18th May 2020 11:15
(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Ryanair Holdings reported a rise in revenue and traffic in its recently ended financial year which was largely unaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic that has since battered the airline sector. The Irish budget carrier yet again took aim at "state aid doping", reaffirmed its bleak traffic expectations for the second quarter of the new year, and said it expects a EUR200 million loss in the first quarter. Revenue in the financial year that ended March 31 was 10% higher annually at EUR8.49 billion from EUR7.70 billion. Pretax profit, however, was down by 29% year-on-year to EUR670.3 million from EUR948.1 million. Ryanair yet again took aim at "state aid doping", reaffirmed its bleak traffic expectations for the second quarter of the new year, and said it expects a EUR200 million loss in the first quarter.
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Total said it will become one of Spain's largest residential energy suppliers after sealing a EUR515 million deal with Energies de Portgual. It has acquired EDP's portfolio of 2.5 million customers and two gas-fired power plants, generating electricity of nearly 850 megawatts. Total said the deal will mean the French company will become the fourth largest supplier of gas and power in Spain, with residential market shares of 12% and 6%, respectively. There will be no acquisition of assets in Ghana, however, the oil firm said. Back in May 2019, Total agreed a deal with Occidental Petroleum to acquire USD8.8 billion worth of assets owned by Anadarko Petroleum in Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique, South and Africa. Total said that while it has since completed the sale and purchase of the South African and Mozambique assets, the Ghana deal has fallen through.
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AstraZeneca said Enhertu has been granted breakthrough therapy designation in the US, while Bevespi Aerosphere was approved in China. The FTSE 100-listed drugmaker said Enhertu was developed for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Astra explained that non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer, and prognosis is particularly poor for patients with metastatic disease as only about 6% to 10% will be alive five years after diagnosis. "Today's news is very welcome as we continue to evaluate the potential of Enhertu to help patients with this devastating type of lung cancer," said Jose Baselga, executive vice president Of Astra's Oncology Research & Development division.
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GlaxoSmithKline said an interim analysis of a study has found ViiV Healthcare's injectable formulation of cabotegravir to be more effective than current standard care in prevention of HIV. ViiV Healthcare is a HIV company majority-owned by Glaxo, with Pfizer and Shionogi as shareholders. Glaxo said interim analysis of the HIV Prevention Trials Network 083 study found Cabotegravir to be 69% more effective in preventing HIV acquisition in men who have sex with men and transgender women who have sex with men when compared to the current standard of care, daily oral emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 200 milligrams and 300 mg tablets. The study achieved its primary objective of non-inferiority with the difference approaching superiority in favour of Cabotegravir, pending final analysis, the London-based pharmaceutical company said.
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MARKETS
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London shares were sharply higher fuelled by positive data on death and infection rates in countries that are easing lockdown conditions. Gold miner Fresnillo was the best blue-chip performer, up 10% tracking spot gold prices higher. The precious metal hit a high of USD1,764.87 - its highest level since late 2012. US stock market futures were pointed to a higher open.
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FTSE 100: up 2.2% at 5,924.79
FTSE 250: up 2.5% at 16,054.97
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 1.7% at 822.53
GBP: flat at USD1.2123 (USD1.2125)
EUR: soft at USD1.0807 (USD1.0818)
GOLD: up at USD1,762.15 per ounce (USD1,743.84)
OIL (Brent): up at USD34.24 a barrel (USD31.27)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The US is facing a severe economic downturn amid the global pandemic, but will not suffer another Great Depression and will see a recovery begin later this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The world's top economy was strong before the Covid-19 outbreak hit, like a natural disaster, causing nationwide business shutdowns, Powell said. And the banking system had been rebuilt stronger since the global financial crisis. Data show more than 30 million jobs were destroyed in the US, as businesses were shuttered nationwide amid the efforts to stop the spread of the virus. For the April-June period, the economic data "will be very, very bad. There'll be a big decline in economic activity, big increase in unemployment," Powell told the CBS programme "60 Minutes." The US economy could "easily" collapse by 20% to 30% this quarter, and unemployment could peak at 20 to 25%, but, "it should be a much shorter downturn than you would associate with the 1930s. "I think there's a good chance that there'll be positive growth in the third quarter," he said.
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The Japanese economy has plunged into recession as the coronavirus pandemic and a consumption tax hike from last year ravaged the world's third-largest economy. Japan's gross domestic product contracted at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the first quarter of 2020, according to a report released by the Cabinet Office. Economic growth in the last quarter of 2019 was revised down to a 7.3% contraction from a 7.1% fall estimated in March, the office said. The reading marks the biggest contraction in more than five years and comes after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government raised the consumption tax from 8% to 10% on October 1. Two straight quarters of negative growth means that Japan has entered a recession amid the coronavirus crisis, as was widely expected.
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Extra trains are expected to take thousands more people back to work under the UK government's plan to accelerate economic activity by lifting lockdown restrictions, PA reported. After the first weekend in which people in England could enjoy sunbathing and picnics outdoors, public transport operators were preparing to carry many more commuters to building sites, factories and offices on Monday. The move comes at the start of the first full working week since Boris Johnson set out his plan for easing the coronavirus lockdown in England, urging those employees unable to work from home to return to their places of employment. The Times newspaper reported lorry drivers will make up the bulk of exemptions to plans to impose a 14-day quarantine on international travellers regardless of mode of travel.
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Spain on Sunday reported 87 coronavirus deaths over a 24-hour period, the first time in two months that the daily toll has dropped below 100. The number came a day before Spain is to further relax lockdown measures across the country, except in Madrid and Barcelona. At the height of the current outbreak in early April, Spain counted 950 deaths in one day. Spain remains one of the countries hardest hit by the virus with a total of 27,650 deaths, the health ministry reported on Sunday. The number of confirmed cases is more than 231,000.
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Italy also on Sunday recorded the fewest deaths from coronavirus in one day since its two-month lockdown began, as the country stands poised to reopen most commercial activity. The civil protection unit said 145 people had died of the virus in the last 24 hours, the lowest level since March 9, when 97 people died of Covid-19. On Monday, most of the country's businesses will emerge from a two-month quarantine imposed by the government on March 9. Restaurants, bars, cafes, hairdressers, and retail stores will be allowed to reopen. Gyms, pools, cinemas and theatres are allowed to open on May 25.
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The World Health Organization will kick off its first-ever virtual assembly, but fears abound that US-China tensions could derail the strong action needed to address the Covid-19 crisis. The World Health Assembly, which has been trimmed from the usual three weeks to just two days, Monday and Tuesday, is expected to focus almost solely on Covid-19, which in a matter of months has killed more than 310,000 globally. A number of heads of state, government chiefs, health ministers and other dignitaries are expected to attend the meeting, which is due to kick off around noon. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday the event would be "one of the most important WHAs since we were founded in 1948". But the chance of reaching an agreement on global measures to address the crisis could be threatened by steadily deteriorating relations between the world's two largest economies over the pandemic.
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