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by John Biers with Heather Scott in Washington © Agence France-Presse New York, UNITED STATES (AFP) — US consumers continued to increase spending in April, remaining resilient in the face of accelerating inflation, but retail giant Walmart still saw a big hit to its bottom line due to rising costs, according to reports released Tuesday. Home Depot, however, benefitted from the ongoing spending spree, reporting higher profits and a better outlook for the year. The […]
PARIS, France (AFP) – French energy giant Engie warned Tuesday that a conflict between Russia and Ukraine would be “bad news” for Europe’s gas supplies and defended the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline as being “in all our interests”. Engie is one of five European partners in the massive Russian pipeline running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The pipeline, which has been completed but is still awaiting regulatory approval in Germany, has […]
Ford reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profits Thursday amid supply chain problems, even as higher car prices boosted results in North America. Executives with the US automaker said some of the company’s suppliers had been unable to deliver items due to outbreaks of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Profit margins in 2021’s final quarter were also pinched by higher commodity costs, as well as elevated expenses tied to fuel and shipping, executives said. Ford, which has also […]
by Glenn CHAPMAN Agence France Presse Amazon and Apple announced billions of dollars in quarterly profits on Thursday, but supply chain bottlenecks and the great chip shortage dented the tech giants, which have been riding a pandemic-stoked boom. Apple said sales of its signature iPhone and iPad were held back due to supply constraints, while Amazon struggled to get products and enough workers to meet demand. Both firms soared in the pandemic era […]
by Julien MIVIELLE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Already under pressure due to climate change, the world’s top listed oil firms suffered historic losses in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic sent demand and prices tumbling. The oil majors — BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total — suffered $77 billion in losses for the year. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden called 2020 an extraordinary year. Total’s Patrick Pouyanne said: “All of us will remember 2020 […]
by Ben PERRY Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday became the latest oil major to reveal huge annual losses as the coronavirus pandemic slashed energy demand and prices in 2020. Shell dived into a net loss of $21.7 billion (18.1 billion euros) last year as factories shut and planes were grounded. The Anglo-Dutch group’s loss compared with a net profit of $15.8 billion in 2019, the company said in […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Swedish music streaming giant Spotify on Wednesday reported a tripled net loss in 2020, citing increased operating expenses, even as the number of paying subscribers continued to increase. At the end of 2020, the number of monthly active users was 345 million, a 27-percent increase compared with a year earlier. Paying subscribers, the main source of revenue for the streaming service, stood at 155 million, a 24-percent increase. Spotify, which is […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Sales of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech could reach up to $15 billion in 2021 and go higher if Pfizer signs additional supply contracts, Pfizer said Tuesday. The projections came as Pfizer projected full-year 2021 sales of between $59.4 billion and $61.4 billion, meaning that about one-fourth of estimated total sales will come from the Covid-19 vaccine. The forecast reflects “a continued recovery in macroeconomic […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Encrypted messaging app Telegram will launch pay-for services in 2021, its Russian-born founder Pavel Durov said Wednesday, as the growing company needed “at least a few hundred million dollars per year”. “Telegram will begin to generate revenue, starting next year,” Durov said in a statement. “We will be able to launch countless new features and welcome billions of new users.” Durov, 36, said he did not plan to sell the […]
HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Equipment maker Nokia more than doubled its net profits in the third quarter as the firm’s new CEO promised on Thursday to do “whatever it takes” to become the 5G market leader. On his first results day since taking the reins of the Finnish networks giant in August, Pekka Lundmark announced a move to a more focused approach as the company vies for 5G market share against competitors Ericsson and Huawei. […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Tuesday said its profit in the recently ended quarter continued to soar as the pandemic boosted a trend toward business being taken care of in the internet cloud. The US technology titan’s profit rose to $13.9 billion, up 30 percent from the same quarter last year, according to earnings figures. Revenue in the quarter climbed 12 percent to $37.2 billion. “Demand for our cloud offerings drove a […]
by Dan Martin Agence France Presse SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Huawei’s revenue growth slowed significantly in the first nine months of 2020, the Chinese telecom giant said Friday, citing “intense pressure” on operations during the coronavirus and as the US moves to cut off its access to vital components. Huawei, the leading global supplier of telecoms networking equipment and a top smartphone producer, said it grossed 671.3 billion yuan ($100.7 billion) in revenue in […]
