the bottom line
NEW YORK:
Macy’s is soaring before the opening bell after surpassing all profit and revenue expectations for the first quarter of the year and raising its outlook.
Shares surged nearly 9 percent in Wednesday premarket trading.
For the period ended May 5, Macy’s Inc earned $139 million, or 45 cents per share. A year earlier, the company earned $78 million, or 26 cents per share.
Stripping out impairment charges and other costs, earnings were 48 cents per share. Excluding asset sales gains, earnings were 42 cents per share.
Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research were calling for earnings of 36 cents per share. (AP)
OMAHA:
Investor Warren Buffett’s company more than doubled its stake in Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc filed an update on its US stock portfolio with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Berkshire said it held 40.5 million Teva shares at the end of March. That’s up from the 18.9 million shares of the world’s largest generic drugmaker that Berkshire held at the end 2017.
Berkshire also slashed its holdings in insurance data provider Verisk Analytics to 284,778 shares from 1.56 million shares at the start of the year. (AP)
LOS ANGELES:
Strong revenue from games and advertising lifted revenue and profit margins at Chinese social media giant Tencent. Net profits increased 65% year-on-year to reach $3.82 billion on revenues of $11.7 billion in the three months to end of March.
Value added services businesses expanded their revenues by 34%, games by 26% and advertising by 55%, yearon-year, the company said.
The company has shifted from holding cash to a net debt position, reflecting an acquisition spree in China and, increasingly, abroad. Asia’s largest company by market capitalization, Tencent reported $14 billion debt at the end of March, compared with $16 billion of cash at the same time last year. (RTRS)
NEW YORK:
It’s Prime time at Whole Foods: Amazon is rolling out discounts for Prime members at the organic grocer.
The benefits start Wednesday at stores in Florida and will expand nationwide this summer. Prime members will get an additional 10 percent off sale items and exclusive deals on certain groceries.
This week in Florida, for example, Prime members can get $2 off a pound of organic strawberries or save $10 a pound on wild halibut steaks. Amazon wouldn’t say if it plans to add the benefits to Whole Foods stores in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Since it bought Whole Foods last year, Amazon.com Inc. has cut prices on some groceries, begun offering same-day delivery to Prime members in several cities and extended its 5 percent cash back Amazon rewards credit card to Whole Foods purchases. But turning its Prime membership into the Whole Foods loyalty program could drive more people to its stores. (AP)
NEW YORK:
Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan would assume the role of chairman and chief executive at 21st Century Fox following the closing of a proposed deal to sell key portions of the media-entertainment group to Disney, the company said Wednesday.
Under the plan, 87-year-old Rupert Murdoch would be co-chairman of the streamlined media group.
The plan announced last year, which remains subject to regulatory approval, would give Disney the vaunted Fox Hollywood film and television studios, cable entertainment networks and international TV businesses.
The new Fox would included Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, and sports cable networks. (AFP)
LONDON:
Major global brands Nike, H&M, Burberry and Gap have signed up to an initiative that aims to improve the industry’s record on sustainability after a study found less than one percent of clothing is recycled.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, set up by the record-breaking sailor, announced on Wednesday that the brands were joining its Make Fashion Circular scheme to reduce global waste from fashion by recycling raw materials and products.
The head of the Make Fashion Circular initiative, Francois Souchet, said the aim was to create a “unstoppable momentum” towards an economy in which clothes are never seen as waste. (AFP)
FRANKFURT AM MAIN:
German startup Flixbus on Wednesday brought its low-cost, long-distance bus service to the west coast of the United States, launching a direct challenge to America’s iconic Greyhound Lines.
“Hello, California! This morning we rolled into Hollywood to launch FlixBus USA. Your next adventure is bookable today,” the German giant said on its Twitter feed.
The company, whose bright green buses are already a familiar sight on European roads, will from May 31 run 180 routes daily connecting seven US cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix. (AFP)
GENEVA:
Novartis said Wednesday its top lawyer is retiring over the Swiss pharmaceutical company’s relationship with a firm owned by US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
The Basel-based drugs company said general counsel Felix Ehrat is stepping down after about seven years in post “in the context of discussions surrounding Novartis’ former agreement with Essential Consultants, owned by Michael Cohen.”
“Although the contract was legally in order, it was an error,” Ehrat said in a Novartis statement, adding that he took “personal responsibility to bring the public debate on this matter to an end.” (AP)
SHANGHAI:
A pharmaceutical firm claiming that 140 million men in China suffer from erectile dysfunction was given a massive stock market boost on Wednesday after winning approval to sell a Viagra-like drug in the country.
Shares of Hebei Changshan Biochemical Pharmaceutical surged by its 10 percent daily limit at the Shenzhen exchange after regulators gave one of its subsidiaries in southern Jiangsu province approval to manufacture a generic version of the drug.
In an attempt to explain the size of the market for the drug, Changshan, based in northern city of Shijiazhuang, claimed that over 140 million men in China suffer from erectile dysfunction, which Viagra-like drugs can fix.