Company news in brief

AB InBev forecasts strong revenueAnheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer maker, forecast strong revenue and profit growth in 2019, with a focus on increasing beer sales rather than just prices, after higher than expected underlying earnings at the end of 2018.The brewer of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois, like its major rivals, is seeking to bring developed world consumers back to beer from wine and spirits through a wider range of premium lagers and entice emerging market drinkers with affordable beers.AB InBev said that over the past year it had seen improved volumes, revenue and market share in Mexico, Colombia, China, Western Europe and several African countries. It lost a 0.4 percentage point share of its largest market, the United States, but this was the slowest decline since 2012.However, it said it was held back by lower than expected results in its second-largest market Brazil and in Argentina and South Africa. The decline of many emerging market currencies to the US dollar and increased costs for aluminium and for US freight also hit earnings.Fourth-quarter core profit (EBITDA) rose by 10% to US$6.17 billion, above the 7% like-for-like increase forecast in a company-compiled poll. – Nampa/ReutersGlencore complains to LME about access to metalGlencore has lodged a complaint with the London Metal Exchange (LME) about the company's inability to take speedy delivery of aluminium from warehouses owned by ISTIM UK in Port Klang, Malaysia, two sources familiar with the matter said.London-listed commodity trader and miner Glencore bought 200 000 tonnes of aluminium on the LME late in January and made preparations to take that metal from ISTIM's warehouses.Metal entering the LME's global warehouse storage network is issued with a title document called a warrant. In order to take delivery of metal from the network, buyers need to cancel the warrants - earmarking it for delivery. The metal is then shipped after being scheduled for delivery on a first come, first served basis.To get the metal out quickly, Glencore moved to complete the formalities and create a queue of more than 50 days before the end of January, which would have activated the LME's load-in, load-out (LILO) rules for warehousing, the sources said.LME data shows queues to take aluminium out of LME-approved warehouses owned by ISTIM in Port Klang jumped to 118 days at the end of January from zero in December. – Nampa/ReutersExxon's reserves up 23% on gains in shaleExxon Mobil Corp said on Tuesday its oil and gas reserves rose nearly 23% last year, driven mainly by increases from holdings in US shale, offshore Guyana and Brazil.The reserve update, which is required annually by US regulators, comes as the largest publicly traded US oil producer has been spending heavily under chief executive Darren Woods on new fields and projects to reverse weak oil and gas production.Exxon said it added 4.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels of proved oil and gas reserves in 2018, bringing its total to 24.3 billion oil-equivalent barrels at the end of 2018. Proved reserves are those considered economically and geologically feasible to produce in the near future.The 2018 additions put the company's reserves life at 17 years based on current production rates.Exxon plans to increase capital spending to US$30 billion this year from US$26 billion in 2018 as it expands operations in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and develops large- scale projects in Guyana and Mozambique. – Nampa/ReutersDutch government buys stake in Air France-KLMShares in Air France-KLM fell sharply on Wednesday after the Dutch government said it would take a 14% stake in the airline, highlighting tensions between France and the Netherlands over control of the company.Late on Tuesday, Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra announced the Netherlands had taken a 12.7% stake for 680 million euros (US$774 million) and aimed to increase that to about 14%, to counterbalance the French government's stake in the group.The move, which took the French by surprise, came weeks after a confrontation between the Dutch government and the company's French-dominated executive board over waning Dutch influence.Although Air France and KLM merged back in 2003, the KLM subsidiary has always maintained an independent corporate structure within the group.With the backing of the Dutch government, the KLM subsidiary has balked at attempts by Air France-KLM group's new Canadian CEO Ben Smith to move toward deeper integration.Liberum analysts said that while the stake-building by the Dutch government appeared to have supported the share price over recent days, hopes that the French government would eventually sell its shares now look unjustified. – Nampa/ReutersPinterest confidentially files for IPOOnline image search site Pinterest Inc has confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The company and its underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co are planning for a late-June listing and is seeking a valuation of at least US$12 billion, the newspaper reported.Pinterest could raise around US$1.5 billion in the IPO, Reuters had reported in January, citing sources.The company, which was valued at US$12 billion in its last fundraising round in 2017, is among a host of technology startups with popular consumer brands gearing up for multi-billion IPOs in 2019, including Uber, Lyft, AirBnB and Slack.Pinterest monetises its website through advertisements, which it places among the "pins" that users put on the site. – Nampa/Reuters

Company news in brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-10-22

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Company news in brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-10-22

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