Syrian Government and opposition agree to truce in Idlib

Conditional ceasefire announced during thirteenth round of peace talks in Kazakh capital.

A conditional ceasefire deal has been agreed between the Syrian government and the opposition, months into the government’s heavy bombardment of the northwestern region of Idlib.

The opposition says it withdrew heavy arms under a previous Sochi deal but the Syrian government broke the agreement.

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons joins us from Nur-Sultan.

European Economics Preview: UK Mortgage Approvals Data Due

Mortgage approvals data from the UK is due on Monday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 3.00 am ET, Spain’s INE publishes flash inflation for July and retail sales data for June.

In the meantime, Hungary’s unemployment data is due. The jobless rate is forecast to remain unchanged at 3.4 percent in June.

At 4.00 am ET, Austria’s factor PMI data is due for July. Also, Italy’s Istat releases producer prices data. Economists forecast producer prices to rise 0.9 percent annually in June.

At 4.30 am ET, Bank of England is slated to publish mortgage approvals for June. The number of mortgages approved in June is seen at 65,800 compared to 65,400 in May. UK secured lending is forecast to grow by GBP 3.5 billion.

Why BlackLine Is Friday’s Big Earnings Winner

When BlackLine Inc. (NASDAQ: BL) reported its second-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday, the software firm said that it had $0.10 in earnings per share (EPS) and $69.66 million in revenue. That compared with consensus estimates of $0.01 in EPS and $68.04 million in revenue, as well as the $0.01 per share and $55.45 million posted in the same period of last year.

For the latest quarter, subscription and support revenues increased 24.5% year over year to $66.07 million, and professional services revenues increased 49.5% to $3.60 million.

During the quarter, BlackLine added 106 net new customers, for a total of 2,813. At the same time, the firm expanded its user base to 236,802.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $0.02 to $0.04 and revenue between $71.7 million and $72.7 million. Consensus estimates call for $0.04 in EPS and $71.29 million in revenue for the quarter.

Therese Tucker, founder and CEO, commented:

Q2 was a good quarter driven by strong demand for our solution and a record number of large deals.  BlackLine continues to be selected as the strategic partner of choice among organizations undergoing large, financial transformation projects.  With this as our foundation, we will continue to focus on driving growth and delivering value to our customers.

Shares of BlackLine traded up about 25% Friday morning at $53.31. The 52-week range is $34.01 to $58.11, and the consensus price target is $52.33.

Cloudera stock rallies after Icahn reveals large stake

Cloudera Inc. CLDR, +1.34% shares rallied in early Friday trading following a disclosure that activist investor Carl Icahn had taken a substantial stake in the cloud software company. Cloudera shares, which had hit an intraday high of $7.25, were last up 7.2% at $6.81. Late Thursday, Icahn and associates disclosed a 12.6% stake in Cloudera on the belief that shares were undervalued, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "The Reporting Persons intend to seek to speak with representatives of the Issuer’s board of directors and management to discuss enhancing shareholder value and potentially seeking board representation," according to the filing. Cloudera shares are down nearly 37% on the year following a disastrous revenue forecast in early June, the departure of its chief executive and deep downgrades from analysts. In comparison, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF IGV, -2.25% is up nearly 27% for the year and the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.21% is up 17%.

Germany just made its biggest drug bust ever — nearly 5 tons of cocaine worth $1.11 billion

• Germany authorities searched a shipment of soybeans from Uruguay two weeks ago and instead found nearly 5 tons of cocaine.
• The bust was a record haul and was worth more than a billion dollars.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German authorities on Friday said they had seized nearly 5 tons of cocaine worth 1 billion euros ($1.11 billion) in the northern port city of Hamburg — the nation’s biggest drugs haul to date.

The Hamburg customs office said it had examined a suspicious shipping container two weeks ago that came from the Uruguayan capital Montevideo and was bound for the Belgian city of Antwerp.

The container’s description said it was loaded with soybeans but authorities instead found 221 black sport bags containing 4,200 packets of pressed cocaine, the office said in a statement.

“This enormous amount represents the largest single seizure of cocaine in Germany,” it said, adding that the Hamburg prosecutor’s office was investigating who was destined to receive the contents of the container.

“The confiscated cocaine was destroyed under strict and extensive security measures,” it added.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Guidehouse To Buy Navigant Consulting; Navigant Q2 Profit From Cont. Ops. Rises

Guidehouse, a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, has agreed to acquire Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NCI) in a approximately $1.1 billion deal. Navigant shareholders will receive $28 in cash per share. The combined company will be led by Scott McIntyre, CEO of Guidehouse. The closing of the deal is anticipated in the fourth quarter. Shares of Navigant were up more than 15% in pre-market trade on Friday.

Separately, Navigant Consulting reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.29 compared to $0.18, prior year. On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.21, for the quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Second-quarter net income from continuing operations attributable to Navigant Consulting was $8.6 million, or $0.22 per share, up $2.5 million or 40% compared to the second quarter 2018.

Navigant reported second-quarter revenues of $223.1 million, up 21% from prior year. Revenues before reimbursement were $196.6 million, up 19% from prior year. Analysts expected revenue of $186.47 million, for the quarter.