Corporate earnings reports

Corporate earnings report: Netflix says subscriber numbers grew nearly 11 percent to 247 million in the recently ended third quarter as it cracked down on password sharing and refined an ad-supported tier.

The leading streaming service says it is increasing the price of its basic plan in the United States to $11.99 monthly and its premium plan to $22.99, with similar price "adjustments" set for Britain and France.

"While we mostly paused price increases as we rolled out paid sharing... as we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more," Netflix says in the letter to shareholders. — AFP

The operator of Japanese fast-fashion brand Uniqlo on Thursday says it expected to improve its earnings after reporting record annual profits thanks to robust global demand for its line of casual clothing.

Fast Retailing said it logged a net profit of 296 billion yen in the year to August, a gain of more than eight percent on-year thanks to all-time high sales of 2.77 trillion yen, which were up a fifth on the previous 12 months.

For the year to August 2024, it says it expected to see a net profit of 310 billion yen on sales of 3.05 trillion yen. — AFP

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announces an unexpected 14% on-year increase in quarterly sales on Thursday, following several difficult years and in spite of a broader economic slowdown.

Alibaba is a key player in China's expansive digital economy and the operator of a major online shopping platform.

The Hangzhou-based group's performance is therefore considered a barometer of domestic consumption, which has flagged in recent months. — AFP

Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the world's leading insulin maker, says Thursday it was lifting its annual forecast, as the firm posted a sharp rise in profits driven by treatments for obesity and diabetes.

For the period of April to June, Novo Nordisk reported a net profit of 19.4 billion kroner ($2.9 billion), a 46-percent rise compared to a year earlier. 

Net sales for the period reached 54.3 billion kroner, a rise of 32 percent but falling short of analyst expectations of 55.1-55.5 billion, according to surveys by Bloomberg and Factset. — AFP

Sony Group on Wednesday upgrades its annual sales and net profit forecasts, driven by strength in its music business and favorable foreign exchange rates. 

The electronics-to-entertainment conglomerate said its annual net profit should reach 860 billion yen ($6.0 billion), up from a previous estimate of 840 billion yen, with overall sales upgraded to 12.2 trillion yen from 11.5 trillion yen. — AFP

Japan's Toyota says on Tuesday that net profit in its first quarter surged 78 percent as global production rebounded after severe supply disruptions a year ago.

The world's biggest automaker by sales said net profit in the three months to June was 1.31 trillion yen ($9.1 billion) on sales of 10.55 trillion yen, up 24.2% from a year ago.

Toyota, including its Lexus brand, sold 2.538 million vehicles worldwide, up 8.4 percent from a year ago. — AFP

Volkswagen says Thursday its profits slipped in the second quarter as it battles to regain ground in China, the German auto giant's most important market.

From April to June, net profit came in at 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 billion), 3.1% below the same quarter a year earlier.

The 10-brand group -- whose models include Audi, Seat and Skoda -- makes a big chunk of its overall sales in China. — AFP 

Samsung Electronics on Thursday reports a more than 95% plunge in operating profits in the second quarter owing to weak demand for memory chips.

The firm is the flagship subsidiary of South Korean giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in Asia's fourth-largest economy. 

Operating profit from the April to June period was 668.5 billion won ($525.3 million), down from 14.1 trillion won from a year earlier, Samsung says in a statement. — AFP

General Motors lifts its full-year forecast following another strong quarter on Tuesday as it girds for difficult labor negotiations and questions about demand for its growing electric vehicle business.

The big US automaker cites strong consumer demand that has allowed for solid pricing while keeping incentives in check.

Profits jumped 52% to $2.6 billion on revenues of $44.7 billion, which were up 25%. — AFP

British luxury fashion house Burberry on Thursday announces a jump in annual profits, with revenue boosted towards the end of its financial year thanks to China's reopening from pandemic lockdowns.

Net profit grew almost a quarter to £490 million ($609 million) in the 12 months to the end of March, Burberry says in a statement. 

Revenue climbed 10% to £3.1 billion, compared with 2021/22. — AFP

German industrial conglomerate Siemens raises its outlook for 2023 on Wednesday after second-quarter profits nearly tripled on higher orders.

Between January and March, the group booked a net profit of 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion), up from 1.2 billion euros year-on-year.

Siemens said the boost came from the partial reversal of an impairment charge linked to its stake in Siemens Energy, as well as a 15-percent jump in new orders. — AFP

Japanese conglomerate Toshiba on Friday says full-year net profit fell by more than a third due partly to weak sales in electronic devices and other one-off factors.

It also said a planned takeover bid process that is expected to take the company private will likely start in late July.

For the year that ended March, the engineering giant booked a 126.57 billion yen ($940 million) net profit, down 35% on-year, on sales of 3.36 trillion yen, up 0.7%. — AFP

Nissan says Thursday its full-year net profit slightly topped estimates and offered an upbeat forecast for the current fiscal year, despite warning of "challenging" conditions ahead.

The Japanese automaker says it logged a net profit of 221 billion yen ($1.6 billion) for the year to March 2023, just beating its prediction of 220 billion yen, and projected 315 billion yen ($2.3 billion) for the coming year.

The company says the gains were the result of sales improvements and cost-cutting, as well as favorable foreign exchange rate fluctuations. — AFP

SoftBank Group reports an annual net loss of over $7.2 billion on Thursday after a bruising year for the tech startup sector in which it is heavily invested.

The company says its annual net loss came to 970 billion yen ($7.2 billion) on sales of 6.57 trillion yen. — AFP

Top-selling automaker Toyota says Wednesday that its full-year net profit beat expectations while projecting better sales and revenue for the year ahead in a sign supply chain disruptions may be easing.

The Japanese firm reports 2.45 trillion yen ($18.12 billion) in net profit for the fiscal year, down 14% from a year earlier but still beating its projections of 2.36 trillion yen.

It says it expects full-year net profit to increase 5% for the year ahead to 2.58 trillion yen on "improvements in semiconductor supply and the efforts of production sites". — AFP

Hit games Splatoon 3 and the new Pokemon titles helped Nintendo beat its annual net profit forecast on Tuesday, but the company predicted tougher times ahead as its Switch console ages.

The weak yen also inflated earnings for the Japanese gaming giant, which has recently seen huge success at the box office with "The Super Mario Bros. Movie".

Nintendo posted a 432.7 billion yen ($3.2 billion) net profit for the year to March, beating its forecast of 370 billion yen but dipping 9.4 percent year-on-year as the chip shortage drove down Switch production. Christmas sales were also weaker than usual, it said.

Strong software sales were a positive factor, with 35 game titles selling more than a million copies during the year. — AFP

German sportswear giant Adidas reports Friday a hefty first-quarter loss, acknowledging its split from controversial US rapper Kanye West was "hurting" its bottom line.

The company booked a net loss of 39 million euros ($43 million) from January to March, compared to a profit of 482 million euros in the period a year earlier.  

The end of its highly successful Yeezy line, designed in collaboration with West, hit sales by about 400 million euros in the quarter. — AFP 

British Airways parent group IAG says Friday that it slashed losses in the first quarter of the year, helped by "strong" demand from holidaymakers as the COVID-19 recovery continued.

Net losses totalled 87 million euros ($96 million) in the first three months of 2023, down sharply from 787 million euros a year earlier, the aviation conglomerate says in a results statement.

IAG, which also owns Spanish airlines Iberia and Vueling, also returned to operating profit for the first time since before Covid ravaged international air travel. — AFP

Apple says iPhone sales and money made from services powered quarterly earnings that beat forecasts, despite inflation pressure and the slowing global economy. 

The iPhone maker's bottom line capped a successful earnings season for US tech giants, with Meta, Google and Amazon also beating expectations after suffering a painful spell of lower sales and profits.

The smartphone titan reported profit of $24 billion on revenue of $94.8 billion in the first three months of this year. — AFP

Danish shipping giant Maersk reports Thursday a hefty drop in first-quarter earnings, hit by a decline in freight volumes after the surge seen as the global economy rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic last year.

For the first three months of the year, Maersk had a net profit of $2.3 billion, down from $6.8 billion a year earlier. 

The result fell short of analyst expectations, as Maersk also reported a 26 percent drop in revenue to $14.2 billion. — AFP

British energy giant Shell on Thursday posted soaring first-quarter profit, as falling costs and a better performance at its chemicals division offset lower gas and oil prices.

Profit after tax leapt 22 percent to $8.7 billion (6.7 billion euros) from a year earlier, when it had faced a large $3.9 billion charge over its exit from Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Adjusted earnings rose six percent to £9.6 billion and revenue advanced seven percent to $89 billion, sparking fresh outcry from critics as Britons continue to face a cost-of-living crisis. — AFP

Ford reports solid quarterly profits behind higher vehicle volumes and an improved operating performance, but says vehicle pricing was becoming less favorable compared with last year.

Thanks to strong results in conventional auto sales that offset losses in electric vehicles, Ford reports better-than-expected first quarter results.

Profits came in at $1.8 billion, compared with a $3.1 billion loss in the year-ago period connected to an accounting loss. — AFP

Unilever reports higher revenue in the first quarter as high inflation pushed the British consumer goods giant to hike prices.

The maker of products ranging from Magnum ice cream and Cif surface cleaner to Dove soap, says revenue increased 7% to 14.8 billion euros ($16.4 billion) compared with the first three months of 2022.

Unilever, like companies worldwide, is passing on higher costs to customers as inflation stays stubbornly elevated. — AFP

Samsung Electronics reports its worst quarterly profits in 14 years, blaming slowing consumer spending on electronics and a global microchip glut that hit its core memory business.

The South Korean company -- one of the world's largest makers of memory chips and smartphones -- said in a statement that operating profit fell to 640 billion won ($478.6 million) -- down 95% from a year earlier.

Its first-quarter net income fell 86.1% to 1.57 trillion won, and sales dropped 18% to 63.75 trillion won. — AFP

British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline says net profit dropped 17% in the first quarter after the demerger of its health care unit Haleon and lower COVID-19 treatment sales.

Profit after tax fell to £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) compared with the first three months of 2022, GSK says in a statement.

Revenue dropped more than 3% to £7 billion. — AFP

Swiss food group Nestle on Tuesday reports better-than-expected sales in the first three months of the year, helped by price increases to offset inflation and demand for its staple products.

Nestle, which makes Nespresso capsules, Maggi bouillons, KitKat chocolate bars and Purina pet food, reported an increase in sales of 5.6% to 23.5 billion Swiss francs (23.9 billion euros).

Organic sales -- excluding currency movements or mergers or acquisitions -- rose 9.3%, higher than analyst expectations of 7.3%. — AFP  

Tesla reports a drop in first-quarter earnings as price cuts at Elon Musk's electric vehicle company boosted demand but hit profit margins.

Profits came in at $2.5 billion, down 24% from the year-ago period on revenues of $23.3 billion, which were up 24%. 

Shares fell on the results, which were in line with Wall Street expectations for earnings per share, but showed a lower profit margin than expected. — AFP

United Airlines reports a quarterly loss but offers a bullish summer outlook in light of travel demand that it said still shows no sign of ebbing.

The major US carrier reports a first-quarter loss of $194 million, despite a 51.1% surge in revenues compared with the year-ago period to $11.4 billion.

But results were hit by higher costs, especially on salaries and for jet fuel. — AFP

Huawei says its profits fell almost 69% last year, as US sanctions and international economic uncertainty bit into the Chinese tech giant's earnings.

The company generated 35.6 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) in net profit in 2022, it said, down 68.7% from a record 113.7 billion last year.

"In 2022, a challenging external environment and non-market factors continued to take a toll on Huawei's operations," the company's rotating chairman Eric Xu says at an annual report press conference. — AFP

Swedish clothing giant H&M says Thursday its net profit more than doubled in the first quarter, defying expectations as analysts were expecting a loss.

Shares in H&M surged following the announcement, rising nine percent in the early hours of trading on the Stockholm stock exchange.

"Although the world around us remains challenging, we are seeing several areas where developments are going in the right direction," chief executive Helena Helmersson says in a statement. — AFP

Chinese property giant Country Garden reports its first annual loss in fifteen years on Thursday, blaming persistent headwinds in the property market and the COVID-19 pandemic.

China's property sector has been weakened by a slowing economy and a regulatory crackdown in recent years that narrowed developers' access to credit.

Country Garden -- the nation's biggest developer in terms of sales -- recorded a loss of 6.1 billion yuan ($887 million) for 2022, according to a stock exchange filing on Thursday. — AFP

Nike reports better than expected earnings in its latest quarter, supported by strong demand although higher inventory and logistics costs weighed on its margins.

The company reports profits of $1.2 billion for the three months ending February -- down 11% from the year-ago period -- while revenues picked up 14% to $12.4 billion.

Though the Oregon-based firm logged a strong performance in North America, its revenues for Greater China declined eight percent, the company said, despite Beijing's easing of coronavirus restrictions. — AFP

Get the latest on the quarterly and annual earnings reports of publicly-traded companies.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay