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BEIJING (Reuters) - China jailed a Tibetan businessman for five years on Tuesday for “inciting separatism”, his lawyer said, after he advocated the use of Tibetan in schools and was featured in international media reports.
Tashi Wangchuk appeared in a New York Times video in January 2016 in which he spoke about his efforts to protect the right of Tibetans to attend school taught in their mother tongue.
In the report, he also travelled to Beijing to seek an audience with the central government and told the Times that he was not calling for Tibetan independence.
Chinese troops entered prominently Buddhist Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a peaceful liberation of the region and says that it brought prosperity and freedom to what was a backward and feudal society, including freeing a million people from serfdom.
During a trail in January in northwest China’s Yushu prefecture in Qinghai province, the Times’ video report was heavily cited as evidence for the charges of inciting separatism brought against Tashi Wangchuk, his lawyers said at the time.
Liang Xiaojun, one of Tashi Wangchuk’s lawyers, said on Tuesday that Tashi Wangchuk was found guilty and handed a five-year prison sentence, but declined to give further details.
Liang said on Twitter, which is banned in China, that he was unable to give interviews to foreign media as his law firm was under yearly review by China’s legal authorities but that he maintained his belief in Tashi Wangchuk’s innocence.
A person who answered the phone at the Yushu Intermediate People’s Court said that they were unaware of the case.
China maintains that it protects the rights of all ethnic minority cultures and its constitution grants groups the freedom to use and develop their own written and spoken languages.
But rights groups say that the government drive to popularize standardized Mandarin Chinese erodes the languages used by minorities such as Tibetans and that Beijing is essentially forcing cultural assimilation.
Joshua Rosenzweig, East Asia Research Director at Amnesty International, said the verdict and sentence were “gross” injustice.
“He is being cruelly punished for peacefully drawing attention to the systematic erosion of Tibetan culture. To brand peaceful activism for Tibetan language as ‘inciting separatism’ is beyond absurd,” he said in a statement.
There have been sporadic protests against Chinese rule in Tibetan parts of China for the past few years, most seriously in 2008 ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics.
Beijing calls Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama a dangerous reactionary who seeks to split off nearly a quarter of the land mass of the People’s Republic of China.
The 1989 Nobel Peace laureate, who fled Tibet into exile in India in 1959, denies the charge and says he seeks greater rights, including religious freedom and autonomy, for Tibetans.
Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Nick Macfie
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/china-rights/china-jails-tibetan-language-promoter-for-inciting-separatism-idINKCN1IN1BW |
DENVER, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - (TSX: IMP) (ITMSF:BB) – Intermap Technologies Corporation ("Intermap" or the "Company") reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
Financial Review
All amounts in this news release are in United States dollars, unless otherwise noted.
For the first quarter of 2018, Intermap reported revenue of $3.4 million, a 32% increase compared to the same period last year. The Company also reported $21 thousand of operating income for the quarter, compared to a $1.5 million loss for the same period last year.
Commercial subscription revenue increased 148% for the quarter, compared to the same period last year.
First quarter adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP and non-IFRS financial measure, was positive $0.4 million, compared to a $0.8 million loss for the same period last year, a $1.2 million improvement. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and excludes non-recurring and non-cash payments. Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized performance measure under IFRS. The most directly comparable measure to adjusted EBITDA calculated in accordance with IFRS is net loss. See Non-IFRS Measures below for a reconciliation of the Company's net loss to adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2018 as compared to 2017.
The Company finished the first quarter with $5.9 million of cash, accounts receivable and unbilled revenue, compared to $6.9 at December 31, 2017. Working capital improved to $0.4 million at the end of the first quarter, compared to a deficit of $0.4 million at yearend. Accounts payable and accrued liabilities improved 40%, down to $2.4 million from $4.0 million at yearend.
For the three-month period, personnel expense, the largest component of the Company's cost structure, increased slightly to $2.0 million, compared to $1.9 million last year, representing investment in key talent required to support continuous growth.
"The Company is advancing its transition towards predictable and profitable high growth revenue. Our commercial subscription business, which includes recurring sales of software and value-added data products, primarily from the US market, increased more than 170%. We expect commercial growth to continue because our partners value Intermap's ability to make complex, multi-sourced geospatial data simple and usable. At the same time, for our government clients, we have augmented our core radar collection capability and bundled multi-sensor integration, processing and solutions, to deliver valuable answers, rather than merely data. We will be making further announcements shortly about our newest generation solution called NextMap One, a global one-meter resolution digital elevation model", commented Patrick Blott, Chairman & CEO of Intermap.
The Company's consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis will be filed on SEDAR at: www.sedar.com . Important factors, including those discussed in the Company's regulatory filings ( www.sedar.com ) could cause actual results to differ from the Company's expectations and those differences may be material.
Non-IFRS Measures
Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized performance measure under IFRS and does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. The term EBITDA consists of net income (loss) and excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is included as a supplemental disclosure because management believes that such measurement provides a better assessment of the Company's operations on a continuing basis by eliminating certain non-cash charges and charges that are nonrecurring. The most directly comparable measure to adjusted EBITDA calculated in accordance with IFRS is net loss.
(UNAUDITED)
Three months ended March 31,
U.S. $ millions
2018
2017
Net income loss
$
(0.6)
$
(1.9)
Financing costs
0.6
0.7
Income tax recovery
-
(0.2)
Depreciation of property and equipment
0.3
0.2
EBITDA
$
0.3
$
(1.2)
Non-recurring payments
-
0.5
Change in value of derivative instruments
-
(0.1)
Share-based compensation
0.1
-
Adjusted EBITDA
$
0.4
$
(0.8)
About Intermap Technologies
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap ( www.intermap.com ) is an industry leader in geospatial intelligence solutions. These geospatial solutions are used in a wide range of applications including, but not limited to, location-based information, risk assessment, geographic information systems, engineering, utilities, global positioning systems, oil and gas, renewable energy, hydrology, environmental planning, land management, wireless communications, transportation, advertising, and 3D visualization. Intermap generates revenue from three primary business activities, comprised of i) data acquisition and collection, using proprietary, multi-frequency, radar sensor technologies, ii) value-added data products and services, which leverage the Company's proprietary NEXTMap® database and platform, together with proprietary software and fusion technologies, and iii) commercial applications and solutions, including a webstore and software sales targeting selected industry verticals that rely on accurate high resolution elevation data. The Company is a world leader in data fusion, analytics, and orthorectification, and has decades of experience aggregating data derived from a number of different sensor technologies and data sources, providing useful answers to geospatial problems. For more information please visit www.intermap.com .
Intermap Reader Advisory
Certain information provided in this news release, including statements in relation to the Company's profitability and revenue generating activities, constitute forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast", "will be" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although Intermap believes that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. You can find a discussion of such risks and uncertainties in our Annual Information Form and other securities filings. While the Company makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Intermap or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law.
releases/intermap-technologies-reports-2018-first-quarter-financial-results-300648123.html
SOURCE Intermap Technologies Corporation | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/pr-newswire-intermap-technologies-reports-2018-first-quarter-financial-results.html |
May 18, 2018 / 2:03 PM / Updated 36 minutes ago Why Turkey and Argentina are the main emerging market weak links Marc Jones 5 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - Running the numbers on foreign exchange reserves and general exposure to the dollar throws up some of the reasons why Turkey and Argentina have been at the heart of the recent emerging market sell-off. FILE PHOTO: Turkish Lira banknotes are seen in this October 10, 2017 picture illustration. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/Illustration
Economists have been quick to pin the blame on problematic politics, high deficits and even higher inflation, but as these graphics show, there are many other issues below the surface.
Turkey’s currency reserves compared with debt payments due in the coming year already looked small versus most of its peers, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysis.
As a ratio, those reserves were already under 90 percent of the country’s 2018 maturing debt, which in the simplest terms means that without access to borrowing markets or generating extra reserves, it would in theory default.
Argentina’s figure is probably close to that too now having sold $8 billion (6 billion pounds) of its reserves since the start of March in its failed bid to stop a 25 percent fall in the value of the peso.
Malaysia and Ukraine’s figure aren’t stellar either, but are at least still above the 100 percent threshold deemed to be the safe minimum.
“The bottom line is that everybody except Turkey has good reserves,” said BAML’s David Hauner, adding that capital flows where now the key thing for under pressure emerging markets.
Graphic: EM currency reserves as pct of 2018 debt repayments - reut.rs/2KyeTW4
Respected flow tracker, the Institute of International Finance, has looked at other areas of stress too, such as the currency exposures of banks in a country.
Though most major banking systems in the developing world are much more robust these days, there are exceptions where a crisis could be triggered if dollar-denominated loans start to default.
IIF data points to Argentina’s banks that have high levels of ‘net open FX positions’ - effectively where dollar loans are not balanced out by dollar deposits.
Argentine banks’ net open positions are at 14 percent and India too looks relatively high at over 8 percent. Turkish banks on the other hand look good in this respect at under one percent, thanks to deeply ingrained currency hedging practices.
“If the net open position is high, the possibility of a currency mismatch is high,” IIF capital markets department deputy director, Emre Tiftik said.Another area they consider are banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios. If these are over 100 percent, as in Turkey, but also in South Africa, Chile, Mexico and Colombia, any significant freeze in lending markets can prove dangerous.
On the plus side Tiftik says overall reserve levels in emerging markets are expected to accumulate this year at a rate of around $225 billion, a slightly smaller rise than last year.
The fact China now has restrictions stopping money leaving the country has also prevented a ‘taper tantrum’-style exodus of capital there, which means Beijing hasn’t had a major depletion of its giant reserves stockpile. “They are very much in charge of the movements now,” Tiftik added.
Graphic: Changes in EM FX reserves - reut.rs/2Ktdz6B DOLLAR DEBT
The other obvious pressure point is emerging markets’ record $3.7 trillion dollar-denominated debt pile after years of ultra-low global interest rates.
The Bank for International Settlements - the central bank for the world’s central banks - estimates that China’s firms have $530 billion of that total, with Mexico next at $265 billion.
Here too though Turkey and Argentina have sizeable piles at almost $200 billion and $150 billion respectively.
Economists at UK-based Oxford Economics estimate that a 100 basis point rise in 10-year U.S. Treasury yields feeds pretty much one-to-one into the borrowing costs of Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey.
Such moves add the equivalent of 0.2 percent of annual economic output to the cost of servicing debt in Turkey and Chile and 0.3 percent of GDP for Malaysia.
Graphic: Dollar debt levels in emerging markets - reut.rs/2wNhEAJ Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Toby Chopra | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-emerging-markets-reserves-analysis/why-turkey-and-argentina-are-the-main-emerging-market-weak-links-idUKKCN1IJ1T7 |
May 10, 2018 / 12:23 PM / Updated 10 minutes ago BRIEF-Spartan Energy Qtrly Loss Per Share $0.76 Reuters Staff
May 10 (Reuters) - Spartan Energy Corp:
* SPARTAN ENERGY CORP. ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL AND OPERATING RESULTS
* SPARTAN ENERGY CORP - ACHIEVED AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF 22,736 BOE/D IN QUARTER, COMPRISED OF 91% OIL AND LIQUIDS, REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 6%
* SPARTAN ENERGY CORP QTRLY ADJUSTED FUNDS FLOW FROM OPERATIONS OF $0.35 PER DILUTED SHARE
* SPARTAN ENERGY CORP QTRLY LOSS PER SHARE $0.76 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-spartan-energy-qtrly-loss-per-shar/brief-spartan-energy-qtrly-loss-per-share-0-76-idUSASC0A1FC |
DEVON, Pa., May 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zynerba Pharmaceuticals , Inc. (NASDAQ:ZYNE), a clinical-stage specialty neuropsychiatric pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutically-produced transdermal cannabinoid treatments for rare and near-rare neurological and psychiatric disorders with high unmet medical needs, today reported financial results for the first and provided an overview of recent operational highlights.
“We have made significant progress on advancing our lead asset, ZYN002 transdermal CBD gel, in the first few months of 2018,” said Armando Anido, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zynerba. “We recently initiated our Phase 2 study of ZYN002 in patients with developmental and epileptic encephalopathies and we are preparing to initiate a single pivotal trial for Fragile X syndrome. We also presented important new data from our ongoing STAR 2 open label extension study in adult refractory focal seizures that continue to suggest that focal seizures may be reduced with longer-term use of ZYN002. We expect to achieve a number of additional milestones this year, which should position us for an exciting and data-rich 2018 and 2019.”
First Quarter 2018 and Recent Highlights
ZYN002 in Fragile X Syndrome (FXS)
Announced Positive Meeting with U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the Company Remains On Track to Initiate a Single Pivotal Trial of ZYN002 in Fragile X Syndrome Mid-year 2018 to Support a New Drug Application (NDA) Filing
The Company expects to enroll approximately 200 pediatric and adolescent patients in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand into a single pivotal study to support an NDA for ZYN002 in FXS. The primary and key secondary endpoints for the study will assess observable behaviors in patients with FXS as reported by the caregiver using certain subscales of the validated Aberrant Behavior Checklist in Fragile X syndrome (ABC-FXS). Data are expected in 2019. FXS affects approximately 71,000 people in the U.S. It is the leading known cause of inherited intellectual disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder, with symptoms including significant behavioral, social and cognitive deficits.
Announced Acceptance of FAB-C Data for Oral Presentation at the 16th NFXF International Fragile X Conference, July 11-15, 2018 in Cincinnati, OH
The oral presentation will describe data from the FAB-C (Treatment of F ragile X Syndrome A nxiety and B ehavioral Challenges with C BD) study that highlight the short- and long-term positive impact of ZYN002 on children and adolescents with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). Twelve patients remain in the open label extension of the FAB-C study. As of April 30, 2018, all twelve patients have exceeded nine months on ZYN002, and three have exceeded twelve months.
ZYN002 in Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies (DEE)
Initiated Phase 2 BELIEVE 1 Clinical Trial in Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathies (DEE); Topline Results Expected in 2019
Zynerba initiated the six-month BELIEVE 1 (Open La b el Study to Assess the Safety and E fficacy of ZYN002 Administered as a Transderma l Gel to Ch i ldren and Adol e scents with De v elopmental and E pileptic Encephalopathy) open label multi-dose Phase 2 clinical trial, which will evaluate the efficacy and safety of ZYN002 in approximately 50 children and adolescents with DEE. The primary efficacy assessment is change in seizure frequency. DEE is a heterogeneous group of epilepsy syndromes that involve significant developmental impairment or regression of developmental progress, and are highly resistant to treatment. The category includes a number of syndromes, including Doose, Dravet, Lennox-Gastaut, and West, among others.
ZYN002 in Focal Epilepsy
Initiation of Double-Blind, Placebo Controlled Phase 2b Clinical Trial of ZYN002 in Approximately 300 Adult Patients with Refractory Focal Epilepsy is On Track for the Second Half of 2018
Presented Clinical Data from STAR 2 Open Label Study of ZYN002 in Patients with Focal Seizures at the 2018 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Meeting in Los Angeles, CA
Data show continued improvement in seizure control in adult refractory focal seizure patients receiving ZYN002 through 12 month of open label exposure.
Compared to baseline, the median changes in seizure rates at months 3, 6, 9, and 12 of STAR 2 across all ZYN002-treated patients at each time point were: 25% reduction at month 3 (N=171) 36% reduction at month 6 (N=146) 49% reduction at month 9 (N=112) 58% reduction at month 12 (N=70) ZYN002 was well tolerated with good skin tolerability; and There were no clinically significant abnormal liver adverse events >3x upper limit of normal reported for patients receiving ZYN002.
ZYN001 in Tourette Syndrome
Continued Dosing in the Phase 1 Program for ZYN001 Pro-drug of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) Delivered via Transdermal Patch; Initiation of Phase 2 Study in Patients with Tourette Syndrome (TS) Expected in the Second Half of 2018
Zynerba is executing on a Phase 1 program to assess multiple formulations of ZYN001, a patent-protected, pro-drug of THC delivered via a patch. The Company expects to complete this study in the first half of 2018, and assuming supportive data, move into a Phase 2 clinical trial in Tourette Syndrome late in the second half of 2018.
Corporate
Announced Addition of John P. Butler to Board of Directors
John Butler, the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., adds 30 years of operational and commercialization experience in rare diseases to Zynerba’s board. Previously, Mr. Butler served as the Chief Executive Officer of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, and in various positions of increasing strategic importance at Genzyme Corporation, culminating in his tenure as President of the rare genetic diseases business.
Enhanced Senior Management Team
Terry Hurst joined Zynerba as General Manager, Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd (Australia), bringing 16 years of biopharmaceutical executive management experience in early phase clinical trial execution. Mr. Hurst has extensive proficiency in the Australian clinical trial sector, having overseen the execution of approximately 400 early phase clinical trials.
First Quarter 2018 Financial Results
As of March 31, 2018, cash and cash equivalents were $52.1 million, compared to $62.5 million as of December 31, 2017. Research and development expenses for the first quarter of 2018 were $9.0 million, including stock-based compensation of $0.7 million. The period-over-period increase was primarily related to costs associated with acquiring active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug product for ZYN002 and ZYN001; Phase 1 studies evaluating alternative dosing sites and concentrations of ZYN002; and personnel costs, including recruiting and stock-based compensation expense. These increases were partially offset by lower clinical trial costs for ZYN002. General and administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2018 were $3.4 million, including stock-based compensation expense of $0.9 million. Net loss for the first quarter of 2018 was $12.3 million with basic and diluted net loss per share of $(0.91).
Financial Outlook
The Company believes that the cash and cash equivalent position of $52.1 million as of March 31, 2018 is sufficient to fund operations and capital requirements well into 2019.
About Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Zynerba Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZYNE) is a clinical-stage specialty neuropsychiatric pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutically-produced transdermal cannabinoid treatments for rare or near-rare neuropsychiatric disorders with high unmet medical needs. We are dedicated to improving the lives of people with severe health conditions by developing cannabinoid medicines designed to meet the rigorous efficacy and safety standards established by global regulatory agencies. Through the discovery and development of these potentially life-changing medicines, Zynerba seeks to improve the lives of patients battling severe, chronic health conditions including Fragile X syndrome, refractory epilepsies, Tourette Syndrome, and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Learn more at www.zynerba.com and follow the Company on Twitter at @ZynerbaPharma.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. For example, there can be no guarantee that the Company will obtain approval for ZYN002 or ZYN001 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or foreign regulatory authorities; even if ZYN002 or ZYN001 are approved, the Company may not be able to obtain the label claims that it is seeking from the FDA. In addition, the Company’s cash and cash equivalents may not be sufficient to support its operating plan for as long as anticipated. Management’s expectations and, therefore, any forward-looking statements in this press release could also be affected by risks and uncertainties relating to a number of other factors, including the following: the success, cost and timing of the Company’s product development activities, studies and clinical trials; the success of competing products that are or become available; the Company’s ability to commercialize its product candidates; the size and growth potential of the markets for the Company’s product candidates, and the Company’s ability to service those markets; the Company’s ability to develop sales and marketing capabilities, whether alone or with potential future collaborators; the rate and degree of market acceptance of the Company’s product candidates; and the Company’s expectations regarding its ability to obtain and adequately maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for its product candidates. This list is not exhaustive and these and other risks are described in the Company’s periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov . Any forward-looking statements that the Company makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.
ZYNERBA PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(unaudited)
Three months ended March 31, 2018 2017 Operating expenses: Research and development $ 8,975,513 $ 5,491,455 General and administrative 3,420,623 2,211,793 Total operating expenses 12,396,136 7,703,248 Loss from operations (12,396,136 ) (7,703,248 ) Other income (expense): Interest income 175,184 76,885 Foreign exchange (loss) gain (85,382 ) 367,342 Total other income (expense) 89,802 444,227 Net loss $ (12,306,334 ) $ (7,259,021 ) Net loss per share - basic and diluted $ (0.91 ) $ (0.60 ) Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding 13,467,694 12,067,453 Non-cash stock-based compensation included above: Research and development $ 748,244 $ 541,845 General and administrative 938,780 646,854 Total $ 1,687,024 $ 1,188,699 ZYNERBA PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(unaudited)
March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 52,131,598 $ 62,510,277 Incentive and tax receivables 4,044,721 3,983,604 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 1,788,997 1,733,701 Total current assets 57,965,316 68,227,582 Property and equipment, net 155,334 164,527 Incentive and tax receivables 1,118,782 — Other assets 662,200 662,200 Total assets $ 59,901,632 $ 69,054,309 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 4,605,850 $ 3,355,255 Accrued expenses 4,131,529 3,915,491 Deferred grant revenue 171,975 171,975 Total current liabilities 8,909,354 7,442,721 Deferred grant revenue, long-term 662,000 662,000 Total liabilities 9,571,354 8,104,721 Stockholders' equity: Common stock 13,561 13,554 Additional paid-in capital 140,603,917 138,916,900 Accumulated deficit (90,287,200 ) (77,980,866 ) Total stockholders' equity 50,330,278 60,949,588 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 59,901,632 $ 69,054,309 Investor Contacts
Jim Fickenscher, CFO and VP Corporate Development
Zynerba Pharmaceuticals
484.581.7483
[email protected]
Will Roberts, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Zynerba Pharmaceuticals
484.581.7489
[email protected]
Source:Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/08/globe-newswire-zynerba-pharmaceuticals-reports-first-quarter-2018-financial-results-and-operational-highlights.html |
FDA Slams Teething Medicines As Unsafe in Latest Consumer Public Health Push The FDA is warning against baby teething products with benzocaine. Media for Medical UIG via Getty Images By Sy Mukherjee May 24, 2018
One of the most significant balancing acts in medicine involves figuring out when—and which—treatments do more harm than good. It’s an issue that has implications for everything from the opioid crisis to the rising rate of ADHD drug overdoses to the generally lavish (and unaffordable) cost of American health care, which still favors the bulk of services provided over demonstrable, cost-effective outcomes.
Powerful prescription drugs draw a big share of the attention on this front. But over-the-counter and non-prescription treatments are an important factor to consider in the dilemma, too. And the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been on a recent tear calling out companies (and therapies) that it considers all-steak, no-sizzle, and possibly harmful. The latest target? Children’s gel teething products that contain the painkiller benzocaine .
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“The FDA is committed to protecting the American public from products that pose serious safety risks, especially those with no demonstrated benefit,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a statement. “Because of the lack of efficacy for teething and the serious safety concerns we’ve seen with over-the-counter benzocaine oral health products, the FDA is taking steps to stop use of these products in young children and raise awareness of the risks associated with other uses of benzocaine oral health products.”
Companies are being urged to voluntarily halt sales of—and parents are being urged to eschew—these sore gum treatments, which are commonly used to treat pain related to teething and other various mouth irritations. The FDA specifically named gels, sprays, and ointments such as Anbesol, Baby Orajel, Cepacol, Chloraseptic, Hurricaine, Orabase, Orajel, and Topex in its statement . Specifically, regulators say that these benzocaine-containing products may be associated with a scary condition called methemoglobinemia, “the result of elevated levels of methemoglobin in the blood [which] can lead to death” by sharply reducing the amount of oxygen carried through the blood. The ultimate purpose here is to discontinue these treatments’ marketing altogether; if companies don’t play ball, “the FDA will initiate a regulatory action to remove these products from the market.”
It’s far from the first time Gottlieb has placed his crosshairs on consumer products he and his agency deem too risky for their benefits, especially when it comes to pain relief. In a move that’s inspired controversy among some alternative treatment enthusiasts, the FDA has taken a sharply critical stance on kratom , a popular herb marketed for its ostensible pain-numbing properties that the agency says is an opioid in and of itself. SPONSORED FINANCIAL CONTENT | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/24/fda-teething-medicines-benzocaine/ |
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following issues have been halted by IIROC / L'OCRCVM a suspendu la negociation des titres suivants:
Company / Société : Telson Mining Corporation TSX-Venture Symbol / Symbole à la Bourse de croissance TSX :
TSN Reason / Motif : At the Request of the Company Pending News / À la demande de la société en attendant une nouvelle Halt Time (ET) / Heure de la suspension (HE) 2 :50 pm IIROC can make a decision to impose a temporary suspension of trading in a security of a publicly listed company, usually in anticipation of a material news announcement by the company. Trading halts are issued based on the principle that all investors should have the same timely access to important company information. IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada.
L'OCRCVM peut prendre la decision d'imposer une suspension provisoire des negociations sur le titre d'une societe cotee en bourse, habituellement en prevision d'une annonce importante de la part de la societe. Les suspensions de negociations sont imposees suivant le principe que tous les investisseurs devraient avoir un acces egal et simultane a l'information importante au sujet des societes dans lesquelles ils investissent. L'OCRCVM est l'organisme d'autoreglementation national qui surveille l'ensemble des societes de courtage et l'ensemble des operations effectuees sur les marches boursiers et les marches de titres d'emprunt au Canada.
Please note that IIROC is not able to provide any additional information regarding a specific trading halt. Information is limited to general enquiries only.
Veuillez prendre note que l'OCRCVM n'est pas en mesure de fournir d'informations supplementaires au sujet d'une suspension des negociations en particulier. L'information est restreinte aux questions generales.
IIROC Inquiries
1-877-442-4322 (Option 2)
Source:Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/globe-newswire-iiroc-trading-halt-suspension-de-la-negociation-par-locrcvm--tsn.html |
0 COMMENTS Before committing a software bot to code, Progressive developers had to understand Flo, the character that has been synonymous with the brand for the past decade, Progressive Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Charney said. Photo: Kim S. Nash / The Wall Street Journal MAYFIELD, OHIO — Before software developers at Progressive Corp. wrote a line of code last year to build a chatbot version of Flo, the insurer’s quirky character in the white apron, they spent a few days at a conference center discussing how to render in algorithms a mascot that has represented Progressive for a decade.
A jokey persona might work on TV but could deter business online, where customer attention can flit away in seconds, says Dan Witalec, Progressive’s personal lines direct acquisition leader. A bot can entertain but ultimately it must propel business, he says. “We’re trying to sell insurance.”
More In Chatbots The Morning Download: Artificial Intelligence Transforms the Sales Process The Morning Download: Daimler Financial CIO Explores Ever-More Lifelike Chatbots ‘ “I live on the internet. So many cat pictures…I love it.” ’
—Eno, Capital One Financial's chatbot At Capital One Financial Corp., a team of software engineers, developers and designers, including a character-development expert from Disney’s Pixar, worked for about a year to create a gender-neutral, empathetic, witty chatbot named Eno. The bot can check account balances, make credit-card payments and do other tasks.
Also, it can banter. Ask Eno where it lives and it will reply, “I live on the internet. So many cat pictures…I love it.”
Bots that bring “humanity” to banking, rather than simply convey data, are a competitive advantage, Chief Information Officer Rob Alexander says. “The winners in banking are going to be great technology companies that are able to … bring banking to customers in ways that really appeal to them,” he said.
At Progressive, employees are immersed in Flo at the headquarters campus here outside Cleveland. Flo-themed art hangs on walls and Flo bobble-heads nod on desks. Tchotchke is one thing. Creating a software bot to talk to customers about insurance means Progressive programmers must understand the character that has become synonymous with the brand, says Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Charney.
“She personifies us. We personify her,” he says. The company declines to say how many people have used Flo the bot since it launched on Facebook Messenger last October.
Progressive's Flo bot can recognize some categories of words outside of insurance jargon but is oblivious to others, helpful for avoiding a reputation-damaging encounter. Photo: Kim S. Nash / The Wall Street Journal
Getting the bot right is critical for Progressive: Ten times as many people follow Flo on Facebook than follow the company itself — 4.7 million to 475,000. Even her silhouette is better recognized than Progressive’s blue capital P logo, the company’s own surveys show.
Matt White, manager, PL acquisition experience, says the company decided to limit Flo’s AI smarts. The bot can recognize some categories of words outside of insurance jargon but is oblivious to others. Many corporate customer service bots are built the same way to avoid a reputation-damaging encounter.
Ask Flo a potentially controversial question – Hillary or Trump? – and the answer is, “Rats. I’m having trouble understanding what you mean. Can you try again?”
So far, the only full business transaction that Flo the bot can conduct is to provide a car insurance quote. Asked to file a claim or sell a policy, the bot acknowledges that it understands the request and then offers buttons that link to an agent or Progressive’s more-functional website. “There are limits to this technology,” says Mr. Witalec. “We have to design off-ramps.”
Share this: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAPITAL ONE CHATBOTS PROGRESSIVE ROB ALEXANDER Previous The Morning Download: Microsoft, Google Reveal AI Efforts to Go 'Full Duplex' Next The Morning Download: Chatbots Push Software Developers Into New Territory | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2018/05/23/businesses-get-into-the-flo-with-chatbots/ |
May 18, 2018 / 9:03 AM / Updated 42 minutes ago Mourinho says Conte feud over ahead of FA Cup final Reuters Staff 3 Min Read
(Reuters) - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says the sometimes bitter feud between himself and Chelsea counterpart Antonio Conte has ended ahead of the sides’ meeting in Saturday’s FA Cup final. Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester United vs Chelsea - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - February 25, 2018 Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte after the match REUTERS/Andrew Yates
The duo have been involved in a war of words since the 2016-17 season, when Mourinho criticised Conte for celebrating wildly after Chelsea’s 4-0 win over United, while the Italian accused his Portuguese rival of being obsessed with the Blues.
The feud continued into this season as Mourinho labelled the Italian’s touchline manner as clown-like and alluded to a match-fixing allegation against the former Juventus boss, which he was cleared of in Italy.
Conte, in turn, described former Chelsea manager Mourinho as a “little man” and “a fake”.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. He stretched out (to shake hands), I stretched out. We got bored,” Mourinho told Portuguese news outlet Record.
“After the game in Manchester, I invited him to come to my office. We talked. Nothing’s wrong.”
Mourinho previously managed Chelsea for five seasons across two stints before joining United in 2016.
The Portuguese boss led United to a second-placed league finish this season, while Conte has fared worse, with defending champions Chelsea ending the campaign in fifth and failing to qualify for the Champions League.
The pair will face off once again when United aim to win a record-equalling 13th FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday.
United midfielder Scott McTominay says the team will be gunning to clinch the trophy for former boss Alex Ferguson, who is recovering after undergoing surgery for a brain haemorrhage earlier this month.
"It's so important after a long season. It hasn't quite gone to plan in the league and other cup competitions but we want to go for the FA Cup and win silverware," McTominay told United's website www.manutd.com .
“That’s what Manchester United is built around and we really want to do it for Sir Alex Ferguson as well, as he’s obviously not so well at this moment in time. It’s so important to bring home the silverware for him.”
Chelsea’s seventh and most recent FA Cup triumph was under Roberto Di Matteo in 2012, and the London outfit were defeated in last year’s final by Arsenal. Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-england-che-mun-mourinho-conte/mourinho-says-conte-feud-over-ahead-of-fa-cup-final-idUKKCN1IJ0X0 |
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tank fire killed a Hamas fighter at a frontier outpost on Monday while soldiers chased down and caught two other Gazan militants who tried to cross into Israel, the military said.
During their pursuit of the two Palestinians attempting to infiltrate armed with “knives, wire cutters and combustible material”, the Israeli soldiers were shot at from inside the Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement.
“In response, an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) tank targeted an adjacent military observation post,” it said.
Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, said one of its members was killed when the outpost was hit.
The two Palestinians who tried to breach the border were being held by Israel, the military said. None of the soldiers was injured.
Later in the evening, sirens warning of rocket fire went off in southern Israel, sending residents running for shelter, though the military then said it was machine gun fire from Gaza that set off the alarms.
Hostilities over the Israel-Gaza frontier have soared since Palestinians began mass-demonstrations on March 30, which Israel deems to be cover for attempts to breach the border fence.
At least 116 Palestinians have been killed and thousands hurt by army gunfire in the protests, drawing foreign censure of Israel’s deadly tactics. Israel blames Hamas for provoking the violence, which the group denies.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Peter Graff
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-gaza/israeli-army-kills-gaza-fighter-while-thwarting-border-breach-idUSKCN1IT1L3 |
BEIJING, May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) ("Yirendai" or the "Company"), a leading fintech company in China, announced that it plans to release its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 after U.S. market closes on Thursday, May 24, 2018.
Yirendai's management will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on May 24, 2018, (or 8:00 a.m. Beijing/Hong Kong Time on May 25, 2018).
Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:
International:
+65 6713-5090
U.S. Toll Free:
+1 866-519-4004
Hong Kong Toll Free:
800-906-601
China:
400-620-8038
Conference ID:
9298548
A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following numbers until June 1, 2018:
International:
+61 2-8199-0299
U.S. Toll Free:
+1 855-452-5696
Replay Access Code:
9298548
Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at ir.yirendai.com .
About Yirendai
Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) is a leading fintech company in China connecting investors and individual borrowers. The Company provides an effective solution to address largely underserved investor and individual borrower demand in China through an online platform that automates key aspects of its operations to efficiently match borrowers with investors and execute loan transactions. Yirendai deploys a proprietary risk management system, which enables the Company to effectively assess the creditworthiness of borrowers, appropriately price the risks associated with borrowers, and offer quality loan investment opportunities to investors. Yirendai's online marketplace provides borrowers with quick and convenient access to consumer credit at competitive prices and investors with easy and quick access to an alternative asset class with attractive returns. For more information, please visit ir.yirendai.com .
View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yirendai-to-report-first-quarter-2018-results-on-may-24-2018-300651688.html
SOURCE Yirendai Ltd. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/21/pr-newswire-yirendai-to-report-first-quarter-2018-results-on-may-24-2018.html |
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will soon release Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi, an Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire arrested in November during a crackdown on corruption, Ethiopia’s prime minister said.
Abiy Ahmed made the remarks late on Saturday after arriving from the Gulf kingdom, where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a two-day visit.
Al Amoudi, a son of a Saudi father and an Ethiopian mother who has invested heavily in construction, agriculture and mining in the Horn of Africa country, was among 11 princes, four current ministers and top businessmen detained during the swoop by a new anti-corruption body.
“The incarceration of one Ethiopian is the incarceration of all Ethiopians. Sheikh Al Amoudi’s arrest is top in the agenda for all Ethiopians,” Abiy said in the capital Addis Ababa.
“We have made the request - we are sure that he will be released very soon,” he added in a townhall-style gathering.
Saudi authorities have dismissed claims that they mishandled the anti-corruption campaign, which included the three-month detention of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal - one of the country’s top international investors.
Officials in Riyadh say most detainees have been released, after settlements that they say secured more than $100 billion from members of the elite.
On Friday, Ethiopia also announced that Saudi Arabia had agreed to release 1,000 Ethiopian nationals who have been in prison in the Gulf state for a variety of offences.
Officials in Riyadh are in the process of deporting more than 500,000 illegal Ethiopian migrants. So far, 160,000 have arrived back in the Horn of Africa country.
Editing by Mark Potter
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-saudi-arrests/riyadh-to-release-saudi-ethiopian-tycoon-detained-in-anti-graft-swoop-ethiopia-pm-idUSKCN1IL0JC |
May 1, 2018 / 11:36 PM / Updated 13 minutes ago Canada's Trudeau grilled on efforts to turn back asylum seekers Anna Mehler Paperny 3 Min Read
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers faced questions in parliament on Tuesday a day after Reuters reported that Canada wants the legal authority to turn back thousands of asylum seekers crossing the border illegally. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
A Canadian official familiar with the matter told Reuters that Canada wants to amend a bilateral agreement to allow it to block border-crossing refugee claimants but that the United States is not cooperating.
Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, or STCA, asylum seekers who arrive at a formal Canada-U.S. border crossing going in either direction are turned back and told to apply for asylum in the first country they arrived in.
Canada wants the agreement rewritten to apply to the entire border.
More than 26,000 asylum seekers have crossed illegally into Canada from the United States to file refugee claims in the past 15 months, walking over ditches and on empty roads along the world’s longest undefended border.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said it is reviewing Canada’s proposal but has not made a decision.
Asked about the negotiations during parliamentary question period on Tuesday, Trudeau said his government had been in contact with American counterparts “for months” on “many issues relating to our border.”
Immigration and Refugee Minister Ahmed Hussen would not say what Canada is asking the U.S. for, telling reporters there were no “formal negotiations” ongoing.
But political opponents contrasted the Liberal government’s welcoming rhetoric with officials’ efforts to block asylum seekers.
“If we are entering into talks with the Americans ... what kind of message does it send to the Americans if you’ve got the ministers out saying: ‘We’re not negotiating?’” said Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel, who has called since early 2017 for the authority the government is said to be seeking.
New Democratic Party critic Jenny Kwan slammed Canada’s efforts to turn back asylum seekers, calling the idea unfeasible and saying it would force border crossers underground.
“The Liberal government has failed to come up with a plan in the face of (U.S. President Donald) Trump,” Kwan said.
Many of the asylum seekers with whom Reuters has spoken said they would have remained in the United States were it not for Trump’s policies and rhetoric.
Trudeau faces “a delicate balance” in trying to appear in control of border crossings while maintaining an image of compassion, said Ipsos pollster Darrell Bricker.
In addition to critical public opinion, Trudeau’s government has faced complaints from the province of Quebec, where the vast majority of border crossers have arrived.
Bricker said the more that migration was in the news, the more Canadians disapproved of the government’s handling of the file. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Peter Cooney | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/canada-immigration-border/canadas-trudeau-grilled-on-efforts-to-turn-back-asylum-seekers-idINKBN1I24LE |
INSIGHT: Preparing the royal wedding cake 9:00am BST - 01:25
The royal wedding cake designer and her team were busy in Buckingham Palace's kitchens on Thursday (May 17) putting the finishing touches on a ''quintessentially Spring and British'' wedding confectionary fit for a prince and princess. Claire Ptak, who runs a bakery in London, was chosen by Prince Harry and U.S. fiancee Meghan Markle in March to design the cake which will have ''a lemon sponge, a lemon curd filling and an elderflower Swiss spring buttercream'' icing. ▲ Hide Transcript ▶ View Transcript
The royal wedding cake designer and her team were busy in Buckingham Palace's kitchens on Thursday (May 17) putting the finishing touches on a "quintessentially Spring and British" wedding confectionary fit for a prince and princess. Claire Ptak, who runs a bakery in London, was chosen by Prince Harry and U.S. fiancee Meghan Markle in March to design the cake which will have "a lemon sponge, a lemon curd filling and an elderflower Swiss spring buttercream" icing. Press CTRL+C (Windows), CMD+C (Mac), or long-press the URL below on your mobile device to copy the code https://reut.rs/2wOrCSt | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/video/2018/05/18/insight-preparing-the-royal-wedding-cake?videoId=427997087 |
May 12, 2018 / 7:23 AM / Updated 7 hours ago Elon Musk promises free rides through tunnel, but to where? Steve Gorman 4 Min Read
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Billionaire businessman Elon Musk is promising the public “free rides” in the next few months through the first high-speed passenger tunnel drilled beneath Los Angeles by his aptly named underground transit venture, the Boring Company. Elon Musk arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala (Met Gala) to celebrate the opening of "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The question is whether the tunnel as advertised by Musk on social media will live up to the sensation he stirred by suggesting commuters will soon get to sample a new subterranean traffic system he has under development in the nation’s second-largest city.
The tunnel shown in an attention-getting video clip Musk posted to Instagram on Thursday actually runs not under Los Angeles but beneath the tiny, adjacent municipality of Hawthorne, where his Boring Company and SpaceX rocket firm are both headquartered.
And it was uncertain whether the permits he received from the Hawthorne would even allow the public to set foot in the tunnel, originally proposed strictly as an experimental project to test Musk’s concepts for a high-speed transit network.
“There will be no cars or people in the research tunnel,” according to the minutes of a special Hawthorne city council meeting last August to review the proposed easement, or right-of-way, Boring sought for the tunnel.
Musk, who also leads the Tesla Inc electric car manufacturing company, launched his foray into public transit after he complained on Twitter in December 2016 that clogged traffic was “driving me nuts,” vowing then to “build a boring machine and just start digging.”
Musk maintained his air of bravura in his latest Instagram message, which was repeated to his Twitter account.
“First Boring Company tunnel under LA almost done! Pending final regulatory approvals, we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months,” he wrote.
According to public records, Boring started with a 350-foot-long tunnel on private property belonging to SpaceX and later sought the easement to extend the tunnel another 2 miles underground beneath Hawthorne city streets.
Boring has since sought approval to dig a similar experimental tunnel that would run for 2.7 miles beneath the busy west side of Los Angeles proper but has yet to break ground there.
Both plans were pitched as first steps towards developing a subterranean network of tunnels envisioned by Musk for rapidly whisking car and pedestrian traffic within and between cities to ease road congestion at the surface.
“Super huge thanks to everyone that helped with this project,” Musk said in his social media messages. “As mentioned in prior posts, once fully operational (demo system rides will be free), the system will always give priority to pods for pedestrians & cyclists for less than the cost of a bus ticket.”
The message accompanied a fast-forward video of the tunnel’s interior shot by a camera travelling the length of the cylindrical passageway, well lit and roughly 12 feet in diameter. A man in a hard hat is seen working at one end of apparently unfinished underground tube.
Musk was not available for comment. Jehn Hemme, a spokeswoman for Boring, declined to comment when asked to clarify Musk’s Instagram post and what the video actually depicted.
While Musk referred to the tunnel as the first his company has excavated under “LA”, the footage is from the existing tunnel in Hawthorne, said Alison Simard, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, who has supported Boring’s request to fast-track approval of a Los Angeles test tunnel.
She said there was nothing in that request, which City Council’s public works committee approved in April, that would allow public entry into a test tunnel.
Hawthorne city officials were not available for comment; city offices there are typically closed on Fridays. Reporting by Steve Gorman; editing by Bill Tarrant | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-musk-tunnel/elon-musk-promises-free-rides-through-tunnel-but-to-where-idUKKBN1ID056 |
May 23 (Reuters) - American Equity Investment Life Holding Co:
* AMERICAN EQUITY INVESTMENT LIFE HOLDING - NOTES RECENT MARKET RUMORS, CONFIRMS IT IS IN PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS REGARDING A POTENTIAL TRANSACTION
* AMERICAN EQUITY - DOES NOT INTEND TO MAKE FURTHER PRESS RELEASES REGARDING POTENTIAL DEAL UNLESS DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT IS REACHED Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-american-equity-investment-confirm/brief-american-equity-investment-confirms-prelim-discussions-regarding-potential-transaction-idUSFWN1SU0NS |
May 2 (Reuters) - Taylor Morrison Home Corp:
* TAYLOR MORRISON REPORTS FIRST QUARTER SALES PACE OF 2.8 AND EARNINGS PER SHARE OF $0.41
* Q1 EARNINGS PER SHARE $0.41 * Q1 EARNINGS PER SHARE VIEW $0.37 — THOMSON REUTERS I/B/E/S
* Q1 REVENUE $752 MILLION VERSUS I/B/E/S VIEW $783.7 MILLION
* QTRLY NET SALES ORDERS WERE 2,443 * HOMEBUILDING INVENTORIES WERE $3.1 BILLION AT END OF QUARTER
* HOME CLOSINGS WERE 1,547 IN QUARTER * HOME CLOSINGS ARE EXPECTED TO BE BETWEEN 1,800 TO 1,900 IN Q2
* ENDED QUARTER WITH 4,392 UNITS IN BACKLOG, A YEAR-OVER-YEAR INCREASE OF 12 PERCENT
* HOME CLOSINGS ARE EXPECTED TO BE BETWEEN 8,400 TO 8,800 FOR 2018
* LAND AND DEVELOPMENT SPEND IS EXPECTED TO BE APPROXIMATELY $1.1 BILLION IN FY Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-taylor-morrison-reports-q1-earning/brief-taylor-morrison-reports-q1-earnings-per-share-0-41-idUSASC09YX3 |
BUENOS AIRES, May 15 (Reuters) - Argentina posted a primary fiscal deficit of 10.342 billion pesos ($503.5 m) in April, a 44.6 percent decrease from the same month the previous year, Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said in a statement on Tuesday.
Total government revenue grew by 20.9 percent, while primary spending grew by 14.11 percent. It was the third consecutive month in which the primary deficit fell, the statement said. (Reporting by Jorge Otaola Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/argentina-fiscal/argentina-says-primary-deficit-falls-44-6-pct-y-y-in-april-idUSC0N1OX000 |
Gunman kills three in Belgium's Liege 11:08am IST - 01:00
A gunman killed two police officers and a passer-by on Tuesday before being shot dead in the center of the Belgian city of Liege.
A gunman killed two police officers and a passer-by on Tuesday before being shot dead in the center of the Belgian city of Liege. //reut.rs/2IWQiO6 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/video/2018/05/30/gunman-kills-three-in-belgiums-liege?videoId=431444425 |
NAFTA is not a treaty, it's an agreement: Former US trade representative 17 Hours Ago Amb. Carla Hills, Hills & Co. CEO and former U.S. trade representative, discusses the timeline for NAFTA negotiations and the likelihood that the Trump administration pulls out of the deal. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/11/nafta-is-not-a-treaty-its-an-agreement-former-us-trade-representative.html |
NEW YORK, May 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde , founder and managing partner at Monteverde & Associates PC , a national securities firm headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating ARMO BioSciences, Inc. ("ARMO" or the "Company") (NasdaqGS: ARMO) relating to the sale of the Company to Eli Lilly and Company. As a result of the sale, ARMO shareholders are only anticipated to receive $50.00 in cash for each share of ARMO.
Click here for more information: https://monteverdelaw.com/case/armo-biosciences-inc . It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.
The investigation focuses on whether ARMO and its Board of Directors violated securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to the Company's stockholders by 1) failing to conduct a fair process, and 2) whether and by how much this proposed transaction undervalues the Company.
Monteverde & Associates PC is a national class action securities and consumer litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders and consumers from corporate wrongdoing. Monteverde & Associates lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions, whereby they protect investors by recovering money and remedying corporate misconduct. Mr. Monteverde, who leads the legal team at the firm, has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013 and 2017, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017 Top Rated Lawyer.
If you own common stock in ARMO and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.
Contact:
Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.
MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC
The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405
New York, NY 10118
United States of America
[email protected]
Tel: (212) 971-1341
Attorney Advertising. (C) 2018 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC ( www.monteverdelaw.com ). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
View original content with multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shareholder-alert-monteverde--associates-pc-announces-an-investigation-of-armo-biosciences-inc--armo-300651073.html
SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/pr-newswire-shareholder-alert-monteverde-associates-pc-announces-an-investigation-of-armo-biosciences-inc--armo.html |
April 30, 2018 / 10:09 PM / Updated 10 hours ago Vatican treasurer to face trial in Australia on historical sexual offence charges Sonali Paul 3 Min Read
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Vatican Treasurer George Pell must face trial on charges of historical sexual offences, an Australian court ruled on Tuesday, making him the most senior Catholic official to be tried on such allegations. He pleaded not guilty.
Magistrate Belinda Wallington handed down her decision that Pell’s case will proceed to trial in a Melbourne court, following a month-long pre-trial hearing.
Pell did not comment when he left the court, surrounded by police and flanked by his legal team.
Pope Francis has said he would not comment on the case involving his economy minister until it was over.
The Vatican said in a statement that it had “taken note” of the court’s decision and that the leave of absence the pope granted Pell last year so he can defend himself “is still in place”.
A statement issued by Pell’s lawyers and distributed by the Sydney Archdiocese, his last employer before his Vatican posting in 2014, said Pell had fully cooperated with police investigators and “always and steadfastly maintained his innocence”.
“He would like to thank all those who have supported him from both here in Australia and overseas during this exacting time and is grateful for their continuing support and prayers,” the statement said.
In her ruling, Wallington dismissed what Pell’s lawyer has called “the worst of the charges” levelled against his client, but said allegations of offences at a pool and at a church in Victoria state will be heard. Related Coverage Cardinal Pell to remain on leave after indictment - Vatican says
Pell was ordered to appear in the Melbourne County Court on Wednesday, when it will be decided how and when the case will proceed.
Some charges “are of such a vastly different nature” from the rest that he foresaw a separation of trials, Pell’s lawyer, Robert Richter, told the court at the end of the committal hearing.
Pell, 76, sat quietly behind his lawyer, wearing a black suit with a clergyman’s collar, as the magistrate’s decision was read out over 90 minutes.
During the pre-trial hearing, Pell’s defence raised questions about police procedure, the reliability of witnesses’ memories and their psychological condition.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson had said none of the complainants had resiled from their allegations against Pell under cross-examination and Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Chris Reed rejected Richter’s suggestions of serious flaws in the police investigation.
Wallington said the biggest set of alleged offences that she had dismissed “could not have occurred in the time frame alleged”. Vatican Treasurer Cardinal George Pell is surrounded by Australian police as he leaves the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia, October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Dadswell
On another charge that was dismissed, Wallington said Pell’s accuser was “so cavalier” with his evidence that a jury would not have been able to put any weight on it.
Pell was called back from Rome to his home country last year to face the charges. He has handed over his passports, Gibson told the court. Reporting By Sonali Paul and Will Ziebell; Editing by Rob Birsel, Neil Fullick and Raissa Kasolowsky | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-australia-abuse-pell/australian-court-to-rule-whether-cardinal-pell-to-face-trial-on-historical-sexual-offences-idUKKBN1I12BV |
CHARLESTON, S.C., April 30, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carolina Financial Corporation (the “Company”) (NASDAQ:CARO) today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2018.
Financial highlights at and for the three months ended March 31, 2018, include:
Net income for the first quarter 2018 was $4.1 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, down from $4.9 million, or $0.35 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2017. Included in net income are pretax merger-related expenses of $14.7 million for the first quarter of 2018 compared to $1.3 million for the first quarter of 2017. Operating earnings for the first quarter of 2018, which exclude certain non-operating income and expenses, increased 160.0% to $14.9 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, from $5.8 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, from the first quarter of 2017. Operating earnings for Q1 2018 have been adjusted to eliminate the following significant items:
-- Pretax merger-related expenses of $14.7 million.
-- The fair value gain on interest rate swaps of $803,000.
-- The loss on sale of securities of $697,000. Performance ratios Q1 2018 compared to Q1 2017:
-- Return on average assets was 0.46% compared to 1.11%.
-- Operating return on average assets was 1.70% compared to 1.30%.
-- Return on average tangible equity was 4.90% compared to 9.98%.
-- Operating return on average tangible equity was 18.06% compared to 11.70%. Loans receivable, gross grew $60.5 million, or at an annualized rate of 10.4%, since December 31, 2017. Nonperforming assets to total assets were 0.30% at March 31, 2018 compared to 0.20% at December 31, 2017. Total deposits increased $72.0 million since December 31, 2017. Core deposits increased $39.8 million since December 31, 2017. The Company completed the operational integration of the First South acquisition during Q1 2018. As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, income taxes reflect the effects of the corporate Federal tax rate reduction to 21% in Q1 2018 compared to 35% in Q1 2017.
“We continue to see the impact of solid organic growth and strategic acquisitions on earnings. Overall operating results for the first quarter of 2018 continued to improve with an increase in operating earnings of 160.0% compared to the first quarter of 2017. We also completed the integration of the First South acquisition,” stated Jerry Rexroad, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.
Financial Results
Carolina Financial Corporation
The Company reported net income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 of $4.1 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, as compared to $4.9 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Included in net income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 were pretax merger-related expenses of $14.7 million, primarily related to vendor contract termination charges, compared to $1.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Operating earnings for the first quarter of 2018, which exclude certain non-operating income and expenses, increased 160.0% to $14.9 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, from $5.7 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, from the first quarter of 2017. The Company’s net interest margin-tax equivalent increased to 4.20% for the first quarter of 2018 compared to 3.93% for the first quarter of 2017 and 4.19% for the fourth quarter of 2017. The Company reported book value per common share of $22.71 and $22.76 as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. Tangible book value per common share was $15.71 as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017. At March 31, 2018, the Company’s regulatory capital ratios exceeded the minimum levels currently required. Stockholders’ equity totaled $475.0 million as of March 31, 2018 compared to $475.4 million at December 31, 2017. Tangible equity to tangible assets at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 was 9.7%.
Community Banking
Community banking segment net income was $4.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 compared to $4.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Included in net income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 were pretax merger-related expenses of $14.7 million, compared to $1.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Community banking segment operating earnings increased 178.8% to $14.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 compared to $5.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. There was no provision for loan loss during the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. Asset quality and historical loss experience continue to remain favorable. In addition, the Company had net recoveries of loans previously charged off of $1.2 million and $27,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Non-performing assets were 0.30% and 0.20% of total assets at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively. Loans receivable, gross increased to $2.4 billion at March 31, 2018 compared to $2.3 billion at December 31, 2017. Loans increased $60.5 million, or 10.4% annualized over December 31, 2017. Total deposits increased $72.0 million since December 31, 2017. As of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, core deposits, defined as checking, savings and money market, comprised approximately 66.6% and 66.9%, respectively, of total deposits.
Wholesale Mortgage Banking
Net income for the wholesale mortgage banking segment was $562,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2018 compared to $645,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Net margin was 1.74% for the three months ended March 31, 2018 compared to 1.80% for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Originations for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 were $180.5 million and $180.8 million, respectively.
Dividend Declared
On April 25, 2018, the Company declared a $0.06 dividend per common share, payable on July 6, 2018, to stockholders of record on June 15, 2018.
Conference Call
A conference call will be held at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time on May 1, 2018. The conference call can be accessed by dialing (866) 464-9448 or (213) 660-0874 and requesting the Carolina Financial Corporation first quarter earnings call. The conference ID number is 4788606. Listeners should dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. The live webcast and presentation slides will be available on www.haveanicebank.com under Investor Relations, “Investor Presentations.”
A replay of the webcast will be available on www.haveanicebank.com under Investor Relations, “Investor Presentations” approximately three hours after the call and can be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406 and requesting conference number 4788606.
About Carolina Financial Corporation
Carolina Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CARO) is the holding company of CresCom Bank, which also owns and operates Atlanta-based Crescent Mortgage Company. As of March 31, 2018, Carolina Financial Corporation had approximately $3.6 billion in total assets and Crescent Mortgage Company was licensed to originate loans in 47 states, partnering with community banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers.
Addendum to News Release – Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Such statements should be read along with the accompanying tables, which provide a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures. This news release and the accompanying tables discuss financial measures, including but not limited to, core deposits, tangible book value, operating earnings and net income related to segments of the Company, which are non-GAAP measures. We believe that such non-GAAP measures are useful because they enhance the ability of investors and management to evaluate and compare the Company’s operating results from period to period in a meaningful manner. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered as an alternative to any measure of performance as promulgated under GAAP. Investors should consider the Company’s performance and financial condition as reported under GAAP and all other relevant information when assessing the performance or financial condition of the company. Non-GAAP measures have limitations as analytical tools, and investors should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company's results or financial condition as reported under GAAP.
Please refer to the Non-GAAP reconciliation tables later in this release for additional information.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to future plans and expectations, and are thus prospective. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements with respect to our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts, and other statements identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “targets,” and “projects,” as well as similar expressions. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove to be inaccurate. Therefore, we can give no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be construed as a representation by the Company or any person that the future events, plans, or expectations contemplated by the Company will be achieved.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements: (1) competitive pressures among depository and other financial institutions may increase significantly and have an effect on pricing, spending, fourth-party relationships and revenues; (2) the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which we conduct operations may be different than expected resulting in, among other things, a deterioration in the credit quality or a reduced demand for credit, including the resultant effect on the Company’s loan portfolio and allowance for loan losses; (3) the rate of delinquencies and amounts of charge-offs, the level of allowance for loan loss, the rates of loan growth, or adverse changes in asset quality in our loan portfolio, which may result in increased credit risk-related losses and expenses; (4) the risk that the preliminary financial information reported herein and our current preliminary analysis will be different when our review is finalized; (5) changes in the U.S. legal and regulatory framework including, but not limited to, the Dodd-Frank Act, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and regulations adopted thereunder; (6) adverse conditions in the stock market, the public debt market and other capital markets (including changes in interest rate conditions) could have a negative impact on the Company; (7) the business related to acquisitions may not be integrated successfully or such integration may take longer to accomplish than expected; (8) the expected cost savings and any revenue synergies from acquisitions may not be fully realized within expected timeframes; and (9) disruption from acquisitions may make it more difficult to maintain relationships with clients, associates, or suppliers. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in our reports (such as our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K) filed with the SEC and available at the SEC’s Internet site ( http://www.sec.gov ). All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the Company or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.
CAROLINA FINANCIAL CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 (Unaudited) (Audited) (Dollars in thousands) ASSETS Cash and due from banks $ 25,761 25,254 Interest-bearing cash 35,603 55,998 Cash and cash equivalents 61,364 81,252 Securities available-for-sale 753,363 743,239 Federal Home Loan Bank stock, at cost 17,913 19,065 Other investments 3,432 3,446 Derivative assets 4,913 2,803 Loans held for sale 24,618 35,292 Loans receivable, gross 2,380,018 2,319,528 Allowance for loan losses (12,708 ) (11,478 ) Loans receivable, net 2,367,310 2,308,050 Premises and equipment, net 62,593 61,407 Accrued interest receivable 11,502 11,992 Real estate acquired through foreclosure, net 1,963 3,106 Deferred tax assets, net 4,952 2,436 Mortgage servicing rights 21,719 21,003 Cash value life insurance 57,604 57,195 Core deposit intangible 18,795 19,601 Goodwill 127,592 127,592 Other assets 13,443 21,538 Total assets $ 3,553,076 3,519,017 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Liabilities: Noninterest-bearing deposits $ 547,744 525,615 Interest-bearing deposits 2,129,225 2,079,314 Total deposits 2,676,969 2,604,929 Short-term borrowed funds 308,500 340,500 Long-term debt 67,303 72,259 Derivative liabilities 164 156 Drafts outstanding 10,133 7,324 Advances from borrowers for insurance and taxes 3,302 3,005 Accrued interest payable 1,288 1,126 Reserve for mortgage repurchase losses 1,742 1,892 Dividends payable to stockholders 1,053 1,051 Accrued expenses and other liabilities 7,576 11,394 Total liabilities 3,078,030 3,043,636 Commitments and contingencies Stockholders' equity: Preferred stock - - Common stock 210 210 Additional paid-in capital 348,622 348,037 Retained earnings 126,262 123,537 Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income, net of tax (48 ) 3,597 Total stockholders' equity 475,046 475,381 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 3,553,076 3,519,017
CAROLINA FINANCIAL CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 2017 (In thousands, except share data) Interest income Loans $ 31,663 14,968 Investment securities 5,707 2,553 Dividends from Federal Home Loan Bank stock 175 101 Other interest income 131 48 Total interest income 37,676 17,670 Interest expense Deposits 3,642 1,692 Short-term borrowed funds 1,253 355 Long-term debt 650 353 Total interest expense 5,545 2,400 Net interest income 32,131 15,270 Provision for loan losses - - Net interest income after provision for loan losses 32,131 15,270 Noninterest income Mortgage banking income 3,801 3,608 Deposit service charges 2,024 858 Net gain (loss) on sale of securities (697 ) 185 Fair value adjustments on interest rate swaps 803 (58 ) Net increase in cash value life insurance 390 211 Mortgage loan servicing income 2,025 1,566 Other 1,702 861 Total noninterest income 10,048 7,231 Noninterest expense Salaries and employee benefits 13,668 8,609 Occupancy and equipment 3,652 2,182 Marketing and public relations 376 381 FDIC insurance 255 100 Recovery of mortgage loan repurchase losses (150 ) (225 ) Legal expense 76 65 Other real estate (income) expense, net (94 ) 20 Mortgage subservicing expense 565 486 Amortization of mortgage servicing rights 979 669 Merger related expenses 14,710 1,319 Other 3,561 1,980 Total noninterest expense 37,598 15,586 Income before income taxes 4,581 6,915 Income tax expense 525 2,011 Net income $ 4,056 4,904 Earnings per common share: Basic $ 0.19 0.35 Diluted $ 0.19 0.35 Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 20,908,225 13,919,711 Diluted 21,119,316 14,139,241
CAROLINA FINANCIAL CORPORATION (Unaudited) (Dollars in thousands) At or for the Three Months Ended Selected Financial Data: March 31,
2018 December 31,
2017 September 30,
2017 June 30,
2017 March 31,
2017 Selected Average Balances: Total assets $ 3,522,407 3,048,214 2,230,586 2,166,803 1,768,323 Investment securities and FHLB stock 770,161 647,276 521,569 510,706 373,551 Loans receivable, net 2,322,203 2,003,429 1,463,771 1,412,940 1,214,777 Loans held for sale 21,645 25,001 27,282 22,412 17,827 Deposits 2,616,640 2,352,303 1,710,263 1,633,285 1,330,805 Stockholders' equity 477,830 380,529 286,524 277,708 210,071 Performance Ratios (annualized): Return on average stockholders' equity 3.40 % 6.65 % 11.16 % 13.45 % 9.34 % Retun on average tangible equity (Non-GAAP) 4.90 % 8.78 % 13.24 % 16.02 % 9.98 % Return on average assets 0.46 % 0.83 % 1.43 % 1.72 % 1.11 % Operating return on average stockholders' equity (Non-GAAP) 12.51 % 11.69 % 11.02 % 13.15 % 10.95 % Operating return on average tangible equity (Non-GAAP) 18.06 % 15.44 % 13.08 % 15.65 % 11.70 % Operating return on average assets (Non-GAAP) 1.70 % 1.46 % 1.42 % 1.69 % 1.30 % Average earning assets to average total assets 89.28 % 89.25 % 91.09 % 90.68 % 91.99 % Average loans receivable to average deposits 88.75 % 85.17 % 85.59 % 86.51 % 91.28 % Average stockholders' equity to average assets 13.57 % 12.48 % 12.85 % 12.82 % 11.88 % Net interest margin-tax equivalent (1) 4.20 % 4.19 % 3.94 % 4.03 % 3.93 % Net charge-offs (recovery) to average loans receivable (0.21 )% 0.02 % 0.02 % (0.01 )% (0.01 )% Nonperforming assets to period end loans receivable 0.45 % 0.30 % 0.44 % 0.48 % 0.52 % Nonperforming assets to total assets 0.30 % 0.20 % 0.29 % 0.31 % 0.34 % Nonperforming loans to total loans 0.36 % 0.17 % 0.33 % 0.38 % 0.42 % Allowance for loan losses as a percentage of gross loans receivable (end of period) (2) 0.53 % 0.49 % 0.72 % 0.75 % 0.76 % Allowance for loan losses as a percentage of non-acquired loans receivable (Non-GAAP) 0.85 % 0.80 % 0.87 % 0.93 % 0.96 % Allowance for loan losses as a percentage of nonperforming loans (2) 146.93 % 291.81 % 216.53 % 196.85 % 180.66 % Nonperforming Assets: Nonacquired loans 90 days or more past due and still accruing $ - - - - - Nonacquired nonaccrual loans 8,649 3,934 4,924 5,461 5,931 Total nonperforming loans 8,649 3,934 4,924 5,461 5,931 Real estate acquired through foreclosure, net 1,963 3,106 1,640 1,417 1,479 Total nonperforming assets $ 10,612 7,040 6,564 6,878 7,410 (1) Net interest margin-tax equivalent reflects tax-exempt income on a tax-equivalent basis. (2) Acquired loans represent 36.8%, 41.1%, 17.3%, 19.4%, and 21.4% of gross loans receivable at March 31, 2018, December 31, 2017, September 30, 2017, June 30, 2017, March 31, 2017, respectively.
Carolina Financial Corporation Segment Information (Unaudited) (Dollars in thousands) For the Three Months Ended March 31,
2018 December 31,
2017 September 30,
2017 June 30,
2017 March 31,
2017 Segment net income: Community banking $ 3,984 6,050 7,837 8,443 4,509 Wholesale mortgage banking 562 118 449 1,238 645 Other (497 ) 124 (320 ) (346 ) (244 ) Eliminations 7 36 27 5 (6 ) Total net income $ 4,056 6,328 7,993 9,340 4,904 For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Community Mortgage Banking Banking Other Eliminations Total Interest income $ 37,257 431 13 (25 ) 37,676 Interest expense 5,084 53 461 (53 ) 5,545 Net interest income (expense) 32,173 378 (448 ) 28 32,131 Provision for (recovery of) loan losses - - - - - Noninterest income from external customers 5,059 4,924 65 - 10,048 Intersegment noninterest income 242 17 - (259 ) - Noninterest expense 32,929 4,389 280 - 37,598 Intersegment noninterest expense - 240 2 (242 ) - Income (loss) before income taxes 4,545 690 (665 ) 11 4,581 Income tax expense (benefit) 561 128 (168 ) 4 525 Net income (loss) $ 3,984 562 (497 ) 7 4,056 For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2017 Community Mortgage Banking Banking Other Eliminations Total Interest income $ 17,257 395 6 12 17,670 Interest expense 2,218 12 182 (12 ) 2,400 Net interest income (expense) 15,039 383 (176 ) 24 15,270 Provision for (recovery of) loan losses - - - - - Noninterest income from external customers 2,419 4,812 - - 7,231 Intersegment noninterest income 242 34 - (276 ) - Noninterest expense 11,324 4,053 209 - 15,586 Intersegment noninterest expense - 240 2 (242 ) - Income (loss) before income taxes 6,376 936 (387 ) (10 ) 6,915 Income tax expense (benefit) 1,867 291 (143 ) (4 ) 2,011 Net income (loss) $ 4,509 645 (244 ) (6 ) 4,904 For the Three Months Ended March 31, Loan Originations Mortgage Banking Income Margin 2018 2017 2018 2017 2018 2017 Additional segment information: Community banking $ 31,427 14,753 653 358 2.08 % 2.43 % Wholesale mortgage banking 180,494 180,830 3,148 3,250 1.74 % 1.80 % Total $ 211,921 195,583 3,801 3,608 1.79 % 1.84 %
Carolina Financial Corporation Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Consolidated (Unaudited) (In thousands, except share data) At the Month Ended March 31, December 31, September 30, June 30, March 31, 2018
2017
2017
2017
2017
Core deposits: Noninterest-bearing demand accounts $ 547,744 525,615 333,267 330,641 298,365 Interest-bearing demand accounts 558,942 551,308 309,241 298,123 309,961 Savings accounts 212,249 213,142 69,552 70,336 66,506 Money market accounts 463,676 452,734 377,754 380,108 363,600 Total core deposits (Non-GAAP) 1,782,611 1,742,799 1,089,814 1,079,208 1,038,432 Certificates of deposit: Less than $250,000 791,789 755,887 567,483 539,177 524,836 $250,000 or more 102,569 106,243 50,357 45,344 44,452 Total certificates of deposit 894,358 862,130 617,840 584,521 569,288 Total deposits $ 2,676,969 2,604,929 1,707,654 1,663,729 1,607,720 At the Month Ended March 31, December 31, September 30, June 30, March 31, 2018
2017
2017
2017
2017
Tangible book value per share: Total stockholders' equity $ 475,046 475,381 290,224 281,818 271,454 Less intangible assets (146,387 ) (147,193 ) (44,953 ) (45,123 ) (45,292 ) Tangible common equity (Non-GAAP) $ 328,659 328,188 245,271 236,695 226,162 Issued and outstanding shares 21,057,539 21,022,202 16,159,309 16,156,943 16,185,408 Less nonvested restricted stock awards (136,395 ) (134,302 ) (99,639 ) (101,489 ) (227,439 ) Period end dilutive shares 20,921,144 20,887,900 16,059,670 16,055,454 15,957,969 Total stockholders' equity $ 475,046 475,381 290,224 281,818 271,454 Divided by period end dilutive shares 20,921,144 20,887,900 16,059,670 16,055,454 15,957,969 Common book value per share $ 22.71 22.76 18.07 17.55 17.01 Tangible common equity (Non-GAAP) $ 328,659 328,188 245,271 236,695 226,162 Divided by period end dilutive shares 20,921,144 20,887,900 16,059,670 16,055,454 15,957,969 Tangible common book value per share (Non-GAAP) $ 15.71 15.71 15.27 14.74 14.17 At the Month Ended March 31, December 31, September 30, June 30, March 31, 2018
2017
2017
2017
2017
Acquired and non-acquired loans: Acquired loans receivable $ 877,012 952,220 257,461 278,275 303,244 Non-acquired loans receivable 1,503,006 1,367,308 1,227,000 1,157,145 1,113,766 Total loans receivable $ 2,380,018 2,319,528 1,484,461 1,435,420 1,417,010 % Acquired 36.85 % 41.05 % 17.34 % 19.39 % 21.40 % Non-acquired loans $ 1,503,006 1,367,308 1,227,000 1,157,145 1,113,766 Allowance for loan losses 12,708 11,478 10,662 10,750 10,715 Allowance for loan losses to non-acquired loans (Non-GAAP) 0.85 % 0.84 % 0.87 % 0.93 % 0.96 % Total loans receivable $ 2,380,018 2,319,528 1,484,461 1,435,420 1,417,010 Allowance for loan losses 12,708 11,478 10,662 10,750 10,715 Allowance for loan losses to total loans receivable 0.53 % 0.49 % 0.72 % 0.75 % 0.76 % Carolina Financial Corporation Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Consolidated (Unaudited) (In thousands, except share data) For the Three Months Ended March 31,
2018 December 31,
2017 September 30,
2017 June 30,
2017 March 31,
2017 As Reported: Income before income taxes $ 4,581 10,630 11,968 12,013 6,915 Tax expense 525 4,302 3,975 2,673 2,011 Net Income $ 4,056 6,328 7,993 9,340 4,904 Average equity $ 477,830 380,529 286,524 277,708 210,071 Average tangible equity (Non-GAAP) $ 331,047 288,156 241,489 233,256 196,561 Average assets $ 3,522,407 3,048,214 2,230,586 2,166,803 1,768,323 Return on average assets 0.46 % 0.83 % 1.43 % 1.72 % 1.11 % Return on average equity 3.40 % 6.65 % 11.16 % 13.45 % 9.34 % Return on average tangible equity (Non-GAAP) 4.90 % 8.78 % 13.24 % 16.02 % 9.98 % Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 20,908,225 19,207,307 16,029,332 16,029,332 13,919,711 Diluted 21,119,316 19,443,353 16,187,869 16,180,171 14,139,241 Earnings per common share: Basic $ 0.19 0.33 0.50 0.58 0.35 Diluted $ 0.19 0.33 0.49 0.58 0.35 Operating Earnings and Performance Ratios: Income before income taxes $ 4,581 10,630 11,968 12,013 6,915 Gain/(Loss) on sale of securities 697 242 (368 ) (621 ) (185 ) Fair value adjustments on interest rate swaps (803 ) (419 ) (90 ) 69 58 Merger related expenses 14,710 6,391 311 279 1,319 Operating earnings before income taxes 19,185 16,844 11,821 11,740 8,107 Tax expense (1) 4,242 5,721 3,926 2,612 2,358 Operating earnings (Non-GAAP) $ 14,943 11,123 7,895 9,128 5,749 Average equity $ 477,830 380,529 286,524 277,708 210,071 Less average intangible assets (146,783 ) (92,373 ) (45,035 ) (44,452 ) (13,510 ) Average tangible common equity (Non-GAAP) $ 331,047 288,156 241,489 233,256 196,561 Average assets $ 3,522,407 3,048,214 2,230,586 2,166,803 1,768,323 Less average intangible assets (146,783 ) (92,373 ) (45,035 ) (44,452 ) (13,510 ) Average tangible assets (Non-GAAP) $ 3,375,624 2,955,841 2,185,551 2,122,351 1,754,813 Operating return on average assets (Non-GAAP) 1.70 % 1.46 % 1.42 % 1.69 % 1.30 % Operating return on average equity (Non-GAAP) 12.51 % 11.69 % 11.02 % 13.15 % 10.95 % Operating return on average tangible assets (Non-GAAP) 1.77 % 1.51 % 1.44 % 1.72 % 1.31 % Operating return on average tangible equity (Non-GAAP) 18.06 % 15.44 % 13.08 % 15.65 % 11.70 % Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 20,908,225 19,207,307 16,029,332 16,029,332 13,919,711 Diluted 21,119,316 19,443,353 16,187,869 16,180,171 14,139,241 Operating earnings per common share: Basic (Non-GAAP) $ 0.71 0.58 0.49 0.57 0.41 Diluted (Non-GAAP) $ 0.71 0.57 0.49 0.56 0.41 (1) Tax expense is determined using the effective tax rate adjusted to eliminate the impact of the non-operating items.
Carolina Financial Corporation Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Community Banking Segment (Unaudited) (In thousands, except share data) For the Three Months Ended March 31,
2018 December 31,
2017 September 30,
2017 June 30,
2017 March 31,
2017 Segment net income: Community banking $ 3,984 6,052 7,837 8,443 4,509 Wholesale mortgage banking 562 117 449 1,238 645 Other (497 ) 124 (320 ) (346 ) (244 ) Eliminations 7 35 27 5 (6 ) Total net income $ 4,056 6,328 7,993 9,340 4,904 Community banking segment operating earnings: Income before income taxes $ 4,545 10,447 11,714 11,232 6,375 Tax expense (1) 561 4,397 3,877 2,789 1,866 Bank segment net income $ 3,984 6,050 7,837 8,443 4,509 Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 20,908,225 19,207,307 16,029,332 16,029,332 13,919,711 Diluted 21,119,316 19,443,353 16,187,869 16,180,171 14,139,241 Bank segment earnings per common share: Basic $ 0.19 0.31 0.49 0.53 0.32 Diluted $ 0.19 0.31 0.48 0.52 0.32 Bank segment income before taxes $ 4,545 10,447 11,714 11,232 6,375 Gain on sale of securities 692 541 (368 ) (621 ) (185 ) Fair value adjustments on interest rate swaps (755 ) (419 ) (90 ) 69 58 Merger related expenses 14,710 6,391 311 279 1,311 Operating earnings before income taxes 19,192 16,960 11,567 10,959 7,559 Tax expense (1) 4,288 5,778 3,828 2,721 2,213 Operating bank segment earnings (Non-GAAP) $ 14,904 11,182 7,739 8,238 5,346 Operating bank segment earnings per common share: Basic (Non-GAAP) $ 0.71 0.58 0.48 0.51 0.38 Diluted (Non-GAAP) $ 0.71 0.58 0.48 0.51 0.38 (1) Tax expense is determined using the effective tax rate adjusted to eliminate the impact of the non-operating items. For More Information, Contact:
William A. Gehman III, EVP and CFO, 843.723.7700
Source:Carolina Financial Corporation | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/globe-newswire-carolina-financial-corporation-reports-results-for-first-quarter-of-2018.html |
May 11, 2018 / 2:18 PM / Updated 2 minutes ago 'Get on with it.' - May under pressure on EU customs decision Elizabeth Piper 6 A row over Britain’s future customs arrangements with the European Union has left the opposing Brexit camps more deeply entrenched than ever and Prime Minister Theresa May facing one of her toughest decisions yet. Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to party supporters at Sedgley Conservative Club in Dudley, United Kingdom May 4, 2018. Anthony Devlin/Pool via REUTERS
Under pressure from the EU to move forward with talks on a future partnership, May must settle on a customs proposal to unite, or at least not tear apart, her government, her party, Britain’s parliament and one that could be backed by the EU.
She has even divided her cabinet into two camps to work on improving the two proposals now on offer to try to make one of them more palatable to the warring factions.
There is little time. The EU is expecting her to have made progress by a summit in June and both sides want to reach a deal by October. Crucial bills must also be passed by parliament before Britain’s EU departure next March.
“We have to get to a position that represents what people voted for. And then deliver it,” said a senior source in May’s governing Conservative Party.
“It’s time now. Get on with it.”
The battle is the latest in what is a long series of conflicts waged not only inside her own party, but in Britain’s upper and lower houses of parliament and across a deeply divided country since it voted to leave the bloc in 2016.
Pro-EU campaigners, buoyed by government defeats in the upper House of Lords, are stepping up their calls for Britain to keep as close as possible to the bloc. Brexit supporters are trying to ensure May keeps to her word on making a clean break so that Britain can “take back control” of its laws, money and borders.
So far, May has little option and no desire to do anything but stick to her well-worn script that Britain will leave the EU’s economic single market and customs union. The opposition Labour Party is happy to leave her to it.
But as time ticks by, those decisions that have been kicked down the road are becoming increasingly pressing as EU negotiators wait for Britain’s detailed position not only on customs, but also on the wider trade agreement and governance.
She is increasingly under pressure to make a decision. MAX FAC OR PARTNERSHIP?
Some say May’s preferred option is a customs partnership. Under this proposal, Britain would collect tariffs on goods entering the country on the EU’s behalf.
The second is for a streamlined customs arrangement now known as “max fac” — maximum facilitation. Under this proposal, traders on an approved list or “trusted traders” would be able to cross borders freely with the aid of automated technology.
The proposals have split May’s cabinet of top ministers, and her party, down the middle.
Those wanting to maintain the closest possible ties to the EU back the partnership, including business minister Greg Clark who has said that hundreds of jobs in car manufacturing would be vulnerable if Britain could not trade freely with the EU.
But the partnership is an anathema to Brexit campaigners, who say it would essentially keep Britain within the confines of the EU’s customs union. May’s foreign minister, Boris Johnson, called it “crazy”.
They support the max fac option, which critics say could take years to set up.
One campaigner told Reuters the Conservative Brexit camp was “on manoeuvres” to make sure May delivers on her pledge to leave the customs union.
She has tasked officials with doing more work on both options and split some ministers into two teams to brainstorm to find solutions to overcome the obstacles.
“This is being worked on as a priority,” May’s spokesman said. “TAKING CONTROL”
But the lack of decision has coincided with growing calls for Britain to stay in the customs union with the EU, a move its supporters say could solve the problem of a new hard border with Ireland that could fuel sectarian violence.
The House of Lords, sent a clear message to May in a series of votes on the EU withdrawal bill over the last three weeks, challenging her refusal to stay in the customs union and her plan to leave the EU’s single market.
Some pro-EU Labour and Conservative members of parliament in the House of Commons hope they can muster enough support to prevent the government reversing those amendments in votes in the lower house, though their ability to do so is in doubt.
“Parliament is finally taking control of Brexit and is seeing off a minority of ideologically driven hard Brexiteers,” Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry said this week on Twitter.
If the rebels are to have any chance of forcing May’s hand, the Labour Party would have back moves to stay in the customs union and single market. This means it would have to change its position and accept the continued free movement of people.
Labour would like a new customs union that would allow Britain to break free from the EU’s state aid rules.
The pressure is rising for Labour to change position.
“Our region is an export powerhouse,” five Labour MPs from northern England wrote this week.
“All of that could be at risk if we quit the EU customs union and the single market and are lumbered with new customs barriers, charges and unnecessary red tape.” Editing by Anna Willard | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-analysis/get-on-with-it-may-under-pressure-on-eu-customs-decision-idUKKBN1IC1Q0 |
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private equity investment firm with $25 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company, ACG Materials (“ACG” or the “Company”), a leading miner and processor of industrial minerals and aggregates, has acquired Kitsap Reclamation and Materials, Inc. (“Kitsap”).
Founded in 1993, Kitsap is a leading miner and processor of aggregate products sold into various infrastructure, building products and landscaping applications. Kitsap operates a basalt quarry in Bremerton, Washington and ships its products throughout the fast-growing Seattle metropolitan area.
“We are excited to further strengthen our position as a leading industrial mineral and aggregate producer in the Pacific Northwest,” commented Paul Harrington, Chief Executive Officer of ACG. “Kitsap will expand our strategic footprint within the region and provide complementary products to serve our growing customer base in that area. We look forward to partnering with Kitsap’s strong employee base and building upon their reputation for unmatched product quality and customer service.”
"We are pleased to support ACG in its acquisition of Kitsap," commented Keval Patel, a Managing Director of H.I.G. “The investment continues our successful track record of acquiring leading mining and processing operations in attractive, high growth markets.”
Kitsap is the ninth add-on acquisition that ACG has made since H.I.G. acquired the Company at the end of 2012.
About Kitsap
Established in 1993, Kitsap is a leading miner and processor of aggregate products sold into infrastructure, building products and landscaping applications. The Company operates a basalt quarry in Bremerton, Washington.
About ACG Materials
ACG Materials, based in Norman, Oklahoma, mines, mills, processes, and distributes industrial minerals and aggregates including gypsum, anhydrite, limestone, sand, gravel, basalt and downstream food, pharmaceutical, prill and plaster products across a diverse set of end markets including building products, energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and others. The Company operates out of 23 locations throughout Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Washington, and British Columbia. ACG Materials was founded as Harrison Gypsum, LLC in 1955. For more information, call 1-800-624-5963, or visit www.acgmaterials.com .
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $25 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com .
* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180523005948/en/
H.I.G. Capital, LLC
Keval Patel
Managing Director
[email protected]
or
Ryan Kaplan
Managing Director
[email protected]
Source: H.I.G. Capital, LLC | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/23/business-wire-acg-materials-announces-acquisition-of-kitsap-reclamation-and-materials.html |
CNBC.com show chapters 1 Hour Ago | 01:43
To get to work every day, I have to trek from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to Midtown Manhattan. That entails squeezing into a pocket of space aboard the crammed L train, often after a few too-packed trains have come and gone, and then transferring to the uptown F or M. Though I've mastered the art of reading a book while my body is contorted like a Tetris piece, it's not the most pleasant way to start the day.
Recently I considered mixing it up and trying to bike to the office. If I did that every day, the savings would add up more than I had realized: The 30-day unlimited subway passes I buy now add up to $1,452 a year .
But, though I'm an active person, I'm generally pretty lazy. The idea of all that extra effort and burning in the thigh region in the morning and afternoon did not enthuse me. Plus, I'd never biked in Manhattan and the city's congested streets are intimidating.
So could I do it, and would it be worth it? In honor of National Bike-to-Work Week, I tried it. Here's how the considerations break down. Richard Washington | CNBC CNBC Make It reporter Jonathan Blumberg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn The savings are significant
No matter where you live, biking to work instead of driving or taking public transit will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars every year. A monthly metro pass in D.C. comes out to at least $972 per year. In Chicago it's $1,260 and in Los Angeles it's $1,464 . If you drive, the costs of gas, maintenance, insurance and car payments add up, too. Across the U.S., the average commute costs $2,600 per year, according to the Citi ThankYou Commuter Index.
My bike, in contrast, was free. It belonged to my mother before I took it from the garage without her noticing when I moved to New York. If you don't have a mother who hasn't touched her bike since the '80s, you could buy a Citibike membership for just $169 a year or use a comparable bike sharing service.
For close to that price, you could just buy a used bike that's probably of higher quality than mine. As I discovered squeaking through the city, my chain is rusted, the gears need grease and the seat is threadbare.
In any case, even after buying a bike as well as a helmet, pump and occasional tube replacement, you could still save over $1,000 per year. The time spent isn't that much worse
The main reason people offer for why they don't bike to work is that it would take too long but, according to a recent study highlighted by The New York Times , odds are they're overestimating. So if time is what's holding you back, try a test run.
Although Google Maps promised I'd make it in 40 minutes, it was my first time biking in Manhattan, so I got turned around once or twice. In all, it took 50.
My typical commute on the subway usually takes half an hour but that isn't a guarantee. In the event of something holding up service on the notoriously unreliable New York transit system — such as a fire on the tracks , a man crawling around underneath a subway car or, as was the case 10,000 times in January, "who knows" — the ride can also take much longer. Richard Washington | CNBC Williamsburg Bridge The ride was easier than I expected
Overall, the six mile-trip was surprisingly manageable. There were bike lanes almost the whole way, and traffic didn't really become and issue until I was north of 34th street, where lanes and lights seem to serve no purpose.
The Williamsburg Bridge was the biggest challenge. It was there, as I hyperventilated to the bridge's peak, where the M train seemed to taunt me as it passed overhead and, at the same moment, an elderly woman zoomed by on my right. Fortunately I was too focused on the burn in my quadriceps to feel it in my ego. It's good for you and the environment
Billionaire Richard Branson has raved about the benefits of exercising in the morning and after my trip his excitement finally made sense to me. I felt awesome the rest of the day and even passed on coffee .
And, though many people do, in most places you shouldn't worry too much about air quality. Unless you're in a highly polluted city like Delhi, research has found that the health benefits of biking outweigh the risks of inhaling pollution in cities like New York, Barcelona and London. And besides, if you bike to work you spend less time in the subways, where apparently it's not particularly healthy to breathe either. Richard Washington | CNBC CNBC Make It reporter Jonathan Blumberg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Biking benefits the environment, too, by reducing your carbon footprint. Transportation, made up largely of passenger vehicles and public transit, contributed to 28 percent of green house gas emissions in the U.S. in 2016, according to the EPA .
In cities that have large biking populations, residents see improved health and extended life as a result of less smog, reports The Guardian . Just be safe
If you do want to save some money on your commute and decide biking to work is the way to go, take the necessary precautions. Wear a helmet, watch out for drivers and passengers opening their doors and make sure you have lights and reflective gear if you're riding in the dark.
I'd also recommend packing a change of clothes and some deodorant for when you get to the office, something I realized I needed around the time that older rider, who I now am telling myself was on performance-enhancers, dusted me on the bridge. You should also drink plenty of water.
And finally: Choose a scenic route through some bustling neighborhoods. Experiencing New York in a new way was the best part of the trip. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/biking-to-work-could-save-you-over-1000-a-year.html |
TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) - Japan’s Nikkei share average rose to a 3-1/2-month high on Friday and scored its eighth straight weekly gain after a weaker yen lifted exporters, while financial stocks extended their rally as U.S. bond yields remained high.
The Nikkei gained 0.4 percent to 22,930.36, the highest closing level since Feb 2. The benchmark index rose 0.8 percent on a weekly basis to mark the eighth straight weekly gains, the longest winning streak since a nine-week stretch between September and November.
The dollar rose to its strongest level since Jan. 23 against the yen, hitting 111.00 earlier.
But analysts said that Friday’s thin trade and minimal gains suggest the rally may pause.
“Japanese shares have risen on a weaker yen, but I doubt that they keep rising from here just because of the dollar-yen levels,” said Shogo Maekawa, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.
“When you look at global shares, gains in U.S. stocks and emerging market shares have stalled. It is unlikely that Japanese stocks will outperform their global peers.”
Trading was thin, with only 1.3 billion shares changing hands on the main board, the lowest level since early April.
The broader Topix gained 0.4 percent to 1,815.25.
Market players also remain nervous about U.S.-China trade tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump said the world’s second largest economy had “become very spoiled on trade”.
The weaker yen helped exporters with TDK Corp surging 2.9 percent, Nissan Motor rising 0.8 percent and Honda Motor soaring 1.3 percent.
Financials such as insurers advanced, with T&D Holdings up 2.3 percent and Dai-ichi Life Holdings adding 1.2 percent, after U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose to a near seven-year peak on Thursday, extending this week’s bond market selloff.
Elsewhere, PeptiDream jumped 3.0 percent after the pharmaceutical research company said that it completed the transfer of its proprietary peptide discovery technology to Shionogi & Co Ltd.
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/japan-stocks-close/nikkei-rises-to-3-1-2-month-high-on-lower-yen-marks-8th-winning-week-idUSL3N1SP2PA |
SHERMAN, Texas and PLANO, Texas and MARSHALL, Texas and TYLER, Texas, May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The East Texas law firm Siebman, Forrest, Burg & Smith, LLP , is announcing the firm's new name with the departure of name partner Larry A. Phillips and the promotion of firm attorney Elizabeth Forrest to name partner.
Mr. Phillips was sworn in as Judge of the 59 th District Court in Grayson County on May 1 following an appointment by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Mr. Phillips completed his eighth term as State Representative for District 62 in the Texas Legislature before decisively winning the Republican judicial primary for the 59 th District Court in March.
"Larry Phillips has been my law partner for more than 15 years, and I can think of no one better suited to the role of District Judge," says firm founder Clyde M. Siebman . "That said, we will certainly miss his experienced counsel around the law office."
On a personal level, Mr. Siebman says he is tremendously proud that his daughter, Ms. Forrest, is stepping into her new role as name partner.
"Along with my childhood friend, the late Homer B. Reynolds, III, I founded this firm when he and I both were in our early 30's," Mr. Siebman says. "Elizabeth's new role signals the start of a new era for our firm. I am proud that our brand of trusted Texas legal counsel endures as our firm commences with its second generation of both partners and clients."
Ms. Forrest is a former law clerk to Judge Amos Mazzant III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Eastern District of Texas Bar Association , and she also serves as Chairperson of the Association of Women Lawyers of the Eastern District of Texas.
Siebman Forrest's lawyers provide decades of experience representing Texas-based and out-of-state clients in the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas, as well as state courts stretching from the northern Dallas suburbs to the Red River and throughout East Texas. The firm's trial experience runs the full gamut of litigation, from patent, trademark and trade secret matters, to false claims, fraud, breach of contract, and wrongful death cases.
Mr. Siebman was named the Dallas/Fort Worth Lawyer of the Year for patent litigation in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Siebman Forrest also was named to the 2018 Best Law Firms list published by Best Lawyers and U.S. News & World Report.
Siebman, Forrest, Burg, & Smith, LLP, is a Texas-based, trial-focused law firm widely known for its work in the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas and throughout the state. For more information, please visit http://www.siebman.com .
For more information, contact Bruce Vincent at 214-763-6226 or [email protected] .
View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/east-texas-law-firm-siebman-forrest-burg--smith-changes-name-300645705.html
SOURCE Siebman, Forrest, Burg & Smith | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/pr-newswire-east-texas-law-firm-siebman-forrest-burg-smith-changes-name.html |
May 18, 2018 / 7:21 AM / Updated an hour ago CEFC Europe to contest takeover by J&T Private Investments Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
PRAGUE, May 18 (Reuters) - CEFC Europe, a Czech-based part of troubled conglomerate CEFC China Energy, said it would contest a takeover of shareholder rights by creditor J&T Private Investments (JTPI).
The Czech-based JTPI said on Thursday it had taken over the rights and installed crisis management because CEFC Europe had not covered its debt of 450 million euros ($532 million) in time.
CEFC Europe protested against the move immediately, saying it had the money ready to cover the debt.
“CEFC Europe shareholders don’t recognise the dismissal of the current board and the appointment of a new one and they are ready to make all legal steps against J&T group,” CEFC Europe said in a statement posted on its website.
CEFC Europe bought Czech assets from real estate to breweries, an engineering firm, an airline and the oldest Czech soccer club, Slavia Prague, under an investment drive promoted by Czech President Milos Zeman.
However, parent company CEFC China Energy came under stress when it was reported that its founder Chairman Ye Jianming was being investigated for suspected economic crimes earlier this year. ($1 = 0.8463 euros) (Reporting by Robert Muller Editing by Keith Weir) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/china-cefc-czech/cefc-europe-to-contest-takeover-by-jt-private-investments-idUSL5N1SP12T |
May 14 (Reuters) - Orior AG:
* END RESULTS FOR OFFER OF THURELLA * UNTIL END OF ADDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE PERIOD 134,095 REGISTERED SHARES WERE TENDERED TO OFFEROR
* THIS CORRESPONDS TO 95.06% OF ALL REGISTERED SHARES TO WHICH OFFER RELATES
* PARTICIPATION QUOTA OF OFFEROR AMOUNTS TO 98.29% OF ALL ISSUED REGISTERED SHARES AND VOTING RIGHTS OF THURELLA AG Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)
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© 2018 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-orior-announces-end-results-for-of/brief-orior-announces-end-results-for-offer-of-thurella-idUSFWN1SL00H |
May 3 (Reuters) - Ooh!Media Ltd:
* GUIDANCE FOR CY2018 EBITDA OF $94.0 - $99.0MLN
* GUIDANCE OF $30.0 - $40.0 MILLION IN CY2018 CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-oohmedia-ltd-sees-cy2018-ebitda-of/brief-oohmedia-ltd-sees-cy2018-ebitda-of-94-0-99-0-mln-idUSFWN1S91F1 |
* Potential of new U.S. sanctions against Iran keep market on edge
* OPEC cuts bolstered by Venezuelan declines
* U.S. crude oil production hits record high of 10.62 mln bpd
* Analysts expect U.S. oil production to rise further (Recasts, updates prices)
LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Thursday as swelling U.S. crude inventories and record weekly U.S. production clashed with OPEC supply cuts and the potential for new U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Brent crude oil futures were at $72.91 per barrel at 1113 GMT, 45 cents below their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were 10 cents lower at $67.83 per barrel.
Prices have seesawed, edging lower during Asian trading hours, then higher at the start of the day in Europe, as the market grappled with conflicting fundamental signals.
On Wednesday, a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed a 6.2-million-barrel jump in U.S. crude inventories <C-STK-T-EIA>.
But bullish factors, including an increase in Saudi Arabia's official oil selling price to Asia, also underpinned prices, according to Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
"It may signal stronger-than-expected demand in Asia," Fritsch said. "This, combined with constraints in (OPEC) production, could lead to higher prices."
State-owned producer Saudi Aramco on Wednesday raised the June price for its Arab Light grade for Asian customers to a premium of $1.90 a barrel to the Oman/Dubai average, the highest since August 2014.
Additionally, the latest Reuters survey of OPEC production showed it pumped around 32 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, slightly below its target of 32.5 million bpd, due largely to plunging output in Venezuela.
Fritsch said the cuts, along with demand growth, were more than offsetting the increase in U.S. oil.
U.S. oil production rose to a record of 10.62 million bpd, putting it ahead of Saudi Arabia, the biggest OPEC producer.
Only Russia pumps more, at around 11 million bpd.
U.S. drilling for new production is also increasing, encouraged by rising prices following OPEC's production curbs.
The May 12 deadline for U.S. President Donald Trump to decide whether to continue waiving U.S. sanctions against Iran was also buffeting downward pressure on prices.
"Overall, we continue to trade a waiting game for the U.S. decision on Iran, waiting to have sanction headlines trigger some frenzied buying," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of energy consultancy PetroMatrix.
Trump has all but decided to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord by May 12, sources said, though exactly how he will do so remains unclear.
Iran re-emerged as a major oil exporter in January 2016 when international sanctions against Tehran were suspended in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear programme.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; editing by Jason Neely and Adrian Croft) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/reuters-america-update-5-oil-slips-as-opec-iran-worries-bump-against-u-s-output.html |
(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
* Chartbook: https://tmsnrt.rs/2I6tESb
LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Rising oil prices over the last two years have put the issue of demand destruction back on the agenda, as producers, traders and analysts try to estimate how consumers will respond.
Demand destruction always becomes a topic of discussion during this stage of the price cycle, and the current discussion resembles previous episodes of high and rising prices in 2005-2008 and 2011-2014.
Brent prices have surged by $47 per barrel (170 percent) from their low point in early 2016 and are now trading close to $75 per barrel.
Over the same period, weighted-average U.S. gasoline pump prices have risen by almost $1.13 per gallon (61 percent) and now stand just a few cents below $3 per gallon.
Crude and gasoline prices are still well below the levels of $115 per barrel and $3.80 per gallon where they stood just before oil prices started slumping at the end of June 2014.
But crude and fuels are no longer particularly cheap and most traders and oil exporting nations expect prices to increase further over the next year.
In real terms, oil prices are close to the average level for the whole of the last cycle from late 1998 through early 2016.
As the price-cycle matures and prices move towards their next peak, the focus on consumer responses is set to intensify.
In an early sign of political sensitivity in consuming countries, U.S. President Donald Trump blamed OPEC for rising oil prices via a message on his Twitter account on April 20.
Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted, the president wrote with his customary directness.
In contrast, OPEC officials have indicated they see no adverse impact on oil consumption as a result of price increases so far.
I have not seen any impact on demand with current prices. We have seen prices significantly higher in the past twice as much as where we are today, Saudi Arabias oil minister told reporters in Jeddah.
Reduced energy intensity and higher productivity globally of energy input levels leads me to think that there is capacity to absorb higher prices, the minister said on April 20.
PRICE THRESHOLD?
This part of the cycle is normally characterised by a game of guess the threshold at which rising prices start to destroy oil demand.
In recent weeks, some analysts have suggested demand destruction will begin if and when prices rise above $80 per barrel while others put the threshold as high as $100.
Others express the same idea by suggesting $3 per gallon or even $4 is the psychologically important limit for U.S. motorists.
But identifying a specific price threshold is probably the wrong way to think about the issue of prices and consumption.
In reality, there is a continuum of consumer responses to price - ranging from demand stimulation to demand destruction.
The lower prices fall and the longer they are expected to stay there, the more consumption tends to be stimulated.
The higher prices rise and the longer they are predicted to stay up, the more consumption tends to be destroyed.
The response of consumption to prices is continuous but highly non-linear.
The response also takes time to materialise, as consumers slowly adjust their behaviour and buy new equipment, and it takes even longer to appear in the official consumption statistics due to reporting delays.
Adding to the complexity, oil consumption is also responsive to other factors, including economic growth and incomes; car ownership and vehicle fleet growth; average miles travelled and average miles per gallon.
Some of these factors are themselves more or less related to oil prices, at different timescales, which makes the analysis even more complicated.
For example, oil prices have an impact on choices about fuel economy when new vehicles are purchased.
As a result it is notoriously difficult to estimate the price-elasticity of oil demand and economists have generated widely varying estimates.
But the bottom line is that oil consumption does respond to price changes and the response is not geared to any particular threshold.
DEMAND RESTRAINT
The relationship between prices and oil consumption is evident in the global statistics, at least for the high-income countries in the OECD, though it is not so clear for low and middle-income countries outside the OECD.
Oil consumption in non-OECD countries has increased every year since 1970, with the single exception of 1993. (https://tmsnrt.rs/2I6tESb)
In these countries, rising consumption has been driven by fast economic growth, rising household incomes and increasing vehicle ownership, which has dominated and masked any price effects.
By contrast, in the OECD, growth in incomes and vehicle ownership has been more moderate and the impact of prices on consumption is readily apparent.
OECD oil consumption fell in 1973-74, 1980-83, 2006-2009, 2011-2012 and 2014, all periods associated with high real oil prices.
Conversely, OECD consumption rose very rapidly between 1970 and 1973 and again between 1986 and 1999, when real prices were relatively low.
There are some nuances, including the elimination of oil from heating and power generation during the 1970s and 1980s, and the complicated interaction between the oil shocks and recessions.
But the basic relationship between prices and consumption for the OECD is clear.
Oil prices have not usually risen high enough to reduce total global demand because non-OECD consumption has continued growing.
But high prices tend to temper demand growth through their impact on OECD consumption.
The same basic relationship can be traced between U.S. gasoline prices, traffic volumes and gasoline consumption, punctuated by the occasional recession.
The decline in gasoline prices contributed to a notable acceleration in U.S. gasoline consumption growth in 2015-2016 compared with the preceding years.
But gasoline consumption was flat in 2017 and is expected to grow by just 30,000 barrels per day in 2018, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA, April 2018).
REAR-VIEW MIRROR
The escalation of oil prices since the start of 2016 has probably started to restrain consumption growth (compared with a baseline in which prices had remained at $30 per barrel).
So far, the demand restraint from increasing prices has been offset by synchronised global growth, especially in the middle-income countries that account for a rising share of oil use.
If prices continue to increase, however, there will come a point at which consumption growth starts to slow in a much more pronounced fashion.
Unfortunately, experience suggests the extent of the demand deceleration will only become apparent after it is already well underway.
And the slowdown in consumption growth will continue even once prices stop rising, given the long lags in the system.
Between 2011 and 2014, when oil prices averaged over $100 per barrel, declining consumption in the OECD and slowing consumption growth in the non-OECD created the conditions for the last oil slump.
If oil prices continue to increase, as most hedge fund managers and oil-exporting nations expect, the same scenario could play out again between 2019 and 2021.
Related columns:
Oil prices, or how I learned to stop worrying and embrace the cycle, Reuters, April 25
Drilling for more oil in your fuel tank, Reuters, March 12, 2013 (Editing by Jason Neely) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/02/reuters-america-column-rising-oil-prices-put-demand-destruction-back-on-the-agenda-kemp.html |
May 28, 2018 / 1:53 PM / Updated 13 minutes ago Greece, Macedonia edge closer towards resolving name dispute Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and Macedonia have edged closer in their efforts to resolve a decades-old dispute over the former Yugoslav republic’s name, with their foreign ministers drafting documents which could pave the way for a settlement. FILE PHOTO: Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias (L) welcomes his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov at the Foreign ministry in Athens, Greece, June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File photo
Greece has long opposed Macedonia’s right to call itself that, saying it amounts to a territorial claim on a northern Greek region of the same name. The dispute has blocked Macedonia’s bid to join NATO and the European Union.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said he and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov had concluded their talks on the issue and that the two prime ministers would take it up after some legal details had been addressed.
“The documents that have been drafted at a ministerial level will be delivered to the two prime ministers who will discuss between themselves and reach a final deal,” said Kotzias after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. He gave no details on what had been agreed in his talks with Dimitrov.
Greece and Macedonia are racing to reach a deal before an EU summit in late June, which may open the way for Macedonia’s eventual membership.
After meeting his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev in Sofia earlier this month, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the two countries have covered a great part of the distance and could meet again next month if there was enough progress. Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Gareth Jones | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-macedonia-name-ministers/greece-macedonia-edge-closer-towards-resolving-name-dispute-idUSKCN1IT1CY |
May 23 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp on Wednesday confirmed that it is considering and is in advanced stages of preparing an offer for the businesses that Twenty-First Century Fox has agreed to sell to Walt Disney Co.
“While no final decision has been made, at this point the work to finance the all-cash offer and make the key regulatory filings is well advanced,” Comcast said in a statement. (Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/fox-ma-comcast/comcast-says-considering-all-cash-offer-to-buy-fox-assets-idUSL3N1SU4JY |
Malian immigrant rescues boy from Paris balcony 3:30pm EDT - 00:40
Video shows Mamoudou Gassama, a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Mali, risking his life on Sunday as he climbed up the balconies of a Paris apartment building to rescue the four-year-old who is clinging to a railing and glancing at the ground below, while horrified onlookers watched. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). ▲ Hide Transcript ▶ View Transcript
Video shows Mamoudou Gassama, a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Mali, risking his life on Sunday as he climbed up the balconies of a Paris apartment building to rescue the four-year-old who is clinging to a railing and glancing at the ground below, while horrified onlookers watched. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). Press CTRL+C (Windows), CMD+C (Mac), or long-press the URL below on your mobile device to copy the code https://reut.rs/2IRWUO3 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/video/2018/05/28/malian-immigrant-rescues-boy-from-paris?videoId=431217753 |
GENEVA (Reuters) - Fewer people are smoking worldwide, especially women, but only one country in eight is on track to meet a target of reducing tobacco use significantly by 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
Used cigarette butts spill out of a full ashtray on the wall of a shopping centre in Warrington, northern England January 15, 2013. REUTERS/Phil Noble Three million people die prematurely each year due to tobacco use that causes cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke, the world’s leading killers, it said, marking World No Tobacco Day. They include 890,000 deaths through second-hand smoke exposure.
The WHO clinched a landmark treaty in 2005, now ratified by 180 countries, that calls for a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, and taxes to discourage use.
“The worldwide prevalence of tobacco smoking has decreased from 27 percent in 2000 to 20 percent in 2016, so progress has been made,” Douglas Bettcher, director of the WHO’s prevention of noncommunicable diseases department, told a news briefing.
Launching the WHO’s global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco smoking, he said that industrialised countries are making faster progress than developing countries.
“One of the major factors impeding low- and middle-income countries certainly is countries face resistance by a tobacco industry who wishes to replace clients who die by freely marketing their products and keeping prices affordable for young people,” he added.
Progress in kicking the habit is uneven, with the Americas the only region set to meet the target of a 30 percent reduction in tobacco use by 2025 compared to 2010, for both men and women, the WHO said.
However, the United States is currently not on track, bogged down by litigation over warnings on cigarette packaging and lags in taxation, said Vinayak Prasad of the WHO’s tobacco control unit.
Parts of Western Europe have reached a “standstill”, particularly due to a failure to get women to stop smoking, African men are lagging, and tobacco use in the Middle East is actually set to increase, the WHO said.
Overall, tobacco kills more than 7 million a year and many people know that it increases the risk of cancer, the WHO said.
But many tobacco users in China and India are unaware of their increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke, making it urgent to step up awareness campaigns, it said.
“The percentage of adults who do not believe smoking causes stroke are for example in China as high as 73 percent, for heart attacks 61 percent of adults in China are not aware that smoking increases the risk,” Bettcher said. “We aim to close this gap.”
China and India have the highest numbers of smokers worldwide, accounting for 307 million and 106 million, respectively, of the world’s 1.1 billion adult smokers, followed by Indonesia with 74 million, WHO figures show. India also has 200 million of the world’s 367 million smokeless tobacco users.
Editing by Alexandra Hudson
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/health-smoking/smoking-down-but-tobacco-use-still-a-major-cause-of-death-disease-who-idINKCN1IV2W0 |
May 9 (Reuters) - New Gold Inc:
* NEW GOLD ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF PRESIDENT AND CEO Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-new-gold-announces-appointment-of/brief-new-gold-announces-appointment-of-president-and-ceo-idUSFWN1SG1MG |
May 31, 2018 / 8:43 AM / Updated 38 minutes ago Indonesia c.bank sees rupiah at 13,800-14,100/dollar for 2018 and 2019 Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
JAKARTA, May 31 (Reuters) - Indonesia’s central bank expects the rupiah’s exchange rate to average in a range of 13,800 to 14,100 per dollar for all of 2018 and 2019, its new governor Perry Warjiyo said on Thursday.
He made the comment during a parliamentary hearing for preliminary talks on the 2019 state budget.
So far in 2018, the rupiah’s average exchange rate has been 13,713 to the dollar, according to Bank Indonesia (BI) data.
The rupiah at 0825 GMT Thursday was trading at 13,880 per dollar, bouncing 0.76 percent from Wednesday’s closing level.
BI raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time in two weeks on Wednesday.
Warjiyo did not explain his forecast for the rupiah, but reiterated that BI’s priority in the near term is to stabilise the exchange rate. (Reporting by Maikel Jefriando; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/indonesia-rupiah/indonesia-c-bank-sees-rupiah-at-13800-14100-dollar-for-2018-and-2019-idUSJ9N1SB012 |
HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Continental Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:CBPX) (the "Company"), a leading manufacturer of gypsum wallboard and complementary finishing products, announced today results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
Highlights of First Quarter 2018 as Compared to First Quarter 2017
Net income increased 11.6% to $13.6 million Earnings per share increased 16.1% to $0.36 Net sales decreased 3.2% to $116.8 million on wallboard volumes down 5.4% Gross margin increased to 25.8% compared to 25.7% EBITDA 1 decreased to $31.3 million down 4.9% compared to $33.0 million Deployed $6.4 million in capital investments Deployed $14.6 million to repurchase 530,600 shares of common stock Outlook for full year 2018 unchanged
"We delivered higher gross margins in the first quarter while facing a challenging operating environment, including lower volumes as expected given strong pre-buy activity in advance of our January 1, 2018 price increase and poor weather for our regions. Our ability to improve gross margins while overcoming a tightening freight and labor market reflects our sharp focus on operating discipline and our low cost highly efficient assets" stated Jay Bachmann, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Bachmann continued, "We delivered strong quarterly earnings of $0.36 per share. In addition to the benefits of tax reform and the accretive benefit of our stock repurchase plan, we believe this is a direct result of our Bison Way continuous improvement efforts and the payback we are already receiving from high-return capital projects. As we look forward to the balance of the year, we are encouraged by the pace of wallboard demand in our markets, which supports our unchanged outlook for full year 2018. At the same time, we remain focused on deploying our strong cash flow to improve our cost position through further investments in high-return capital projects while continuing to repurchase shares as a key avenue to return value to shareholders."
First Quarter 2018 Results vs. First Quarter 2017
Wallboard sales volumes decreased to 615 million square feet (MMSF) for the first quarter 2018, compared to 650 MMSF in the prior year quarter. Net sales were down 3.2% to $116.8 million, compared to $120.6 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to a 5.4% decrease in wallboard volumes attributable to strong customer pre-buy activity during the fourth quarter 2017 in anticipation of a previously announced January 1, 2018 price increase, partially offset by an increase in average mill net price compared to the prior year quarter.
Operating income was $20.8 million, compared to $21.7 million in the prior year quarter. This decrease was primarily attributable to lower wallboard volumes. SG&A expense was $9.4 million compared to $9.3 million in the prior year quarter, or 8.1% of net sales compared to 7.7% in the prior year quarter.
Interest expense decreased 6.7% to $2.7 million, compared to $2.9 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting higher investment income and capitalized interest partially offset by the rise in LIBOR.
Net income for the first quarter 2018 increased 11.6% to $13.6 million, or $0.36 per share, compared to $12.2 million, or $0.31 per share, in the prior year quarter. The $1.4 million increase in net income is primarily a result of the decrease in provision for income taxes under the new tax rates effective for 2018.
Balance Sheet and Cash Flow
As of March 31, 2018, the Company had cash on hand of $63.8 million and total outstanding borrowing under the term loan agreement of $270.9 million. During the first quarter 2018, the Company generated cash flows from operations of $13.7 million and deployed $6.4 million in capital investments.
In February 2018, the Company's Board of Directors authorized an expansion of its stock repurchase program from up to $200 million to up to $300 million. The program's expiration date was also extended from the end of 2018 to the end of 2019. During the first quarter 2018, the Company repurchased 530,600 shares of its common stock under its repurchase program at an aggregate purchase price of $14.6 million, representing 1.4% of its outstanding shares as of December 31, 2017. As of March 31, 2018, against the expanded program, the Company has repurchased $117.9 million of our common stock at an average price of $21.84 per share and had a remaining capacity of $182.1 million for future repurchases.
Forward-Looking Outlook For the Full Year 2018
SG&A is expected to be in the range of $39 - $40 million Cost of goods sold inflation per unit is expected to be at 3% to 5% partly offset by approximately $5 million of savings from high return capital projects Total capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $30 - $35 million Maintenance capital spending is expected to be approximately $15 million High-return capital spending is expected to be in the range of $15 - $20 million Depreciation and amortization is expected to be in the range of $43 - $46 million Effective tax rate is expected to be in the range of 22% - 24%
Investor Conference Webcast and Conference Call
The Company will host a webcast and conference call on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to review first quarter 2018 financial results, discuss recent events and conduct a question-and-answer period. The live webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.continental-bp.com . To participate in the call, please dial (877) 407-0789 (domestic) or (201) 689-8562 (international). A replay of the conference call will be available through June 3, 2018, by dialing (844) 512-2921 (domestic) or (412) 317-6671 (international) and entering the pass code number 13678456.
About Continental Building Products
Continental Building Products is a leading North American manufacturer of gypsum wallboard and complementary finishing products. The Company is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia with operations serving the residential, commercial and repair and remodel construction markets primarily in the eastern United States and eastern Canada. For additional information, visit www.continental-bp.com .
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains . Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "plan", "outlook", and "project" and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on historical information available at the time the statements are made and are based on management's reasonable belief or expectations with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from the belief or expectations expressed in or suggested by the . Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect future events, developments or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law. Investors are referred to the Company's filings with the Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for additional information regarding the risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
1 See the financial schedules at the end of this press release for a reconciliation of EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share, which are a non-GAAP financial measure, to relevant GAAP financial measures, and a discussion of why they are useful to investors.
Continental Building Products, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited)
For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 (in thousands, except share data and per share amounts) Net sales $ 116,802 $ 120,615 Costs, expenses and other income: Cost of goods sold 86,616 89,624 Selling and administrative 9,424 9,304 Total costs and operating expenses 96,040 98,928 Operating income 20,762 21,687 Other expense, net (140 ) (644 ) Interest expense, net (2,720 ) (2,916 ) Income before losses from equity method investment and provision for income taxes 17,902 18,127 Losses from equity method investment (364 ) (170 ) Income before provision for income taxes 17,538 17,957 Provision for income taxes (3,892 ) (5,730 ) Net income $ 13,646 $ 12,227 Net income per share: Basic $ 0.36 $ 0.31 Diluted $ 0.36 $ 0.31 Weighted average shares outstanding: Basic 37,432,782 39,576,268 Diluted 37,604,953 39,702,126 Continental Building Products, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheets March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017
(unaudited) (in thousands) Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 63,848 $ 72,521 Receivables, net 46,246 38,769 Inventories, net 27,725 24,882 Prepaid and other current assets 11,014 11,267 Total current assets 148,833 147,439 Property, plant and equipment, net 293,902 294,003 Customer relationships and other intangibles, net 68,433 70,807 Goodwill 119,945 119,945 Equity method investment 9,071 9,263 Debt issuance costs 432 477 Total Assets $ 640,616 $ 641,934 Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity: Liabilities: Accounts payable $ 31,215 $ 30,809 Accrued and other liabilities 10,682 11,940 Notes payable, current portion 1,680 1,702 Total current liabilities 43,577 44,451 Deferred taxes and other long-term liabilities 15,888 15,847 Notes payable, non-current portion 263,242 263,610 Total Liabilities 322,707 323,908 Shareholders' Equity: Undesignated preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share; 10,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding — — Common stock, $0.001 par value per share; 190,000,000 shares authorized; 44,408,395 and 44,321,776 shares issued
and 37,088,978 and 37,532,959 shares outstanding as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively
44 44 Additional paid-in capital 325,615 325,391 Less: Treasury stock (157,907 ) (143,357 ) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (2,085 ) (2,649 ) Accumulated earnings 152,242 138,597 Total Shareholders' Equity 317,909 318,026 Total Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity $ 640,616 $ 641,934 Continental Building Products, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited)
For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 (in thousands) Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 13,646 $ 12,227 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 10,581 11,286 Amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount 334 291 Losses from equity method investment 364 170 Debt related expenses — 686 Share-based compensation 600 724 Deferred taxes — 92 Change in assets and liabilities: Receivables (7,562 ) (9,323 ) Inventories (2,913 ) (1,279 ) Prepaid expenses and other current assets 1,144 1,994 Accounts payable (1,353 ) 1,714 Accrued and other current liabilities (1,042 ) 100 Other long-term liabilities (56 ) (146 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 13,743 18,536 Cash flows from investing activities: Capital expenditures (5,955 ) (5,359 ) Software purchased or developed (482 ) (1 ) Capital contributions to equity method investment (251 ) (524 ) Distributions from equity method investment 78 214 Net cash used in investing activities (6,610 ) (5,670 ) Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from exercise of stock options 11 168 Tax withholdings on share-based compensation (421 ) (209 ) Proceeds from debt refinancing — 273,625 Disbursements for debt refinancing — (273,625 ) Payments of financing costs — (649 ) Principal payments for debt (679 ) (684 ) Payments to repurchase common stock (14,550 ) (5,237 ) Net cash used in financing activities (15,639 ) (6,611 ) Effect of foreign exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents (167 ) 117 Net change in cash and cash equivalents (8,673 ) 6,372 Cash, beginning of period 72,521 51,536 Cash, end of period $ 63,848 $ 57,908 Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures
EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share have been presented in this press release as supplemental measures of financial performance that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). This release presents EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share as supplemental performance measures because management believes that they facilitate a comparative assessment of the Company's operating performance relative to its performance based on results under GAAP while isolating the effects of some items that vary from period to period without any correlation to core operating performance and eliminate certain charges that management believes do not reflect the Company's operations and underlying operational performance. Furthermore, the Company's Board of Directors' compensation committee uses EBITDA to evaluate management's compensation. Management also believes that EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share are useful to investors because they allow investors to view the business through the eyes of management and the Board of Directors, facilitating comparison of results across historical periods.
EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies because other companies may not calculate EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share in the same manner. EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted Net Income, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share are not measurements of the Company's financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as alternatives to net income or earnings per share determined in accordance with GAAP or any other financial statement data presented as indicators of financial performance or liquidity, each as calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
Reconciliation of Net Income to EBITDA For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 (unaudited, in thousands) Net income $ 13,646 $ 12,227 Adjustments:
Other expense, net 140 644 Interest expense, net 2,720 2,916 Losses from equity method investment 364 170 Provision for income taxes 3,892 5,730 Depreciation and amortization 10,581 11,286 EBITDA - Non-GAAP measure $ 31,343 $ 32,973 EBITDA Margin - EBITDA as a percentage of net sales - Non-GAAP measure 26.8 % 27.3 % Reconciliation of Net Income and Earnings Per Share to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 (unaudited, in thousands, except share data and per share amounts) Net income - GAAP measure $ 13,646 $ 12,227 Debt related expenses, net of tax (1) — 454 Adjusted net income - Non-GAAP measure $ 13,646 $ 12,681 Earnings per share - GAAP measure $ 0.36 $ 0.31 Debt related expenses, net of tax (1) — 0.01 Adjusted earnings per share - Non-GAAP measure $ 0.36 $ 0.32 (1) Expenses related to debt repricing activities are shown net of income tax benefit of $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. Other Financial and Operating Data For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 (in thousands, except mill net) Capital expenditures and software purchased or developed $ 6,437 $ 5,360 Wallboard sales volume (million square feet) 615 650 Mill net sales price (1) $ 151.60 $ 147.92 (1) Mill net sales price represents average selling price per thousand square feet net of freight and delivery costs. Interim Volumes and Mill Net Prices For the Three Months Ended March 31,
2017
June 30,
2017
September 30,
2017
December 31,
2017
March 31,
2018
Volumes (million square feet) 650 647 644 725 615 Mill net sales price (1) $ 147.92 $ 150.32 $ 144.90 $ 144.78 $ 151.60 (1) Mill net sales price represents average selling price per thousand square feet net of freight and delivery costs.
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180503006407/en/
Continental Building Products, Inc.
Investor Relations:
Tel.: (703) 480-3980
[email protected]
Source: Continental Building Products, Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/business-wire-continental-building-products-reports-first-quarter-2018-results.html |
KIEV (Reuters) - President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday that Ukraine had taken into account most international recommendations in the latest draft law to create an anti-corruption court, which may be voted on by parliament this week.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks during a meeting of the country's Security and Defence Council in Kiev, Ukraine May 2, 2018. Mykola Lazarenko/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS A long-delayed tranche of loans from the International Monetary Fund’s $17.5 billion aid-for-reforms programme hinges on parliament approving the bill, but it has not been clear if the latest version of the law guarantees the court’s independence in line with external guidance.
“Yesterday I was happy that the absolute majority of the recommendations of foreign partners including the Venice Commission were taken into account by the decision of the parliamentary committee,” Poroshenko told journalists, referring to a leading legal rights watchdog.
In recent days, the Ukrainian authorities have been consulting with the IMF and the Venice Commission on the law before a possible final vote in parliament this week, parliamentary Speaker Andriy Parubiy told local media on Monday.
Neither the Fund nor the commission have yet said what they think of the latest version of the law, which Ukraine’s backers see as a keystone of the country’s promised attempt to overhaul the graft-ridden justice system.
Delayed implementation of reforms and backtracking on changes to the energy sector have held up the disbursement of international funding that Ukraine needs to help finance peak payments on its foreign currency-denominated debt in 2018-2020.
Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Matthias Williams and David Stamp
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/ukraine-estonia-poroshenko/ukraines-poroshenko-weve-listened-to-foreign-partners-on-corruption-law-idINKCN1IN1D4 |
WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - When Kim Yong Chol lands in New York this week, he will become the most senior North Korean envoy to hold talks with American officials on U.S. soil in 18 years.
The former spy chief is a trusted adviser to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, playing a pivotal role in preparations for an historic summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a sign of his importance, Trump announced Kim Yong Chol’s New York trip on Twitter on Tuesday.
The White House said he would meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later this week, the most high-level contact between the two countries in the United States since Jo Myong Rok, a marshal, met President Bill Clinton in 2000.
DIPLOMATIC HEAVYWEIGHT Kim Yong Chol is a four-star general, vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, and director of the United Front Department, which is responsible for inter-Korean relations.
Such positions, and his omnipresence before and during inter-Korean summits in April and on Saturday, make him one of the most powerful people in North Korea, South Korean officials say.
He has played a central role in the recent thaw in relations between the North and South Korea, as well as the United States.
Related Coverage Top North Korea envoy to hold crucial talks in U.S. about summit Sent as Kim Jong Un’s envoy to the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February, Kim Yong Chol told South Korean President Moon Jae-in Pyongyang was open to talks with Washington, the first indication North Korea was changing course after months of trading threats and insults with the United States.
He and Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, were the only two officials to join the North Korean leader at the two inter-Korean summits.
He also coordinated Kim Jong Un’s two meetings with Pompeo in Pyongyang.
SPY UNDER SANCTIONS Kim Yong Chol was previously chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, a top North Korean military intelligence agency, and has spent nearly 30 years as a senior member of the intelligence community.
The United States and South Korea blacklisted him for supporting the North’s nuclear and missile programmes in 2010 and 2016, respectively. A visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.
Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics - Closing ceremony - Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium - Pyeongchang, South Korea - February 25, 2018 - Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, watches the closing ceremony. REUTERS/Patrick Semansky/Pool/Files He was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010. He was also linked by U.S. intelligence to a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014.
North Korea denied any involvement in either incident.
Kim Yong Chol “stormed out of the room” during military talks in 2014 when the South demanded an apology for the 2010 attacks, according to South Korean officials.
“He is a tough negotiator and an expert on inter-Korean talks, but it is true that he had been a symbol of hawks rather than harmony and reconciliation until this year,” said Moon Sang-gyun, a former South Korean defence official.
BODYGUARD TO KIM’S FATHER Kim Yong Chol served in the military police in the demilitarized zone on the border of the two Koreas. He was also a bodyguard to Kim Jong Il, the former leader and late father of Kim Jong Un, according to North Korea Leadership Watch, an affiliate of the 38 North think tank.
He has been closely linked to Kim Jong Un’s succession and has been seen flanking the leader on several public visits.
Kim Yong Chol is known to be difficult to work with, sarcastic and not sufficiently deferential to his superiors, Leadership Watch said.
A combination photo shows U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) in Washignton, DC, U.S. May 17, 2018 and in Panmunjom, South Korea, April 27, 2018 respectively. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque and Korea Summit Press Pool/Files He has also suffered tough times. South Korea’s intelligence agency said in 2015 Kim Yong Chol was demoted to a three-star general after dozing off during a meeting.
In 2016, Seoul’s unification ministry said he was briefly sent to a re-education camp for his “overbearing” manner and abuse of power.
Reporting by Doina Chiacu in WASHINGTON and Hyonhee Shin in SEOUL; Editing by Mary Milliken, Bill Trott and
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/northkorea-missiles-envoy/explainer-the-man-sent-by-north-korean-leader-to-u-s-for-high-level-talks-idINKCN1IV086 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stormy Daniels' lawyer said Tuesday he has information showing that Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime personal attorney, received $500,000 from a company associated with a Russian billionaire within months of paying hush money to Daniels, a porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti also said hundreds of thousands of dollars streamed into Cohen's account from companies, including pharmaceutical giant Novartis, AT&T and Korea Aerospace, with U.S. government business interests. AT&T confirmed its connection Tuesday evening.
Avenatti did not reveal the source of his information or release documentation. But in a seven-page memo, Avenatti detailed what he said were wire transfers going into and out of the account Cohen used to pay Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 to stay silent about her alleged affair with the soon-to-be president. Trump denies having an affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Financial documents reviewed Tuesday by The Associated Press appeared to back up Avenatti's report.
The memo, containing highly specific dates and amounts, stated that Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire, and his cousin "routed" eight payments totaling approximately $500,000 to Cohen's company, Essential Consultants, between January and August 2017. The reason for the payment was not known.
Speculating without offering proof, the Avenatti memo said, "It appears these funds may have replenished the account following the payment to Ms. Clifford."
Avenatti's memo said the deposits into the account controlled by Cohen were made by Columbus Nova, an American investment company headed by Vekselberg's cousin Andrew Intrater and affiliated with the Renova Group, which is controlled by Vekselberg.
A spokesman for Vekselberg and the Renova Group said in a statement that "neither Victor Vekselberg nor Renova has ever had any contractual relationship with Mr Cohen or Essential Consultants."
Andrey Shtorkh added that regarding a "relationship between Columbus Nova and Mr Cohen you have to ask Mr Andy Intrater, because Columbus Nova is a company owned and managed by him."
Columbus Nova's attorney Richard Owens stressed in a statement that the company is "solely owned and controlled by Americans" and said that, after Trump's inauguration, the firm hired Cohen as a business consultant "regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures," but that it had nothing to do with Vekselberg.
Owens said any suggestion that Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Cohen was false. "Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else, other than Columbus Nova's owners, were involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement," he said.
Cohen and his attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cohen is currently under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, but hasn't been charged.
At the time of the payments, there was an active FBI counterintelligence investigation — which special counsel Robert Mueller took over last May — into Russian election interference and any possible coordination with Trump associates.
Vekselberg was targeted for U.S. sanctions by the Trump administration last month. He built his fortune, currently estimated by Forbes at $14.6 billion, by investing in the aluminum and oil industries. More recently, he has expanded his assets to include industrial equipment and high technology.
Offering confirmation for more of the payments, AT&T said in a statement that Essential Consultants was one of several firms it "engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration."
Avenatti alleged that the company made four $50,000 payments to Cohen totaling $200,000 in late 2017 and early 2018.
AT&T said Cohen's company "did no legal or lobbying work for us, and the contract ended in December 2017." Cohen is not a registered lobbyist, according to public records.
Such a confidential relationship would not violate federal lobbying laws if Cohen did not seek to influence Trump on the companies' behalf. But hiring the president's personal attorney for advice on how to woo Trump would be highly unusual, especially given that Cohen was never formally involved in the campaign or Trump's administration.
Making the arrangement even stranger, the blue-chip companies' payments to Cohen were routed to Essential Consultants LLC — the same company Cohen used to buy Stormy Daniels' silence about her alleged affair with the President.
Trump's Justice Department has sued to block AT&T from an $85 billion merger with Time Warner, saying it would hurt competition and consumers would have to pay more to watch their favorite shows.
Korea Aerospace, which is alleged to have paid Cohen $150,000 in November 2017, confirmed it paid Cohen's company for a business deal.
A company spokesman in Seoul, who declined to be named citing office rules, said Korea Aerospace Industries had a contract with Essential Consultants, Michael Cohen's company, for legal advice on accounting standards. The payment was made under a "legal" deal between the two, said the spokesperson, who refused to answer questions about the size or dates of any payments.
A spokesman for Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company, could not confirm or deny the payment, but said any agreements with Essential Consultants were entered before the company's current CEO took over in February of this year and have since expired.
The memo alleges the company paid Cohen $399,920 in late 2017 and early 2018 in four payments — each amounting to $99,980.
Trump had dinner with Novartis' soon-to-be CEO Vasant Narasimhan, along with other European executives, at the World Economic Forum in Davos shortly after the date of the final payment.
Larry Noble, senior director of the Campaign Legal Center, said there's nothing technically wrong with companies like Novartis and AT&T hiring people like Cohen to provide insight into the president's thinking. But he said the arrangement described by Avenatti "certainly doesn't look good."
"Why would you go to the president's private fixer?" he asked. "He's not known for policy and he's not in the administration. You're going to someone who can get you access and tell you about the person of the president. That's unusual."
Associated Press writers Chad Day and Jeff Horwitz in Washington, Jacob Pearson in New York and Mike Balsamo in Los Angeles and Youkyung Lee in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/the-associated-press-porn-stars-lawyer-says-russian-paid-trump-attorney-cohen.html |
(All dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified)
Q1 2018 Highlights Include:
Net income of $5.29 million and earnings per share of $0.07 Adjusted EBITDA of $7.95 million; third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA Free cash flow of $5.30 million resulting in a cash balance of $13.26 million at March 31, 2018 Direct operating costs of $72.33/t, a decrease of 27% from Q1 2017 and 10% from Q4 2017 $28.04 million in revenue, a 254% increase over Q1 2017 and 17% increase over Q4 2017 ZnEq grade of 6.1%, an increase of 9% over Q1 2017 and 15% over Q4 2017 Record contained metal production of 21.4 million ZnEq lbs, an increase of 57% over Q1 2017 and 9% over Q4 2017
TORONTO, May 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascendant Resources Inc. (TSX:ASND) (OTCQX:ASDRF) (FRA:2D9) ("Ascendant" or the "Company”) is pleased to report solid first quarter 2018 results from its El Mochito mine with $5.30 million in free cash flow and the Company’s first quarter of material net income of $5.29 million or earnings per share of $0.07. Contained metal production for the quarter was 21.4 million zinc equivalent 1 lbs at an average head grade of 6.1%, representing the Company’s strongest quarter of production since assuming operation of the mine. These results demonstrate the Company’s continued delivery of improved efficiency in operations.
President and CEO Chris Buncic stated: “We are very pleased with the overall performance of the Company during the first quarter of this year. Our ability to deliver significant cost reductions over the previous quarter and to generate significant net income and free cash flow illustrates the true potential of the El Mochito mine. We will continue to push towards improving operating margins and sustainable long-term profitability. As we exit the quarter with a cash balance of over $13 million, free cash flow generation remains a key focus."
He continued, “Operationally we are pleased with the increased throughput and higher head grades achieved this quarter. We look forward to improving these trends and continue to examine initiatives that will seek to make further structural improvements to our operational efficiency. We continue to make excellent progress on our 2018 exploration program and we look forward to providing an exploration update in the second quarter.”
1 This figure was calculated on a spot metal price basis.
Summary of key operational and financial performance for the first quarter 2018 is provided in the tables below:
Q1 Q4 Q1 Key Operating Information March 31, 2018 2017 2017 Total Tonnes Mined tonnes 187,255 197,303 131,325 Total Tonnes Milled tonnes 186,955 198,354 131,116 Average Head Grades Average Zn grade % 4.2 % 3.7 % 3.4 % Average Pb grade % 1.6 % 1.4 % 1.3 % Average Silver grade g/t 46 34 52 ZnEq Head grade (1 ) % 6.1 % 5.3 % 5.6 % Average Recoveries Zinc % 89.3 % 88.5 % 89.8 % Lead % 76.7 % 74.6 % 76.9 % Silver % 78.3 % 75.0 % 78.8 % Contained Metal Production Zinc 000's lbs 15,301 14,133 8,888 Lead 000's lbs 5,125 4,556 2,957 Silver ozs 215,599 169,039 173,041 ZnEq (1 ) 000's lbs 21,412 19,576 13,672 Payable Production Zinc 000's lbs 13,006 12,013 7,555 Lead 000's lbs 4,869 4,328 2,809 Silver ozs 150,919 118,327 121,129 ZnEq (1 ) 000's lbs 18,200 16,640 11,621 Payable Metal Sold Zinc 000's lbs 15,285 11,007 4,691 Lead 000's lbs 6,323 6,191 1,982 Silver ozs 169,165 162,619 102,706 ZnEq (1 ) 000's lbs 21,543 17,599 7,748 Average Realized Metal Price Zinc $/lb $1.53 $1.46 $1.26 Lead $/lb $1.07 $1.13 $1.04 Silver $/oz $16.41 $16.99 $18.01 Cash operating cost per ZnEq payable lb sold (2 ) $/ZnEq lb $0.82 $1.03 $1.19 AISC per ZnEq payable lb sold (2 ) $/ZnEq lb $1.34 $1.54 $1.66 Direct operating cost per tonne milled (excl. CAPEX) (2 ) $/tonne $72.33 $80.13 $98.91 (1 ) Assumes average spot metal prices for the period. (2 ) This is a non-IFRS performance measure. See Non-IFRS Performance Measures section at the end of this document. Q1 Q4 Q1 Financial March 31, 2018 2017 2017 Total revenue $000's 28,038 23,934 7,924 Mine operating expenses $000's 19,624 20,336 9,707 Income (loss) from mining operations $000's 8,414 (49 ) (1,783 ) Net income (loss) $000's 5,294 (1,429 ) (2,894 ) Adjusted EBITDA (2 ) $000's 7,945 2,280 (1,690 ) Operating cash flow before movements in working capital (2 ) $000's 6,774 578 (2,542 ) Operating cash flow $000's 11,418 5,825 (8,334 ) Cash and cash equivalents $000's 13,260 8,041 16,813 Working capital $000's 13,658 12,506 27,157 Capital Expenditures $000's 6,116 5,077 1,606 (1 ) Assumes average spot metal prices for the period. (2 ) This is a non-IFRS performance measure. See Non-IFRS Performance Measures section at the end of this document. First Quarter 2018 Operational Performance
During the first quarter of 2018, Ascendant produced record contained zinc equivalent metal production of 21.4 million lbs, compared to 19.6 million zinc equivalent lbs in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 13.7 million zinc equivalent lbs in the first quarter of 2017. Zinc equivalent lbs for the quarter comprised of 15.3 million lbs of zinc, 5.1 million lbs of lead and 215,599 ounces of silver.
Zinc equivalent grade for the first quarter increased to 6.1% using average spot metal pricing for the period. Zinc grades showed a significant improvement through the quarter increasing by 14% from 3.7% zinc in the fourth quarter 2017 to 4.2% zinc in the first quarter 2018. Lead and silver grades similarly showed an increase of 14% and 30% respectively to 1.6% lead and 46 g/t silver from the fourth quarter of 2017. This was the result of increased control of dilution and a firm focus on mining less sub-grade material, as well as the accelerated mining from the higher-grade Esperanza orebody that occurred as the development of the first long hole stope was completed. The success at Esperanza was partially offset by higher than expected internal dilution experienced in the Nueva Este 23L long hole stope, which has now been addressed. Recoveries for the quarter averaged 89.3% for zinc, 76.7% for lead and 78.3% for silver.
Milled production for the quarter was 186,955 tonnes, representing a slight decrease of 6% over the fourth quarter 2017 and a 43% increase over the first quarter 2017. While the mill did encounter a number of small stoppages due to wet ore and large rocks impacting the vibrating screen and cone crusher, overall, throughput rates continue to trend higher as additional new equipment continues to be introduced and new lower cost, long hole stopes contribute a greater percentage of production. The remainder of the new mobile equipment is expected to arrive by mid-2018, completing the full underground fleet replacement program that commenced in the second quarter 2017.
First Quarter 2018 Financial Performance
The Company reports financial results with 21.5 million zinc equivalent lbs sold in the first quarter 2018 with income from mining operations of $8.41 million. Average realized metal prices, on a provisional basis, for the quarter were $1.53 per pound of zinc, $1.07 per pound of lead and $16.41 per ounce of silver.
First Quarter 2018 Financial Highlights:
Net concentrate sales revenue of $28.04 million Net income of $5.29 million and earnings per share of $0.07 Adjusted EBITDA 2 of $7.95 million Direct operating cost of $72.33/t and Cash Operating Costs of $0.82/ZnEq lb Operating cash flow before changes in working capital of $6.77 million Contained metal production of 21.4 ZnEq lbs, and quarterly milled tonnes of 186,955 Quarterly payable zinc equivalent production increased 9% to 18.2 million lbs from Q4 2017 with payable zinc, lead and silver production of 13.0 million lbs, 4.9 million lbs and 150,919 ozs produced respectively
The Company reported net income of $5.29 million or $0.07 earnings per share in the first quarter 2018. This quarter marks the first with material net income which was a result of the company achieving its targeted sales schedule of one zinc concentrate shipment per month and one lead concentrate shipment per quarter. The Company expects to maintain this schedule throughout the remainder of 2018.
The Company reported $5.30 million in free cash flow for the first quarter 2018 and also reported adjusted EBITDA totalling $7.95 million, representing three consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA. This is a significant increase over fourth quarter 2017 adjusted EBITDA of $2.28 million and first quarter 2017 adjusted EBITDA of negative $1.69 million.
Direct operating costs per tonne milled for the first quarter 2018 were $72.33, a 10% decrease versus fourth quarter 2017 direct operating costs per tonne milled of $80.13 and a 27% decrease versus first quarter 2017 direct operating costs per tonne milled of $98.91. These reductions are a result of cost optimization, operational efficiencies, and increased production. Cost reduction is an ongoing focus for the Company and there are currently a number of initiatives being evaluated, aimed at further improving the Company’s long-term cost structure.
Cash operating cost per zinc equivalent payable pound sold was $0.82 and All-In Sustaining Cost (“AISC”) was $1.34 per zinc equivalent payable pound sold for the first quarter. Capital expenditures were higher than anticipated in the quarter as El Mochito continued to receive additional new mining equipment and greater expenditure was required for the ongoing construction of the tailing dam lift during the dry season and the higher progress of underground development work that was achieved. With the Company now in a steady state of production, entering its first full year of normalized operations, it has adopted the AISC reporting metric as the Company believes it more fully defines the total costs associated with producing zinc and provides greater transparency for stakeholders when assessing operating performance and ability to generate free cash flow from operations.
2 Adjusted EBITDA is a Non-IFRS measure and is calculated by considering the Company's earnings before interest payments, tax, depreciation and amortization, share-based payments, adjusted for net foreign exchange expenses.
Resource Update
On April 10, 2018, the Company announced the results of an updated Mineral Resource & Reserve Estimate for its El Mochito mine in Honduras prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”) Standards.
The updated Mineral Reserve and Resource Estimate marks the first compiled since Ascendant acquired the El Mochito mine in December 2016 and replaces the previous estimate with the effective date of December 31, 2015, prepared by Micon as part of the acquisition transaction.
The new estimate shows a material increase in both Mineral Resources and Reserves against the previous Mineral Resource and Reserve Estimates dated December 31, 2015, underscoring the mine’s long history of expanding and upgrading Mineral Resources.
Highlights include the following:
Proven & Probable Mineral Reserves increase life of mine beyond seven years (at a rate of 820kt/yr):
Contained zinc increased 193% from 204Mlbs to 597Mlbs
Contained lead increased 109% from 100Mlbs to 209Mlbs
Contained silver increased 106% from 3.5Moz to 7.2Moz
Measured & Indicated Mineral Resources increase
50% to 869Mlbs contained zinc from 578Mlbs, and
28% to 1,216Mlbs contained zinc equivalent metal, up from 953Mlbs
Inferred Mineral Resources also increase by 14% to 739Mlbs contained zinc equivalent metal, up from 648Mlbs.
A summary of the Mineral Reserve Estimate is set out in Table 1 and the Mineral Resource Estimate can be found in Table 2 below:
Table 1: El Mochito Mineral Reserve Statement - Effective 01 January 2018 Category Tonnes Grade Contained Metal Zn Pb Ag ZnEq. Zn Pb Ag ZnEq. (kt) (%) (%) (g/t) (%) Mlbs Mlbs Moz Mlbs Proven Reserves 787 4.7 2.0 54 7.2 81 35 1.4 124 Probable Reserves 5,002 4.7 1.6 36 6.5 516 174 5.8 717 Proven & Probable Reserves 5,789 4.7 1.6 38 6.6 597 209 7.2 841 Notes: (1) Mineral Resources are stated inclusive of Mineral Reserves, Tonnage, grade and contained metal values have been rounded, totals may vary due to rounding. ZnEq% conversion factors used were: Pb x 0.8175 and Ag x 0.0149 (2) Price assumptions used were US$1.21/lb Zn, US$1.06/lb Pb and US$18/troy oz Ag. Processing recoveries used were 88.9% Zn, 74.3% Pb, and 77.7% Ag (3) A cut-off of 4.76% ZnEq was used to estimate Mineral Reserves which includes factors for metal recovery, operating & sustaining costs, royalties, concentrate treatment charges, payables, penalties and transportation/selling costs. Average modifying factors for Mineral Reserves included internal dilution 1.2%, external dilution 14.3% and mining recovery 90.8%. Table 2: El Mochito Mineral Resource Statement - Effective 01 January 2018 Category Tonnes Grade Contained Metal Zn Pb Ag ZnEq. Zn Pb Ag ZnEq. (kt) (%) (%) (g/t) (%) Mlbs Mlbs Moz Mlbs Measured Resources 1,100 5.5 2.0 65 8.2 134 48 2.3 198 Indicated Resources 6,452 5.2 1.7 41 7.2 735 241 8.4 1,019 Measured & Indicated Resourc es 7,553 5.2 1.7 44 7.3 869 289 10.7 1,216 Inferred Resources 4,972 5.1 1.4 33 6.7 556 156 5.4 739 Notes: (1) Mineral Resources are stated inclusive of Mineral Reserves, Tonnage, grade and contained metal values have been rounded, totals may vary due to rounding. (2) Price assumptions used were US$1.21/lb Zn, US$1.06/lb Pb and US$18/troy oz Ag. Zinc equivalent metal grade (ZnEq. %) was calculated as follows: Zn% +(Pb % x 0.82) +(Ag g/t x 0.0149) = ZnEq% and is based on 88.9% Zn recovery, 74.3% Pb recovery and 77.7% Ag recovery. (3) A cut-off of 3.1% ZnEq. was used to estimate Mineral Resources and is based on fourth quarter 2017 marginal direct operating costs. (4) Results of an interpolated bulk density deposit model have been applied, and contributing 5ft downhole assay composites were capped at 38% Zn, 36% Pb and 2000g/t Ag. (5) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (6) The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration. The new Technical Report is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) and the CIM Standards by Mercator Geological Services Limited, with contributions made by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. with reference to the Mineral Reserve Estimate, mining and metallurgical engineering sections. This Technical Report will be filed on www.sedar.com on or before the 25th May 2018.
Mineral Reserve Estimate
The P&E Mining Consultants Inc. Mineral Reserve Estimate (Table 1) review strategy was based on a review and check for reasonableness of the percent zinc equivalent (“ZnEq%”) cut-off value. Subsequently, the internal dilution, external dilution, and mine extraction (mining recovery) was scrutinized for each of the four mining methods employed to ensure they fell within acceptable limits for Mineral Reserve Estimate reporting. In addition, the remaining Mineral Resource Estimate not converted to a Mineral Reserve Estimate was reviewed to ensure it balanced with the mine extraction data. The Mineral Reserve Estimate reviews were summarized into overall dilution and mine extraction percentile for a reasonable value comparison analysis. The average values are as follows: Internal Dilution = 1.2%, External Dilution = 14.3% and Mine Extraction = 90.8%.
Mineral Resource Estimate
The Mineral Resource Estimate, as set out in Table 2, was prepared by Mercator Geological Services Limited. The effective date of this Mineral Resource Estimate is January 1, 2018, and it is based on 26 contiguous areas of “manto” and/or “chimney” style skarn mineralization defined by 2,176 diamond drill holes up to December 31st, 2017. 3D solid models of skarn mineralization reflecting a minimum grade of 3% ZnEq. were depleted for previously mined areas to constrain resource volumes. GEOVIA Surpac® 6.8.1 software was used to assign block grades for zinc (%), lead (%), silver (g/t) and density (g/cm3) for Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources using inverse distance squared (ID2) interpolation methodology and capped 5 foot down hole assay composites. Up to four interpolation passes were applied using progressively increasing ellipsoid ranges to cover the range of 3D solid model sizes present. Block size is 10 feet (x) by 10 feet (y) by 10 feet (z) with two levels of sub-blocking allowed to a minimum block size of 2.5 feet (x) by 2.5 feet (y) by 2.5 feet (z). Resource categorization was applied using discrete solid models developed from contributing drill hole and assay composite parameters.
Exploration Activities
During the first quarter 2018, the Company commenced its planned 40,000-meter 2018 drill program. This program is focused equally on definition drilling for the purpose of resource conversion to further enhance the new resource base supporting a long operating life and exploration drilling to define additional material near mine and regional exploration targets.
2018 exploration initiatives will include a soil geochem survey of the entire El Mochito concession, the review and prioritization of near-mine targets (Manzanal, Big Fuzzy, Porvenir, Caliche) as well as other concessions within Honduras. Specifically, at El Mochito, follow up work on known “chimney” type ore bodies with historic grades in excess of 17% zinc equivalent is underway. With an abundance of historical data available, the Company will also seek to review historical, previously mined areas in the upper levels of the mine which still contain a number of high-grade targets.
Conference Call
A conference call will be held tomorrow, May 10, 2018, at 10:00am EDT to discuss first quarter 2018 operational and financial results.
Conference Call Details:
Date of Call: Thursday, May 10, 2018
Time of Call: 10:00am EDT
Conference ID: 9029578
Dial-In Numbers:
North American Toll-Free: 1-833-696-8362
International: 1-612-979-9908
A recorded playback of the conference call will be available until June 10, 2018 and can be accessed on the Company’s website at www.ascendantresources.com within the Investors section.
The information provided within this release should be read in conjunction with Ascendant’s unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis , which are available on Ascendant’s website and on SEDAR. As at January 1, 2017, the Company has changed its presentation currency to the U.S. dollar (US). All financial figures are in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
Technical Disclosure/Qualified Person
All technical information contained herein has been reviewed and approved by Patrick Toth, P.Geo and director of exploration of the Company. Mr. Toth is a "qualified person" NI 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
About Ascendant Resources Inc.
Ascendant is a Toronto-based mining company focused on its 100%-owned El Mochito zinc-lead-silver mine in north-western Honduras, which has been in production since 1948. After acquiring the mine in December 2016, Ascendant implemented a rigorous optimization program aimed at restoring the historic potential of the El Mochito mine. In 2017, the Company successfully completed the operational turnaround with sustained production reaching record levels and profitability restored. The Company remains focused on cost reduction and further operational improvements to drive robust free cash flow in 2018 and beyond. Ascendant is also focused on expanding and upgrading known resources through extensive exploration work for near-term growth. With a significant land package of 11,000 hectares and an abundance of historical data there are several regional targets providing longer term exploration upside which could lead to further resource growth. The Company is also engaged in the evaluation of producing and development stage mineral resource opportunities, on an ongoing basis. The Company's common shares are principally listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "ASND". For more information on Ascendant Resources, please visit our website at www.ascendantresources.com .
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For further information please contact:
Katherine Pryde
Director, Communications & Investor Relations
Tel: 888-723-7413
[email protected]
Cautionary Notes to US Investors
The information concerning the Company’s mineral properties has been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI-43-101”) adopted by the Canadian Securities Administrators. In accordance with NI-43-101, the terms “mineral reserves”, “proven mineral reserve”, “probable mineral reserve”, “mineral resource”, “measured mineral resource”, “indicated mineral resource” and “inferred mineral resource” are defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the “CIM”) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted by the CIM Council on May 10, 2014. While the terms “mineral resource”, “measured mineral resource”, “indicated mineral resource” and “inferred mineral resource” are recognized and required by NI 43-101, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) does not recognize them. The reader is cautioned that, except for that portion of mineral resources classified as mineral reserves, mineral resources do not have demonstrated economic value. Inferred mineral resources have a high degree of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be economically or legally mined. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of any inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Therefore, the reader is cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, that it can be economically or legally mined, or that it will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Likewise, you are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a measured or indicated mineral resource will ever be upgraded into mineral reserves.
Readers should be aware that the Company’s financial statements (and information derived therefrom) have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board and are subject to Canadian auditing and auditor independence standards. IFRS differs in some respects from United States generally accepted accounting principles and thus the Company’s financial statements (and information derived therefrom) may not be comparable to those of United States companies.
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking information") applicable Canadian securities legislation. All information contained in this news release, other than statements of current and historical fact, is forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "guidance", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "strategy", "target", "intends", "objective", "goal", "understands", "anticipates" and "believes" (and variations of these or similar words) and statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" "occur" or "be achieved" or "will be taken" (and variations of these or similar expressions). Forward-looking information is also identifiable in statements of currently occurring matters which may continue in the future, such as "providing the Company with", "is currently", "allows/allowing for", "will advance" or "continues to" or other statements that may be stated in the present tense with future implications. All of the forward-looking information in this news release is qualified by this cautionary note.
Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the consistency of processing recovery levels, improvements of grades in 2018, deployment of new mining equipment, increase in contained metal production, maintenance of production rates, increase of mill feed grades, reduction of costs, monthly shipments of concentrate, the ability to fully fund planned development, exploration and capital expenditures, robust adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow generation in 2018 and the undertaking of various long-term optimization programs. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. Forward-looking information is based on, among other things, opinions, assumptions, estimates and analyses that, while considered reasonable by Ascendant at the date the forward-looking information is provided, inherently are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results and events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. The material factors or assumptions that Ascendant identified and were applied by Ascendant in drawing conclusions or making forecasts or projections set out in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Company to maintain the consistency of processing recovery levels, to improve grades in 2018, to deploy new mining equipment, increase contained metal production, maintain production rates, increase mill feed grades, reduce costs, make monthly shipments of concentrate, fully fund planned development, exploration and capital expenditures, maintain robust adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow in 2018 and undertake various long-term optimization programs and other events that may affect Ascendant's ability to develop its project; and no significant and continuing adverse changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets.
The risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to, risks generally associated with the mining industry, such as economic factors (including future commodity prices, currency fluctuations, energy prices and general cost escalation), uncertainties related to the development and operation of Ascendant's projects, dependence on key personnel and employee and union relations, risks related to political or social unrest or change, rights and title claims, operational risks and hazards, including unanticipated environmental, industrial and geological events and developments and the inability to insure against all risks, failure of plant, equipment, processes, transportation and other infrastructure to operate as anticipated, compliance with government and environmental regulations, including permitting requirements and anti-bribery legislation, volatile financial markets that may affect Ascendant's ability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms, the failure to obtain required approvals or clearances from government authorities on a timely basis, uncertainties related to the geology, continuity, grade and estimates of mineral reserves and resources, and the potential for variations in grade and recovery rates, uncertain costs of reclamation activities, tax refunds, hedging transactions, as well as the risks discussed in Ascendant's most recent Annual Information Form on file with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com .
Should one or more risk, uncertainty, contingency, or other factor materialize, or should any factor or assumption prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Accordingly, the reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Ascendant does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.
Non-IFRS Performance Measures
The non-IFRS performance measures presented do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be directly comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers.
Non-IFRS reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA
EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure that represents an indication of the Company’s continuing capacity to generate earnings from operations before taking into account management’s financing decisions and costs of consuming capital assets, and management’s estimate of their useful life. EBITDA comprises revenue less operating expenses before interest expense (income), property, plant and equipment amortization and depletion, and income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA has been included in this document. Under IFRS, entities must reflect in compensation expense the cost of share-based payments. In the Company’s circumstances, share-based payments involve a significant accrual of amounts that will not be settled in cash but are settled by the issuance of shares in exchange for cash. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA exclude the impact of cash costs of financing activities and taxes, and the effects of changes in operating working capital balances, and therefore are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. Other companies may calculate EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA differently. As such, the Company has made an entity specific adjustment to EBITDA for these expenses. The Company has also made an entity-specific adjustment to the foreign currency exchange (gain)/loss.
The following table provides a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA:
Q1 Q4 Q1 Adjusted EBITDA March 31, 2018 2017 2017 Net income (loss) $000's 5,294 (1,429 ) (2,894 ) $000's Adjusted for: $000's Depletion and depreciation $000's 884 1,298 654 Interest income/expense $000's 37 53 50 Accretion expense on rehabilitation liabilities $000's 207 (250 ) 178 Financing charge on termination obligations $000's 421 803 65 Share-based payments $000's 352 368 - Foreign currency exchange gain/loss $000's (96 ) 279 257 Income taxes $000's 846 1,158 - Adjusted EBITDA $000's 7,945 2,280 (1,690 ) Direct operating cost per tonne milled
The Company uses the non-IFRS measure of direct operating cost per tonne milled to manage and evaluate operating performance. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company’s performance and ability to generate cash flows. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The Company considers cost of sales per tonne milled to be the most comparable IFRS measure to direct operating cost per tonne milled and has included calculations of this metric in the reconciliations within the applicable tables to follow.
Direct operating cost per tonne milled includes mine direct operating production costs such as mining, processing, administration, indirect charges such as surface maintenance and camp expenses, and inventory sales adjustments but does not include, smelting, refining and freight costs, royalties, depreciation, depletion, amortization, reclamation, and capital costs.
Cash operating costs
Cash operating costs is a financial performance measure with no standard meaning under IFRS. Ascendant reports total production cash costs on a sales basis. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, such as sales, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company’s performance and ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. Management uses this metric as an important tool to monitor operating cost performance.
Total production cash costs include production costs, such as mining, processing charges divided by ZnEq payable pounds sold to arrive at total cash operating costs per ZnEq payable pound sold. The measure also includes other mine related costs incurred such as variation in inventory. Production costs are exclusive of depreciation. Other companies may calculate this measure differently.
The following table provides a reconciliation of direct operating costs and all-in sustaining costs to cost of sales, as reported in the Company’s consolidated statement of income (loss) and 2017:
Q1 Q4 Q1 Direct operating cost per tonne milled March 31, 2018 2017 2017 Production expenses (from consolidated income statement) $000's 19,624 20,336 9,707 Add: Termination Liability Payments $000's 228 14 563 Deduct (Add): Variation in Finished Inventory $000's (4,178 ) (2,158 ) 3,733 Deduct: Depreciation in production $000's (878 ) (1,290 ) (653 ) Total cash costs (including royalties) $000's 14,796 16,902 13,350 Deduct: Government taxes and royalties $000's (1,274 ) (1,009 ) (381 ) Direct operating costs $000's 13,522 15,893 12,969 Tonnes Milled tonnes 186,955 198,354 131,116 Direct operating cost per tonne milled $/tonne $ 72.33 $ 80.13 $ 98.91 Q1 Q4 Q1 AISC per ZnEq payable pound sold March 31, 2018 2017 2017 ZnEq payable pounds sold 000's lbs 21,543 17,599 7,748 Cash Operating Costs Reconciliation Direct operating costs $000's 13,522 15,893 12,969 Add (deduct): Variation in Finished Inventory $000's 4,178 2,158 (3,733 ) Cash operating costs 17,700 18,051 9,236 Cash operating cost per ZnEq payable pound sold $/ZnEq lb $ 0.82 $ 1.03 $ 1.19 All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC) Reconciliation Total cash operating costs $000's 17,700 18,051 9,236 Add: Government taxes and royalties $000's 1,274 1,009 381 Add: TC & RCs $000's 3,720 3,629 1,484 Add: G&A, excluding depreciation and amortization $000's 1,718 2,727 567 Add: Accretion expense on rehabilitation liabilities $000's 207 (250 ) 178 Add: Sustaining capital expenditure $000's 4,185 1,994 1,027 Total All-in sustaining costs $000's 28,804 27,160 12,873 AISC per ZnEq payable pound sold $/ZnEq lb $ 1.34 $ 1.54 $ 1.66 Additional non-IFRS measures
The Company uses other financial measures, the presentation of which is not meant to be a substitute for other subtotals or totals presented in accordance with IFRS, but rather should be evaluated in conjunction with such IFRS measures. The following other financial measures are used:
Operating cash flows before movements in working capital - excludes the movement from period-to-period in working capital items including trade and other receivables, prepaid expenses, deposits, inventories, trade and other payables and the effects of foreign exchange rates on these items.
The terms described above do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and therefore the Company’s definitions are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company’s management believes that their presentation provides useful information to investors because cash flows generated from operations before changes in working capital excludes the movement in working capital items. This, in management’s view, provides useful information of the Company’s cash flows from operations and are considered to be meaningful in evaluating the Company’s past financial performance or its future prospects. The most comparable IFRS measure is cash flows from operating activities.
Source:Ascendant Resources Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/globe-newswire-ascendant-resources-announces-free-cash-flow-of-5-point-3-million-and-earnings-of-0-point-07-per-share-in-first-quarter.html |
May 27, 2018 / 11:08 AM / Updated 41 minutes ago Tennis-Highlights of French Open first day Reuters Staff 4 Min Read
PARIS, May 27 (Reuters) - Highlights from day one of the French Open tennis championships on Sunday (all times GMT): 1727 OSTAPENKO KNOCKED OUT IN OPENING ROUND
Defending champion Jelena Ostapenko crashed out of the tournament after a 7-5 6-3 defeat by unseeded Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova in the opening round. Ostapenko became only the sixth female major winner to lose in the opening round of their title defence. READ MORE:
Champion Ostapenko dumped in round one
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Kvitova hails ‘crazy’ year after knife attack
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Holder Ostapenko in action on opening day 1600 BRITON KONTA FALLS TO PUTINTSEVA
Briton Johanna Konta’s campaign ended in disappointment yet again as the 22nd seed was beaten 6-4 6-3 by Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva. Konta has yet to win a first-round match at Roland Garros in four attempts. 1513 VENUS WILLIAMS CRASHES OUT IN OPENING ROUND
Venus Williams crashed to a straight-sets defeat in the opening round, losing 6-4 7-5 to China’s Qiang Wang on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. 1426 JAPAN’S NISHIKORI IN FINE FORM
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, playing in his first grand slam since last year’s Wimbledon, showed no signs of a wrist injury that has plagued him in the past few months as he eased past Frenchman Maxime Janvier 7-6(0) 6-4 6-3.
1422 NICE TO PLAY AN OLD FRIEND - DIMITROV
Lucky loser Mohamed Safwat may have been a last-minute replacement to face Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday but the Egyptian is no stranger to the world number five.
“It’s nice to play someone you know for such a long time,” Bulgarian Dimitrov said.
“I’m happy when I see players that I’ve shared courts, practice, matches from juniors. Now we’re out here battling on such a court. I think it’s great. So you never forget that.” 1327 RUS NO MATCH FOR U.S OPEN CHAMPION STEPHENS
U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens cruised past Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-2 6-0. The American relentlessly attacked her opponent from the baseline and needed just 49 minutes to wrap up the victory. 1313 LOCAL HOPE MONFILS THROUGH TO NEXT ROUND
France’s Gael Monfils started shakily against compatriot Elliot Benchetrit but found his rhythm as the match wore on to comfortably quell the 19-year-old’s challenge. Monfils prevailed 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-1. 1300 KYRGIOS PULLS OUT WITH ELBOW INJURY
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the tournament with an elbow injury. “Unfortunately I have to withdraw from this year’s French Open,” the world number 23 said.
“Having consulted with my team and medical experts it is deemed too risky for me to step out and potentially play five sets on clay especially as I have not played a singles match in nearly two months.” 1113 DIMITROV OFF TO STRONG START
Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov got his Roland Garros campaign off to a good start, powering past lucky loser Mohamed Safwat 6-1 6-4 7-6(1) in the opening match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Safwat became the first Egyptian player to contest a grand slam main draw since 1996 after Bulgarian Dimitrov’s original opponent Viktor Troicki pulled out with lower back pain. 1102 DZUMHUR MAKES SHORT WORK OF AMERICAN KUDLA
Bosnian Damir Dzumhur swatted aside American Denis Kudla, winning 6-4 6-2 6-2 to storm into the second round. 1024 SVITOLINA GETS PAST TOMLJANOVIC IN OPENER
Elina Svitolina began her quest for a maiden grand slam with a battling first-round victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. The fourth-seeded Ukrainian prevailed 7-5 6-3. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru Editing by Christian Radnedge and Clare Fallon) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/tennis-frenchopen/tennis-highlights-of-french-open-first-day-idUKL3N1SY0AO |
May 6, 2018 / 1:09 PM / Updated 16 minutes ago ZTE says asked U.S. Commerce Department to suspend business ban Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s ZTE Corp ( 0763.HK ) ( 000063.SZ ) has submitted an application to the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for the suspension of a business ban, it said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange on Sunday. FILE PHOTO: A ZTE smart phone is pictured in this illustration taken April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File Photo
Washington imposed a seven-year ban on U.S. companies selling components and software to ZTE last month after finding the Chinese telecoms company breached U.S. sanctions on Iran.
ZTE’s exchange filing on Sunday did not give details of its request or say when it had been made, but it did say that the company had provided additional material at the BIS’s request.
Last week, Chinese negotiators holding trade talks with U.S. counterparts in Beijing asked the United States to hear ZTE’s appeal, take into account the company’s efforts to improve its compliance and amend the ban.
U.S. officials have said the action against ZTE was not related to trade policy, but the move has been seen by many in China as part of the broader trade spat playing out between the world’s two biggest economies.
The ban on sales to ZTE, which is heavily reliant on imports of U.S. chips, had threatened to scupper the Chinese firm’s smartphone business.
It has also underscored China’s heavy reliance on semiconductor imports amid growing trade tensions with the United States. ZTE has said the ban was unacceptable and threatened its survival. Reporting by Min Zhang in BEIJING and John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by Keith Weir and Adrian Croft | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-zte/zte-applies-to-u-s-commerce-department-for-suspension-of-business-ban-idINKBN1I70FR |
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The... | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-into-needlepoint-or-vintage-clothing-theres-a-crawl-for-that-1527091821 |
May 2 (Reuters) - Republic Services Inc:
* REPUBLIC SERVICES, INC. REPORTS FIRST QUARTER 2018 RESULTS
* Q1 ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE $0.74 * QTRLY TOTAL REVENUE INCREASED 5.6 PERCENT OVER PRIOR YEAR, EXCLUDING IMPACT OF NEW REVENUE STANDARD
* QTRLY REVENUE $2,427.5 MILLION VERSUS $2,392.8 MILLION * Q1 EARNINGS PER SHARE VIEW $0.68, REVENUE VIEW $2.41 BILLION — THOMSON REUTERS I/B/E/S Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-republic-services-inc-q1-earnings/brief-republic-services-inc-q1-earnings-per-share-0-72-idUSASC09Z4Q |
April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that sustained economic growth of 3 percent is "absolutely" achievable over the next few years.
Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, Mnuchin also said he hoped changes to the bank rules adopted after the 2007-2008 global financial crisis would be passed in "30 to 60 days." (Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne Editing by Tom Brown) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/reuters-america-dodd-frank-reforms-should-get-done-in-30-to-60-days-mnuchin.html |
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Triple-S Management Corporation (NYSE:GTS), a leading managed care company in Puerto Rico, today announced its first quarter 2018 results.
Quarterly Consolidated and Other Highlights
Net income of $3.9 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, versus net loss of $4.3 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, in the prior-year period; Adjusted net income of $14.1 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, versus adjusted net loss of $4.8 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, a year ago, reflecting the ongoing improvements in the Company's Managed Care operations; Operating revenues of $770.2 million, a 7.0% increase from the prior-year period, reflecting higher premiums in the Managed Care segment; Consolidated operating income of $18.1 million compared to an operating loss of $12.2 million in the prior-year period; Consolidated loss ratio improved to 82.3% and medical loss ratio ("MLR") to 85.0%, driven primarily by Managed Care premium trends that are higher than claim trends; The Company's Board authorized a $25.0 million expansion of its existing $30.0 million Class B share repurchase program in February. Under the repurchase program, during the first quarter of 2018, 563,559 shares were repurchased at an aggregate cost of $14.3 million. During the second quarter of 2018, as of May 4, an additional 80,404 shares were repurchased at an aggregate cost of $2.1 million. As of May 4, 2018, $18.5 million of availability remains in the program.
"We are pleased with our first quarter performance, as our financial results begin to manifest the impact of our operational improvements and clinical initiatives," said Roberto Garcia-Rodriguez, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to invest considerably in our Managed Care operations to ensure we are providing top-shelf service to our customers, making our products more attractive and thus enabling Triple-S to generate sustainable long-term growth."
"As Puerto Rico begins to rebuild after Hurricane María, we remain keenly focused on a three-pronged approach to growing the company," continued Mr. Garcia-Rodriguez. "First, we aim to win and retain Medicare Advantage business with a more competitive and consistent product offering. Secondly, we will further modernize our infrastructure and technology to improve our service, reduce our expenses and ultimately expand our margins. And finally, we will expand our ambulatory clinic network to provide us an additional and vital platform to improve access, cost, quality and outcomes throughout our Managed Care businesses. By focusing on these key initiatives, we remain confident that we are positioning ourselves to create long-term value for our shareholders."
Selected Consolidated Quarterly Details
Consolidated premiums earned were $752.0 million, up 7.1% from the prior-year period, primarily reflecting higher premiums across all businesses within the Managed Care segment. In the Medicare business, premiums increased due to the Company's four-star rated Medicare Advantage HMO contract, resulting in a 5% bonus applied to the benchmark used in premium calculation, as well as higher sharing on rebates. These increases were partially offset by lower Commercial and Medicare membership. Consolidated claims incurred were $619.0 million, down 0.3% year-over-year, mostly driven by lower enrollment in the Managed Care segment's Medicare and Commercial businesses, and partially offset by the impact of additional benefits in the Company's Medicare Advantage product. Consolidated loss ratio of 82.3% improved 610 basis points from the prior-year period. Consolidated operating expenses of $133.1 million increased 20.0% from the prior-year period, while the Company's operating expense ratio increased 190 basis points year over year to 17.6%. The increase in operating expenses primarily reflected the reinstatement of the Health Insurance Providers Fee (HIP fee) of $11.7 million, as well as higher professional services and personnel costs related to the Company's ongoing Managed Care initiatives. Consolidated income tax expense was $0.4 million, compared to a benefit of $6.7 million in the prior-year period, primarily reflecting a significant increase in taxable income in the Managed Care segment, which also has a higher effective tax rate than the Company's other segments. Net income for the period reflects the implementation of new accounting guidance that requires changes in unrealized gains or losses of equity securities to be recorded through operations. This amount was excluded from adjusted net income.
Selected Managed Care Segment Quarterly Details
Managed Care premiums earned were $686.9 million, up 7.2% year over year. Commercial premiums earned of $198.7 million declined 3.1% from the prior-year period, mainly due to an approximate decline of 52,000 in fully-insured member month enrollment and partially offset by $3.9 million related to the reinstatement of the HIP fee pass-through in 2018. Medicare premiums earned of $287.9 million increased 11.7% from the prior-year period, largely reflecting an increase in the 2018 Medicare reimbursement rates for the first time since 2012, an increase in premium rates related to the upgraded four-star rating of the Company's 2018 HMO product, and to higher average risk score. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in member month enrollment of approximately 25,000. Medicaid premiums earned improved 12.7% from the prior-year period to $200.3 million, primarily reflecting higher premium rates that became effective July 1, 2017, $3.8 million in premiums earned related to the Company's achieving the contract's quality incentive metrics, and $3.7 million associated to the reinstatement of the HIP fee pass-through in 2018. Reported MLR of 85.0% and recasted MLR of 86.2% represent a year-over-year improvement of 670 and 400 basis points, respectively, mostly reflecting claim trends lower than premium trends across all of the Company's Managed Care businesses. Recasted MLR excludes the impact of prior-period reserve developments, and moves the Medicare risk score revenue and other adjustments to their corresponding periods. Managed Care operating expenses were $101.8 million, up $20.5 million, or 25.2%, year over year, primarily reflecting the reinstatement of the HIP fee, and an increase in professional services and personnel costs related to the Company's ongoing clinical and operational initiatives.
2018 Outlook
Despite the ongoing market uncertainty regarding utilization patterns, outward migration and the impact of post-hurricane reconstruction efforts, the Company is maintaining its full year 2018 directional guidance regarding its Commercial and Medicare businesses, as well as its Life Insurance segment and consolidated operating expenses. Directional guidance regarding its Property and Casualty segment was raised for the full year 2018. More specifically:
In the Commercial business, the Company continues to expect full-year at-risk member month enrollment between 3.7 million and 3.8 million, and full-year MLR between 80.5% and 82.5%. In the Medicare Advantage business, the Company anticipates full year member month enrollment to be between 1.35 million and 1.45 million, while the expected MLR range for 2018 remains between 85% and 87%. The Company continues to expect Life insurance premiums earned for 2018 between $160 million and $164 million. The Company has raised expectations for its Property and Casualty premiums earned for 2018 to between $82 million and $86 million. The Company's previous outlook for Property and Casualty 2018 premiums earned was between $76 million and $80 million. The Company continues to expect consolidated operating expenses for full year 2018 between $530 million and $545 million.
Conference Call and Webcast
Management will host a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2018. To participate, callers within the U.S. and Canada should dial 1-855-327-6837 and international callers should dial 1-631-891-4304 about five minutes before the call.
To listen to the webcast, participants should visit the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website at www.triplesmanagement.com several minutes before the event is broadcast and follow the instructions provided to ensure they have the necessary audio application downloaded and installed. This program is provided at no charge to the user. An archived version of the call, also located on the "Investor Relations" section of Triple-S Management's website, will be available about two hours after the call ends and for at least the following two weeks. This news release, along with other information relating to the call, will be available on the "Investor Relations" section of the website.
In addition, a replay will be available through May 22, 2018 by calling 1-844-512-2921 or 1-412-317-6671 and entering passcode 10004746. A replay will also be available at www.triplesmanagement.com for 30 days.
About Triple-S Management Corporation
Triple-S Management Corporation is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. It is one of the leading players in the managed care industry in Puerto Rico. Triple-S Management has the exclusive right to use the Blue Cross Blue Shield name and mark throughout Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Costa Rica. With more than 55 years of experience in the industry, Triple-S Management offers a broad portfolio of managed care and related products in the Commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid markets under the Blue Cross Blue Shield marks. It also provides non-Blue Cross Blue Shield branded life and property and casualty insurance in Puerto Rico. For more information about Triple-S Management, visit www.triplesmanagement.com or contact [email protected] .
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This earnings release presents information about the Company's adjusted net income, which is a non-GAAP financial metric provided as a complement to the results provided in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP). A reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, is provided in the accompanying tables found at the end of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future sales, results of operations, developments, regulatory approvals or other circumstances. Sentences that include "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "project", "may", "will", "shall", "should" and similar expressions, whether in the positive or negative, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
All forward-looking statements in this news release reflect management's current views about future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed here as a result of various factors, including all the risks discussed and identified in public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In addition, the Company operates in a highly competitive, constantly changing environment, influenced by very large organizations that have resulted from business combinations, aggressive marketing and pricing practices of competitors, and regulatory oversight. The following factors, if markedly different from the Company's planning assumptions (either individually or in combination), could cause Triple-S Management's results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements shared here:
Trends in health care costs and utilization rates Ability to secure sufficient premium rate increases Competitor pricing below market trends of increasing costs Re-estimates of policy and contract liabilities Changes in government laws and regulations of managed care, life insurance or property and casualty insurance Significant acquisitions or divestitures by major competitors Introduction and use of new prescription drugs and technologies A downgrade in the Company's financial strength ratings A downgrade in the Government of Puerto Rico's debt Litigation or legislation targeted at managed care, life insurance or property and casualty insurance companies Ability to contract with providers consistent with past practice Ability to successfully implement the Company's disease management, utilization management and Star ratings programs Ability to maintain Federal Employees, Medicare and Medicaid contracts Volatility in the securities markets and investment losses and defaults General economic downturns, major disasters, and epidemics
This list is not exhaustive. Management believes the forward-looking statements in this release are reasonable. However, there is no assurance that the actions, events or results anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if any of them do, what impact they will have on the Company's results of operations or financial condition. In view of these uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations. In addition, forward-looking statements are based on information available the day they are made, and (other than as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States) the Company does not intend to update or revise any of them in light of new information or future events.
Readers are advised to carefully review and consider the various disclosures in the Company's SEC reports.
Earnings Release Schedules and Supplementary Information
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
Exhibit I
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings
Exhibit II
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Exhibit III
Segment Performance Supplemental Information
Exhibit IV
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Exhibit V
Exhibit I
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(dollar amounts in thousands)
Unaudited
March 31,
2018
December 31,
2017
Assets
Investments
$
1,651,860
$
1,605,477
Cash and cash equivalents
212,610
198,941
Premium and other receivables, net
775,258
899,327
Deferred policy acquisition costs and value of business acquired
202,581
200,788
Property and equipment, net
76,825
74,716
Other assets
181,857
137,516
Total assets
$
3,100,991
$
3,116,765
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Policy liabilities and accruals
$
1,786,713
$
1,761,553
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities
387,454
410,457
Long-term borrowings
31,275
32,073
Total liabilities
2,205,442
2,204,083
Stockholders' equity:
Common stock
23,283
23,578
Other stockholders' equity
872,948
889,786
Total Triple-S Management Corporation stockholders' equity
896,231
913,364
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary
(682)
(682)
Total stockholders' equity
895,549
912,682
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity
$
3,100,991
$
3,116,765
Exhibit II
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings
(dollar amounts in thousands, except per share data)
Unaudited
For the Three Months Ended
March 31,
2018
2017
Revenues:
Premiums earned, net
$
752,034
$
702,273
Administrative service fees
3,348
4,379
Net investment income
13,755
12,016
Other operating revenues
1,071
965
Total operating revenues
770,208
719,633
Net realized investment gains on sale of securities
2,942
336
Net unrealized investment losses on equity investments
(16,199)
-
Other income, net
1,163
2,525
Total revenues
758,114
722,494
Benefits and expenses:
Claims incurred
618,989
620,863
Operating expenses
133,134
110,946
Total operating costs
752,123
731,809
Interest expense
1,690
1,686
Total benefits and expenses
753,813
733,495
Income (loss) before taxes
4,301
(11,001)
Income tax expense (benefit)
387
(6,658)
Net income (loss)
3,914
(4,343)
Less: Net loss attributable to the non-controlling interest
-
1
Net income (loss) attributable to Triple-S Management Corporation
$
3,914
$
(4,342)
Earnings per share attributable to Triple-S Management Corporation:
Basic net income (loss) per share
$
0.17
$
(0.18)
Diluted net income (loss) per share
$
0.17
$
(0.18)
Weighted average of common shares
23,277,633
24,143,261
Diluted weighted average of common shares
23,394,997
24,143,261
Exhibit III
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(dollar amounts in thousands)
Unaudited
For the Year Ended
March 31,
2018
2017
Net cash provided by operating activities
$
130,473
$
130,965
Cash flows from investing activities:
Proceeds from investments sold or matured:
Securities available for sale:
Fixed maturities sold
443,419
26,023
Fixed maturities matured/called
5,368
5,001
Securities held to maturity - fixed maturities matured/called
1,048
703
Equity securities sold
113,863
10,272
Other invested assets sold
845
-
Acquisition of investments:
Securities available for sale - fixed maturities
(575,694)
(33,738)
Securities held to maturity - fixed maturities
(1,212)
(382)
Equity securities
(49,591)
(5,482)
Other invested assets
(9,683)
-
Increase in other investments
(4,136)
(2,044)
Net change in policy loans
(185)
18
Net capital expenditures
(4,861)
(3,295)
Net cash used in investing activities
(80,819)
(2,924)
Cash flows from financing activities:
Change in outstanding checks in excess of bank balances
(19,992)
(11,401)
Repayments of long-term borrowings
(810)
(24,676)
Proceeds from revolving line of credit
-
24,266
Repurchase and retirement of common stock
(14,259)
-
Proceeds from policyholder deposits
6,237
4,116
Surrender of policyholder deposits
(7,161)
(4,890)
Net cash used in financing activities
(35,985)
(12,585)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
13,669
115,456
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period
198,941
103,428
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period
$
212,610
$
218,884
Exhibit IV
Segment Performance Supplemental Information
(Unaudited)
Three months ended March 31,
(dollar amounts in millions)
2018
2017
Percentage
Change
Premiums earned, net:
Managed Care:
Commercial
$ 198.7
$ 205.1
(3.1%)
Medicare
287.9
257.7
11.7%
Medicaid
200.3
177.7
12.7%
Total Managed Care
686.9
640.5
7.2%
Life Insurance
41.5
40.5
2.5%
Property and Casualty
24.2
21.7
11.5%
Other
(0.6)
(0.4)
(50.0%)
Consolidated premiums earned, net
$ 752.0
$ 702.3
7.1%
Operating revenues (loss): 1
Managed Care
$ 696.1
$ 650.0
7.1%
Life Insurance
47.5
46.6
1.9%
Property and Casualty
26.6
23.6
12.7%
Other
-
(0.6)
100.0%
Consolidated operating revenues
$ 770.2
$ 719.6
7.0%
Operating income (loss): 2
Managed Care
$ 10.6
$ (18.6)
157.0%
Life Insurance
3.6
3.9
(7.7%)
Property and Casualty
3.1
2.1
47.6%
Other
0.8
0.4
100.0%
Consolidated operating income (loss)
$ 18.1
$ (12.2)
248.4%
Operating margin: 3
Managed Care
1.5%
(2.9%)
440 bp
Life Insurance
7.6%
8.4%
-80 bp
Property and Casualty
11.7%
8.9%
280 bp
Consolidated
2.4%
(1.7%)
410 bp
Depreciation and amortization expense
$ 3.4
$ 3.0
13.3%
1 Operating revenues include premiums earned, net, administrative service fees and net investment income.
2 Operating income or loss include operating revenues minus operating costs. Operating costs include claims incurred and operating expenses.
3 Operating margin is defined as operating income or loss divided by operating revenues.
Managed Care Additional Data
Three months ended
March 31,
(Unaudited)
2018
2017
Member months enrollment:
Commercial:
Fully-insured
961,290
1,013,205
Self-insured
449,778
507,167
Total Commercial
1,411,068
1,520,372
Medicare Advantage
338,340
363,727
Medicaid
1,171,345
1,173,273
Total member months
2,920,753
3,057,372
Claim liabilities (in millions)
$ 402.4
$ 393.5
Days claim payable
62
60
Premium PMPM:
Managed Care
$ 277.99
$ 251.16
Commercial
206.70
202.43
Medicare Advantage
850.92
708.50
Medicaid
171.00
151.46
Medical loss ratio:
85.0%
91.7%
Commercial
81.3%
83.5%
Medicare Advantage
84.6%
94.0%
Medicaid
89.2%
97.8%
Adjusted medical loss ratio: 1
86.2%
90.2%
Commercial
82.6%
82.9%
Medicare Advantage
86.1%
94.1%
Medicaid
90.0%
93.0%
Operating expense ratio:
Consolidated
17.6%
15.7%
Managed Care
14.7%
12.6%
1 The adjusted medical loss ratio accounts for subsequent adjustments to estimates, such as prior-period reserve developments and Medicare premium adjustments, and presents them in the corresponding period.
Managed Care Membership by Segment
As of March 31,
2018
2017
Members:
Commercial:
Fully-insured
319,208
336,845
Self-insured
148,688
169,003
Total Commercial
467,896
505,848
Medicare Advantage
112,080
121,352
Medicaid
394,454
389,130
Total members
974,430
1,016,330
Exhibit V
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Adjusted Net Income (Loss)
(Unaudited)
Three months ended
March 31,
(dollar amounts in millions)
2018
2017
Net income (loss)
$ 3.9
$ (4.3)
Less adjustments:
Net realized investment gains, net of tax
2.4
0.3
Unrealized losses on equity investments
(13.1)
-
Private equity investment income, net of tax
0.5
0.2
Adjusted net income (loss)
$ 14.1
$ (4.8)
Diluted adjusted net income (loss) per share
$ 0.60
$ (0.20)
Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial metric and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Management believes that the use of this adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share provides investors and management useful information about the earnings impact of realized and unrealized investment gains or losses, as well as other non-recurring items impacting the Company's results of operations. This non-GAAP metric does not consider all of the items associated with the Company's operations as determined in accordance with GAAP. As a result, one should not consider these measures in isolation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
AT THE COMPANY:
INVESTOR RELATIONS:
Juan José Román-Jiménez
Mr. Garrett Edson
EVP and Chief Financial Officer
ICR
(787) 749-4949
(787) 792-6488
View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/triple-s-management-corporation-reports-first-quarter-2018-results-300644086.html
SOURCE Triple-S Management Corporation | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/08/pr-newswire-triple-s-management-corporation-reports-first-quarter-2018-results.html |
LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Surviving the sometimes savage Southern Ocean brought Brazilian Olympic gold medal winner Martine Grael one leg closer to her ambition of becoming an all-round sailing great.
And the dangers of the 45,000 nautical mile (83,000km) Volvo Ocean race were brought home to Grael and her fellow AkzoNobel crew members by the loss of British sailor John Fisher, who was swept overboard from Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag in March on leg seven of the race from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil.
“It was a big shock for us. I slowed down and thought about safety and had lots of other thoughts on that leg. Nothing will ever bring your friend back, you’ve just got to be respectful with the elements and the sea,” Grael told Reuters.
The 27-year-old had never sailed offshore for more than five days in a row before starting the round-the-world race which pits sailors against some of the most hostile conditions as they battle freezing winds and mountainous waves.
“I dreamed about being the best sailor in the world, not just in one class but a good all round sailor. Now I’m a few steps from that dream,” Grael said in a telephone interview from Newport in the United States where the crews are preparing for the next leg, a 3,300 mile sprint to Cardiff in Wales.
Grael, who won Brazil’s first women’s sailing gold medal in Rio in 2016 in the 49erFX dinghy class is now one of the few elite women sailors who have now completed the Southern Ocean leg, which many regard as sailing’s ultimate challenge.
HIERARCHY Grael initially found it hard adapting to life aboard.
“Life on board is getting easier. It was very hard in the beginning to get used to everything. It’s very different from Olympic sailing where you take your own decisions to being part of the group and respecting the hierarchy,” she said.
The race is also introducing a new generation of the world’s most talented sailors to offshore yacht racing, including New Zealand’s America’s Cup stars Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, while boosting the pool of top female offshore sailors by offering teams incentives to take women on board in mixed crews.
The eight-month race is the world’s longest professional sporting event and requires intense physical and mental stamina and endurance from Grael and the other women and men in the fleet of one-design 19.8m (65 foot) carbon fibre yachts which hit top speeds of up to 35 knots (55.6 km per hour).
“It’s a challenge being a minority on board. Sometimes there’s too much testosterone in the air, but the important thing is realizing it then it’s easier to deal with,” she said.
There is a physical toll too. Apart from dodging waves which can throw sailors overboard, fatigue is also a major factor in the 24-hour a day racing. Sailors lose 5-7 kg per leg only to put it back on when they reach the next port in what they call “the world’s biggest yo-yo diet”.
“On the rougher legs, the challenge is not to get hurt physically,” said Grael, whose Akzo Nobel is lying in fourth place in the race, which was won by her father Torben, a five-time Olympic medallist, in 2008-2009. (Editing by Alexander Smith)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/sailing-volvo-grael/sailing-brazils-grael-charts-new-waters-for-women-in-ocean-race-idUSL5N1SM6XE |
14 Hours Ago | 02:34
Beijing's purported offer of a package aimed at cutting its trade deficit with the U.S. by up to $200 billion a year is all about politics, an academic said Friday.
"This is not about economics. It's about politics and geopolitics," said Pushan Dutt, a professor of economics and political science at graduate business school, Insead.
China is reportedly offering U.S. President Donald Trump the package of trade concessions and increased purchases of American goods that will cut bilateral trade deficit by up to $200 billion a year, U.S. officials familiar with the proposal told Reuters.
A person familiar with the talks told Reuters the package may include some elimination of Chinese tariffs already in place on about $4 billion worth of U.S. farm products including fruit, nuts, pork, wine and sorghum.
"It's the optics which matter, it's catering to the base which matters. The Chinese realize this very well and that is actually a positive thing," said Dutt, referring to the purported elimination of tariffs for the agricultural sector — a key political base of Trump's.
News of the offer came during the first of two days of U.S.-China trade talks in Washington focused on resolving tariff threats between the world's two largest economies, Reuters reported.
Dutt said while Beijing will make some concessions, they will not be significant ones.
"The best case scenario and also the most realistic scenario is that China gives some marginal concessions which helps address the bilateral trade imbalance between the U.S. and China," Dutt told CNBC.
"This allows Donald Trump to actually proclaim victory, cast himself as a very good negotiator and sort of move on," Dutt added.
China's goods deficit with the U.S. stood at $375 billion last year. The U.S.' two biggest exports to China were aircraft at $16 billion last year, and soybeans, at $12 billion.
— Reuters contributed to this story. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/us-china-trade-chinas-offer-is-more-politics-than-economics.html |
The Trump administration’s efforts to block imports are bringing back a long-forgotten headache for manufacturers: the quota.
U.S. officials have so far largely relied on tariffs—essentially taxes at the border—in their efforts to reduce imports of steel, aluminum and Chinese goods. But some countries are accepting hard limits, or quotas, on their shipments as they strike deals with the Trump administration to avoid the tariffs.
The... | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.wsj.com/articles/quotas-make-a-comeback-as-countries-seek-u-s-tariff-exemptions-1526031000 |
Tourists spend billions of their hard-earned dollars each year visiting beautiful locations and snapping sun-soaked pics, but this company actually wants to pay someone for the privilege.
Hotel chain Days Inn has posted a job opening for a "summer sun-ternship," Cosmopolitan reports. According to the company's website , Days Inn "is seeking a bright, aspiring photographer with a passion for the outdoors to travel across the country and capture the sun in all of its glory."
Said sun-tern will earn $10,000 to embark on a month-long all-expenses-paid vacation and take pictures of sunrises and sunsets along the way. If that is not enough, the company is also promising "a glowing recommendation upon completion of the sun-ternship from Barry Goldstein, Wyndham Hotel Group's executive vice president and chief marketing officer."
Nazar Abbas Photography | Getty Images The sunny photographs will be featured on the company's website and social media accounts and be used as part of a company-wide initiative to introduce sun-themed art in nearly 1,500 Days Inn locations.
To be considered, applicants just have to send in their favorite original outdoor photo along with a 100-word statement about why they deserve the job. Applicants must be U.S. residents and 21 years or older to qualify. The deadline is May 20th.
Days Inn is not the only company offering dream jobs filled with travel opportunities and sweet perks. Icelandic budget airline WOW air is offering a lucky duo $4,000 a month to make downtown Reykjavik their home-base for the summer and take short trips to a selection of the 38 locations the airline flies to.
No matter who lands this dream job, it is safe to say that this lucky amateur photographer is going to be the envy of summer interns everywhere.
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and China, whose relations have been soured by disputes dating back to World War Two, hailed warming ties on Wednesday after agreeing to set up a security hotline to defuse possible maritime incidents that could spark tensions.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends a welcome ceremony with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before their bilateral meeting at Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo, Japan May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai After meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told journalists that better relations between Asia’s two biggest economies were contributing to global stability and development.
Abe said he wanted to establish the sort of relationship in which the leaders could easily visit each other and said earlier in the day that he plans to visit China this year.
Diplomatic relations between the two nations have improved in recent years after deteriorating sharply in 2012, when Tokyo nationalised a cluster of disputed East China Sea islets that China also claims.
China’s relations with Japan have also long been poisoned by what Beijing sees as Tokyo’s failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two.
In a public ceremony after their meeting, Abe and Li oversaw the signing of a pact to set up a hotline for senior defence officials to communicate during incidents involving each others’ naval vessels or military aircraft.
The meeting came after a three-way summit between Abe, Li and South Korean President Moon Jae-in earlier in the day, the first such three-way gathering in two and a half years.
The top-level meetings come as tension over North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons eases ahead of what would be a historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Slideshow (4 Images) Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, writing by Malcolm Foster; Editing by Nick Macfie
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/japan-china/japan-china-hail-warming-ties-amid-troubled-history-idINKBN1IA1HU |
If I were still a Wall Street analyst covering Apple I would downgrade the stock to underperform. In fact, I did cover Apple from the late 1990s till 2003, before I became a portfolio manager.
Don't get me wrong. I love Apple products. When I was an analyst Apple was the last stock I upgraded before leaving the sell side because I believed so strongly in their products.
Who didn't want an iPod or access to the iTunes music store? But as they say that was then and this is now. Times changes. The question now is who doesn't own a smart phone? Four billion out of the seven and half billion people on the planet already own a smart phone.
show chapters Analyst says there's 30% upside to Apple 3 Hours Ago | 02:43 It isn't that Apple isn't a great company with great products, but do you really need more of the same? I always like to say, do not confuse a great company with a great stock.
Apple has transformed three industries in their history:
In 1984 it transformed the PC industry with the introduction of the Macintosh which was the first successful mass-market mouse-driven computer with a graphical user interface and again with the introduction of the iPad in 2010; It transformed the music industry with the iPod (launched in 2001) and iTunes (launched in 2003.) It transformed the cellphone industry into the smartphone industry with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Truth be told, I would be completely lost without my iPhone and iPad, but I don't need to upgrade them. There is nothing new in Apple's latest iphone X that makes me want to cough up $1000.
The smartphone industry is where the PC industry was in 2011. Why is 2011 relevant? Because that was the last year the PC industry saw unit growth. Before that PCs were upgraded every 3-4 years. Now estimates are that it is close to 6 years before a user upgrades their PC.
Every year PCs get faster, lighter and have better battery life. 1.5 billion people have PCs. The problem is they do not do anything different. Your old PC will be slower than a new PC, but it still does what you need it to do.
The average car or truck on U.S. roads today was made in 2005. Automobiles today are much better than in 2005 but they are not fundamentally different. They take you from point A to point B at a speed limit of 65 mph (much to the chagrin of my lead foot.)
When the iPhone 6 came out in 2014, I was in love with the bigger 4.7" screen after envying my friends who had big screen Samsung phones. My wife and kids bought the 5.5" version. But guess what? We have not bought a new iPhone since then because the new phones are not that different from the 6.
My current phone has a pretty good camera, internet browsing, screen clarity and the difference in battery life between the iPhone X and my iPhone 6 isn't that great. So instead of buying a new iPhone X I bought a new battery for $29.
$29 for a new phone It was the Apple technician that told me my phone problems could be fixed by replacing my battery and damn if he wasn't right! If he continues to be right, I have extended the life of my phone for another 2 years.
For $29 I have a new phone. I am not the only one interested in saving money. Almost one in ten users are now opting to buy a used smartphone. The sales of used smartphones grew approximately 13 percent last year versus total smartphone sales, which were roughly flat. This is a lot like the car industry where people often opt to buy a gently used car and save money.
In 2014, smartphone users didn't even wait two years to upgrade their phones. Now they wait closer to 2 ½ years and stretching. What if that replacement rate goes to 3 years? This would still be much less than the PC industry at 6 years.
Let's look at the math. If you assume close to 4 billion global subscribers, then dividing by 2.5 years versus three years leads to 267 million less units sold versus the 1.5 billion smartphone units sold in 2017.
Obviously new users are added every year given there are 7.5 billion people on the planet and the populations keeps increasing. However, that has not helped the PC industry, which has not grown for six years, or the tablet industry that has not grown for three years as replacement rates have stretched.
A couple of years ago Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon , made the following comment: "There are two kinds of retailers: those folks who work to figure how to charge more, and companies that work to figure how to charge less, and we are going to be the second."
Higher price tags Apple appears to have chosen the first as witnessed by the $1,000 price tag on the iPhoneX. It should be noted that the iPhone average selling price increased 15 percent year-over-year in the December quarter to $797. It would not surprise us if this marked a near-term high. Obviously, Apple believed the changes were worth the higher price tag but consumers beg to differ.
The iPhone drove 62 percent of Apple's revenues in 2017 and even more of its profits. The iPhone is seeing elongating replacement rates and more used phone sales. New phone specs are more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Smartphones seem to have joined the PC and tablet industry in not growing. Units for the smartphone industry were down year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2017 – the first time in history. This is an industry that grew units by nearly 30 percent in 2014 when Apple introduced the bigger screen iPhone 6.
In 2017 many analysts were calling for an iPhone SuperCycle. The overall market for technology stocks was strong. Although the Supercycle did not work out, Apple's stock price remained strong due to the $260 billion plus in cash they plan on repatriating.
Increased dividend
A big increase in Apple's dividend and share buyback is expected to be revealed on Tuesday during the company's earnings call. Unless Apple radically changes their business with a revolutionary (not evolutionary) new product or does a meaningful acquisition with all that cash, the odds are high that Apple's stock does worse than the overall market and that the multiple compresses.
From a short-term perspective, the stock may go up tomorrow given the increased capital return and expectations for a horrible guide for the June quarter. I would use that opportunity to sell the stock and not buy it back until you feel compelled to spend money to upgrade to their latest and greatest phone.
I still love my iPhone. It is a great product, but Apple as an investment merits an underperform rating, which is why it is important to separate great companies from great investments. Of the 45 analysts covering the stock on Wall Street, 64 percent have a buy rating. No one has an underperform rating, but someone has to be first. If I were still an analyst, that would be me.
Commentary by Dan Niles, founding partner of AlphaOne Capital Partners and senior portfolio manager of the AlphaOne Satori Fund. Previously, he was a managing director at Neuberger Berman, a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers. Follow him on Twitter @DanielTNiles .
Disclosures: Dan Niles, his family and AlphaOne Capital Partners currently have long and short equity investment positions in Apple Inc. in different funds, which is subject to change at any time and without notice.
This material is presented solely for informational purposes and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment or strategy is suitable for a particular investor. Readers should not assume that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. This material has been prepared by AlphaOne Capital Partners, LLC on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other third party sources believed to be reliable. AlphaOne Capital Partners, LLC has not sought to independently verify information taken from public and third party sources and does not make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the information contained herein. All information and opinions are current as of the date of this material and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Certain products and services may not be available in all jurisdictions or to all client types. Investing entails risks, including possible loss of principal.
The views expressed are those of Mr. Niles and do not represent the views of AlphaOne Capital Partners, LLC, its portfolio managers, employees or affiliates. These views are current as of the time of this presentation and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended to be a formal research report or recommendation and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. AlphaOne Capital Partners, LLC and its clients may have long or short positions in some or all of the securities discussed. Before acting on any advice or recommendation in this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, if necessary, seek professional advice. Mr. Niles does not accept any responsibility to update any opinions or other information contained in this document. Before acting on any advice, opinions or recommendation in this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, if necessary, seek professional advice.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/i-would-downgrade-apple-to-underperform-if-i-was-an-analyst-dan-niles.html |
(Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week as exports hit a record high and refinery ramped up output, while gasoline inventories dropped more than expected ahead of the summer driving season, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. REUTERS/Richard Carson Crude inventories fell 1.4 million barrels in the week to May 11, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 763,000 barrels.
Net U.S. crude imports fell 411,000 barrels per day as exports rose to a record 2.6 million bpd, benefiting of late from the widening spread between U.S. crude oil and global benchmark Brent, which responds more to world supply outlook.
Crude production continued to grow to record highs, rising 20,000 bpd to 10.72 million bpd last week, the EIA said, though weekly figures are considered less reliable than monthly data. The United States in February produced 10.3 million bpd, a record.
Refining activity rose, particularly in the Midwest, as maintenance season ebbs as summer driving season heats up.
Refinery crude runs rose by 149,000 bpd, while refinery utilization rates rose by 0.7 percentage points to 91.1 percent of overall capacity. U.S. Midwest refinery utilization rates increased last week to 96 percent of capacity, the highest since at least 2010 seasonally.
Still, gasoline stocks were down sharply, falling by a surprise 3.8 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel drop.
Gasoline demand is up 0.7 percent from last year over the past four weeks to 9.4 million bpd. That demand is anticipated to increase as summer driving season kicks in.
“It’s a bullish report. The gasoline number was pretty good... which you would expect coming up to Memorial Day and summer driving season,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.
The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that oil inventories worldwide had tightened after a year-and-a-half of supply cuts by major oil producers, along with Venezuela’s ongoing economic crisis that has sapped its production. As oil approaches $80 a barrel, demand may suffer, the IEA said.
Prices were little changed after the data. U.S. crude fell 15 cents to $71.16 a barrel as of 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT), while Brent lost 20 cents to $78.22 a barrel.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures rose by 53,000 barrels, the EIA said.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 92,000 barrels, versus expectations for a 2.2 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.
Reporting By David Gaffen; Editing by Marguerita Choy
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oil/u-s-crude-product-stocks-fall-eia-idUSKCN1IH1ZN |
May 30, 2018 / 12:17 AM / Updated an hour ago China slams surprise U.S. trade announcement, says ready to fight Brenda Goh , Michael Martina 5 Min Read
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday lashed out at Washington’s unexpected statement that it will press ahead with tariffs and restrictions on investments by Chinese companies, saying Beijing was ready to fight back if Washington was looking to ignite a trade war. Chinese and U.S. flags are set up for a signing ceremony during a visit by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao at China's Ministry of Transport in Beijing, China April 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee
The United States said on Tuesday that it still held the threat of imposing tariffs on $50 billion of imports from China and would use it unless Beijing addressed the issue of theft of American intellectual property.
The declaration came after the two sides had agreed earlier this month to look at steps to narrow China’s $375 billion trade surplus with America, and days ahead of a visit to Beijing by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for further negotiations.
William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said Washington’s threat of tariffs appeared to have been “somewhat effective” thus far.
“I don’t think it is only a tactic, personally,” he told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the group does not view tariffs as the best way to address the trade frictions.
“The thinking became that if the U.S. doesn’t have any leverage and there is no pressure on our Chinese friends, then we will not have serious negotiations.”
China’s Commerce Ministry reacted swiftly overnight with a short statement, saying it was surprised and saw it as contrary to the consensus both sides had reached recently.
The Global Times said the United States was suffering from a “delusion” and warned that the “trade renege could leave Washington dancing with itself”. Chinese and U.S. flags are set up for a meeting during a visit by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao at China's Ministry of Transport in Beijing, China April 27, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee
The widely read tabloid is run by the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, although its stance does not necessarily reflect Chinese government policy.
“The Chinese government will have the necessary measures in place to deal with a U.S. withdrawal from any settled agreement. If the U.S. wants to play games, then China would be more than willing to play along and do so until the very end,” it said. ZTE AND QUALCOMM
Fears of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies had also receded after the administration of President Donald Trump said it had reached a deal that would put ZTE Corp ( 0763.HK )( 000063.SZ ) back in business after banning China’s second-biggest telecoms equipment maker from buying U.S. technology parts.
Still hanging in the balance, however, is San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc’s ( QCOM.O ) proposal to acquire NXP Semiconductors NV ( NXPI.O ) - a $44 billion deal that requires clearance from China’s antitrust regulators. The recent easing in tensions had fueled optimism that an agreement was imminent.
“On hold now,” a person familiar with Qualcomm’s talks with the Chinese government said on Wednesday, declining to be identified as the negotiations are confidential.
“Trump is crazy. Crazy tactics might work, though,” the person added.
State news agency Xinhua said China hoped that the United States would not act impulsively but stood ready to fight to protect its own interests.
“China’s attitude, as always, is: we do not want to fight, but we are also not afraid to fight,” it said in a commentary.
“China will continue to hold pragmatic consultations with the United States’ delegation and hope that the United States will act in accordance with the spirit of the joint statement.” ‘INTENSE NEGOTIATIONS’
Commerce Secretary Ross is scheduled to visit Beijing from June 2 to June 4 to try and get China to agree to firm numbers for additional U.S. exports to the country.
The deal to reduce China’s trade surplus with the U.S. was separate from the U.S. probe into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property.
A White House official said on Tuesday that the U.S. government plans to shorten the length of visas issued to some Chinese citizens as part of a strategy to prevent intellectual property theft by U.S. rivals.
Citing a document issued by the Trump administration in December, the official said the U.S. government would consider restrictions on visas for science and technology students from some countries.
The China Daily newspaper said the repeated U.S. claim that Beijing had forced foreign firms to transfer their technologies to Chinese businesses was without evidence and was being used as an excuse to facilitate its trade protectionism.
It said technology transfers between U.S. companies and their Chinese partners were the result of normal business practices, not coercive policies. Reporting by Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI and Michael Martina in BEIJING; Additional writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Kim Coghill | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-media/chinese-state-media-slam-u-s-trade-announcement-say-beijing-ready-to-fight-idUSKCN1IV013 |
European political unrest just rocked U.S. stocks and bonds. Here's what comes next 2 Hours Ago Larry McDonald, editor of the Bear Traps Report, discusses Italian political unrest and its global market impact. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/29/european-political-unrest-stocks-bonds.html |
May 17, 2018 / 4:34 AM / Updated 11 hours ago Revamped Davis Cup will retain home and away matches - ITF chief Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
(Reuters) - The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will retain the home-and-away ties in the opening stages of the revamped Davis Cup, its president David Haggerty has said. FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Fed Cup Final - Belarus v United States - Chizhovka Arena, Minsk, Belarus, November 12, 2017 - President of International Tennis Federation David Haggerty. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
In February, the ITF announced a massive shake-up of the Davis Cup, which will see the formation of an 18-nation World Cup of Tennis finals played in one location, starting in November 2019.
Belgian tennis chief Gijs Kooken was among the critics of the ITF’s new proposal, saying that a one-week tournament in a single city would risk “killing the soul” of the historic competition but Haggerty has alleviated those fears.
“We are looking at a round of 24 home-and-away ties in February, in the week after the Australian Open, producing 12 winners,” Haggerty told the Telegraph newspaper.
“They would then go on to the November tournament, along with the four semi-finalists from the previous year, and two invited teams.
“It’s important for the national federations to be able to stage ties. It’s a way of promoting the sport and of connecting with fans.”
Haggerty, who has led the ITF since 2015, also said that a revamp of women’s Fed Cup tournament would take place in 2020.
“We’re all for equality,” Haggerty added. “The Davis Cup reform is a very big project. We’re looking to get it set up from next year and then we will try to take the Fed Cup in the same direction.”
The ITF are also considering holding the finals in Europe rather than in Asia, as proposed by investors Kosmos, to ease the workload on players who will be competing at the ATP World Tour Finals in London until 2020.
“It would be easier for the players to stay in Europe, with the way the end of the season is set up,” Haggerty added. “Although things might change if the ATP World Tour Finals were to move away from London after 2020.” Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-tennis-daviscup-haggerty/revamped-davis-cup-will-retain-home-and-away-matches-itf-chief-idUKKCN1II0EL |
May 2 (Reuters) - Novartis AG:
* HEALTH CANADA APPROVES KISQALI™ FOR THE TREATMENT OF HR-POSITIVE AND HER2-NEGATIVE METASTATIC BREAST CANCER IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN IN COMBINATION WITH LETROZOLE AS AN INITIAL ENDOCRINE-BASED THERAPY Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-novartis-says-health-canada-approv/brief-novartis-says-health-canada-approved-kisqali-as-initial-therapy-for-certain-breast-cancer-patients-idUSFWN1S90M2 |
May 7, 2018 / 3:10 PM / Updated an hour ago Czech PM Babis expects final coalition agreement by Friday Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
PRAGUE (Reuters) - The ruling Czech ANO party expects to have a final agreement on a coalition with the Social Democrats (CSSD) by Friday, ANO chairman and prime minister Andrej Babis said on Monday. FILE PHOTO: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
The Czechs have been waiting for a full-fledged government for half a year as most parties have rejected cooperation with ANO as Babis faces fraud allegations. Reporting by Robert Muller | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-czech-politics/czech-pm-babis-expects-final-coalition-agreement-by-friday-idUKKBN1I81OZ |
By Bloomberg 6:12 AM EDT
A private equity firm linked to a Tesla director spent more than 100 days at the carmaker’s battery factory late last year to help increase Model 3 sedan production, according to a filing vouching for its beleaguered board.
Valor Management Corp., whose founder and chief executive is Tesla’s lead independent director Antonio Gracias, contributed to “numerous improvements that led to increased Model 3 production rates,” Tesla (tsla) said in the filing Tuesday . The carmaker said it paid Valor $34,347 to reimburse for travel, equipment and “budget lodging” near the Nevada factory.
Tesla is defending its board from a campaign by CtW Investment Group, an activist group working with union pension funds that oppose the re-appointments of Gracias and two other directors. In siding with CtW and recommending that investors vote against Gracias, proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services said the payment Tesla had disclosed making to Valor compromised his independence.
The filing elaborates on what was a vague disclosure in Tesla’s proxy statement released April 26, which described the payment to Valor as being for consulting services related to “operational optimization.” Tesla said then that $34,347 was an immaterial cost and that the services were “provided on an arm’s length basis to Tesla.” The board concluded that it didn’t impede Gracias from making independent judgments as a director.
The Tuesday filing said that Gracias supported and was personally involved in having Valor’s senior operations team help Tesla at the gigafactory near Reno, Nev.
CtW also opposes the re-appointments of Tesla directors Kimbal Musk, the brother of CEO Elon Musk and a food entrepreneur; and James Murdoch, the CEO of Twenty-First Century Fox (fox) . The filing released Tuesday is a slide deck listing the credentials of the three directors and a series of Tesla’s accomplishments.
Tesla said that its mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy products “requires a board willing to commit to long-term goals.”
Since handing over the first Model 3s to employees in July 2017, Tesla has pushed back production goals for the car several times, citing issues with battery-pack output at the gigafactory and with automating assembly lines.
On Friday, Musk tweeted that the company was making progress toward boosting production in all four zones of the gigafactory. SPONSORED FINANCIAL CONTENT | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/30/tesla-independent-director-antonio-gracias/ |
NEW ORLEANS, May 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company , New Orleans' largest locally owned bank, announces that it has acquired Phoenix Capital Group, LLC . Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, Phoenix Capital is a leading provider of working capital solutions in the transportation industry. The announcement was made by Guy T. Williams, president and CEO of Gulf Coast Bank. The acquisition is effective immediately.
Phoenix Capital Group has been providing cash flow services, equipment financing and fuel cards to trucking companies nationwide since 2001. Having seen significant growth over the last five years, Phoenix Capital sought a partner that would allow the company to expand its reach and services to additional transportation companies, as well as to enhance career opportunities in the industry sector.
Gulf Coast Bank and Phoenix Capital have a long-standing relationship between management teams, which makes this acquisition a natural fit. Gulf Coast Bank is able to provide financing to Phoenix Capital, giving the company a distinct advantage over its competitors. As a division of a bank, Phoenix Capital will benefit from being a direct lender, ultimately offering a wider variety of customer solutions and more funding capacity. The expanded depth of commercial financial product offerings will greatly expand Phoenix Capital's opportunities to service customers.
According to Williams, "Gulf Coast Bank understands the business and brings a wealth of experience in business-to-business working capital financing, and Phoenix Capital's staff brings more than 125 years of transportation experience. As part of the Gulf Coast Bank family, Phoenix Capital will be able to offer a wider array of services, more competitive fee structures, and attract more candidates for jobs."
He adds, "With the growth of home deliveries and more trucking services needed, this acquisition is an excellent opportunity for the combined companies' continued growth."
Bryan Alsobrooks, president of Phoenix Capital, adds, "Gulf Coast Bank exceeded our hopes for a firm we could partner with and continue our tradition of excellent service, expertise, and environment for our clients and staff."
Gulf Coast Bank welcomed all 37 employees from Phoenix Capital, bringing the total number of bank employees to 623. With record earnings, Gulf Coast Bank continues to expand; the Phoenix Capital acquisition furthers the bank's commitment to growth.
Gulf Coast Bank had a record 2018 first quarter. The company grew to $1,602,430,000 in total assets, a 2.46% increase over the same period for last year. Loans grew by 3.69% and totaled $1,276,176,000. Pretax earnings for the first quarter 2018 totaled $7,136 compared to $6,972 for the same time period in 2017, a 2.35% increase.
BALANCE SHEET HIGHLIGHTS
March 2017
March 2018
Shareholders' Equity (thousands)
$132,002
$140,020
Book Value per share
$470
$499
Net Loans (thousands)
$1,230,724
$1,276,176
Total Assets (thousands)
$1,564,003
$1,602,430
INCOME STATEMENT HIGHLIGHTS
2017 YTD (thousands)
2018 YTD (thousands)
Interest & Fee Income
$26,513
$30,698
Net Interest Income
$23,216
$27,107
Non-interest Income
$8,295
$9,419
Net Income, pre-tax
$6,972
$7,136
View original content with multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gulf-coast-bank--trust-company-acquires-phoenix-capital-group-300644357.html
SOURCE Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/08/pr-newswire-gulf-coast-bank-trust-company-acquires-phoenix-capital-group.html |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will request a package of $15 billion in spending cuts from Congress on Tuesday, including some $7 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Program championed by Democrats, senior administration officials said on Monday.
One official said the targeted cuts would cover “unobligated balances” or money that is not being spent. He said the cuts would not have an effect on the CHIP program itself.
More recission packages were planned. While the current request would not affect a two-year budget deal agreed between Republicans and Democrats in February. Another “large” package addressing that would be proposed later this year, he said.
Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by James Dalgleish
Our | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fiscal-republicans-trump/trump-proposes-15-billion-spending-cuts-targets-childrens-health-program-idUSKBN1I82JS |
May 2 (Reuters) - Indian software services exporter HCL Technologies Ltd posted a 9.9 percent fall in its fourth-quarter net profit on Wednesday, hurt by higher expenses.
Net profit fell to 22.28 billion rupees ($333.58 million) in the three months ended March 31, from 24.73 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier, HCL said. bit.ly/2FzaCi4
Analysts on average had expected the company to post a net profit of 22.60 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Revenue from operations rose 2.2 percent to 131.78 billion rupees.
The company said it expected revenue in the current year to rise 9.5 percent-11.5 percent in constant currency terms. ($1 = 66.7900 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/hcl-techno-results/indias-hcl-tech-q4-profit-falls-nearly-10-pct-misses-estimates-idUSL3N1S9106 |
Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers at the Gaza-Israel border 5:30pm BST - 00:58
Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers on the last Friday (May 11) of a six-week protest at the Gaza-Israel border.
Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers on the last Friday (May 11) of a six-week protest at the Gaza-Israel border. //reut.rs/2KV3iS3 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/video/2018/05/11/palestinians-clash-with-israeli-soldiers?videoId=425943632 |
TEL-AVIV, Israel, May 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gazit-Globe (NYSE:GZT) (TSX:GZT) (TASE:GZT), a leading global real estate company focused on the ownership, management and development of retail and mixed use properties in urban markets, announced today that it has filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “ SEC ”). The annual report on Form 20-F, which contains Gazit-Globe’s audited consolidated financial statements, can be accessed on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov , as well as via the Company’s investor relations website at http://www.gazitglobe.com/investor-relations/financial-reports/ . The Company will deliver a hard copy of its annual report on Form 20-F, including its complete audited financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders upon request to Gazit-Globe Investor Relations at [email protected] or by phone to telephone number: +972-3-694 8000.
About Gazit-Globe
Gazit-Globe is a leading global real estate company focused on the ownership, management and development of retail and mixed use properties in North America, Brazil, Israel, northern, central and Eastern Europe, located in urban growth markets. Gazit-Globe is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:GZT), the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:GZT) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:GZT) and is included in the TA-35 index in Israel. As of December 31, 2017 Gazit-Globe owns and operates 112 properties, with a gross leasable area of approximately 2.6 million square meters and a total value of approximately NIS 36.9 billion. In addition, the Company owns 32.6% of First Capital Realty Inc. and as of March 28, 2018 8.2% of Regency Centers Corporation.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Investors Contact: [email protected] , Media Contact: [email protected]
Gazit-Globe Headquarters, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Tel: +972-3-694-8000
Source:GAZIT-GLOBE LTD | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/02/globe-newswire-gazit-globe-files-annual-report-on-form-20-f-for-the-year-ended-december-31-2017.html |
drug prices Trump Predicts 'Massive Drops in Prices' for Drugs. Here's Why That Probably Won't Happen WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 30: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patient Jordan McLinn (R) of Indiana gives U.S. President Donald Trump (L) a hug during a bill signing ceremony for the "Right to Try" Act. Alex Wong Getty Images By Sy Mukherjee May 30, 2018
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued a bold declaration on drug prices while signing Congress’ recently-passed “Right to Try” law for experimental medicines: “I think we’re going to have some of the big drug companies in in two weeks, and they’re going to announce because of what we did, they’re going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices. So that’s great. That’s going to be a fantastic thing.”
Trump’s comments weren’t just related to the bill he’d just signed (a notable piece of health care legislation in and of itself that’s divided patient advocacy groups and drug companies, but been championed by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence—you can read more on that debate here ). The president was also referring to recently-announced plans by the administration and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar meant to curb high prescription drug costs . But it’s unclear whether any major biopharmaceutical companies are actually poised for self-imposed price cuts in the near future, or on what Trump is basing his claims.
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The so-called “American Patients First” blueprint released earlier this month poses a number of ideas for tackling the skyrocketing cost of medicines. Some of the proposals take aim at the medical supply chain, including ones that would change the way Medicare pays for certain treatments; others are far more aspirational and, on both a political and policy level, controversial (such as forcing foreign governments to pay more for U.S.-made drugs).
Largely, however, health care companies—and drug makers specifically—don’t seem particularly perturbed by the tough talk. The administration’s blueprint is still just that, and it contains far more questions about drug pricing policy than it does answers. Literally . And while some pharmaceutical firms have been testing out new payment models including pay-for-performance deals with health insurers in recent years, wherein they only get paid if their drugs actually work, list price increases for therapies that outpace inflation are still the norm and companies don’t appear to be bracing for radical disruption.
Food and Drug Commissioner (FDA) Scott Gottlieb and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma have joined Trump and Azar in targeting drug prices, with Gottlieb taking the step of naming-and-shaming companies that have been accused of preventing the entry of cheap, generic competitors to the market. Still, biotech stock indices rose between 1.4% and 1.8% in Wednesday trading, and the prospect of voluntary price cuts (rather than, say, a lower-than-usual price increase) for drugs may prove unlikely barring more aggressive regulatory steps. SPONSORED FINANCIAL CONTENT | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/30/trump-massive-drop-drug-prices/ |
May 23, 2018 / 3:03 PM / Updated 8 minutes ago Zimbabwe army won't allow opposition to rule - minister Reuters Staff 3 Min Read
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s government distanced itself on Wednesday from a deputy minister who said the army wouldn’t allow the opposition to rule if it wins an election this year. FILE PHOTO: A street vendor carries fruit outside an election rally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ruling ZANU PF party in Mutare, Zimbabwe, May 19, 2018. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo
The comments by Deputy Minister of Finance Terence Mukupe - which echoed warnings that the military often made under former president Robert Mugabe - provoked outrage on social media and prompted a government spokesman to describe them as a threat to national security.
In an online video, Mukupe is seen telling a rally in Harare on Monday that the army would not let opposition leader Nelson Chamisa take power if he defeated President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe is set to hold a general election by Aug. 22, the first since the army forced 94-year-old Mugabe to resign and thrust Mnangagwa into power last November.
Constantino Chiwenga, the general who led the de facto coup, has since become vice president.
“Our country, given where we are and where we are coming from, needs a mature person, a steady hand,” Mukupe told supporters in the Shona language. “We cannot say, honestly, the army took the country, practically seized the country from Mugabe, so that they can hand it over to Chamisa.”
Mukupe did not answer several calls to his phone.
His comments will bolster claims by those still loyal to Mugabe who say he was removed illegally.
Simon Khaya Moyo, acting information minister, said in a statement that the comments did not represent the position of the ruling ZANU-PF party, government or the military.
“Suggesting that our well-respected security organs will act in a partisan manner in relation to the country’s politics, apart from being unauthorised, are unlawful, reckless, improper, uncalled for and thus totally condemnable,” Moyo said.
“They imperil national peace and stability, and amount to a frontal challenge to the tenets and practices of democracy.”
During Mugabe’s nearly four decades in power, the army frequently said it would not allow the opposition to take power and military commanders openly supported ZANU-PF.
(This story corrects spellings of names in second and sixth paragraphs) Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Joe Brock and David Stamp | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-zimbabwe-politics/zimbabwe-army-wont-allow-opposition-to-rule-minister-idUKKCN1IO2B7 |
May 22, 2018 / 1:03 PM / Updated 2 hours ago GLAAD calls for LGBT characters in 20 percent of movies by 2021 Reuters Staff 3 Min Read
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Romance “Call Me By Your Name” may have won a screenplay Oscar, and Disney’s family-friendly “Beauty and the Beast” had a gay character, but movies from Hollywood’s major studios last year had the lowest percentage of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual characters since 2012, according to a report released on Tuesday. FILE PHOTO: James Ivory wears a shirt depicting actor Timothee Chalamet as he holds his Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Call Me My Your Name" during the 90th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, March 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Gay and transgender media advocacy group GLAAD said in its annual Studio Responsibility Index that of the 109 releases by the seven largest movie studios in 2017, just 14, or 12.8 percent, included LGBTQ characters.
GLAAD called on Hollywood to have 20 percent of annual film releases include a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or gender fluid character by 2021, rising to 50 percent of output by 2024.
Box office hits like “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther” have smashed old Hollywood notions that movies that champion women and people of color do not have global appeal, GLAAD said.
“It is time for LGBTQ stories to be included in this conversation,” GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis said in the report.
GLAAD praised movies like tennis film “Battle of the Sexes,” Oscar best picture winner “The Shape of Water” and independent transgender tale “A Fantastic Woman” from Chile that won the best foreign language Oscar in March.
But it gave the thumbs-down to “Thor: Ragnarok” for deleting references to two characters who are bisexual or queer in the original Marvel comic book source material, criticized “Baywatch” for its “many jokes relying on gay panic for cheap laughs,” and said “Pitch Perfect 3” sidelined a lesbian character.
Despite the slide in LGBTQ characters in 2017, GLAAD said 2018 had already shown welcome progress, with movies like gay young adult film “Love, Simon” and the raunchy teen comedy “Blockers.”
The report expressed hope for upcoming films, such as musical “Mamma Mia 2,” where GLAAD said it would like to see Colin Firth’s gay character further explored, and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” where lead character Lisbeth Salander is bisexual in the original Stieg Larsson novel.
As for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the upcoming biopic about Queen singer Freddie Mercury who died in 1991 of AIDS complications, GLAAD said it hoped the film would “make a powerful impact by fully exploring his queer identity.” Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Matthew Lewis | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-film-lgbt/glaad-calls-for-lgbt-characters-in-20-percent-of-movies-by-2021-idUSKCN1IN1MB |
May 16, 2018 / 1:26 PM / Updated 7 minutes ago Redstone family says special CBS dividend would be invalid Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
May 16 (Reuters) - National Amusements Inc, the movie theater company owned by the Redstone family that controls CBS Corp and Viacom Inc, said in a court filing on Wednesday that a proposed CBS dividend diluting its voting power would be invalid.
CBS said on Monday that a special committee of its board directors was planning to issue a special dividend in the form of stock that would reduce National Amusements’ voting control over the company from 80 percent to 17 percent. Reporting by Jessica Toonkel and Greg Roumeliotis in New York Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/nationalamusement-cbs/redstone-family-says-special-cbs-dividend-would-be-invalid-idUSL2N1SN0JN |
May 27, 2018 / 1:28 AM / Updated 13 hours ago Kvitova hails 'crazy' year following knife attack Pritha Sarkar 4 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - Seventeen months after being attacked in her home by a knife-wielding intruder, Petra Kvitova has come to accept that she may always have that “weird feeling” whenever she is out alone and that her left playing hand will never fully recover. Tennis - WTA Mandatory - Madrid Open - Madrid, Spain - May 12, 2018 Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova celebrates with a trophy after winning the final against Netherlands' Kiki Bertens REUTERS/Paul Hanna
But rather than dwelling on the episode, which her surgeon feared would end her career after she was left with damaged tendons and nerves in her fingers and thumb, the 28-year-old Czech has adopted a positive attitude and has already won four trophies in 2018.
That tally, which includes back-to-back claycourt titles in Prague and Madrid in the run-up to the French Open, is more than any other woman on the WTA Tour this season and has also lifted her to eighth in the world - her highest ranking since May 2016.
Given it was only a year ago that she made her comeback from the December 2016 attack, Kvitova is having to pinch herself to believe how well things have gone.
“It’s crazy! It’s happening but I still find it unbelievable. It’s totally unexpected for me so far,” Kvitova, who will face Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg in the first round, told Reuters in an interview.
“I’m feeling great and I am enjoying playing every moment because I couldn’t imagine myself playing as well as I am now. That’s important for me.”
That the twice Wimbledon champion wants to savour every moment on court is understandable. For several months she had no idea if she would ever again feel the adrenaline rush that comes with winning tournaments.
“I really didn’t know how the hand would react to playing tennis and even if I could hold the racket,” said Kvitova.
“I was just working hard, being patient and being positive about it. I really didn’t know how everything would turn out.
“The hand will never be 100 percent again. The last part of the fingers, I can’t move them in ... I can’t do a fist pump but, the last 12 months have been great and I am not complaining at all.”
Czech media reported on Thursday that a 54-year-old man had been detained in connection with the attack. LOST YEAR
Kvitova’s idol Martina Navratilova was full of praise for the way the Czech has overcome the difficulties of playing without having her hand back at 100 percent.
“I can’t imagine being in Petra’s position and playing without full feeling in my racket hand,” Navratilova told the WTA.
“It must be like gripping a racket while wearing a glove or trying to ski when you have frozen feet and can’t feel the snow at all.”
Now that Kvitova is back to a level where she is once again among the favourites to win a Grand Slam title, how much of her career does she think the attack cost her?
“I obviously lost the five months I couldn’t play tennis and then it took me a while to be ready and play again on the level I wished,” she said.
“Maybe I lost a year of my career ... for sure it took something out but maybe this situation gave me something positive.”
Kvitova has admitted to having a “weird feeling” if she is going somewhere alone and feels “happier and secure” if someone is with her when she is out and about.
However Kvitova, who reached a career high of number two in the world in 2011, says she is now less driven by numbers and goals and is delighted just to have got back to where she is in the game.
“It is something I would like to achieve in my career but it won’t be end of the world if I don’t,” she said when asked if becoming world number one was on her wish list.
“I don’t have any main goals any more.
“Being in the position I now find myself in is just amazing. I couldn’t have imagined this a year ago. It’s great,” added Kvitova, who was beaten in the second round at Roland Garros last year.
“I am enjoying playing on clay right now so it’s great. I’m hopefully going to play more than one match in Paris.” Editing by Peter Rutherford | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-tennis-frenchopen-kvitova/kvitova-hails-crazy-year-following-knife-attack-idUKKCN1IS00T |
May 17 (Reuters) - EP Energy LLC:
* EP ENERGY ANNOUNCES OFFERING OF ITS SENIOR SECURED NOTES DUE 2026
* EP ENERGY LLC - CO AND ITS UNIT INTEND TO OFFER $1 BILLION AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF ITS SENIOR SECURED NOTES DUE 2026 IN A PRIVATE PLACEMENT
* EP ENERGY LLC- TO USE PROCEEDS FROM OFFERING OF NOTES, WITH AVAILABLE CASH ON HAND TO REPAY AMOUNTS OUTSTANDING UNDER ITS REVOLVING CREDIT FACILITY Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-ep-energy-announces-offering-of-it/brief-ep-energy-announces-offering-of-its-senior-secured-notes-due-2026-idUSASC0A2TW |
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Polyus ( PLZL.MM ), Russia’s largest gold producer, on Wednesday reported first-quarter net profit down 51 percent at $244 million, hit by reduced foreign exchange gains and other non-cash items.
FILE PHOTO: A melter casts an ingot of 92.96 percent pure gold at a procession plant of the Olimpiada gold operation, owned by Polyus Gold, in Krasnoyarsk, Eastern Siberia, Russia, June 30, 2015. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin/File Photo The company controlled by Said Kerimov, son of Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, has not been targeted by the U.S. sanctions against Moscow. Washington included Suleiman Kerimov and some other Russian businessmen on its sanctions list in April.
Polyus reiterated on Wednesday that sanctions applicable to Suleiman Kerimov did not extend to his son or to Polyus.
The company also kept its 2018 gold production guidance unchanged at 2.375—2.425 million troy ounces. It previously said that 2018 output was likely to be at the upper end of this range because it was ramping up its Natalka gold deposit in Russia’s far east ahead of schedule.
“Natalka continues its ramp up and now operates above 80 percent of its design processing capacity, ahead of our initial expectations. We are progressing with the drilling campaign and engineering works at Sukhoi Log,” Pavel Grachev, Polyus chief executive, said in a statement.
The Natalka project is expected to reach full production levels in the second half of 2018. Sukhoi Log is one of the world’s largest untapped gold deposits, for which Polyus plans to complete feasibility studies by end of 2020.
Polyus’s first-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were both up 1 percent to $617 million and $387 million respectively. The latter beat an average estimate of $374 million in a Reuters poll.
A note from analysts at Aton said they expected a strong improvement in Polyus earnings in the second quarter, helped by a weaker rouble and higher gold sales.
“That said, the market is likely to ignore the first-quarter results as the share price is currently being driven by sanction concerns, which is the only explanation for the enormous 45 percent Natalka-adjusted discount to global majors. We believe that these risks are overestimated,” the Aton note said.
Polyus shares were up 0.7 percent by 0857 GMT in Moscow.
Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by David Goodman
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© 2018 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-polyus-results/russian-gold-miner-polyus-posts-51-percent-drop-in-first-quarter-net-profit-idUSKCN1IV13M |
May 3, 2018 / 1:22 PM / Updated 6 minutes ago Scotland to review conviction of Lockerbie bomber Reuters Staff 3 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland is to review the conviction of the only man found guilty of the Lockerbie aircraft bombing to decide whether to allow his family to launch a fresh appeal.
Pam Am flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 en route from London to New York, an attack that killed 270 people.
In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was jailed for life after being found guilty - in association with others never identified - of what remains Britain’s deadliest militant attack.
Megrahi, who denied being involved, died in Libya in 2012.
He was released three years earlier by Scotland’s devolved government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Before going home, Megrahi abandoned an appeal against conviction in 2009.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) said on Thursday it would conduct a full review of his conviction to decide whether to refer the case for a fresh appeal.
“In any application where an applicant has previously chosen to abandon an appeal against conviction the Commission will ... look carefully at the reasons why the appeal was abandoned and consider whether it is in the interests of justice to allow a further review of the conviction,” said SCCRC Chief Executive Gerard Sinclair.
He added in a statement: “... the Commission believes that Mr Megrahi, in abandoning his appeal, did so as he held a genuine and reasonable belief that such a course of action would result in him being able to return home to Libya, at a time when he was suffering from terminal cancer.
“On that basis, the Commission has decided that it is in the interests of justice to accept the current application for a full review of his conviction.”
Most of the victims of the explosion over the town of Lockerbie were Americans on their way home from Europe for Christmas.
Eleven people died on the ground as the New York-bound jet plunged from the sky after a bomb exploded in its hold some 40 minutes after leaving London’s Heathrow airport.
In 2003, former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi accepted Libya’s responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation to the victims’ families but did not admit personally ordering the attack.
After his overthrow and killing in 2011, two Libyan prosecutors were appointed to work with Scottish and U.S. investigators trying to identify the other perpetrators. Reporting by Stephen Addison, editing by Estelle Shirbon | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-libya-lockerbie/scotland-to-review-conviction-of-lockerbie-bomber-idUSKBN1I41L0 |
(Adds further remarks)
BRUSSELS, May 22 (Reuters) - Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologised to EU lawmakers on Tuesday, saying the company had not done enough to prevent misuse of the social network and that regulation is "important and inevitable".
Meeting the leaders of the European Parliament, Zuckerberg stressed the importance of Europeans to Facebook and said he was sorry for not doing enough to prevent abuse of the platform.
"We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility. That was a mistake and I am sorry for it," Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks.
In response to questions about whether Facebook ought to be broken up, Zuckerberg said the question was not whether there should be regulation but what kind of regulation there should be.
"Some sort of regulation is important and inevitable," he said.
He declined to answer when leading lawmakers asked him again as the session concluded whether there was any cross use of data between Facebook and subsidiaries like WhatsApp or on whether he would give an undertaking to let users block targeting adverts.
Facebook has been embroiled in a data scandal after it emerged that the personal data of 87 million users were improperly accessed by a political consultancy. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, Gabriela Baczynska, Alastair Macdonald, Robin Emmott and Julia Fioretti Editing by Alastair Macdonald) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/reuters-america-update-1-facebook-not-done-enough-to-prevent-misuse-zuckerberg.html |
TORONTO, May 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following issues have been halted by IIROC / L’OCRCVM a suspendu la négociation des titres suivants :
Company / Société : Algoma Central Corp. TSX Symbol / Symbole TSX : ALC(all issues) Reason / Motif : Pending News / Nouvelle en attente Halt Time (ET) / Heure de la suspension (HE) 8:00 AM ET / 8h 00 (HE) Company / Société : Park Lawn Corporation TSX Symbol / Symbole TSX : PLC.R Reason / Motif : Pending Closing / En attente Halt Time (ET) / Heure de la suspension (HE) 8:00 AM ET / 8 00 (HE) IIROC can make a decision to impose a temporary suspension (halt) of trading in a security of a publicly-listed company. Trading halts are implemented to ensure a fair and orderly market. IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada.
L’OCRCVM peut prendre la décision de suspendre (ou d’arrêter) temporairement les opérations à l’égard d’un titre d’une société cotée en bourse. Les arrêts des opérations sont mis en oeuvre afin d’assurer le bon fonctionnement d’un marché équitable. L’OCRCVM est l’organisme d’autoréglementation national qui surveille l’ensemble des courtiers en placement et l’ensemble des opérations effectuées sur les marchés des titres de capitaux propres et les marchés des titres de créance au Canada.
Please note that IIROC is not able to provide any additional information regarding a specific trading halt. Information is limited to general enquiries only.
Veuillez prendre note que l'OCRCVM n'est pas en mesure de fournir d'informations supplementaires au sujet d'une suspension des negociations en particulier. L'information est restreinte aux questions generales.
IIROC Inquiries
1-877-442-4322 (Option 2)
Source:Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/globe-newswire-iiroc-trading-halt-suspension-de-la-negociation-par-locrcvm--alc-all-issues-plc-r.html |
May 15, 2018 / 1:20 AM / Updated 19 hours ago ATP World Tour Masters 1000 / WTA Premier, Rome Masters Men's Singles Results Reuters Staff 2 Min Read May 15 (OPTA) - Results from the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 / WTA Premier, Rome Masters Men's Singles matches on Monday .. 1st Round .. Robin Haase (NED) beat Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 3-6 6-4 6-1 Fabio Fognini (ITA) beat Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-3 6-1 Kei Nishikori (JPN) beat Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-6(5) 6-4 Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Karen Khachanov (RUS) 7-5 6-7(7) (GER) 7-6(6) 11-Novak Djokovic (SRB) beat Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-1 6-3 Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) beat Federico Delbonis (ARG) 2-6 7-5 6-1 Aljaz Bedene (SLO) beat Gilles Muller (LUX) 6-4 6-4 10-Pablo Carreno Busta beat Jared Donaldson (USA) 6-4 3-6 6-0 (ESP) Benoit Paire (FRA) beat Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-4 6-4 Marco Cecchinato (ITA) beat Pablo Cuevas (URU) 2-6 7-5 6-4 9-David Goffin (BEL) beat Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 6-1 6-2 Kyle Edmund (GBR) beat Malek Jaziri (TUN) 6-3 3-6 6-3 Matteo Berrettini (ITA) beat Frances Tiafoe (USA) 6-3 7-6(1) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/tennis-atp-results-mens-singles/atp-world-tour-masters-1000-wta-premier-rome-masters-mens-singles-results-idUKMTZXEE5FQX1MPR |
May 1, 2018 / 10:31 PM / Updated an hour ago Trump-Russia probe official - Justice Department will not be 'extorted' amid threats Sarah N. Lynch 3 Min Read
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. official overseeing an investigation of ties between President Donald Trump’s election team and Russia, warned a group of conservative Republicans on Tuesday that his department would not be “extorted” and criticized them for leaking a draft resolution calling for his impeachment. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein holds his copy of the U.S. Constitution as he participates in a Law Day event at the Newseum in Washington, U.S. May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Rosenstein, U.S. Deputy Attorney General, has been under fire since last May when he appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russia’s suspected interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by the Trump campaign.
The so-called House Freedom Caucus this week leaked a draft resolution that said Rosenstein should be impeached for not promptly responding to their requests for documents on FBI investigations.
Rosenstein told an event in Washington on Tuesday: “I just don’t have anything to say about documents like that that nobody has the courage to put their name on and that they leak in that way.”
“I can tell you that there are people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time and I think they should understand by now the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted.”
The Kremlin denies allegations made by U.S. intelligence agencies that it interfered in the election to try to help Republican candidate Trump win it.
Trump denies any coordination with Moscow officials by his campaign team, and he has repeatedly said the investigation is a political witch hunt.
A number of Republican-led committees in the U.S. House of Representatives have opened inquiries into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of several matters.
They include an investigation of 2016 Democratic election candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was U.S. Secretary of State and whether the Justice Department made missteps when it applied to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) for a warrant to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly demanded access to records on those and other subjects. The Justice Department has said it is working to meet the requests while maintaining the integrity of open investigations.
“Everybody in the Department takes an oath,” Rosenstein said on Tuesday. “And if they violate it, they are going to be held accountable.”
The House lawmakers who drafted the articles of impeachment, he added, “know that I’m not going to violate mine.” Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Lisa Lambert; editing by Kieran Murray and Grant McCool | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-trump-rosenstein/trump-russia-probe-official-justice-department-will-not-be-extorted-amid-threats-idUKKBN1I24IA |
May 3, 2018 / 4:12 PM / Updated 32 minutes ago Robots help artist bring fine bison hair to pricey paintings Elly Park 2 Min Read
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American artist Barnaby Furnas has turned to a custom-made robot to help him with paintings that can sell for more than $100,000 at New York galleries.
Furnas and several artists are using digital printing robots that use techniques in paintings that were previously impossible or too labour intensive. The machines are guided by inputs from artists and optical sensors to paint in fine detail in lines thinner than a human eyelash.
“I literally think of that robot as a friend,” Furnas said in an interview. “More than a pet, less than an art assistant - somewhere in there.”
He has used a robot called “sozo,” which means imagination in Japanese, for tasks such as painting thousands of hairs on a bison in one of his artworks.
It leaves marks on a canvas according to his instructions that he communicates through an optical tracking system attached to a paintbrush-like rod.
It records a painter’s movements, allowing artists to edit brushstrokes before putting an image on a canvas. Those digital images can be combined with brushwork from an artist to bring new dimensions to a painting.
Sozo was created by technology startup Artmatr, whose CEO Ben Tritt is a painter. He sees the company as an open-source community that will help artists merge digital technology with traditional painting methods.
Besides Sozo, Artmatr also has a variety of machines that use ink jet heads found in printers.
“It lowers the risk threshold for individual mark making,” Furnas said. Jon Herskovitz | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-technology-robot-art/robots-help-artist-bring-fine-bison-hair-to-pricey-paintings-idUKKBN1I4239 |
2:28 PM EDT
Snapchat has released its first Lens that responds to sound.
Snapchat, the ephemeral photo and video messaging app that has ballooned into a media company, has an entire catalogue of Lenses. They can alter your voice, airbrush your face, add animation, and are sometimes even brand sponsored.
Previously, certain Snapchat Lenses could only respond to facial gestures — for example opening your mouth, or raising your eyebrows might trigger an animation. This latest feature, however, responds to sound.
The Snapchat filter itself looks like the image below — an animal-esque overlay with a heart nose, whiskers, and glowing ears — and when you speak or make sounds (the louder the better) the ears expand. (In the final product, it also alters your voice making it high-pitched.)
More of the Lenses are expected to roll out this week, according to a report from Engadget . Trying out the first @Snapchat Lens with sound reaction, seems pretty neat! pic.twitter.com/aBHnRBKjny
— Jake Krol (@Jake31Krol) May 29, 2018 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/29/snapchat-lens-responds-to-sound/ |
(Adds context on one-off charges, details on capital spend)
May 9 (Reuters) - Explosives and fertilizer maker Incitec Pivot Ltd said on Wednesday its first-half underlying profit fell 3.3 percent, hit by a stronger local currency, unplanned outages, and maintenance at some plants.
The world’s No.2 maker of industrial explosives said net profit before one-off items fell to A$147.1 million ($109.6 million) in the six months ended March 31 from A$152.1 million a year earlier.
The company announced an interim dividend of 4.5 Australian cents per share.
Half-year revenue rose 9.6 percent to A$1.68 billion from a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
Incitec said it expects to spend about A$220 million in sustenance capital for full-year 2018, driven by maintenance at its Cheyenne and St Helens operations in the United States and its Australian Phosphate Hill fertiliser plant.
Bottom line net profit fell to A$7.6 million, largely due to a previously flagged A$236 million impairment charge at its Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific arm, reflecting the loss of two key Australian contracts amid an oversupply of ammonium nitrate and rising gas costs.
Incitec lost contracts to arch rival Orica Ltd for the supply of ammonium nitrate to miners BHP Billiton and Roy Hill in Western Australia. The Roy Hill loss resulted in a one-time charge of A$5 million. Incitec will stop supplying BHP from November 2019.
Partly offsetting the pain, the company booked a one-time gain of A$96.5 million due to the cut in the U.S. company tax rate.
Orica, the world’s top supplier of commercial explosives, said on Monday its first-half underlying profit fell 37 percent, as unplanned plant shutdowns and bad weather crimped production. ($1 = 1.3419 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Nicole Pinto in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/incitec-pivot-results/update-1-australias-incitec-pivot-posts-3-3-pct-fall-in-h1-profit-idUSL3N1SF7A8 |
* Loans: JP Morgan leads US$30.85bn bridge for Shire acquisition
By Wakako Sato and Alasdair Reilly
TOKYO, May 14 (TRLPC) - Takeda Pharmaceutical’s £46bn (US$62bn) acquisition of London-listed rare-disease specialist Shire has prompted Japan’s top drugmaker to line up a US$30.85bn bridge loan, the largest raised in Asia to date.
The jumbo financing is expected to provide opportunities for asset-hungry lenders, both domestic and international, to lend to Takeda either through syndication of the bridge or a refinancing planned within a year.
JP Morgan is underwriting 50% of the financing, and MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp are committing equally to the remainder.
A bank meeting is scheduled to take place in Tokyo this week. Market participants expect the three banks to sell the loan down given the massive size and the timeline for the M&A.
“It is reasonable to think the bridge will be syndicated given the size of the deal. It still would take time before being refinanced,” one of the sources said.
The financing comprises a US$15.35bn 364-day tranche, a US$4.5bn 364-day tranche, a US$7.5bn 364-day tranche, and a US$3.5bn 90-day tranche.
The financing pays a margin and commitment fee based on a ratings grid. For A1/A+ the margin is 75bp over Libor with a 7bp commitment fee; for A2/A it is 87.5bp with an 8bp fee; for A3/A– it is 100bp with a 9bp fee; for Baa1/BBB+ it is 112.5bp with a 10bp fee; for Baa2/BBB it is 125bp with a 12.5bp fee; and for lower ratings it is 150bp with a 17.5bp fee.
Margins increase by 25bp every three months after closing.
Duration fees start at 50bp 90 days after closing, rising to 75bp 180 days after closing and to 100bp 270 days after closing. Duration fees apply to outstanding drawn and undrawn commitments.
The deal breathes new life into the moribund loan market in Japan, where transactions typically pay ultra-tight pricing and domestic banks dominate.
It should also attract foreign lenders keen to get a piece of a high-profile M&A loan. Takeda’s acquisition of Shire, if successful, would be the largest overseas purchase by a Japanese company and also the biggest in the pharmaceutical sector since 2000.
“The pricing on Takeda’s loan is in line with its bonds, which is not bad. I think the deal would generate enough appetite from lenders,” said a senior banker at an international bank. REFINANCING OPTIONS Takeda said the bridge financing will be taken out through a combination of long-term debt, hybrid capital and available cash before the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019.
Takeda also said following the acquisition Shire’s substantial cashflow will enable the enlarged group to pay down its borrowings quickly.
Bankers expect Takeda to tap a hybrid financing to replace the bridge as it is committed to maintaining its investment grade rating with a target of achieving a net debt to Ebitda ratio of 2x or less in the medium term.
Last week Moody’s cut Takeda’s rating to A2 from A1 and placed it under review for further downgrade. S&P placed Takeda’s A– rating on review for downgrade up to two notches, depending on the financing scheme.
Takeda’s debt will likely increase six-fold to ¥6trn (US$54.7bn), including Shire’s existing debt of around ¥2trn, and if all of the ¥3trn cash offered to Shire’s shareholders is funded by debt, Moody’s said. Debt-to-Ebitda will almost double to about 6x. SOFTBANK PRECEDENT Takeda’s bridge will be the largest loan from Asia, easily trumping a ¥2.65trn (then US$23bn) jumbo refinancing in November for SoftBank Group Corp. Twenty-five banks, including original mandated lead arranger and bookrunner Mizuho Bank, participated in the multi-tranche borrowing, which refinanced a ¥1trn acquisition financing from September 2016 that backed SoftBank’s £24.3bn purchase of UK chip designer ARM Holdings.
China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) provides another example of a jumbo acquisition that led to several financing opportunities through loans and bonds. In 2016, ChemChina raised US$32.9bn in recourse and non-recourse bridge loans from more than 20 Chinese, European and Asian lenders for its SFr43bn (then US$43bn) acquisition of Swiss seeds and pesticides maker Syngenta.
The Chinese state-owned giant has since raised multiple fundraisings with the latest being a US$5.5bn in March that attracted 39 lenders, including 15 mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners. In early April Syngenta mandated banks to arrange a series of bond investor meetings about raising up to US$4.8bn of bonds and possibly new bank loans.
Reporting By Wakako Sato and Alasdair Reilly; Editing by Prakash Chakravarti and Steve Garton
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/takeda-smashes-asian-loan-record/takeda-smashes-asian-loan-record-idUSL3N1SL0F4 |
LAS VEGAS, May 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Elaine P. Wynn, co-founder and the largest shareholder of Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) ("Wynn Resorts," "Wynn," the "Company"), today announced that, in a report issued on May 5, 2018, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS"), one of the world's leading independent proxy advisor firms, has recommended that Wynn shareholders "WITHHOLD" votes from legacy director nominee John J. Hagenbuch at the Company's annual meeting on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
ISS also recommended that shareholders vote "AGAINST" approval of Wynn Resorts' say-on-pay proposal.
Commenting on the ISS report, Ms. Wynn said, "I am pleased to see further support for my efforts to ensure that the Company takes the actions necessary to truly become the 'New Wynn.' I urge my fellow shareholders to join me in voting for accountability ad objective oversight in the Wynn Resorts board room."
ISS joins independent proxy advisor firm Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC ("Glass Lewis") in supporting Ms. Wynn's call to vote WITHHOLD on legacy director John J. Hagenbuch at this year's 2018 Annual Meeting. Ms. Wynn believes that Mr. Hagenbuch's role as a longtime member of the Compensation Committee and on the Special Committee responsible for overseeing the investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by his close friend, Stephen A. Wynn, the Company's former Chairman and CEO are problematic and concerning.
Commenting on the actions by the legacy directors in response to the allegations against Mr. Wynn, ISS said:
"This election will serve as a referendum not only on whether the current board has done enough to stem the fallout of the accusations against Steve Wynn, but also on whether the current board composition is sufficiently robust to minimize the possibility that similar issues reemerge in the future.
In summarizing its recommendation that shareholders should " WITHHOLD " votes from Mr. Hagenbuch, ISS commented*:
"[T]he dissident's campaign underscores the fact that Hagenbuch was part of a legacy board that oversaw material failures in governance and risk oversight . Given that the benefits of his continued presence on the board do not seem to outweigh the risks associated with permanence, shareholders are recommended to WITHHOLD votes for incumbent nominee Hagenbuch ." "Although the board responded swiftly to the crisis surrounding Wynn's departure, the degree of board-level change needed to contain the fallout from this crisis seems to reflect a short-sighted view of risk and overall poor governance over many years on the part of legacy directors ." "To be sure, the board's response has been, as stated in its May 2 press release, 'swift and decisive.' But to praise the legacy directors for responding appropriately would also be in many ways like praising someone in a burning building for appropriately calling the fire brigade. Such self-praise begs the question of what other alternatives were available to the board in the months that followed Steve Wynn's departure. Though the board acted swiftly when faced with a crisis, the legacy directors apparently failed to change the batteries of the smoke detectors well before the fire broke out. " "It's possible that the legacy directors may not have been able to foresee or prevent the allegations that have emerged against Steve Wynn - nor the potential actions that may have triggered those allegations. However, these directors, including Hagenbuch, apparently failed to construct a board, over the years, that could have weathered such a crisis without having to undergo so much turmoil. " "The degree of change effected by the board over the past three months strongly suggests that the legacy directors were not properly attuned to the issue of gender diversity over many years, resulting in a re-composition of the board that is encouraging but clearly overdue. This seems to reflect a short-sighted view of risk, particularly for a company operating at the intersection of the entertainment, hospitality, and gaming industries. In conjunction with the company's longstanding governance shortcomings (as evidenced by a ISS Governance QualityScore rating of 10 over the past five consecutive years), this appears to constitute a material failure in governance and risk oversight on the part of the legacy board." "Given that Hagenbuch bears responsibility, along with other legacy directors, for failing to address longstanding governance and risk oversight shortcomings that appear to have magnified the fallout related to the former founder/CEO's sudden departure, and that the benefits of his continued presence on the board do not seem to outweigh the risks associated with permanence , shareholders are recommended to WITHHOLD votes for Hagenbuch."
Regarding the Company's executive compensation package, ISS noted that "[t]he company has a history of pay concerns," and further said:
"[T]here are several problematic elements of the pay program that undermine the positive features and weaken the alignment between pay and performance." "While the compensation committee amended a large time-vesting equity grant for newly promoted CEO Maddox to add performance conditions on 60 percent of the grant, performance is measured annually rather than over a multi-year period and performance goals are not disclosed. Moreover, the grant is excessive relative to peers and Maddox may continue to receive additional equity during the vesting period. Finally, the company paid tax gross-ups on income tax related to annual incentive awards."
Ms. Wynn added, "If you agree that accountability and transparency are needed in the Wynn boardroom, please join me and WITHHOLD your vote from legacy director nominee John J. Hagenbuch at this year's annual meeting on May 16, 2018. "
*Elaine Wynn has neither sought nor obtained consent from any third party to use previously published information as proxy soliciting material.
Important Additional Information
Elaine P. Wynn is a participant in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of Wynn Resorts, Limited (the " Company ") in connection with the Company's 2018 annual meeting of shareholders (the " Annual Meeting "). On April 27, 2018, Ms. Wynn filed a definitive proxy statement (the " Definitive Proxy Statement ") and form of BLUE proxy card with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC ") in connection with such solicitation of proxies from the Company's shareholders. A description of Ms. Wynn's direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is contained in the Definitive Proxy Statement. MS. WYNN STRONGLY ENCOURAGES THE COMPANY'S SHAREHOLDERS TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT, ACCOMPANYING BLUE PROXY CARD AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Shareholders may obtain the Definitive Proxy Statement and any other relevant documents at no charge from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or by contacting Ms. Wynn's proxy solicitor MacKenzie Partners, Inc. at [email protected] or by calling toll-free (800) 322-2885 or collect (212) 929-5500.
If you have any questions, require assistance in voting your BLUE proxy card,
or need additional copies of Ms. Wynn's proxy materials,
please contact MacKenzie Partners, Inc. at the phone numbers listed below.
1407 Broadway, 27th Floor
New York, New York 10018
Call Collect: (212) 929-5500
or
Toll-Free: (800) 322-2885
Email: [email protected]
View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elaine-wynn-comments-on-iss-recommendation-that-wynn-resorts-shareholders-withhold-votes-from-legacy-director-john-j-hagenbuch-300643317.html
SOURCE Elaine Wynn | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/06/pr-newswire-elaine-wynn-comments-on-iss-recommendation-that-wynn-resorts-shareholders-withhold-votes-from-legacy-director-john-j-hagenbuch.html |
HONG KONG Ant Financial walks like a bank and quacks like one, too. As it lines up new investors ready to value it at some $150 billion, the Alibaba-affiliated outfit is flipping the fintech pitch and describing itself instead as techfin. Ant Financial has become part of the fabric of Chinese finance, though. Beijing would be wise to regulate accordingly.
Security guards stand in front of an inflated Rubber Duck by Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman floating on a lake at the Century Park in Shanghai October 23, 2014. REUTERS/Aly Song The Hangzhou-based company, controlled by Alibaba ( BABA.N ) boss Jack Ma, operates the hugely popular Alipay. It is also touting fast-growing technology services to prospective backers. Ant uses artificial intelligence and data analysis to help financial institutions flogging their wares on the app. Insurers, for example, can settle property claims at lightning speed with Ant’s assistance. Related fees account for about a third of revenue, a proportion that could increase quickly.
In that sense, Ant resembles e-commerce titan Alibaba, matching buyers and sellers. And yet the company has amassed over 600 million users and a whopping 2.2 trillion yuan ($345 billion) of assets under management, two-thirds of which sit in Yu’e Bao, investing idle cash from Alipay wallets in short-term securities. Size alone may not be a determining regulatory factor. BlackRock ( BLK.N ), after all, avoided being designated systemically important by U.S. authorities despite now managing over $6 trillion.
Ant’s financial circle is expanding, though. In addition to accounting for more than half of China’s mobile payments market, it offers consumer loans, credit scoring and even owns a 30 percent stake in an online bank. Credit rating agency Fitch opined in December that Yu’e Bao has “materially weaker” credit quality and “significantly weaker” liquidity and asset quality than its closest peer, a fund run by JPMorgan ( JPM.N ). And though Ant doesn’t manage Yu’e Bao, it controls the company that does. A shutdown of Alipay for any stretch of time for technological or other reasons might be scary.
Watchdogs are already clamping down on asset-backed securities used by online micro-lenders, and have ordered money-market funds to set aside bad debt provisions. The central bank is mulling new rules for financial holding companies, too. If Ant is deemed to be one, it might lead to capital requirements and other restrictions that slow the group’s breakneck growth. It may be a tech company to investors, but to regulators it could be a duck.
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ant-financial-ipo-breakingviews/breakingviews-ant-financial-quacks-like-a-bank-idUSKCN1IM0C5 |
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s defense minister said on Thursday he plans to seek approval next week for the construction of some 2,500 new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, prompting Palestinian condemnation.
FILE PHOTO: General view shows houses in Shvut Rachel, a West Bank Jewish settlement located close to the Jewish settlement of Shilo, near Ramallah October 6, 2016. REUTERS/Baz Ratner//File Photo Avigdor Lieberman, writing on Twitter, said a regional planning board would be asked to designate 1,400 of the housing units for immediate construction.
“We will promote building in all of Judea and Samaria, from the north to south, in small communities and in large ones,” Lieberman said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank.
He issued the announcement two days after the Palestinians asked prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to launch a full investigation into accusations of Israeli human rights abuses on Palestinian territory.
“Lieberman’s decision is an Israeli message to the world, the ICC, the United Nations and human rights organizations that Israel is foiling all international efforts exerted to rescue the peace process,” said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman attends the Herzliya Conference, in Herzliya, Israel, May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Nir Elias/File Photo Settlements are one of the most heated issues in efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, frozen since 2014.
Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Most countries consider settlements that Israel has built in territory it captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be illegal.
Israel disputes that its settlements are illegal and says their future should be determined in peace talks with the Palestinians.
The Trump administration has been working on a new peace proposal. David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on Israeli Channel 10 News on Wednesday that the plan has not been finalised and he believed it would be presented “within months”.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that are also home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians. Palestinians have long argued that Israeli settlements could deny them a viable and contiguous state.
Reporting by Jeffrey Heller, editing by Larry King, William Maclean
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-settlements/israel-plans-2500-new-settler-homes-in-west-bank-defense-minister-idUSKCN1IP0T6 |
May 10 (Reuters) - Nice Ltd:
* NICE REPORTS 10% REVENUE GROWTH FOR THE FIRST QUARTER 2018 ALONG WITH 32% GROWTH IN CLOUD REVENUE
* SEES Q2 2018 NON-GAAP EARNINGS PER SHARE $1.00 TO $1.06
* Q1 NON-GAAP EARNINGS PER SHARE $1.03
* SEES Q2 2018 REVENUE $338 MILLION TO $348 MILLION * COMPANY RAISES GUIDANCE FOR FULL-YEAR 2018 REVENUE AND EARNINGS PER SHARE
* Q2 EARNINGS PER SHARE VIEW $1.01 — THOMSON REUTERS I/B/E/S
* Q2 REVENUE VIEW $339.6 MILLION — THOMSON REUTERS I/B/E/S * COMPANY INCREASED FULL YEAR 2018 NON-GAAP TOTAL REVENUES TO AN EXPECTED RANGE OF $1,434 MILLION TO $1,458 MILLION
* COMPANY INCREASED FULL YEAR 2018 NON-GAAP FULLY DILUTED EARNINGS PER SHARE TO AN EXPECTED RANGE OF $4.43 TO $4.63
* QTRLY TOTAL REVENUE $335.4 MILLION VERSUS $305.6 MILLION * Q1 REVENUE VIEW $332.9 MILLION — THOMSON REUTERS I/B/E/S Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-nice-reports-q1-non-gaap-earnings/brief-nice-reports-q1-non-gaap-earnings-per-share-of-1-03-idUSASC0A1AI |
Three stocks that got pummeled last year — TripAdvisor , Chipotle and Under Armour — are making impressive rebounds in 2018. All three show promise for the rest of the year, according to some market strategists.
TripAdvisor, one turnaround stock burning up the charts, looks like it has even more potential to Miller Tabak equity strategist Matt Maley . That stock has done a 180 this year, rebounding 41 percent after a 26 percent decline in 2017.
"Over the last month, I was very worried about this stock because it was a little overbought, it was coming up against some key resistance levels," Maley told CNBC's " Trading Nation " on Tuesday. "But it broke above those resistance levels."
TripAdvisor is now bumping up against the long-term trendline stretching back to its 2014 highs. Chances are good that it can break through that resistance level, Maley said.
"The short interest in the stock is still very, very high so [if] you get another breakout move above another resistance level, those shorts are going to be squeezed again and it could move quite a bit higher," said Maley.
Short interest in TripAdvisor shares is at 19.3 percent of its total float.
Chipotle and Under Armour look like buys to Larry McDonald, editor of the Bear Traps Report. Chipotle is up 50 percent in 2018 after a 23 percent decline last year, while Under Armour has increased 39 percent following a 50 percent drop in 2017.
"Definitely buy the dips in Chipotle and Under Armour, especially on the Chipotle side," McDonald said Tuesday on "Trading Nation." "If you look at [activist investor Bill] Ackman and his history of ownership in some of these names, … there's a chance that he could try to force an acquisition."
Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square owns a 10 percent stake in Chipotle as well as a 10 percent position in Burger King parent Restaurant Brands .
Vote Vote to see results Total Votes: Not a Scientific Survey. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.
Disclaimer | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/23/chipotle-and-two-other-once-left-for-dead-stocks-are-surging-this-year.html |
May 16 (Reuters) -
* HOUZZ HIRES RICHARD WONG AS FIRST CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Source text for Eikon:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-houzz-hires-richard-wong-as-first/brief-houzz-hires-richard-wong-as-first-chief-financial-officer-idUSFWN1SN0XF |
May 12, 2018 / 11:54 PM / Updated 21 hours ago Chemicals boss Ratcliffe tops Sunday Times Rich List Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - Jim Ratcliffe, the founder and boss of chemical giant Ineos, is the richest man in the United Kingdom, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, first among a record 145 billionaires living in the country. Jim Ratcliffe, CEO of British petrochemicals company INEOS, poses for a portrait with the Canary Wharf financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Ratcliffe maintains a relatively low profile in Britain as the chief executive of the country’s largest private company which generates sales of around $60 billion (£44.4 billion) by manufacturing petrochemicals, speciality chemicals and oil products.
The Sunday Times said Ratcliffe had shot up the list of Britain’s most wealthy due to the success of Ineos and after it got access to more detail on the company which is 60 percent owned by its founder.
Compiling the list for the 30th time, the Sunday Times said the wealth of the 1,000 richest people had jumped by 10 percent this year, and said that they were more diverse than before, with more women and entrepreneurs in the list.
“Britain is changing,” said Robert Watts, the compiler of the list. “Gone are the days when old money and a small band of industries dominated the Sunday Times Rich List.
“Aristocrats and inherited wealth has been elbowed out of the list and replaced by an army of self-made entrepreneurs.”
The paper said that London was now the number one city in the world for billionaires, with some 93 billionaires born, living or with their businesses based in London, ahead of New York in second. Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Angus MacSwan | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-wealth/chemicals-boss-ratcliffe-tops-sunday-times-rich-list-idUKKCN1ID0YC |
A recovery in Italian stocks has been slowed by news that the leader of the right-wing Lega party has called for a new election.
Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that he wanted new elections in Italy "as soon as possible."
Salvini added that holding a fresh vote in late July would be disruptive for many Italians, but he noted that "the earlier we vote, the better, because it's the best way to get out of this quagmire and confusion."
Italian stocks had been in full recovery mode in early trading Wednesday after reports that Prime Minister-designate Carlo Cottarelli has been holding further talks with President Sergio Mattarella about a new technocratic government.
Assets were also boosted by reports that the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) was re-igniting talks to form a coalition with Lega. The two parties failed in their first attempt at the weekend when Mattarella rejected the appointment of an 81-year-old euroskeptic as their proposed finance minister.
Alessandra Benedetti | Corbis | Getty Images Italy's President Sergio Mattarella talks to journalists after Italy's designated Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte returned the mandate to form a new government, on May 27, 2018 in Rome, Italy. The FTSE MIB in Milan see-sawed in Wednesday morning trade and at around 1 p.m. CET (7 a.m. ET) was up by around 1.3 percent. Italy's top stocks had slipped more than 4 percent this week, before the start of Wednesday trade.
The Italian bond market has steadied after the politically sensitive two-year yield recorded its biggest spike since 1992 amid concerns over a fresh election. The yield opened at 2.73 percent on Wednesday and rose to 2.91 before falling to trade at around 1.78 percent at 1 p.m. CET. Prices move inversely to yield.
The Democratic Party in Italy has also urged President Mattarella to send the country straight back to the polls, insisting that it would not back a technocratic government led by Cottarelli.
Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Sandro Gozi, Democratic Party member and deputy secretary of state for political and European affairs, said it was time to end the confusion created by Lega and M5S.
"One day they want elections, one day they want to impeach Mattarella and the next they want to work with Cotarrelli. Uncertainty is always bad and the sooner we get political clarification, the better," he said.
show chapters Italian lawmaker: Germany has responsibility for the current state of the EU 8 Hours Ago | 01:19 Gozi also took a swipe at outside influence, claiming that the Italian political crisis was "mainly due" to ineffective European policy . The democratic politician, normally considered a pro-European voice, was particularly critical of Germany.
"It is time for fundamental European reform and the first one to understand this must be our German friends in Berlin. Germany has huge responsibility for the state of Europe today because Berlin has always postponed the reform which was urgently needed," he said. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/30/legas-salvini-call-for-fresh-election-takes-gloss-off-italian-recovery.html |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union nations should contribute new funds to the bloc’s budget to fill the gap left by Britain’s exit next year collected from taxing digital services, plastic waste and carbon emissions, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: Drinking straws protrude from a glass in a illustration picture in Loughborough, Britain April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Staples The new funds will amount to about 22 billion euros (19.4 billion pounds) per year for the 2021-27 period, or about 12 percent of the total EU budget revenue.
The Commission wants a 3 percent common consolidated corporate tax base to harmonise national rules on tax deductions, including for digital services companies. It said this could add 12 billion euros per year to the budget.
It also proposed that member states contribute 20 percent share of revenues from national emission trading system auctions to be worth 3 billion euros a year to the EU budget.
EU governments should also contribute 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging waste for a total amount estimated at 7 billion euros for the budget.
Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel @AdeCar; Editing by Foo Yun Chee
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-budget-revenues/eu-sees-22-billion-euros-of-new-budget-funds-from-plastics-co2-corporate-tax-idUSKBN1I31JA |
May 25, 2018 / 11:03 AM / Updated 14 minutes ago Tennis-Plenty of elan, but only one style suits in Paris Ossian Shine 4 Min Read
LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - Any witness to Francoise Durr’s French Open triumph in 1967 cannot fail to have been mesmerised by her snaking, sliced backhand with which she cut opponents to shreds.
Chris Evert’s pinpoint forehand, struck without spin, her non-playing hand held palm aloft, was another iconic shot which guided its proponent to seven Roland Garros singles crowns.
Yannick Noah’s athletic, net-charging game lives long in French hearts after he used it to win his home slam in 1983, while the vanquished finalist that day, Mats Wilander, won three French titles with a crafty game built on obdurate defence and smart counter-punching.
All four players excelled with differing styles. But they are styles that would be unlikely to reap rewards in today’s power-trumps-all era, where technological equipment advancements and bigger, stronger athletes have arguably wiped much of the artistry out of the arena.
It takes a brave, or foolish, pundit to look beyond Rafa Nadal for this year’s men’s champion, such is the Spaniard’s power which has exerted a stranglehold over all claycourt opponents.
Wilander himself has seen the changes since the days when a counter-puncher could prevail.
“I think that on clay you now have to be tactically more aggressive than at the other three slams,” the Swede told Reuters. “You have to control the point. You don’t need to be hitting winners, but you have to dictate the rallies.
“You have to go hard and be in control because you cannot defend your way to the French Open. One or two matches maybe. It has completely changed tactically because there has been absolutely no change in the court surface, unlike the other slams.”
Evert won seven French crowns between 1974 and 1986, and agrees that today there is little room for a variety of styles.
“I think that obviously in the past there were two styles,” she told Reuters. “When I came through on the scene in the 1970s it was serve and volleyers and European claycourt players.
“And now I think with the evolution of the rackets, the game, the athleticism it’s more of a powerful game,” said the American who works for ESPN as an analyst. AGGRESSIVE STYLE
Evert said an aggressive weapon was a must these days, to stand any chance.
“I think that you still have to have the intangibles, like patience, hit more balls into the court, move and slide well, that’s the same as 20 years ago, but you have to have the added element of power,” she said.
“Now you have to dictate the point. The player who controls and dictates the point, 75 to 80 percent of the time they will win the point. That’s the new face of it now.
“In my day you could counter-punch, a great counter-puncher could win the French. It is different right now and I think Nadal is the outlier in all of this because he still plays a claycourt game.
“He generates so much height and spin on the ball and there are very few players around like him any more.”
The women’s game has undergone a similar change, says 2000 champion Mary Pierce, France’s last champion.
“It seems that the game has changed in the way that it’s played as far as the girls are mostly playing from the baseline, hitting the ball hard,” Pierce told Reuters.
“They’re good athletes nowadays and with the rackets and the string technology that’s improved, they’re hitting the ball harder so the play is going faster. Not as much as you saw in the past of serve and volley, chip and charge and one-handed backhands and moves like that.” (Reporting by Ossian Shine, additional reporting by Martyn Herman Editing by Christian Radnedge) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/tennis-frenchopen-styles/tennis-plenty-of-elan-but-only-one-style-suits-in-paris-idUKL5N1SW2WN |
J.D. Martinez blasted a go-ahead, two-run home run in the sixth inning to help the host Boston Red Sox complete a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-4 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Martinez’s estimated 434-foot shot over the Green Monster in left-center field pulled him into a tie with Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels for the major-league lead with his 18th homer of the year.
Martinez had been tied with teammate Mookie Betts, who missed his fourth straight game with left side tightness. Betts is expected to return as soon as Thursday when the Red Sox open a three-game series in Houston.
Eduardo Nunez also knocked a solo home run (fourth of season) and had an RBI double with while both Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt had one RBI for the Red Sox, who have won nine of their last 11 games.
Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer (his eighth) and Kendrys Morales had a two-run double for Toronto, which lost for the 13th time in 17 games.
The Blue Jays are 2-7 against AL East rival Boston this season.
Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez (6-1) allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings to earn the win.
Toronto starter Sam Gaviglio (2-1) suffered his first loss after surrendering four runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings.
Bradley’s third-inning double opened the scoring and Nunez went deep in the fifth to make it 2-0. Hernandez tied it with his homer in the top of the sixth.
Nunez’s RBI double and Holt’s RBI single came in the eighth.
After Toronto put runners on first and third against Red Sox reliever Brian Johnson with nobody out in the ninth, closer Craig Kimbrel came on and promptly walked the bases loaded before Morales’ double made it 6-4.
Devon Travis grounded out, 5-3, for the inning’s first out. Curtis Granderson struck out on a foul tip and Luke Maile grounded out 4-3 to lock up Kimbrel’s 18th save.
—Field Level Media
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© 2018 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/baseball-mlb-bos-tor-recap/martinezs-two-run-hr-helps-red-sox-sweep-blue-jays-idUSMTZEE5UK5DDC8 |
UPDATE 2-Brazil's poultry industry could take years to recover from strike -minister Simon Webb Reuters
-minister@ (Adds impact details, comments from Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill Inc)
SAO PAULO, May 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's poultry industry will cull 24 million chickens a day from Thursday if suppliers cannot get food to birds because of a truckers' strike, and the government will need to bail out the hardest-hit producers, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday.
The world's top chicken exporter could see a collapse in the poultry sector if the 1.2 million birds that are key to breeding are culled, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Wednesday. It could take the industry over two years to recover if that happens, he said.
"If we lose those birds, we lose all ability to recover," he told reporters, in remarks translated from Portuguese.
"I am very concerned about the livestock sector."
Truckers striking over high fuel prices have choked Latin America's largest economy for over a week, leading to fuel and food shortages and hammering exports of everything from soy to beef and cars.
The livestock industry has already lost an estimated 1.3 billion reais ($348 million) because of the strike, Maggi said.
He estimated some 64 million birds had already been culled, a figure a little below the industry estimate of over 70 million. Brazil had about 1 billion chickens before the strike.
Some producers will have lost their working capital and would need financial assistance, he added.
The government would fund any credit it gives to the poultry industry through the existing budget, delaying spending elsewhere, he said.
SOY EXPORTS DELAYED
Soy exporters have ships stuck at anchor because they have no soybeans to load at the main ports, Maggi said. He was unable to quantify the cost of delayed shipments to the industry, but said it would be "very large".
Global grain traders Archer Daniels Midland Co and Cargill Inc on Wednesday did not comment on the economic impact due to such delays. Bunge Ltd could not be reached for comment.
But ADM spokeswoman Jackie Anderson told Reuters that trucks are slowly starting to move in Brazil, and the company was already carrying out some shipments.
"Though the recent disruption is still impacting the arrival of raw material to our local processing facilities and ports, and our ability to ship soybeans and finished products to our domestic and export customers, we expect to return to normal operations tomorrow if the situation continues to progress," Anderson said.
Cargill is monitoring the situation closely and remaining in communication with its customers, a company spokesman told Reuters. The global grain trader has four grain export terminals in Brazil, including one it jointly operates with Louis Dreyfus Co, according to Cargill's website.
Brazil is the world's top soy exporter, and its top buyer is China.
The Latin American country has benefited from a trade dispute between the United States and China as Chinese buyers have sought more cargoes from Brazil as they reduce trade with the United States.
But Maggi said in the long run, the trade dispute could harm Brazil. U.S. soy exporters would seek to sell more in other markets, possibly taking business away from Brazil, he said. If the U.S. and China later resolve their differences and soy trade picks up, Brazil could lose out, he said.
There was no quick fix to European Union restrictions on imports of Brazilian chicken, because the standards the EU had imposed on the occurrence of salmonella in Brazilian shipments were very difficult to meet, he said. ($1 = 3.7338 Brazilian reais)
(Reporting by Simon Webb; Additional reporting by P.J. Huffstutter and Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Lisa Shumaker) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/30/reuters-america-update-2-brazils-poultry-industry-could-take-years-to-recover-from-strike-minister.html |
MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fred's, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED) announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell certain assets of EntrustRx, its specialty pharmacy unit, to a subsidiary of CVS Health Corporation (CVS). The aggregate consideration to be paid is $40.0 million, plus an amount equal to the value of inventory of EntrustRx.
Commenting on the sale, Fred’s Interim CEO Joe Anto said: “One of Fred’s top priorities for 2018 has been to monetize non-core assets and we are pleased to have reached an agreement for the sale of EntrustRx. The cash proceeds will allow us to pay down a significant portion of our debt and also be used for general corporate purposes.”
The transaction is expected to close by the end of May 2018, subject to certain customary closing conditions.
Fred’s was advised on this transaction by Covington Associates and by Bass Berry & Sims.
About Fred’s Inc.
Tracing its history back to an original store in Coldwater, Mississippi, opened in 1947, today Fred’s, Inc. operates approximately 600 general merchandise and pharmacy stores, including 12 franchised locations, and three specialty pharmacy-only locations. With unique store formats and strategies that combine the best elements of a value-focused retailer with a healthcare-focused drug store, Fred’s stores offer frequently purchased items that address the everyday needs of its customers. This includes nationally recognized brands, proprietary Fred’s label products, and a full range of value-priced selections. For more information about the Company, visit Fred’s website at www.fredsinc.com .
Forward Looking Statements
Comments in this news release that are not historical facts are that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the A reader can identify because they are not limited to historical facts or they use such words as “outlook,” “guidance,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “goal,” “intend,” “committed,” “continue,” or “will likely result” and similar expressions that concern the Company’s strategy, plans, intentions or beliefs about future occurrences or results. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to (i) the competitive nature of the industries in which we operate; (ii) the implementation of our strategic plan, and its impact on our sales, costs and operations; (iii) utilizing our existing and new stores and increasing our pharmacy department presence in new and existing stores; (iv) our reliance on a single supplier of pharmaceutical products; (v) our pharmaceutical drug pricing; (vi) reimbursement rates and the terms of our agreements with pharmacy benefit management companies; (vii) our private brands; (viii) the seasonality of our business and the impact of adverse weather conditions; (ix) operational difficulties; (x) merchandise supply and pricing; (xi) consumer demand and product mix; (xii) delayed openings and operating new stores and distribution facilities; (xiii) our employees; (xiv) risks relating to payment processing; (xv) our computer system, and the processes supported by our information technology infrastructure; (xvi) our ability to protect the personal information of our customers and employees; (xvii) cyber-attacks; (xviii) changes in governmental regulations; (xix) the outcome of legal proceedings, including claims of product liability; (xx) insurance costs; (xxi) tax assessments and unclaimed property audits; (xxii) current economic conditions; (xxiii) changes in third-party reimbursements; (xxiv) the terms of our existing and future indebtedness; (xxv) our acquisitions and the ability to effectively integrate businesses that we acquire; (xxvi) our ability to pay dividends; and the factors listed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly filings on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to release revisions to these to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unforeseen events, except as required to be reported under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contacts
Fred’s Inc.
Joe Anto, 901-238-3606
Interim CEO/ Chief Financial Officer
Liolios
Sean McGowan or Cody Slach, 949-574-3860
[email protected]
Source:Fred's, Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/globe-newswire-fredas-reaches-definitive-agreement-to-sell-specialty-pharmacy-unit.html |
A massive oil discovery made in Bahrain won't stop the ongoing process to diversify the economy, the country's industry and commerce minister said Wednesday.
In early April, Bahrain's Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa announced Bahrain's biggest discovery of hydrocarbon deposits in decades. The deposits are estimated to be of at least 80 billion barrels of tight oil and between 10 and 20 trillion cubic feet of deep natural gas.
Still, Bahrain's Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Al Zayani, insisted the country would not be distracted from its economic reforms by the find, a boon for the smallest oil exporter in the Gulf.
"Well, (the oil find) is a gift from God and you shouldn't say no to gifts from God," Al Zayani told the audience at the Gateway Gulf Investment Forum in Bahrain on Wednesday.
The oil discovery comes at a welcome time when Bahrain's budget deficit is predicted to be 11.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018. Oil prices have risen too, close to the $75 a barrel level, making the find more valuable. Bahrain is the oldest, yet smallest, oil producer in the Gulf.
Al Zayani said moves to diversify the economy away from oil (55 percent of its total exports is in oil) would continue regardless.
"We're sticking the course, what we found, the recent discovery, is something additional. It will no doubt have a positive impact in growing our GDP, it will no doubt have more contribution from the oil and gas sector to the GDP, but I think we should act wisely and use the revenues generated from this find to develop our economy and diversify it even further," he said.
He said the country needed to use the funds gained from the oil to invest in infrastructure, reduce national debt and invest in human capital.
"The most undersold asset we have in Bahrain is the Bahrainis. We don't market them often enough and they are what makes this economy strong and growing."
show chapters What’s next for oil? 8:35 AM ET Fri, 13 April 2018 | 03:21 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/bahrains-vast-oil-find-is-a-gift-from-god--but-it-wont-stop-our-diversification-minister-says.html |
April 30 (Reuters) - UPPER EGYPT FLOUR MILLS:
* NINE-MONTH NET PROFIT AFTER TAX EGP 182.5 MILLION VERSUS EGP 163.9 MILLION YEAR AGO
* NINE-MONTH REVENUE EGP 795 MILLION VERSUS EGP 2.29 BILLION YEAR AGO Source:( bit.ly/2r9gyct ) Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-upper-egypt-flour-mills-9-month-pr/brief-upper-egypt-flour-mills-9-month-profit-rises-idUSFWN1S70D4 |
ALLENTOWN, Pa., May 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) announced today the pricing of a registered underwritten offering of 55 million shares of its common stock at a price per share of $27.00 in connection with the forward sale agreements described below. J.P. Morgan, Barclays and Citigroup are acting as joint book-running managers for this offering.
In connection with the offering, PPL entered into forward sale agreements with affiliates of each of J.P. Morgan and Barclays (the "forward counterparties") under which PPL agreed to issue and sell to the forward counterparties 55 million shares of its common stock at an initial forward sale price per share equal to the price per share at which the underwriters agreed to purchase the shares in the offering, subject to certain adjustments, upon physical settlement of the forward sale agreements. The underwriters of the offering have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 8.25 million shares of PPL's common stock upon the same terms, solely to cover any over-allotments. The offering is expected to close on May 11, 2018, subject to customary closing conditions. If the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option, PPL expects to enter into additional forward sale agreements with the forward counterparties with respect to the additional shares.
Settlement of the forward sale agreements is expected to occur on or prior to November 8, 2019. PPL may, subject to certain conditions, elect cash settlement or net share settlement for all or a portion of its rights or obligations under the forward sale agreements.
If PPL elects physical settlement of the forward sale agreements, it expects to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes.
The offering is being made pursuant to PPL's effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). The preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus related to the offering will be available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov . Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained from the joint-book running managers for the offering as follows:
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC
c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions
1155 Long Island Avenue
Edgewood, NY 11717
Telephone: (866) 803-9204
Barclays Capital Inc.
c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions
1155 Long Island Avenue
Edgewood, NY 11717
[email protected]
Telephone: (888) 603-5847
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions
1155 Long Island Avenue
Edgewood, NY 11717
Telephone: (800) 831-9146
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation or sale of these securities would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any jurisdiction. The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus and a related prospectus supplement meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
About PPL Corporation
Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) is one of the largest companies in the U.S. utility sector. PPL's seven high-performing, award-winning utilities serve 10 million customers in the U.S. and United Kingdom. With more than 12,000 employees, the company is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service and reliability and delivering superior value for shareowners.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this news release, including terms and phrases that include "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "continue," "should," "could," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "will," "potential," "forecast," "target," "guidance," "outlook," or other similar terminology, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Although PPL Corporation believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in the statements. The following are among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements: market demand for energy in our U.S. service territories; weather conditions affecting customer energy usage and operating costs; the effect of any business or industry restructuring; the profitability and liquidity of PPL Corporation and its subsidiaries; new accounting requirements or new interpretations or applications of existing requirements; operating performance of our facilities; the length of scheduled and unscheduled outages at our generating plants; environmental conditions and requirements and the related costs of compliance; system conditions and operating costs; development of new projects, markets and technologies; performance of new ventures; asset or business acquisitions and dispositions; any impact of severe weather on our business; receipt of necessary government permits, approvals, rate relief and regulatory cost recovery; capital market conditions and decisions regarding capital structure; the impact of state, federal or foreign investigations applicable to PPL Corporation and its subsidiaries; the outcome of litigation against PPL Corporation and its subsidiaries; stock price performance; the market prices of equity securities and the impact on pension income and resultant cash funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans; the securities and credit ratings of PPL Corporation and its subsidiaries; cybersecurity threats; political, regulatory or economic conditions in states, regions or countries where PPL Corporation or its subsidiaries conduct business, including any potential effects of threatened or actual terrorism or war or other hostilities; British pound sterling to U.S. dollar exchange rates; new state, federal or foreign legislation, including new tax legislation; and the commitments and liabilities of PPL Corporation and its subsidiaries. Any such forward-looking statements should be considered in light of such important factors and in conjunction with factors and other matters discussed in PPL Corporation's Form 10-K and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Note to Editors: Visit our media website at www.pplnewsroom.com for additional news about PPL Corporation.
Contacts:
For news media: Ryan Hill, 610-774-5997
For financial analysts: Andy Ludwig, 610-774-3389
View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ppl-corporation-announces-pricing-of-common-stock-offering-with-a-forward-component-300645064.html
SOURCE PPL Corporation | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/08/pr-newswire-ppl-corporation-announces-pricing-of-common-stock-offering-with-a-forward-component.html |
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