Bloomberg Arla Foods amba, one of Europe’s top milk producers, reported a 34% jump in profit in the first half of the year as consumers stockpiled products including butter in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. The pandemic sparked increased dairy consumption in homes, which helped offset declines in the food service sector, according to Arla’s chief executive officer, Peder …

Bloomberg Spain’s CaixaBank SA and Bankia SA are exploring a merger to form the largest lender in the country and kickstart consolidation in one of the hardest-hit European economies during the pandemic. The firms are examining an all-share transaction, CaixaBank said in a statement overnight, in a deal that would create a lender with a combined market value of about …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has dropped its pursuit of Wirecard AG’s banking unit and related assets after balking at the price sought by the payments company’s insolvency administrator. Wirecard’s insolvency administrator, Michael Jaffe, had been seeking at least $119 million to proceed with a sale of the assets rather than a liquidation. Deutsche Bank had submitted a bid for some …