Company news in brief

Toyota posts 10% rise in operating profitToyota Motor Corp posted a 10% rise in operating profit for the second quarter as a positive currency impact and cost reductions offset lower vehicle sales at home and in North America.Operating profit came in at 522.2 billion yen (US$4.58 billion), up from 474.6 billion a year ago and above forecasts for 515.3 billion yen from 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.Toyota upgraded its full-year forecast for operating profit to 2.0 trillion yen from a previous forecast for 1.85 trillion yen, based on a revised assumption that the yen will trade around 111 yen to the US dollar. – Nampa/ReutersPPC flags jump in H1 profitSouth African cement maker PPC Ltd flagged as much as 40% increase in half-year profit, citing robust performance in Zimbabwe and Rwanda and lower finance costs.PPC, the subject of tie-up approaches from local rival Afrisam and Sweden's LafargeHolcim, said headline earnings per share likely rose by between 30% and 40% in the six months ended September.Headline EPS, the widely used performance measure in South Africa, strips out certain one-off items. – Nampa/ReutersSiemens Gamesa cut up to 6 000 jobsSiemens Gamesa plans to cut as many as 6 000 jobs worldwide as it braces for sales to plunge by as much as a fifth next year.The job cut would amount to more than 20% of the company's total workforce of around 26 000.Wind turbine makers have been facing growing competition, putting pressure on pricing and inventory values and raising expectations for more takeovers to build scale.The company expects sales to fall to between 9 and 9.6 billion euros this year from about 11 billion in fiscal 2017, a 5% gain from year-earlier levels. – Nampa/ReutersBP, Shell eye blockchain-based tradingA consortium including energy companies BP and Royal Dutch Shell will develop a blockchain-based digital platform for energy commodities trading expected to start by end-2018, the group said.Other members of the consortium include Norwegian oil firm Statoil, trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria, and banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale.The new venture is seeking regulatory approvals and would be run as an independent entity. – Nampa/ReutersBMW more confident despite slowdownGerman luxury car giant BMW fell short of expectations in the third quarter, earnings data released showed, but lifted its performance targets for the full year.Between July and September, net profit at the group shrank 1.8% y-o-y to 1.8 billion euros (US$2.1 billion). Operating, or underlying profit also fell 3.2%, to 2.3 billion euros, on the back of revenues up 0.3% at 23.4 billion.Looking ahead to the full year, BMW upped its forecast to a "solid" increase in underlying profit from 2016's figure, where previously it had called for a "slight" boost. – Nampa/AFP

Company news in brief

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Republikein 2025-11-04

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Company news in brief

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