the bottomline

MEMPHIS:

FedEx says it is investing more than $1 billion to modernize its Tennessee hub, in a move the shipping giant says will improve its efficiency and reliability as it delivers packages throughout the world.

FedEx Corp Chairman and CEO Fred W. Smith and Tennessee Gov Bill Haslam made the announcement Wednesday while standing in front of a FedEx airplane on the tarmac of a private terminal near Memphis International Airport. (AP)

NEW YORK:

Walmart is expanding its same-day online grocery delivery service to more than 40 percent of US households, or 100 metro areas, by year-end as it tries to keep pace with online leader Amazon.com.

The service is currently available in six markets.

Tom Ward, vice president of Walmart’s digital operations, says the retail giant is powering the expansion of its same-day delivery service using its online grocery pickup program. That service uses personal shoppers to select items and then take them to shoppers’ cars parked at the curb. (AP)

NEW YORK:

Chipotle says its longtime head of marketing is leaving the company, just a week after the struggling burrito chain installed a new CEO to try and revive the brand.

Mark Crumpacker, who has been Chipotle’s chief marketing officer for nine years, will leave the company Thursday.

Last year, Crumpacker pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug possession charge after being named a customer in a 2016 cocaine ring indictment in New York. Chipotle placed him on leave for a few months before he returned to the job. (AP)

NEW YORK:

Signet Jewelers Ltd will close more than 200 stores and expects a profit slump in 2019 as it faces an increasingly tough market for its Kay and Jared stores.

The company’s strategic plan and weak outlook weighed down shares, despite a boost in fourth-quarter profit on a tax gain. Shares fell $7.56, or 15.8 percent, to $40.40 in morning trading.

The Hamilton, Bermuda company’s profit during the quarter ended Feb 3 rose 19.1 percent to $351.3 million, or $5.24 per share, as revenue rose 1 percent to $2.29 billion. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains, were $4.28 per share, topping Wall Street expectations. (AP)

LONDON:

British financial services giant Prudential said Wednesday that it will split into two separate firms, in order to focus on strategic priorities in the various regions in which it operates.

The demerger will create M&G Prudential, a savings and investment provider for Britain and Europe, and Prudential plc, which will mostly focus on insurance in Asia, the United States and Africa, the company said in a statement.

No clear timetable was given for the move, which was revealed alongside the group’s annual results. (AFP)

LONDON:

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc is expected to cut more jobs in its generics business to save costs, the Jordan-based drugmaker said on Wednesday, after reporting full-year profit and revenue largely in line with expectations.

Hikma, which was forced to cut revenue guidance for its generics business three times in 2017 due to pricing pressures in the United States, has cut 200 jobs since it bought the business from Boehringer Ingelheim in 2016, CFO Khalid Nabilsi said in a call to Reuters. (RTRS)

LONDON:

Unilever is set to abandon its British headquarters as the AngloDutch consumer goods giant moves to a sole legal home base in the Netherlands, Sky News reported on Wednesday.

A formal announcement is due on Thursday, said the report after a Wednesday board meeting to finalise the decision.

Unilever was not available for comment on a decision which would unpick a business model that dates back to 1930.

The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream had last year announced a review of its dual-headed structure after rebuffing a $143 billion takeover offer from Kraft Heinz. (RTRS)

MADRID:

Zara fashion brand owner Inditex says strong sales and investment in technology for its online and physical stores boosted net profit in the past fiscal year by 7 percent.

The world’s largest clothes retailer said Wednesday that net profit for the 12 months ending Jan. 31 rose to 3.37 billion euros ($4.11 billion) from 3.16 billion euros a year earlier.

Sales rose 9 percent to 25.34 billion euros in the fiscal year, with revenue for online sales growing by 41 percent.

The group was founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and has become the world’s largest clothes retailer with eight brands, including Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull & Bear. (AP)

PARIS:

Air France said on Tuesday it had rejected a demand by staff for a 6 percent wage increase and instead offered unions to compensate workers for any reduction in spending power since 2011, hoping to avert a planned March 23 strike.

The carrier said its workers’ demands were impossible to meet in the current financial situation without compromising the company’s growth strategy, and proposed negotiations.

“As a result, at the end of these negotiations, no Air France employee will have seen their purchasing power decrease over this period,” the company said in the statement. (RTRS)

SINGAPORE:

Commodities merchant Noble Group has finalised a restructuring agreement with a group of senior creditors holding 46 percent of its debt, and is in talks with others, as it races to launch a deal crucial to its survival.

The embattled firm has been negotiating a $3.4 billion debt-for-equity swap for months, after selling billions of dollars of assets, taking hefty writedowns and cutting hundreds of jobs over the past three years.

Hong Kong-headquartered Noble, once Asia’s biggest commodity trader with ambitions to take on global giants such as Glencore, also outlined steps it would take if the deal doesn’t go through. (RTRS)