British Multinational Beverage Company Diageo Plc is planning to increase its majority stake in the Lagos, Nigeria-based brewer Guinness Nigeria Plc to 70 percent, which is worth $200 million. Diageo, the biggest distiller in the world and maker of Johnnie Walker, plans to offer 175 naira a share to raise its shareholdings in Guinness Nigeria to 70% from 54.3%. According to the report published at Bloomberg, that deal would cost about 41.38 billion naira, or $208 million. Guinness shares spiked 5 percent to 131.48 naira Wednesday after it announced Diageo's plans. This valued the Nigerian brewery at 198 billion naira.
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Decline in drilling, oil prices up
Oil prices rose following the indications that stockpiles are declining and drop in drilling activity. The global oil benchmark Brent was up three percent as expectations that less drilling may reduce future oil production and inventories as well. Gasoline futures also surged on renewed demand. US crude's front-month rose 4.5 percent or $2 to end at $46.68 a barrel. Brent rose 3.1 percent and closed at $48.92/barrel. It's learnt that US drillers have called off drilling activity for the past three weeks. It's estimated that the US crude production may drop by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) the second and fourth quarters this year.
Chinese firms sign L.A-Las Vegas high-speed rail project
Marking a major development in US-China business relations, a group of firms from the world's second largest economy signed a deal with the US partner XpressWest to build a high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Canadian bank sectors expected to boost payouts in 2016
Dividend stocks are investors favourite during the economic uncertainty. Dividends signal a strong performance by the company and it also allows investors to make some return on investment during the tough time.
Alibaba and Suning Partnership Could Change China's E-commerce Domination
China e-commerce industry is worth $2.1 trillion in 2014 with the number of users growing by 31.4 percent as reported by China E-Commerce Research Center (CERC). Out of the total amount, $450 billion comes from the online retail business alone. Current market players in the e-commerce are Alibaba, JD.com, and Suning Commerce.
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Federal Reserve's announcement to leave the interest rates unchanged sparks a global concern regarding the future outlook of global economic. The Wall Street particularly reacts negatively towards the news as most stocks are trading at a lower price forcing the index to close lower.
EPA called the software "defeat device" that conceals the true emissions only during testing and therefore when the cars are on the road they emit as much as 40 times the level of pollutants allowed under clean air rules making sure public health is protected, Giles said.
The newly-elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn warns supporters that "Brexit" could become a reality as early as next year. Corbyn, who is currently against the move for Britain to exit EU said that the talk between EU-UK in Brussels right now will determine the future of the country.
Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co has offered bid to acquire the LCD business of Sharp Corporation. However, the bidding details were not revealed. Without confirming on its plans to offload LCD business or received any bid offer, Sharp Corp continues to explore several options for reviving the trouble-prone liquid panel display business. Sharp has also asked Apple Inc for funding support. Sharp Corp has sought a $1.9-billion revival package from the banks and decided to slash 5,000 jobs as part of the cost-cutting measures. The intense competition in LCD screens for smartphones from Asian companies is taking a toll on Sharp Corp's business.
The closure of the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) charter is forcing the US companies to explore business options overseas. Major aerospace companies, which have been benefiting from export financing and other encouraging schemes from EXIM, are in favor of shifting out of the US. General Electric (GE) has already firmed up to its plan to set up $400-million turboprop engine in Europe. Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the largest US aerospace trade group, expresses concerns that many aviation companies are losing their competitiveness in the absence of support from EXIM. However, conservative Republicans are against EXIM charter as it's confined to only three major companies.
Snapchat just released the latest update of their product today. According to the announcement, the four years old company releases its first in-app purchase feature for their 'Replays' along with a new face effect lenses. The 'Replays' feature is only available for US users for the time being.
The federal court ordered Samsung to halt older version of its smartphones for breaching Apple's patent. It was found that Samsung was guilty of copyright infringement filed by Apple. But the features included in the case were no longer used by Samsung.
The debt-ridden Island Puerto Rico has opted for value-added tax (VAT) as a measure to enhance revenues for the government. The new VAT structure will come into force starting1 April 2016.
US tech giant Google may not be paying taxes to Britain, but according to its latest report, it is contributing a great deal to UK's economy through the digital revenue made by local businesses in that nation through the search engine.
