2025-02-20 09:34
KAMPALA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was firmer on Thursday on the back of dollar inflows from charities and offshore investors who participated in this week's Treasury bond auction, traders said. At 0911 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,662/3,672, from Wednesday's closing rate of 3,670 /3,680. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/ugandan-shilling-firmer-charity-offshore-investor-fx-flows-2025-02-20/
2025-02-20 08:56
YEKATERINBURG, Russia, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday the bank was not part of the talks on lifting sanctions or a freeze on Russia's foreign currency reserves. "The central bank does not participate in such negotiations, I am not aware of this," she said in response to the question of whether the issue of lifting sanctions on Russia is being discussed as part of a possible peace deal. At the beginning of 2022, Russia's central bank held around $207 billion in euro assets, $67 billion in U.S. dollar assets and $37 billion in British pound assets. In June of last year, the Group of Seven and the EU agreed to use interest earned from the frozen Russian assets to support a $50 billion loan for Ukraine. Russia has vowed legal action. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russias-central-bank-not-part-talks-sanctions-lifting-unfreezing-reserves-2025-02-20/
2025-02-20 07:46
Feb 20 (Reuters) - Italian steel pipe maker Tenaris (TENR.MI) , opens new tab has warned that a tariff hike by U.S. President Donald Trump on steel and aluminum will create a "high level of uncertainty" for costs and prices in the second half of the year. Trump stunned markets by announcing tariffs of 25% on all steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. from next month, leaving industries that rely on such supplies scrambling to offset an expected jump in costs. "Likely changes in US tariffs and their possible ramifications on trade flows will introduce a new dynamic with a high level of uncertainty for costs and prices to our results," Luxembourg-based Tenaris said. It added in a statement late on Wednesday that it expected its first-quarter revenue and core earnings (excluding extraordinary items) to be in line with the previous quarter, before rising moderately in the second quarter of 2025. Despite the warning by Tenaris, brokerage JPMorgan said it did not expect implementation of the tariffs to negatively impact Tenaris' financial results. "In fact, (it) would likely lead to an increase in U.S. OCTG (Oil Country Tubular Goods) pricing," it added in a note, saying the rising prices would offset the higher cost for raw materials. Tenaris also named Carlos Gomez Alzaga as its new chief financial officer, succeeding the retiring Alicia Mondolo effective May 2. The exploration pipeline maker reported a 17% drop in net sales to $2.85 billion for the fourth quarter, although above its previous guidance due to inventory reductions and advanced shipments to the Middle East and Turkey. Its EBITDA margin for the last quarter of 2024 stood at 25.5%, below the 28.6% recorded in the same period the year before. Tenaris also proposed an overall dividend per share of $0.83 for 2024, including the interim dividend of $0.27 paid in November. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/tenaris-flags-us-steel-tariff-uncertainty-names-new-finance-chief-2025-02-20/
2025-02-20 07:44
Feb 20 (Reuters) - Centrica (CNA.L) , opens new tab announced a share buyback of 500 million pounds ($629.70 million) on Thursday and maintained its 2025 forecast, after the British Gas owner reported annual profit in line with analyst expectations. The company also said it had signed a 15-year LNG supply agreement with Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA) , opens new tab that will start in 2027, and that it had concluded a review of its pension schemes to determine deficits. Centrica reported adjusted operating profit of 1.55 billion pounds for the year ended December 31, 2024. That compared with analysts' average estimate of 1.54 billion pounds, according to data compiled by LSEG. ($1 = 0.7940 pounds) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/uk-utility-centrica-keeps-2025-forecast-plans-share-buyback-2025-02-20/
2025-02-20 07:29
London-listed miner posted $3.1 billion loss Books $3.8 billion impairment Exploring copper JV with Chile's Codelco LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Anglo American (AAL.L) , opens new tab posted a $3.1 billion loss on Thursday after a writedown of its De Beers diamond business, as it presses on with shedding unwanted assets. Anglo aims to focus on copper and iron ore assets after BHP's (BHP.AX) , opens new tab failed takeover attempt last year. That means spinning off its platinum and diamond businesses after the sale of its coal and nickel mines. CEO Duncan Wanblad also said the company was exploring jointly running its Los Bronces copper mine in Chile with that of state-backed Codelco's (COBRE.UL) Andina operation. The plan, which analysts said would cut costs and boost production of the two adjacent mines, helped cheer investors. Anglo's London-listed closed up 2.5%. "Two things stood out today - the cost savings are really showing and the other big news for Anglo is the Chilean joint venture," said George Cheveley, portfolio manager at Ninety One. Wanblad said the process to sell or divest diamond specialist De Beers would accelerate in the second half of the year. The prevailing market downturn means the process to divest the diamonds business could only pick up in the second half of this year, the CEO said. A $2.9 billion De Beers writedown means that Anglo has been able "to bring the carrying value of this business to a more reasonable $4.1 billion," Jefferies analysts said. COMPETITION FROM LAB-GROWN STONES The $3.1 billion loss followed a profit of $283 million for 2023, as metal prices retreated and diamond sales struggled against competition from lab-grown stones. Other diversified miners including BHP, Rio Tinto (RIO.L) , opens new tab, (RIO.AX) , opens new tab and Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab also reported a second consecutive year of declining earnings due to weaker metal prices, following two record years when prices soared. Anglo booked a $3.8 billion impairment, mostly related to the diamond unit, and declared a dividend of $0.64 per share, or about $800 million, down from $0.96 a share previously. De Beers has a stockpile of gems worth about $2 billion, amid a persistent lower price environment, Wanblad said. Anglo would continue to evaluate either selling or listing De Beers to exit the diamonds business responsibly, he added. The CEO said that to list and divest the unit, market conditions have to be right, so he would prefer a speedier sale to a trade buyer. "The market conditions have to be suitable for that to happen effectively," Wanblad told Reuters. "(But) we're probably more likely than not to be able to execute on a trade sale than on a listing in the short run." The miner's joint venture plan in Chile was 13 years in the making. "(Even though) the synergies were very obvious, there's a lot of pre-work for these things to come together," Ninety One's Cheveley said. The mining sector has seen a jump in M&A activity, which stood at around $26 billion in 2023, and jointly operating assets is also a way to share risks. Anglo on Tuesday said it's selling its Brazilian nickel business for up to $500 million. It has so far raised about $5.3 billion from sales of its assets that the CEO said would be used to cut down debt. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/anglo-american-posts-31-billion-loss-writedowns-2025-02-20/
2025-02-20 07:22
MADRID, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Spain's Repsol (REP.MC) , opens new tab pledged on Thursday to increase dividend and buy back shares worth at least 700 million euros ($729.82 million) this year after fourth-quarter adjusted net profit nearly halved, hit by a sharp decline in oil refining margins. Like larger peers, Repsol has been hit by a significant decline in refining margins amid weaker global economic activity and new refineries coming online. Quarterly adjusted profit of 643 million euros ($670.52 million) compared to 1.2 billion euros in the same period in 2023 and a company-provided average forecast of 600 million euros. The company swung to a quarterly net loss of 36 million euros from a 383 million euro net profit a year earlier. Still, Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz said shareholders will get 0.975 euros a share paid out of the 2024 results, an 8.3% increase from the 0.90 euros a year earlier. Dividend and buyback will take shareholders' remuneration within the company's target of 30% to 35% of its cash flow from operations, which for 2025 is seen at between 6 billion euros and 6.5 billion euros. Repsol's net investment for the year will be up to 4 billion euros. ($1 = 0.9590 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/repsols-q4-adjusted-profit-falls-lower-refining-margins-2025-02-20/
