COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Luckin Coffee gets US$240 mln investmentChina's Luckin Coffee Inc said it would receive a US$240 million investment from two shareholders, as the coffee chain tries to recover from an accounting fraud last year that derailed its business.Chinese private equity firm Centurium Capital will lead the investment in exchange for preferred shares, while Joy Capital will also participate, the company said. The company said the firms have the option to raise their investment by an additional US$150 million.Xiamen-based Luckin had positioned itself as an ambitious home-grown challenger to US coffee giant Starbucks Corp SBUX, but said last April that as much as 2.2 billion yuan (US$337.31 million) in 2019 sales had been fabricated.The company, which was fined $180 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said in February it was seeking protection under Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code to facilitate the restructuring of its debt.The new investment will be used to help pay off the fine and grow its core coffee business and is subject to a series of closing conditions, including the implementation of a restructuring of US$460 million worth of bonds, Luckin said. - Nampa/ReutersNissan to slash production in Japan Nissan Motor Co will slash production at several factories in Japan next month due to a critical shortage of semiconductors, three sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters.Japan's third-largest automaker will idle its factory in Kyushu, southern Japan, for eight days between May 10 and 19, the sources said, declining to be identified because the plan is not public.The plant, which assembles the Serena minivan, X-Trail SUV and other models, will aim to make up for lost production once the supply of chips returns, the people said.Two other domestic assembly plants, the Oppama plant and a Nissan Shatai factory in Kyushu, will cancel the night shift over 15 days between May 10-28, and a fourth factory in Tochigi, eastern Japan, will idle for 10 previously unplanned days next month, the sources said. - Nampa/ReutersDelta sees profit later this year Delta Air posted a bigger-than-expected loss for the first quarter last week, while also forecasting a return to profitability later this year as more people get vaccinated and start traveling again.Air travel, stifled by the Covid-19 pandemic, is widely expected to rebound in the second half of 2021 as wide vaccine rollouts encourage travel and drive summer bookings."A year after the onset of the pandemic, travellers are gaining confidence and beginning to reclaim their lives," Delta Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said in a statement.Delta also expects positive cash generation for the quarter ending June. It expects adjusted revenue for the period to fall between 50% and 55% from two years ago, but the drop would be less than the over 60% decline in the first quarter.The carrier's June-quarter adjusted revenue came in at US$12.5 billion in 2019, which translates to at least about US$5.62 billion in the same period this year, according to Reuters calculations.Analysts on average expect revenue of US$6.22 billion for the June quarter, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. - Nampa/ReutersAmazon to support India's small businesses Amazon.com Inc announced a US$250 million venture fund for India, focused on bringing the country's small businesses online, as the company comes under fire from local retailers.The new fund will focus on the digitisation of small and medium businesses, innovation in agri-tech and health tech, the company said."We are very passionate about trying to enable acceleration of small and medium-sized businesses, in fuelling innovation and the economy in India," the company's incoming CEO Andy Jassy said at Amazon India's event "Smbhav", which phonetically means "possible" in Hindi.Jassy, who overseas Amazon's fast-growing cloud computing business, will take over as CEO from founder Jeff Bezos later this year.Amazon also announced plans to bring 1 million shops onto its platform by 2025 under a "local shops" initiative that is aimed at bringing the stores online, and competes with the likes of India's Reliance's which also plans to use such retailers for online deliveries. - Nampa/ReutersCitigroup Inc profit triples Citigroup Inc trounced analysts' first-quarter profit estimates as its outlook for an economic recovery driven by vaccinations and government stimulus allowed it to release reserves set aside for loan losses from the pandemic.Like JPMorgan Chase & Co, which reported earnings last week, Citi benefited from a boom in capital markets activity, but its consumer bank felt the impact of low interest rates that hurt earnings.Revenue fell 7% on low interest rates and a 10% decline in loans, largely due to lower consumer credit card loan balances.Partially offsetting the drag from interest revenue, investment banking revenue surged 46% on stronger equity underwriting fees. Citigroup has been a Wall Street leader in raising money for the so-called blank-check firms or special purpose acquisition companies.The lender also said it would exit its consumer businesses in 13 markets across the Asia and EMEA regions, as part of a broader strategic review under new Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser. As part of the move, Citi will divest those businesses in countries like Australia, China and India. - Nampa/Reuters

COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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