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Tag Archives: bumper
BP rakes in quarterly profit of $8.2 billion as oil majors post another round of bumper earnings
Shares of BP are up over 45% year-to-date.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Oil and gas giant BP on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter profits, supported by high commodity prices and robust gas marketing and trading.
The British energy major posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $8.2 billion for the three months through to the end of September. That compared with $8.5 billion in the previous quarter and marked a significant increase from a year earlier, when net profit came in at $3.3 billion.
Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected third-quarter net profit of $6 billion.
BP announced another $2.5 billion in share repurchases and said net debt had been reduced to $22 billion, down from $22.8 billion in the second quarter.
It reported a net loss for the quarter of $2.2 billion, compared with a profit of $9.3 billion in the previous quarter. BP said this third-quarter result included inventory holding losses net of tax of $2.2 billion and a charge for adjusting items net of tax of $8.1 billion.
The world’s largest oil and gas majors have reported bumper earnings in recent months, benefitting from surging commodity prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Combined with BP, oil majors Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon and Chevron have posted third-quarter profits totaling nearly $50 billion.
This has renewed calls for higher taxes on record oil company profits, particularly at a time when surging gas and fuel prices have boosted inflation around the world.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday called on oil majors to stop “war profiteering” and threatened to pursue higher taxes if industry giants did not work to cut gas prices.
Oil and gas industry groups have previously condemned calls for a windfall tax, warning it would fail to resolve a sharp upswing in energy prices and could ultimately deter investment.
“This quarter’s results reflect us continuing to perform while transforming,” BP CEO Bernard Looney said in a statement.
“We remain focused on helping to solve the energy trilemma – secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. We are providing the oil and gas the world needs today – while at the same time – investing to accelerate the energy transition,” Looney said.
Shares of London-listed BP rose nearly 1% during morning deals. The firm’s stock price is up over 45% year-to-date.
Windfall tax ‘now a necessity’
Environmental campaign groups said BP’s third-quarter results underscored the need for a windfall tax, describing the results as “a slap in the face” for the millions of Britons facing a deepening cost-of-living crisis.
“The case for a bigger, bolder windfall tax is now overwhelming,” said Sana Yusuf, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “This must address the ridiculous loophole that undermines the levy by enabling companies to pay the bare minimum if they invest in more planet-warming gas and oil projects.”
“Some of the billions of pounds raised should be used to pay for a street-by-street, home insulation programme to cut energy bills and reduce emissions,” Yusuf said.
The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate crisis.
“A proper windfall tax on the profits of big polluters is no longer a far cry, it is now a necessity,” said Jonathan Noronha-Gant, senior fossil fuels campaigner at Global Witness.
“But the new U.K. Government must also urgently put us on track for a rapid transition away from dirty fossil fuels and onto renewables and decent home insulation, so we can fix this broken energy system once and for all.”
Our job is to ‘pay our taxes’
Speaking at the ADIPEC conference in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, BP CEO Bernard Looney said on a panel moderated by CNBC that he understood the public scrutiny on oil majors’ record profits, but sought to defend the firm’s record when it comes to investing and paying taxes.
“We are facing a very difficult winter ahead in the U.K., in Europe and right across the world,” Looney said.
“Our job is to pay our taxes; our job is to invest. We just announced a $4 billion acquisition in the United States just last week in renewable natural gas so that’s what our job is to do. We will continue to do that and do the very best that we can,” he added.
Cristiano Ronaldo receives bumper offer from Saudi Arabian club
Cristiano Ronaldo has received an offer exceeding £200million to leave Manchester United for a club in Saudi Arabia.
Ronaldo, 37, has a contract with Manchester United until next summer, but informed the club he wanted to leave ahead of the new season.
It is understood he has received a lucrative offer from an unnamed Saudi Arabia club, worth £233.23million (€275 million) over two years.
That amounts to a figure in the region of £2.24million a week.
Sources say the club are also willing to pay Manchester United a transfer fee in the region of £25million. Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford from Juventus for an initial £12.86million last summer.
Ronaldo is not thought to be keen on accepting the offer, however, because it remains his ambition to play in the Champions League next season.
The Athletic reported on Thursday that Chelsea have decided not to make any attempt to sign Ronaldo this summer, although other clubs, including Atletico Madrid, still retain an interest.
Manchester United have repeatedly insisted that Ronaldo is not for sale, but the player did not travel on the club’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia due to “personal reasons”.
New manager Erik ten Hag has insisted the veteran forward is a key part of his plans for the coming season.
He said earlier this week: “We are planning with Ronaldo for this season. That’s it. I am looking forward to working with him.”
Asked if Ronaldo wants to leave, Ten Hag replied: “He hasn’t told me this. I have read, but as I say, Cristiano is not for sale, he’s in our plans and we want to get success together.
“I spoke with him before this issue came up. I had a conversation with him and had a real good talk.”
(Photo: Getty Images)
Bumper first-quarter net profit, massive loss on Russia
A BP logo on display in London, U.K., on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021.
Chris J. Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
BP on Tuesday reported bumper first-quarter profits and boosted share buybacks, despite posting a massive loss after offloading its nearly-20% stake in Russian-controlled oil company Rosneft.
The oil and gas giant’s first-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, jumped to its highest level in more than a decade as it came in at $6.2 billion.
That compared with a profit of $4.1 billion in the fourth quarter and $2.6 billion for the first quarter of 2021. Analysts had expected BP to report first-quarter profit of $4.5 billion, according to Refinitiv.
The oil and gas giant also announced a further $2.5 billion in share buybacks.
However, BP reported a headline loss for the quarter of $20.4 billion. This included non-cash pre-tax charges of $24 billion and $1.5 billion relating to the exit of its Rosneft stake in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We took the decision to exit Russia within 96 hours of the invasion happening and today you’re seeing the financial implications of that decision,” BP CEO Bernard Looney told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.
Looney said trading had a “very good” start to the year and net debt — which fell to $27.5 billion — was reduced for the eighth consecutive quarter.
“All in all, in an underlying sense, a good quarter for the company,” he added.
When asked to provide further details on how the company plans to extricate itself from Russia, Looney replied: “We have been very, very clear. We are announcing our intention to leave the country. We made that decision as I said very, very quickly and like any commercial process that’s ongoing, we wouldn’t comment and I’d rather not comment on that this morning.”
The first-quarter results come as the EU prepares its sixth package of economic sanctions against Russia; the bloc remains split on how to wind down its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Meanwhile, U.K. oil and gas majors face the prospect of a possible windfall tax to help fund a national package of support for households over spiraling energy bills.
Britain’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has reportedly opened the door to a possible tax on oil and gas providers after repeatedly rejecting the policy citing fears that it could discourage investment.
Oil prices are hovering above $100 a barrel after climbing to multi-year highs earlier this year.
International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $106.95 during morning deals in London, down 0.6% for the session, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures stood at $104.62. around 0.5% lower.
Shares of London-listed BP rose 2% shortly after the opening bell. The firm’s stock price has climbed more than 18% year-to-date.
BP reported a massive upswing in full-year net profit for 2021, its highest in eight years, supported by soaring commodity prices. Global oil demand roared back last year, with gasoline and diesel use surging as consumers resumed travel and business activity recovered amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Disney+ Unveils Bumper Slate of 18 Originals From Asia-Pacific Region – The Hollywood Reporter
The Walt Disney Co. unveiled an impressive array of content firepower Thursday to drive subscriber growth for Disney+ as the streaming wars heat up in the vast Asia-Pacific region.
At a splashy online showcase event hosted out of its Asia offices, Disney announced 18 local-language Originals to be produced over the coming year in territories including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, greater China and Australia. The titles span both series and film, and feature a diversity of genres, ranging from scripted drama to anime, comedy, fantasy, romance, science-fiction, crime, horror, variety shows and documentaries.
Highlights from the Disney+ APAC slate include a strong selection of Korean titles, such as a documentary about K-pop super group BLACKPINK; Moving, a tentpole Korean action series about teens with mysterious powers; and a pair of anticipated K-drama romances, Snowdrop and Rookies. Predictably, the regionally and globally popular content category of Japanese anime also features prominently in Disney’s plans, with shows on the way like Summer Time Rendering, based on a best-selling manga of the same name. And from China, Disney has greenlit the food-themed period rom-com Delicacies Destiny, from Yu Zheng, the hitmaking producer behind period drama sensation Story of Yanxi Palace. (The complete list of Disney’s APAC originals slate is listed below.)
‘Grid’
Courtesy of Disney
Disney’s bold content expansion in APAC was long anticipated, and the splashy showcase comes at a time when the scramble for streaming subscribers and market share in Asia — home to half of the world’s top six largest economies— is only accelerating. Disney said the slate shared Thursday is a first step towards the company’s goal of greenlighting over 50 APAC originals by 2023. The importance of the region to U.S. streaming companies, both as a pillar source of subscribers and globally appealing content, has been underscored in recent weeks by the smash success of Korean thriller Squid Game, which is on its way to becoming Netflix’s most-watched piece of content ever.
“For many decades, The Walt Disney Company has been entertaining consumers and has been an integral part of the local creative ecosystem,” said Luke Kang, Disney’s president in Asia Pacific. “Today, we are making another commitment by combining the global resources of the company with the best content creators from Asia Pacific to develop and produce original stories on Disney+. With over-the-top services going mainstream, emergence of world-class content from Asia Pacific and rising consumer sophistication, we believe that this is the right time for us to deepen our collaboration with the region’s best content creators to deliver unparalleled storytelling to global audiences.”
Disney+ is a little over midway through its rollout in the region, with the service already available in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with upcoming launches set for South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan in November. In its most recent earnings statement in mid-August, Disney reported that Disney+ had added 13 million subscribers for a global total of 116 million, narrowly beating Wall Street forecasts of 115 million.
‘Summer Time Rendering’
Courtesy of Disney
During the presentation, Disney also showcased its Star streaming bundle — which includes a larger library of content from Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios, 20th Television and Touchstone — as brand is set to bolster the Disney+ content offering in key Asia markets, such as Japan, in the weeks ahead.
“Our production strategy is centered on working with the best local storytellers in the region, leveraging our brand power, scale and dedication to creative excellence,” said Jessica Kam-Engle, Disney’s APAC Head of Content & Development, who talked through company’s new APAC content slate in detail. “We look forward to collaborating with award-winning and emerging creative talent in Asia Pacific and sharing authentic stories that reflect the unique cultural and social dynamics from this region to global audiences.”
See below for Disney’s complete Disney+ APAC originals slate.
SOUTH KOREA
BLACKPINK: The Movie
Documentary
Director: Oh Yoon-dong, Jung Su-yee
Starring: Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa
Summary: A film specially created to celebrate the chart-topping Korean pop group BLACKPINK’s fifth anniversary. BLACKPINK: The Movie includes never-seen-before interviews and over 10 sets of live performances including BLACKPINK’s recent concerts “The Show” in 2021 and “In Your Area” in 2018.
Moving
Drama
Director: Park In-je
Writer: Kang Full
Starring: Ryu Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo and Zo In-sung
Summary: Moving is the ultimate tent-pole show based on the webtoon that has generated over 200 million views. An action hero thriller, Moving is a great story of three teenagers concealing their superpowers and their parents who have lived with painful secrets facing great danger over generations.
Rookies
Drama
Director: Kim Byung-soo
Writer: Lee Ha-na
Starring: Kang Daniel and Chae Soo-bin
Summary: A coming-of-age, romantic series set in Korea’s elite police academy, Rookies is full of stories with love and challenges that we all root for. This is K-pop idol Kang Daniel’s drama debut. Watch how a team of first-year police recruits come together to pursue their dreams as they learn what it takes to serve and protect the community.
Snowdrop
Drama
Director: Jo Hyun-tak
Writer: Yoo Hyun-mi
Starring: Jung Hae In and Jisoo
Top Korean actor Jung Have-in and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo team up on this Korean hit series, told by the creators behind the 2019 K-drama mega-hit Skycastle. Snowdrop is a romantic melodrama series and a heartwarming story of a young couple set in Seoul in the late 1980s. The two fall in love, and find themselves caught in a tangled web of intrigue and upheaval.
Grid
Drama
Director: Lee Khan
Writer: Lee Su-yeon
Starring: Seo Kang-jun, Kim A-joong and Si-young
Summary: Following the highly acclaimed series Stranger, award-winning writer Lee Su-yeon has a new tentpole series, Grid. A mysterious being, who saved mankind from a crisis suddenly reappears and helps a murderer. This mystery thriller follows a government official and a detective who tenaciously delve into many secrets and find the truth.
Kiss Sixth Sense
Romance/Fantasy
Director: Nam Ki-hoon
Writer: Jun You-lee
Starring: Kim Yoon-Kye-sang; Seo Ji-hye and Kim Ji-seok
A woman with the ability to see the future with a kiss, accidentally sees he future and that of her boss, whose she despised. This lighthearted and witty romantic drama has been adapted from a popular original web novel of the same title.
Outrun by Running Man
Variety Show
Starring: Kim Jon-kook, HAHA and Jee Seok-jin
Branded-new missions, more fun and relentless challenges! The original members who have been together for 11 years — Kim Kim Jon-kook, HAHA and Jee Seok-jin — take on the first official spin-off of SBS’s Running Man, one of the region’s most popular and long-loved variety shows.
JAPAN
Tokyo Mer Mobile Emergency Room
Drama
Director: Aya Matsuki
Writer: Tsutomu Kuroiwa
Starring: Ryohei Suzuki, Kento Kaku and Ayami Nakajyo
Set against the backdrop of a newly created MER unit, two doctors with opposing ideologies and beliefs find themselves unwittingly taking part in a much larger political game while saving their patients lives.
Lost Man Found
Drama
Director: Tsuyoshi Inoue
Writer: Shin Adachi
Starring: Taiga Nakano, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Sairi Ito
Based on a bestseller from publishing house Bungei Shunju, Lost Man Found is a real-life story of a popular sidekick actor in a hilarious yet true-to-life comedy, where we witness his struggles to achieve fame and meet the love of his life.
Gannibal
Drama
Starring: Yuya Yagira
A dark, modern-day horror set in the rural parts of Japan. A policeman, who has a wife and daughter, becomes Chuzai (residential police chief) at the Kyokamura village after the previous Chuzai goes missing. He slowly unravels a horrid rumor about cannibalism taking place in the village.
Black Rock Shooter Downfall
Animation
Writer: Makoto Fukami
Black Rock Shooter is a media franchise based on an illustration by huke, a world-famous Japanese illustrator, that has spawned music, action figures and a video game. In this animation, Black Rock Shooter has been reborn as a completely new anime, with scriptwriter Makoto Fukami, best known for his work with Psycho-Pass and Resident Evil: Vendetta.
Summer Time Rendering
Animation
Based on a hit Japanese manga written and illustrated by Yasuki Tanaka. This suspense manga is one of the top performing titles on Jump+ with a viewership of more than 130 million. Something is brewing on the secluded summer island in Hyogashima — what mystery awaits Shinpei? You’ve got to find out.
Yojohan Time Machine Blues
Animation
A new animated series based on award-winning writer Tomohiko Morimi’s sequel to The Tatami Galaxy. It’s a mystery and a romantic comedy, set on a sweltering midsummer day where you get to travel back in time.
Twisted-Wonderland
Animation
A planned anime adaptation of Twisted-Wonderland, Disney’s highly popular mobile game on Aniplex.
INDONESIA
Susan Sinyal – The Series
Drama
Director: Bene Dion Rajagukguk
Starring: Asri Welas, Abdur Arsyad, Arie Kriting, Kevin Julio and Kiky Saputri
From the hit movie with the same title produced by Starvision, a comedic drama series about a group of hotel employees suddenly having to manage a classy resort hotel in West Java.
Virgin — The Series
Drama
Director: Monty Tiwa
From Starvision, a spinoff of the 2004 hit movie of the same name. This teen thriller-drama tells the story of a group of high-schoolers making an investigative documentary in the hopes of solving the mystery behind the death of a popular girl from school.
Wedding Agreement — The Series
Drama
Writer: Archie Hekagery
This series is based on the best-selling novel that was adapted into a movie by Starvision in 2019. The series revolves around Bian and Tara, following their arranged marriage.
Jurnal Risa
Drama
Creator: Risa Saraswati
Director: Ahi Suryadi
Risa and her cousins take something from an abandoned house which leads them to be haunted by something dangerous. Now they have to race against the clock to save themselves before it’s too late.
Teluh Darah
Drama
Director: Kimo Stamboel
From Rapi Films and the incredible mind of Kimo Stamboel comes this horror series about black magic. What would you do to protect your family against black magic, even when you discover deep dark secrets that will test your very soul.
Keluarga Camera — The Series
Drama
Director: Ismail Basbeth
A spinoff from the same TV series everyone knows from 1996 and the hit movie adaptation of 2019. A heartwarming show about a family from Jakarta now living in a small town in Indonesia. There will be lots of conflicts and lessons but the show ultimately shows how love from our friends and family makes us reach our full potential.
Tira
Series Creator: Joko Anwar
The frist series developed from a Disney partnership with Bumilangit, a leading character-based entertainment company in Indonesia, with a deep library of superheroes. Tira is about a young woman who gets superpowers after accidentally stumbling upon an ancient force.
GREATER CHINA
Small & Mighty
Drama
Director: Xu Fu-Xiang
Writer: Xu Chen, Wang Hui Zhu
Starring Chen Bo-Lin and Puff Kuo
Co-presented with Bilibili and produced by Jason’s entertainment, the production company behind hit drama Someday or One Day, this is a lighthearted legal drama.
Delicacies Destiny
Drama
Director: Gun Hao
Writer: Yu Zheng
Starring: Wang Xing-Yue and He Rui-Xia
A delicious Chinese period drama combining food and romance. Following the success of Story of Yanxi Palace by veteran producer You Zheng, this is his newest endeavor into food rom-com.
Women in Taipei
Drama
Director: Robin Lee
Writer: Wang Qing-qing
Starring: Jacob Wang and Gwei Lun-mei
A spin-off from Women in Tokyo, this project is Golden Horse winner Gwei Lun-mei’s first return to a starring role in a series after 12 years.
Joy of Life 2
Drama
Writer: Wang Juan
The highly anticipated romantic period sequel to the No. 1 show in China, Joy of Life. Produced by Disney partner New Classic Media, the story continues from where it left off, following a man from the 21st century with knowledge of the modern world, who is reborn in a medieval land.
Min’s Family
Drama
Director: Wang Jun
Starring: Huang Lei and Zhou Xun
Produced by the same crew behind hit drama Nothing But Thirty, this is a captivating story on the struggles and challenges that come from getting divorced and remarried during different stages of life.
MALAYSIA
Ejen Ali Season 3
Animation
A continuation of the hit Southeast Asian animation franchise. The newest season travels to the futuristic city of Cyberaya with secret agents undertaking impossible missions. A co-production with Primeworks and Wau Animation.
AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
Shipwreck Hunters Australia
Documentary
Director: Brendan Hutchens
The first Disney+ documentary from Australia and New Zealand. Filming is taking place off Western Australia’s vast coastline, the resting place for an estimated 1,600 shipwrecks.
Stocks gain, U.S. debts under pressure after bumper jobs data By Reuters
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© Reuters. Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Miami, Florida
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(Changes “showing” to “showed” in paragraph 1)
By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO (Reuters) -Global stock prices rose to a 1 1/2-month high on Monday after data showed a surge in U.S. employment while U.S. bonds came under pressure on worries the Federal Reserve may bump up interest rates sooner than it has indicated.
U.S. futures traded 0.5% higher, maintaining their gains made during a truncated session on Friday though tech-heavy Nasdaq futures lagged behind, trading almost flat.
In Asia, rose 0.8% while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat, with China closed for Tomb-Sweeping day and Australia on Easter Monday.
MSCI’s all-country world index was almost flat but stood near its highest level since late February and within sight of a record high set that month.
The U.S. labour department said on Friday that nonfarm payrolls surged by 916,000 jobs last month, the biggest gain since last August.
That was well above economists’ median forecast of 647,000 and was closer to markets’ whisper number of one million. Data for February was also revised higher to show 468,000 jobs created instead of the previously reported 379,000.
“There will be further improvements in April, as restaurants have started to reopen. People have expected economic normalisation to take place sooner or later but its pace seems to be accelerating,” said Koichi Fujishiro, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research.
While employment remains 8.4 million jobs below its peak in February 2020, an accelerating recovery raised hopes that all the jobs lost during the pandemic could be recouped by the end of next year.
The prospects of a return to a full employment, in turn, is raising questions about whether the Fed can stick to its pledge that it will keep interest rates through 2023.
Markets have strong doubts, with Fed funds futures fully priced in one rate hike by the end of next year.
Many market players also expect the Fed to look into tapering its bond buying this year, even though Fed officials have said it has not discussed the issue yet.
“It will become impossible for the Fed to avoid discussing tapering by the autumn,” said Kozo Koide, chief economist at Asset Management One, noting U.S. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending plan is likely to be passed by then.
The two-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 0.186%, near its eight-month peak of 0.194% touched in late February.
Yields on longer-dated bonds also rose, with 10-year notes at 1.725% in Asia on Monday, extending its rise that began on Friday after the job report.
The strong jobs data helped to underpin the dollar.
The greenback traded at 110.57 yen, not far from Wednesday’s one-year peak of 110.97. The euro stood at $1.1767.
Gold slipped 0.4% to $1,724.70.
In crypto assets, ether slipped 1.7% to $2,040.21 from Friday’s record peak of $2,144.99. eased 0.9% to $57,704.
Oil prices dipped after OPEC+ agreed last week to gradually ease some of its production cuts between May and July.
futures fell 0.6% to $61.09 per barrel.