COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Coca-Cola to buy out BodyArmorCoca-Cola is preparing to take full control of the sports drink group BodyArmor in a deal worth US$5.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Coca-Cola already holds a 30 percent stake in the sports drink group.The buyout, which would value BodyArmor at about US$8 billion, would see the soda giant buy the remaining 70 percent from BodyArmor's founders and investors, as well as a group of professional athletes who have invested in the company.BodyArmor was backed at its founding in 2011 by basketball star Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in early 2020 and had invested US$6 million in the company.The Journal reported that Bryant's estate should collect about US$400 million from the deal, citing people close to the case.Coca-Cola declined to comment when contacted by AFP. BodyArmor is a competitor to industry giant Gatorade, which is owned by PepsiCo, Coca-Cola's main business rival.BodyArmor expects sales to reach US$1.4 billion this year, compared to US$250 billion in 2018 when Coca-Cola first invested in the company. - Nampa/AFP?Moderna teen vaccines delayedUS biotech firm Moderna said Sunday that American officials have delayed approving its Covid-19 vaccine for teenagers to allow more time to better assess the potential risk of developing myocarditis, or heart inflammation.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday “informed Moderna that the agency requires additional time to evaluate recent international analyses of the risk of myocarditis after vaccination,” the biotech company said Sunday in a statement.The evaluation on whether to recommend Moderna's vaccine for 12- to 17-year-olds could last until January 2022, the company said.Myocarditis and an associated risk, pericarditis inflammation around the heart have previously been linked to the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines themselves, particularly among adolescent boys and young men.But the risk is far higher after infection with Covid-19, according to a study published in August by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The CDC found that “myocarditis following vaccination with mRNA vaccines has been rare and generally mild,” Moderna said. - Nampa/AFP?Japan's Nomura slumpsShares in Nomura Holdings fell almost 8% on Monday, its biggest daily decline since March, after the Japanese brokerage reported worse-than-expected earnings due to a loss from transactions completed more than a decade ago.Nomura last week said its second-quarter net profit was almost wiped out by a charge of about 39 billion yen (US$342 million) that it said was related to legacy transactions in the United States from before the global financial crisis in 2007 and 2008. The loss followed a US$2.9 billion hit from the collapse of US investment fund Archegos news of which emerged in March. Nomura stock slumped more than 16% on March 29 after the firm flagged a potential loss at a US subsidiary. Hideyasu Ban, an equity analyst at Jefferies, said Nomura's latest quarterly earnings was below his expectations.“We estimated that its earnings would start normalizing this quarter and its core businesses did, but 39 billion yen of reserve provisioning against the transactions before the global financial crisis was unexpected.”- Nampa/Reuters?Westpac takes hit to marginsWestpac Banking Corp on Monday disappointed investors hoping for a quick restructure at Australia's No. 3 lender, revealing big cuts in margins and still-high expenses, knocking its shares sharply lower.Westpac reported cash earnings for 2020/21 of A$5.35 billion (US$4.02 billion), just below expectations but more than twice last year's result after the release of funds set aside for pandemic losses, and announced a A$3.5 billion share buyback.However, its shares sank more than 6% to an eight-month low as investors pointed to the fall in margins, particularly in the second half, and higher expenses, which put pressure on core earnings.“Our underlying results are not where we want them to be, and we recognise we have more to do to become the high-performing company we aspire to be,” Chief Executive Peter King said.Westpac is slowly emerging from a costly turnaround to fix outdated software and convoluted procedures that led last year to record fines for breaches of anti-money laundering law and market-share losses in mortgages, it's main product. - Nampa/Reuters?Chevron completes maintenanceChevron has completed maintenance at its Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Western Australia, a senior company executive said.The planned maintenance was completed in October after starting in the third quarter of this year, Chief Financial Officer Pierre Breber said during an earnings conference call on late Friday.“We expect to have all five of our Australia trains operating this quarter. We expect more cargoes,” he said.The Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project consists of two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), and a domestic gas plant.Chevron also operates the three-train Gorgon LNG plant in Western Australia which has a capacity of 15.6 mtpa. - Nampa/Reuters

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