LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Sainsbury's on Wednesday reported a 39% fall in full year underlying pre-tax profit to 356 million pounds ($494 million) as strong food sales during the pandemic were outweighed by extra costs and the forgoing of business rates relief. ($1 = 0.7204 pounds) ...
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LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) reported better than expected profits for the first three months of the year, in outgoing Chief Executive António Horta-Osório's last set of results at Britain's biggest domestic bank. Lloyds reported 1.9 billion pounds ($2.64 billion) pre-tax profit for the first quarter on Wednesday, compared to an average of analyst forecasts of 1.1 billion pounds. The bank had posted a narrow 74 million pound quarterly profit the prior year. The bank's profits were boosted by the release of a 459 million pound chunk of its provisions for expected bad loans...
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BERLIN (Reuters) - German sportswear company Puma reported a 26% jump in first quarter sales on Wednesday despite ongoing coronavirus lockdowns, congestion at U.S. ports and the fact that Western brands have faced attacks in China over their comments on Xinjiang. Puma said sales came in at 1.549 billion euros ($1.87 billion), while net profit jumped to 109 million euros, both beating average analyst estimates for 1.46 billion and 92 million euros respectively. The company said it expects to achieve full-year sales growth in the mid-teens and significantly better profitability compared with last year, although supply...
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Visa (NYSE:V) A reported on Tuesday second quarter earnings that beat analysts' forecasts and revenue that topped expectations. Visa A announced earnings per share of $1.38 on revenue of $5.7B. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $1.27 on revenue of $5.56B. Visa A shares are up 5% from the beginning of the year and are trading at $234.20 , down-from-52-week-high.They are under-performing the S&P 500 which is up 11.47% from the start of the year. Visa A shares gained 1.87% in after-hours trade the report. Visa A follows other major Services sector earnings...
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MONTREAL (Reuters) - The province of Quebec on Tuesday reported Canada's first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) COVID-19 vaccine. Canada has reported at least five cases of blood clots following immunization with the vaccine, but public health officials maintain the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot outweigh the potential risks. Canadian health authorities are gathering additional information on this case, the country's public health agency said. Quebec Public Health Director Horacio Arruda told reporters the death of the patient due to thrombosis will not change the province's...
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By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - The family of deceased Samsung Electronics (LON:0593xq) chairman Lee Kun-hee said on Wednesday it will pay more than 12 trillion won ($10.78 billion) in inheritance taxes for the estate of the late patriarch. Lee, who is credited with transforming Samsung into the world's largest smartphone and memory chip maker, died on Oct. 25. His estate, valued at around 26 trillion won ($23.4 billion) according to local media, included shareholdings in Samsung affiliates valued at $17 billion. The Lee family's handling of the hefty inheritance tax bill - one of...
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By Yoshifumi Takemoto and Daniel Leussink TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese retail sales rose at the fastest pace in five months in March as consumer demand recovered from the huge hit it took from the coronavirus pandemic last year. The world's third-largest economy has emerged from last year's slump on an export recovery, though a glacial vaccine rollout and a resurgence in infections are threatening household demand. Retail sales jumped 5.2% in March from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, a larger gain than the median market forecast for a 4.7% rise. That marked the...
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By Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday as already high valuations discouraged investors from buying equities ahead of a closely-watched U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.23%. Australian stocks rose 0.55%, but shares in China slipped 0.44%. Stocks in Tokyo edged 0.16% higher. S&P 500 e-mini stock futures rose 0.09%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to reaffirm that easy monetary policy will remain in place for a prolonged period and dismiss any suggestions of tapering bond purchases. U.S. President Joe Biden will also...
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By Kevin Buckland, Stephen Culp and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Ethereum, the world's second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, rose to an all-time peak on Tuesday, with market participants citing media reports about the European Investment Bank's plans to launch a "digital bond" sale on the ethereum blockchain network. Ether is the digital currency or token that facilitates transactions on the ethereum blockchain. In the crypto world, the terms ether and ethereum have become interchangeable. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources, that the EIB plans to issue a two-year 100-million euro...
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By Stephen Nellis and Akanksha Rana (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) on Tuesday met analysts' quarterly sales expectations and beat profit estimates, but its shares fell slightly reflecting some skepticism about one-off benefits included in the results and high hopes after a year-long rally. By grabbing market share in the booming market for cloud computing and expanding business services such as its Teams collaboration service and LinkedIn social network, the Redmond, Washington company has become one of the world's most valuable companies, worth close to $2 trillion after a 50% stock runup over the...
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