the bottomline

DEARBORN, Michigan:

Ford Motor Co’s net income fell 9 percent to $2.0 billion in the second quarter as the company struggled with flattening US sales and a tougher market in China.

Ford said its full-year guidance — which calls for a pretax profit of $10 billion to $11 billion — remains intact, and the company noted that its first-half operating profit of $6.8 billion is the company’s best ever.

But Ford acknowledged that its guidance is at risk. Among the looming issues in the second half of the year is the expensive launch of Ford’s new aluminum-sided Super Duty pickup truck and an expected $145 million hit to sales in Britain because of its vote to leave the European Union. (AP)

LONDON:

Royal Dutch Shell’s net profit collapsed in the second quarter on low oil prices, weak refining margins and production outages, the British energy giant said Thursday.

Net profits sank 71 percent to $1.175 billion in the three months to June, compared with $3.986 billion in the same part of 2015, Shell announced in a results statement.

Profit on a current cost-of-supplies (CCS) basis — which strips out changes to the value of its oil and gas inventories — slid 72 percent to $1.045 billion in the reporting period.

That was almost half of market expectations for CCS profit of $2.16 billion, according to Bloomberg News. (AFP)

NEW YORK:

Financial information giant Thomson Reuters on Thursday reported a jump in profit in the second quarter, while revenues declined in a “challenging” backdrop for its key financial sector clients.

Net profit rose 24.5 percent to $350 million while revenue was off 1.2 percent at $2.77 billion.

The profit was slightly better than expected while revenues were below expectation for the group, which offers a range of financial and legal information services and operates the Reuters news agency.

“The turbulent market conditions I noted in the first quarter gave way to a cautious and uncertain world leading up to the Brexit vote in June,” said chief executive Jim Smith. (AFP)

NEW YORK:

The New York Times Co swung to a loss in the second quarter, hurt by weaker advertising revenues as it seeks to navigate a transition to digital.

The Times reported a net loss for shareholders of $211,000, compared with a profit of $16 million in the same period a year ago.

Overall revenues edged up three percent to $219 million, but ad revenues slid 11.7 percent to $131 million.

Print advertising revenue fell 14.1 percent while digital advertising revenue decreased 6.8 percent, underscoring the challenges for the newspaper’s efforts to emphasize its digital edition. (AFP)

SINGAPORE:

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Thursday said its group net profit for the first quarter nearly tripled from the previous year due to lower fuel prices and divestment gains.

Net profit for the three months to June came in at Sg$257 million ($190 million), up 182 percent from Sg$91.2 million in the same period last year, the airline said in a statement.

On top of an improved operational performance, the group brought in Sg$142 million by selling off a 10 percent stake in Hong Kong Aero Engine Services Ltd.

SIA said operating costs were down by Sg$161 million to Sg$3.4 billion this year, due to a 28 percent fall in fuel prices.

Global oil prices have fallen sharply over the past two years due to oversupply and weak demand, standing at less than half their mid-2014 levels. (AFP)

MILAN:

Italian energy giant Enel on Thursday revised upwards its profit forecast for 2016 after first-half net profit remained stable despite a sharp fall in revenue.

Group net profit from January to June was 1.8 billion euros ($2.0 billion), an increase of just 0.1 percent over a year earlier.

Revenue fell by 9.3 percent, to 34.15 billion euros, reflecting in part lower income from electricity sales in rich markets, it said in a statement.

In this light, the firm said it was hiking its financial targets for 2016, boosting group profit forecast from 3.1 billion to 3.2 billion euros.

“We have delivered a strong set of results in the first half of the year, with the Italian and Latin American markets showing particularly pleasing progress, in spite of a challenging set of macro-economic conditions,” Enel CEO Francesco Starace said. (AFP)

LONDON:

BAE Systems, the British maker of military equipment, posted a modest increase in first-half profits Thursday on the back of rebounding demand from governments worldwide.

Net profits rose almost five percent to £408 million ($536 million, 487 million euros) in the six months to the end of June, compared with £390 million a year earlier, BAE said in a results statement.

“Despite economic and political uncertainties, governments in our major markets continue to prioritise national security, with strong demand for our capabilities,” said chief executive Ian King.

“In the United States, we are seeing encouraging signs of a return to growth in defence budgets and improved prospects for our core franchises.(AFP)

MADRID:

Spain’s oil giant Repsol said Thursday that its net profit fell 30 percent in the second quarter, with asset sales failing to compensate for restructuring costs.

The 205 million euros ($228 million) in net earnings was way below the 341 million euros expected by analysts surveyed by Factset.

Net profit for the first half of the year came in at 639 million euros, a drop of 39 percent from the same period in 2015.

The company explained the drop with restructuring charges as well as unfavourable exchange rate changes.

In October, the company unveiled a five-year plan to sell 6.2 billion euros of non-strategic assets and cut investments by as much as 38 percent. It also said it would shed 1,500 positions, or six percent of its workforce, by 2018. (AFP)

PARIS:

French food group Danone, known for its yoghurts and other dairy products, said Thursday that its net profit doubled in the first half of the year to 880 million euros ($977 million).

The group, which also sells Evian water and baby formula milk, said it was also able to improve its operating margins thanks to the “favourable raw materials context”, said chief financial officer Cecile Cabanis.

Prices for fresh and powdered milk have crashed by up to a third in recent years as the EU lifted production quotas, with the bloc having this month to stump up 500 million euros to help dairy farmers who have been selling at a loss. (AFP)