Gini Olom

Kamis, 01 Agustus 2019

SNC-Lavalin slashes dividend to 2 cents a share after posting $2.1B quarterly loss - CBC News

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc on Thursday cut its dividend and reported a quarterly loss, as the struggling Canadian construction and engineering firm was hit by a $1.7 billion goodwill impairment charge related to its resources unit.

The company reduced its quarterly dividend to 2 Canadian cents per share from 10 Canadian cents per share, its second cut this year.

The company withdrew its forecast for 2019 last week citing lower-than-expected results and said it would exit fixed-price contracts while it explores all options for its resources unit, including a sale.

Revenue from SNCL Projects, the company's unit which will manage its exit from lump-sum turnkey construction contracts, fell about 36 per cent to $709.68 million, impacted by projects in the Middle East and Canada.

The Montreal-based company, which announced a strategic review in June and named its Chief Operating Officer Ian Edwards as interim chief executive officer, has been pressured by corruption charges back home, poor business performance and trade challenges in Saudi Arabia and China.

SNC faces a trial in Canada over allegations that its former executives bribed Libyan officials to get contracts between 2001 and 2011. The company's unsuccessful attempts to reach a settlement led to a political scandal engulfing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The company reported a loss attributable to shareholders of C$2.12 billion ($1.60 billion), or C$12.07 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, compared to a profit of C$83.01 million, or 47 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2SZXiLT
via IFTTT
August 01, 2019 at 08:38PM

Jeff Bezos just sold $1.8 billion worth of Amazon stock. Here's why - CNN

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/01/tech/jeff-bezos-sells-stock-trnd/index.html

2019-08-01 14:59:00Z
52780343425644

Burger King takes the Impossible Whopper nationwide August 8th - Engadget

Jeff Bezos Sells $2 Billion of Amazon Stock After 4% Stake Transfer - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- MacKenzie Bezos is officially Amazon.com Inc.’s second-largest individual shareholder.

About 19.7 million shares are now registered in 49-year-old MacKenzie’s name, according to regulatory filings detailing stock sales by her ex-husband, Jeff Bezos. The transfer is a rare disclosure for a divorce whose financial terms have otherwise been shielded from the public. A King County, Washington, judge had signed an order formalizing the separation on July 5.

Bezos sold 968,148 shares for about $1.8 billion between July 29 and July 31 as part of his stock-sale plan, the filings show.

MacKenzie’s 4% holding is worth $37 billion, enough to place her 23rd on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. The value of her stake has fallen by $1 billion since April, when the settlement was first disclosed. Bezos, 55, the founder and chief executive officer of the world’s largest online retailer and web-services company, retains a 12% stake worth $109 billion and remains the world’s wealthiest person.

The value of the transfer makes it the world’s most expensive divorce. While Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison has been through multiple breakups, none has affected his ownership in the software maker. Likewise, Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s stake remained unchanged after he and Anne Wojcicki divorced in 2015.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net;Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill, Steve Dickson

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jeff-bezos-sells-2-billion-120611839.html

2019-08-01 13:54:00Z
CBMiSGh0dHBzOi8vZmluYW5jZS55YWhvby5jb20vbmV3cy9qZWZmLWJlem9zLXNlbGxzLTItYmlsbGlvbi0xMjA2MTE4MzkuaHRtbNIBUGh0dHBzOi8vZmluYW5jZS55YWhvby5jb20vYW1waHRtbC9uZXdzL2plZmYtYmV6b3Mtc2VsbHMtMi1iaWxsaW9uLTEyMDYxMTgzOS5odG1s

The Impossible Whopper is coming to every Burger King in America next week - CNN

The burger chain has been selling the Impossible Whopper, featuring a meatless patty made by Impossible Foods, in a few markets in the United States since April. It first tested the product in St. Louis before announcing in May that it would offer the Impossible Whopper nationally this year.

Interest in plant-based protein has surged as many people try to reduce their meat intake for health or environmental reasons. US retail sales of plant-based foods have grown 11% in the past year, according to a July report from trade group Plant Based Foods Association and the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that supports plant-based businesses.

The Impossible Whopper has been performing well, Chris Finazzo, Burger King's president for the Americas, told CNN Business.

"It's driven new guests into the restaurant," he said, noting that most of those customers either haven't been to a Burger King in a long time or haven't visited one at all. "We're really excited to be able to attract that customer."

The Impossible Whopper will be available nationwide on August 8 for a limited time.

For Burger King, the product is mainly a way to reach flexitarian carnivores rather than strict vegans or vegetarians. The Impossible Whopper is supposed to taste just like Burger King's regular Whopper.

A "taste test" promotion encourages customers to try both the original and Impossible Whopper, so they can compare the two products themselves. The deal will be available from August 8 through September 1 through DoorDash and the Burger King app.

Burger King hasn't yet decided whether to make the Impossible Whopper a permanent part of its menu. Instead, the chain is billing it as a limited-time offer, telling customers that the meatless Whopper will be available as long as supplies last. The sandwich is priced at $5.59, about a dollar more than the regular Whopper.

The chain will evaluate the Impossible Whopper's performance for roughly a few months before making a decision, Finazzo said, as it does before adding any new item. But he noted that the brand has been "really encouraged" by the results so far. "We very much believe in the category," he said.

Burger King is now selling $1 tacos nationwide. Here's why

Barclays predicts the alternative meat sector could reach about $140 billion over the next decade, capturing about 10% of the global meat industry.

Impossible President Dennis Woodside said he's "confident" in the Whopper, noting that Burger King has made a "meaningful commitment" to the Impossible Whopper with its marketing efforts and by training its employees to talk about the new product.

The plant-based protein company currently serves its product in about 10,000 restaurants. Burger King has more than 7,000 US restaurants.

In the past, Impossible has struggled to meet demand. A recent deal with a major meat processor will help Impossible increase its capacity.

A number of other restaurant chains, including White Castle, Qdoba and Little Caesars, serve Impossible's product. Other chains, such as Dunkin' and Tim Hortons, sell meat substitutes made by Impossible's main competitor, Beyond Meat.

Beyond's sales have also been soaring. Revenues reached $67.3 million in the second quarter, up from $17.4 million during the same period last year, a 287% spike.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/01/business/impossible-whopper-national/index.html

2019-08-01 13:17:00Z
52780343573317

Goldman Sachs: One more rate cut and then the Fed is done - CNBC

Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 31, 2019.

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

After one more interest rate cut the Federal Reserve will be finished cutting rates, according to Goldman Sachs.

The firm estimates an 80% probability of another rate cut this year to wrap up the Fed's easing cycle.

"[Powell's] language we see as consistent with our expectation that easing will end with a second 25bp cut," said Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius in a note to clients following Wednesday's FOMC meeting.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve appeased the markets by cutting the target range for its overnight lending rate 25 basis points, to 2% to 2.25%. This marked the first rate cut since the start of the financial recession more than a decade ago. The major indices sold-off and bond yields rose after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference, where he watered down the chances of more rate cuts in the future.

Powell's comments were received as hawkish given that markets priced in a much deeper cutting cycle, said Hatzius. Although Powell did not rule out further rate cuts, his comments that the Fed was making a "midcycle adjustment " and was not in a longer-term rate cutting mode panicked investors.

Hatzius said he sees a 55% chance of 25 basis point cut in September, a 5% chance of a 50 basis point cut, and a 40% chance of no cut.

While Hatzius expects a second cut at the September central bank meeting, he continues "to see little need for it."

"Uncertainty is not actually particularly high and capex expectations are not particularly depressed," said Hatzius.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointing to a gain of more than 60 points at the open. Futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 also indicated a positive open.

— with reporting from CNBC's Michael Bloom

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/01/goldman-sachs-one-more-rate-cut-and-then-the-fed-is-done.html

2019-08-01 12:33:30Z
52780341383806

Futures edge higher as focus shifts from Fed to earnings - Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures bounced on Thursday, a day after the S&P 500 and Dow saw their worst day since May, as focus shifted from the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on further interest rate cuts to corporate earnings, which have been robust.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., July 31, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The U.S. central bank reduced borrowing costs by a widely-expected quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled a series of further cuts was unlikely, leading to a sharp selloff.

Despite that, all three major indexes posted their second straight monthly gains in July, closing the book on a month in which the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached fresh record highs.

“It was always going to be a tough job for the Fed to be as dovish as stock markets hoped. The 25 bps cut was a non-event,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, in a note.

“With the Fed out of the way there is a chance that we can all get back to focusing on earnings and how earnings season continues to paint a broadly positive picture.”

Almost three weeks through earnings, reports so far have been strong. Of the 296 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported second-quarter earnings, 74.7% have beaten Street estimates for profit, according to Refinitiv data.

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) rose 1.3% in premarket trading after wireless carrier beat second-quarter consensus estimates for additions of net new phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill.

At 7:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 46 points, or 0.17%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 3.5 points, or 0.12% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 15.25 points, or 0.19%.

Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) plunged 6.8% after the chipmaker’s quarterly revenue and profit forecast fell short of Wall Street targets, hurt by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s [HWT.UL] strong gains in the Chinese smartphone market.

Fitbit Inc (FIT.N) tumbled 17.4% after the wearable device maker cut its 2019 revenue forecast blaming disappointing sales of its newly launched cheapest smartwatch Versa Lite.

On the macro front, the Institute for Supply Management’s index of national factory activity, due at 10 a.m. EDT, will likely show a reading of 52.0 in July from 51.7 in June.

This will follow IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Indexes final reading for the month July, due 9:45 a.m. EDT.

Factory activity contracted across Asia and Europe in July, fuelling worries a prolonged U.S.-China trade war and an economic slowdown could tilt the world toward recession, which central banks would have to fight with depleted ammunition.

Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/futures-edge-higher-as-focus-shifts-from-fed-to-earnings-idUSKCN1UR4JA

2019-08-01 12:18:00Z
52780343781644

Kamis, 01 Agustus 2019

Sponsored Links