2024-07-17 20:26

July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. pipeline and terminal operator Kinder Morgan (KMI.N) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it expects data center driven electricity need to be a significant driver of natural gas demand, after missing Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit and revenue. The company, in its post-earnings call, reiterated that AI operations and data centers will boost demand for natural gas, adding that reliability of the fuel will help in increased reliance over other renewable sources. "We're having commercial discussions on over 5 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of opportunities related to power demand, and that includes the 1.6 of data center demand," a company executive said in the call. The company's bullish outlook comes at a time when natural gas prices have declined nearly 17.5% since the start of the year. Adjusted core profit from the company's natgas pipeline segment rose nearly 2.5% to $1.23 billion, as higher transport and gathering volumes helped offset the impact of asset divestitures and lower commodity prices. Adjusted core profit from the transportation of CO2, however, fell about 6.3% to $164 million in the quarter, hurt by lower crude and natural gas liquids volumes and CO2 sales. The company launched a binding open season on its proposed South System Expansion 4 project, designed to increase Southern Natural Gas (SNG) Pipeline's South Line capacity by 1.2 bcf/d. "This expansion (SNG South Line) is a $3 billion effort, designed to meet AI and data center demand, and also very capital efficient... it is likely to generate very attractive returns for investors," said Morningstar analyst Stephen Ellis. The terminal operator posted an adjusted profit of 25 cents per share in the reported quarter, falling short of analysts' estimates of 26 cents per share, according to LSEG data. Kinder's quarterly net revenue came in at $3.57 billion, also below estimates of $4.13 billion. Shares of the company were down 2.9% in extended trade. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/kinder-morgan-misses-second-quarter-profit-estimates-2024-07-17/

2024-07-17 20:24

TSX ends down 0.6% at 22,851.17 Tech drops 2.9%, with Celestica down 10.1% Materials group loses 1.4% as metal prices fall Cogeco Communications jumps after analyst upgrade July 17 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended its record-setting run on Wednesday as metal mining and technology shares fell, with the latter tracking a sharp selloff in high-flying U.S. microchip names. The S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended down 144.22 points, or 0.6%, at 22,851.17, snapping a five-session winning streak as well as a streak of four consecutive record closing highs. "The gravitational pull of pressure on U.S. markets probably spills over to Canada," said Brian Madden, chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel. "The most approximate explanation is Democrat and Republican voices talking tougher on China, particularly as it relates to semiconductor chips." On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell as the prospect of tighter U.S. trade curbs on companies giving China access to advanced semiconductor technology weighed down on major chip and tech stocks. The Toronto market's technology sector fell 2.9%, with shares of electronics company Celestica (CLS.TO) , opens new tab tumbling 10.1%, while shares of e-commerce company Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) , opens new tab ended 6.9% lower. The materials sector, which includes metal miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.4% as gold and copper prices fell, while energy was down 0.3% even as oil settled 2.6% higher at $82.85 a barrel. Cogeco Communications Inc (CCA.TO) , opens new tab was a bright spot. Shares of the telecommunications company rallied 10.0% after BofA Global Research raised its rating and price objective on the stock. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-fall-oil-prices-drag-2024-07-17/

2024-07-17 19:50

July 17 (Reuters) - New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the start of construction on Sunrise Wind, a 924-megawatt offshore wind project developed by Oersted (ORSTED.CO) , opens new tab, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) said on Wednesday. The project will provide enough clean energy to power about 600,000 New York homes once completed in 2026, it said in a statement. The Sunrise Wind project, situated about 30 miles east of Montauk, New York, will have an approved transmission route connected to the State's electricity grid at the Holbrook Substation in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County. Earlier this month, Orsted assumed full ownership of the wind farm by buying a 50% stake from Eversource for $152 million. The statement also said that New York issued its fifth offshore wind solicitation, with final proposals due by Sept. 9. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ny-governor-announces-start-construction-sunrise-wind-project-2024-07-17/

2024-07-17 19:04

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Apax Partners, Bain Capital and CVC (CVC.AS) , opens new tab are each exploring potential bids for SoftwareOne (SWON.S) , opens new tab, two people with knowledge of the situation said, three months after the ouster of the Swiss software company's board. Talks with interested funds are ongoing, one of the people said. Four sources mentioned Bain and CVC and two of them also named Apax. SoftwareOne's board was ousted in April after it rejected a 2.9 billion Swiss franc ($3.27 billion) takeover offer by Bain. Apax, Bain and CVC declined to comment. A spokesperson for SoftwareOne declined to comment and referred to a statement issued in May, when the company said it had been approached by several bidders. Shares in SoftwareOne rose as much as 2.6% early on Thursday versus a 0.6% fall in the European tech index. In May, at the time of its first quarter 2024 trading update, the company said the board had been approached by several parties regarding a potential going-private transaction but didn't provide names. Jefferies is advising the board on the matter, a fifth person with knowledge of the matter said. All five people were speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. Jefferies did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Earlier this year, founding shareholders Daniel von Stockar, Rene Gilli and B. Curti Holding, who own nearly a third of SoftwareOne stock, won a vote to oust most of the existing board after it had resisted a sale to Bain. Analysts and investors believed the move would once again make the company a likely takeover target. SoftwareOne rejected multiple offers from Bain over the course of last year, saying they provided neither sufficient certainty, nor reflected the value of the company. SoftwareOne has more than 9000 employees and assists companies to buy and manage software from other providers such as Microsoft (MSFT.O), SAP (SAPG.DE), and Adobe (ADBE.O). ($1 = 0.8855 Swiss francs) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/apax-bain-cvc-exploring-potential-bids-softwareone-sources-say-2024-07-17/

2024-07-17 18:20

July 17 (Reuters) - Shoppers spent about $7.2 billion online across retailers during the first day of Amazon's Prime Day in the United States, according to a report from Adobe Analytics on Wednesday. Major retailers including Walmart (WMT.N) , opens new tab and Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab have launched deals and shopping events through July to attract customers by offering deep discounts to compete with the Amazon sales event. Amazon has been able to take away market share from other retailers during the month as customers get access to sizable discounts during Prime Day, which began a decade ago, and can place orders for items available for same- or one-day delivery. Back-to-school spending has also seen a major uptick and was up 210% on Tuesday compared to daily sales levels in June 2024, according to Adobe Analytics, which studies e-commerce transaction data. Adobe said total online sales rose 11.7% on July 16. In 2023, shoppers spent $12.7 billion online across retailers over two days when the Prime Day event was on. This year Amazon has also offered early access to deals even before the two-day event began to pull forward some demand. Average spend per order for Amazon was $60.03 during the first 32 hours of the Prime Day event, compared with $56.64 in 2023, according to data firm Numerator. Adobe, which relies on direct-to-consumer transactions based on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, said shoppers will find major deals on Wednesday, with discounts of around 23% for electronics, 20% for apparel and 15% for toys. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-online-sales-hit-72-bln-first-day-amazon-prime-day-event-adobe-says-2024-07-17/

2024-07-17 18:08

July 17 (Reuters) - BlackRock-led (BLK.N) , opens new tab investors in Saudi Aramco's (2222.SE) , opens new tab gas pipelines network will issue $3 billion of two-tranche amortizing bonds to refinance a loan used to buy a stake in the holding company in 2021, a bank document with the final terms showed on Wednesday. The investors had bought a 49% stake in Aramco Gas Pipelines Co in a $15.5 billion lease-and-leaseback agreement. Bond proceeds will be used to refinance the $13.4 billion bridge loan that backed the deal. Greensaif Pipelines Bidco, the issuer indirectly owned by BlackRock and Hassana Investment Co, will raise $1.4 billion from a tranche due in February 2036 at 170 basis points (bps) over current 10-year U.S. Treasuries and $1.6 billion from a tranche due in August 2042 at 195 bps over the same benchmark, the document showed. The tranche maturing in 2036 has a weighted average life of 10.2 years and the bonds due in 2042 have a weighted average life of 14.7 years. Demand for the notes topped $9.2 billion, the document showed. The spreads were tightened from initial guidance of around 205 and 225 basis points over U.S. Treasuries for the 2036 and 2042 bonds, respectively, fixed income news service IFR reported earlier. In February last year, Greensaif raised $4.5 billion by selling amortising bonds. BlackRock and its affiliates own 77.2% of Greensaif, while the rest is owned by Hassana, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia's General Organization of Social Insurance. In a similar lease-and-leaseback deal in 2021, Aramco agreed to sell a 49% stake in its oil pipelines network to a consortium led by U.S.-based EIG Global Energy Partners for $12.4 billion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/blackrock-led-investors-aramco-pipelines-raise-3-billion-bonds-2024-07-17/