ROUNDUP: Swiss Re earns billions again - share price plummets

ZURICH - Lower major losses and higher premiums have put the world's second-largest reinsurer Swiss Re back on track in 2023. The bottom line was a profit of 3.2 billion US dollars (3.0 billion euros), almost seven times as much as a year earlier, as the competitor to Munich Re and Hannover Re announced in Zurich on Friday. Group CEO Christian Mumenthaler is optimistic that premiums will continue to rise. Swiss Re shares nevertheless fell after the news.

ROUNDUP: Oil company Eni earns significantly less after exceptional year

ROME - Lower energy prices led to a slump in profits for the Italian energy group Eni last year. However, day-to-day business has recently improved somewhat because market conditions for oil and gas transactions improved in the final quarter as a result of the escalation in the Middle East conflict. For the year as a whole, adjusted operating profit fell by almost a third to 13.8 billion euros, as the Group announced in Rome on Friday. In the fourth quarter, earnings fell by a quarter. The Eni share lost 1.7 percent.

Volkswagen starts the year with an increase in deliveries - China grows significantly

WOLFSBURG - The Volkswagen Group has started the new year with a significant increase in sales. In January, the Group delivered 698,200 vehicles of all Group brands worldwide, 13.3 percent more than in the same month last year, as the Wolfsburg-based company announced on Friday. This was mainly thanks to China, where sales at the beginning of 2023 were noticeably impacted by the coronavirus restrictions at the time and the New Year celebrations taking place in January. Compared to the weak previous year's figure, Volkswagen now increased deliveries there by a good 43 percent to 290,900. In Western Europe and North America, on the other hand, deliveries fell slightly year-on-year: In Western Europe by three percent to 224,600 vehicles, in North America by one percent to 66,300.

ROUNDUP: Hella does less business than expected - cost-cutting program in Europe

LIPPSTADT - After a surprisingly low increase in sales, the headlamp specialist Hella is cutting costs, particularly in Europe. In the new year, the Lippstadt-based company expects global car production to stagnate and only a slight improvement in its own business due to a slower recovery in Europe. Europe is the automotive supplier's region with the lowest profitability, said Hella CEO Bernard Schäferbarthold in a conference with analysts on Friday. He now wants to put his hands on the production network and use spending on research and development more efficiently.

Nike to cut two percent of jobs

BEAVERTON - Nike is also cutting hundreds of jobs as part of its multi-billion dollar cost-cutting program. The sporting goods giant confirmed to the Bloomberg financial service on Thursday (local time) that around two percent of its global workforce is to go. According to the latest figures from the end of May 2023, the US group had around 83,700 employees.

VW and India's Mahindra secure supply pact for e-parts and batteries

CHENNAI/WOLFSBURG - The Volkswagen Group and Indian carmaker Mahindra have agreed on a supply pact for electric components and batteries. Mahindra will equip part of its Inglo electric platform with electrical components from the Wolfsburg-based company's MEB platform and also purchase battery cells from the Germans, the companies announced in Chennai and Wolfsburg on Friday. The companies had already signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022. The companies are now looking into expanding their cooperation, it was announced.

New recall in the USA: Philips must now also repair CT devices

NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM - The medical technology group Philips is not getting out of trouble: After expensive problems with ventilators and the recent recall of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, the Dutch company now also has to repair hundreds of computer tomography (CT) scanners in the USA. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement on Thursday that 553 devices in the USA were affected. The authority categorized the case at the highest risk level. Use of the devices, which were manufactured between 2007 and 2013, could result in serious injury or even death. Some of the devices could become loose and fall off.

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Further news

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-EDF makes billions in profits with refurbished nuclear power plants

-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn: 'There is no strike list'

-Fewer airport strikes thanks to industry-wide wage agreement for ground service providers

-Next pilot strike at Lufthansa subsidiary Discover

-Google: New AI model can analyze one hour of video

-Vodafone and RWE sign cooperation agreement

-Vattenfall supplies solar power to Evonik

-OpenAI company now also generates video from text specifications

-Report: Koln also calls for new DFL vote and announces motion

-Report warns of Russian involvement in fuel element factory

-Every third long-distance rail passenger arrives late at their destination in January

-Data protectionists: Schufa violates data protection regulation

-Exhaust specialist Boysen expects slump in sales and focuses on batteries

-Watzke appeals to fans: Don't push the escalation point any further

-Dentists criticize EU amalgam ban

-Tegut puts expansion plans for 'Teo' stores on hold for the time being

-Minister: Question separation of civilian and military research

-ROUNDUP/Lower Saxony's Interior Minister: Cannabis bill is a mess

-Rail strike in France slows down traffic to Germany

-Habeck: Citizen participation 'recipe for success' with wind farms

-Dutch authorities stop trade in Babboe cargo bikes

-Czech president signs nuclear waste disposal law°

Customer tip:

ROUNDUP: You can read a summary in the company overview. There are several reports on this topic on the dpa-AFX news service.

/jha