Page 2693 - Business Finance
Focus: Proxy fight looms as new investors ramp up pressure on Campbell Soup
BOSTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The family that controls Campbell Soup Co looks to be on a collision course this week with new hedge fund investors pushing for the company to sell itself, heralding a potential proxy fight industry analysts have labeled the "fight of the fall."
US economy grew 4.2 pc in second quarter, faster than first reported
The roaring growth recorded by the US economy in the second quarter was even faster than first reported, with new numbers showing a bigger boost in corporate spending, the government reported today. The uptick in estimates of second quarter spending by companies was sure to comfort President Donald Trump and supporters of December's sweeping corporate tax cuts who argue that lowering corporations' tax burdens will spur investment and growth. Gross Domestic Product advanced at an annual rate of 4.2 per cent in the April-to-June period, a tenth of a point faster than initial estimates showed last month and still the fastest growth in almost four years, according to the Commerce Department. Economists had been expecting a slight downward revision. Many economists view the second quarter growth as a blip, juiced by one-off factors unlikely to be sustainable, and estimates for growth in the third quarter now hover around a still-robust three per cent. But Trump last month hailed the ...
Gold edges down on lower demand, silver slips
Gold slipped marginally by Rs 15 to Rs 30,065 per 10 gram at the bullion market here today following the lower demand from stockists and retailers even as metals strengthened overseas. Silver prices also dropped on lack of demand from industrial users. Standard gold (99.5 per cent purity) declined by Rs 15 to close at Rs 30,065 per 10 gram from Tuesday's closing level of Rs 30,080. Pure gold (99.9 per cent purity) also fell by the same amount to close at Rs 30,215 per 10 gram compared to Rs 30,230 earlier. Silver (.999 fineness) dropped Rs 325 per kg to conclude at Rs 37,120 from Rs 37,445, previously. Globally, gold climbed as funds bet prices would find short-term support at USD 1,200 per ounce, but a stronger dollar and expectations for increases in the US interest rates limited the gains. Spot gold was up by 0.1 per cent at USD 1,204.43 an ounce in an early trade. Spot silver was up 0.2 per cent at USD 14.67.
Russia's Gazprom says Q2 net profit jumps to $3.8 bln
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Wednesday its second-quarter net profit jumped to 259 billion roubles ($3.8 billion) from 48 billion roubles in the year-earlier period thanks to rising sales and energy prices.
Wall Street opens slightly higher as tech stocks gain
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Wednesday, with help from technology stocks, but trade was in focus as investors awaited progress on trade talks between the United States and Canada and eyed next week's deadline for consultations on fresh China-U.S. tariffs.
Rupee sinks 49p to end at lifetime low of 70.59 to US dollar
The rupee today crashed by a staggering 49 paise or 0.70 per cent to close at a historic low of 70.59 against the US currency due to strong month-end dollar demand from oil importers and foreign fund outflows. It was the biggest single-day crash since August 13 when the unit crumbled 110 paise or 1.6 per cent. The rupee previously had closed at a record low of 70.16 to the dollar on Monday. The slide was triggered by factors like crude prices hitting multi-month highs fuelled by supply shocks along with concerns over widening current account deficit (CAD). The Indian currency collapsed to another record low of 70.65 during the day as investors finally hit the panic button after reports highlighted risks of India breaching the 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for 2018/19. Traders also reported hedging-related offtake as importers rushed to pay forward premium. "Focus will now shift to India's GDP and fiscal deficit data due to be released on Friday. A near-term range for the rupee is
MOIL mulls developing high-grade manganese for electric vehicles
State-owned MOIL is looking to develop high-grade manganese for batteries which could be used in electric vehicles (EVs), Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said today. The research by MOIL, the country's top manganese ore producer, comes at a time when the government is aggressively pushing for electric vehicles to curb air pollution. Singh was speaking at an international conference on minerals and metal sector organised by ITEI. "Our focus should be on indigenisation and developing technologies and solutions specific to needs of India," he said. The power ministry had earlier said the government was considering providing subsidy for setting up e-vehicle charging infrastructure, under a policy. However, Power Secretary A K Bhalla was of the view that it is a chicken and egg situation because charging stations would not be set up without enough e-vehicles and e-vehicle sales would not pick up unless there is enough facility to charge these vehicles. With an aim to promote EVs, ..
U.S. second-quarter GDP growth raised to 4.2 percent; consumer spending cut
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth was a bit stronger than initially thought in the second quarter, notching its best performance in nearly four years and putting the economy on track to hit the Trump administration's goal of 3 percent annual growth.
Sun Pharma launches Volini Maxx
Signs Virat Kohli as Brand Ambassador of Volini
WhatsApp kicks off radio campaigns in India to tackle fake news
In a bid to crackdown on spread of fake news on its platform, WhatsApp today said it is rolling out radio campaigns across various Indian states, asking people to check the veracity of information received as a forward before they share it with others. The Facebook-owned company has been on an overdrive after it faced severe criticism from the government over circulation of fake news on its platform that incited multiple incidents of mob lynching across the country. "The radio campaign will air starting today across 46 Hindi speaking stations of All India Radio (AIR) across Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand," a WhatsApp spokesperson told PTI. The spokesperson added that while the current campaign is available in Hindi, there are plans to offer the same in other regional languages over the next few weeks. These campaigns advise users to verify authenticity of messages before forwarding them and to report content that they might ...
99.3% demonetised notes returned to banks: RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual report for the year 2017-18 stated that 99.3 per cent of the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system.According to the report, the total value of Specified Bank Notes (SBNs) in circulation as on November 08, 2016, post verification and reconciliation, was Rs 15,417.93 lakh crore, out of which currency worth Rs 15,310.73 lakh crore was returned.In its report, the RBI stated that a grace period was provided to Indian citizens who were outside India between November 9 and December 30, 2016, to deposit SBNs held by them at any of the five Reserve Bank offices (Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur), subject to certain conditions."SBNs were received by the Reserve Bank either directly or from bank branches/post offices through the currency chest mechanism. Verification and processing of the SBNs has been completed," it added.The report further noted that the Indian economy exhibited resilience during ..
IL&FS plans to divest assets, cut debt by up to Rs 30,000 cr
Debt-saddled infra lender IL&FS today said its board has approved the Rs 4,500-crore rights issue and it plans to reduce its loan burden by up to Rs 30,000 crore by divesting assets in the next 18 months. The announcement comes amid reports of mortgage lender HDFC, which owns 9 per cent in Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), not being inclined to bail out the debt-ridden financier. State-run life insurance behemoth LIC is the largest shareholder owning a fourth of the company. In a statement, the company said its board has approved "a rights issue of 30 crore equity shares at Rs 150 per share aggregating to Rs 4,500 crores to shore up the capital of the IL&FS", which will be completed by October 30. It has also decided to infuse up to Rs 5,000 crore into group companies - IL&FS Financial Services, IL&FS Transportation, IL&FS Energy, IL&FS Environment and IL&FS Education. The company has identified 25 projects that it ...
Global Markets: World stocks slip as uncertainty over NAFTA nags
LONDON (Reuters) - Global stocks eased on Wednesday on uncertainty over Canada's position in NAFTA, and with investors also nervous ahead of a deadline for the next round of China-U.S. tariffs next week.
Govt gets Rs 9,682 cr from Macquarie for managing 9 toll plazas of NHAI from today
Global financial conglomerate Macquarie group's infrastructure funding arm today made an upfront payment of Rs 9,681.50 crore to the government to operate nine stretches of NHAI under a new toll collection policy. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has floated India's first toll operate transfer (TOT) model to monetise NHs by awarding toll collection operations to a private party on a long term basis. NHAI has identified 75 NH stretches across the country for awarding contracts to a third party under the TOT model. It will manage and collect toll from nine stretches of NHAI -- 5 in Andhra Pradesh and 4 in Gujarat -- for a period of 30 years against the upfront payment of about Rs 9,682 crore to the government. Macquarie was among the four bidders to win the first bundle of the TOT contract of NHAI. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari received the cheque from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (India) Pvt Ltd's Senior MD Suresh Goyal at a roadshow organised by NHAI ...
Adani Group acquires RInfra's Mumbai power business
The Adani Group's Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) has acquired Reliance Infrastructure's integrated business of generation, transmission and retail electricity distribution in Mumbai and Maharashtra, and will be known as 'Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd.' (AEML), an official said here on Wednesday.
RInfra completes Rs 18,800-cr Mumbai power biz sale to Adani
Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) today said it has completed the Rs 18,800-crore deal for sale of its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission, which will help it pare debt by two-thirds to Rs 7,500 crore. Company chairman Anil Ambani announced the culmination of the deal involving the sale of the integrated power business which was struk in December last year. Ambani said the deal will help cut the company's overall debt to Rs 7,500 crore from the earlier Rs 22,000 crore and also added that it is planning to be a zero debt company by next year. The company had called a board meet today to approve the transfer of Mumbai power business to Adani Transmission, after receiving the regulatory approvals. In the past eight months, the deal has received go-aheads from fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), shareholders of the company and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) for the sale. Last week, Reliance Infrastructure had defaulted on
Indians turned in almost all the currency notes banned in 2016: RBI
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indians returned almost the entire amount of currency withdrawn in the government's note ban of November 2016, raising fresh questions over the purpose of a shock move that triggered a sharp slowdown in the economy.
Buffalo meat exports up 4 pc in April-July: APEDA
The country's buffalo meat exports grew 3.88 per cent to USD 1.18 billion during April-July period of the ongoing financial year, according to the data of APEDA. In volume terms, the exports increased to 3,84,096 tonne during the reported period as compared to 3,73,808 tonne in April-July, 2017-18. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) comes under the commerce ministry. As per the data, exports of total livestock products, which include buffalo meat, sheep/goat meat and poultry items, grew 6.71 per cent to USD 1.4 billion during the period. Basmati and non-basmati rice exports during the period rose 9.4 per cent and 3 per cent to USD 1.72 billion and USD 1.1 billion, respectively. The country is one of the largest exporters of buffalo meat and rice globally. As per the data, shipments of pulses grew 26 per cent to USD 113 million during April-July period.