Services news
- Metro Bank reports a significant increase in bad loans as Coronavirus wreaks havoc.
- CFO David Arden says the bank is open to assets sale to shore up finances amidst COVID-19.
- The UK retail and commercial bank reports a £77 million increase in total deposits in Q1.
Latest Services news
United Utilities (LON: UU) said on Friday that it saw an unexpected increase in its annual operating profit. Owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, however, the company announced its plan of re-evaluating the dividend policy for the next five years. The British water supplier proposed a 28.40 pence per share of final dividend that was reported higher than 27.52 pence a share last year. Thanks to stable dividend payments, water utilities...
Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) released its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday that showed the Coronavirus pandemic having weighed on its financial performance in the first quarter. The company said that early signs of recovery are starting to show in May, but it will take time for performance to return to pre-virus levels. Shares of the company were reported 4.5% up in extended trading on Wednesday. At £67.9 per share, Expedia is roughly 25% down ye...
Aviva (LON: AV) said on Thursday that its life business posted a 28% increase in new sales in the first quarter to £12.3 billion. The company attributed upbeat sales to bulk annuities in Q1. The British multinational insurance company, however, forecast £160 million in claims primarily on travel insurance and business interruptions due to the Coronavirus pandemic. At £2.4 billion, the UK insurer announced a 3% increase in its net written premiums...
In its announcement on Wednesday, Lufthansa (ETR: LHA) said that hundreds of its aeroplanes are likely to remain grounded until 2022 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has brought the global air travel industry to a near halt. The company also highlighted that deeper layoffs in its catering and maintenance businesses may even turn into a necessity in the upcoming months to shore up finances and cushion the economic blow from COVID-19. T...
Experian (LON: EXPN) warned on Wednesday that the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic is likely to hit its full-year financial performance. The health crisis has pushed the company’s primary markets, including North America into a near halt. The blue-chip company that is offering three free credit reports to its clients each week in fiscal 2021, announced a 5% decline in its revenue last month. If the existing trends persist, Experian added, its organic...
Baidu’s estimate for revenue in the second quarter came in stronger than expected on Monday. China’s search engine giant is expecting fast recovery as the largest economy in Asia eases restriction after a nationwide lockdown to minimize the fast spread of the Coronavirus. Baidu’s shares listed in the United States posted an 8% increase in after-hours trading on Monday as the company revealed a smaller than anticipated decline in its revenue in th...
As per a report on Monday, Telecom Italia (BIT: TIT) saw a sag in earnings in the first quarter as the Coronavirus pandemic weighed on performance. The company also said that its recently launched cost-cutting measures were unable to completely offset an even sharper decline in domestic revenue. Italy’s largest phone group reported a 7.5% decline in organic earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) from January to Mar...
In its announcement on Monday, Vroom said that it has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States. The online platform to buy and sell used cars is planning to go public at a time when COVID-19 restrictions have fuelled an increase in consumer spending on e-commerce platforms. Founded in August 2013, Vroom is planning its initial public offering after almost seven years of successful operations in the U.S. The company said it...
Compass Group (LON: CPG) launched a share offer worth £2 billion on Tuesday in a bid to reduce debt and cushion the economic blow from the Coronavirus pandemic that has weighed heavily on its financial performance in recent months. In the 6 months that ended in March, the British multinational company reported £854 million in underlying operating profit that translates to a 10% decline as COVID-19 wiped demand for contract foodservice. On the rev...
In an announcement on Friday, Enel (ETR: ENL) said that the company’s new board of directors decided in favour of reappointing Francesco Starace as the CEO. Starace will also be serving as Enel’s general manager. Starace has been serving Italy’s largest utility company since 2014. Enel’s directors to donate 15% of salaries in 2020 Italy took one of the strongest hits due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As a show of solidarity, Enel’s director...
The U.S House of Representatives called on Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) CEO, Jeff Bezos, at the start of May to testify about allegations on the company regarding its use of 3rd party sellers’ data. In a blog post on Friday, Amazon highlighted that it will send an appropriate executive to testify to the Judiciary Committee. Shares of the company were reported a little over 25% up year to date in the stock market at the end of the regular trading sessi...
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been committed to expanding its presence in the virtual and augmented reality sector. In its announcement on Thursday, the company said that it is moving forward with its plans as it purchased the virtual reality (VR) startup, NextVR. The U.S tech giant seeks to add a new product category to its portfolio that will offer gadgets based on virtual and augmented reality technologies. Apart from AR (augmented reality) so...
Mediaset (BIT: MS) reported a 47% decline in its operating profit in the first quarter on Friday. The company attributed the downbeat performance to the Coronavirus pandemic that weighed on its advertising revenue heavily in March. The country’s largest commercial broadcaster saw a significant hit to profit as the Italian government resorted to a nationwide lockdown to minimize the fast transmission of the flu-like virus. Consequently, businesses...
In an announcement on Friday, William Hill (LON: WMH) pulled its financial guidance citing the rising Coronavirus uncertainty. The company highlighted its revenue to have taken a significant hit as COVID-19 postponed sports events. The betting company also said on Friday that it plans on using a phased approach to resume operations in the United Kingdom in the 2nd half of 2020. The developments in its retail operations in the 9 states of the U.S,...
BT Group (LON: BT.A) said on Thursday that it is negotiating with infrastructure investors to sell its stake in Openreach. BT currently has a multi-billion-pound investment in the network subsidiary. The raised funds from the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, the company added, will be used to expand its presence in the UK’s full-fibre broadband network. The announcement came on top of BT’s decision to suspend its dividend last week in a bid t...
SmileDirectClub (NASDAQ: SDC) reported a broader quarterly loss on Wednesday than what the experts had forecast. The company said that the Coronavirus pandemic pushed it into closing the majority of its global SmileShops. Going forward, SmileDirectClub added, it will focus on its business for dental impression kits. The Nashville-headquartered company was reported 3.5% down in after-hours trading on Wednesday. SmileDirectClub’s performance...
Deutsche Telekom (ETR: DTE) released its quarterly financial results on Thursday that posted upbeat revenue and profit for the first quarter. The company attributed its success to growth in both of its primary markets, Germany and the United States. The German company reported its net profit in Q1 at £810.65 million that came in stronger than £796.50 million in the same quarter last year. In terms of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depr...