bottomline the

CAIRO:

Telecom Egypt will sign an agreement on Thursday to provide 2G and 3G mobile services through Etisalat Misr, a source from Telecom Egypt and a source from the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology told Reuters.

Telecom Egypt, the state’s fixed-line monopoly, was the first company to buy a 4G licence from the government in August for 7.08 billion Egyptian pounds ($392 million) to enter the mobile market directly. (RTRS)

FRANKFURT:

Austrian oil and gas group OMV and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) agreed on Thursday to explore opportunities for cooperation, among others in downstream projects. The two companies said in a joint statement they had signed a memorandum of understanding.

The agreement provides for cooperation areas, including the evaluation of opportunities in downstream projects, the exchange of knowledge and experience in refining operations and refinery-petrochemical integration and optimization, and downstream technical and maintenance support, they said. (RTRS)

ISTANBUL:

Turkey’s largest mobile phone operator Turkcell’s annual general meeting on Thursday approved the distribution of a three billion lira ($841 million) dividend, a company official told Reuters.

The company said on Wednesday that shareholders of Turkcell Holding, which holds 51 percent of Turkcell, agreed to propose the three billion lira dividend.

In April the company said in a filing to the stock exchange that the proposed dividend would be distributed in three equal installments. (RTRS)

NEW YORK:

Home-improvement retailer Lowe’s posted a profit Wednesday that didn’t impress Wall Street, results that came in stark contrast to those of its rival Home Depot.

Lowe’s shares slumped after reporting its profit fell 32 percent to $602 million, or 70 cents per share in the quarter that ended May 5. Adjusted earnings came to $1.03 per share, 4 cents shy of per-share projections from industry analysts, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research.

Its sales rose nearly 11 percent to $16.86 billion, below Wall Street projections of $17.04 billion. Sales at established stores, a key measure of health for retailers, rose 2 percent, short of analyst expectations of 3.1 percent, according to a survey by the data company FactSet.

One analyst suggested those figures were not as bad as they appeared because of Lowe’s strong establishedstore performance in the same quarter last year. (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO:

Infosys Ltd, the India-based computer services giant, on Wednesday touted its new strategy to hire and train 10,000 American workers over the next two years at the company’s annual leadershipmeting in San Francisco.

Infosys is the largest employer of workers under the US H1-B visa program for skilled workers, which has been under fire as the Trump Administration moves to tighten a range of immigration laws. Many large companies hire so-called outsourcing firms such as Infosys to manage their computer operations.

Infosys announced three weeks ago that it would hire 10,000 Americans, and said on Monday that it had leased 35,000 square feet of office space in downtown Indianapolis. (RTRS)

NEW YORK:

Medtronic PLC said higher sales of heart and surgical devices helped give a boost to its fiscal fourth-quarter profit, topping Wall Street expectations.

The medical device maker’s profit rose 5.3 percent to $1.16 billion, or 84 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for amortization costs and non-recurring costs, came to $1.33 per share, topping expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.31 per share.

The Dublin-based company’s revenue rose 4.6 percent to $7.92 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $7.86 billion.

Sales at Medtronic’s cardiac and vascular unit, which makes implantable heart devices and valves, rose 4 percent to $2.85 billion, while the division that makes surgical staplers and breathing ventilators grew sales 6 percent to $2.61 billion. (AP)

NEW YORK:

The Trump Organization will not ask guests at its hotels and resorts if they are using money from foreign governments to pay their bills, setting up a possible showdown with Democrats accusing the president of violating the US Constitution.

In a nine-page pmhlet made public Wednesday, the Trump Organization that it would be “impractical” to identify all guests using foreign government money. Asking guests to identify themselves, it added, would “impede upon personal privacy and diminish the guest experience of our brand.”

The company said that it will tally up only money it takes in from only those who have specifically identified themselves as working for a foreign government entity. (AP)

DETROIT:

Ford Motor Co’s new CEO got a $1 million bonus when he took on his new role this week.

CEO Jim Hackett will have a base salary of $1.8 million per year. That’s the same base pay as outgoing CEO Mark Fields.

Hackett is eligible for a bonus that could triple his base salary each year. He also received performance-based stock units worth $5.2 million over three years and stock units worth $1.75 million if he stays at Ford until 2020.

Ford revealed Hackett’s compensation in government documents filed Wednesday. The company also approved $5 million in stock units over three years for Joe Hinrichs, who will be one of Hackett’s top executives and manage global operations. Hackett’s other top executive, Jim Farley, received a similar amount last week. (AP)

LISBON:

The former head of Portugal’s failed BPN bank was handed a 14-year jail term by a Lisbon court on Wednesday for fraud and moneylaundering.

Jose Oliveira e Costa, 81, a former state secretary for fiscal affairs, served as CEO of the Banco Portugues de Negocios from 1998 to 2008. He is currently hospitalised and was not in court to hear his sentence which ends a marathon six-year trial. (AFP)