AstraZeneca topped analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit and reiterated its targets for the year on Wednesday, as the British drugmaker benefited from higher demand for some of its medicines during the coronavirus pandemic.
German auto supplier and technology company Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL] on Wednesday said it expected automotive production to fall by at least 20% this year, as the coronavirus pandemic slams the brakes on factory production lines and saps demand.
World shares eked out slim gains on Wednesday, with optimism over economies easing coronavirus lockdowns and oil prices clawing back ground leavened by caution over corporate earnings.
Airbus on Wednesday posted a 49% slump in first-quarter core profit and called for an industry-wide campaign to restore confidence in flying after the coronavirus pandemic triggered the “gravest crisis the aerospace industry has ever known”.
(Bloomberg) — Standard Chartered Plc put aside $956 million against potential losses as souring loans spike during the coronavirus pandemic, even as a trading boom lifted first-quarter revenue.The emerging markets-focused lender reported the biggest provisions since 2015 as clients across Asia, Africa and the Middle East got into difficulty because of lockdowns and travel restrictions. That reflects similar warnings from other global banks, which have allocated billions of dollars to deal with the crisis.“While pressure on credit quality has increased recently, we delivered good underlying income growth of 6% in the first quarter and maintained strong cost discipline,” Bill Winters, …read more […]
Standard Chartered PLC on Wednesday said it expects its main markets to lead global economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis as early as later this year, striking an optimistic note after increased bad loan provisions squashed quarterly profit.
Volvo Car Group, owned by China’s Geely Holding, said on Wednesday it was giving notice of redundancy to 1,300 white-collar workers in Sweden as the impact from the pandemic increased the urgency of lowering structural costs.
Shares in airline group IAG fell 3% after the airline group launched a plan to shrink its main British Airways business, axing staff numbers by a quarter as it warned of a slow recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
(Bloomberg) — Billionaire activist investor Christopher Hohn has called on Wirecard AG to remove Chief Executive Officer Markus Braun after an independent audit of past revenues criticized the German payments processor for internal “shortcomings.”The probe by KPMG was unable to obtain the data needed to verify revenues of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in transactions with third parties. Wirecard hired the accounting firm in October to look into its third-party partner business as well as operations in India and Singapore following a series of reports by the Financial Times that accused the company of accounting fraud in several countries.Shares in …read more […]
(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia’s central bank depleted its net foreign assets in March at the fastest clip since at least 2000, showing the severity of the damage inflicted by the slump in oil prices even as the government is only starting to lean on the holdings to cover budget needs.The drop of more than 100 billion riyals ($27 billion), or over 5% from the previous month, brought the stockpile to $464 billion, the lowest since 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the first quarter, the government ran a budget deficit of 34.1 billion riyals, which was mostly covered …read more […]
Britain’s Fevertree Drinks said on Wednesday co-founder Charles Rolls plans to step down from his role as non-executive deputy chairman at the company’s annual general meeting in June.
Daimler on Wednesday warned the carmaker faces a difficult second quarter as it hiked credit risk provisions to anticipate rising delinquencies among customers who leased or bought Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.
Strategic investors will inject 7 billion yuan ($989 million) into Nio China, a new entity controlled by Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc, the firm said on Wednesday. The new investment will boost product development and research, Chief Executive William Li told a news conference, adding that the firm would consider expanding capacity in the eastern city of Hefei if sales demand grew. In a statement, the firm said Nio will inject its core businesses and assets in China, which are valued at 17.77 billion yuan, into Nio China and invest 4.16 billion yuan in it. …read more […]
British clothing retailer Next said on Wednesday total product sales in its latest quarter crashed 41%, reflecting the closure of all its stores in the coronavirus lockdown and the temporary shutdown of its online operations.
Asian shares climbed to a near two-month peak on Wednesday as investors took heart from easing coronavirus lockdowns in some parts of the world, better-than-expected corporate earnings and a welcome rebound in oil prices.
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