Celanese beats by $0.01, beats on revs; co is confident it can grow 2017 adjusted EPS toward the higher end of the 9-11% range, YoY (107.10 -0.25)
- Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.93 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.92; revenues rose 18.4% year/year to $1.57 bln vs the $1.49 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
Outlook:
- "Success in the third quarter and for most of 2017 has come from our ability to rapidly translate changes in the business environment into new value creation opportunities through our business models. In Advanced Engineered Materials, the disciplined approach to innovation through the pipeline model has raised profits and provided a road map for accelerating value uplift from the SO.F.TER. and Nilit acquisitions. The Acetyl Chain is expected to maintain its commercial traction in the quarter and additional initiatives are in place to take advantage of the gradual strengthening of the market. There is business and productivity momentum that should offset fourth quarter weakness. This combination gives confidence we can grow 2017 adjusted earnings per share toward the higher end of the 9-11% range, year over year," said Mark Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer.
- "We are unable to reconcile forecasted adjusted earnings per share growth to US GAAP diluted earnings per share without unreasonable efforts because a forecast of Certain Items, such as mark-to-market pension gains/losses, is not practical.
Key takeaways
* We update our Global Electric Vehicle forecasts and expect pure EVs to reach global penetration of 12%/34%/90% in 2025/30/50
* We see EV growth driven by declining battery costs & rising ICE inflation. Global inflection in 2024 (incl fuel savings)
* EV growth driven by a combination of changing customer preferences, increasingly viable product, regulation & infrastructure
Why YouTube doesn’t (yet) spend as much as Netflix on original shows
In order to grow, YouTube needs more than a single “House of Cards”-sized hit, says CEO Susan Wojcicki.
The “quintessential YouTube video,” according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, was once short, simple and — most importantly — amateur: “Oh, here's your cat, and it's on a skateboard.”
On the latest episode of Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher, Wojcicki reflected on how much has changed in a relatively short time. Since YouTube’s paid subscription service, YouTube Red, launched two years ago, everything has become “much more professional.”
“We actually have thousands of people who are making a living, just generating YouTube videos,” she said. “We now have deals with pretty much every single Hollywood company. They’re putting their shows on YouTube. We get all the sports clips, and we get the highlights.”
But even though YouTube Red hosts original series created by some of YouTube’s stars, Wojcicki noted that there are some big differences between the platform and its all-professional all-Hollywood competitors, such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.
You can listen to Recode Decode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast or wherever you listen to podcasts.
“Even having a great show — whether it's ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ or ‘House of Cards’ — yes, those are fantastic shows,” Wojcicki said. “If you look at the core YouTube business, to be able to continue to grow that ... we have 1.5 billion signed-in users coming to our site every single month. That business is one where not one show is going to drive those numbers.”
Instead, she said the most important driver of growth is the diverse “giant long tail” of creators who have carried YouTube this far. However, she pointed to an upcoming drama series based on the “Step Up” movie series, which will likely debut in late 2017, as an example of higher-budgeted programming.
“The reality is, you have to be responsible in how you run this,” Wojcicki said. “You want to have enough of a budget that you can actually experiment, but not so much budget that you can hang yourself with it and get stuck. If we went out there and spent billions of dollars, and it didn't go very well, it probably wouldn’t happen again.”
Rio Tinto in talks to sell aluminium assets to GFG Alliance
Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta keen to buy mining group’s Pacific Aluminium business
Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining group, is in advanced talks to sell its aluminium assets in Australia and New Zealand to GFG Alliance, the investment company run by steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.
Mr Gupta is flying to Australia this week to continue discussions with Rio and look over a large power station in Gladstone, which is included in the sale, according to people familiar with the matter.
While the talks could end without agreement, Mr Gupta is keen to buy Rio’s Pacific Aluminium business as he looks to build a global industrial conglomerate spanning metals, power, renewable energy and finance.
But he could face competition from Century Aluminum, a business 47 per cent owned by Swiss commodities group Glencore, which has also been casting an eye over PacAl, as the business is known.
PacAl consists of three smelters and a power station in Australia, as well as a plant in New Zealand. It employs more than 2,000 people and in the six months to June recorded net income of $92m, up from $29m a year earlier.
GFG, Rio and Glencore all declined to comment.
Rio has tried to sell or spin-off PacAl on several occasions but the market is now more conducive to a deal, say bankers.
The price of aluminium recently hit its highest level for more than five years, buoyed by China’s efforts to reduce excess capacity and excitement about electric vehicles. By dint of its light weight, aluminium has been touted as ideal for the bodies of battery-powered cars.
Jean-Sébastien Jacques, Rio’s chief executive, has made no secret of his willingness to sell PacAl, telling analysts and investors in August that he was prepared to entertain offers for the business if they were at the right price.
Since he took the reins at Rio in the summer of 2016, Mr Jacques has moved to reshape the company’s portfolio and focus on its core assets including its low-cost aluminium smelters in Canada, as well as iron ore and copper.
Rio sold its Lochaber aluminium smelter in Scotland to Mr Gupta for $410m last year and in the summer offloaded a big coal business to a state-backed Chinese buyer for almost $2.7bn.
The group is now working with Credit Suisse to sell the rest of its coal assets, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Those assets could fetch up to $2bn.
Rio is also seeking buyers for aluminium smelters in northern France and Iceland, which could also interest GFG.
For Mr Gupta, buying PacAl would be his latest deal in Australia. In July, the India-born businessman won the auction for collapsed mining and steel group Arrium, beating competition from a South Korean private equity consortium.
Mr Gupta has said that he will invest $1bn in a new plant and equipment at Arrium’s Whyalla steelworks in south Australia to boost efficiency and production.
To oversee that investment and the integration of Arrium into GFG’s steel business, Mr Gupta is planning to base himself in Australia for the next couple of years, according to people with knowledge of his plans.
Rio is scheduled to publish a trading update later on Monday. Some analysts believe the company might be forced to revise down its iron ore production forecast of 330m tonnes for 2017 because of weather-related problems earlier in the year.
Chancellor of Exchequer Hammond (Fin Min): EU talks are in a critical phase; relationship with EU is good and positive
- Firms are delaying non critical investment due to Brexit uncertainty
- We have to be prepared for no deal being reached
- Confident UK will remain global financial center
- We have to be prepared for tariffs on trade; we don't think it will happen but have to be ready for March 2019 Related ()
Today, the South Korean and U.S. navies kicked off massive combined drills off the coast of the Korean peninsula amid heightened tensions, a training exercise which North Korea has warned may prompt another ballistic missile launch potentially to coincide with the launch of the Chinese 19th Party Congress on October 18. The two allies plan to continue the Maritime Counter Special Operations Exercise (MCSOFEX) through Friday in the East Sea and the Yellow Sea.
As reported over the weekend, the drill involves the U.S. 7th Fleet's aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers - the USS Stethem (DDG-63) and the USS Mustin (DDG-89). The carrier strike group will train with South Korean warships and other defense assets, such as the Sejong the Great Aegis ship and P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft in the East Sea.
And while details of the drill were well-known in advance, what was reported for the first time overnight from Yonhap is that a unit of U.S. special forces tasked with carrying out "decapitation" operations is also aboard a nuclear-powered submarine in the group, according to a defense source. So far, little else is known about why said decapitation team is on location, or whether it will be put into use, although it presence may explain Trump's "calm before the storm" comment that beffudled the media two weeks ago.
Among other assets mobilized for the joint drill are F-15K, FA-18 and A-10 fighter jets, as well as AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, Lynx and AW-159 Wild Cat naval choppers. The U.S. has also deployed a Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) plane to closely monitor the North's ground and naval forces.
Some more details about the drill from Yonhap:
The joint training is aimed at promoting "communications, interoperability and partnership in the (U.S.) 7th Fleet area of operations," the fleet said. It initially announced that the practice around the peninsula will end next Thursday but later corrected the date to Friday. Meanwhile, the U.S. has sent a B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets and several other types of high-profile defense assets to the Seoul air show to open this week."Approximately 200 U.S. personnel are expected to participate in the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) 2017, scheduled from Oct. 17-22 at the Seoul K-16 airport," the 7th Air Force said.Among the U.S. military aircraft to join the biennial event are the F-22 Raptor, B-1B Lancer, A-10 Thunderbolt II, C-17 Globemaster III, C-130J Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker, E-3 Sentry, U-2 Dragon Lady and RQ-4 Global Hawk, it added. Also fielded will be the Air Force's fifth-generation fighter, the F-35A Lightning II, U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon and a U.S. Army CH-47F Chinook."This year's air show will feature demonstrations from U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors assigned to the 3rd Wing, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska," the 7th Air Force said. More than 400 defense firms from 33 countries plan to participate in the ADEX to begin Tuesday.
As part of the drills, the US military said on Monday that it would practice evacuating noncombatant Americans out of South Korea in the event of war and other emergencies, the NYT reported. The evacuation drill, known as Courageous Channel, is aimed at preparing American “service members and their families to respond to a wide range of crisis management events such as noncombatant evacuation and natural or man-made disasters,” the United States military said in a statement.
The South Korean government of President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly warned that it opposes a military solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis because it could quickly escalate into a full-blown war in which Koreans would suffer the most, with some estimates predicting that over 2 million South Koreans could die in the North Korean retaliation.
Meanwhile, on Monday, North Korea accused the US of “pushing” the DPRK into making a hydrogen bomb, the head of North Korea’s delegation to the multinational Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting has said.
“Exactly the US have pushed the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to become a possessor of the hydrogen bomb,” the deputy chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea, An Tong Chun, announced Monday. The North Korean official was speaking at the assembly of the world’s oldest international body of lawmakers in St. Petersburg, Russia. Parliamentarians from more than 160 nations are attending the IPU session.
The question now is whether North Korea will once again test said Hydrogen bomb and, if so, whether the crack "decapiation" team meant to take out North Korea's leadership will be put to use.