Tower reconfirmed its guidance for the full year however, stating its reinsurance treaties and catastrophe cover of up to $934 million were in place to cover the claims.
Auckland hospitality group Savor announced a $3.25 million capital raise, which will be underwritten by wholesale investors and offered at a 10 per cent discount to its last trading price of 42.9 cents per share.
The Movida and Amano owner plans to use proceeds to pay off short term floating rate liabilities, strengthen the company’s balance sheet, and fund future growth.
Tech company Task Group rose by 11.4 per cent after it provided an update on its business activities and performance for the quarter ending 31 December last year.
The company reaffirmed its guidance and cash position, highlighting the signing of a new contract with Retail Food Group, as well as supporting McDonalds in its FIFA World Cup marketing campaigns.
International
US
The S&P 500 rose overnight, reversing yesterday’s losses to continue a strong January rally.
Optimism was driven by strong earnings from companies in the busiest week of the current reporting season.
General Motors jumped by more than eight per cent after reporting quarterly earnings more than 25 per cent above market expectations, as well as providing a forecast for another strong year ahead.
On the other hand, the reaction towards petrol company Exxon Mobil’s earnings beat has been mixed – with the stock initially falling by more than three per cent before recovering.
Pfizer’s earnings reached a record US$100 billion for its last financial year, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A whopping US$57 billion of earnings was generated from its vaccine and new oral pill Paxlovid, which is currently prescribed for patients at high risk of Covid-19 symptoms.
However, Pfizer has forecast its 2023 revenue to decline by up to 33 per cent as demand for Covid drugs slows.
Rest of the World
The Eurozone posted positive growth of 10 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2022, beating market expectations of a 10 basis point contraction and reducing fears of a potential recession.
However, the region’s largest country by GDP, Germany, contracted by 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter – and is expected to enter a recession.
Meanwhile, the IMF has downgraded its outlook for the UK economy – forecasting it to shrink by 0.6 per cent in 2023.
This was a 90 basis point downgrade on its previous forecast, and makes the UK the only developed economy with a worse forecast than Russia’s 0.3 per cent decline.
The IMF has argued that the UK’s exposure to natural gas prices, employment market and monetary tightening policies put the country in a tough position in the short term.
One of India’s largest companies, Adani Group, has released a lengthy 413 page report criticizing Hindenburg, after the short seller accused Adani Group of engaging in fraud and stock price manipulation.
Hindenburg has responded by calling Adani’s response “bloated” and claimed it ignores their key allegations against the conglomerate.
Australia
Flight Centre has launched a A$180 million capital raise from its institutional investors to fund the A$211 million dollar acquisition of Scott Dunn, a UK-based luxury travel business.
The travel agent plans to use the acquisition to enter the UK and US luxury travel markets, which it hopes will “unlock a new era of growth”.
Gaming company Pointsbet plunged 17.4 per cent after reporting an acceleration in its cash burn rate over the last quarter, despite increasing its turnover.
The company cited marketing costs and lower profit margins, with a large portion of turnover coming from sports bets instead of higher-margin racing bets, as reasons for the increase in cash burn.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported retail sales fell 3.9 per cent in December, the only monthly decline of the year.
The ABS attributed the fall to high cost-of-living pressures, which caused consumers to shift their holiday shopping to November.
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