2024-09-29 20:16

Sept 30 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Fonterra (FCG.NZ) , opens new tab said on Monday it had upgraded its dividend payout policy and will now pay shareholders 60%-80% of its earnings, up from the previous five years' average of 50%, sending its shares to a more than three-year high. The dairy firm is also targeting a higher average return on capital, raising it to 10-12%, compared with 9-10% earlier. "Fonterra is in a strong position, delivering results well above its five-year average, which puts it in a position to think about the next evolution of its strategic delivery," said CEO Miles Hurrell. Shares rose nearly 3% to NZ$3.95 to their highest level since May 2021, as of 2259 GMT. Last week, the Auckland-based company reported earnings from continuing operations for fiscal 2024 of 70 NZ cents per share, hitting the top end of its outlook range. It declared a final dividend of 25 NZ cents per share as well as a special dividend of 15 NZ cents apiece. The company said it intends to make a "significant" capital return to shareholders upon divestment of its consumer business. Earlier this year, it had flagged a full or partial sale of its global consumer unit to free up capital. Over the past few years, Fonterra has shifted its focus to its core business in New Zealand, after its 10,000 farmer shareholders protested rising costs and mounting debt tied to the co-op's offshore expansion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/nzs-fonterra-upgrades-dividend-payout-policy-2024-09-29/

2024-09-29 19:32

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Audio streaming platform Spotify(SPOT.N) , opens new tab was back up after an approximate three-hour-long outage on Sunday, which at its peak impacted more than 40,000 users in the United States, according to Downdetector.com. Downdetector, which tracks outages through a range of sources including user reports, reported less than 600 users were still having issues in the U.S as of 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT). "Everything's looking much better now!" Spotify said , opens new tab in a post on social media platform X. Spotify did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment seeking the reason behind the outage. Users were not able to stream anything besides recently played songs, their playlists did not load and music randomly stopped playing for some, according , opens new tab to user comments on their community page. In the second quarter, the number of paying Spotify subscribers rose to 246 million. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/spotify-down-over-40000-users-us-downdetector-says-2024-09-29/

2024-09-29 18:37

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will on Sunday reiterate a pledge that if elected, he will block Nippon Steel's (5401.T) , opens new tab planned purchase of U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab, according to an advance excerpt of his speech to a Pennsylvania rally. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reiterate-pledge-block-nippon-steels-planned-purchase-us-steel-2024-09-29/

2024-09-29 18:13

Sept 29 (Reuters) - German agricultural group BayWa (BYWGnx.DE) , opens new tab said on Sunday that it had secured an additional 500 million euros ($558.15 million) as part of an existing bridging loan agreement to sustain its financing till year end as it seeks funding for restructuring. The board expects to obtain signatures of the main lending banks in the upcoming days to extend the existing standstill agreements until Dec 31 2024, the statement added. Last week, BayWa concluded the first draft of its restructuring plan, which could include cost cuts and asset sales and said it would continue talks with creditors and shareholders. On Friday, it also incurred a non-cash impairment loss of 222.2 million euros in the first half of 2024, more than half of which was attributable to its renewable energy unit. The Munich-based trader of farming supplies and produce has been grappling with rising borrowing costs. In July, it also suspended its annual profit forecast citing the restructuring plans. ($1 = 0.8958 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/baywa-secures-additional-558-mln-financing-it-seeks-restructuring-funds-2024-09-29/

2024-09-29 16:59

Sept 29 (Reuters) - The management of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had launched a new attack on a nearby electricity substation, destroying a transformer. The Zaporizhzhia station, Europe's largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian forces in the early days of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side regularly accuses the other of attacking or plotting to attack the plant. The plant's management, writing on Telegram, said an artillery strike had hit the transformer at the "Raduga" substation in the town of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine. It described the incident as "yet another terrorist act aimed at destabilising the situation in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant's satellite city". Also posted was a photograph showing smoke billowing from the top of a building. It said power supplies to Enerhodar had not been interrupted. The plant's management accused the Ukrainian military on September 20 of attacking a second substation in Enerhodar. The following day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha accused Russia of planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter. He provided no detailed explanation. Power lines to the Zaporizhzia plant have been cut on several occasions, increasing the chance of a blackout that could cause a nuclear accident. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stationed monitors permanently at the plant and urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-held-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-says-ukraine-again-attacks-substation-2024-09-29/

2024-09-29 12:24

MUMBAI, Sept 28 (Reuters) - India has removed most of the export curbs it imposed on rice shipments in 2023 with immediate effect, as above-average monsoon rains are expected to boost crop yields amid overflowing stocks in state granaries. Here are some facts explaining India's importance to the global rice trade: * India accounted for more than 40% of the world's rice exports in 2022, a record 22.2 million metric tons out of a total of 55.4 million. * India's exports were bigger than the combined shipments of the world's next four biggest exporters: Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States. * India exports rice to more than 140 countries * Top buyers of Indian non-basmati rice include: Benin, Bangladesh, Angola, Cameroon, Djibouti, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Nepal. * Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia mainly buy premium basmati rice from India. * Restrictions in 2023 cut India's rice exports by 20% to 17.8 million tons and exports in the first seven months of 2024 were down by a quarter from a year earlier. * India's lowered exports forced Asian and African buyers to switch to Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Myanmar. The sudden surge in demand amid limited surpluses sent export prices in these countries to their highest levels in more than 15 years. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/why-indias-easing-export-curbs-is-important-global-rice-trade-2024-09-29/