Vodafone Idea plummets over 9% to hit 52-week low

Shares of Vodafone Idea on Thursday fell over 9% in early trade after Care downgraded its rating citing the recent Supreme Court ruling on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue.

Shares of the telecom operator slumped 8.66% to ₹3.48 apiece — its 52-week low — on the BSE.

Similarly, the stock declined 9.2% to ₹3.45 on the NSE.

Vodafone Idea had on Wednesday said Care Ratings has downgraded its rating on ‘long-term bank facilities’ and non-convertible debentures’, citing the recent court ruling on the AGR, and extension of timelines with regard to sale of Indus Tower stake to Bharti lnfratel.

According to the telecom department’s initial calculations, Vodafone Idea may have to pay about ₹40,000 crore, while Bharti Airtel faces a liability of around ₹42,000 crore (including licence fees and spectrum usage charges).

Fiat Chrysler, PSA Peugeot boards approve 50/50 merger

The boards of Fiat Chrysler FCAU, +5.27%FCA, +9.53% and PSA Peugeot UG, +4.53% have approved merging the two companies to create the world’s fourth-largest automaker with a value of about $50 billion.

The formal announcement that the companies have agreed “to work towards a full combination of their respective entities by way of a 50/50 merger” came early Thursday.

The combined companies will be able to share in the cost of developing electric and autonomous vehicles. They’ll also share vehicle technology and save money with greater purchasing power.

The merger decision comes about five months after a similar deal with French automaker Renault fell apart.

Dutch lender ING posts 73% profit leap

ING Groep NV on Thursday reported a 73% rise in net profit for the third quarter of the year after booking a 775 million-euro ($861.8 million) charge last year relating to a fine from the Dutch Public Prosecution Service.

The Dutch lender ING, -1.73%INGA, -1.84% made a net profit of EUR1.34 billion for the quarter, up from EUR776 million for the same period last year but lower than consensus forecasts of EUR1.37 billion, taken from FactSet and based on three analysts’ forecasts.

Underling pretax profit — one of the bank’s preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items — was EUR1.91 billion compared with EUR2.12 billion for the third quarter of 2018. Consensus forecast was EUR1.91 billion, taken from FactSet and based on three analysts’ forecasts.

Net interest income rose 0.8% to EUR3.53 billion.

ING’s common equity Tier 1 ratio–a key measure of balance sheet strength–stood at 14.6% at Sept. 30, from 14% at Sept. 30, 2018.

Panasonic H1 Profit Down, Backs FY20 Earnings View, Cuts Sales Forecast

Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp. (PCRFY.PK,PCRFF.PK) reported Thursday that its first-half net profit attributable to stockholders declined 11 percent to 100.9 billion yen from 113.6 billion yen last year.

Operating profit was 140.3 billion yen, 28 percent lower than 195.2 billion yen a year earlier. This was due mainly to lower sales in China, and sluggish overseas TV sales, among other matters.

Net sales dropped 4 percent to 3.84 trillion yen from 4.01 trillion yen last year. Domestic sales increased due mainly to favorable sales of housing-related businesses.

Further, the company said its Board of Directors resolved to distribute an interim cash dividend of 15 yen per share to shareholders of record as of September 30, payable November 29.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2020, the company continues to expect attributable net profit of 200 billion yen or 85.75 yen per share, and operating profit of 300 billion yen.

The company now expects net sales of 7.70 trillion yen, lower than previous estimate of 7.90 trillion yen.

The outlook is lower than last year’s attributable profit of 284.1 billion yen, operating profit of 411.5 billion yen and net sales of 8 trillion yen.

Conan the Dog, Injured in Baghdadi Raid, Gets White House Visit

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The U.S. military working dog who was part of the raid that ended in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, will get a hero’s welcome from the President of the United States at the White House.

President Trump, who earlier had said the dog’s name was classified, revealed in a Twitter post that the Belgian Malinois is called ‘Conan’. The dog “will be leaving the Middle East for the White House sometime next week,” said in the Twitter post that showed an altered photo of the president giving the animal a medal.

Conan, who was hurt in the raid, has returned to active duty, the Pentagon said earlier this week.

The Pentagon on Wednesday released video excerpts from the raid inside Syria, during which the Islamic State terrorist leader detonated a suicide vest in a tunnel. U.S. military officials have so far not confirmed Trump’s public assertion that Baghdadi was “whimpering and crying and screaming” when he was cornered, moments before he died.

Safran revenue rises and backs 2019 view

Safran SA said Thursday that adjusted revenue in its third quarter rose, while it maintained its 2019 guidance, the free cash flow target of which is subject to the date of return to service of the Boeing Co. BA, -0.82% (BA) 737 MAX.

Adjusted revenue came in 14% higher than a year earlier at 6.10 billion euros ($6.78 billion), helped by a strong performance in its aerospace propulsion and aircraft-equipment, defense and aerosystems segments, Safran SAF, +0.28% said. On an organic basis, revenue increased by 9.8%.

“Regarding the MAX grounding, we are supporting Boeing and based on our current production rate of LEAP-1B engines corresponding to 42 aircraft a month, we confirm a production of around 1,800 LEAP engines in 2019,” Safran’s Chief Executive Philippe Petitcolin said.

The French aerospace-and-defense company maintained its 2019 guidance but refined its view regarding the world-wide grounding of the 737 MAX jet. The company said that if the grounding continues until the end of 2019, free cash flow to adjusted recurring operating income should be around 50%, compared with a previous forecast of below 50%.