining and energy push; Vodafone slumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SummarySummary Companies FTSE 100 up 0.1%, FTSE 250 flatJune 8 (Reuters) - UK's main stock indexes edged higher on Thursday, supported by a boost from mining and energy stocks, although a sharp drop in the shares of British mobile operator Vodafone capped gains. The resource-heavy FTSE 100 (.FTSE) was up 0.1% as of 0718 GMT, while the domestically-focused FTSE 250 (.FTMC) midcap index was little changed. Oil and gas (.FTNMX601010) and miners (.FTNMX551020) were the top sector gainers, while precious metals (.FTNMX551030) and chemicals (.FTNMX552010) took the worst hit. Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) gained 1.8% after the European low-cost airline forecast a net profit of 350 million euros to 450 million euros ($374.57 million to $481.59 million) in its current financial year. ($1 = 0.9344 euros)Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Crest, Ankika Biswas, Rashmi Organizations: British, Vodafone, Reuters, Hutchison, HK, Wizz, Crest Nicholson Holdings, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Exclusive: Vodafone and Hutchison to announce UK merger as soon as Friday
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] FILE PHOTO: The company logo of CK Hutchison Holdings is displayed at a news conference in Hong Kong, China March 17, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby YipHONG KONG/LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Vodafone (VOD.L) and CK Hutchison (0001.HK) are in the final stages of agreeing to merge their British operations, with a long-awaited announcement expected as soon as Friday or early next week, three sources have told Reuters. Including debt the deal could be valued at around 15 billion pounds ($18.6 billion), according to analysts. The deal will face intense scrutiny from regulators who have previously opposed deals that reduce the number of networks in major markets from four to three. ($1 = 0.8061 pounds)Reporting by Clare Jim in Hong Kong and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Kate HoltonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bobby Yip HONG, CK Hutchison, Hutchison, Clare Jim, Paul Sandle, Kate Holton Organizations: CK Hutchison Holdings, REUTERS, Vodafone, CK, HK, Reuters, British, Hutchison, BT's, VM O2, Telefonica, Liberty Global, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, China, Bobby Yip HONG KONG, London

☆ Telco tycoons’ UK bets look stuck underwater
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Set those complications aside, however, and his stake-building may have cost about 4.2 billion pounds overall since 2021. That’s according to Breakingviews calculations which use the share price from the day before each stake increase became public. The holding is now worth 3.6 billion pounds, implying a nearly 560 million pound or 13% loss. That’s mild compared with some of Vodafone’s investors. But UK consolidation would hardly move the needle as Vodafone is haggling to retain control of the merged entity.

☆ Exclusive: Malaysian tycoon weighs selling a stake in $2.7 bln port business -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Yantoultra Ngui | Thomson Reuters | Yantoultra Ngui Is A Southeast Asia Deals Correspondent With Reuters In Singapore | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

His conglomerate MMC Corp may sell a stake of up to 30% in MMC Ports, said one of the people, adding that financial investors and companies have approached MMC Corp about their interest in the ports business. A sale could be a precursor to a potential MMC Ports listing on the Malaysian stock exchange in a few years, said the sources. MMC Corp and MMC Ports did not respond to requests seeking comment. MMC Ports has seven ports in Malaysia - Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Johor Port, Northport, Penang Port, Tanjung Bruas Port, SPT Services and Andaman Port, according to its website. MMC Corp also owns stakes in Malaysia's largest independent power producer Malakoff Corp (MALA.KL) and the country's only supplier of reticulated natural gas in Peninsular Malaysia, Gas Malaysia (GASM.KL).

Within weeks, Della Valle gave them a stark assessment of the problems Vodafone faces. Complicating matters is an investor base with conflicting demands, concerns about Vodafone's dividend outlook and a workforce reeling from the deep job cuts. While many observers in and outside the company had expected a fresh face, Della Valle won over the board. Vodafone's shares are trading at lows last seen in 2002, largely due to a cut to free cash flow forecasts. That may not sit well with Vodafone's other key investors - French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, who competes with it in Italy, and Liberty Global, its partner in the Netherlands.

The job cuts are the biggest in the history of Vodafone, which employs 90,000 people directly across Europe and Africa. Della Valle was given a mandate to turn Vodafone around when she permanently took on the top job from the role of CFO last month. Della Valle started cutting jobs when she took the helm at the start of the year, targeting Vodafone's central operations in London. Della Valle said the European telecoms market had long delivered a poor return on the capital invested in networks, but Vodafone's relative performance had worsened over time. "It will take as long as it takes to get a good deal," Della Valle told reporters.

☆ Vodafone's new boss to cut 11,000 jobs as cash flow to fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Della Valle said Germany, Vodafone's biggest market, was underperforming, while Spain, which has suffered cut-throat competition in recent years, was under strategic review. Underscoring the pressures on the business, Vodafone said it would generate 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) of cash this financial year, down from 4.8 billion euros in the year to end-March 2023. Analysts had expected 3.6 billion euros. For the year to end-March, pressures in Germany and higher energy costs resulted in a 1.3% decline in Vodafone's group core earnings to 14.7 billion euros, missing its own guidance. Vodafone has already started to cut jobs in its big markets, shedding 1,000 in Italy earlier this year, while a media report said it was looking to cut around 1,300 in Germany.

☆ Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs, sees big drop in cash flow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Vodafone's (VOD.L) new boss Margherita Della Valle said she would cut 11,000 jobs over three years to simplify the telecoms group, which she said "must change", as it forecast a 1.5 billion euro decline in free cash flow this year. "Our performance has not been good enough," said Della Valle, who was appointed permanently last month. Vodafone said it would generate about 3.3 billion euros of cash this financial year, compared with 4.8 billion euros in the year to end-March it reported on Tuesday, and around 3.6 billion euros expected by analysts. Growth in Africa and higher handset sales, however, enabled it to eek out a 0.3% rise in revenue to 45.7 billion euros. Vodafone has recently cut jobs in several of its big markets, shedding 1,000 in Italy earlier this year and a media report said it was looking to cut around 1,300 in Germany.

☆ Parents need not fear adolescent weight gain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Michelle Icard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Yet it sends adults into a tailspin of fear around weight, health and self-esteem. Yet weight gain remains a sensitive, sometimes scary subject for parents who fear too much weight gain, too quickly. “About 25 percent of growth in height occurs during this time so as youth grow taller, they’re also going to gain weight. Parents need to work on their own weight bias, but they also need to protect their children from providers who don’t know how to communicate with their patients about weight. “We all have a lot of work to do when it comes to conversations about weight,” Hutchison said.

☆ British investment minister visits Hong Kong, first official visit in 5 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, May 9 (Reuters) - Britain's Minister for Investment Dominic Johnson said he held a series of meetings with government officials and executives in Hong Kong on Monday, the first official visit from a senior British official to the city in five years. Johnson's visit comes after relations between Britain and Hong Kong have been increasingly strained since 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law in the former colony. Johnson said he was in Hong Kong to promote the United Kingdom as a leading destination for investment and trade. "Hong Kong is one of the world's leading international financial centres and we have shared interests from financial services to infrastructure to sustainability," he wrote on Twitter. He is due to leave Hong Kong on Tuesday.

☆ How Vodafone-Three can woo competition regulators
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Vodafone (VOD.L) hopes that three will be its magic number. A merger of Vodafone’s domestic unit with Three UK, the Hong Kong conglomerate’s British business, would shrink the number of mobile operators to three from four. Mobile operators throughout Europe have long lamented antitrust authorities’ preference for keeping at least four players in a market to ensure price competition. Yet Vodafone’s case would be easier to defend if UK operators hadn’t hiked their tariffs in unison by about 11% last spring, a move they seem likely to repeat again this year. That would place the competition watchdog with a tougher choice: slick 5G networks, or four low-priced operators.

☆ Vodafone, CK Hutchison set to unveil 15 bln pounds UK mobile tie-up - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Vodafone (VOD.L) and CK Hutchison (0001.HK) are close to agreeing to a 15 billion pounds (about $19 billion) combination of their UK telecoms businesses that would create the country's biggest mobile operator, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The deal will value the equity of the combined group at about 9 billion pounds, with roughly 6 billion pounds of debt, the FT said, citing three people familiar with the matter. The combination could also enable Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison to withdraw from the UK telecoms market, the newspaper added. Vodafone and CK Hutchison did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. ($1 = 0.7948 pounds)Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Walmart sells Bonobos to WHP Global and Express in $75 million deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart has sold menswear brand Bonobos to brand management firm WHP Global and Express in a $75 million deal announced Thursday. WHP, which took a 60% stake in Express in December, will acquire the Bonobos brand for $50 million, the company said in a news release. In a statement, a Walmart spokesperson said the company decided "it's the right time to sell Bonobos" after nearly six years. Last February, Bonobos launched Bonobos Fielder – a more affordable riff on the original brand that sold athleisure on its website, Walmart.com and select Walmart stores. Bonobos CEO John Hutchinson will become brand president of Bonobos and report to Baxter after the deal closes.

☆ Alibaba hands parched dealmakers a glass half-full
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Antony Currie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Then New York- and Hong Kong-listed Alibaba (9988.HK) revealed it was creating six independently run businesses. That will keep dealmaking teams busy for months if, as CEO Daniel Zhang envisions, multiple listed companies emerge from the $250 billion parent. And if a breakup is good for Alibaba, they can dust off pitchbooks for its domestic rivals. Follow @AntonyMCurrie on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSAlibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said on March 29 that he hopes multiple listed companies will emerge from the group. “I hope there will be multiple listed companies emerging from the Alibaba system, and that they will continue to nurture their own sons and daughters, and cultivate more listed companies”, Zhang said, according to the South China Morning Post.

☆ There’s hope beyond moaning for European telcos
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Pierre Briancon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The annual Barcelona tech fest this week was in line with tradition, but a different mood music could also be heard beyond the bleatings of European telco executives. The good news for them is that European competition authorities seem to have been mollified by the constant pleading, and could take a softer approach to consolidation in the industry. Höttges compared the 55 billion euros invested by European telcos on infrastructure last year to the 1 billion euros invested in connectivity by those he calls the “hyperscalers”. The hope is now that, considering the European telcos’ low return on investment, European competition authorities will review their strict stance on consolidation in the sector. But European telcos also have means to address some of the problems they are facing without giving the impression that everything depends on forces beyond their control.

☆ MSC, world's biggest shipping company and U.S.-China trade bellwether, isn't talking like a recession is coming for economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"The return post-Chinese New Year has been positive," Toft said. SONAR FreightWaves data shows the slow pick up in global freight orders post-Chinese New Year. Ocean freight rates, which were the largest inflationary pressure on products, have dropped sharply back to pre-pandemic levels. Rejections for ocean freight have increased, which means containers filled with product for the current or upcoming season are delayed. At a time when ocean carriers are increasingly canceling sailings because of the decrease in ocean freight orders, MSC has responded by increasing the size of its fleet.

☆ Vodafone travails require more than caretaker CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Vodafone (VOD.L) needs more than an interim chief executive to dig itself out of its current funk. Sales fell 1.8% in Germany in the quarter ending December, which accounts for more than 30% of the group’s overall revenue. Della Valle is accelerating the group’s 1 billion euros cost-cutting plan, and implementing her predecessor’s decisions. But an interim CEO cannot take strategic decisions, such as whether or not to sell the Italian unit eyed by France’s Iliad - whose owner Xavier Niel has taken a 2.5% stake in Vodafone. Vodafone needs a permanent CEO.

☆ Tom Verlaine, Founding Member of Rock Band Television, Dies at Age 73
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Neil Shah | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tom Verlaine, an innovative guitarist and founding member of the rock band Television, one of the most influential acts of New York’s CBGB punk scene in the late 1970s, has died at the age of 73. Mr. Verlaine died in New York City after a brief illness, according to a spokeswoman, Cara Hutchison. Mr. Verlaine’s last studio album, as a solo artist, came out in 2006.

☆ Boeing's role in building NASA's new rocket
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

The mobile launcher with NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3 to Launch Complex 39B on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “I worked over 50 Space Shuttle launches,” Boeing SLS program manager John Shannon told CNN by phone. Though more than 1,000 companies were involved with designing and building SLS, Boeing’s work involved the largest and most expensive portion of the rocket. The SLS rocket ended up flying its first launch more than six years later than originally intended. All of the “major components” for a third SLS rocket are also completed, Shannon added.

☆ North Carolina won't charge Trump's ex-staff Meadows with voter fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. state of North Carolina will not charge former Republican President Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows with voter fraud, the state's Justice Department said on Friday. In April, North Carolina removed Meadows from the voter roll after state authorities said they were investigating his voter registration. Meadows has previously echoed Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. "After a thorough review, my office has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges against either of them (Meadows and his wife) in this matter," North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said in a statement. In North Carolina, voters must live in the county where they are registering and have resided there for at least 30 days prior to the election date, according to the state elections board website.

Search resuls for: "Hutchison"

25 mentions found