Month: February 2020

Britain’s biggest domestic lender Lloyds Banking Group reported a 27% drop in annual profit in 2019, as it paid out billions of pounds to customers mis-sold insurance products and saw bad loans rise. Lloyds reported a pre-tax profit of 4.4 billion pounds ($5.7 billion), in line with analysts’ expectations as nearly 2.5 billion pounds of provisions for compensating customers mis-sold payment protection insurance weighed. Lloyds announced a dividend of 3.37 pence per share, but no buyback as some investors had hoped for. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — China plans to take over indebted conglomerate HNA Group Co. and sell off its airline assets, the most dramatic step to date by the state to contain the deepening economic damage from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. HNA-related shares rose.The government of Hainan, the southern island province where HNA is based, is in talks to seize control of the group after the contagion hurt its ability to meet financial obligations, according to people familiar with the plans. The once little-known airline operator shot to prominence between 2016 and 2017 after a debt-fueled acquisition spree saw it become the leading …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — L Brands Inc. is close to selling a controlling stake in its Victoria’s Secret brand to private equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal that values the lingerie brand at $1.1 billion, Wall Street Journal reported citing unidentified people familiar with the development.Sycamore Partners is expected to buy 55% in Victoria’s Secret in a transaction that with L Brands and retain 45% in a separate firm that will include the young-adult focused Pink chain, according to the newspaper. L Brands’ billionaire founder Leslie Wexner will step down as chairman and chief executive officer, WSJ said. The deal could …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk bought 13,037 Tesla Inc. shares for $10 million on Feb. 14, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Musk purchased the shares at an average of $767 each, raising his holding to 34.1 million, or 18.5% of the Palo Alto-based company. Tesla’s shares have soared more than doubled this year and closed at a record high of $917.42 on Wednesday.The rally, initially fueled by a surprise third-quarter profit, has left Tesla with a market value greater than that of General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV combined. Traders are realizing …read more […]

Michael Bloomberg defended his billionaire status during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas. …read more […]

…read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Two people from the quarantined cruise ship in Japan have died, NHK reported, while coronavirus cases in South Korea more than doubled in one day, with a surge of infections tied to a church.Stocks came under pressure on signs the outbreak was spreading more rapidly beyond China. The death toll in mainland China rose to 2,118 as Hubei province added 108 fatalities.China’s banks lowered the benchmark borrowing costs for loans as Beijing seeks to blunt the economic impact of the outbreak. China is planning to take over HNA Group Co. and sell off its airline assets after the …read more […]

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China plans to take over HNA Group Co and sell off its airline assets as the coronavirus outbreak has hit the conglomerate’s ability to meet financial obligations, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The government of Hainan, the southern province where HNA is based, is in talks to take control of the group, the report said. HNA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Bloomberg report. …read more […]