Amazon, Microsoft dominance ‘harms competition’
London — The dominant position of Amazon and Microsoft in cloud computing is harming competition, with their impact exacerbated by technical and commercial barriers to switching, an inquiry group from Britain’s antitrust regulator said.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) inquiry group said on Thursday the regulator should investigate whether to designate the two with strategic market status (SMS) in cloud services, which would give it new powers to intervene.
It noted, however, that the CMA has said it will not consider launching SMS investigations, which are conducted by its Digital Markets Unit (DMU), until early next year.
Microsoft was singled out in the report for licensing practices that the panel said adversely affected Amazon Web Services and Google. Reuters
Lufthansa and KLM profits rise
London — European airlines Lufthansa and Air France-KLM reported higher second-quarter profits on Thursday, defying worries that economic uncertainty and US tariffs might hit transatlantic travel.
Transatlantic connections are among the most lucrative for airlines, having bolstered British Airways-owner IAG in recent years as European competitors struggled.
A number of US airlines, including Delta, abandoned their full-year financial forecasts this spring due to weakening travel demand after US President Donald Trump’s tariffs dented business and consumer confidence.
European airlines, however, are bucking the trend.
Lufthansa said on Thursday that demand in the US remained strong despite a weaker US dollar, while Air France-KLM highlighted the strength of its premium offering. Reuters
Utility PG&E misses profit forecasts
London — PG&E Corp on Thursday narrowly missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit, as the utility firm was hit by an increase in operating and maintenance costs, sending its shares down 1.4% in premarket trading.
The company said its total operating and maintenance costs rose 3.7% to $2.86bn, adding that wildfire-related claims, net of recoveries and the utility’s wildfire fund expense increased from a year earlier.
PG&E has been blamed for sparking numerous wildfires, including some of California’s most deadly, and has been making investments to improve the reliability of its power grid.
In a wildfire mitigation plan filed in March for the 2026-28 period, the utility said it aims to build nearly 1,126km of underground power lines and complete 805km of additional wildfire safety system upgrades between 2025 and 2026. Reuters
Freight company DSV profit below expectations
Copenhagen — Global freight company DSV reported quarterly operating profit before special items slightly below expectations on Thursday as its road business underperformed due to weaker conditions in the US and some markets in Europe.
CFO Michael Ebbe also said that trade tensions remained as communications about tariffs in particular contributed to volatile markets.
“Whenever it is announced that there will be tariffs, you can say there is a stop and go in the trade flows,” he said.
“What is good now is that we get more and more certainty about the tariffs…. It gives the investors and the companies some comfort and some certainty as to how we have to operate in the future,” he added.
The world’s largest logistics company posted a second-quarter operating profit before special items of 4.73-billion Danish kroner ($725 million), slightly below the 4.85-billion kroner expected by 19 analysts in a company-provided poll. Reuters
Shell’s profit plunges on lower oil prices
London — Shell’s second-quarter net profit tumbled by almost a third on Thursday, dragged down by a drop in oil prices, lower gas trading results and outage-related losses from its chemicals operations, but it still easily beat analysts’ forecasts.
The oil major said it would maintain the pace of its share buyback programme at $3.5bn over the next three months, the 15th consecutive quarter of at least $3bn.
The company’s shares were up about 2% by 9.48 GMT (11.48am), outperforming a 0.3% rise in a broader index of European energy companies.
“We definitely saw macro continuing to be challenging … against definitely a backdrop of geopolitical and economic uncertainty,” Shell’s finance chief Sinead Gorman told journalists. Reuters
Haleon cuts revenue growth forecast
London — British consumer healthcare group Haleon cut its annual revenue growth forecast on Thursday after first-half growth missed expectations due to a US-led demand slowdown in North America, sending its shares down as much as 5%.
Weak consumer confidence and competition from rivals in the US, Haleon’s biggest market, have hurt uptake of its seasonal and discretionary products, even as demand for oral health products was robust for the Sensodyne toothpaste maker.
CEO Brian McNamara said that the market for smokers’ health products was one area in which consumers were opting for lower-priced options, but that was not something Haleon was seeing across other discretionary products.
Haleon’s smokers’ health business, which sells nicotine replacement products, saw a double-digit drop in first-half revenue, with headwinds expected to persist through the year. Reuters
German joblessness rises less than expected
Berlin — The number of people out of work in Germany rose significantly less than expected in July and the unemployment rate remained unchanged, but economists warned that economic weakness will take its toll in the labour market in the months ahead.
The number of unemployed increased by 2,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.97-million, labour office figures showed on Thursday, while analysts had expected a rise of 15,000.
Germany’s job market has been squeezed by two years of economic contraction, even against a backdrop of long-term labour shortages, with the number of unemployed people approaching the 3-million mark for the first time in a decade.
“The labour market continues to be under pressure,” German labour minister Baerbel Bas said. “The summer is not bringing any relief, what we need now are targeted measures to stimulate investment and employment.”
She noted that the economic weakness was hitting industry in particular. Reuters
Ferrari quarterly earnings rise on higher prices
Milan — Luxury sports car maker Ferrari said on Thursday its core earnings rose 6% in the second quarter, supported by strong pricing power and richer product offerings, while seeing reduced effects from new US tariffs on EU-made products.
The Italian company said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation amounted to €709m in the April-June period, matching an analyst consensus of €707m in a Reuters poll.
Milan-listed shares extended losses after the results were published and in morning trading they were down 2.5%. Reuters
Willis Towers Watson beats Wall Street estimates
Bengaluru — Willis Towers Watson beat Wall Street estimates for second quarter profit on Thursday, driven by a strong performance in its risk and brokerage business.
Despite rising premium costs, businesses increased spending on insurance products as they prioritised financial protection in response to the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events.
Insurance brokers’ commissions are tied to the premiums insurers charge.
Revenue from its risk and broking unit, which advises clients on risk management and lets them negotiate and place policies with insurers, rose 7% to $1.05bn.
Rising concerns about a potential trade war have also fuelled demand for risk advisory and consulting services, a core area of expertise for the company. Reuters
Investment firm KKR’s adjusted net income climbs
New York — Investment giant KKR reported a 9% rise in adjusted net income for the second quarter on Thursday, bolstered by an increase in fee-related earnings.
The New York-based firm said its adjusted net income hit $1.1bn, or $1.18 per adjusted share. This came in ahead of an LSEG SmartEstimate of $1.13 per share.
Fee-related earnings rose 17% to $887m, spurred by growth in management fees and its capital markets business.
Market volatility was high in the quarter, stemming from US President Donald Trump’s pledges to impose tariffs on trading partners around the world. Fee-related income, however, can provide money managers with stable earnings when markets are turbulent. Large firms such as KKR also benefit from having diversified portfolios. Reuters
Trump chides Fed chair for holding rates steady
Washington — US President Donald Trump again criticised Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, a day after the US central bank held interest rates steady in a 9-2 vote.
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell has done it again!!! He is TOO LATE,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform. “Put another way, ‘Too Late’ is a TOTAL LOSER, and our country is paying the price!” Reuters
Japan expects US vehicle tariff cuts to take time
Tokyo — Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said it might take some time for US tariffs on automobiles to be lowered to 15%, public broadcaster NHK reported on Thursday.
Under a bilateral trade deal clinched with Japan earlier this month, the US agreed to lower “reciprocal” tariffs on goods and a levy on automobiles both to 15% from the present 25%.
Speaking to reporters after the government’s task-force meeting on US tariffs, Akazawa said he expects the US to cut the “reciprocal” tariffs to 15% from Friday as agreed upon by the two countries, according to NHK.
But he said the cut to tariffs on Japanese automobiles “may take some time,” adding that Tokyo would step up requests for President Donald Trump to sign an executive order at an early date, NHK said. Reuters
Moderna to slash workforce in bid to cut costs
Bengaluru — Moderna plans to trim roughly 10% of its global workforce by the end of the year to cut costs amid declining sales of its Covid-19 vaccines, the company said on Thursday.
“By the end of the year, we expect to be fewer than 5,000 colleagues strong,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a memo to employees.
Earlier this year, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company had laid out plans to cut its operating costs by as much as $1.7bn by 2027. It expects operating costs to be $4.7bn-$5bn for 2027.
“We’ve made significant progress by scaling down research & development, as respiratory trials conclude, renegotiating supplier agreements, and reducing manufacturing costs,” Bancel said in the memo. Reuters
Pacific Gas and Electric second-quarter profit slides
Bengaluru — Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Corporation on Thursday narrowly missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit, as the utility firm was hit by an increase in operating and maintenance costs, sending its shares down 1.4% in premarket trading.
The company said its total operating and maintenance costs rose 3.7% to $2.86bn, adding that wildfire-related claims, net of recoveries and the utility’s wildfire fund expense increased from a year earlier.
PG&E has been blamed for sparking numerous wildfires, including some of California’s most deadly, and has been making investments to improve the reliability of its power grid.
In a wildfire mitigation plan filed in March for the 2026-28 period, the utility said it aims to build nearly 1,100km of underground power lines and complete 800km of additional wildfire safety system upgrades in 2025-26.
PG&E’s total quarterly operating revenue fell to $5.90bn from $5.99bn a year earlier. Reuters
Campari flags possible tariff hit
Milan — Italian spirits group Campari on Thursday warned of an up to €45m hit from US tariffs to earnings this year, as it reported a 2.9% increase in second-quarter adjusted operating profit.
European wine and spirits will face a 15% US import tariff until a different deal is agreed in talks expected to continue in the autumn, the European Commission and EU diplomats said earlier on Thursday. Campari, whose products include the popular Aperol aperitif, sees a negative impact from US tariffs ranging from €4m, were tariffs on EU products to be lifted, to €45m, excluding offsetting actions.
Campari’s adjusted earning before interest and tax totalled €352m in the first half, above the €326m of a Visible Alpha consensus. Reuters
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