Novartis net income climbs as drug sales grow

Novartis AG said Tuesday that net income rose 8% in the third quarter as it benefited from growing sales across its drug portfolio.

Net income in the period was $2.04 billion, growing from $1.88 billion last year, on sales that rose 10% to $12.17 billion. An analyst consensus forecast provided by FactSet estimated quarterly net income of $2.47 billion and sales of $11.71 billion.

The Swiss drug giant NVS, -0.37%NOVN, -0.43% singled out cardiovascular drug Entresto as well as psoriasis treatment Cosentyx as helping drive topline growth.

Core operating profit, a figure watched by analysts that strips out extraordinary items, was $3.75 billion, up from $3.26 billion

Sales of Zolgensma, a gene-therapy for infant spinal muscular atrophy and which is now the world’s most expensive drug, totaled $160 million, well ahead of the $90 million forecast by analysts at French brokerage Kepler Cheuvreux.

In August, Novartis disclosed that data manipulation occurred during the development of the therapy, with two researchers exiting the company in the wake of the scandal.

Novartis said that it expects sales in 2019 for its focused medicines company to grow by a high single-digit percentage at constant currency. Core operating income is expected to grow by a mid-to-high teen percentage, also stripping out currency effects.

Whitbread Plc H1 Pretax Profit Declines – Quick Facts

Whitbread plc (WTB.L) said it has delivered a resilient first half profit performance despite challenging market conditions in the UK. Shorter-term trading conditions in the UK regional market have been difficult, particularly in the business segment, whilst trading in London remained strong. Revenue was broadly flat, supported by capacity additions.

For the first-half, statutory profit before tax declined 7.1 percent to 220 million pounds. Earnings per share from continuing operations was 103.7 pence compared to 101.8 pence. Adjusted profit before tax, post-IFRS 16, declined 4.1 percent to 236 million pounds due to a weaker UK market and sector-wide inflation. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations was 112.4 pence compared to 106.5 pence.

First-half adjusted revenue was at 1.078 billion pounds, down 0.1 percent from previous year. Total UK accommodation sales declined 0.6 percent and like-for-like accommodation sales declined 3.6 percent, impacted by continued weak regional market conditions.

An interim dividend of 32.7 pence per share, flat with last year, was declared by the Board on 21 October 2019.

Santander sells Puerto Rico business for $1.1 billion

Banco Santander SA has agreed to sell its retail and commercial operations in Puerto Rico to FirstBank Puerto Rico for about $1.1 billion.

The transaction should add 5 or 6 basis points to Santander’s SAN, +1.16%SAN, +2.47% core Tier 1 ratio–a measure of a bank’s capital strength–and have no material impact on its net profit, it said late Monday.

The deal includes 27 bank branches and assets of $6.2 billion, the Spanish bank said.

Santander will keep operating on the island including through Santander Consumer USA.

The deal is expected to close by mid-2020.

Ams profit climbs, sees revenue rising towards end-year

Ams AG said Tuesday that its third-quarter net profit rose and it expects revenue to increase during the last three months of the year.

The Swiss technology company AMS, -2.30% posted net profit of $158 million during the period, up from $65.8 million last year. Revenue rose 41% to $645 million.

The company said that results were driven by its consumer solutions unit and good performance in the smartphone market.

Ams expects to book revenue of between $610 million and $650 million during its fourth quarter, which would represent a 28% year-on-year increase at the midpoint.

Bunzl Plc Q3 Revenue Up 4%; FY19 Outlook Remains Unchanged

Distribution and outsourcing Group Bunzl plc (BZLFY.PK,BNZL.L) said that the Group’s expectations for the year ending 31 December 2019 remain unchanged, with overall trading consistent with the slowing underlying revenue growth indicated earlier this year.

The company noted that the slow underlying revenue growth is due to the impact of the continued mixed macroeconomic and market conditions across the countries and sectors in which the Group operates.

Group revenue for the third quarter increased 4 percent at actual exchange rates. At constant exchange rates, revenue grew by 0.5 percent.

Of this growth, acquisitions contributed 1.5 percent, with underlying revenue decreasing by 1 percent. This primarily reflects the previously announced lower sales to a large grocery customer in North America due to account specific product specification changes and price deflation.

Bunzl said that growth through acquisitions is an important part of its strategy, with the total committed spend on acquisitions so far this year of about 100 million pounds. The company added that its acquisition pipeline remains active and it is in a number of on-going discussions.

Russian ship makes Mayday call during storm off Norway

OSLO (Reuters) – A Russian icebreaking vessel with 33 people on board has made a Mayday call during a storm off the coast of western Norway, the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center said on Tuesday.

The vessel initially lost engine power but has regained some ability to maneuver, the rescue service said, adding that tugboats are also on the way.

2 bank unions on strike; services hit partially

Some of the services like cash deposit and withdrawal at the counter and cheque clearances have been impacted due to the strike by banking staff.

Banking operations in some parts of the country were affected on Tuesday as two employee-unions are observing a nation-wide strike.

Some of the services like cash deposit and withdrawal at the counter and cheque clearances have been impacted due to the strike by banking staff.

Public sectors bank branches in urban areas of the country are, however, operational as officers these banks are not part of strike.

Most of the banks including SBI had informed their customer about strike call given by All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) to protest against bank mergers and fall in deposit rates.

Merger of banks is totally unwarranted in India as we need more banking services and opening of more branches to serve the people, AIBEA general secretary C H Venkatachalam said.

“The merger has so far resulted in closure of branches and hence it is a wrong policy.

“Recovery of the huge bad loans is the top priority for banks, and merger will change the priority. Hence it is a bad idea,” he added.

Photograph: PTI Photo