The bottomline
NEW YORK: Royalty Pharma said Monday that it wants to buy Elan Corp PLC for about $6.5 billion, but has yet to receive a formal response from the Irish drugmaker.
The $11-per-share offer, which was made earlier this month and applies to both Elan’s regular and American depository shares, represents a 4 percent premium over its closing ADS price on Friday.
The news sent Elan’s US shares up 70 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $11.30 in midday trading, after peaking at $11.61 shortly after the session’s opening bell.
Royalty Pharma, a private company based in New York, acquires royalty interests in marketed and late-stage biopharmaceutical products. It does not discover, develop or market drugs. The company said Monday that Dublin-based Elan hadn’t formally responded to its proposal and that it’s been unsuccessful in engaging the company in talks since the proposal was made. (AP) MOORESVILLE, North Carolina: Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos. says cleanup efforts after Superstorm Sandy in the US Northeast helped its fourth-quarter net income surpass expectations.
But its net income fell 11 percent from last year’s quarter, which included an extra week of revenue.
Lowe’s net income totaled $288 million, or 26 cents per share, for the three months ended Feb 1. That’s down from $322 million, or 26 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expected 23 cents per share.
Revenue fell 5 percent to $11.05 billion. Analysts expected $10.85 billion.
Lowe’s expects fiscal 2013 net income of $2.05 per share. Analysts expect $2.10 per share. Lowe’s, which operates 1,754 stores in the US, Canada and Mexico. (AP) OKLAHOMA CITY: Chesapeake Energy said on Monday that it will sell a 50 percent stake in oil and natural gasrich land in Oklahoma to Chinese oil company Sinopec for $1.02 billion as the natural gas producer continues selling off assets to repay debt.
Chesapeake is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. after Exxon Mobil. Hurt by low natural gas prices, it has sold off billions in assets to pay off debt incurred as it rushed to buy land and other assets. It’s also increasingly focused on more lucrative oil and gas liquids. (AP) MADRID: CaixaBank, Spain’s biggest bank as measured by assets under management, said Monday it plans to slash around 3,000 jobs or 10 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring, the latest in a string of staff cuts by lenders.
The Barcelona-based bank said the restructuring was needed following the purchase of smaller rivals Banca Civica and Banco de Valencia which has caused its staffing levels to soar.
“In order to adapt to the current environment and improve the efficiency of resources, and following the recent integration of the savings group formed by Banca Civica and the forthcoming incorporation of Banco de Valencia, CaixaBank considers it necessary to carry out a restructuring plan,” it said. (AFP) PARIS: French bank Credit Agricole could cut another 1,400 jobs in 2013 at its regional branches, the daily Les Echos said Monday, but unions said no figures had yet been decided.
Citing an internal document, the busi- ness daily said that Credit Agricole’s regional branches expected only half of departing employees would be replaced in 2013, leading to a staff cut of 1,418 posts.
The bank declined to comment when contacted by AFP. A union representative confirmed the figures to AFP, but said they were based on projections made in November and were likely to change. (AFP) THE HAGUE: Dutch manufacturing giant Philips said Monday it intends to drop the word “Electronics” from its name as it shifts away from consumerbased entertainment towards health, wellbeing and lighting products.
Based in Eindhoven in the southern Netherlands, Philips announced in late January it was selling its lifestyle entertainment branch which makes audio, video and multimedia products to Japanese company Funai in a 150-million-euro ($199 million) deal. (AFP) LONDON: Domino’s Pizza, Britain’s biggest pizza delivery firm, said heavy snow hit its UK sales at the start of 2013, after surging online demand helped to lift annual profit 11 percent.
The firm, which operates the British, Irish and German franchises of the global delivery brand, said on Monday pretax profit for the year to Dec 30 was £46.7 million ($71 million), up 10.8 percent on 2011, and in line with forecasts.
Domino’s promotions and popular online ordering service have struck a chord with cash-strapped British consumers opting for cheaper nights in over more expensive meals out. (RTRS) LONDON: UK engineering component manufacturer Senior Plc said it expects sales to grow close to 10 percent this year, boosted by its takeover of commercial aircraft parts maker Weston EU Ltd, sending the company’s shares to a record high.
The forecast tops analysts’ expectations of about 9 percent sales growth, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, despite Senior’s exposure to Boeing Co’s recently grounded 787 Dreamliner aircraft. (RTRS) LONDON: British publisher Pearson, owner of the Financial Times newspaper, said on Monday that its annual net profits slumped 66 percent in 2012 as its print business came under pressure from fastgrowing digital media.
Profits after tax tumbled to £326 million ($493 million, 373 million euros) last year compared with net earnings of £957 million in 2011, while the group said it expected a tough 12 months ahead.
“Trading conditions are tough and structural changes mean many of our traditional publishing activities are under pressure,” Pearson’s new chief executive John Fallon said in the company’s earnings statement. (AFP) HELSINKI: Finnish power company Fennovoima said on Monday it had dropped a bid by French group Areva to build a high-power nuclear reactor in favour of a proposal by Toshiba, but added that the project could be downsized. “The direct negotiations with Toshiba will commence immediately,” Fennovoima said in a statement.
However, it also said the high-power, 1,600 megawatt reactor to be built in Pyhaejoki in the northwest of the country could be replaced with a mid-sized reactor due to changes in its ownership structure. (AFP)