the bottomline

THE HAGUE:

Dutch electronics giant Philips Wednesday announced it was buying for 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) a specialist US company manufacturing ground-breaking treatments for heart and vascular diseases to broaden its health portfolio.

The Amsterdam-based company said it would acquire Spectranetics, which has developed a range of lasers and balloons for treating blockages in cardio and arterial vessels.

Philips also simultaneously launched a two-year share buyback scheme of up to 1.5 billion euros, which will start in the third quarter and represent a total of some 46.1 million shares.

Spectranetics, which has 900 employees, is trialling a drug-coated balloon to treat calcified blood vessels from the inside and expects to get FDA approval in the United States soon, said Philips chief executive officer, Frans van Houten.

“The drug-coated balloon segment is one of the fastest growing segments in peripheral vessel procedures,” Van Houten told reporters on an early conference call.

The treatment had so far shown “fantastic performance,” he said, and Spectranetics, which is headquartered in Colorado Springs, is expected to see some $300 million in revenues this year. (AFP)

LONDON:

Britain’s Co-operative Bank said on Wednesday it had agreed a £700 million ($897.5 million) financial rescue package with leading investors that will shore up its capital base, ending months of uncertainty about its future.

Investors who own the bank’s debt will pump £443 million into recapitalising its bonds and will also help it raise £250 million in fresh equity, the bank said in a statement.

The bank and parent Co-operative Group have agreed terms to separate their respective pension plans, overcoming a stumbling block after months of negotiations with investors as to who would be liable for the members’ pensions.

The bank will contribute £100 million over 10 years to its section of the shared pension scheme.

Co-Op Group’s holding in the bank will fall to around 1 percent from 20 percent, leaving the bank’s US-based hedge fund owners in control.

The bank provides banking services to almost 4 million retail and small and medium-sized enterprises. (RTRS)

LONDON:

Supermarket giant Tesco on Wednesday announced plans to cut 1,200 of its head office positions as part of ongoing cost-cutting at Britain’s biggest retailer.

“We anticipate reducing our number of roles in the (head) office by around 25 percent, or 1,200 roles” at the group’s offices in Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City, a company spokesman told AFP.

He added: “Today we have shared with colleagues across Tesco changes that we plan to make to the way we operate our business.

“This is a significant next step to continue the turnaround of the business.”

Tesco is undergoing vast cost-cutting under chief executive Dave Lewis and last week revealed plans to axe 1,100 jobs with the closure of a call centre in the Welsh capital Cardiff.

Lewis was parachuted into Tesco in July 2014 in a bid to turn around its fortunes at the group, which posted a record loss in 2014/2015.

He has since launched a deep costcutting drive and sold a series of assets.

LONDON:

Iraqi Kurdistan-focused oil producer Genel Energy has appointed an outsider as chief financial officer, diversifying a leadership team that has been dominated by Turkish executives since the departure of its two co-founders.

Genel said on Wednesday it had appointed Esa Ikaheimonen to head its finance team, following the departure of CFO Ben Monaghan.

Ikaheimonen, who starts on July 3 based in London, recently worked as CFO for drilling companies Transocean and Seadrill after spending about 20 years at Royal Dutch Shell, where he was vice-president of finance at the firm’s Africa exploration and production business.

“Importantly, he is to be based in London, which is important given the increasing Turkish influence over and ownership of the business,” analysts at Stifel wrote.

Shares in Genel were down 0.3 percent at 0842 GMT.

Genel has seen a substantial leadership reshuffle in recent months amid a steep share price drop over the past three years following two oil reserve downgrades of its main Taq Taq oilfield, failed exploration elsewhere and weak oil prices. (RTRS)

LONDON:

Insurer and reinsurer MS Amlin said on Wednesday it would move its European business to Belgium to make sure it can continue to serve customers after Britain leaves the European Union.

“(MS Amlin) today announced plans to re-domicile its European business, Amlin Insurance Societas Europaea (AISE) to Belgium in response to Brexit. MS Amlin will retain its global headquarters in London,” the firm said in a statement.

AISE has a Brussels-based branch and offices in Antwerp, MS Amlin said, adding it writes marine, casualty, property and fleet business through its UK domicile and its branches in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. (RTRS)

LONDON:

Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) is in negotiations to buy a stake in Toshiba’s NuGen nuclear project in Britain, a KEPCO executive said on Wednesday.

“We are in negotiations with Toshiba to take some share (in the project),” Jong-hyuck Park, chief nuclear officer at state-owned KEPCO, said on the sidelines of an industry event in London.

If successful the South Korean firm would want to use its own nuclear reactor design for the British project, Park said.

Toshiba’s nuclear arm Westinghouse was initially expected to provide the reactor and won regulatory approval for its technology earlier this year. (RTRS)

LONDON:

British transport company Stagecoach Group Plc on Wednesday reported a 15.3 percent drop in its fullyear pretax profit as economic conditions hurt its domestic bus business.

The company reported a pretax profit of £158.7 million ($203.4 million) for the year ended April 29. Full-year revenue rose to £3.94 billion from £3.87 billion, a year earlier.

“Looking ahead, we remain cautious on the short-term outlook for revenue trends and operating profit in our bus and rail markets in the UK,” the company said in a statement. (RTRS)