COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Brazil's BRF posts Q3 profit

Brazilian food processor BRF SA turned a third-quarter profit driven by a strong performance in its home market, slightly beating expectations, according to a security filing on Monday.

BRF said it earned 218.7 million reais (US$40.61 million), versus analysts' average estimate of 203.15 million reais according to Refinitiv data. Net revenue rose 17.5% to 9.9 billion reais, as the company increased the average price of its products. Sales volume of processed foods and meats rose 0.7% in the quarter, to a 1.1 million tonnes, it added.

BRF, the world's largest chicken exporter, derived more than half its sales from Brazil, where net revenue rose almost 21%.

In Brazil, government cash payments to help the poor weather the pandemic boosted spending on food, allowing BRF to pass on higher grain prices to consumers. This partly offset higher feed prices and Covid-19 related expenses, it said.

Internationally, net revenue rose 13.5%, but production adjustments for the pandemic continued to affect operations. "As a result, gross profit and margins were squeezed," BRF said of pandemic-related issues that weighed on its export business. -Nampa/Reuters

Novavax on track to begin vaccine trail

Novavax Inc said on Monday it was on track to begin a delayed US-based, late-stage study of its experimental coronavirus vaccine later this month.

The company also said the vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, had been given "fast-track" status from the US Food and Drug Administration and that it expected data from the trial could support US authorization and approval.

Novavax, which is testing the vaccine in a late-stage study in the UK, last month postponed the start of its US trial by roughly a month, due to delays in scaling up the manufacturing process.

A handful of companies are testing their experimental coronavirus vaccines in late-stage studies. Pfizer Inc said on Monday initial data from the pivotal trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed with German partner BioNTech showed that it was more than 90% effective.

Novavax on its quarterly results conference call said Pfizer's data was a good sign for other vaccines in development. The company said a Phase II vaccine trial in South Africa has reached 50% of its enrolment target. – Nampa/Reuters

Adobe to buy Workfront for US$1.5 bln

Photoshop maker Adobe Inc said on Monday it would buy Workfront, a work management platform for marketers, for US$1.5 billion to help its customers collaborate better at a time when millions are forced to work from home.

Workfront, which has more than 3 000 customers and one million users, helps companies manage content, plan and track marketing campaigns as they attempt to keep productivity levels up with most of their employees working remotely.

Both companies are longstanding partners and already have over 1 000 shared customers. Adobe is a premier software firm housing the industry's most renowned graphics and photo editing application; however, it has not had the same success with collaboration tools.

Upon close, Workfront Chief Executive Officer Alex Shootman will continue to lead the Workfront team, Adobe said in a statement. The deal is expected to close during Adobe's first quarter of fiscal 2021.- Nampa/Reuters

NextEra in US$15 billion bid for Evergy

NextEra Energy Inc, the world's largest producer of wind and solar energy, has made a roughly US$15 billion all-stock acquisition offer for US power utility Evergy Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Evergy turned down the offer in recent days and it is unclear whether NextEra will make a new approach, said the sources, who requested anonymity because the matter is confidential. One of the sources added that NextEra had no immediate plans for a new bid.

The offer for Evergy shows how NextEra is seeking to capitalize on a rally in its stock by pursuing large acquisitions. In September, NextEra was rebuffed by Duke Energy Corp, another major utility it approached with a takeover offer.

NextEra's bid valued Evergy in the mid US$60s-per-share, said the sources. Evergy informed NextEra that the price was inadequate, and that it also required a detailed plan to overcome regulatory hurdles to a deal, the sources added.

Evergy shares ended trading on Monday up 5.4% at US$57.99. NextEra shares ended trading down 0.3% at US$75.51, giving the company a market capitalization of US$148 billion. Evergy solicited takeover bids earlier this year under pressure from hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. – Nampa/Reuters

Nikola in discussions with General Motors

Electric and hydrogen truck start-up Nikola Corp said on Monday its deal with General Motors has not closed, and the start-up is continuing discussions with the automaker.

The company, which also posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the third quarter, said it will provide further updates on the deal when appropriate or required. Shares of Nikola were up 1.5% in extended trading.

The alliance announced in September included plans for GM to receive an 11% stake in Nikola and payments up to US$700 million for building the start-up’s Badger pickup.

General Motors said last week the automaker still remained in talks with Nikola, but a deal had not been finalized.

Days after the deal was announced, short-seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report calling the company a "fraud" and claiming that former Chairman Trevor Milton, who has since resigned, had made false claims about the company's proprietary technology. - Nampa/Reuters