the bottom line

NEW YORK:

Wells Fargo’s firstquarter profit was essentially flat from a year earlier as new customers continue to stay away from the bank following its sales practice scandal.

The company said Thursday that new checking account openings were down 35 percent in March from the same month a year ago. New credit card applications were down 42 percent.

Overall, Wells Fargo reported net income of $5.46 billion, or $1 per share, in the quarter ending March 31, compared with $5.46 billion, or 99 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations of 96 cents per share, according to Fact Set. (AP)

NEW YORK: A group of Tesla shareholders has urged the electric-car maker to recruit two independent directors to add to the company’s board to limit the influence of co-founder and chief executive Elon Musk.

The shareholders, who together manage $721 billion through public and private investment organizations, said in an April 10 letter to Tesla lead independent director Antonio Gracias that the electric car maker needed to update its seven-member board, which is largely unchanged from the days before the company went public and remains dominated by Musk allies.

Since the initial public offering in 2010, the company has broadened its operations and soon faces a “defining moment in its development,” with the launch of the Model 3 sedan, Tesla’s first car aimed at the middle market, the letter said. (AFP)

LOS ANGELES:

Hulu is coming to the Lone Star State: The streaming player plans to move its customer support headquarters to a new facility in San Antonio, Texas, later this year.

The facility will open later in 2017, pending final lease negotiations as well as tax-incentive agreements and approvals from the City of San Antonio.

Hulu’s new Viewer Experience Operations headquarters will bring more than 300 jobs to San Antonio this year, with more than 500 total employees projected in 2018. The company didn’t specify how many employees will be relocated to the Texas facility from other areas. (RTRS)

NEW YORK:

Volkswagen of America’s CEO says he’s confident the brand’s sales will recover from a diesel emissions cheating scandal as it rolls out new SUVs for the US.

Hinrich Woebcken (VEB-Kin) estimates VW sales rose 10 percent in the first quarter when the rest of the US market is down nearly 2 percent. And that’s without new SUVs on sale yet.

At the New York auto show, Woebcken announced that VW will build a smaller five-passenger SUV off the underpinnings of its Atlas sevenpassenger vehicle. He wouldn’t say when it will come out or whether it will increase jobs at VW’sUS factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (AP)

LONDON:

Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal has become the second largest shareholder in Anglo American after acquiring 11.44 percent of the British mining group, the group said Thursday.

According to a notice posted on the London Stock Exchange, the Volcan Holdings investment company owned by Agarwal’s family now owns 11.44 percent of the group’s capital and voting rights following Tuesday’s share purchase.

It is now the second largest shareholder behind South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation, which owns more than 13 percent.

Agarwal’s investment is believed to be worth £1.9 billion pounds ($2.4 billion, 2.2 billion euros). The company’s market capitalisation is around £16.4 billion. (AFP) ROME:

Italian giant Eni said Thursday it was “serene” in the face of allegations it had bribed Nigerian officials to seal an oil deal, insisting the company was squeaky clean.

“The company is serene and has the utmost confidence in the management,” its chairman Emma Marcegaglia told shareholders at the group’s general assembly in Rome.

Eni and fellow petroleum Goliath Shell are accused of corruption in the 2011 purchase of OPL245, an offshore oil block estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of crude, for $1.3 billion.

Both companies are charged with corruption in Nigeria and are being investigated by Italian prosecutors in connection with the deal, which allegedly saw Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan and his oil minister pocket bribes. (AFP) TOKYO: Uniqlo’s operator said Thursday that its half-year profit doubled from a year ago as sales of winter wear picked up and the chain refocuses on thrifty shoppers.

Fast Retailing also cited upbeat demand at its China stores for net profit coming in at 97.2 billion yen ($891 million) in the six months through February, up from 47.0 billion last year. Revenue rose 0.6 percent to 1.02 trillion yen, it said.

But the company did not upgrade its 100 billion yen full-year profit forecast, meaning results for the rest of the year were likely to come in weaker than hoped. (AFP)

MUMBAI:

Indian software giant Infosys pledged Thursday to return $2 billion to shareholders this year as it reported subdued growth in profits for the fourth quarter.

The company said it would raise dividends and share buy-backs, with its stock price under pressure due to cuts in businesses’ IT budgets and worries over a US visa crackdown under President Donald Trump.

Net profit in the three months to March 31 came in at 36.03 billion rupees rupees ($557.01 million), only marginally above the 36 billion rupees it reported in the same period last year. (AFP)

TAIPEI:

Microchip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing blamed currency fluctuations as it posted a slump in first quarter earnings Thursday, warning that growth was unlikely to pick up before the second half of the year.

Analysts said TSMC, a key supplier for Apple although it has never officially confirmed the connection, would likely get a boost from the launch of the iPhone 8, expected around September.

TSMC, the world’s biggest microchip producer by contract, said net income for January to March was down 12.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to Tw$87.63 billion ($2.88 billion). (AFP)