MORNING NEWS

TotalEnergies struck a deal to buy renewable-energy company VSB Group from Partners Group for 1.57 billion euros ($1.65 billion), expanding its presence in Germany. The French energy giant said Wednesday that the acquisition adds more than 2 gigawatt of developed onshore wind-power capacity across Europe. TotalEnergies said the purchase complements its acquisitions of German battery storage-systems company Kyon Energy in January and energy manager Quadra Energy last year. Paris-based TotalEnergies aims to become an integrated power company in Europe's largest economy.

Salesforce earnings came in below Wall Street estimates for the company’s latest quarter, but revenue exceeded expectations. The stock surged in after-hours trading on the report. Late Tuesday, Salesforce reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.41 a share, which was below analyst estimates of $2.44 a share, according to FactSet. Revenue for the quarter of $9.44 billion came in above expectations of $9.35 billion. In the same period last year, Salesforce reported earnings of $2.11 a share on revenue of $8.72 billion.

Swiss Life intends to further expand its fee-based business in the coming years and thus significantly increase its profitability. The financial group has set itself new, ambitious financial targets for the period up to 2027 under the leadership of Matthias Aellig. Shareholders should continue to receive high dividend payments in the future. The company is aiming for a return on equity in the range of 17 to 19 per cent in future, as announced on Tuesday ahead of its investor meeting. Previously, a return of 10 to 12 per cent was set as the target and this was clearly exceeded in some cases. Swiss Life aims to achieve further growth in the fee-based business with financial advice and asset management. The fee result is expected to climb above the billion-euro mark by 2027.

Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim is selling its stake in Nigeria-based Lafarge Africa PLC to Chinese cement manufacturer Huaxin Cement. Huaxin Cement will take over Holcim's 83.81% stake. The sale, valued at one billion on a 100% share basis, is due to be completed in 2025, Holcim indicated in a press release on Sunday.

Remy Cointreau forecast a steeper sales drop and weaker profitability for its fiscal year than analysts expected, as European distillers grapple with mounting challenges in the U.S. and China. However, executives at the French luxury liquor company said Thursday that they are starting to see signs of stabilization in the U.S., even if the market recovery is expected to be slow.

Low-cost airline easyJet raised its dividend after reporting higher earnings for its fiscal year helped by surging demand for package holidays. The London-listed company said it expects to continue growing after reporting increases to its capacity, passenger revenue, ancillary revenue and passenger numbers in the year to the end of September. The results contrast with low-cost peer Ryanair, which earlier this month reported a fall in net profit for the first half of fiscal 2025, adding that it expected to carry fewer passengers in fiscal 2026 than forecast thanks to Boeing plane delivery delays. EasyJet’s capacity for the current fiscal year is expected at around 103 million seats, an estimated on-year increase of around 3%.

The U.S. government is granting Intel up to $7.87 billion to help fund new chip plants in four states, the largest award in the Biden administration program aimed at reviving American chip-making. The funds are less than the $8.5 billion estimated for Intel in the preliminary award in March.

Anglo American signed a deal to sell its remaining steelmaking coal assets to U.S. coal miner Peabody Energy for up to $3.775 billion, in the mining giant’s first major step in its large-scale business reshaping. The global, diversified miner is under pressure to implement the restructuring plan it outlined in May to fend off a nearly $50 billion takeover bid from rival BHP. This will see the London-listed company become a solely copper, iron-ore and crop-nutrients producer, as it carves out its coal, diamond, nickel and platinum segments.

Amazon is investing an additional $4 billion in Anthropic, doubling its investment in the artificial-intelligence startup as it aims to compete in the AI arms race.

Zurich Insurance Company unveiled a new strategic plan on Thursday, targeting an increase in earnings per share of more than 9% per annum over the period 2025/2027. Various measures are intended to support the new targets, which have been set at a time when most of the previous ones will already be achieved ahead of schedule, the Zurich-based company explained. ‘Most of the objectives of the current strategic plan will already have been achieved by 2024,’ Zurich CEO Mario Greco emphasised in a conference call.