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☆ Danske Bank raises profit goal, puts Norway retail unit up for sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nikolaj Skydsgaard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Danske Bank has during recent years made fundamental changes to refocus the bank, reduce our risk exposure, develop our organisation and accelerate our commercial momentum," said CEO Carsten Egeriis. Rival Nordic banks Nordea (NDAFI.HE) and DNB (DNB.OL) both have long-term ROE targets of more than 13%, while Swedbank (SWEDa.ST) has a goal of at least 15%. Danske Bank is Norway's third-biggest bank after DNB and Nordea with a market share of close to 5%, regulatory data shows. Danske also said it would double investments into the strategic development of the bank, including digital platforms, expert advisory services and sustainability. It plans to maintain its dividend payout ratio of between 40-60% of net profit.

Persons: Carsten Egeriis, Danske, JP Morgan, Nikolaj Skydsgaard, Terje Solsvik, Jason Neely Organizations: Bank, Danske Bank, Danske, Nordic, Thomson Locations: COPENHAGEN, United States, Denmark

☆ TSMC expects H2 performance to be better than H1
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

TAIPEI, June 6 (Reuters) - Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW) said on Tuesday it expects its performance to be better in the second half of the year than the first. First half revenue is expected to drop 10% year-on-year in U.S. dollar terms, CEO C.C. Wei told the company's annual shareholders meeting. Reporting by Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: TSMC, C.C, Wei, Faith Hung, Ben Blanchard, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: Thomson Locations: TAIPEI

☆ How to land a job with Blackstone, Apollo, KRR, and other private equity titans
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Kaja Whitehouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Private equity is often seen as the Holy Grail of finance jobs — but breaking in can be challenging. We also have data on private equity pay and the industry's top recruiters. Here is what we found about pay at private equity firms, including Blackstone, Apollo, and Bain Capital. Private equity recruiting has been starting earlier than ever Getty ImagesPrivate equity firms like to recruit young talent from investment banks. These days, the private equity recruiting process has started earlier than ever, resulting in middle-of-the-night interviews with offers being made — and blown up — all before Labor Day.

Persons: —, bymuratdeniz, Blackstone, Samantha Lee, Drew Angerer, Skye Gould, Jon Gray, Grace Koo, Read, Carlyle, Alex Crisses, Thoma Bravo, Warburg Pincus, Wharton's, Axel Springer Organizations: Blackstone, KKR, Service, Apax Partners, Oaktree, of Foreign Labor, Apollo, Bain Capital, Labor, General Atlantic, PJT Partners, Partners, dealmakers, Wall, University of Michigan Locations: Carlyle, Blackstone, Axel

☆ UK equities rise on upbeat global mood, BT Group tumbles on weak cash flow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Johann M Cherian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"There's clearly a lack of real strategy and it's not enough to just say we're going to cut costs. Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) earlier this week said it would cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years after it warned that a poor performance in its biggest market Germany would hit cash flow. The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.6%, reflecting an upbeat mood in global markets on hopes that Washington is edging closer to a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avert a default. Among other movers, luxury group Burberry Group Plc (BRBY.L) fell 6.2% as continued weakness in the United States overshadowed a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter sales driven by a rebound in China. EasyJet Plc rose 1% after the airline posted a first-half loss in line with its guidance.

☆ Travel won’t fully recover this year — but it will get close
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | Morgan Awyong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The World Travel & Tourism Council says the global travel and tourism sector won't fully recover this year — but it will get close. The return of tourism jobsAnd this year, jobs in the travel and tourism sector will recover to 95% of 2019 levels, according to the report. In 2019, 334 million people worked in the travel sector — an all-time high, it said. By 2033, the WTTC forecasts the travel sector will employ some 430 million people around the world, representing nearly 12% of the global workforce. But "we can't expect that momentum to continue into 2023," according to a forecast published by the travel risk intelligence company Riskline.

☆ Westpac H1 profit jumps on higher interest rates, flags second-half margin pressures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Intense mortgage competition is expected to negatively impact industry and Westpac’s margins in the next half," it said. The country's No.3 lender said net profit came in at A$4.00 billion ($2.70 billion) for the six months ended March 31, compared with A$3.28 billion a year earlier. Net interest margin - the difference between interest earned from lending and paid for deposits - rose 5 basis points from a year earlier to 1.96% at the end of March. Westpac declared an interim dividend of 70 Australian cents per share, as compared with 61 Australian cents last year. ($1 = 1.4819 Australian dollars)Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

2 lender, fell short of analyst forecasts in half-year profit released on Thursday and took a hit to its share price after warning that the windfall from rising interest rates had peaked. The update signals a tough new phase for Australia's lenders which have benefited from a year of rising interest rates by charging more to borrowers while limiting the amount they pay deposit-holders. "What the market's concerned about is the exit NIM (net interest margin)," said Hugh Dive, chief investment officer at Atlas Funds Management which holds bank stocks. In personal banking, which includes mortgages, profit shrank slightly due to a A$393 million impairment charge. The bank had telephoned 7,000 borrowers deemed to be most vulnerable to rising interest rates and just 13 had requested assistance.

☆ Tech Companies Are Colluding to Cheat H1-B Visa Lottery, U.S. Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Michelle Hackman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Citizenship and Immigration Services has laid out its findings on the H-1B visa lottery in a notice to employers. Photo: Pete Marovich/Washington Post/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The Biden administration says it has found evidence that several dozen small technology companies have colluded to increase the chances that their prospective foreign hires will win a coveted H-1B visa for skilled foreign workers in this year’s lottery. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that awards H-1B visas, said it has found that a small number of companies are responsible for entering the same applicants into the lottery multiple times, with the alleged goal of artificially boosting their chances of winning a visa. The findings were laid out in a notice to employers viewed by The Wall Street Journal and set to be released Friday.

☆ National Australia Bank lowers peak rate call for Australia to 3.85%, from 4.1%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Stella Qiu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SYDNEY, March 30 (Reuters) - National Australia Bank said on Thursday it expects Australian interest rates to peak at 3.85%, down from a previous estimate of 4.1%. NAB added it still expects the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise its official cash rate by 25 basis points in April for a final time, beginning rate cuts in the first half of 2024. "We continue to see rate cuts in H1 2024 bringing the cash rate back to 3.1% as the economy slows and unemployment rises," the bank's chief economist Alan Oster said in a statement. Fellow Australian bank Westpac also cut its peak rate forecast to 3.85% earlier this month. Reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney Editing by Alasdair PalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

OAKLAND, California, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. chip giant Intel Corp (INTC.O) said on Wednesday its first semiconductor for data center customers focused on power efficiency, Sierra Forest, would be delivered in the first half of next year, as it outlined a chip release schedule after prior delays. Intel still dominates the markets for PC and server processing chips, with a market share greater than 70%, tech research firm IDC has calculated. Intel said the next power-efficient chip, Clearwater Forest, would come to market in 2025. Rivera said that Intel was also working on building the Intel Developer Cloud with 256 Xeon chips and 512 Gaudi chips for artificial intelligence (AI) that would be available for AI developers to train and run new models. She said AI startups Hugging Face and Stable Diffusion were already using Intel chips.

☆ India's April-September borrowing slightly above market expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Nikunj Ohri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The planned April-September borrowing constitutes about 57.6% of the total 15.43 trillion rupees planned for the current fiscal year, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. Borrowing in the first six months is slightly above market expectations of about 55% of this year's target. The government said the borrowing will be done through bonds of three, five, seven, 10, 14, 30 and 40 years tenure. It plans to borrow between 310 billion and 390 billion rupees a week in the first half of the fiscal year. The government plans net borrowing of 1.42 trillion rupees in the quarter ending June 30, compared with 2.40 trillion rupees in the same period last year.

☆ Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls: Apple ,Tesla, First Republic, Roku, Sunrun, JPMorgan Chase & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +19 min

Baird upgrades Truist to outperform from neutral Baird said it sees an attractive risk/reward for the regional bank. "Regional bank risk/reward trade-off improving, and we would get more aggressive on the regional bank side, upgrading TFC to Outperform." Bank of America reiterates Alphabet as buy Bank of America said it's bullish on Alphabet's entry into AI. Bank of America reiterates Roku as buy Bank of America said it's standing by the stock in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. "Regional bank risk/reward trade-off improving, and we would get more aggressive on the regional bank side, upgrading TFC to Outperform."

☆ ECB's Villeroy: French inflation peak seen in H1
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, March 9 (Reuters) - France's inflation peak will come in the first half of this year, French European Central Bank policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Thursday, adding inflation across the euro zone was still too high and remained the top priority for monetary policy. "I can't comment on interest rates, but what is very important is the inflation expectations", Villeroy said, adding: "The peak will come this semester, and then inflation will halve by the end of the year." The ECB has already raised rates by 3 percentage points since July and essentially promised another half a percentage point increase on March 16, but investors have recently speculated on an even bigger move given poor inflation data. Several policymakers have warned recently that ECB rate hikes need to continue until core inflation turns around and starts falling towards the ECB's 2% target. Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Benoit Van OverstraetenOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Darktrace lowers cash-flow guidance, reports 36% rise in H1 revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - British cybersecurity company Darktrace (DARK.L) lowered its guidance for full-year cash flow on Wednesday due to an accounting change related to its listing as it reported a 36% rise in first-half revenue. The company said its 2023 guidance range for free cash flow would be about 50% to 55% of adjusted core earnings, down from a previous 60% to 65%. Darktrace's performance was questioned in January by short-seller Quintessential Capital Management, which said it was "deeply skeptical about the validity" of its financial statements. Darktrace, which listed in April 2021, rejected the claim, and said it was run with "the greatest integrity". Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by William James and James DaveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Australia's Medibank posts profit, policyholder growth; shares jump
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Harish Sridharan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The loss of confidence following the hack led to Medibank losing 13,000 customers between October and December, curbing the growth in policyholders for the July-December period to 0.1%. However, the rate of losses slowed in January and reversed to a net addition of 200 policyholders this month through Feb. 18, Medibank said. Medibank stock recovering Medibank stock recoveringMedibank reported that its net profit after tax rose 5.9% to A$233.3 million ($159.4 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31, which, according to brokerage firm UBS, beat the consensus estimate of A$211 million. The 17% jump in policyholders in that business came as more international students, visitors and workers return to the country as the pandemic waned. Medibank also declared an interim dividend of 6.3 cents per share, up from 6.1 cents last year.

Regional rival Air New Zealand Ltd (AIR.NZ) also reported a swing to profit in the first half ended Dec. 31 on Thursday, along with a muted outlook. Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said cost of living pressures would hit discretionary spending "at some point" but so far the airline expected robust demand into mid-2024 at least. Qantas said it was facing delays of up to six months in new aircraft deliveries from Airbus SE (AIR.PA) alongside other airlines around the world. The Australian carrier said it would bolster its fleet by acquiring some older Airbus planes and exercising nine options for A220 purchases to help meet travel demand growth. "Outlook for RASK is to reduce, however off what we estimate were elevated levels," said Citi analysts in a client note.

As a result, the world's largest listed miner reported underlying profit attributable from continuing operations of $6.6 billion, down from $9.72 billion a year earlier. That missed a Vuma Financial estimate of $6.82 billion, as earnings from copper and coal came in lower than analysts had expected. Shares of the global miner fell as much as 2.8% to A$47.11, their lowest since Jan. 6 and were down 2% at 0138 GMT in a broader market (.AXJO) that was down 0.5%. BHP also said it expected aggressive global interest rate hikes from last year to slow growth sharply across the developed world. BHP has threatened not to invest in Queensland after the state hiked its coal royalties to the highest rate in the world.

SummarySummary Companies H1 profit misses estimateInterim dividend beats estimatePositive on demand outlook from ChinaStarts process to sell two Queensland met coal minesFeb 21 (Reuters) - Global miner BHP Group (BHP.AX) was positive about demand outlook through to fiscal 2024 as top metals consumer China reopens and shifts policy towards its debt-laden property sector, the company said on Tuesday after its 2023 first-half profit missed estimates. However, its interim dividend of 90 cents per share, while lower than last year's $1.50 per share, beat Vuma Financial's estimate of 88 cents. "We are positive about the demand outlook in the second half of fiscal 2023 and into fiscal 2024, with strengthening activity in China on the back of recent policy decisions the major driver," Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry said. But the reopening of the world's second-biggest economy and a property sector policy shift has BHP upbeat on the commodity demand outlook. However, in an environment where central banks are aggressively tightening their monetary policy, BHP expects its operating environment to remain volatile in the near term, but expects China to be a source of stability for commodity demand.

MELBOURNE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC.AX) posted a more than five-fold jump in first-half profit on Thursday, aided by soaring coal prices, but paid a lower than expected dividend, sending its shares down. But Whitehaven announced an interim dividend of only 32 Australian cents per share, about 30% lower than Citi estimates and about 16 cents below Goldman Sachs' forecast. Whitehaven shares slid as much as 12.3% after news of the coal reservation scheme broke, before paring loses to A$7.88, down 3.8%. "We do think the structural underpinnings of the market are very positive, but in the short term, coal prices have come off quite a bit," Flynn added. Subsequently, the company kept its run-of-mine coal production guidance of between 19.0 million and 20.4 million tonnes for the 2023 fiscal year unchanged.

MUMBAI/ISLAMABAD, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Inflation in Pakistan could average 33% in the first half of 2023 before trending lower, and a bailout from the International Monetary Fund alone is unlikely to put the economy back on track, a senior economist with Moody's Analytics told Reuters. "Our view is that an IMF bailout alone isn't going to be enough to get the economy back on track. What the economy really needs is persistent and sound economic management," senior economist Katrina Ell said in an interview on Wednesday. Low income households could remain under extreme pressure as a result of high inflation on account of being disproportionately exposed to non-discretionary items. The weaker rupee, which is plumbing record lows, is adding to imported inflation while domestically high energy costs on the back of tariff increases and still elevated food prices is likely to keep inflation high.

☆ Private-equity salaries revealed: Here's how much top firms like Blackstone, KKR, and Oaktree are offering 2024 associates
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | Rachel Durose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some of the most recent private equity recruits will rake in nearly $200,000 in base pay alone. Among the firms recruiting are Bain Capital, Blackstone, and KKR & Co. — three of the largest private-equity firms in the world based on funds raised in the last five years. These private-equity firms, along with others, have increasingly accelerated their recruiting timelines to get ahead of competitors, as Insider previously reported. To woo promising junior talent, private-equity firms offer sky-high salaries and even more enticing bonus propositions, much like in investment banking, from which these firms cull most of their talent. Oaktree Capital ManagementOaktree Capital Management was founded in 1995, and has $170 billion in AUM, according to its website.

☆ Maersk, a global barometer for trade, posts record 2022 earnings but warns of a tough year ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The container ship Maersk Murcia sits moored in the port of Gothenburg, Sweden, on August 24, 2020. Maersk, one of the world's largest container shipping firms, on Wednesday reported a fall in fourth-quarter earnings but posted the best full-year result in its history. This took the full-year underlying EBITDA figure to $36.84 billion, fractionally below the company's forward guidance of $37 billion but its strongest-ever full-year result. Maersk raised its dividend to 4,300 Danish krone ($620.33) per share from 2,500 DKK per share. For 2023, Maersk expects underlying EBITDA to plummet to between $8 billion and $11 billion.

☆ A laid-off Google engineer describes losing his 'only career' 16 years after starting as an intern
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An Ex-Googler described being laid off 16 years after he started as an intern. "Google has been my one and only career," Joel Leitch wrote in a LinkedIn post. The things that I will miss most are the people and the relationships built," Leitch wrote in the post. Leitch and Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours. Leitch isn't alone in taking to LinkedIn after losing his job in the layoffs that have swept the tech industry.

☆ A laid-off Microsoft software engineer on an H1-B visa said she wonders 'where will I be living' with just 60 days to find a new job
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Microsoft software engineer said in a LinkedIn post she had many unanswered questions after being laid off. Maydana is on an H-1B visa – she has a grace period of 60 days before she needs to depart the US. Her next challenge: finding out if she can get another job within the next 60 days of her grace period. Maydana is among thousands of other employees who have had their life upended amid mass layoffs sweeping across the tech industry. A Google engineer found out she had been laid off when her boss sent her a LinkedIn message while she was on vacation.

☆ Analysts overlook Alphabet's disappointing quarter, cite confidence in AI push as ChatGPT threat grows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts are willing to overlook Alphabet' s disappointing quarter in lieu of its artificial intelligence push and focus on costs. Shares of the search giant fell more than 4% after the company missed Wall Street's expectations for the fourth quarter. But, analysts lauded the company's focus on artificial intelligence as it faces mounting pressures from popularized Microsoft-backed chatbot ChatGPT . Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the company plans to release its LaMDA language model with search components "very soon." GOOGL 1D mountain GOOGL falls after earnings Analysts also cited some confidence in the company's push to reengineer its cost structure and reduce inefficiencies.

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