2024-02-29 12:54

Feb 29 (Reuters) - AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) , opens new tab slumped more than 10% on Thursday as the movie industry continued to reel from the impact of twin Hollywood strikes, driving the theater chain to post a larger-than-expected quarterly loss. The writers and actors' strikes have crippled much of the industry, leading to fewer releases following the blockbuster summer successes of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." The delay in the release of the "Dune" sequel likely contributed to the box-office weakness last year. AMC reported a loss of 83 cents per share for the fourth quarter, while analysts were expecting a loss of 70 cents, according to LSEG data. The impact of the strikes is expected to linger this year and weigh on earnings in 2024. Just as adjusted core earnings in the summer of 2023 were returning to more acceptable pre-COVID levels, the movie industry was paralyzed by debilitating strikes, temporarily challenging AMC earnings in 2024, CEO Adam Aron said on a post-earnings call. The strikes and the resulting lack of new content forced studios to try other means such as concert-based movies to pull in revenue. "AMC's deals with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift went a long way in staunching the wounds and have opened up a lucrative revenue stream," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. However, higher distribution costs for Swift and Beyonce's concert movies were a drag on its earnings. Domestic box-office collection was down 35% for the fourth quarter, compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, and 45% for the first two months of the year, compared with 2020 levels. For 2024, "the impact from the 6-month Hollywood work stoppage is likely to cause the overall domestic box office to decrease 7%," Roth MKM analyst Eric Handler said. https://www.reuters.com/business/amc-tumbles-hollywood-strikes-higher-expenses-hit-results-2024-02-29/

2024-02-29 12:50

Feb 29 (Reuters) - Dentsply Sirona (XRAY.O) , opens new tab posted fourth-quarter profit and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates on Thursday, boosted by strong demand for teeth aligners and dental procedures products. Sales of clear teeth aligners have been boosted after competitor SmileDirectClub (SDCCQ.PK) , opens new tab filed for bankruptcy in September, the company said in January, echoing similar comments from Align Technology (ALGN.O) , opens new tab last month. Charlotte, North Carolina-based company, which sells clear dental aligners under SureSmile and Byte, said last month that its implant business in China and the United States is also seeing robust growth. The company expects 2024 profit to be between $2.00 and $2.10 per share, with its mid-point in line with analysts' expectations of a profit $2.05 per share, according to LSEG data. Dentsply's sales for the fourth quarter rose 2.9% over the year earlier to $1.01 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $976.9 million, according to LSEG data. Excluding items, the company earned 44 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with analysts average estimate of 43 cents. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/dentsply-sirona-beats-quarterly-estimates-strong-demand-dental-products-2024-02-29/

2024-02-29 12:48

Blockades, capital controls, insurance costs weigh on companies Survey shows only 2% of firms closed due to war with Russia Companies call for support and insurance backstop KYIV/LONDON, Feb 29 (Reuters) - German supermarket chain Metro (B4B.DE) , opens new tab and its 3,400 employees in Ukraine have worked hard to get their business back to where it was before Russia's full-scale invasion two years ago. After a sales slump of 10.4% in 2022 - when the overall economy collapsed by almost a third as war caused havoc - revenue rebounded by almost the same amount last year as domestic consumption recovered. Now Metro faces a new test, as protests by Polish farmers blockading the borders with Ukraine disrupt supplies coming in - one of several challenges foreign and domestic firms face as they navigate doing business in a country at war. "The war has taught us to respond flexibly," Olena Vdowychenko, head of the supermarket giant's Ukraine business, told Reuters. According to Vdowychenko, around 18 of her company's trucks have been stuck each week at the Polish border in recent months, sometimes for three to four days. "This is a big problem for Ukrainian businesses," she said, explaining it was pushing up costs everywhere. Capital controls restricting the movement of profits out of the country, difficulties in getting insurance and wavering U.S. financial and military support have been issues for corporate Ukraine for months, if not longer. To make matters worse, border disruptions in 2023 by Polish truckers have been replaced by similar actions by farmers upset at cheap Ukrainian grain taking their market share. Russia's military also has the upper hand in the battlefield in the east and south, putting key mining operations out of action or at risk, and a new mobilisation bill aimed at recruiting up to 500,000 more Ukrainians threatens staff levels. POINT OF NO RETURN? Some smaller companies say an accumulation of problems has brought operations in Ukraine to the brink of collapse. The owner of one UK-based clothing manufacturer, who did not want to be named because of commercial sensitivities, said the business had been impacted by border protests, customer confidence and insurance issues to the point where operations in Ukraine were at risk. "Now we are at the point where we don't think we can continue," said the owner, adding that the company had been active in Ukraine for 25 years. "We are still trying though." Others, mainly larger firms and foreign operators, are not sounding the alarm bells yet, although some have relocated away from the frontlines and there are major Ukrainian corporations who have defaulted on debt. A recent American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine study , opens new tab estimated that only 2% of firms had closed and another 10% had been severely affected since 2022, based on a survey of 125 members who are mostly larger multinationals and bigger Ukrainian companies. "Multinationals are not leaving," said Alfonso Garcia Mora, a regional vice president at the International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank group, whose recent surveys , opens new tab tell a similar story. "They have really held in there as much as they can." He added that one reason was war-time capital controls effectively prevented firms from selling up or sending money made by subsidiaries in Ukraine back home, meaning many were taking the view that it would be better to stay for a hoped-for eventual post-war recovery. The risk of missile strikes and collateral damage means firms and organisations need special war risk insurance although barely any have been able to secure it. The clothes manufacturer said it had been unable to insure goods during transport, while Leverkusen-based Bayer (BAYGn.DE) , opens new tab, which is building a 60 million euros ($65 million) corn seed facility near Kyiv, is only finding cover now. "We have a number of offers for war insurance and are looking at which one we take," said Oliver Gierlichs, the company's Managing Director of Ukraine, adding that it would be costly however. Some development bankers grumble that there is no sign of a global or Europe-wide insurance backstop, although some governments are starting to step up. Philipp Grushko a board member at the large TIS port near Odessa expects "small and brave" exporters to restart container shipping in the next few months, while private equity fund Horizon Capital says it is even starting to look at possible stock market floats for some of its firms next year. "It is less of a crazy thought these days," Horizon's Vasile Tofan said. SHIFTING FRONTLINES Yuriy Ryzhenkov, chief executive of Ukrainian metals giant Metinvest, is watching the shifting frontlines carefully. Russia's seizure of Avdiivka in mid-February meant the loss of control over his company's coke plant there, nearly two years after Metinvest's sprawling Azovstal iron and steel works in Mariupol fell to Moscow's forces after being badly damaged. Battles are now raging within 40 km (25 miles) of two other big operations - Pokrovsk, where it runs Ukraine's largest coal mine, and Zaporizhzhia to the south where its biggest steel plant is located. Ukraine's iron and steel sector employed some 600,000 people and contributed around 10% of Ukraine's GDP before the war. It still represents a huge share of the economy and contributes large amounts of tax. But Ryzhenkov and others are also worried about the government's plans to mobilise up to 500,000 more people to replenish an exhausted and stretched army. "We are hiring people, we are training them and then they are getting drafted before they even start working," Ryzhenkov said, estimating that Metinvest was already 9,000-10,000 under-staffed. "That is a big problem we are trying to convey to both the military guys and the politicians in Ukraine. Hopefully they will be able to find a way around it because otherwise the economy will not be able to function." https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/companies-ukraine-see-problems-pile-up-most-tough-it-out-2024-02-29/

2024-02-29 12:38

NEW DELHI, Feb 29 (Reuters) - India will auction 18 critical mineral blocks as a part of its second round of mining auctions, a source aware of the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Oil-to-metals conglomerate Vedanta Ltd (VDAN.NS) , opens new tab, state-owned miner Coal India (COAL.NS) , opens new tab, Shree Cement (SHCM.NS) , opens new tab and e-scooter maker Ola Electric have emerged as bidders after the first round of auction for 20 blocks concluded on Feb. 20, the source said. The source declined to be identified as the details were not public. The companies and India's federal Ministry of Mines did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The first round of auctions was launched in November last year, in a move to drive the country's clean energy push. India last year listed 30 critical minerals, including lithium, copper, vanadium, graphite and rare earth elements. The source said New Delhi is also in talks with South Korea, Bolivia, Japan and the United Kingdom for lithium processing technologies. The government has also asked private companies, primarily battery manufacturers, to acquire lithium blocks overseas, the source added. Lithium is an important raw material used to make electric vehicle batteries. Separately, the Indian cabinet has approved royalty rate for 12 critical and strategic minerals at 2%-4%. These minerals include cobalt, titanium, gallium and tungsten among others. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-auction-18-critical-mineral-blocks-second-round-source-says-2024-02-29/

2024-02-29 12:30

Feb 29 (Reuters) - Chemours (CC.N) , opens new tab shares plunged to a more than three-year low after the chemical maker placed its top three executives, including CEO Mark Newman, on administrative leave and said it was looking into potential "material weaknesses" in its financial reporting. The internal review also prompted the company to further delay the reporting of its fourth-quarter and full-year results, without disclosing a new date. Chemours earlier this month said , opens new tab it would delay its results to Feb. 28. "What we think many perceived as likely a relatively minor accounting hangup two weeks ago now appears wider, longer, and with more ramifications than the market initially believed," said Barclays analyst Michael Leithead. The weaknesses included the effectiveness of the "tone at the top" set by certain members of senior management, the chemicals maker said on Wednesday. CFO Jonathan Lock and Principal Accounting Officer Camela Wisel were also placed on leave, the company said. Shares were trading down 42% at $16.58 after being briefly halted for volatility. More than 11 million shares were traded within the first hour of trading, compared with its surpassing a short-term average of over a million shares. The administrative leave of CEO, CFO and controller is a negative that is compounded by the delay in releasing year-end financials, brokerage Jefferies said. Chemours named company insiders Denise Dignam as CEO and Matt Abbott as CFO on an interim basis. Newman, Lock and Wisel did not respond to requests for comment via LinkedIn. Chemours said it needs additional time to complete the reporting process and added it expects preliminary net sales of about $6 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, compared with net sales of $6.8 billion in 2022. The company also estimated a net annual loss in the $225 million-$235 million range, compared with a net income attributable to Chemours of $578 million for 2022. https://www.reuters.com/business/chemours-places-ceo-cfo-leave-amid-internal-review-shares-plunge-2024-02-29/

2024-02-29 12:28

Feb 29 (Reuters) - C3.ai's shares (AI.N) , opens new tab jumped about 18% in premarket trading on Thursday after strong demand for AI software helped the company deliver third-quarter results ahead of analyst expectations and firmed its full-year forecast on strong enterprise demand. The company's shares have surged 165% since the end of 2022, valuing the company at $3.56 billion, drawing strong interest from active traders, especially retail investors, looking to bet on the boom in artificial intelligence (AI). However, in that same period, Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, the poster child for AI, has rocketed 431%, or more than five-fold, in market value. In the latest quarter, strong demand from federal customers helped C3.ai's subscription revenue increase 23% to $70.4 million and beat analysts' average estimate of $66.77 million, according to LSEG data. Subscription revenue is about 90% of total revenue. "The company is having notable success in the federal sector while signing more multi-year subscription agreements that trend similarly to consumption revenue behavior," said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria. C3.ai's stock was last trading at $34.98, on track to hit a more than six-month high at market open and already above the $28.50 median price target of the 14 brokerages covering C3.ai. Their average rating, according to LSEG data, is "hold." D.A. Davidson has an equivalent rating on C3.ai but raised its target price to $30 from $28. Redwood City, California-based C3.ai also narrowed its 2024 revenue forecast to $306-$310 million, from $295-$320 million. Still, the new forecast was largely above analysts' estimates of $306.1 million. The company also said its chief accounting officer Hitesh Lath will transition to the chief financial officer role, effective March 1, replacing Juho Parkkinen. Parkkinen will remain at the company as vice president of finance, C3.ai said. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-investors-ai-bet-c3ais-shares-climb-strong-results-forecast-2024-02-29/