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By Swissquote Analysts
Morning News

Roivant Agrees with Roche To Acquire Telavant Holdings

Roivant announced a definitive agreement with Roche to acquire Telavant Holdings Inc., a Roivant company, owned by Roivant Sciences Ltd. and Pfizer Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay a purchase price of $7.1 billion upfront and a near-term milestone payment of $150 million. Roche will gain the rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize RVT-3101 in the US and Japan to treat inflammatory bowel disease and potentially multiple other diseases.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Jerome Powell Signals Fed Will Extend Interest-Rate Pause

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested the run-up in long-term Treasury yields could allow the central bank to suspend a historic run of interest-rate increases so long as recent progress on inflation continues. Powell’s remarks at a Thursday lunchtime address in New York closely tracked those of colleagues who indicated in recent days that they would hold short-term interest rates steady at their next meeting on Oct. 31-Nov. 1.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Nestle's Nine-Month Organic Sales Growth Missed Expectations

Nestle posted a lower-than-expected organic sales growth in the first nine months of the year and confirmed its outlook. The Swiss food and beverage giant said sales stood at 68.83 billion Swiss francs ($76.57 billion) in the period from CHF69.13 billion a year earlier. Sales grew 7.8% organically, missing a company-compiled consensus estimate of 8.1%. Organic growth was driven by pricing at 8.4%, while real internal growth - the sum of volume and mix - came in line with expectations at minus 0.6%.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Goldman Sachs, Pulling Back From Consumer Lending, Posts 33% Profit Drop

Goldman Sachs reported lower profit for the third quarter, hurt by losses from selling off pieces of its consumer-lending business and a big drop in revenue in its asset and wealth-management division. The bank on Tuesday said quarterly profit was $2.1 billion, down 33% from a year ago. That amounted to $5.47 per share, which beat the $5.42 per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue was $11.8 billion, down 1% from a year ago. That still beat the $11.2 billion expected by analysts. The quarter’s earnings reflect the continuing financial hit that Goldman is experiencing as it narrows its ambitions - namely, pulling back from its once-trumpeted consumer-lending efforts.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Moderna confirms Covid sales guidance as shares sink on Pfizer news

With its shares under pressure due to revised Covid guidance from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. on Monday said it “remains comfortable” with its existing guidance on full-year 2023 COVID-19 sales. Moderna reiterated that full-year Covid vaccines sales are expected to be in the range of $6 billion to $8 billion, guidance previously provided in its August earnings release. The company also sounded a note of caution, saying in a statement Monday that “it is still too early in the U.S. vaccination season to accurately project where vaccination rates will land for the full year.”

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Microsoft’s Activision Buy Extends Nadella’s Decade of Deals

Microsoft closed its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the largest in a decade of deals under Chief Executive Satya Nadella that have positioned the software giant at the center of sectors from videogames to artificial intelligence. The purchase is the biggest deal in its nearly 50-year history and took 21 months to get through a global gantlet of regulators.

By
Ludovica SCOTTO DI PERTA
Morning News

EasyJet To Deliver Record Q4 Headline Pretax Profit

EasyJet Plc (-7% in London) confirmed it expects fourth quarter headline profit before tax to be between 650 million pounds - 670 million pounds. Total group revenue is projected to be around 3.12 billion pounds with passenger revenue of 1.97 billion pounds. During fourth quarter, easyJet flew 28.6 million seats, a 9% increase on the same period last year. Load factor was 92%, flat with prior year. Passenger numbers in the quarter increased to 26.2 million from 24.3 million.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Givaudan Q3 Sales Decline; Sees Organic Sales Growth Ahead

Givaudan AG, the Swiss manufacturer of flavors, fragrances, and cosmetic ingredients, reported Thursday that its third-quarter group sales were 1.73 billion Swiss francs, down 4.3 percent from last year's 1.81 billion francs. Like for like or LFL sales grew 4 percent. Fragrance & Beauty sales were 839 million francs, down 0.5 percent from last year, and Taste & Wellbeing sales fell 7.6 percent to 891 million francs.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

LVMH Sales Miss Forecasts Amid Luxury Industry Slowdown

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton posted sales below analysts’ expectations for the third quarter as the luxury-goods industry grapples with inflation and high interest rates that are squeezing consumer spending. The world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate said Tuesday that sales climbed to 19.96 billion euros ($21.09 billion) in the three months to the end of September, up 9% on an organic basis from the previous year. Analysts had forecast sales of EUR20.48 billion, according to FactSet.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Bristol to Buy Mirati, Valuing It At Up to $5.8 Billion

Bristol Myers Squibb (-0.1%) will acquire Mirati Therapeutics (-5.3%) in a transaction that values the oncology developer at up to $5.8 billion, the latest example of a drugmaker targeting deals to replenish revenue as top-selling products face competition from generics. The biopharmaceutical company on Sunday said that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Mirati under which it would pay $58.00 per share in cash.

By
Ludovica SCOTTO DI PERTA