David Barret

September 30, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s economy grew by more than previously thought in the April-June period, official data showed on Thursday, before what looks like a sharp slowdown more recently as bottlenecks in the economy, including a shortage of truck drivers, mount. Gross domestic product increased by 5.5% in the second quarter, the […]

September 30, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – British online fashion retailer Boohoo warned on Thursday that freight inflation in its supply chain and higher wages for its distribution centre workers would hit full year profit margins. The group said full year 2021-22 adjusted EBITDA margins are now expected to be 9% to 9.5%, compared to the […]

September 30, 2021 (Reuters) – Johnnie Walker whisky maker Diageo Plc said on Thursday it has made a “strong start” to its financial year and expects organic operating margins to benefit from a further recovery in sales at restaurants and bars in North America and Europe. However, it expects near-term volatility to remain, pointing to […]

September 30, 2021 By Andrew Galbraith, Xiao Han and Clare Jim SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – China Evergrande Group missed paying bond interest due on Wednesday, two bondholders said, its second unpaid offshore debt payment in a week, although the cash-strapped company is scrambling to meet its obligations in its home market. The company, reeling under a […]

September 30, 2021 ZURICH (Reuters) -ABB has launched the world’s fastest electric car charger, the Swiss engineering company said on Thursday, as it presses ahead with plans to spin off the business which could be valued at around $3 billion. The company’s new Terra 360 modular charger can charge up to four vehicles at once, […]

September 30, 2021 STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s H&M reported on Thursday a bigger pretax profit than expected for the June-August period, its fiscal third quarter. Pretax profit at the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer jumped to 6.09 billion Swedish crowns from a year-earlier 2.37 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast a 5.05 billion […]

September 30, 2021 JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed a Palestinian gunman in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and a Palestinian woman who tried to stab officers in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said. The violence came amid tensions heightened by the deaths on Sunday of five Palestinians, at least four of them claimed […]

September 30, 2021 TAIPEI (Reuters) – The United States remains committed to expanding Taiwan’s space for international participation, a senior U.S. diplomat said at an event with Taiwan’s foreign minister that was also attended by the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, blocks the island from […]

September 30, 2021 By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Klara Dobrev, a 49-year-old lawyer, has emerged as the front-runner in a joint opposition bid to unseat Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in 2022 elections, partial results of an opposition primary showed on Thursday. Dobrev, whose candidacy would raise the prospect of Hungary’s […]

September 30, 2021 By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. mid-cap growth funds, emerging market stocks and inflation-protected bonds were among the winners for U.S. investors in a turbulent third quarter that saw the benchmark S&P 500 hit a record high only to tumble at the end of September as rising Treasury yields and […]

September 30, 2021 By Orathai Sriring BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand has good fiscal and financial stability but its economy remains fragile and has limited capacity to withstand shocks due to high external dependence amid a severe COVID-19 outbreak, the country’s central bank said on Thursday. The Southeast Asian country is dealing with its worst coronavirus […]

September 30, 2021 By Elisa Anzolin and Silvia Aloisi MILAN (Reuters) – Fashion brands like Benetton are increasingly turning away from globe-spanning supply chains and low-cost manufacturing hubs in Asia, in a shift that could prove a lasting legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy’s Benetton is bringing production closer to home, boosting manufacturing in Serbia, […]

September 30, 2021 By Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) – Alex Beard is losing his thirst for oil. Once one of the world’s most powerful oil traders, the former Glencore executive is now raising money to build a portfolio of strategic battery sites across the United Kingdom to support the renewable energy industry. In his first […]

September 29, 2021 FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The chief executive of Volkswagen’s truck unit Traton, Matthias Gruendler, will leave the business and will be replaced by the head of Traton subsidiary Scania, Christian Levin, who will lead both businesses. In a statement late on Wednesday, Traton also said that Traton’s chief finance officer Christian Schulz will […]

September 30, 2021 By Ayenat Mersie NAIROBI (Reuters) – Ethiopians in three regions where elections had been delayed head to the polls on Thursday to vote for their representatives and one area will also vote on whether to form its own regional state. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will form the next government regardless of the […]

September 30, 2021 By Shivani Singh and Gabriel Crossley SHENYANG, China (Reuters) – Small firms caught in China’s prolonged power and coal crunch are turning to diesel generators, or simply shutting shop, as coal officials voiced fears for stocks ahead of winter and manufacturing shrinks in the world’s no. 2 economy. Beijing is scrambling to […]

September 30, 2021 HONG KONG (Reuters) – Some of China Evergrande Group’s offshore bondholders have not received interest payment due by the end of Wednesday New York time, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, with the company missing its second debt obligation this month. The cash-strapped company was due on Wednesday to make […]

September 30, 2021 By Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC, BlackRock and Swiss Re are among the companies seeking to create a risk management and disclosure framework aimed at moving capital away from activities that damage nature. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) was launched in June to tackle nature loss, which it says […]

September 30, 2021 By Nick Carey and Yilei Sun MUNICH/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s electric carmakers are darting into Europe, hoping to catch traditional auto giants cold and seize a slice of a market supercharged by the continent’s drive towards zero emissions. Nio Inc, among a small group of challengers, launches its ES8 electric SUV in […]

September 30, 2021 (Reuters) – U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management said funds managed by its affiliates entered a deal to buy the Thermal and Emission Control Materials business of Japan’s advanced materials producer Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. The deal, which is expected to close by March 20222, marks Apollo’s second private equity fund investment […]