February, 2016

• 11 February

  Azeri bank overhaul ends after seventh lender shut

  

  Bloomberg The Azeri central bank said the job of overhauling the financial industry is almost done after shuttering every seventh lender in the country in 15 days and pushing several others to merge. “The process of restructuring the banking sector has mostly been completed,” Namiq Aliyev, head of the central bank’s press service, said Thursday in an e-mailed response to ...

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• 11 February

  Deutsche Bank CoCo holders face brunt of risk

  

  Bloomberg When European regulators created a new type of bank debt, the idea was to transfer risk from taxpayers to investors. Now bondholders are learning what that really means. Yield-starved investors bought $102 billion of the contingent convertible bonds, securities created to help troubled banks hang onto cash in times of stress by skipping coupon payments without defaulting and converting ...

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• 11 February

  Home prices up in USA metro areas

  Bloomberg Home prices rose in 81 percent of U.S. metropolitan areas in the fourth quarter, with the pace of gains accelerating even as sales slowed from earlier in the year, the National Association of Realtors said. The median price of an existing single-family home increased from a year earlier in 145 of the 179 markets measured, the group said in ...

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• 11 February

  Damac profits fall in the final quarter of 2015

  Manhattan / Bloomberg Dubai’s Damac Properties reported a 12 per cent fall in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday, according to a company statement on the Dubai stock exchange (DFM). The developer reported a net profit of AED844m ($229.8m) for the three months to 31 December, according to calculations by Reuters, which calculated was the absence of a quarterly breakdown. This ...

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• 11 February

  Metro sales up in Q1

  Berlin / AFP German retail giant Metro said on Thursday that profits rose strongly in the first quarter, helped by strong Christmas business and gains from divestments. Metro, which runs its business year from October to September, said in a statement that bottom-line net profit rose by 36 percent to 549 million euros ($620 million) in the three months to ...

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• 11 February

  Private-plane purchases drop as commodities market shakes

  Bloomberg Spending on business aircraft fell 3.1 percent last year as a commodities downturn crimped demand for long-range jets in emerging markets. Companies and wealthy individuals spent $18.7 billion on private jets, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. The report is adjusted because Bombardier Inc. hasn’t reported fourth-quarter results yet. Sales of large-cabin planes, such as Bombardier’s Global 5000, ...

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• 11 February

  Whole Foods forecasts key sales could slip for year

  

  AUSTIN/ AP Whole Foods says its sales at established locations slipped in its fiscal first quarter and forecast the figure to be flat to down 2 percent for the year, as it works to keep prices down and fend off rivals. The Austin, Texas company noted that its comparable store sales have been “particularly difficult to predict” given the competitive ...

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• 11 February

  Tesla’s 4Q net loss doubles but shares up

  

  DETROIT / AP Tesla Motors posted its 11th straight quarterly loss, and its results badly missed Wall Street’s forecasts. But the electric car maker’s shares soared anyway on news that its lower-priced Model 3 sedan is on schedule to be released next year. Tesla said it will unveil the much-anticipated $35,000 car on March 31 and expects to start production ...

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• 11 February

  Boeing to cut jobs in commercial aircraft biz

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. plans to cut jobs in its commercial airplane division, the company’s largest business, as part of cost reductions intended to improve competitiveness. The planemaker will first seek to trim executive and managerial positions, Ray Conner, chief executive of the Boeing unit, told employees in a webcast. Involuntary cuts may be necessary as a last resort in addition ...

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• 11 February

  German vegan retailer Veganz eyes IPO in 2018

  AFP The Berlin-based vegan food retailer Veganz is looking to treble sales this year and is eyeing a possible stock market listing in 2018, its founder said in a magazine interview. “People cannot get enough of our products,” Veganz chief Jan Bredack told the weekly WirtschaftsWoche. Last year, Veganz clocked up annual sales of 24 million euros ($27 million) and ...

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