DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

BMO, which bought U.S. regional lender Bank of the West earlier this year, said provision for credit losses rose to C$492 million ($361.42 million), compared with C$136 million a year ago. The bank's earnings were also affected by severance costs of C$162 million and C$83 million in legal provisions at its capital markets unit. At Bank of Montreal, net interest income for the quarter rose to C$4.91 billion, compared with C$4.20 billion last year. At Scotiabank net interest income fell to C$4.58 billion, from $4.68 billion a year ago, largely hurt by lower corporate lending and lower loan fees. At Scotiabank, net income came in at C$2.23 billion, compared with C$2.61 billion.

Persons: Carlos Osorio, Tayfun Tuzun, BMO's, Scott Thomson, Thomson, John Aiken, BMO's Tuzun, Nivedita Balu, Pritam Biswas, Sri Hari, Shweta Agarwal, Bernadette Baum, Mike Harrison, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Bank of Montreal, REUTERS, Bank of Nova, Bank of Canada's, BMO, Bank, Scotiabank, Barclays, Bank of, Analysts, Thomson Locations: Toronto , Ontario, Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto, U.S, Mexico, Bank of Montreal, Bengaluru

☆ TSX set to open flat ahead of data-packed week
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Art Deco facade of the original Toronto Stock Exchange building is seen on Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada January 23, 2019. ET (1105 GMT), after finishing the week flat on Friday. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) ended higher on Friday, lifted by gains in energy stocks. Investors are also awaiting earnings from major Canadian banks, including Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), reporting this week. Wall Street futures edged higher on Monday.

Persons: Chris Helgren, Canada's, Shashwat Chauhan, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Toronto Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Bank of Canada, Toronto Stock, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova, National Bank of Canada, Wall, Brent, Thomson Locations: Toronto , Ontario, Canada, United States, China, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bengaluru

☆ Private equity firm Veritas makes takeover offer for BlackBerry, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Greg Roumeliotis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mike Blake Acquire Licensing RightsAug 25 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Veritas Capital has made an offer to buy BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO), according to a person familiar with the matter, months after the Canadian technology company began a strategic review. Veritas and Blackberry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Veritas has made an offer for the entire company, the source said, adding that BlackBerry is also in talks with other potential buyers. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Perella Weinberg Partners are acting as financial advisors to BlackBerry for the strategic review. Bloomberg News reported the talks between Veritas and BlackBerry earlier on Friday.

Persons: Mike Blake, Morgan Stanley, Perella Weinberg, Chavi Mehta, Shweta Agarwal, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Veritas Capital, BlackBerry, Veritas, Malikie Innovations, Perella Weinberg Partners, Bloomberg News, Thomson Locations: Irvine , California, U.S, Canadian, Bengaluru

☆ Private-equity firm Veritas makes a takeover offer for BlackBerry, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The Blackberry logo is shown on a office tower in Irvine, California, U.S., October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake Acquire Licensing RightsAug 25 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Veritas Capital has made an offer to buy Canadian software company BlackBerry (BB.TO), according to a person familiar with the matter. Veritas and Blackberry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. It pulled the plug on its smartphones business last year and has since been trying to sell its legacy patents related to its mobile devices. In May, BlackBerry said it will continue with the previously announced sale of the patents related to its mobile devices to Malikie Innovations Limited for up to $900 million.

Persons: Mike Blake, BlackBerry, Chavi Mehta, Greg Roumeliotis, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: REUTERS, Veritas Capital, BlackBerry, Veritas, Malikie Innovations, Thomson Locations: Irvine , California, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Veritas is said to consider a takeover offer for BlackBerry - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The Blackberry logo is shown on a office tower in Irvine, California, U.S., October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake Acquire Licensing RightsAug 25 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Veritas Capital is considering a takeover offer for Canadian software company BlackBerry (BB.TO), according to a person familiar with the matter. Veritas and Blackberry did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for a comment. BlackBerry had said in May it would conduct a review of strategic alternatives, which includes the possible separation of one or more of its businesses. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Greg Roumeliotis; Editing by Shweta AgarwalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Mike Blake, BlackBerry, Chavi Mehta, Greg Roumeliotis, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: REUTERS, Veritas Capital, Canadian, BlackBerry, Veritas, Thomson Locations: Irvine , California, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ TSX ends lower as tech falls, investors weigh bank earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Fergal Smith | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Art Deco facade of the original Toronto Stock Exchange building is seen on Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada January 23, 2019. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) ended down 103.96 points, or 0.5%, at 19,775.83, giving back some of the previous day's rally. "Considering the softness on the U.S. side, the Canadian market held up well," said Lorne Steinberg, president, Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) were down 3.2% after the bank missed analysts' estimates for quarterly profit. But Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) shares ended 2% higher as it beat estimates, helped by cost cutting measures.

Persons: Chris Helgren, Jerome Powell's, Lorne Steinberg, Steinberg, Fergal Smith, Siddarth, Marguerita Choy, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Toronto Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Tech, RBC, Toronto Stock, Federal, Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc, Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Thomson Locations: Toronto , Ontario, Canada, U.S, Toronto, Bengaluru

☆ AI startup Hugging Face valued at $4.5 bln in latest round of funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Aug 24 (Reuters) - AI startup Hugging Face said on Thursday it was valued at $4.5 billion in a $235-million funding round backed by technology heavyweights, including Salesforce (CRM.N), Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Nvidia (NVDA.O). The latest round of funding outlines the rapidly growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), which has been hailed by many as the next frontier of technology and has attracted some of the biggest investors in Silicon Valley. Following the launch of OpenAI's popular chatbot ChatGPT, several AI startups like Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) Inflection AI and Google-backed Runway have raised funds. Intel (INTC.O), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), Qualcomm (QCOM.O), IBM (IBM.N), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Ashton Kutcher-backed venture capital firm Sound Ventures also participated in Hugging Face's latest funding round. "In five years, every tech company will be an AI company," Delangue added.

Persons: Ashton Kutcher, Face's, Clément Delangue, Delangue, Shubhendu Satish Deshmukh, Niket, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Intel, Devices, Qualcomm, IBM, Sound Ventures, Thomson Locations: Silicon Valley, Bengaluru

☆ Meta to launch AI model for writing computer codes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The logo of Meta Platforms' business group is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 24 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) on Thursday said it would release an artificial intelligence (AI) model designed to assist in writing computer code, furthering its push into the new technology. Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has released a flurry of AI models, mostly free, this year, including an open-source language model, called Llama, that poses a serious challenge to proprietary models sold by Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google. The new AI model is built on top of Meta's latest Llama 2 language model and will be available in different configurations, the company said, as it gears up to compete with Microsoft's code-writing tool GitHub Copilot. Code Llama supports the popular coding languages like Python, Java and C++ and is not recommended for general text tasks, Meta said.

Persons: Yves Herman, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Meta, Zaheer Kachwala, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: REUTERS, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium, Bengaluru

☆ Toronto-Dominion Bank's quarterly profit falls as loan-loss provisions rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) logos are seen outside of a branch in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 26, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 24 (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) on Thursday reported a drop in third-quarter profit as the Canadian lender set aside more rainy-day funds to cover losses from borrowers who might fall behind on loan payments. The bank reported adjusted net income of C$3.73 billion ($2.76 billion), or C$1.99 per share, in the three months ended July 31, compared with C$3.81 billion, or C$2.09 apiece, a year earlier. ($1 = 1.3538 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta AgarwalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Chris Wattie, Pritam Biswas, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Dominion Bank, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Toronto, Ottawa , Ontario, Canada, Bengaluru

☆ Abercrombie & Fitch lifts sales forecast as fresh clothing styles draw shoppers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A person carries a bag from the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., February 27, 2017. The company's eponymous Abercrombie label has also ranked among the top five clothing brands that back-to-school shoppers chose, a survey by William Blair showed. Net sales at the Abercrombie brand jumped 26% in the three months ended July 29, while the Hollister division posted an 8% rise. The company said it now expects net sales to rise around 10% for fiscal 2023, compared with its prior forecast range of 2% to 4% growth. Analysts, on average, had estimated a 3.9% rise to $3.84 billion in revenue, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Abercrombie, William Blair, Deborah Sophia, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Abercrombie, Fitch, REUTERS, U.S, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, Ohio, Hollister, Bengaluru

☆ Bath & Body Works sees steeper sales drop on slowing demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Products are displayed in L Brands Inc., Bath & Body Works retail store in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 13, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Acquire Licensing RightsAug 23 (Reuters) - Bath & Body Works (BBWI.N) on Wednesday warned of a steeper decline in annual sales as Americans deferred purchasing its pricier home fragrances and personal care products amid still-high inflation pinching household budgets. Shares of the Ohio-based company fell about 2% in premarket trading after the retailer forecast current-quarter sales and profit below Street expectations. Bath & Body Works now expects annual net sales to decline between 1.5% and 3.5%, compared with its previous forecast of flat net sales to a mid-single-digit percentage decline. It also raised its annual profit forecast to adjusted earnings per share now expected to range between $2.80 and $3.10, compared with $2.68 and $3.08 previously expected.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Estee Lauder, Juveria Tabassum, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Brands Inc, Body Works, REUTERS, Body, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York, U.S, Ohio

☆ Abercrombie & Fitch raises sales forecast as new clothing styles attract shoppers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Deborah Mary Sophia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A person carries a bag from the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., February 27, 2017. Revenue from the Abercrombie brand rose 26% in the quarter, while that from Hollister recorded its first growth, with an 8% rise, following a decline in the past five quarters. Abercrombie now expects fiscal 2023 net sales to rise around 10%, compared with its prior forecast range of 2% to 4% growth. Its per-share profit of $1.10, for the three months ended July 29, crushed estimates of 17 cents, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta AgarwalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Abercrombie, Fran Horowitz, Rachel Wolff, They've, Wolff, Hollister, Deborah Sophia, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Abercrombie, Fitch, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Meta rolls out web version of Threads
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Aug 22 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) said on Tuesday it was launching the web version of its new text-first social media platform Threads, in a bid to retain professional users and gain an edge over rival X, formerly Twitter. Threads' users will be able to access the microblogging platform by logging-in to its website from their computers, the Facebook and Instagram owner said. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Threads post that the web version would reach users "over the next few days." Meta's Threads app logo is seen in this illustration taken July 4, 2023. The company will be adding more functionality to the web experience in the coming weeks, Meta said.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Dado Ruvic, Meta, Yuvraj Malik, Katie Paul, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Facebook, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, New York

Medtronic Plc logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, April 10, 2023. Medtronic, which makes pacemakers, catheters and other tools used in heart and gastrointestinal surgeries, joins rivals, including Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N), Stryker (SYK.N) and Boston Scientific (BSX.N), on benefiting from a rise in non-urgent surgeries. CEO Geoff Martha said trends pointed to a recovery in surgical volumes as some procedures returned to stronger than pre-pandemic levels. Whereas, revenue from its medical surgical unit rose 5.5% to $2.04 billion. Medtronic also said that it was expecting to split its patient monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses in the first half of fiscal 2025.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Stryker, Geoff Martha, It's, Martha, Edward Jones, John Boylan, Medtronic, Bhanvi Satija, Christy Santhosh, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: REUTERS, Abbott, Abbott Laboratories, Boston, Thomson Locations: Dublin, Bengaluru

☆ Medtronic raises forecast as demand for heart devices powers upbeat results
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 22 (Reuters) - Medtronic (MDT.N) on Tuesday raised its annual profit forecast, after beating first-quarter estimates on higher demand for its medical devices used in heart and gastrointestinal surgeries. A recovery in non-urgent procedures and easing staffing shortages following a decline in COVID-19 cases has boosted the demand for medical devices. Sales at Medtronic's heart devices unit, its biggest revenue driver, increased 5.5% to $2.85 billion for the first quarter, above analysts' estimates of $2.78 billion. Revenue for the quarter rose 4.5% to $7.70 billion, topping analysts' average estimate of $7.57 billion. Its adjusted profit of $1.20 per share for the quarter ended July 28 beat estimates of $1.11 per share.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Medtronic, Stryker, Bhanvi Satija, Christy Santhosh, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: REUTERS, Abbott Laboratories, Boston, Revenue, Thomson Locations: COVID, Dublin, Bengaluru

CVS Health logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. The regional health insurance provider will still retain CVS Caremark for managing specialty drugs, which are costly medications used to treat complex conditions like cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Other analysts highlighted difficulties in shifting to a different model than the one offered by companies like CVS - which provide other services including home drug delivery and reimburse pharmacies for patients' prescriptions. Amazon Pharmacy will provide at-home delivery of prescription drugs as well as upfront pricing, while Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company will provide access to generic drugs, Blue Shield said. Blue Shield of California's other partners include privately held Abarca for processing claims related to prescription drugs, while smaller PBM Prime Therapeutics will work to negotiate savings with drugmakers.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Cigna, UnitedHealth, Mark, Elizabeth Anderson, J.P, Morgan, Lisa Gill, Gill, Blue, Manas Mishra, Mariam Sunny, Bhanvi, Shweta Agarwal, Pooja Desai, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Frances Kerry Organizations: CVS, REUTERS, Amazon, Cigna, UnitedHealth, Evercore ISI, Mark Cuban, Plus, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Blue Shield of California drops CVS, taps Amazon and others to lower drug costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CVS Health logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. Blue Shield, whose health plans cover 4.8 million members, said it will now work with five different companies, including Mark Cuban's drug company, to provide "convenient, transparent access to medications while lowering costs." Privately held Abarca will pay prescription drug claims, while Prime Therapeutics will work with Blue Shield to negotiate savings with drugmakers, the company said. Blue Shield will also work with CVS Caremark for specialty pharmacy services. The loss of the Blue Shield pharmacy benefit management contract is another blow to Caremark, which is also set to lose the contract to manage Centene's (CNC.N) $40 billion annual pharmacy needs from next year.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, UnitedHealth, Mark Cuban's, Paul Markovich, Mark, Manas Mishra, Mariam Sunny, Bhanvi, Shweta Agarwal, Pooja Desai Organizations: CVS, REUTERS, Blue, Cigna, UnitedHealth, Pharmacy, Wall Street, Mark Cuban, Plus, Thomson Locations: Blue, Bengaluru

☆ Blue Shield California drops CVS; picks Amazon, others to lower drug price
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CVS Health logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. Non-profit health plan provider Blue Shield, which has 4.8 million members, said it will work with partners including Amazon.com and Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company to provide at-home delivery and access to low-cost medications. Privately held Abarca will pay prescription drug claims, while Prime Therapeutics will work with Blue Shield to negotiate savings with drugmakers, the company said. Blue Shield will also work with CVS Caremark for specialty pharmacy services. The loss of Blue Shield marks another blow to Caremark, which is also set to lose the contract to manage Centene's (CNC.N) $40 billion annual pharmacy needs from next year.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Cuban's, Privately, Manas Mishra, Mariam Sunny, Bhanvi, Shweta Agarwal, Pooja Desai Organizations: CVS, REUTERS, Wall Street Journal, Cigna, UnitedHealth, Company, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Fisker to add Tesla's EV charging connector by 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The logo of Fisker Automotive is pictured on a car at the 2022 Paris Auto Show in Paris, France, October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Stephane MaheAug 15 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle startup Fisker (FSR.N) said on Tuesday it signed a deal with Tesla (TSLA.O) to adopt its North American Charging Standard (NACS), giving Fisker customers access to the automaker's Supercharger network by 2025. A plethora of automakers, including Ford Motor (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N), are moving away from the standard Combined Charging System (CCS) connector to Tesla's previously proprietary charging design, which is set to dominate the industry. Fisker said its vehicles made 2025 onwards will have the NACS port for charging, while other customers can use an adapter to access Tesla's 12,000-strong network of public fast chargers in the U.S. and Canada. Tesla's recent deals represent major strides in displacing a rival standard, CCS, that earlier exclusively had the backing of President Joe Biden's administration.

Persons: Stephane Mahe, Fisker, Joe Biden's, Akash Sriram, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Fisker, REUTERS, Tesla, Ford, General Motors, CCS, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, U.S, Canada, United States, Bengaluru

☆ Bankrupt Lordstown Motors reaches $40 million settlement with Karma Automotive
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Lordstown Motors and Foxconn logo is seen in this illustration taken, May 2, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoAug 15 (Reuters) - Lordstown Motors said on Tuesday it had reached a $40-million settlement with Karma Automotive over a 2020 lawsuit in which the now-bankrupt electric vehicle firm was accused of stealing proprietary technology. The settlement, placed with the bankruptcy court for approval, involves $5 million to be paid as royalty for the use of Karma's intellectual property, which Lordstown was accused of having misappropriated. That case was scheduled for trial in September before being placed on hold by Lordstown's bankruptcy. In case the settlement is not approved and the case goes to trial, Lordstown will continue to defend against Karma's claims, the filing added.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Lordstown, Karma, Taiwan's Foxconn, Karma's, Yuvraj Malik, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: Lordstown Motors, REUTERS, Karma Automotive, Thomson Locations: . California, Bengaluru

☆ Amazon scraps several private label clothing brands - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File PhotoAug 10 (Reuters) - Amazon.com (AMZN.O) is shelving several private clothing brands, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as the e-commerce giant tries to cut costs and address antitrust scrutiny. The move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said the company has decided to eliminate 27 of its 30 in house-label clothing brands, leaving it with just Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection and Amazon Aware. "If there are products that aren't resonating with customers we deprecate those items and look for other opportunities to better meet their needs," Matt Taddy, vice president of Amazon Private Brands, said in an email to Reuters. Other critics have said Amazon abused its gatekeeper power by refusing to allow big rivals to advertise against its products on the Amazon platform and used below-cost prices on goods and services to keep customers, including on Prime.

Persons: Pascal, Matt Taddy, Trump, Zaheer Kachwala, Shweta Agarwal, Arun Koyyur Organizations: REUTERS, Wall Street, Amazon Private Brands, Reuters, The, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Thomson Locations: Lauwin, France, Bengaluru

☆ Amazon scraps private label brands to cut costs, address antitrust scrutiny - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File PhotoAug 10 (Reuters) - Amazon.com (AMZN.O) is shelving several private clothing brands in an attempt to reduce costs and address antitrust scrutiny, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Amazon also is scrapping private-label furniture, phasing out its Rivet and Stone & Beam brands once their stock runs out, the report said. "If there are products that aren't resonating with customers we deprecate those items and look for other opportunities to better meet their needs," Matt Taddy, Vice President of Amazon Private Brands, said in an email to Reuters. The FTC began probing Amazon during the Trump administration when the government decided to investigate several big tech companies for allegedly breaking antitrust law.

Persons: Pascal, Matt Taddy, Trump, Zaheer Kachwala, Shweta Agarwal, Arun Koyyur Organizations: REUTERS, Wall Street, Beam, Amazon Private Brands, Reuters, The, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Thomson Locations: Lauwin, France, Bengaluru

☆ China's Country Garden flags H1 net loss, vows to address liquidity concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company logo of Chinese developer Country Garden is pictured at the Shanghai Country Garden Center in Shanghai, China August 9, 2023. For the first half ended June 30, the company estimates its net loss between 45 billion yuan ($6.24 billion) and 55 billion yuan, it said in its preliminary report. This compares with a net profit of 1.91 billion yuan a year earlier. It achieved attributable sales of 140.8 billion yuan from January to July 2023, down 35% from a year ago. ($1 = 7.2068 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal and Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Aly Song, Yang Huiyan, Roushni Nair, Shweta Agarwal, Shailesh Organizations: Shanghai Country Garden, REUTERS, HK, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Bengaluru

☆ Charles River says NHP supply snarls to no longer persist near-term
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Charles River Laboratories International (CRL.N) beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter results on Wednesday, as the strong demand for contract researcher's tools and services cushioned the impact of suspended non-human primates' (NHP) shipment. The statement comes after Charles River in February suspended the shipment of NHPs from Cambodia as the Department of Justice and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the company over smuggling of wild long-tailed macaques to the United States. The Massachusetts-based company tightened its full-year profit forecast to the range of $10.30 to $10.90 per share, compared with $9.90 to $10.90 previously expected. Excluding items, the company earned $2.69 per share in the quarter ended July 1, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.64 per share.

Persons: Charles River, Charles River's, Vaibhav Sadhamta, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: River Laboratories, Department of Justice, Fish, Wildlife Service, Thomson Locations: United States, NHPs, Cambodia, The Massachusetts

☆ Campbell to buy Rao's premium sauces maker Sovos for $2.33 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoAug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. packaged food maker Campbell Soup (CPB.N) will buy Michael Angelo's and Rao's owner Sovos Brands (SOVO.O) for $2.33 billion in cash, the company said on Monday, beefing up its meals and beverages business with the maker of premium Italian sauces. Campbell will pay $23 per share for Sovos, a nearly 28% premium to the stock's last close. Sovos' shares were trading at $22.48 while Campbell slipped 1.2% to $44.58 in early trade. Last month, Unilever (ULVR.L) said it would buy frozen yogurt brand Yasso in North America while Mars Inc agreed to buy Kevin's Natural Foods. In May, Campbell Soup sold Emerald Nuts to Flagstone Foods for an undisclosed amount.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Campbell, Michael Angelo's, beefing, Sovos, Campbell Soup, Arun Sundaram, Savyata Mishra, Savio D'Souza, Shweta Agarwal, Sriraj Organizations: REUTERS, Sovos Brands, Unilever, Mars Inc, Flagstone Foods, CFRA, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, North America, Canada, Bengaluru

Search resuls for: "Shweta Agarwal"

25 mentions found