Siemens writes off billions on Siemens Energy shares
(dpa) Siemens Energy’s recent price losses have had a major impact on the major shareholder Siemens. A special depreciation will burden the result after taxes in the third business quarter by the end of June by around 2.8 billion euros, the Dax group Siemens announced surprisingly on Thursday evening in Munich. Siemens has a 35 percent stake in Siemens Energy.
In view of the closing price of the share on Thursday evening, the market value of the investment was “significantly below the book value”, it was said as a reason. Since the turn of the year, the Siemens Energy paper has lost almost 38 percent in value. Siemens shares hardly reacted to the evening’s news in after-hours trading on the Tradegate platform.
Barry Callebaut halts production due to salmonella in Belgian chocolate factory
After Ferrero, production in Belgium is now also making negative headlines at Barry Callebaut.
(dpa) Chocolate maker Barry Callebaut has found salmonella at a plant in Wieze, Belgium. Production was stopped and delivery interrupted, as the Swiss company announced on Thursday. The company is a leading global supplier of chocolate and cocoa products. They are supplied to commercial customers for further processing, which is why the “Barry Callebaut” brand is less well known.
The salmonella bacteria, which can cause severe diarrhea, were found in lecithin, which is used in all of its products, according to the company on Monday. The Belgian food safety authority FAVV was informed immediately. The company assumes that the few quantities that have been delivered since Monday have not yet been processed and sold to customers anywhere, said company spokesman Frank Keidel. The investigations were still ongoing.
Barry Callebaut supplies patisseries, bakeries, the catering industry and beverage manufacturers, for example. The company, with over 12,000 employees in more than 40 countries, describes itself as the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products.
Bad children’s surprise: Ferrero recalled products worldwide because of suspected salmonella – already 266 confirmed cases in Europe
Uniper wants rescue loan after gas shortage
The gas company Uniper would like support from the state.
(Bloomberg)
Due to the delivery restrictions imposed by Russia and the cost pressure from the replacement procurement, the energy company Uniper is discussing with the German federal government the possibility of state aid up to and including a participation. The outlook for the fiscal year was discarded.
“Uniper is examining how the company’s liquidity can be further secured,” it said on Wednesday evening from Düsseldorf. Possible stabilization measures would be discussed with the federal government “such as guarantees and security payments, an increase in the current KfW credit facility that has not yet been drawn down, and even participation in the form of equity”.
On the stock exchange, Uniper collapsed by up to 20 percent and fell to its lowest intraday level in more than five years. Since the beginning of the year, the papers have lost two-thirds of their value.
Since June 16, Uniper has only received 40 percent of the contractually guaranteed gas volumes from the Russian Gazprom. In order to ensure security of supply for customers, the group uses “flexibility in the portfolio” and replacement purchases, which are currently carried out at significantly higher prices.
Weko imposes fines for cartel agreements on Ticino car dealers
The dealers had agreed on sales activities for new VW cars.
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The Federal Competition Commission (Comco) has imposed a fine of CHF 44 million on a cartel of VW dealers in Ticino. The seven dealers, including Amag, have agreed on the prices of new cars for years.
“The car dealers agreed on all sales activities in Ticino: they made agreements about public tenders, agreed on a pricing policy for the sale of new cars to private individuals and divided the canton of Ticino into areas of activity,” said Weko in a communiqué on Thursday . The violations took place between 2006 and 2018.
Amag accepts the buses. The company said it was cooperating with the authorities to clarify the incidents. The Amag boss Mathias Gabler apologized in the message and admitted that “the company had not always behaved legally and ethically correctly in Ticino”. Amag had “taken personnel and organizational measures”.
General meetings of Swiss companies elect more women to boards of directors
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At the general assemblies of the largest Swiss companies, more women were elected to the boards of directors in 2022. This emerges from a study by the consulting firm Swipra. According to Swipra, the proportion of women on the boards of directors of the 100 largest listed companies (SLI 100) increased from 25.4 to 28.5 percent. At the SMI companies, it even rose to 34.4 percent compared to 29.6 percent in the previous year due to the new appointments.
Wages in the executive floors have also risen. As can be seen from the report, shareholders approved higher salaries this year than last year. According to Swipra, this is due to a “Corona catch-up effect” on bonuses. In the wake of the pandemic, just over half of the SPI 100 companies had reduced total CEO compensation for fiscal 2020. In 2021, wages would then rise again in 74 percent of the companies.
In absolute figures, median CEO remuneration at SMI companies increased by more than a quarter to CHF 7.6 million. For the remaining companies, it was 7.1 percent to 1.8 million. As a result, the CEO’s income has risen again in relation to that of the employees. Last year, a CEO earned 30 times the average salary of his employees, in 2020 it was 24 times.
UBS pays $25 million fine in settlement with US Securities and Exchange Commission
The penalty payment hits the American branch of the bank.
(Bloomberg)
UBS has settled a legal dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a payment of 25 million dollars. The allegation was that the bank’s customer advisors recommended a complex investment strategy with options that was allegedly not in the best interests of its customers.
The investment advisers marketed and sold the so-called “Yield Enhancement Strategy” (YES) for about a year starting in February 2016, although some of them didn’t understand the risks, the SEC said. The American division UBS Financial Services failed to offer appropriate training. When investors lost money, both consultants and customers were surprised.
In the proceedings, the bank neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. However, she agreed to pay a civil penalty of $17.4 million to be paid out to aggrieved investors and more than $7 million in refunds and interest.
UBS had told its clients that the strategy had generated returns of 3 to 5 percent per year in the past. However, it suffered losses in early 2018 as market volatility increased, eventually falling 18 percent this year, according to an SEC settlement order released Wednesday.
Price slide on the stock exchanges – investors remain unsettled
The American stock exchanges pushed the markets into the red on Wednesday.
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The stock markets are losing momentum again. Economic risks, inflation concerns and the losses on Wall Street weighed on the courses on Wednesday. Traders explain the recent losses primarily with the negative specifications from Wall Street. There, the unexpectedly strong decline in consumer confidence to its lowest level since 2013 had increased concerns about the economy and triggered significant price falls on the markets. In addition, a rise in crude oil and gas prices fueled fears of inflation, adding to the losses.
The fall in US consumer confidence is particularly disappointing as consumption is seen as the backbone of the American economy. Should consumption fall further, this would be an indication that the USA is heading for a recession.
In Switzerland, the SMI heavyweight index fell by almost 0.6 percent by 11 a.m., after having fallen almost 1 percent at the start of trading. The strongest losses are recorded by the technology stocks, which are thus following the negative ones of their US competitors. Credit Suisse is also lower (–1.4 percent). The day before, the big bank had tried to gain the trust of stockbrokers at an investor event. The defensive heavyweights Roche (+0.1 percent) and Nestlé (+0.04 percent), who even turned positive, fared better.
In Germany, too, investors have to cope with the next setback. The DAX fell by 1.2 percent by 11 a.m.
The stock exchanges had previously also dived in Japan. Japan’s Nikkei index fell 0.9 percent. Prices also fell in China and Hong Kong. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.4 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 2 percent.
Credit Suisse is also abolishing negative interest for private customers
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The key interest rate decision by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from the week before last is still having an effect: On Wednesday, Credit Suisse (CS) announced that it would completely eliminate the so-called credit card fee for its private customers as of July 1st. Until now, CS has charged its customers negative interest of 0.75 percent for cash holdings over a threshold of CHF 500,000. Only those who had a mortgage or investment solutions with the bank benefited from a higher threshold.
Immediately after the SNB’s decision, CS announced that the negative interest rate would initially be reduced to 0.25 percent, in line with the SNB’s rate hike. UBS and other larger institutions proceeded in a similar way. However, CS is now joining a number of smaller banks that are already canceling negative interest rates.
If the SNB raises its key interest rate to zero or even positive soon, as many observers assume, the other banks are likely to follow suit. It is quite possible that some banks will react beforehand, because the interest rate decisions of the two big banks UBS and CS often send out a certain signal on the Swiss market.