Sydney / AFP ANZ Bank’s interim net profit slumped 22 percent on Tuesday on the back of impairment and restructuring charges, but the result was welcomed by the market as the lender repositions for a challenging future. The Australia and New Zealand Banking (ANZ) Group’s result for the six months to March 31 came in at Aus$2.73 billion (US$2.0 …

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG said first-quarter profit dropped 64 percent, missing analyst estimates, as market turbulence eroded earnings at the wealth-management and securities units. The shares plunged. Net income declined to 707 million Swiss francs ($741 million) from 1.98 billion francs a year earlier, the Zurich-based bank said on Tuesday. That fell short of the 735 million-franc average estimate …

  Bloomberg U.S. construction spending advanced in March to its highest level in more than eight years. Gains in home building and nonresidential construction offset a drop in government projects. Construction spending rose 0.3 percent in March after a 1 percent gain in February, the Commerce Department said on Monday. The back-to-back increases raised total spending to a seasonally adjusted …

  Berlin / Bloomberg Hugo Boss AG, the embattled German fashion retailer, reported its biggest drop in quarterly profit in at least six years and said it considers closing stores to reduce costs. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and other items declined 29 percent to 93.5 million euros ($108 million) in the first quarter, the Metzingen, Germany-based company …

  Frankfurt / AFP Lufthansa shares nosedived on Tuesday after the German airline said one-off effects and price pressures pushed it into a loss in the first three months of the year. Lufthansa shares were among the biggest losers in morning trade on the Frankfurt stock exchange, shedding nearly six percent in a market that was down by around 1.4 …

  New York / Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson must pay $55 million to a 62-year-old South Dakota woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on the company’s talcum powder in the second such trial loss this year. J&J is accused in more than 1,000 lawsuits in state and federal courts of ignoring studies linking its Shower-to-Shower product and Johnson’s Baby Powder …

  Washington / Bloomberg Boeing Co. is prepared to defend its rainmaker 737 jetliner as competition heats up at the top and bottom of the lucrative single-aisle market, Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said. The threat to the US planemaker was underscored when Delta Air Lines Inc. announced orders last week for Bombardier Inc.’s all-new C Series jets and Airbus …

  New York / Bloomberg Consumers in New York, California and Illinois sued PepsiCo Inc.’s Quaker Oats for false advertising, claiming the brand’s signature product contains a possible carcinogen that is not listed as an ingredient. The plaintiffs say in court documents that the company’s oatmeal has glyphosate, an herbicide the World Health Organization declared a probable carcinogen last year, …

    Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business Nestled in the hustle-bustle of the ongoing Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF), a wood-designed pavilion hogged much of the limelight with the superlatives of rare books collected from across the globe. From the first edition of the first scientific description of ancient and modern Egypt, to the only surviving leaflet of one …

  Emirates Business Student visitors at the 26th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) made a major footfall. Various exhibitors at the event provided backpack containing essential publications as part of its initiatives to encourage reading and boost the fair’s role as an international platform to strengthen cultural dialogue in the community. Considering the importance of reading, one of the …