February, 2017

• 9 February

  US-funded news channel in Russian offers Kremlin alternative

  

    WASHINGTON / AP Two US government-funded news outlets are launching a global Russian-language TV network aimed at providing an alternative to slick, Kremlin-controlled media that critics say spread propaganda and misinformation. Current Time, run by Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with help from Washington-based Voice of America, is targeting Russian speakers across the globe with round-the-clock programming intended to ...

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• 9 February

  Winter cold exposes flaws of Europe energy market

  

    Bloomberg As freezing weather triggered energy shortages across southeast Europe at the start of the year, Bulgaria’s refusal to export power was typical in a region where everyone had to fend for themselves. Nations from Greece to Hungary hoarded power last month in response to the coldest winter in a decade, exposing the weakness of the region’s power markets, ...

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• 9 February

  Total lifts dividend, plans growth as profits beat estimates

  

    Bloomberg Total SA raised its dividend by 1.6 percent and said it may give the go-ahead for almost a dozen new projects in the next 18 months after fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates. “We’re going to propose to increase the dividend as we have confidence in the future,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne told reporters in Paris. “My goal ...

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• 9 February

  Norway expands slower than estimates as oil slump nears end

    Bloomberg Norway’s economic growth picked up slower than anticipated in the fourth quarter as western Europe’s biggest crude producer emerges from a protracted slump in its oil industry. Mainland gross domestic product, which excludes oil, gas and shipping, grew 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, Statistics Norway said on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated a gain of ...

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• 9 February

  Nordic wind crush comes too soon for Sweden

  

    Bloomberg The quest to supply everyt- hing from data server halls, insurance companies to large furniture stores with green electricity has flooded the Nordic region with wind power and crashed a $100 million renewable-certificates market. While that’s good for the environment and the image of companies from Google Inc. to Ikea Group, the growth in renewable energy has been ...

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• 9 February

  Suncor output hits record with oil-sands unit at full speed

    Bloomberg Suncor Energy Inc.’s production rose to a record last quarter after the oil-sands giant took control of the Syncrude processing unit and put it at full throttle. Canada’s biggest energy company produced 738,500 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the period, up from 582,900 in the previous quarter, according to an earnings report. The jump was largely ...

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• 9 February

  SoftBank nears first closing of $100bn tech fund

  

    Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is aiming to close the first round of investment in its planned $100 billion technology fund by the end of this month, giving Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son an enormous war chest to go on the hunt for deals, according to people familiar with the matter. The initial investments will likely include $45 billion from ...

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• 9 February

  Infosys founders to question payments for CEO

  

    Bloomberg The board of Infosys Ltd., India’s second-largest technology services company, is facing questions over executive compensation and corporate governance in a letter sent by at least three of its founders, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan have signed the document asking why Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka’s compensation was ...

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• 9 February

  Indonesia’s biggest coal miner sees first profit since 2011

    Bloomberg PT Bumi Resources will post its first annual profit in five years as a rally in fuel prices help Asia’s biggest exporter of thermal coal push through a debt restructuring. The company, controlled by the family of Indonesian politician Aburizal Bakrie, had net income of $101.6 million last year, compared with a net loss of $2 billion in ...

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• 9 February

  Syngenta open to picking up disposals from farming deals

    Bloomberg Syngenta AG, which sees its $43 billion takeover by China National Chemical Corp. closing by the end of June, said it’s open to pursuing assets that might become available as a result of antitrust reviews of other mega deals in the agricultural industry. There could be attractive seed acquisition opportunities stemming from the merger of Dow Chemical Co. ...

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