COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

BHP flags 'spillover effect'
Mining group BHP warned on Tuesday of the impact of surging commodity prices on already skyrocketing inflation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while nickel trading was suspended in London after prices more than doubled.
Oil, metal and other commodities prices have soared as fighting in Ukraine has intensified. Oil rose past US$126 a barrel on Tuesday, while the London Metal Exchange halted nickel trading after prices of the stainless-steel ingredient surged above US$100 000 per tonne.
"We have seen hundreds of percentage increases of prices on a range of commodities," BHP Group Chief Executive Mike Henry said at a conference in Sydney. "That is going to have a spillover economic effect on inflation, potentially on global growth."
Consumer brands such as Starbucks, Burger King parent Restaurant Brands International Inc, McDonald's Corp and Woolworths have all flagged rising cost pressures this year.
Inflation has been running at a 40-year high in the United States and hit record highs in the euro zone. -Reuters
Coke and Pepsi halt sales in Russia
McDonald's, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Starbucks stopped sales of their best-known products in Russia on Tuesday, offering a united rebuke of the war on Ukraine by companies that define America for much of the world.
Pepsi and McDonald's were corporate pioneers whose work with the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet Russian state decades ago were seen as improving international relations. All four companies have major operations in Russia.
McDonald's said it would go on paying salaries to its 62 000 employees in Russia as it closed 847 restaurants. The first location to open in Russia, in central Moscow's Pushkin Square in 1990, became a symbol of flourishing American capitalism as the Soviet Union fell.
"I’m glad they came around and made the right decision," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management who is tracking major companies’ stances on Russia, said after the move by McDonald's. "It’s a really important impact, and it's symbolic as much as it is substantive."
Starbucks Corp is temporarily closing hundreds of stores. PepsiCo Inc will suspend all advertising in Russia and stop the sale of its drink’s brands, while continuing to sell essentials such as milk and baby food. Rival Coca-Cola Co said it will suspend its business there. -Reuters
Google to buy cybersecurity firm Mandiant
Alphabet Inc's Google is buying cybersecurity firm Mandiant Inc for $5.4 billion, adding heft as rivals Microsoft and Amazon also look to beef up security for their fast-growing cloud units.
The deal will enhance Google's cloud computing business, which generates more than US$19 billion annually, and bolster its security operations and advisory services, the company said on Tuesday. The Information reported the news first on Monday.
Microsoft Corp was also said to be eyeing a buyout of Mandiant, according to news reports. The software giant had previously forecast spending US$20 billion spend on cybersecurity over the next five years.
Google's offer of US$23 per share represents a premium of about 53% to Mandiant's stock price levels before reports that Microsoft was eyeing a deal.
Mandiant, which focuses on cyber-incident response and cybersecurity testing, became a standalone entity last year when FireEye Inc, which acquired the company in 2013, sold its products business and the FireEye name for US$1.2 billion to a consortium led by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group. -Reuters
UniCredit flags up to US$8 bln in losses
Italy's second-biggest bank UniCredit said a full write-off of its Russian business, including cross-border exposure, would cost around 7.4 billion euros (US$8.1 billion), leaving its capital distribution plans hanging by a thread.
UniCredit, which is one of Europe's banks most exposed to Russia, said it would still be able to pay proposed cash dividends for 2021 even in an extreme scenario where it zeroed its exposure.
That would shave two percentage points off a key capital ratio, which stood at 15.03% at the end of last year - lowering it to just above 13%.
Provided this key measure of financial strength stays above 13%, UniCredit said it remained committed to buying back its own shares for up to 2.58 billion euros under the strategy new CEO Andrea Orcel announced in December.
"Whilst we do not consider this extreme scenario as our base case, we are taking a prudent and sustainable approach to our distributions," UniCredit said. -Reuters
Cathay Pacific to boost cargo capacity
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd is trying to boost cargo capacity as much as possible despite tough quarantine rules for crew, it said on Wednesday, after posting a narrower annual loss of HK$5.5 billion (US$703.45 million).
Cathay Pacific managed a profit of about HK$2 billion in the second half, thanks to cost cuts and strong cargo demand and pricing, even though it flew 85% fewer passengers than in 2020, when it was also affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The loss was slightly less steep than Cathay's January forecast of HK$5.6 billion to HK$6.1 billion and a big improvement from a loss of HK$21.65 billion the prior year.
However, Chairman Patrick Healy said in a statement that the airline, which relied on cargo for 79% of its revenue in 2021, has had an "extremely challenging" start to 2022.
Hong Kong has tightened crew quarantine requirements and banned passenger flights from major markets like the United States, Britain and Australia as part of an effort to contain Covid-19 cases. -Reuters