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Marks & Spencer Group Plc has reported its strongest financial health since 1997, with better-than-expected pretax profit of £673 million ($857 million) last year. The company's food and clothing divisions have both experienced 12 consecutive quarters of sales growth, thanks to initiatives to improve quality and pricing. Cost-cutting measures and improvements in stores and the supply chain have also made operations more efficient. The turnaround of M&S is being led by CEO Stuart Machin and Chairman Archie Norman, and the retailer has been trying to broaden its appeal beyond older shoppers. [Extracted from the article]

Marks & Spencer Group Plc plans to close some of its Chinese stores as Chief Executive Officer Steve Rowe backs away from loss-making international operations, according to a person familiar with the matter. M&S currently has ten stores in China, according to its website. [Extracted from the article]

U.K. clothing retailer Marks & Spencer Group Plc is set to cut about 500 jobs at its London headquarters, according to a person familiar with the matter. Rowe is scheduled to outline his plans for the retailer's struggling international division and its U.K. store portfolio at M&S's interim results on Nov. 9. [Extracted from the article]

ABN, Morgan Stanley and ING selected to work on the deal B&S, ABN, ING, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. [Extracted from the article]

Buyout firms and rival payment companies are likely to show interest, they said. Nets shares have fallen 14 percent since the IPO, valuing the company at about $4 billion. [Extracted from the article]

Marks & Spencer Group Plc has offered the key role at the helm of its struggling clothing business to former Next Plc product director Christos Angelides, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Angelides, who most recently led the Abercrombie & Fitch brand, is M&S's preferred candidate for the job, said the person, who declined to be identified as the matter is private. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. abandoned a longstanding demand for a 12-year period to lock up clinical trial data on biologic pharmaceuticals as part of an Asia-Pacific trade pact, according to two people briefed on the matter. The patent disagreement is one of many that trade ministers from 12 countries are hoping to resolve during the talks and conclude six years of negotiations on the TPP. [Extracted from the article]

To contact the reporters on this story: Olivier Monnier in Abidjan at omonnier@bloomberg.net; Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan at bmieu@bloomberg.net A carrier will start direct flights from Ivory Coast to Washington before the end of July, according to a person familiar with the talks. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. has sent helicopters to northern Iraq to reassure Arab allies conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that downed pilots can be rescued, an American defense official said. The U.A.E. acted after Islamic State extremists in Syria captured a Jordanian pilot who was later burned to death by the group. [Extracted from the article]

To contact the reporter on this story: James Attwood in Santiago at jattwood3@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Danish fuel-tanker company Torm A/S said it is halting all transits through the southern Red Sea in the wake of air strikes on Yemen.The decision, until further notice, is in line with notices from industry trade groups who've said that military guidance is to avoid the area. Torm owns a fleet of about 80 ships.READ: Shipping Advised to Avoid Key Trade Route After Yemen Bombed©2024 Bloomberg L.P.By Jack WittelsReported by Author [Extracted from the article]

Several Arab countries have offered to join the U.S. in bombing Islamic State militants in Iraq and potentially in Syria, according to a U.S. official. Any airstrikes in Syria would be limited to the al-Qaeda breakaway group and wouldn't be directed at Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, a second official said. The officials, who asked not to be identified under State Department rules, didn't say which countries had agreed to join the U.S. military coalition against Islamic State or what would lead the U.S. to widen its raids to Syria. [Extracted from the article]

From August 2009 to August 2011, a Barclays trader lied about prices in an effort to increase or decrease the CME/EMTA rate and benefit trading positions, regulators said. In conversations in an electronic chat room, called "Curling 2010", traders at Barclays and other banks coordinated to skew prices, according to regulators. When asked by a trader in 2009 about whether they should block a local player, the Barclays trader responded, "yes, the less competition the better", according to the regulator. [Extracted from the article]

Looming over the investigations is former Jefferies Group LLC trader Jesse Litvak's fight to overturn his 2014 conviction for misleading clients about how much he paid for bonds and other violations. The technology is capable of detecting instances when a dealer buys bonds at one price and sells them for much more, signaling regulators to the trades with automated alerts, according to SEC lawyers. [Extracted from the article]

K+S AG, the German potash supplier, plans to reject an $8.6 billion-plus takeover offer from Canadian fertilizer producer Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. because it deems the bid to be too low, according to people familiar with the matter. Potash Corp. has long preached the virtue of price stability and has questioned plans by rival producers such as BHP Billiton Ltd. to build new mines. By proposing a takeover, Potash Corp. might be looking for a way to slow construction of K+S's Legacy mine, according to P.J. Juvekar, a Citigroup Inc. analyst. [Extracted from the article]

Legacy will be the first new greenfield potash mine built in Saskatchewan in almost 40 years, according to Kassel-based K+S. Potash Corp. already has five potash mines in the Canadian province. K+S, Europe's largest potash supplier, in May raised its forecast for full-year revenue after first-quarter earnings and sales exceeded analysts' estimates amid higher prices for potash and salt. [Extracted from the article]

McDonald's Corp. sold the most debt in its history just two weeks after its plan to boost shareholder rewards to as much as $9 billion this year triggered credit-rating reductions. Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service cut the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company's credit ratings after Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook on May 4 presented a company reorganization program that included returning cash to shareholders. [Extracted from the article]

However, the bank is still exposed to fraud charges in that case, and any admission of wrongdoing could also put it in violation of an earlier deal the Zurich-based bank struck with the Justice Department In a December 2012 non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. to resolve a worldwide investigation into the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, UBS promised not to commit crimes for two years. Leslie Caldwell, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in March she wouldn't hesitate to tear up non- or deferred-prosecution agreements in exchange for banks' cooperation in other probes. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking criminal guilty pleas from the parent companies of banks that are poised to admit to rigging foreign-exchange markets, said people briefed on the negotiations. The Justice Department would look tough winning guilty pleas from parent companies, helping to assure critics that it's not letting banks relegate wrongdoing to smaller units that would be little affected by the consequences. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Justice Department opened a full-scale civil rights investigation of the Baltimore police force following the death of a black man who was injured while in custody. Lynch and her top civil-rights attorneys spent much of Tuesday in Baltimore, meeting with Gray's family, community leaders and police officials. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking about $1 billion each from global banks being investigated for manipulation of currency markets, according to two people familiar with the talks. As talks to resolve the U.S. cases advance, the Justice Department and New York's state banking regulator have opened up a new investigation into whether banks abused a longstanding practice in the currency spot markets known as "last look.". [Extracted from the article]

As the U.S. announced its decision in the Martin case, Obama met at the White House with six law enforcement officers from across the U.S. Both incidents sparked protests in several major U.S. cities and prompted Obama to promise to find ways to mend relationships between law enforcement officers and citizens, particularly in minority communities. Chaffetz, who often has been critical of the administration, praised the White House for doing "its homework" in bringing together Republicans and Democrats who are interested in making changes to the criminal justice system. [Extracted from the article]

The battle for Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, would be the first major test for Iraqi forces since many fled as Islamic State extremists swept across northern Iraq last year to create their self-styled caliphate, or religious state. The force will include five Iraqi army brigades, three smaller brigades serving as a reserve force, three brigades from the Kurdish Peshmerga military, a local force of police and tribal fighters, and some counterterrorism forces, the official said. The U.S. and allied forces have conducted about 2,500 airstrikes against Islamic State since August, roughly equally divided between Iraq and Syria, the official said. [Extracted from the article]

To contact the reporters on this story: Terry Atlas in Washington at tatlas@bloomberg.net; Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net The U.S. is shutting down its embassy in Yemen and withdrawing American personnel amid increasing unrest after Shiite Houthi rebels took control in the capital Sana'a, according to two officials familiar with the move. The U.S. considered President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, who resigned last month amid the Houthis' takeover, a key ally against AQAP. [Extracted from the article]

The agreement would resolve civil investigations by federal and state prosecutors in California, New York and New Jersey, as well as a lawsuit filed in North Carolina, the people said. The accord will cement Bank of America's status as the firm punished hardest for faulty mortgage practices and put an end to woes stemming from its disastrous purchase of subprime lender Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008. Countrywide has been blamed by lawmakers and regulators for using lax underwriting standards and predatory lending that fueled its ascent to the biggest U.S. mortgage lender before its collapse and $2.5 billion sale to Bank of America. [Extracted from the article]

Jean Pierre Lambert, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said in a May 21 report that he expected BNP to pay a fine of about $7 billion to avoid being excluded from the U.S. dollar payment system. U.S. authorities are seeking a record fine against BNP that would make it the first French bank since President Barack Obama took office to be penalized for doing business with sanctioned countries. [Extracted from the article]

The World Trade Organization has ruled in favor of the U.S. in a dispute with China involving cars and auto parts, according to a person familiar with the matter. It follows decision in March in which the WTO agreed with the U.S. that China's limits on exports of rare-earths elements used in electronics violate trade rules. Two months later, the U.S. filed the second WTO case against China alleging the Beijing government subsidized its own auto and auto-parts makers in violation of global trade rules. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Justice Department is starting a civil-rights investigation into the Ferguson, Missouri, police department to examine the practices that led to the shooting of an unarmed black teenager last month. The investigation will focus on the Ferguson Police Department's use of force, including deadly force; stops, searches and arrests; discriminatory policing; and treatment of detainees inside Ferguson's city jail, according to a Justice Department statement. The decision to pursue a federal investigation marks an expansion of the Justice Department role in the review of the Ferguson case. [Extracted from the article]

About 40 companies are chasing after Novo to grab a share of the market, led by Eli Lilly & Co., which expects to get US approval to use its Mounjaro diabetes drug to treat obesity this year. (Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S said sales surged 38% in the third quarter as demand continued unabated for its obesity and diabetes blockbusters. The company earlier this month raised its outlook for revenue and profit for a third time, saying operating profit may jump by as much as 46%, fueled by Wegovy and Ozempic sales. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S said a kidney failure study of its diabetes drug Ozempic showed effectiveness surprisingly early, sending shares of the world's biggest kidney dialysis providers down. The impact of Ozempic and a sister drug for obesity, Wegovy, looks likely to stretch into fields far beyond obesity and diabetes. [Extracted from the article]

Novo shares rose 4% in early trading while shares in dialysis provider Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. fell as much as 11%. (Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S said a kidney failure study of its diabetes drug Ozempic showed effectiveness surprisingly early, sending shares of the world's biggest kidney dialysis providers down. [Extracted from the article]

Marks & Spencer Group Plc has reported its best financial health since 1997, with better-than-expected pretax profit of £673 million ($857 million) last year. The company's food and clothing divisions have both experienced 12 consecutive quarters of sales growth, thanks to initiatives to improve the quality and pricing of its goods. Cost-cutting measures and improvements in stores and the supply chain have also made operations more efficient. The turnaround of M&S is being led by CEO Stuart Machin and Chairman Archie Norman, who have focused on adapting to the rise of online shopping and broadening the appeal of clothing beyond older shoppers. [Extracted from the article]

Marks & Spencer Group Plc has announced that it is in its best financial position since 1997, with better-than-expected pretax profit and consecutive quarters of sales growth in both its food and clothing divisions. The company attributes its success to initiatives aimed at improving the quality and pricing of its products, as well as cost-cutting measures and improvements in stores and the supply chain. The current turnaround is being led by CEO Stuart Machin and Chairman Archie Norman, who have focused on adapting to the rise of online shopping and broadening the appeal of M&S clothing. [Extracted from the article]

The halt would be caused by a suspension of production at the country's largest chemicals companies, Beata Ptaszynska-Jedynak, spokeswoman at the brewery's unit in Poland said on Thursday. (Bloomberg) -- Carlsberg A/S said it may need to "significantly reduce" or halt beer production in Poland due to a shortage of liquid CO2 as a the global energy crisis creates bottlenecks for breweries. [Extracted from the article]

There's "a direct link" between the growing role of the pharmaceutical industry and a strengthening krone, which in turn widens the spread between Denmark's key rate and that of the European Central Bank, Danske Bank A/S said in a note. (Bloomberg) -- The success of Novo Nordisk A/S and other Danish drugmakers is forcing Denmark to keep interest rates lower, according to the country's largest bank. [Extracted from the article]