Reuters UK Business

By Ozan Ergenay and Johann M Cherian (Reuters) -European shares edged up on Thursday, with industrials lifting the benchmark index following ABB’s upbeat results, while Germany-listed Sartorius was on track for its biggest drop in six months after bleak quarterly orders. The continent-wide STOXX 600 was up 0.3%, as of 0854 GMT, as the earnings …

Industrials lift STOXX 600 as earnings season gathers steam Read More »

PARIS (Reuters) – Lactalis, the world’s largest dairy producer, said on Thursday its sales had risen by 4.3% to 29.5 billion euros ($31.51 billion) in 2023, but its net profit margin remained low as inflation pressured consumers purchasing power. Lactalis, privately controlled by the Besnier family, said its net profit stood at 428 million euros …

French dairy group Lactalis says 2023 profitability hit by inflation Read More »

By Yadarisa Shabong (Reuters) -Nashville-based independent music company Concord has agreed to buy Britain’s Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $1.4 billion, the companies said on Thursday, to gain rights to the catalogues of artists including Shakira and Neil Young. Hipgnosis, a music rights investment company founded by industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis and listed in London in …

Hipgnosis agrees sale to Concord in $1.4 billion music rights deal Read More »

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager on Thursday rejected calls for a shake up of European merger rules, saying the best way to create companies strong enough to compete with U.S. and Chinese rivals is to foster competition. Vestager’s comments came a day after former Italian Prime Minister Enrico …

Vestager defends EU merger rules, says competition creates strong companies Read More »

By Louis van Boxel-Woolf and Bartosz Dabrowski (Reuters) -Lift and escalator maker Schindler reiterated its full-year revenue guidance for low single-digit percentage growth on Thursday, even as it cut expectations for new installations in China against a challenging backdrop. Although Chinese installations outpaced the rest of Asia-Pacific in both units and value in the first …

Schindler reaffirms 2024 sales target, but warns of weakness in China Read More »

By America Hernandez PARIS (Reuters) -A group of TotalEnergies investors is calling for the French oil and gas major to split the roles of CEO and chairman, which they say could speed up its shift away from fossil fuels. The resolution to be proposed for inclusion at TotalEnergies’ annual general meeting on May 24 was …

TotalEnergies investors call for split of CEO and chair roles Read More »

BERLIN (Reuters) – Tesla has let go of 300 temporary workers in Germany in keeping with their contract period, the e-car maker said on Thursday, amid a drive by the company to slim down its global workforce by 10%. “These are not layoffs of Tesla workers,” said a spokesperson for the company in Germany, where …

Tesla says 300 subcontracted workers let go in Germany Read More »

By Olivier Sorgho (Reuters) -Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia reported a smaller-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Thursday as sluggish demand for 5G gear in key markets North America and India continued to weigh on sales. “This will still be a weak year, for the mobile RAN (radio access network) market and we expect, as …

Nokia joins Ericsson in forecasting stronger second half after Q1 profit miss Read More »

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank has made it “crystal clear” that interest rates could be cut in June but has also been firm that policy decisions beyond that remain up in the air, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday. The ECB put a June rate cut on the table last …

ECB ‘crystal clear’ on June rate cut, de Guindos says Read More »