2024-02-22 12:52

Feb 22 (Reuters) - PG&E Corp (PCG.N) , opens new tab posted fourth-quarter profit above analyst estimates on Thursday, as the electric and natural gas utility got a boost from higher rates for its services. In December, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to pass the alternate proposed decision (APD) raising prices for customers by nearly 13% in the company's General Rate Case. Utility companies use General Rate Case (GRC) proceedings to increase consumer electricity prices. The proceedings are initiated by utility firms with utility commissions when they have a revenue shortfall and ask for an increase in rates based on the total cost of providing service. On an adjusted basis, PG&E reported a profit of 47 cents per share, beating analysts' estimates of 45 cents per share, according to LSEG data. PG&E also raised its 2024 adjusted core earnings forecast to $1.33 - $1.37 per share from its previously expected range of $1.31-$1.35 per share. Shares of the company rose 1% in premarket trade. PG&E is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. The company has previously been linked to major wildfires, causing it to face several fines and bankruptcy. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2020. "Our story of progress continued in 2023, including further reducing wildfire ignitions and burying more powerlines than any prior year—all while achieving overall non-fuel operating and maintenance cost savings of more than 5%," PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said in a statement. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pge-beats-fourth-quarter-profit-estimates-higher-electricity-rates-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 12:42

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Energy contractor Quanta Services (PWR.N) , opens new tab reported higher-than-expected fourth quarter profits on Thursday, led by sustained demand from the renewable energy sector for its engineering and construction services. Shares of Quanta were up 3.1% during premarket trading. "Demand is strong for our solutions that support our customers' energy-transition initiatives," CEO Duke Austin said. The rise in demand comes as a result of Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides tax credits to wind, solar and renewable energy companies, as well we electric vehicle makers, to promote clean energy generation and transition, electrification and decarbonisation. The Houston Texas-based company operates in the U.S., Canada and Australia through its electric power, renewable energy and underground utility segments. On an adjusted basis, Quanta reported a profit of $2.04 per share, beating analysts' average estimate of $1.98 per share, according to LSEG data. Quanta's renewable energy segment reported a two-fold jump in quarterly revenue to $2.03 billion. Total revenue surged nearly 31% to $5.78 billion, beating estimates of $5.18 billion. The company expects adjusted earnings for full year 2024 to be in the range of $8.00-$8.50 per share, compared with analysts' estimates of $8.36 per share, as per LSEG data. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/quanta-services-beats-q4-profit-view-sustained-renewable-energy-demand-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 12:37

SHAMBHU, India, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday his government is committed to the welfare of farmers and is on a mission to make them entrepreneurs and exporters, amid a protest by thousands of farmers seeking higher prices for their produce. Modi's comments on farmers were his first since the protests began last week and come months before general elections in which he is seeking a rare third term. Farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, have been attempting to march to the capital for more than a week as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' (Let's Go to Delhi) campaign demanding legally binding higher prices for their crops, among other things. They have been stopped 200 km (125 miles) away by police who have used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon, with talks between farmers' leaders and federal ministers failing to produce a breakthrough. The farmer leaders said on Wednesday they were pausing their march for two days following the death of a young protester, with authorities telling local media that the man had suffered a head injury and the cause was yet to be determined. After a meeting on Thursday, farmers' leaders said they had decided to launch other "mega programmes" across the country starting on Friday. Friday would be observed as a Black Day and effigies of federal Interior Minister Amit Shah and some state leaders would be burnt across the country, farmers' leader Avik Saha told reporters. A tractor rally would be held on highways on Feb. 26 and a farm workers' public meeting would be held in Delhi on March 14, he added. POLITICAL RISK "Our government is committed to fulfill every resolve related to the welfare of our farmer brothers and sisters across the country," Modi posted on X earlier on Thursday, and referred to a cabinet decision on Wednesday to raise the floor price that mills must pay for sugar cane by 8%. The move does not benefit the protesting farmers who mostly grow rice and wheat but will help cane farmers in two other states which send the most lawmakers to parliament. "How to better the life of the small farmer is our focus," Modi later told a public meeting in his home state of Gujarat, without referring to the protests on the border of Punjab and Haryana states. "We have given modern seeds to farmers...we are giving solar pumps to farmers...our effort is to get small farmers in villages to meet modern technology," Modi said. "Besides making them producers, this is a mission to make small farmers entrepreneurs and exporters." Although the protesting farmers mostly belong to Punjab state, which has a limited footprint in parliament, analysts say Modi's party cannot risk the campaign spreading to other states and angering more farmers, who are an influential bloc of voters, so close to the polls. Similar protests two years ago, when farmers camped for months at the border of New Delhi, forced Modi to repeal a set of farm reform laws in what was seen as the biggest political defeat of the strongman leader. At the main protest site of Shambhu, on the border between Haryana and Punjab states, dozens of farmers milled on and around the highway, sipping tea, cooking and collecting tear gas shells fired on Wednesday, as police kept watch. Earlier on Thursday, social media platform X said it took down certain accounts and posts following an order by the Indian government, which local media reports say are linked to the farmers protests. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-modi-says-committed-farmers-welfare-protesting-leaders-call-meeting-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 12:21

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Newmont Corp (NEM.N) , opens new tab, the world's largest gold miner, beat fourth-quarter profit estimates on Thursday and said it will divest six non-core assets. The assets being divested include its Eleonore mine in Quebec and Porcupine mine in Ontario, along with two non-core projects including the Coffee mine in Yukon and Newcrest's Havieron mine in Western Australia. On an adjusted basis, the company posted a net income of 50 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with analyst estimates of 46 cents per share per LSEG data. The Denver, Colorado-based miner said it intends to focus on its 10 tier-1 assets which will drive long-term growth and forecast 2024 production guidance of nearly 6.9 million gold ounces, compared with the 5.5 million gold ounces produced in 2023. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-miner-newmont-plans-divest-six-mines-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 11:58

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Moderna (MRNA.O) , opens new tab on Thursday reported a surprise fourth-quarter profit, helped by cost cutting and some deferred payments, and the vaccine maker set out a commercial roadmap for its experimental respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) shot. Shares of the company jumped 8% to $94.68 in premarket trading. They, however, are well below the record high of $497.49 hit during the peak of the COVID pandemic in 2021. Moderna posted a profit of $217 million, or 55 cents a share, for the quarter. Analysts had expected a loss of 97 cents a share, according to LSEG data. Moderna Chief Financial Officer James Mock in an interview said the company beat its own forecast because of unexpected deferred revenue of $600 million and cost savings of around $300 million created by the company's effort to adjust its manufacturing output last year. "Our resizing was mostly completed at the end of the third quarter, but there is still plenty of work to do to drive additional productivity," he said. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based drugmaker reported fourth quarter sales of $2.8 billion from its COVID-19 vaccine, its only commercial product, which was down 43% from 2022 but in line with analysts' expectations. Moderna recorded $6.8 billion in sales from its COVID vaccine in 2023, down from $18.4 billion in 2022 but slightly above Wall Street estimates of $6.7 billion. Mock said production was not stalled last September after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found control lapses at Moderna's main manufacturing plant. The company has been banking on the success of its experimental shots including for RSV, influenza and cancer to make up for declining COVID revenue. Moderna said it expects a U.S. approval decision for its RSV shot by May 12, in time for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to consider usage recommendations at a vaccine meeting in late June. The company said it also planned to launch its RSV shot, called mRNA-1345, in Germany and Australia this year. Analysts estimate the shot will generate $280 million in 2024. Data posted earlier this month showed the vaccine was 63%effective at preventing RSV-related respiratory symptoms after 8.6 months, down from 84% at 3.3 months. The results raised concerns among investors over faster efficacy declines compared with rival shots from GSK (GSK.L) , opens new tab and Pfizer (PFE.N) , opens new tab, both of which launched last year. Moderna said on Thursday it also expected data from late-stage trials of its next generation COVID shot and its cytomegalovirus and COVID-flu combination vaccines this year. In November, the company pushed back the launch of its flu shot from 2024 to the following year. It said it intends to file for approval this year. Moderna said it was participating in the EU Health Emergency and Response Authority’s tendering procedure for up to 36 million doses of COVID vaccines per year for up to four years as part of an effort to prioritize key international markets. Mock said he was not sure how long the EU tender would take, but would "imagine a decision in the coming months" in time for the fall market. The company reaffirmed its 2024 forecast of $4 billion in sales, the lowest figure for annual revenue since its COVID vaccine got U.S. emergency authorization in late 2020. Analysts on average estimate the company will bring in $4.48 billion in 2024 revenue, down 33% from 2023. "Last year was a year of transition that we had to do, and the volume was not quite what we had expected it to be," Mock said. "We took actions to resize the company and we're excited to execute in 2024." https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-reports-surprise-profit-sets-out-road-map-rsv-vaccine-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 11:37

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Argentina must pay nearly 310 million euros ($336 million) in escrow in order to bring an appeal after losing a lawsuit brought by four hedge funds over euro-denominated securities, a London court ruled on Thursday. The South American republic was in January given permission to appeal against a 2023 ruling which left the country facing a 1.56 billion euro bill on condition Argentina paid the sum into court pending the outcome of the case. The granting of permission was a boost for Argentina, whose economy is already buckling under high debt loads, inflation running at more than 200% and a myriad of capital controls to protect the peso. Argentina's lawyers, however, argued that it should not be required to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to be able to pursue its appeal. Judge Stephen Phillips ruled on Thursday that Argentina should have to pay just under 310 million euros, representing roughly 20% of the total bill, in order to appeal. He said in a written ruling that "there is a very high risk that the republic will find the funds to appeal both to this court and, if permitted, to the Supreme Court, but will not pay the judgment if unsuccessful". Phillips gave Argentina until April 5 to pay the sum. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/argentina-must-pay-bring-appeal-hedge-funds-london-lawsuit-2024-02-22/