Page 1569 - Business Finance
Debenhams turns down Sports Direct loan offer
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Sports Direct has offered a 40 million-pound ($51 million) loan to Debenhams, the struggling department store group in which it holds a near 30 percent stake, according to a letter from Mike Ashley published by the Daily Telegraph.
Oil falls below $60 a barrel as inventories stay high
LONDON (Reuters) - The oil price fell below $60 a barrel on Thursday, under pressure from high global inventories and a smaller-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles.
ECB stops its printing presses even as growth concerns rise
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank decided on Thursday to end its lavish asset purchase scheme but otherwise kept policy broadly unchanged, promising protracted stimulus for an economy struggling with an unexpected slowdown and political turmoil.
Iceland's WOW Air to reduce fleet, cut 111 jobs
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW air, which is in talks with U.S. private equity fund Indigo Partners about a potential investment, said on Thursday it would reduce its fleet to 11 aircraft from twenty and cut 111 jobs.
ECB formally ends QE, keeps reinvestments open-ended
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank decided on Thursday to formally end its 2.6 trillion euro ($2.95 trillion) bond purchase scheme but said it would keep reinvesting cash from maturing bonds for a long time after its first interest rate hike.
HDFC to raise up to Rs 1,500 cr by issuing bonds
Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd will raise up to Rs 1,500 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis. The 'HDFC Series U-006 June 18, 2020' secured redeemable non-convertible debentures will open for subscription on December 17 and close the same day, HDFC said in a regulatory filing Thursday. "The object of the issue is to augment the long-term resources of the corporation. The proceeds of the present issue would be utilised for financing/refinancing the housing finance business requirements of the corporation," it said. HDFC said only those persons who are specifically addressed through communication are eligible to apply for the bond issue. The bonds offer a coupon rate of 8.80 per cent per annum and set to mature in June 2020. Stock of HDFC closed 0.14 per cent up at Rs 1,941.95 on BSE.
Premier Explosives receives order from an Israel company
For Design, Development, Fabrication and Assembly of Rocket Motors
Mobiistar to strengthen offline play to grow India biz
Vietnamese handset company Mobiistar Thursday said it is ramping up its presence in the offline retail market and is aiming to be present across 50,000 retail points in the country in the next two months. The company, which competes against the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and a host of Chinese and Indian phone brands, had forayed into the Indian market in May this year through online channel. "India is a key market for us and we have received good response in the last few months. We started our offline journey a few months ago and already have over 500 distributors with presence in 32,000 outlets. We want to take this to 50,000 by January-end," Mobiistar Group CEO Carl Ngo told PTI. Declining to comment on sales numbers, he said the company is witnessing 50 per cent month-on-month growth. Mobiistar had launched two devices for the online market and then unveiled five devices for the offline segment. The company is now set to unveil two more devices this month in the sub-Rs 10,000 ...
Brokers to be placed in risk reduction mode from next week: NSE
To enhance risk management capabilities, the NSE has said trading members will be compulsorily placed in risk reduction mode when 90 per cent of the members' capital is utilised towards margins. The new framework will be effective from December 17, 2018, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) said in a circular. "Member shall be compulsorily placed in a risk reduction mode when 90 per cent of the member's capital is utilised towards margins," it added. The stock broker will be moved back to the normal risk management mode as and when the utilisation goes below 85 per cent. In case a member moves into risk reduction mode, all the unexecuted orders would be cancelled, the exchange said. Fresh orders placed by members to reduce open positions will also be accepted, it added. Besides, fresh orders placed by members that increase open positions would be checked for sufficiency of margins and those which do not satisfy sufficiency of margins would be rejected. Also, such fresh orders can be ...
PNB garners Rs 500 cr through ESPS scheme
Nirav Modi-scam hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) has mobilised Rs 500 crore through its Employee Stock Purchase Scheme (ESPS). As part of the scheme, the bank issued up to 10 crore new equity shares to its employees at a discounted price of Rs 53.95 per share. "The scheme was well accepted by the employees. The banks successfully completed the ESPS on November 10 with subscription ratio of 90.7 per cent. It has led to the capital infusion of around Rs 500 crore into the bank," PNB said in a statement. So far, no other bank has been able to achieve 90 per cent ratio under ESPS, it added.
Kia Motors, MG Motor debut at Autocar performance show
The 13th edition of the Autocar performance show commenced here Thursday, with two international brands - Kia Motors of Korea and MG Motor of the UK - showcasing some of their vehicle models on their debut at the four-day long event. While Kia has brought in the hot Stinger four-door and the Sportage SUV, the MG Motor has put up glimpse of its model line-up, a release said. The other automobile makers, who are displaying their car models include Lamborghini, Maserati, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Volvo, Jeep, Skoda, Hyundai, BMW Mini, Renault, Honda, Maruti Suzuki Arena, Ford, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nissan and Toyota. BMW Motorrad, Harley-Davidson, Ducati, Kawasaki, Triumph Motorcycles, TVS Motor, Suzuki Motorcycle India and Motoroyale Kinetic, are among the motorcycle makers participating in the show, it said. Another major attraction at this year's show is the Supercar Gallery powered by Throttle97 (Mumbai's largest supercar group), which will house ...
IHCL signs new Taj hotel in Lucknow
Tata group's hospitality arm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) Thursday said it has signed a new Taj branded hotel in Lucknow, in partnership with Luxus Hospitality. IHCL at present has two hotels in the city Taj Mahal Lucknow and Ginger Gomti Nagar. The Taj branded hotel will be located at Vibhuti Khand, New Gomti Nagar Centre, with close proximity to key corporate parks, institutions and recreational facilities, it said in a statement. The hotel will comprise 185 guest rooms, an all-day diner, a specialty restaurant, a bar, a wellness area and banqueting facilities, it added. The greenfield project is slated to open in 2022. "We are delighted to partner with Luxus Hospitality. The company is very optimistic about Lucknow as it is an important centre of governance, business, culture and tourism," IHCL managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal said. He said this signing is aligned to the company's five-year strategy - Aspiration 2022 - with focus on ...
Board of Indian Oil Corporation approves buyback of shares
At meeting held on 13 December 2018
Social media app Helo expects 300% user growth by Dec 2019
Social media app Helo Thursday said it expects 300 per cent growth in monthly active user base by 2019-end. "We launched Helo around six month back and we have 25 million monthly active users now. We expect it to grow by 300 per cent in a year to 75 million," Shayamanga Barooah, head of content operations, Helo told reporters. The company also announced tie-up with Alt News to filter fake news content from its platform. "At Helo, ?we take issues such as misinformation and fake news very seriously. This is why we're honoured to partner with Alt News, a renowned fact-checking authority, to ensure that our platform continues to be a safe and viable source of the latest news and trending topics," Barooah said. Owned by Beijing based company ByteDance, Helo is planning to enhance workforce by three fold in a year. "Everyday, we are increasing our workforce in India. We are planning to increase headcount at Gurgaon by three times in a year," Barooah said.
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and others back risk management startup AccessFintech
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Credit Suisse Group AG have invested $17.5 million in AccessFintech, a startup that sells technology to help financial firms better handle business errors, the companies said on Thursday.
Embattled asset manager GAM warns on profit, cuts staff, dividend
ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - GAM Holding AG said it would cut 10 percent of its staff and ditch its dividend as it warned it would slide to a net loss this year, sending shares in the Swiss asset manager down 30 percent.
Yes Bank slumps over 6% post board meeting outcome
Shares of Yes Bank Thursday plunged over 6 per cent on the stock exchanges as the private sector lender is yet to appoint new MD and CEO. The stock tanked 6.48 per cent to close at Rs 174.7 on the BSE. Intra-day, it touched a low of Rs 172, a plunge of 7.92 per cent from the previous close. However, it had risen 4 per cent during the trading session. On the NSE, the stock declined 6.32 per cent to end at Rs 174.8. It had hit a high of Rs 193.2 and a low of Rs 172.3. The lender was also the biggest loser in the Sensex pack. Prior to this drop, Yes Bank surged 13 per cent in the last three trading sessions ahead of the board meeting scheduled for Thursday. According to analysts, the decline in the counter could be attributed to the outcome of Yes Bank's board meeting as investors were hoping that the lender will name an MD and CEO in the meeting, but that has been deferred to the January 9 meeting. In a regulatory filing, the bank said, "The bank's nomination & remuneration ...
Rupee snaps 3-day losing streak, settles 33 paise higher at 71.68
The rupee snapped its three-day losing streak to end 33 paise higher at 71.68 against the US dollar Thursday amid a weak greenback and softening oil prices. Newly-appointed RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' comments that he will take all stakeholders along on key issues also bolstered sentiment, analysts said. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex), the rupee opened on a firm note at 71.70 against the US dollar and surged further to touch a high of 71.51 during the day. The local unit finally ended at 71.68, higher by 33 paise over its previous closing price. On Wednesday, the rupee had declined by 16 paise to 72.01 per US dollar. "The new RBI governor's first speech confirms our initial impression that he is likely to be more communicative and consultative in his approach, which is a positive," Japanese financial services major Nomura said in a research note. It further added that on policy, it does appear that he is likely to relax regulatory norms for banks (make them more ...
U.S.-Israeli analytics startup Chorus.ai raises $33 million
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Chorus.ai, a U.S.-Israeli provider of analytics for sales teams, said on Thursday it raised $33 million in a funding round led by Canadian investment firm Georgian Partners.