COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF
Anglo American eyes break-up, steelmaking coal, nickel, diamonds offloads
Anglo American on Tuesday laid out a strategic review that includes a potential break-up of the company by demerging or selling its steelmaking coal, nickel, diamonds and platinum businesses as it tries to fend off a takeover bid from the world's largest miner BHP Group.
The announcement comes a day after the London-listed miner rejected a raised US$43 billion offer from BHP, saying it continued to significantly undervalue the company and was "highly unattractive" for its shareholders.
In a statement on Tuesday, Anglo said it was going to divest its steelmaking coal assets, demerge its platinum unit in South Africa, explore options for its nickel mines, and divest or demerge diamonds business De Beers.
"We expect that a radically simpler business will deliver sustainable incremental value creation through a step change in operational performance and cost reduction," Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said.
Anglo has been meeting investors since BHP's initial approach in April and after a review of all of its assets initiated in February in response to a 94% plunge in annual profit and writedowns at its diamond and nickel operations.
On Tuesday, the London-listed miner also said it will slow the development of its Woodsmith fertiliser project in northeast England and then look for strategic partners, spending US$200 million in 2025, down from a previously estimated US$1 billion and no capital spending in 2026.
-REUTERS-
Canal+ creeping takeover of MultiChoice continues
French media giant Group Canal+ has acquired a further 7,374,918 shares in DStv parent MultiChoice in the past week, bringing its total ownership of the local broadcaster to 45.20%. It acquired the shares between 8 and 10 May 2024, paying between R119.44 and R119.68. “Canal+ confirms that these acquisitions have already been disclosed to the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) as required under the Companies Act and [the Takeover Regulations],” it said.
“After the aforementioned trades are implemented, Canal+ will hold an aggregate of approximately 45.20% of the MultiChoice Shares in issue.” “Save as may be prohibited under the Companies Act and the Takeover Regulations, Canal+ may acquire further MultiChoice Shares after the date of this announcement whilst the Offer remains open,” it added.
Canal+ has gradually increased its shareholding in MultiChoice since April 2024, after its creeping takeover of the DStv parent began in October 2020.
The French media giant last notified the market on Wednesday, 8 May 2024, that it had increased its MultiChoice stake to around 43.54%. It has been notifying the market of its MultiChoice stock purchases through the Takeover Regulation Panel each week since the companies revealed that it broke through the 40% ownership mark. “Some shareholders have asked whether Canal+ might cross the 50% shareholding in this way,” MultiChoice said in a media statement following the disclosure.
“We do not envisage this happening as exceeding 50% ownership would amount to a merger under the Competition Act, which would require prior approval from the Competition Tribunal.” MultiChoice previously explained that Canal+ would be forced to increase its offer price if it were to buy shares for more than R125 each.
-MYBROADBAND-
Sony sees higher profit from image sensors, to conduct stock split
Sony Group said on Tuesday it sees operating profit growing 5% to 1.28 trillion yen (US$8.2 billion) this business year with a boost coming from its image sensors. Sony is a major supplier of image sensors for smartphones and that business is expected to book a 40% rise in operating profit on higher sales and lower costs. The Japanese conglomerate said it would conduct a five-for-one stock split and buy back up to 2.46% of its shares worth 250 billion yen.
It sold 20.8 million PlayStation 5 units last year, narrowly missing its revised target of 21 million units issued in February following weaker-than-expected sales over the year-end shopping season.
Sony sees profits at its gaming business rising 7% in the current year due to smaller hardware losses as it sells fewer consoles, and higher sales from its PlayStation Plus subscription service.
Known as the inventor of the Walkman and the MiniDisc, Sony has transformed from an electronics manufacturer into an entertainment and technology juggernaut spanning movies, music and games and chips.
The Japanese tech conglomerate plans a partial spin-off of its financial unit with a listing in October 2025 in order to focus on its entertainment and chips units.
The gaming sector has been hit by a slowdown with Xbox maker Microsoft, last week moving to shutter studios including Tokyo-based Tango Gameworks in the latest cost-cutting measures.
Sony said in February it would lay off 900 workers at its gaming business and shutter a London studio.
-REUTERS-
China's Tencent posts strong revenue growth as ad sales, business services shine
China's Tencent Holdings posted a 6% rise in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, beating analyst expectations, as business services and advertising sales deliver strong revenue growth.
The world's largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform said revenue reached 159.5 billion yuan (US$22.04 billion) for the three months ended March 31.
That compared with the 158.44 billion yuan average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
This marks the fifth straight quarter where Tencent has experienced quarterly revenue growth as it comes out of Beijing's regulatory crackdown in 2022. While the company's business services and advertising revenue continue to grow, its core gaming business is facing a notable slowdown as popularity for its existing hits plateaus and fades.
For the first quarter, domestic gaming revenue declined 2% to 34.5 billion yuan. Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite, Tencent's two leading titles, have both suffered notable revenue decline. However, international gaming revenue returned to growth this quarter, up 3% year-over-year to 13.6 billion yuan.
Revenue from online ads jumped 26% to 26.5 billion yuan as Tencent upgraded its ad infrastructure and further commercialised its short video platform WeChat Video Accounts, a rival to ByteDance' TikTok-like app Douyin in China.
"We upgraded our advertising technology platform to help advertisers establish advertising campaigns more effectively, and made generative AI-powered advertising creation tools available to all advertisers," Tencent said in an exchange filing.
-REUTERS-
Anglo American on Tuesday laid out a strategic review that includes a potential break-up of the company by demerging or selling its steelmaking coal, nickel, diamonds and platinum businesses as it tries to fend off a takeover bid from the world's largest miner BHP Group.
The announcement comes a day after the London-listed miner rejected a raised US$43 billion offer from BHP, saying it continued to significantly undervalue the company and was "highly unattractive" for its shareholders.
In a statement on Tuesday, Anglo said it was going to divest its steelmaking coal assets, demerge its platinum unit in South Africa, explore options for its nickel mines, and divest or demerge diamonds business De Beers.
"We expect that a radically simpler business will deliver sustainable incremental value creation through a step change in operational performance and cost reduction," Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said.
Anglo has been meeting investors since BHP's initial approach in April and after a review of all of its assets initiated in February in response to a 94% plunge in annual profit and writedowns at its diamond and nickel operations.
On Tuesday, the London-listed miner also said it will slow the development of its Woodsmith fertiliser project in northeast England and then look for strategic partners, spending US$200 million in 2025, down from a previously estimated US$1 billion and no capital spending in 2026.
-REUTERS-
Canal+ creeping takeover of MultiChoice continues
French media giant Group Canal+ has acquired a further 7,374,918 shares in DStv parent MultiChoice in the past week, bringing its total ownership of the local broadcaster to 45.20%. It acquired the shares between 8 and 10 May 2024, paying between R119.44 and R119.68. “Canal+ confirms that these acquisitions have already been disclosed to the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) as required under the Companies Act and [the Takeover Regulations],” it said.
“After the aforementioned trades are implemented, Canal+ will hold an aggregate of approximately 45.20% of the MultiChoice Shares in issue.” “Save as may be prohibited under the Companies Act and the Takeover Regulations, Canal+ may acquire further MultiChoice Shares after the date of this announcement whilst the Offer remains open,” it added.
Canal+ has gradually increased its shareholding in MultiChoice since April 2024, after its creeping takeover of the DStv parent began in October 2020.
The French media giant last notified the market on Wednesday, 8 May 2024, that it had increased its MultiChoice stake to around 43.54%. It has been notifying the market of its MultiChoice stock purchases through the Takeover Regulation Panel each week since the companies revealed that it broke through the 40% ownership mark. “Some shareholders have asked whether Canal+ might cross the 50% shareholding in this way,” MultiChoice said in a media statement following the disclosure.
“We do not envisage this happening as exceeding 50% ownership would amount to a merger under the Competition Act, which would require prior approval from the Competition Tribunal.” MultiChoice previously explained that Canal+ would be forced to increase its offer price if it were to buy shares for more than R125 each.
-MYBROADBAND-
Sony sees higher profit from image sensors, to conduct stock split
Sony Group said on Tuesday it sees operating profit growing 5% to 1.28 trillion yen (US$8.2 billion) this business year with a boost coming from its image sensors. Sony is a major supplier of image sensors for smartphones and that business is expected to book a 40% rise in operating profit on higher sales and lower costs. The Japanese conglomerate said it would conduct a five-for-one stock split and buy back up to 2.46% of its shares worth 250 billion yen.
It sold 20.8 million PlayStation 5 units last year, narrowly missing its revised target of 21 million units issued in February following weaker-than-expected sales over the year-end shopping season.
Sony sees profits at its gaming business rising 7% in the current year due to smaller hardware losses as it sells fewer consoles, and higher sales from its PlayStation Plus subscription service.
Known as the inventor of the Walkman and the MiniDisc, Sony has transformed from an electronics manufacturer into an entertainment and technology juggernaut spanning movies, music and games and chips.
The Japanese tech conglomerate plans a partial spin-off of its financial unit with a listing in October 2025 in order to focus on its entertainment and chips units.
The gaming sector has been hit by a slowdown with Xbox maker Microsoft, last week moving to shutter studios including Tokyo-based Tango Gameworks in the latest cost-cutting measures.
Sony said in February it would lay off 900 workers at its gaming business and shutter a London studio.
-REUTERS-
China's Tencent posts strong revenue growth as ad sales, business services shine
China's Tencent Holdings posted a 6% rise in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, beating analyst expectations, as business services and advertising sales deliver strong revenue growth.
The world's largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform said revenue reached 159.5 billion yuan (US$22.04 billion) for the three months ended March 31.
That compared with the 158.44 billion yuan average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
This marks the fifth straight quarter where Tencent has experienced quarterly revenue growth as it comes out of Beijing's regulatory crackdown in 2022. While the company's business services and advertising revenue continue to grow, its core gaming business is facing a notable slowdown as popularity for its existing hits plateaus and fades.
For the first quarter, domestic gaming revenue declined 2% to 34.5 billion yuan. Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite, Tencent's two leading titles, have both suffered notable revenue decline. However, international gaming revenue returned to growth this quarter, up 3% year-over-year to 13.6 billion yuan.
Revenue from online ads jumped 26% to 26.5 billion yuan as Tencent upgraded its ad infrastructure and further commercialised its short video platform WeChat Video Accounts, a rival to ByteDance' TikTok-like app Douyin in China.
"We upgraded our advertising technology platform to help advertisers establish advertising campaigns more effectively, and made generative AI-powered advertising creation tools available to all advertisers," Tencent said in an exchange filing.
-REUTERS-
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