DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The higher profit comes despite lower sales volumes as supply chain issues including the semiconductor chip shortage that has curtailed output for carmakers globally. BMW warned that rising inflation and interest rates will hit consumer purchasing power in the coming months and that its above-average order books are ecpected to "normalise, especially in Europe". Despite an overall 9.5% drop in sales from the same period last year, the Munich-based carmaker's third-quarter revenue jumped 35.3% to 37.18 billion euros ($36.49 billion). That compared with analyst expectations of 35.32 billion euros, Refinitiv data shows. BMW posted pretax profit of 4.1 billion euros, beating analyst forecasts of 3.4 billion euros.

☆ Teva to pay $523 mln to New York as it looks to move past opioid lawsuits
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

JERUSALEM, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) will pay up to $523 million to New York State as part of a nationwide settlement of lawsuits alleging the company helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. The settlement with New York adds an additional $300 million to Teva's total opioid payouts. James said the Teva settlement concludes the state's litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors. Citing "continued foreign exchange headwinds", Teva lowered its 2022 revenue estimate to between $14.8 billion and $15.4 billion from a previously forecast $15 billion to $15.6 billion. Teva expects its two branded drugs, Ajovy to treat migraines and Huntington's disease drug Austedo, to reach a combined $1.4 billion in revenue this year.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.60, or 1.85%, to $88.13 after falling 1.6% in the previous session. The OPEC+ cuts and record U.S. oil export data also support oil price fundamentals, said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng. Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM, meanwhile, said that dwindling oil supply, a possible halt to release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and reinvigotated oil demand growth could also send crude back above $100 a barrel. OPEC raised its forecasts for world oil demand in the medium and longer term on Monday, saying that $12.1 trillion of investment is needed to meet this demand. In a further cap to price gains, U.S. crude oil stocks are likely to rise in the week to Oct. 28, a preliminary Reuters poll showed.

☆ UK's Morrisons to close McColl's stores; 1,300 jobs at risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - British supermarket group Morrisons is to close 132 McColl's convenience stores that have no realistic prospect of making a profit in the medium term, it said on Tuesday, putting 1,300 workers at risk of redundancy. Morrisons bought the McColl's chain out of administration in May but the deal was not cleared by the competition regulator until last month. It said that every affected worker would be offered alternative employment at a nearby McColl’s store, Morrisons store, logistics operation or foodmaking centre. McColl's currently trades from 1,164 stores, 286 of which trade under the Morrisons Daily fascia. Morrisons' plan is to have more than 1,000 stores trading as Morrisons Daily within two years.

☆ BASF says its battery material plant will be running by year-end
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Under a push to build a global materials network serving the EV industry, BASF has been seeking a string of alliances with cobalt and nickel miners. That included a 2018 partnership with Russia's Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) in Harjavalta, Finland, which will supply metals to the Schwarzheide site. "We will ramp up the first facility here towards the end of the year," Chief Executive Martin Brudermueller told reporters after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the production site on Tuesday. The battery materials business is one of two major investment projects at BASF. The group, which plans to cut jobs at its headquarters in Germany, will compete in battery recycling mainly with Belgium's Umicore (UMI.BR).

☆ Oil falls on U.S. output gains, Chinese demand doubts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $2.41 to $85.49 a barrel, a 2.7% loss. Biden will call on Congress to consider requiring oil companies to pay tax penalties and face other restrictions," the official said. The president has previously pushed oil companies to raise production rather than use profits for share buybacks and dividends. Strict COVID-19 curbs in China have hit economic and business activity, curtailing oil demand. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday raised its forecast for medium and long-term oil demand and said $12.1 trillion of investment is needed to meet this demand despite the energy transition.

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Lloyd’s of London insurer Ascot is suspending writing cover for new shipments using the Ukrainian grains corridor in the Black Sea until it has more clarity about the situation there, a senior official said on Monday. Moscow said it was forced to pull out of the Black Sea grain shipping deal after blasts damaged Russian navy ships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol on Saturday. "From today we are pausing on quoting new shipments until we better understand the situation,” Ascot head of cargo Chris McGill told Reuters. Ascot and broker Marsh launched a facility for grain traders in late July to provide up to $50 million in cargo cover for every voyage. Russia's announcement on Saturday that it was suspending its role in the U.N.-backed programme that escorts cargo ships through the Black Sea fanned fears it would reimpose a blockade on Ukrainian grain.

☆ Russian rouble stable after Moscow ditches Black Sea grain deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 31 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble pared early losses to gain ground on Monday in the first session since Moscow said it would suspend its role in the landmark Black Sea grain deal over the weekend. Global food prices climbed on Monday after Russia said it was suspending participation in the U.N.-brokered grain accord for an "indefinite term" after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea. The July grain corridor deal, which helped to unlock Ukrainian exports from its southern Black Sea ports, was the most significant diplomatic breakthrough so far in the eight-month-old conflict in Ukraine. Monday represented the final day of a domestic month-end tax period, which usually provides some support to the rouble. For Russian equities guide seeFor Russian treasury bonds seeReporting by Jake Cordell Editing by David Goodman and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Oil falls on China COVID curbs and weak factory data
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Noah Browning | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $1.49, or 1.7%, at $86.41 after losing 1.3% on Friday. "The purchasing managers' index (PMI) data contracting adds to the post-China congress party blues for oil markets. Chinese cities are stepping up zero-COVID curbs as outbreaks widen, dampening hopes of a rebound in demand. Strict COVID-19 curbs in China have hit economic and business activity, curtailing oil demand. China's crude oil imports for the first three quarters of the year fell 4.3% year on year for the first annual decline for the period since at least 2014.

☆ Russian oil output and exports dip in October, Kommersant reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Russian oil production and exports have declined slightly in October, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday, saying output is poised to fall further owing to an EU embargo expected in early December. Russian oil production has proven resilient so far in the face of Western sanctions over Ukraine, but European Union countries that have been primary consumers of Russian crude for decades will stop buying it from Dec. 5 under an embargo imposed by the bloc. Citing anonymous data, Kommersant said that Russia's October oil production has been at 1.47 million tonnes of oil per day, which equates to 10.78 million barrels per day (bpd), down from September's 10.8 million bpd reported by Russian statistics agency Rosstat last week . The newspaper also said that Russian seaborne and pipeline oil exports have declined by 2% from September to about 640,000 tonnes per day (4.7 million bpd). The newspaper said that oil output at the project has been less than half the planned volumes after it was restarted.

☆ Factbox: Germany's LNG import project plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Germany is acquiring liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals as part of its efforts to diversify away from Russian gas. Wilhelmshaven will become the first LNG hub and Brunsbuettel the second, to be developed by Uniper UN01.DE and RWE RWEG.DE, respectively. Later, facilities to import ammonia and set up an electrolysis plant for turning ammonia into clean hydrogen will be set up at the location. Dutch gas network operator Gasunie, which has a 40% stake in the FSRU project, is planning two related gas pipelines. Shell (SHEL.L) has committed itself to some guaranteed purchases.

☆ Saudi's Kingdom Holding company to maintain Twitter stake
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Company and the private office of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal said on Friday that they will continue their ownership of Twitter (TWTR.N) shares valued at $1.89 billion after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media company, according to a statement tweeted by Prince Alwaleed. Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding is 16.9% owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund chaired by crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal rose to international prominence after making a big successful bet on Citigroup Inc(C.N)in the 1990s and he was an early investor in Apple Inc. The prince has also made hundreds of millions of dollars by investing in companies such as Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) to Twitter Inc. Reporting by Lilian Wagdy, Writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by David Goodman and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Centrica reopens UK's Rough gas storage site in time for winter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Nora Buli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 28 (Reuters) - British Gas owner Centrica (CNA.L) has reopened its Rough gas storage site off England's east coast at about 20% of its previous capacity, enough to heat 1 million homes for 100 days this winter, the company said on Friday. Before it was closed, Rough represented more than 70% of UK storage and supplied 10% of peak winter demand. However, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing concerns over gas supplies this winter, Centrica upgraded the facility and started refilling the site in early autumn. Even at 20% of previous capacity, Rough is the UK's largest gas storage site and adds 50% to the UK's gas storage capacity, though this lags behind European countries, Centrica said. The long-term aim is to turn the Rough gas field into the largest long-range energy storage facility in Europe, capable of storing both natural gas and hydrogen, Centrica said.

☆ EU renews order for Illumina to keep Grail as separate entity
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Friday renewed interim measures ordering U.S. life sciences company Illumina (ILMN.O) to keep Grail (GRAL.O) as a separate entity pending an order to unwind the takeover completed before the deal had been approved. The interim order, which was due to expire at the end of the month, was issued by the competition enforcer last year after Illumina jumped the gun and acquired Grail before securing the EU green light. "The European Commission has renewed and adjusted, under the EU Merger Regulation, the interim measures that ensure that Illumina and GRAIL remain separate following the Commission's decision to block the merger," the EU watchdog said in a statement. Under the interim measures, Grail must be run by independent managers exclusively in the interest of the company and it cannot share confidential business information with Illumina, though there could be very limited exceptions with safeguards. Illumina, which has challenged the Commission's veto, will be required to provide funds for Grail to develop cancer detection tests it has in the pipeline.

☆ Porsche posts 40% jump in nine-month operating profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Porsche (P911_p.DE) reported a 40.6% leap in operating profit to more than 5 billion euros ($4.99 billion) on revenue up 15.7% in the luxury carmaker's first results since its stock market listing in late September. Nevertheless, we were able to successfully list Porsche and get off to a flying start," said finance chief Lutz Meschke. Porsche, a huge money spinner for the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) group, overtook its former parent as Europe's most valuable carmaker after the listing. Its shares stood at 99 euros by Thursday's close, up from a listing price of 82.50 euros. In the short term the cost of the listing and the impact of suspending business in Russia has pushed down Volkswagen's third-quarter earnings by 1.6 billion euros, results released on Friday showed.

☆ Recession risk looms large over euro zone, ECB policymaker says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VILNIUS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The likelihood of a euro zone recession is rising but the European Central Bank needs to keep raising interest rates as inflation remains high and projections may even need to be raised, Lithuanian policymaker Gediminas Simkus said on Friday. "It seems they will be revised upwards again, especially for next year," said Simkus, who sits on the rate-setting Governing Council. Simkus also suggested that growth forecasts may need to be cut to account for a recession, as the bloc struggles with sky high energy costs. "The likelihood that the euro zone enters a technical recession has grown," Simkus said. The ECB currently reinvests all cash from bonds maturing in the scheme and the expectation is that instead of outright bond sales, the ECB would wind down the debt pile by not reinvesting all funds.

☆ Chipmaker UMC cuts capex in readiness for prolonged downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Sarah Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The company has revised 2022 capital expenditure down to $3 billion, compared with a previous plan for $3.6 billion, said finance chief Chitung Liu. However, expansion in Singapore and Tainan in southern Taiwan are progressing as planned to meet long-term supply commitments, Wang said. However, UMC will continue to monitor developments and "take risk-management measures as necessary", he added. Shares in UMC closed 3.4% down on Wednesday and have fallen about 41% this year. ($1 = 32.1210 Taiwan dollars)Reporting by Sarah Wu Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ CD Projekt announces Witcher remake
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

GDANSK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Poland's biggest video game maker CD Projekt (CDR.WA) announced on Wednesday that work is in progress on a remake of its flagship game "The Witcher". The project, which is being developed by external studio Fool’s Theory, was previously referred to by the code name Canis Majoris during the company's strategy update earlier in October. CD Projekt shares were up 4.1% by 1447 GMT. Reporting by Adrianna Ebert Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were up 35 cents to $93.61 a barrel by 12:59 p.m. EDT (1659 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 71 cents to $85.29. The U.S. dollar index fell during afternoon trade, making dollar-denominated oil less expensive for other currency holders and helping to push prices higher. Further support came from comments by Saudi Arabia's energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, that energy stocks were being used as a mechanism to manipulate markets. U.S. crude oil inventories are expected to rise this week, which could limit price gains. Analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories rose by 200,000 barrels in the week to Oct. 21.

[1/2] Boards displaying buying and selling rates are seen outside of currency exchange outlets in London, Britain, July 31, 2019. read moreRishi Sunak became Britain's third prime minister in two months on Tuesday, tasked with tackling a mounting economic crisis and a warring political party. The U.S. dollar was broadly weaker amid signs that Federal Reserve rate hikes are slowing the world's biggest economy. YEN AND YUANThe yen firmed against the dollar after suspected Bank of Japan (BOJ) intervention on Friday and Monday. At 147.665 yen, the dollar was down from a 32-year high of 151.94 on Friday, which appeared to trigger successive bouts of BOJ intervention.

The company's cloud business has been growing at a rapid clip, rising 38% in the third quarter to 3.29 billion euros ($3.25 billion). Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAt that time it envisaged total adjusted revenue of 36 billion euros in 2025, with 22 billion euros of that coming from the cloud business. Total revenue grew 5% in currency-adjusted terms to 7.84 billion euros, SAP said, beating analyst expectations of 7.62 billion euros. SAP stuck with its full-year operating profit forecast of between 7.6 billion and 7.9 billion euros. That forecast was made in July, when it cut its guidance from between 7.8 billion and 8.25 billion euros, citing charges related to the war in Ukraine.

☆ Qatar voices concern over disruption to global energy supplies
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 25 (Reuters) - Qatar's energy minister on Tuesday said that recent disruptions to global energy supplies have caused great concern over energy security and accessibility. Saad al-Kaabi, who is also head of QatarEnergy, added that energy crisis drove natural gas to forefront of global energy discussion. Reporting by Moataz Mohamed Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Vinci's third-quarter revenue jumps on traffic boost
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 25 (Reuters) - Vinci (SGEF.PA) posted a sharp rise in quarterly revenue on Tuesday, with the French infrastructure group citing continued recovery in airport passenger numbers and motorway traffic. Europe's biggest construction and concessions company said that traffic levels at its motorways were above those recorded before the pandemic in 2019 despite higher fuel prices. "In October, the light vehicle traffic has been impacted by the shortage of petrol in France," head of investor relations at Vinci Gregoire Thibault said on a call. Vinci also benefited from an accelerated recovery in passenger numbers at almost all of its airports. "Passenger numbers returned to levels equal to or higher than those achieved in 2019 at several airports, particularly in Portugal, Serbia and the Americas."

☆ Toyota to produce electric car powered by BYD batteries in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) announced on Monday the launch of a small electric sedan, which will be powered by BYD Co (002594.SZ) batteries and will be produced and sold in China. The Japanese automaker said the car would be called the Toyota bZ3. It is the second model in the new Beyond Zero (bZ) series of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from Toyota, which has been criticised by activists and green investors for not embracing BEVs quickly enough. The bZ3 was developed jointly by Toyota and BYD, Toyota said on Monday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Norihiko Shirouzu and Ella Cao Editing by David Goodman and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Former Tinkoff execs raise $16 mln for fintech start-up
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Tatiana Bautzer | Nupur Anand | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Three former executives at Russian online bank Tinkoff have raised $16 million to launch a fintech start-up focused on Southeast Asia and initially targeting the Philippines, they said in a statement on Monday. The trio leading the venture all left Tinkoff in the second quarter, soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered Western sanctions against Russia and after an announcement that Tinkoff's London-listed owner TCS Group Holding (TCSq.L) was planning to expand in Asia. Among the men leading the fintech start-up is George Chesakov, who was a co-founder of Tinkoff and had announced a week before the Ukraine invasion that TCS would team up with Swiss payment specialist BPC in the Philippines as part of a $200 million expansion into Asia. The other two men leading the rival venture are Pavel Fedorov, joint Tinkoff CEO in 2021-22, and Raffy Montemayor, a Filipino who will head the new business in the Philippines. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterWriting by Kevin Liffey Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "David Goodman"

25 mentions found