London — Shell has not bid for BP and is not actively considering such a move, it said on Thursday, adding it was bound by UK regulations which mean such a statement ban it from making a bid for BP for the next six months.
The Wall Street Journal cited sources on Wednesday saying that Shell was in talks to acquire BP, in response to which Shell said no talks were taking place.
“In response to recent media speculation Shell wishes to clarify that it has not been actively considering making an offer for BP and confirms it has not made an approach to, and no talks have taken place with BP with regards to a possible offer,” Shell said in a statement.
“This is a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the code applies and accordingly Shell confirms it has no intention of making an offer for BP. As a result Shell will be bound by the restrictions set out in rule 2.8 of the code.”
The six-month ban on making an offer for more than 30% of BP’s shares can be shortened if another bidder for BP emerges or if BP invites an offer, according to the regulations. Reuters
Apple changes App Store rules in EU
San Francisco — Apple on Thursday changed rules and fees in its App Store in the EU after the bloc’s antitrust regulators ordered it to remove commercial barriers to sending customers outside the store.
Apple said developers will pay a 20% processing fee for purchases made via the App Store, though the fees could go as low as 13% for Apple’s small-business program. Developers who send customers outside the App Store for payment will pay a minimum fee of 5% and at most 15%. Developers will also be able to use as many links as they wish to send users to outside forms of payment. The changes are aimed at trying to help Apple avoid a €500m fine threatened by EU antitrust regulators in April. Reuters
Meta fends off authors’ US copyright lawsuit over AI
San Francisco — A federal judge ruled on Wednesday for Meta Platforms against a group of authors who had argued that its use of their books without permission to train its artificial intelligence system infringed their copyrights.
US district judge Vince Chhabria said in his decision the authors had not presented enough evidence that Meta’s AI would dilute the market for their work to show that the company’s conduct was illegal under US copyright law. He also said, however, that using copyrighted work without permission to train AI would be unlawful in “many circumstances”, splitting with another federal judge in San Francisco who found on Monday in a separate lawsuit that Anthropic’s AI training made “fair use” of copyrighted materials. Reuters
Walgreens Boots Alliance beats profit forecasts
Bengularu — Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is being taken private by Sycamore Partners, beat analysts’ estimates for third quarter profit on Thursday, as store closures and cost-cutting aided turnaround efforts at the second-largest US pharmacy chain.
The company in March agreed to be taken private by Sycamore Partners for $10bn, a fraction of the $100bn the US pharmacy chain was worth a decade ago. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Walgreens’ focus on snapping up other pharmacy chains when rivals diversified into insurance or prescription management, coupled with industry wide struggles to attract price-sensitive shoppers and persistently low drug reimbursement rates had weighed on its fortunes.
US retail pharmacy unit reported sales of $30.71bn for the quarter ended May 31, Walgreens said, beating estimates of $29.01bn. Reuters
Associated British Foods may close bioethanol plant
London — Associated British Foods said it would close its bioethanol plant in northern England if the government does not provide the funding to alleviate the effect of US-UK trade by the time its consultation process for a wind down is complete.
The group said it would begin consultation with employees to effect an orderly wind-down immediately, while continuing to negotiate with the government.
Under the trade deal agreed with US President Donald Trump, the UK’s 19% tariffs on US ethanol will fall to zero, through a 1.4-billion litre quota — a figure equating to the size of the UK’s entire ethanol market.
AB Foods, which owns the Vivergo plant in Hull, and Ensus, which is owned by Germany's Sudzucker Group and operates a bioethanol plant in Teesside in Northern England, have warned that the deal, along with existing regulations that give US producers an advantage in the British market, has made the operating environment impossible.
“Unless the government is able to provide both short-term funding of Vivergo’s losses and a longer-term solution, we intend to close the plant once the consultation process has completed and the business has fulfilled its contractual obligations,” AB Foods said. Reuters
Pfizer meets main goal for haemophilia therapy drug
Bengularu — Pfizer said on Thursday its haemophilia therapy, Hympavzi, met the main goal of a late-stage study in patients with certain types of antibodies.
The data comes months after Pfizer said it will stop global development and sale of its haemophilia gene therapy, Beqvez, citing soft demand from patients and their doctors.
A weekly injection, Hympavzi, is approved for patients with haemophilia A without factor VIII antibodies or inhibitors, or haemophilia B without factor IX inhibitors. Reuters
Balfour Beatty lands contract for UK power plant
London — Britain’s Balfour Beatty said on Thursday it won an £833m contract from French energy firm Technip Energies to help build a gas-fired electricity power plant in the UK.
The construction of the plant, which will employ about 1,500 people, will start later this year with completion scheduled for 2028, Balfour Beatty said.
The British government is pushing forward with clean energy initiatives to lower energy bills and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.
The British construction and infrastructure group will work with Technip and US-based GE Vernova to construct the large-scale combined cycle gas-powered generation plant for Net Zero Teesside Power, a joint venture between oil giant BP and Norwegian energy firm Equinor.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.