see attached note
Orco Property Group Announces agreement to acquire loan receivables and collateral of the Zlota Project; terms not disclosed- Announces that on 17 April 2014 it has concluded an agreement with Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A. ("PEKAO") for the acquisition of loan receivables and collateral related to the Zlota project in Warsaw. The acquisition of the loan receivables from PEKAO is funded by a bridge loan, until OPG disposes of some of its liquid assets as previously announced. Under the terms of the agreement, subject to fulfilment of certain conditions, OPG will purchase all pecuniary receivables of PEKAO from Orco Property sp. z o.o., holding company of the Zlota project, together with all PEKAO's collateral and security under the facility agreement and related documentation.
Lundin Petroleum AB Guides Q1 net expenses related to exploration costs of $66M
- Will expense exploration costs of approximately MUSD 127 for the first quarter of 2014 (the Period). These expenses will be offset by a tax credit of MUSD 61 giving an after tax net impact to the income statement for the Period of MUSD 66.
Said to be considering a plan to issue up to €3B in shares - Spanish Press
France Foreign Min Fabius: Country should change its laws to have stores be open on Sunday to aid tourism- Note: Greece has recently run a trial of Sunday store openings.
--> Villeroy & Boch Indicated 3.6% Higher in Lang&Schwarz Pre-Market
VimpelCom Communication Starts strategic partnership with Global Telecom Holding for the sale of GTH's 51% stake in Orascom Telecom Algerie SpA for $2.64B to the Fonds National d'Investissement, the Algerian National Investment Fund
- OTA will distribute a dividend of USD 1.862 billion to GTH immediately prior to the closing of the transaction ("Closing"), which is expected to occur by the end of 2014.
- The total dividends and proceeds due to GTH at Closing are expected to amount to USD 4.0 billion, net of all taxes and after the settlement of all outstanding disputes between the parties and the payment of associated fines. All proceeds will be used to pay down the outstanding shareholder loans provided by VimpelCom to GTH.
- GTH and the FNI will enter into a shareholders agreement ("the Shareholders Agreement"), effective as of Closing, which will govern their relationship as shareholders in OTA going forward. GTH will continue to exercise operational control over OTA and, as a result, both GTH and VimpelCom will continue to fully consolidate OTA. This partnership with the FNI provides OTA with a strong and stable shareholder structure on which to build and strengthen its operations in Algeria.
- The terms of the Share Purchase Agreement and the Shareholders Agreement have been approved by the Algerian Conseil des Participations de l'Etat, the Conseil de Direction of the FNI, the VimpelCom Supervisory Board and the Global Telecom Holding Board of Directors.
- Prior to Closing and in order to facilitate the Closing OTA will contribute its operations (the "Contribution") to Optimum Telecom Algerie S.p.A. ("Optimum"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of OTA. In addition, at or prior to closing, Optimum intends to establish a credit facility with a syndicate of local banks in an amount of up to 82 billion dinars (approximately USD 1.0 billion).
Philips's Profit Drops, Forecasts Challenging Year
First-Quarter Decline Reflects Currency Losses, Lower Result from Health-Care Business
AMSTERDAM— Philips PHG +0.09% NV said Tuesday that net profit fell 14% during the first quarter as a result of currency losses and lower result from its health-care business, while it expects 2014 as a whole to be a challenging year.
Net profit for the period ended March 31 was 138 million euros ($190.5 million), compared with €161 million in the year-ago period.
Sales slipped 5% to €5.02 billion, from €5.26 billion in the first quarter of 2013. Stripping out currency effects, sales were flat on an annual basis, with growth at Philips's consumer electronics business, flat sales at the lighting business and a decline in sales at its health-care business.
"Our first-quarter financial results reflect a challenging start to the year," Chief Executive Frans van Houten said, pointing to the impact of currency losses, market headwinds in China and Russia and the effect of a voluntary suspension at the Dutch conglomerate's health-care production facility in Cleveland.
Philips, whose offerings range from kitchen appliances to hospital scanners and lighting, said it expects 2014 to be a challenging year, adding it remains confident of achieving its 2016 financial targets.
Philips aims to reduce costs by €1.5 billion by the end of next year in a restructuring and cost-cutting program it started in the third quarter of 2011, shortly after Mr. van Houten took the helm. Philips wants to increase margins to 11% to 12% for the period until the end of 2016 on average annual sales growth of 4% to 6%.