Worldline shares fall after Belgian prosecutors launch money laundering probe
June 27 (Reuters) - Worldline (WLN.PA), opens new tab shares fell as much as 9% on Friday after the Brussels prosecutor office said it had opened an investigation into the Belgian entity of the French payments group over money laundering allegations.
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Telegraph
19 minutes ago
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Sky retreats from Germany after losing billions
Sky has struck a cut-price deal to sell its German television business after losing billions of pounds on a troubled expansion spree. The media giant announced the sale of Sky Deutschland to Radio Télévision Luxembourg (RTL), Germany's biggest broadcaster, on Friday, in a deal that values the business at €150m (£128m). Comcast had been exploring the sale of Sky Deutschland for several years, which was bought from Rupert Murdoch's Fox for £2.9bn in 2014 but has never turned a profit. Cost-cutting The sale forms part of attempts by Sky-owner Comcast to radically scale back the British broadcaster, which is struggling amid increased competition from streamers. Comcast already slashed the value of Sky by $8.6bn (£6.3bn) in 2022 after acquiring the business for $31bn in 2018. Last year, it also reported a £1.2bn write-down on loans to its German and Italian operations, which were bought by Sky in a £7bn deal in 2014. Struggles in Europe have prompted further cost-cutting efforts at Sky, which recorded a pre-tax loss of £773m in 2023, according to its latest accounts. Plans to cut 2,000 customer service roles were announced in March. Meanwhile, RTL, which is part of media conglomerate Bertelsmann, could pay a further €377m (£321m) for Sky Deutschland based on its future performance. For example, extra payments will be triggered if RTL's share price exceeds €41. The combined business will have 11.5m customers. Thomas Rabe, the chief executive of RTL, said the deal would 'bring together two of the most powerful entertainment and sports brands in Europe and create a unique video proposition across free TV, pay-TV and streaming'. 'Germany has always been different' The German division, which operates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and parts of Italy, holds the rights to broadcast the Bundesliga (the German football league) until 2029. Francois Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis, said Sky had struggled in Germany with market share languishing around 10pc. He said earlier valuations of Sky Deutschland had been based on 'magic growth … of course that did not happen'. 'Germany has always been different from the UK. They never reached the kind of penetration they had in the UK.' Meanwhile, Sky's attempted overhaul was dealt a blow last year after bosses discovered an embarrassing advertising blunder. This stemmed from Sky uncovering miscalculations in its ad sales that meant its partners did not receive the correct revenues from their deals dating back years. Like other broadcasters, Sky has also been navigating a shift from linear TV to streaming, as customers switch from expensive satellite TV packages to on-demand streaming apps. Next year, it will face further competition as HBO launches its Max streaming service. In December, Sky secured a deal to keep HBO's shows, such as a new Harry Potter series, bundled with its service, but they will no longer be exclusive to the UK broadcaster.
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Nissan Sunderland to cut 250 jobs as part of global shake-up
Nissan is looking to cut about 250 jobs from its UK factory, as part of a global shake-up in the face of weak sales.A spokesperson confirmed a voluntary leave scheme had opened to shop floor and office staff at the Sunderland plant this staff will not be affected by the move, which is intended to "support efficiency".The car manufacturer employs about 133,500 people globally, with about 6,000 workers in Sunderland. 'More resilient' In May, the company said it planned to cut 11,000 jobs globally and shut seven factories, bringing the total number of job cuts announced by the firm over the past 12 months to about 20,000.A spokesperson said the Sunderland plant remained "at the forefront of our electrification strategy"."In order to support future competitiveness, this week we are beginning discussions with some of our team in Sunderland about the opportunity to voluntarily leave Nissan, with support from the company," the spokesperson said."This will support the plant's efficiency as we aim to become a leaner, more resilient, business." Earlier in June, the car manufacturer unveiled details of its new Leaf electric vehicle, which is set to be built at the Sunderland site already builds the carmaker's Juke and Qashqai models. Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
EU retaliating to Trump drug tariffs would be ‘a bad idea', says industry
The European pharmaceutical industry has urged Brussels not to retaliate if Donald Trump brings in threatened tariffs on imported drugs, amid fears he could impose the levies as early as next week. The US president said last week that the sector-specific tariffs were coming 'very soon' and there is concern in Brussels that he could impose them imminently to give him further leverage ahead of his self-imposed 9 July deadline for trade deals with the EU and about 60 other countries. However, at a briefing in the Belgium capital on Thursday, the president of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations said it would hurt everyone if the EU hit back with its own import duties. 'We're shipping a lot of exports out of the US into Europe,' Stefan Oelrich said. 'If we add tariffs to that, it's going to be negative for both sides. If we reciprocate on tariffs, it's just a bad idea. It's a bad concept.' The dynamics of the EU's negotiations with the US remain finely balanced. France and Germany both back a 'quick' UK-style deal and many member states, particularly the Baltic nations, are keen to build on warmer relations with Trump after his 'big win' at the Nato summit over increased defence spending, as they want to keep the president supporting Ukraine. With the clock ticking, speculation is mounting that the EU will do a thin deal on auto and steel – similar to the bilateral agreement brokered by Keir Starmer in May, which comes into force on Monday – but with no optimism in the pharma industry that it will be included. Oelrich said: 'There's no specific ask [of the US] other than … to the degree possible to limit trade barriers to zero, which would be the ideal case for us and/or something similar to zero. 'Tariffs will increase the cost of medicine and care. Tariffs will also create, ultimately, higher costs to patients.' After EU leaders met on Thursday, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, urged the EU to do a 'quick and simple' trade deal rather than a 'slow and complicated' one. His French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, said he wanted a quick and pragmatic agreement, but could not accept terms that were not balanced. Oelrich, who is a member of the board of management at German pharmaceutical company Bayer, also called for a series of reforms on financing, pricing and regulation of drugs, saying such changes could help to restore Europe's former lead in research and development of drugs. His call comes amid fears the that EU is losing out to the US and, increasingly, China, which outpaced Europe in 2023 as originator of new active substances, with 25 brought to the world market, compared to the EU's 17 and the US's 28. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Oelrich said data showed that 'a quarter of drugs in the past 10 years approved by FDA' in the US had not made it to Europe because of non-tariff barriers, such as differing national regulations and pricing. 'Many of the biotech companies are not even bothering engaging in Europe. For them it makes no sense,' he said. Among the other non-tariff barriers he cited were practices in the industry known as 'clawbacks' whereby governments in large economies including France and the UK agree a specific budget for procurement of particular drugs. But any surplus used in hospitals and clinics is paid for by the pharma companies as a clawback. 'It's totally senseless. And that's happening in Europe, and that needs to stop. I could name you endless countries that actually are doing this in Europe,' he said. 'What happens too much in Europe is that the richest countries would like to align to the lowest prices in lower equity countries … this leads to a situation which is unsustainable.'
