Company news in brief
Company news in brief

Company news in brief

NAMPA
Banco BPI to sell Angola bank stake

Portugal's Banco BPI aims to reduce its 48.1% stake in Angola's leading bank BFA based on recommendation from the ECB but is in no rush to sell, the BPI chief executive said yesterday.

BPI, owned by Spain's Caixabank, lost control of BFA in 2017 when it sold a 2% stake, after the European Central Bank recommended reducing exposure to Angola's economy. BFA is now controlled by Unitel, Angola's leading mobile provider.

"We continue with the intention of reducing our holding. When and how remains open. Fortunately, we have no deadline and will not sell at a bad price, we will sell when the conditions are good," BPI CEO Pablo Forero told reporters.

BPI reported a net profit of 254 million euro (US$283 million) in the first nine months of 2019, half the level of a year ago, when earnings were boosted in part by one-off asset sales.

BFA contributed over 86 million euro to BPI nine-month results.

Barcelona-based Caixabank acquired BPI in 2017 after a two-year takeover battle. – Nampa/Reuters

Ferrari shares roar ahead on raised targets

Shares in Italian luxury sportscar maker Ferrari lept ahead Monday after the company raised its 2019 targets and unveiled a partnership with Armani.

After releasing third-quarter results that were better than expected, the automaker raised its overall 2019 sales target to 3.7 billion euro (US$4.1 billion) from a previous forecast of more than 3.5 billion.

Core earnings are now tipped to come in around 1.27 billion euro, an improvement on Ferrari's earlier estimate of between 1.2 and 1.25 billion.

For the third quarter of the year, the company's net profit was nonetheless 41% lower at 169 million euro compared with the same period a year earlier, but that was better than the consensus analyst forecast of 164 million compiled by the financial information provider Factset.

Third-quarter sales gained 9.2% to 915 million euro meanwhile, exceeding the analysts forecast of 884 million. The increase was in large part the result of a 9.4% rise in the number of cars delivered during the three-month period to 2 474 units. – Nampa/AFP

Uber's quarterly loss widens

Uber Technologies Inc on Monday posted a wider third-quarter loss as costs soared at the ride-hailing company, sending shares down 4.4% in after-hours trading.

But the company promised it would be profitable by the end of 2021 as quarterly revenue beat expectations.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the company would achieve adjusted EBITDA profitability for the full year of 2021. The move follows a similar announcement by smaller ride-hailing competitor Lyft Inc last Wednesday.

Uber's costs jumped about 33% to US$4.92 billion in the latest quarter. Gross bookings, which include ride-hailing, mobility, food delivery and freight payments before costs and other expenses, rose 29.4% from a year earlier to US$16.47 billion.

Net loss attributable to the company widened to US$1.16 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from US$986 million a year earlier. – Nampa/Reuters

Thyssenkrupp to invest millions

Thyssenkrupp plans to invest 250 million euro (US$279 million) at its unit that builds submarines and warships, the German industrial conglomerate said on Monday.

The investment at Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) will be made by 2023, the group said, pointing to good order intake at the moment. TKMS will also hire 500 new employees by the end of next year, it said.

"Our ambition is to be Europe's most modern naval company. By making major investments, we are preparing our operations for the future," TKMS chief executive Rolf Wirtz said in a statement.

The group said it was contracted by an African customer in August to build four frigates.

Order intake at TKMS was down a fifth at 385 million euro in the first nine months of the year, while sales were up a third at 1.305 billion euro. The unit achieved break even on an adjusted operating profit level following a 117 million euro loss last year. – Nampa/Reuters

Samsung says to shut down division

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said yesterday it will shut down a CPU research division at one of its US facilities, a move that analysts said dimmed prospects for the tech giant's Exynos-branded mobile chips.

Exynos mobile processor chips are considered a hallmark of the South Korean firm's attempts to reduce its reliance on memory chips and increase sales of logic chips that are used to power mobile devices and autonomous vehicles.

But the proprietary chips, which are found in Samsung's flagship Galaxy series smartphones and compete against Qualcomm Inc's marquee mobile processors, have struggled to find external customers.

The decision to shut down the division, which will make some 300 jobs redundant, point to challenges Samsung faces in promoting Exynos chips, analysts said.

"[Exynos] chips are not really used anywhere else and continue to lose ground in the mobile processor market, raising concerns about the company's competitiveness," said Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities. – Nampa/Reuters

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