Carl Zeiss Meditec Sees Growth In FY20 – Quick Facts

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (CZMWF.PK) Friday said it expects to be able to grow faster than the underlying markets again in fiscal year 2020. The EBIT margin would be in a range from 17 to 19 percent.

Ludwin Monz, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec, said, “In the medium term, we want to secure the level of earnings we have already achieved and generate an EBIT margin that is sustainably above 18 percent.”

The company’s outlook follows significant increase in sales and earnings in fiscal year 2019 with growth in all strategic business units and regions.

The EBIT margin in 2019 was 18.1 percent, higher than prior year’s 15.4 percent.

Full-year revenue in the EMEA region increased 10.3 percent. The core markets Germany, France and the UK achieved good revenue growth. Revenue in the Americas region grew 8.9 percent and the growth was 20.8 percent in the APAC region.

Phoenix to buy Swiss Re's ReAssure unit for $4.1 billion

Phoenix Group Holdings Plc said on Friday it would buy the British insurance unit of Swiss Re AG in a cash-and-shares deal worth 3.2 billion pounds ($4.1 billion).

Phoenix Group, Europe's largest owner of life assurance funds closed to new customers, said the acquisition of ReAssure is expected to bring in additional cash flows of about 7 billion pounds over time.

Swiss Re said it would get a cash payment of 1.2 billion pounds and a stake in Phoenix of 13% to 17%. ReAssure's minority shareholder, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc, will receive shares in Phoenix representing an 11% to 15% stake.

Swiss Re estimated the transaction, expected to close in mid-2020, would have a positive impact on its Group Swiss Solvency Test (SST) ratio and economic profit and a negative impact on its US GAAP results in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The Zurich-based company in July shelved its plans for a $4.1 billion flotation of ReAssure, citing weak demand from institutional investors. 

Swiss Re, the world's second-largest reinsurer, had wanted to spin off ReAssure to put the business under a more favourable regulatory regime and give it easier access to capital to fund its expansion.

The closed book insurance business deals in policies that are shut to new customers and where scale is important to generate profit.

Nancy Pelosi Takes Donald Trump’s Insult, Fires It Right Back At Him

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday night hit back at Donald Trump’s claim on Twitter that she’d “had a nervous fit” reportedly after she rebuked a journalist for asking if she “hated” the president.

Pelosi, who earlier in the day called on House Democratic leaders to begin drafting articles of impeachment against Trump, told a televised CNN town hall hosted by Jake Tapper that “the president is a master of projecting.”

“When he calls somebody else nervous, he’s the nervous one,” she said.

Pelosi also rejected Trump’s belief that she didn’t actually pray for him, despite what she had earlier stated.

“When he suspects that somebody is not praying, he’s probably not praying,” she said. “But I do pray for him because he is the president of the United States and I pray that God will open his heart to meeting the needs of people in our country.” Pelosi said she also prayed for Trump’s health, safety and family.

“It doesn’t bother me what he thinks about that,” she concluded. “All the more reason to pray for him.” 

Check out the clip here:

Phoenix Group Announces Proposed Acquisition Of ReAssure Group – Quick Facts

The Board of Phoenix Group Holdings plc (PHNX.L) announced the proposed acquisition of ReAssure Group plc. The total consideration of 3.2 billion pounds payable to Swiss Re and MS&AD Insurance, the shareholders in ReAssure, will be financed through: a cash consideration of 1.2 billion pounds, and the issuance to Swiss Re of consideration shares with a value of 2.0 billion pounds, part of which will be transferred to MS&AD. Completion of the deal is targeted for mid-2020. Following the acquisition, each of Swiss Re and MS&AD will have strategic shareholdings totalling approximately 28 percent of the enlarged Phoenix Group.

The acquisition is expected to generate a total of 7.0 billion pounds of additional aggregate cash flows taking total long-term cash generation of the enlarged Group to 19.0 billion pounds. The integration of ReAssure is expected to create synergies net of integration costs of 800 million pounds.

Phoenix expects to increase its current dividend per share by 3 percent, payable from the date of the final 2020 dividend. This will result in an increase in the annualised dividend per share from 46.8 pence to 48.2 pence.

CEO, Clive Bannister, said: “The deal confirms Phoenix’s position as Europe’s largest life and pensions consolidator with 329 billion pounds of assets under administration and 14.1 million policies and will give us an enhanced platform to pursue further growth opportunities, including Bulk Purchase Annuities.”

Berkeley Group says pretax profit slumps 31%

Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (BKG.LN) on Friday reported a 31% fall in pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2020 after selling less homes at a lower average price.

The FTSE 100 housebuilder’s guidance for the year remains unchanged. The company expects to reach pretax profit in the range of 500 million – 700 million pounds ($656.8 million – $919.5 million) each year to 2025. Analysts forecast annual profit of GBP539.3 million, according to a FactSet consensus of 11 estimates. This compares with an annual profit GBP775.2 million last year.

Berkeley’s pretax profit fell to GBP276.7 million for the six months ended Oct. 31 compared with GBP401.2 million for the same period a year earlier. The company said this was due to the completion of a number of developments acquired from 2009 to 2013

Operating profit decreased to GBP256.4million from GBP402.1 million, while net profit also fell to GBP223.7 million from GBP325.1 million.

Revenue fell 44% to GBP930.9 million from GBP1.65 billion, while earnings per share were GBP170.4 pence, down from GBP240.0 pence.

Berkeley sold 1,389 homes in the period at an average price of GBP644,000 compared with 2,027 homes sold last year at GBP740,000.

Write to Sabela Ojea at [email protected]; @sabelaojeaguix