By Joori Roh and Soo-hyang Choi SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea confirmed its first COVID-19 outbreak on Thursday, calling it the “gravest national emergency” and ordering a national lockdown, with state media reporting an Omicron variant had been detecte…
FACTBOX-Steps in Finnish, Swedish NATO bids
(Reuters) – Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Thursday their country must apply to join the NATO military alliance “without delay”, a major policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sweden’s ruling …
Veolia protected from inflation via indexed water contracts
PARIS (Reuters) – French water and waste group Veolia is shielded from the resurgence of inflation as its water contracts are indexed to the cost of living, CEO Antoine Frerot said, as the company reported first-quarter results. Consolidating for the f…
Siemens still unhappy with performance of Siemens Energy
ZURICH (Reuters) – Siemens remains unhappy with the performance of Siemens Energy where it holds a 35% stake, Chief Financial Officer Ralf Thomas said on Thursday. “We are by no means satisfied with the current performance,” Thomas told reporters after…
UK economy unexpectedly shrinks in March as recession risks loom
By David Milliken and William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank 0.1% in March after a slump in car sales due to supply-chain problems, marking a weak end to the first quarter of a year when the risk of recession is loom…
Proxy advisers split over vote on Leonardo CEO liability action
(Refiles to clarify board’s position on matter in penultimate paragraph) MILAN (Reuters) -Proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis were split over whether shareholders at Italian defence group Leonardo should vote against a request to start a liability actio…
BT finalises Discovery sports tie-up
LONDON (Reuters) – BT, Britain’s biggest broadband and mobile operator, said it had finalised the deal to combine its sports broadcasting unit with Discovery Inc, as it met expectations with a 2% rise in core earnings for the year to end-March. The com…
Bouygues reports lower quarterly core loss than expected
(Reuters) – French conglomerate Bouygues reported a lower-than-expected first-quarter core loss on Thursday, citing the strong commercial performance of its telecoms business. The construction, telecoms and media group posted a current operating loss o…
Commerzbank Q1 net profit up 124% despite Ukraine conflict
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commerzbank’s net profit in the first quarter rose 124%, figures on Thursday showed, despite increased provisions and writedowns as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Net profit was 298 million euros ($313.14 million)in the …
Spain’s Telefonica reports higher than expected Q1 net profit
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Telecom firm Telefonica said on Thursday its net profit in the first quarter of this year rose a higher than expected 20%, boosted by higher revenues. The company said its net profit was 706 million euros ($741.86 million), w…