Woolworths FY21 Profit Climbs, To Buy Back $2 Bln Shares; Lifts Dividend – Quick Facts

Australian supermarket chain Woolworths Group Ltd. (WOW.AX) reported Thursday that its fiscal 2021 net profit attributable to the equity holders climbed 77.8 percent to A$2.07 billion from last year’s A$1.17 billion.

Basic earnings per share were 165.0 cents, up 78 percent from last year’s 92.7 cents.

Adjusted attributable net profit was A$1.97 billion, compared to prior year’s A$1.60 billion.

Adjust earnings before interest and tax or EBIT was A$3.66 billion, up 13.7 percent from last year’s A$3.22 billion.

Sales grew 5.7 percent to A$67,28 billion from last year’s A$63.68 billion.

Further, Woolworths announced a A$2 billion off-market share buy-back and declared a second half dividend of 55 cents per share, bringing full year dividend to 108 cents per share, a 14.9% increase on last year.

Ingraham: California is dying a slow and painful death

After a decade of Democrats dominating every branch of government in California, it’s all unraveling

If you want to know where America is headed if we don’t turn the tide against Biden’s socialist regime, look no further than California

Fox News host Laura Ingraham opened Wednesday’s “Ingraham Angle” from Los Angeles, sounding off on the issues facing California and the nationwide impact those problems will have on the rest of the nation. 

“If you want to know where America is headed if we don’t turn the tide against Biden’s socialist regime,” Ingraham said, “Look no further than right here in California.” 

“What we’re revealing to you tonight is a cautionary tale,” she said. “The media’s shilling for [Governor Gavin] Newsom and the teachers’ unions and big tech bankrolling the war chest. That’s happening. But none of that can change the fact, the truth, that California is dying a slow and painful death.

“Now is the time to throw the leftist bums out,” she concluded, “And California can lead the nation once again by sending a powerful message to the political establishment. Push us too far and we’ll push you out.”

Tata Nexon EV to become more powerful

The Tata Nexon EV is said to be one of the highest selling electric vehicles (EV) in our market currently. Given its popularity, Tata recently gave it the ‘Dark’ edition treatment, to keep it fresh. Now, the Indian carmaker is set to introduce a more powerful version of the all-electric compact SUV.

A leaked transport department circular has revealed that a Tata Nexon EV with 100kW (136hp) of power is in the works. This would be a 7hp increase over the current Nexon EV which produces 129hp and 245Nm. Despite the bump in power, the battery size stated on the circular — 30.2kWh, is the same as the unit available in the current model. This could imply that the ARAI-certified range of 312km on a single charge and the one-hour charge time to get 80% on a DC fast charger should also stay the same.

The document also revealed that this higher output version of the Nexon EV will be offered on all three trims — XM, XZ+ and XZ+ LUX. We will have to wait and see whether this update will be accompanied by a substantial increase in price, given that its relative affordability (compared to other EV SUVs) is one of its biggest draws.

Seth Meyers Wants Trump to Stop Complimenting the Taliban

“You don’t have to give the Taliban credit for anything — they’re the Taliban!” Meyers said.

By Trish Bendix

Q&A: Liam Dann on how Delta will affect the economy

What happens to New Zealand’s economy if we fail to eliminate the Delta variant?

Liam Dann answered subscribers’ questions on the future of our dollars and cents in a live chat.

If you’re reading this on our app – click the speech bubble at the top of your screen to view the thread.

Fielmann Q2 Profit Surges, Backs FY21 View – Quick Facts

German optics firm Fielmann AG (FLMNF.PK) reported Thursday that its second-quarter net income surged 163 percent to 36.0 million euros from previous year’s 13.7 million euros.

Pre-tax profit grew 173 percent to 54.2 million euros from previous year’s 19.9 million euros.

Consolidated sales rose 60 percent to 407.7 million euros from last year’s 255.6 million euros. External sales increased 56 percent to 474.9 million euros from previous year’s 305.3 million euros.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2021, the company continues to project pre-tax profit to be around 200 million euros, higher than last year’s 175.5 million euros.

The company still expects external sales of about 1.9 billion euros, up from previous year’s 1.6 billion euros, and group sales of about 1.7 billion euros, up from previous year’s 1.4 billion euros.

For the full year 2021, the company plans to deploy digital sales channels in additional countries and to open a total of 45 new optical retail stores across Europe.

In pursuit of its Vision 2025, Fielmann continues to invest more than 100 million euros per year in the extension of its omnichannel platform, its retail store network, and its international expansion.

Barclays Bank infuses over ₹3,000 crore in India operations

Britain’s oldest wealth management services bank has decided to accelerate its growth ambitions in India with an investment of over ₹3,000 crore.

Barclays Bank PLC, UK has made an investment of over ₹3,000 crore in its unit Barclays Bank PLC India to accelerate its growth ambitions in India.

With this infusion, the bank’s total invested capital in India will increase to over ₹8,300 crore.

The latest investment is the single largest one time Infusion made by the bank since the inception of the Indian unit. The last infusion was ₹540 crore made in 2009-10.

The expansion in Tier 1 capital reinforces Barclays’ commitment to India, and will enable further growth of the bank’s Corporate & Investment Banking and Private Clients businesses, it said in a statement.

Jaideep Khanna, Head of Barclays, Asia Pacific and Country CEO, India, said “the capital infusion in the bank reflects the success and strong track record of our India franchise built over the last three decades. We have ambitious growth aspirations, and the investment will help accelerate that.”

As part of its expansion plans in the country, Barclays Bank PLC also inaugurated its International Banking Unit (IBU) branch at GIFT City in Gujarat in February, 2021.