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(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Air Liquide said achieved an excellent annual performance in 2021 despite the pandemic and strong inflationary pressures related to an increase in energy prices during the second half. The Paris-based industrial gas supplier reported total revenue of EUR23.34 billion, up 14% from EUR20.49 billion in 2020. Air Liquide's earnings per share for the year rose to EUR5.45, from EUR5.16 in 2020. Likewise, net profit rose 5.6% to EUR2.57 billion from EUR2.44 billion.
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Heineken said it returned to profit in 2021, bolstered by a strong revenue performance in the Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe region. In 2021, the Amsterdam-based beer maker swung to a profit of EUR3.54 billion from a loss of EUR88 million the previous year. The company's basic earnings per share came in at EUR5.77 in the year, turning from a loss of EUR0.36. Beer volume grew 4.6% organically for the full year, Heineken explained. Total revenue rose 12% to EUR26.58 billion from EUR23.77 billion the previous year. However, this figure remained below the EUR28.52 billion reported for pre-pandemic 2019. Heineken declared a total dividend of EUR1.24 per share for the year, up from EUR0.70 the previous year.
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AstraZeneca said the EU approved its biologic Saphnelo for the treatment of moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune condition. Biologics are medications made out of components like sugars and proteins. Common examples include vaccines, gene and cellular therapies, and monoclonal antibodies. Saphnelo is a fully human monoclonal antibody. The Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company said that Saphnelo is the first biologic approved for severe systemic lupus erythematosus in the EU with an indication that is not restricted to patients with a high degree of disease activity. Sufferers of the disease can experience long-term organ damage.
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Indivior posted earnings growth for 2021. The North Chesterfield, Virginia-based maker of treatments for opioid addiction also unveiled plans to pursue a US listing. Revenue in 2021 increased 22% to USD791 million from USD647 million. Indivior posted a pretax profit of USD190 million, swinging from a USD173 million loss in 2020. Looking to 2022, Indivior expects its Sublocade opioid treatment to be its strongest revenue driver, and the company may be on the lookout for acquisitions. "With over USD1 billion in cash on our balance sheet, we have the financial strength and flexibility to pursue a balanced capital allocation strategy. Our primary focus remains on reinvesting in the business, but we also have the potential for additive inorganic growth opportunities and consideration of other value enhancement options," Chief Executive Mark Crossley said. He added: "Together with the board, we have been assessing the optimal listing structure for Indivior's shares. Our preliminary view is that an additional US listing is likely to be beneficial to the group's profile and visibility, as approximately 80% of the group's net revenue is generated in the US." Indivior expects revenue between USD840 million and USD900 million for 2022.
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Soft drink bottler Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said revenue increased 30% to EUR13.76 billion in 2021, from EUR10.61 billion in 2020, due to its acquisition of Coca-Cola Amatil in Australia. Pretax profit was up by almost double to EUR1.38 billion from EUR695 million. The Uxbridge, England-based soft drinks bottler bought Sydney-based Coca-Cola Amatil from its independent shareholders and US brand owner Coca-Cola Co. The deal valued Amatil at AUD9.77 billion, about GBP5.17 billion at current exchange prices, and completed back in May of last year. Following the acquisition, CCEP renamed itself Coca-Cola Europacific Partners from Coca-Cola European Partners. CCEP said pro-forma comparable currency-neutral revenue growth was 7.5% in 2021. By the same measure, it expects 6% to 8% growth in 2022. CCEP lifted its annual payout by 65% to EUR1.40 per share. For 2022, it will pay two interim dividends, rather than one final one.
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Facebook-parent Meta has agreed to pay USD90 million to settle a 10-year-old lawsuit accusing it of tracking users online even after they logged off the social network, court records show. The agreement was filed Monday in a California court and if approved by a judge would put to rest one of the series of suits alleging the social media giant invaded users' privacy. The suit, which consolidated state and federal litigation, represented people who had active Facebook accounts between early 2010 and late 2011.
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CSL delivered its interim results in line with expectations in a challenging environment brought about by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. For the six months to December 31, revenue rose to USD6.04 billion from USD5.74 billion the year before and pretax profit declined to USD2.14 billion from USD2.25 billion. CSL posted net profit after tax of USD1.76 billion, down from USD1.81 billion. Looking ahead, net profit after tax for 2022 is anticipated to be in the range of USD2.15 billion to USD2.25 billion at constant currency.
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Altria said an administrative law judge has dismissed the US Federal Trade Commission's claims against Altria and Juul Labs Inc arising out of Altria's 2018 minority investment in JuuL. Following a three-week trial, the judge found that the evidence failed to sustain the alleged violations that Altria broke antitrust laws when it made a 35% investment in Juul. The decision is subject to review by the FTC. Any decision by the FTC may be appealed to any US Court of Appeals, the company noted. "We are pleased with this decision and have said all along that our minority investment in JuuL does not harm competition and does not violate the antitrust laws," said Murray Garnick, general counsel, Altria.
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MARKETS
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European equities were trading lower on Wednesday despite strongly positive leads from the US and Asia, amid doubts over the reported pullback of Russian forces from the Ukraine borders. The NATO military alliance said it believes the Russian troop build-up has continued. Meanwhile, a higher-than-expected inflation reading from the UK was balanced by indications the Beijing government is having success in restraining price growth in China.
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CAC 40: down 0.1% at 6,970.23
DAX 40: down 0.2% at 15,385.85
FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 7,590.06
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Hang Seng: closed up 1.5% at 24,718.90
Nikkei 225: closed up 2.2% at 27,460.40
S&P/ASX 200: closed up 1.1% at 7,284.90
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DJIA: called down 0.3%
S&P 500: called down 0.2%
Nasdaq Composite: called down 0.2%
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EUR: up at USD1.1380 (USD1.1365)
GBP: up at USD1.3557 (USD1.3535)
USD: soft at JPY115.66 (JPY115.70)
Gold: up at USD1,857.51 per ounce (USD1,848.09)
Oil (Brent): up at USD93.89 a barrel (USD92.50)
(currency and commodities changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russia's military build-up seemed to be continuing around Ukraine despite Moscow announcing the pullback of more forces. "We have heard the signs from Moscow about readiness to continue diplomatic efforts, but so far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground," Stoltenberg said ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers on Wednesday. "On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues their military build-up," he said. Stoltenberg said "it remains to be seen whether there is a Russian withdrawal. We are of course monitoring very closely what Russia does in and around Ukraine. What we see is that they have increased the number of troops and more troops are on their way." Russia on Wednesday said military drills in Moscow-annexed Crimea had ended and that soldiers were returning to their garrisons, a day after it announced a troop pullback from Ukraine's borders.
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Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, has rejected US warnings of a possible Russian attack on Ukraine on Wednesday. "As far as Russia is concerned, I can assure you that there will be no attack this Wednesday. There will be no escalation in the coming week either, or in the week after that, or in the coming month," Chischow said in remarks published in Wednesday's edition of the German daily Die Welt. "Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday," he added. The US government has said that it considers a Russian incursion into Ukraine possible before the close of the Winter Olympics in China on Sunday.
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US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that there was still time to resolve the Ukraine crisis through diplomacy but warned that sanctions are "ready to go" if Russian troops attack the country. Biden said that despite Russia's claims earlier in the day, Washington and its allies had yet to verify the withdrawal of some of the 150,000 troops he said Moscow had mustered along Ukraine's border. "Analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position," Biden said in an address on the crisis. "The US is prepared no matter what happens. We are ready with diplomacy," the US leader said. "And we are ready to respond decisively to Russian attack on Ukraine, which is still very much a possibility," he said, warning of "powerful sanctions."
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the EU has taken extensive precautions for the event of a sudden cut in Russian gas supplies to the bloc. In recent months the Commission had been talking to major liquefied natural gas exporters such as the US, Qatar and Egypt to increase their deliveries to the bloc, von der Leyen said. Negotiations had also been held with key liquefied natural gas importers, such as Japan and South Korea, to make their own orders available to the EU. Tankers carrying liquefied gas from Qatar could be rerouted to Europe instead of Japan, for instance.
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Inflation in China slowed in January, official data showed, as the government pledged to keep prices in check in the world's second-biggest economy. The producer price index, which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, rose 9.1% on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, tracking falls in coal and steel prices. It was below the 9.5% forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, and marked the third straight month of PPI easing. It was 10.3% in December 2021. Policies to ensure supply and price stability were "vigorously promoted" to ease pressure from rising oil and commodity prices in international markets, National Bureau of Statistics senior statistician Dong Lijuan said in a statement. The PPI had risen in four consecutive months last year, piling pressure on officials to stop costs from spiralling out of control. The consumer price index rose 0.9% on-year in January.
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The UK annual inflation figure raced to just shy of a 30-year high in January, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Inflation accelerated to 5.5% in January from 5.4% in December. The figure topped market estimates, which had forecast inflation to remain steady in January. On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged down 0.1% in January, following a 0.5% increase in December. It was the first time since January 2021 that consumer prices declined monthly. At a producer price level, UK inflationary pressure increased in January. Producer prices climbed 9.9% annually in January, following a 9.3% increase in December. January's figure topped market consensus of 9.1%. Monthly, producer prices rose 1.2% in January, following growth of 0.3% in December.
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The UK housing sector ended 2021 with more double-digit annual price growth, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. House prices climbed 11% yearly in December to an average of GBP275,000. Prices also had risen by 11% in November. On a monthly basis, however, growth slowed. House prices rose 0.9% in December from November, following a climb of 2.0% in November from October.
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Eurozone industrial production rose by 1.2% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the
European Union in December from the month before, according to Eurostat. This represented a slower increase than in November when industrial production rose by 2.4% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU as it rebounded from October's decline. Compared with December 2020, industrial production increased by 1.6% in the euro area and by 2.5% in the EU.
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With plans to gradually relax the anti-coronavirus measures imposed in Germany, the 16 state premiers are again due to consult with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday afternoon. In a submission for the videoconference, it is said that by March 20 the current coronavirus restrictions should be largely and gradually abolished. The proposal, which is considered the basis for Wednesday's discussions, has been agreed upon between the chancellor's office and the chair and co-chair of the group of state premiers, of which the most populous state, North Rhine Westphalia, is currently the chair.
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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