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MILAN, May 13 (Reuters) - Italian payments group Nexi on Thursday improved its outlook for 2021 revenues and said transactions had accelerated from mid-April as COVID-19 lockdowns eased, after reporting better-than-expected turnover for the first quarter.
Nexi shares jumped on the results, briefly triggering an automatic trading suspension. They rose 3.4% by 1201 GMT.
The company said it hoped to grow revenues by a high single-digit or double-digit percentage this year, compared with the mid-to-high single digit rise it had guided towards in February.
“Starting from mid-April, transaction volumes rapidly recovered on the wave of the easing of restrictions and a progressive reopening plan,” Nexi said.
By Josh Horwitz, Chavi Mehta
3 Min Read
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May 13 (Reuters) - China’s top e-commerce platform Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Thursday posted its first quarterly operating loss since going public in 2014 due to a record anti-monopoly fine by the country’s market regulator.
Its U.S.-listed shares fell nearly 3% in choppy trading, even as the company forecast strong 2022 revenue, betting that the pandemic-driven shift to online shopping will remain resilient.
The outlook, however, was overshadowed by a regulatory crackdown in China that led to the suspension of a $37 billion IPO of its affiliate Ant Group and a $2.8 billion fine in April for anti-competitive business practices.
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May 12 (Reuters) - SBM Offshore reported a 15% drop in first-quarter revenues as its turnkey business continued to suffer from tough energy markets, sending it shares as much as 4.6% lower on Wednesday.
The Dutch-based company’s turnkey division builds and sells floating production and storage vessels to oil and gas firms and so is highly sensitive to their investment plans.
These customers slashed spending last year as oil demand plunged in the pandemic, but a recovery in energy prices has since buoyed their earnings.
“We believe SBM’s trading update was reasonable, albeit revenues ended (.) lower than we could expect based on its 2021 guidance of $2.6 billion,” ING analyst Quirijn Mulder said in a note to clients.
By Reuters Staff
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May 12 (Reuters) - French oil services group CGG posted a 71% plunge in first-quarter core profit on Wednesday, reflecting a year of drastic spending cuts by the oil industry in the pandemic and sending its shares sharply lower.
In a call with analysts, CEO Sophie Zurquiyah said the quarter had been slow as expected, but predicted more spending in the second half of 2021, noting a resumption of commercial business and contract awards in March and higher oil prices.
“I believe we will see the need for our clients to increase their activity to not only catch up on the work postponed from 2020, but also to compensate for the depletion of their existing reservoirs,” she told analysts in a call.
Novavax Inc on Monday again delayed its timeline for ramping up COVID-19 vaccine production and said it does not expect to seek regulatory authorization for the shot in the United States, Britain and Europe until the third quarter of 2021, sending its shares tumbling.