Toyota posts record $9.2 billion quarterly operating profit
Toyota made a record quarterly operating profit of 997.49 billion yen ($9.15 billion) in the three months ended June 30 after the pandemic-hit sales rebounded, Reuters reported.
The company beat average estimate of of 752 billion yen based on 10 analysts polled by Refintiv. Toyota maintained its yearly operating profit forecast of 2.5 trillion yen primarily on account of increasing spread of coronavirus, chip shortage and higher cost for parts.
It also stuck to sales forecast of 8.7 million in the current fiscal year, an increase from 7.65 million last year.
Toyota shares fell 2% in afternoon trading on Wednesday.
KFC, Pizza Hut operator raises ₹825 crore from anchor investors
Devyani International, largest franchisee of KFC, and Pizza Hut has raised ₹ 825 crore from anchor investors, PTI reported. The company will issue 9.16 crore equity shares to 41 anchor investors at Rs 90 apiece.
28 foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Government of Singapore, Nomura and Macquarie participated in the anchor book.
Besides,13 domestic firms including 6 mutual funds, 6 life insurance companies and one general insurance company were part of the anchor book.
The company is planning to raise 1838 crore which consists of fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 440 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to 155,333,330 equity shares by promoter and existing shareholder.
The price band has been fixed at Rs 86-90 a share for its IPO as the three-day initial share-sale opened for subscription on Wednesday.
India's services activity shrinks for third consecutive month in July
India's activity in service sector shrank for the third consecutive month in July after restrictions due to the coronavirus spread reduced demand, prompting firms to turn most pessimistic in a year, Reuters reported.
Services Purchasing Managers' Index compiled by IHS Markit increased to 45.4 in July from 41.2 in June but the below 50-mark highlighted contraction for the third month.
"The current COVID-19 environment continued to weigh on the performance of the service sector that is so crucial to the Indian economy," Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at IHS Markit told Reuters.
BharatPe becomes a unicorn, valuation rises to $2.85 billion
Merchant payment and financial services provider raised $370 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global, taking the company's post-money valuation to $2.85 million.
The series E round included a secondary component of $20 million, PTI reported.
Ashneer Grover will be the Co-founder and Managing Director, while Suhail Sameer has been appointed as the CEO.
“We now have $0.5 billion cash on books and are extremely well capitalised to deliver on our mandate to build India's first truly digital bank. Rarely does one witness the original thesis play out without any pivot," Grover said. BharatPe will remain maniacally focused on lending as the core business and small merchants as our primary target segment, he added.
Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar arrested in money laundering case
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar on Tuesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with a money laundering case, PTI reported.
ED carried out raids against Thapar and his business, and will produce him before the court on Wednesday to seek custody. The agency is investigating a transaction between Thapar's company, Avantha Reality, Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor and his wife.
"The (CBI) FIR alleges that Rana Kapoor, then MD and CEO of Yes Bank Limited, obtained illegal gratification in the form of a property in a prime location in Delhi at much less than the realisable market value belonging to Avantha Reality Ltd for sanction of a loan to ARL and for extending concessions, relaxations and waivers in the already existing credit facilities provided to Avantha Group companies and for advancing new and additional loans to them by Yes Bank Ltd," the ED had said earlier.
Sensex zooms past 54,000, Nifty above 16,200
The Indian indices opened at record high levels as Sensex hit 54,000 while Nifty opened just short of 16,200. Sensex was up 0.46% while Nifty rose 0.40%. On Sensex, almost all shares opened in green barring Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel. BSE Sensex reached a fresh all-time high of 54,258 points and NSE crosses 16,250 for the first time ever.
U.K. considers blocking NVIDIA's Arm acquisition on security risks
The U.K. government is considering blocking NVIDIA's $40 billion acquisition of Arm on potential national security risks, Bloomberg reported. NVIDIA said it is working with the government on the regulatory process.
Arm is a giant in semiconductor industry, powering almost every smartphones along with millions of other devices. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the U.K. sent its investigation report to the government on July 20. The phase 1 assessment of the deal points to worrying national security concerns for the U.K., according to the Bloomberg report.
Oil fell for third day as Delta variant spread to pull down demand
Oil prices plunged for a third day on Wednesday as the Delta variant of the coronavirus raised concerns that top consumers of oil will cut demand, Reuters reported.
Brent crude oil futures fell 0.3% to $72.19 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 0.5% to $70.23 a barrel. Both fell on Tuesday to their lowest since July 21 before gaining some lost value.
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Asian shares advance to one-week high but concern over Delta variant rises
Asian shares neared one-week high on Wednesday after strong corporate earnings from the U.S. companies, Reuters reported. However, the rising cases of coronavirus owing to Delta variant has raised concern among investors.
MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose to 0.1% to the highest since July 26. Japan's Nikkei along with Chinese shares were in red.
