Italy must reduce reliance on Russian gas, lift domestic production -Draghi

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

ROME – Italy must reduce its reliance on gas imports from Russia and is ready to take further measures to protect consumers from rising energy prices after the invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Friday.

“The events of these days show it was imprudent not to have diversified more our sources of energy and our suppliers in recent decades,” Draghi told parliament, noting that Russia now supplied 45% of Italian gas imports, while Italian domestic production had dwindled.

Italy planned to increase imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States, Draghi said, thanking U.S. President Joe Biden for his help in facilitating this.

Italy would also look to increase the amount of gas it imported from Azerbaijan, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

Italian energy company Eni said last week that it still has natural gas reserves in Italy and is prepared to increase its production if needed.

Draghi said that gas storage facilities needed to be improved and called for the European Union to develop common storage mechanisms.

He warned it might be necessary to reopen coal-fired power stations to meet short-term supply crunches and held out the prospect of further steps to mitigate the impact of rising energy bills on households and businesses.

The government last week approved measures worth around 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) to help consumers and firms hit by higher energy bills, as part of an 8 billion euro package to support the economy.

(Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Crispian Balmer)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

Ukraine war vet leaves family in Poland to return to fight Russia

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Kuba Stezycki

KORCZOWA, Poland – As Ukrainian refugees throng border crossings to flee the Russian invasion, war veteran Dmytro Dovzhenko is headed in the opposite direction from Poland to rejoin his military unit.

The 40-year-old, who fought in Donbass in 2014, told Reuters on Friday that he had left his wife and two children behind and was among some 700 former Ukrainian soldiers in Poland he estimated were returning home to fight.

“My family wasn’t too happy about me leaving,” said Dovzhenko, wearing his military fatigues and a large signet ring inscribed “Loyal Forever” from his marine unit in Ukraine.

“I hope to come back to my family. If I don’t return, I hope everything will be alright.”

Russia has launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea. Thousands of Ukrainians have begun arriving in neighbouring central European countries.

With missiles pounding the Ukrainian capital on Friday and Russian forces pressing their advance, Dovzhenko cut a calm figure as he smoked a cigarette and prepared to drive across the border on his way into battle.

“Others are either in Ukraine or they are on their way to Ukraine,” Dovzhenko, who runs a foundation for Ukrainian veterans across the European Union, said on the side of the highway. “Lots of cars are going back.”

The former soldier has lived in Poland since 2019 but has prepared for weeks to return home at a moment’s notice if Russia invaded.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Veterans has said there were no statistics on how many veterans from the conflict that started in 2014 were abroad. But there are 420,000 people registered as having once defended Ukraine.

Dovzhenko said he did not know how many veterans across Europe would return but he predicted thousands of former soldiers would find a way home to face Russian troops.

“To the beginning of Ukraine and the beginning of the war, we drive,” said Dovzhenko before honking his car horn and driving off to cross the border. “I hope I will be back and I hope Russia will be destroyed.”

(Reporting by Kuba Stezycki in Korczowa; Writing by Michael Kahn; Editing by Alison Williams)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Russian carmaker Avtovaz may suspend some assembly lines on Monday due to components shortage

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

MOSCOW – Russia’s biggest carmaker Avtovaz may suspend some assembly lines at its Togliatti plant in central Russia on Monday for a day due to a persistent global shortage of electronic components, it said in a statement on Friday.

Avtovaz, controlled by French carmaker Renault, plans to resume its Togliatti operations in full on Tuesday, March 1, it said. The company declined to comment on new U.S. sanctions on the Russian economy, saying it continued to monitor the situation.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Susan Fenton)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Indian shares bounce back from Ukraine sell-off, snap 7-day losing run

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

BENGALURU -Indian shares snapped a 7-day losing streak to close more than 2% higher on Friday, a day after their worst fall in over a year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The NSE Nifty 50 index ended up 2.53% at 16,658.40, and the S&P BSE Sensex rose 2.44% to 55,858.52. Both the indexes had plunged more than 4% on Thursday.

The benchmarks still fell for a third straight week, dropping more than 3% each, with the Nifty seeing its biggest weekly decline since late November.

“The bounce back in the markets being seen today is a counter to the exaggerated reaction we saw yesterday led by the fears of fully blown out armed conflict between NATO and Russia,” said Nitin Raheja, head of discretionary equities at Julius Baer.

As it became obvious that NATO countries have no desire for an armed conflict and would instead take the sanctions route, the risk perception lowered globally, Raheja added.

Meanwhile, the Indian central bank’s minutes from its February meeting showed that some loss of momentum in India’s economic growth due to a third COVID-19 wave and inflation’s downward trend made the monetary policy committee retain its policy rate and stance.

State-run Coal India, which led gains on the Nifty 50, rose nearly 9%. The coal ministry said it was considering partnering with private companies to operate mines which had been shut by Coal India or where production had been discontinued.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise was 5.7% higher after the National Stock Exchange said https://bit.ly/351mXyz it would be added in the Nifty 50 index from March 31, replacing Indian Oil Corp.

Nifty’s metal index and public sector bank index were among the top gainers, rising 5.7% and 4.7%, respectively.

(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Vinay Dwivedi)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

Alaska worries for its salmon run as climate change warms Arctic waters

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – With marine heat waves helping to wipe out some of Alaska’s storied salmon runs in recent years, officials have resorted to sending emergency food shipments to affected communities while scientists warn that the industry’s days of traditional harvests may be numbered.

Salmon all but disappeared from the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) Yukon River run last year, as record-high temperatures led to the fish piling up dead in streams and rivers before they were able to spawn. A study published Feb. 15 in the journal Fisheries detailed more than 100 salmon die-offs at freshwater sites around Alaska.

Those losses meant that, even as temperatures were milder in 2021, the Yukon River salmon runs remained so anemic that both Alaska and Canada were forced to halt their salmon harvest to ensure enough fish survived to reproduce for another year.

“Alaska is known for salmon and being cold,” said Vanessa von Biela, a U.S. Geological Survey research biologist and lead author of the study on the 2019 die-offs. Now “we have basically the problems that have been known for a long time at the lower latitudes.”

The collapsed Yukon River salmon harvests delivered financial blows to both commercial fishers and indigenous communities, which traditionally stockpile the fish as a year-round food staple.

Commercially, the river’s salmon fishers altogether earned a mere $51,480 for their 2020 harvest, before the harvest was canceled in 2021. By comparison, they earned $2.5 million in 2019 and $4.67 million in 2018.

Last month, the U.S. commerce secretary declared a disaster for the Yukon River fishery for both years, making federal relief funds available.

The state sent emergency fish shipments last year from the more plentiful salmon in Bristol Bay and elsewhere.

Scientists mostly have blamed ocean warming, with a series of heat waves in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean from 2014 to 2019 affecting salmon living in the sea before their return to spawning grounds.

While the heat waves have passed, their effects have not, said fisheries scientist Katie Howard with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “We’re still seeing the residual effects,” she told a state legislative committee in Anchorage earlier this month.

Climate change may also be affecting salmon diets, with young salmon possibly filling up on nutrition-poor food like jellyfish as warmer waters in the Bering Sea drive away the more nutritious zooplankton the fish eat normally.

“In my opinion, the salmon are starving with climate change,” said Brooke Woods, the chair of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission from the Athabascan village of Rampart.

But the impact on freshwater habitats is also getting a closer look.

Previous research led by von Biela on the rivers, streams and lakes where salmon spend their early and late life stages, the team found that Chinook salmon show heat stress at temperatures above 18 Celsius (64.4 Fahrenheit), and start dying above 20C.

Alaskan Yukon water temperatures in the past ranged between 12C and 16C, with Canadian monitoring sites upriver measuring even cooler waters. But in 2019, temperatures on the Alaskan side were above 18C for 44 consecutive days, the February study found.

The warming impact can be muted by climate-driven glacier runoff, which feeds cooler water into rivers and streams.

Scientists expect salmon will gradually shift to new areas within Alaska, with profound effects for people who depend on the fish for their livelihoods, diet and culture.

“Salmon will find a way,” von Biela said. “But it is going to be hard for communities that are in places where there might not be salmon anymore.”

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

China urges banks, insurers to support affordable rental housing

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

BEIJING – China’s banking and insurance regulator has issued guidelines urging banks and insurers to support the development of affordable rental housing, as Beijing vows to keep the property market stable.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission urged commercial banks to undertake affordable rental housing projects, according to a statement published on its website on Friday.

Insurers should provide long-term financing support to affordable housing projects, it said.

The move aims to increase the supply of affordable rental housing to help migrants and young people, the regulator said.

China’s housing minister pledged on Thursday to keep the real estate market stable this year and ensure genuine demand for homes is met, after a series of regulations aimed at reining in debt in the sector unsettled buyers and prompted a marked slowdown in the key property sector.

China aims to offer 2.4 million units for affordable rental housing this year, said Wang Menghui, head of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, after 942,000 units in 40 cities with high population inflows helped meet demand from three million people last year.

The regulator also asked China Development Bank, the country’s leading policy bank, to enhance middle to long-term credit supports to affordable housing projects.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

U.S. companies grapple with surging costs as supply chain problems persist

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Timothy Aeppel

– Dave Petratis boosted wages for his U.S. factory workforce in December – six months ahead of schedule for normal annual increases.

It wasn’t enough.

The CEO of Allegion PLC, a maker of locks and security doors with 10 factories dotted across the country – including a lock factory in the appropriately named town of Security, Colorado – said ‘we’ve got our finger on the trigger” for another pay hike in coming months.

The multiple increases are necessary amid a fight for talent that has become a central feature of the supply chain crisis, Petratis told Reuters.

“When labor becomes a problem in the middle of something like this – it creates a lot of disruption,” he said, adding that it’s not just the companies that supply him with parts like metal castings that can’t find enough workers to fill all the orders. “It’s truck drivers, it’s people leaving the workforce to retire with heavy experience.”

Surging prices for steel and other raw materials have dogged Allegion and other manufacturers through most of the pandemic, in part because of the stop-and-start nature of the crisis.

After initially shutting down factories and stores, the pandemic sparked demand for goods as home-bound consumers funneled stimulus money into shopping sprees rather than trips and dining out.

But supply snarls continue to hamper producers. Earlier this week, the world’s No.4 carmaker Stellantis told investors that raw materials like metals would remain a problem for the industry this year. But the company said the semi-conductor shortage, which cost the company about 20% of its planned production last year, peaked in the third quarter.

A key question for economists now is to what degree inflation coursing through the economy is becoming a circular force, with higher prices at gas pumps and grocery stores fueling demands from workers for higher wages, adding again to pressure for more price hikes. U.S. consumer prices rose at their fastest annual rate in four decades in January.

For now, it remains unclear whether a spiral will be averted, though most Federal Reserve policymakers remain optimistic that inflation will ease as supply chains untangle later this year and into next, although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may complicate the central bank’s efforts to rein in inflation this year.

AN INFLATION ‘ICEBERG’

Cummins Inc gave bigger-than-normal wage increases to its factory workers in 2021 to account for heavy inflation pressures, said Jennifer Rumsey, the Columbus, Indiana-based engine maker’s president and chief operating officer. But she noted that prices of some commodities like metals have moderated.

“As a business leader, we don’t want to see inflation spiral out of control, because that would dampen the economy,” she said. “We’re not seeing that at this point.”

There are wider signs that bottlenecks and shortages in supply chains will start easing by the end of this year. The Port of Los Angeles just reported its busiest January in its history and the backlog of ships waiting to unload there is declining.

But U.S. ports have a narrow window to clear the existing backlog before another surge of imports begins in the middle of the year – a cycle that occurs as retailers stock up, first for back-to-school sales and then the year-end holidays. The good news is that the big West Coast ports have said they are making steady progress at moving out containers and fewer workers are off the job for illness or quarantines.

The crisis is prompting some businesses to get creative in how they move their products – changes that should make it easier to deal with future setbacks, such as another twist in the pandemic.

Lazaro Escandel, who co-leads the manufacturing practice at accounting and business advisory firm Kaufman Rossin in Miami, said he has one client who has begun using 20-foot shipping containers and smaller vessels, which can access more ports on the U.S. east coast. Traditional 40-foot containers are more cost effective, but there are fewer ports that can handle them.

Changes like that are driving up costs, adding to inflation pressures, said Escandel. Though not everyone is complaining about that.

“We have clients who are moving less product, less pounds, but they’re getting more revenue for it,” said Escandel. “Some of them like that.”

But inflationary pressures remain a headache for most businesses. Petratis, the Allegion CEO, said he sees an “iceberg” of inflation that still needs to move through the economy. And he noted that tight labor markets won’t go away once trains and trucks again deliver goods on time. The labor shortage “will continue to drive inflationary pressure, until disrupted by some type of slowdown or normalizing demand,” he said.

LONG ROAD TO NORMAL

Meanwhile, many businesses wonder whether demand will in fact continue to be supercharged once supply chains normalize.

David Foulkes, CEO of Brunswick Corp, a producer of boats and engines, has squeezed as much as possible out of the company’s existing factories to meet pandemic-fueled demand. In 2021, the company’s engine business produced 108% of the units they had targeted in their planning at the start of the year.

Brunswick’s boat business has faced more challenges, but even so ended up making 95% of the units they planned for the year. “That 5% is totally attributable to supply chain,” said Foulkes.

Foulkes said Brunswick is “carefully” adding capacity to deal with what he sees as a long-term increase in demand. The company added 60% to the capacity of a plant in Reynosa, Mexico, and made a similar expansion to a plant in Portugal that serves the European market, he said. It also reopened a mothballed boat factory in Florida.

With those additions and eventually normalization of supply chains, Foulkes projects inventories will be back to “healthy levels” by 2025. “Unless something significant happens, it’ll take two or more likely three years to get inventory levels back to where they should be.”

(Reporting by Timothy Aeppel; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

Explainer-How Western sanctions target Russia

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Karin Strohecker

-The United States, Britain and other Western nations have hit Russia with new sanctions following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.

The European Union broadly agreed new measures, details of which were to be discussed by EU foreign ministers at an emergency session on Friday.

Japan said on Friday it would strengthen its sanctions to include financial institutions and military equipment exports, and Australia imposed more curbs.

Below are details on the measures proposed so far and what other sanctions could target Russia:

BANKS & FINANCIAL FIRMS

The United States and Britain announced restrictions that, combined with previous sanctions, would in effect kick the vast majority of Russian banking assets out of both countries. New targets included Sberbank and VTB Bank, Russia’s two largest lenders. [L1N2UZ2UK]

EU leaders have agreed sanctions targeting 70% of the Russian banking market and important state-owned companies, including in defence.

Russia’s large banks are deeply integrated into the global financial system, meaning sanctions could be felt far beyond its borders. Data from the Bank for International Settlements showed European lenders hold the lion’s share of the around $120 billion in foreign banks’ exposure to Russia.

According to data from Russia’s central bank, total Russian banking foreign assets and liabilities stood at $200.6 billion and $134.5 billion, respectively, with the U.S.-dollar share amounting to around 53% of both, down from 76%-81% two decades ago.

SOVEREIGN DEBT & CAPITAL MARKETS

Britain announced it would ban Russian sovereign debt sales in London. Russia has issued 4.1 billion pounds of sovereign debt in London since the beginning of 2020.

The coming package of EU measures EU will “target the ability of the Russian state and government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets and services, to limit the financing of escalatory and aggressive policies,” the bloc said. It will ban EU investors from trading in Russian state bonds.

Washington announced new restrictions on dealings in Russia sovereign debt on Tuesday. Americans – already barred from investing in Russian sovereign debt directly – will be banned from purchasing it in the secondary market after March 1.

Even before the latest events, access to Russian bonds had become increasingly restricted.

U.S. sanctions imposed in 2015 made future Russian dollar debt ineligible for many investors and key indexes. In April 2021, Biden barred U.S. investors from buying new Russian rouble bonds over accusations of Russian election meddling.

The curbs have cut Russia’s external debt by 33% since early 2014 – from $733 billion to $489 billion in the third quarter of 2021.

INDIVIDUALS

The United States, the EU and Britain have already imposed asset freezes, travel bans and other curbs on Russian individuals.

Britain announced sanctions on more than 100 Russian individuals and entities, including an asset freeze and travel ban on Yelena Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank; Pyotr Fradkov, Promsvyazbank chairman; Denis Bortnikov, VTB deputy president; Kirill Shamalov, President Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law; and United Aircraft’s Yury Slyusar.

Britain will also introduce legislation to limit deposits that Russian nationals can hold in UK bank accounts. The limit will be 50,000 pounds ($66,860) at British banks.

The United States sanctioned Fradkov and Bortnikov on Tuesday, as well as Vladimir Kiriyenko, the son of a former prime minister.

On Thursday, Washington targeted others close to Putin, including Sergei Ivanov, CEO of Russian state-owned diamond mining company Alrosa; Andrey Patrushev, who has served in leadership roles at Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom; and Ivan Sechin, reportedly a deputy head of a department at energy company Rosneft.

Biden said on Thursday he would consider personal sanctions on Putin, a move Moscow has said would not harm the president personally but would prove “politically destructive”.

The EU has already imposed sanctions on five people who were involved in a Russian parliamentary election in annexed Crimea last September, and said it would blacklist all lawmakers who voted to recognise two regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, freeze any assets they have in the EU and ban them from travelling to the bloc.

ENERGY CORPORATES & NORD STREAM 2

The United States and the EU already have sanctions in place on Russia’s energy and defence sectors, with state-owned gas company Gazprom, its oil arm Gazpromneft and oil producers Lukoil, Rosneft and Surgutneftegaz facing various types of curbs on exports/imports and debt-raising.

Sanctions could be deepened, with one possible option being to prevent companies settling in U.S. dollars.

Nord Stream 2, a recently completed pipeline from Russia to Germany, was awaiting regulatory approval by EU and German authorities before Berlin put its certification on ice.

The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the company in charge of building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

CURBING TECHNOLOGY

The EU has vowed to introduce measures to crimp Russia’s technological position in key areas – from high-tech components to cutting-edge software.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday it was implementing export controls that will severely restrict Russia’s access to semiconductors, computers, telecommunications, information security equipment, lasers, and sensors that it needs to sustain its military capabilities.

Similar measures were deployed during the Cold War, when sanctions kept the Soviet Union technologically backward and crimped economic growth.

SWITCHING OFF SWIFT

One of the harshest potential measures would be to disconnect the Russian financial system from international payments system SWIFT, used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries.

Ukraine wants Russia removed from the system and the move is under discussion as the EU considers sanctions but leaders have been at odds over this.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for Russia’s exclusion from SWIFT, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it should not be part of the second EU sanctions package. Biden said on Thursday Washington was not imposing a ban for now.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Catherine Belton in London, Michelle Price in New York, Katya Golubkova and Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow; Editing by Timothy Heritage)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

India explores setting up rupee trade accounts with Russia to soften sanctions blow – sources

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Rajendra Jadhav, Nupur Anand and Aftab Ahmed

MUMBAI – India is exploring ways to set up a rupee payment mechanism for trade with Russia to soften the blow on New Delhi of Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, government and banking sources said.

Indian officials are concerned that vital supplies of fertilizer from Russia could be disrupted as sanctions intensify, threatening India’s vast farm sector.

India has called for an end to violence in Ukraine but refrained from outright condemnation of Russia, with which it has long-standing political and security ties.

Russia invaded Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Russian forces pressed their advance on Friday and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with the international community to do more, saying sanctions announced so far were not enough.

Officials said the plan was to get Russian banks and companies to open accounts with a few state-run banks in India for trade settlement, a banking source involved in the discussions said.

“This is a proactive move assuming that the conflict escalates and there could be a slew of sanctions in place,” the source said.

“In this case we would not be able to settle the transaction in dollars and so an arrangement has been proposed to set up a rupee account, which is being considered.”

Funds in such accounts act as a guarantee of payment for trade exchanged between two countries, while the parties barter commodities from each other to offset the sum, the source said.

A similar arrangement, in which part of the settlement with Russia is in foreign currency and rest is through local rupee accounts, was also being explored, said the banking and the government source.

Such mechanisms are often used by countries to shield themselves from the blow of sanctions and India also used it with Iran after it came under Western sanctions for its nuclear weapons programme, the source said.

The programme was introduced in 2012 and worked well for several years.

The discussions on Russia were still at an early stage and formal talks had not yet begun between the two sides, an Indian government official said.

EU leaders agreed on Thursday to impose new economic sanctions on Russia, joining the United States and Britain in trying to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies for the attack.

The sanctions impede Russia’s ability to do business in major currencies and target individual banks and state-owned enterprises.

The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. None of the sources wanted to be identified as the discussions are private.

Russia’s exports to India stood at $6.9 billion in 2021, mainly mineral oils, fertilisers and rough diamonds, while India exported $3.33 billion worth of goods to Russia in 2021, mainly pharmaceutical products, tea and coffee.

Russia and Belarus usually account for nearly a third of India’s total potash imports. It would not be feasible to replace them amid a rally in fertilizer prices to a record high, a senior industry official told Reuters.

New Delhi is also holding a meeting with fertilizer industry officials on Friday to explore ways to secure supplies from Russia and Belarus, said a senior fertilizer industry official, who declined to be identified.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav, Nupur Anand in Mumbai and Aftab Ahmed in New Delhi; Editing by Nick Macfie)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Greece sees no disruption in gas flows, suppliers line up cargoes -minister

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

ATHENS – Gas flows to Greece are smooth and Greek gas suppliers have lined up additional gas cargoes if needed, Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Friday, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The invasion exacerbated gas prices that have been soaring since September, fanning fears about supplies key to power generation. Like many European nations, Greece relies heavily on Russia for imports that furnish 40% of its gas and 26% of its oil.

Greek energy ministry officials met gas and power regulators on Friday to discuss the issue.

“We have reviewed all scenarios, even the most adverse ones, about gas and power supplies,” Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said in a televised statement after the meeting. “Gas flows continue without any disruption so far.”

Gas reserves at Greece’s sole terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) off Athens are high and Greek power companies have been in contact with suppliers to secure additional cargoes if needed, Skrekas said.

Greece has shut many lignite-fired plants in a decarbonisation drive, but some still account for about 6% of its power generation.

Skrekas said lignite stocks can also cover the country’s electricity needs for more than 30 days.

Greece has urged France, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, to call an emergency meeting of EU energy ministers to hammer out a collective response that shields against abrupt increases in energy costs.

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

BASF ready to push Wintershall Dea IPO against co-owner’s opposition

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

FRANKFURT -BASF, co-owner of Nord Stream 2 backer Wintershall Dea, said it was prepared to push through an initial public offering of the oil and gas business next year even as markets are roiled by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The dispute over the IPO timing erupted last month when Wintershall Dea co-investor LetterOne came out opposing the market flotation – which the joint venture partners had already agreed on – for the time being.

“Given the significant strategic relevance of the IPO (of Wintershall Dea) for BASF and our stakeholders, we will use all available means to protect our rights and interests, including legal remedies and the right to unilaterally pursue an IPO in 2023,” BASF finance chief Hans-Ulrich Engel said in speech on the chemical group’s full-year results.

The reaffirmed goal comes after Russia, on which Wintershall Dea relies for nearly half of its oil and gas production, attacked Ukraine in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two, drawing international condemnation.

German chemicals giant BASF on Friday also forecast lower 2022 operating earnings due to slower economic growth, also citing a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruptions.

The company said earnings before interest, tax and special items will likely be between 6.6 billion euros ($7.4 billion) and 7.2 billion euros this year, down from 7.77 billion euros in 2021.

It added any fallout of the Ukraine invasion on its business could currently not be quantified.

Wintershall Dea’s operations, however, were for now not affected by new Western government economic sanctions against Russia.

Despite a very strong start to the year, “BASF expects global economic growth of 3.8% to be somewhat more moderate in 2022 following the very strong recovery in 2021”. Last year, it saw a rebound in industrial demand from initial pandemic woes.

The forecast takes into account the risk of supply chain disruptions, more pandemic headwinds and potentially higher energy prices, BASF said.

Wintershall said on Thursday a “politically motivated” cancellation of Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which Wintershall co-funded, would enable its operator to lodge compensation claims.

Germany has effectively halted a ramp-up in preparations on the pipeline following a first wave of sanctions on Russia, where Wintershall has been active for more than three decades.

BASF holds 67% of the ordinary voting shares in Wintershall, DEA or a total of 72.7% taking into account non-voting preference shares.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s investment firm LetterOne, which owns the rest, last month said an IPO could lead to excessive dividends as well as an unjust discount on its value because investors were shunning Russia-linked assets.

BASF’s group EBIT, adjusted for one-off items, rose more than 10% to 1.23 billion euros in the three months through December, missing a company-compiled estimate of 1.35 billion euros.

The shares fell 4.8% to 58.12 euros for a decline of more than 13% this week, as Stiefel analyst Andreas Heine described the results a “disappointing outcome across the board”.

The German company proposed an annual dividend of 3.40 euros per share, slightly above expectations of 3.39 euros.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Kirsti Knolle, Shounak Dasgupta and Kim Coghill)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Casino shares slump as 2021 profit falls, debt rises

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS -Casino shares slumped on Friday after the supermarket group reported a 12% drop in operating profit on lower sales last year and reignited investor concerns over high debts and low cash flows.

The French retailer, which has been selling assets to cut debt, said the pandemic had slowed the pace of its disposal plan and it now aimed to complete the final 1.3 billion euro part of the 4.5 billion euro plan by the end of 2023.

It was confident sales momentum in France would recover this year and vowed to improve cash flow generation while maintaining a “high level of profitability.”

But the forecasts did little to reassure investors. At 0924 GMT, Casino shares were down 14% at 15.66 euros, at the bottom of France’s SBF 120 index <.SBF 20>.

“The underlying cash burn of the French business is and should remain the real concern … we can’t be sure that 2022 will be really easier and that cash-burn will stop in France,” said Bryan Garnier analyst Clement Genelot.

Jefferies analysts said the desire to improve cash flows would be “challenged by a tough domestic context of accelerating input pressures.”

Casino, which ended 2021 with 562 million euros in cash and cash equivalents, said it would not pay a dividend for 2021 in order to prioritise debt reduction.

At end-2021, consolidated net debt stood at 5.9 billion euros, against 4.6 billion a year earlier.

Group operating profit fell 12% to 1.19 billion euros in 2021. That reflected a 14% decline in core profit in France, where same-store sales fell 5.4%, notably due to the impact of the pandemic on the Paris region and on tourist flows. Sales remained robust in Brazil, Casino’s No.2 market.

Casino, which controls Brazil’s Grupo Pao de Acucar, said total group sales were 30.55 billion euros, down 0.8% on a same-store basis.

To boost sales growth, Chief Executive Jean-Charles Naouri is banking on an accelerated expansion in convenience stores such as Monoprix, Franprix and Naturalia, targeting the opening of over 800 such stores in 2022, mainly under franchise.

To boost profitability, the group is looking to monetise client data, make savings from purchasing deals – notably with France’s Intermarche – and to focus more on e-commerce, organic food, convenience stores and energy services.

Casino has a partnership with online British grocer Ocado, which they extended this month to develop e-commerce logistics centres for retailers in France.

Casino’s Monoprix supermarket arm has a deal with Amazon and Casino also recently sealed a partnership with German quick commerce group Gorillas.

($1 = 0.8915 euros)

(Reporting by Dominique VidalonAdditional reporting Anait MiridzhanianEditing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mark Potter)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Russia to widen trade, economic ties with Asia after Western sanctions

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

MOSCOW – Russia’s economy ministry on Friday said it was working on measures to minimise the effect of Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and would be stepping up trade and economic ties with Asian countries.

“We understand that the sanctions pressure we have faced since 2014 will now intensify,” the ministry said. “The rhetoric of some of our foreign colleagues was such that we have been ready for potential new sanctions for a long time.”

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Andrey Ostroukh; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Virgin Atlantic avoiding Russian air space, routes to get longer

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

LONDON – Virgin Atlantic said on Friday it would avoid Russian airspace, meaning flights between Britain, India and Pakistan would take slightly longer.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to customers by slightly longer flight times,” a spokesperson said.

“The safety and security of our customers and people always comes first and we’re monitoring the situation in Ukraine and Russia extremely carefully following the escalation of conflict, continuing to operate in full compliance with relevant safety regulators, authorities and governments.”

Flights between Britain and India or Pakistan could become longer by between 15 and 60 minutes.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Alistair Smout)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

IAG CEO Gallego: not seeing same degree of A350 issue as Qatar

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

LONDON -British Airways-owner IAG is not experiencing the same degree of issues as Qatar Airways with surface degradation of paint on the Airbus A350 jets it operates, Chief Executive Luis Gallego said on Friday.

“We don’t have the same type of issues that Qatar has, and we are operating A350s, and we have not had problems,” Gallego told reporters.

Qatar and Airbus have been at loggerheads for months over surface flaws on A350s, some of which have been grounded by Qatar over safety concerns as its airline sues Airbus for $600 million.

Airbus acknowledges quality problems but accuses the airline of mislabelling them as a safety issue to secure compensation.

IAG’s Gallego said the industry regulatory EASA had been informed about “the situation”. “They consider that we don’t have any problem flying this aircraft,” he said.

(Reporting by Kate Holton, writing by Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Russia closes its airspace to British airlines

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

MOSCOW – Russia has banned British airlines from landing at its airports or crossing its airspace, its state civil aviation regulator said on Friday.

The move follows London’s ban on the flights of Russian flag carrier Aeroflot imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by John Stonestreet)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

COSCO Shipping suspends services in Ukraine

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

BEIJING – The container shipping arm of China’s COSCO Shipping said on Friday that it will stop accepting new bookings for cargoes to and from Ukraine, the latest shipping group to take such action after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.

The company’s vessels already en route to Ukraine will be re-directed to elsewhere available, COSCO Shipping said, without giving further details.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Florence Tan; Editing by Susan Fenton)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

China’s Dalian commodity exchange raises intraday transaction fees for some futures contracts

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

BEIJING – China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange said on Friday that it would raise intraday transaction fees for some contracts of soybean, soyoil, palm oil, coking coal and coke futures, according to a statement on its website.

The changes will take effect from March 1, it said.

(Reporting by Min Zhang and Emily Chow; Editing by Susan Fenton)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Never Knowingly Undersold no more, UK’s John Lewis drops 96-year old price pledge

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By James Davey and Aby Jose Koilparambil

– British department store retailer John Lewis will this summer abandon the “Never Knowingly Undersold” price pledge it has maintained since 1925, it said on Friday.

The promise means the employee-owned John Lewis matches prices on like-for-like branded products with national retailers that sell both online and in shops. However, it is not applicable to online-only retailers.

“Never Knowingly Undersold has been a cherished sign of trust for John Lewis for a century but it doesn’t fit with how customers shop today as more purchases are made online,” said executive director Pippa Wicks.

Instead, John Lewis said it will spend 500 million pounds ($669 million) to keep prices competitive this year, some 25% more than it spent in 2021, as it expects shoppers to become more cost conscious.

British consumer confidence suffered its biggest month-on-month drop in February since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting worries about fast-rising inflation, higher taxes and interest rates going up, a survey showed on Friday.

British inflation hit its highest in nearly 30 years in January at 5.5%, and the Bank of England expects it to peak at around 7.25% in April when a 54% rise in regulated household energy tariffs takes effect.

The John Lewis department store business is part of the John Lewis Partnership which also owns the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain.

The partnership is due to report full year results on March 10 after the pandemic drove it to a 517 million pound loss for 2020-21. Half-year results published in September showed a return to profit.

John Lewis said it will inform customers of an exact date when Never Knowingly Undersold ends nearer the time.

($1 = 0.7472 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey in London and Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Tomasz Janowski)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

Republicans target Biden for blame over Putin’s Ukraine invasion

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON -Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought no pause to partisan squabbling in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, as some Republicans blasted Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis and called on him to “change course” in his response.

Some Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives blamed Biden for failing to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from sending forces into Ukraine and called on the U.S. president to take a stronger position on the largest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

“There’s no doubt that weakness leads to war,” Representative Brian Mast, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a Thursday morning tweet. “Putin once said the collapse of the Soviet empire was the ‘greatest geopolitical catastrophe’ of the past century for Russia. For America, President Biden may be the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of this century.”

The invasion of Ukraine followed months of Russian military buildup along the country’s borders, leading to frantic diplomacy and sanctions from the United States and NATO that failed to prevent the incursion. Biden plans an address to the nation at 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT).

The criticisms represented a further fraying of the dictum that partisan politics should stop at the water’s edge, a view which Republicans voiced at the outset of the Cold War in the late 1940s.

“There used to be a grace period to see how the commander in chief handled things. … It seems Biden was not given much room to maneuver,” said a former chief of staff to a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

A more moderate message came from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who called Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan a signal of American weakness for Putin. But he also called for political unity going forward. “We’re all together at this point, and we need to be together about what should be done,” said McConnell, who urged Biden to impose full and crippling economic sanctions on Russia and stand ready to supply Ukraine with the weapons necessary to inflict maximum damage on Russian forces.

‘WHERE’S BIDEN?’

Other Republicans kept up the political attack on Biden.

“Almost 12 hours since Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine and the only response we’ve gotten from Biden is a Zoom call. Where’s Biden? He’s the leader of the free world. It’s time to start acting like it,” Representative Carlos Gimenez wrote on Twitter.

Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as the invasion began late on Wednesday, convened his National Security Council on Thursday, and met with his counterparts from the Group of Seven allies to map out more severe responses.

“The president must change course or our deterrent posture will continue to collapse, chaos will continue to spread and eventually no one will trust America’s promises or fear America’s power,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Former President Donald Trump — who even out of office remains the most powerful voice in the Republican Party — had threatened during his four years in office to leave NATO, calling the military alliance “obsolete.” He withdrew the United States from international agreements — including the Paris Climate Accord, which it has since rejoined — and pulled out of a pact in which Iran had curbed its uranium enrichment program, a possible pathway to nuclear arms, which is now being renegotiated.

Trump, who has expressed admiration for Putin, described the Russian leader’s actions leading up to invasion as “genius,” “smart” and “pretty savvy.”

The response among congressional Republicans — blaming Biden, calling for stronger sanctions and warning against any use of U.S. troops in Ukraine — largely mirrored the sentiments of Republican voters, as lawmakers approach the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Only 34% of Americans — including just 12% of Republicans — approved of the way Biden was handling the crisis in the run-up to the invasion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Tuesday and Wednesday.

Twenty-five percent of Republicans polled said Biden was primarily to blame for the conflict, with 46% saying Putin was primarily to blame. Nearly one in five was unsure who to blame.

Senator Mitt Romney, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a moderate voice in his party, offered broader criticism that also blamed U.S. responses to Russia by former Presidents Barack Obama and Trump while evoking the Reagan era’s tough posture against the former Soviet Union.

“Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naive efforts at a one-sided ‘reset,’ and the shortsightedness of ‘America First.’ The ’80s called’ and we didn’t answer,” Romney said in a statement.

(Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Jason Lange and Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Porsche could IPO in fourth quarter, Volkswagen CFO says

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

By Christoph Steitz and Jan Schwartz

FRANKFURT -Porsche’s potential initial public offering (IPO) could happen as soon as the fourth quarter of 2022, the finance chief of the luxury carmaker’s owner Volkswagen said on Friday, providing further details of what could become a record listing.

Volkswagen’s rationale for the IPO partly rests on hopes that it will remove some of the carmaker’s conglomerate discount and raise its shares, which have underperformed the European sector over the past 12 months.

“There is no guarantee the market value of (Porsche) will translate into the VW share price unless VW addresses more structural issues of brand/product complexity,” analysts at Jefferies wrote.

Volkswagen’s sprawling structure, which among others includes the Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini brands, has long been seen as weighing on the valuation of Europe’s largest carmaker.

Outlining key steps of a Porsche IPO, finance chief Arno Antlitz said Volkswagen, which has embarked on an ambitious shift towards electric vehicles (EV), batteries and software, would update markets about the progress and timeline in late summer.

“For me, this marks an inflection point and the ideal timing for the potential transaction in order to ignite our EV shift momentum,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said.

Volkswagen shares and its top shareholder Porsche SE rose as much as 4.5% and 5.1%, respectively, after the companies late on Thursday fleshed out details of a possible Porsche listing.

These include plans to list up to 25% of Porsche AG’s preferred stock, selling 25% plus 1 ordinary share in the carmaker to Porsche SE and paying out 49% of IPO proceeds to Volkswagen’s shareholders as a special dividend.

Assuming a Porsche value of 90 billion euros ($101 billion), this would result in proceeds of around 23 billion euros for Volkswagen – 11 billion via the placement of preferred shares and 12 billion via the sale of ordinary shares to Porsche SE at a premium.

Under the special dividend plans, Porsche SE, which owns 31.4% of Volkswagen, would stand to receive 3.6 billion euros, or around 30% of what it would pay for its Porsche AG stake.

Porsche SE, the holding company of the Porsche and Piech families that holds 53.3% of Volkswagen’s voting rights, “still looks like the main beneficiary”, the Jefferies analysts wrote.

Porsche AG itself will not receive any proceeds under the current plans.

($1 = 0.8949 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Jan Schwartz; editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

Lending to euro zone households grows at fastest rate since late 2008

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

FRANKFURT – Growth in bank loans to euro zone households accelerated again last month, growing at the fastest pace since late 2008, European Central Bank data showed on Friday.

“Annual growth rate of adjusted loans to households stood at 4.3% in January, compared with 4.2% in December,” the ECB said.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

Financial News

London Stock Exchange suspends VTB Capital’s membership

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

LONDON – The London Stock Exchange said on Friday it has suspended VTB Capital’s membership following Britain’s sanctions in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The suspension means that VTB Capital, owned by one of Russia’s biggest banks VTB, can no longer trade on the LSE, a spokesman for the exchange said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

February 25, 2022 0 comments

US and World News

From Tokyo to New York, thousands protest against invasion of Ukraine

by Reuters February 25, 2022

By: Reuters

– Protesters turned out on public squares and outside Russian embassies in cities from Tokyo to Tel Aviv and New York on Thursday to denounce the invasion of Ukraine — while more than a thousand who tried to do the same in Russia were arrested.

The earliest known protest occurred outside Russia’s embassy in Washington around 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Thursday, only three hours after President Vladimir Putin said he had launched his military operation.

Local news reports showed dozens of protesters in the U.S. capital waving Ukrainian flags and chanting “Stop Russian aggression!”

In London, hundreds of demonstrators, many of them Ukrainian and some weeping, gathered outside Downing Street, home to the prime minister, urging Britain to do more.

“We need help, we need someone to support us,” said one. “Ukraine is too small and the pressure is too big.”

In Paris, one demonstrator told Reuters: “I feel that we are in a very dangerous moment for the whole world.”

In Madrid, Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem, nominated for another Academy Award this year, joined about a hundred protesters outside the Russian embassy.

“It is an invasion. … It violates Ukraine’s fundamental right to territorial sovereignty, international law, and many other things,” Bardem said.

A giant flag was carried through Manhattan’s Times Square by a crowd of several hundred protesters.

In the Swiss capital Bern, hundreds gathered, holding Ukrainian flags and chanting “Peace for Ukraine!”.

Agapi Tamir, 28, one of a few dozen members of Greece’s Ukrainian community who staged a protest in Athens, said:

“The only thing we believe is that a miracle will stop all this awful and frightening thing that is happening at this moment.”

A small demonstration in Geneva, organised by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) outside the U.N. European headquarters, condemned what the group said was Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons.

Other demonstrations were held in Beirut, Tel Aviv, Dublin and Prague.

Also in Dublin, a Russian double-eagle crest beside the gate of the Russian embassy was defaced with red paint.

More protests were scheduled for later in the day in the U.S. cities of Houston and Denver, according to social media posts.

In Russia itself, protesters defied an official warning that explicitly threatened criminal prosecution and even jail time for those calling for or taking part in protests.

Hundreds rallied in cities including Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, chanting slogans such as “No to war!” and holding up makeshift signs.

By 1939 GMT, police had detained no fewer than 1,667 people in 53 cities, the OVD-Info rights monitor said. Six hundred were arrested in Moscow alone, the Tass news agency reported.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux around the world; Writing by Kevin Liffey)