(Updated with Volkswagen, HSBC)
PARIS (Reuters) – Values to watch on Wednesday at the Paris Stock Exchange and in Europe:
* INDITEX – Zara’s parent company announced a 24% rise in nine-month net profit on Wednesday on solid sales that weathered a slowdown in global apparel demand.
* TUI returned to profit for its fiscal year after two years of losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the travel group said it expected a strong financial year next year.
*MERCEDES-BENZ unveiled on Wednesday a plan worth more than one billion euros to adapt its production network to electric vehicle drive systems, including battery assembly, starting in 2024.
* VOLKSWAGEN has terminated the contract of its chief designer, Klaus Zyciora, and has invited Porsche’s chief designer, Michael Mauer, to replace him from January 1, the Handelsblatt business daily reported on Wednesday.
* ENGIE, UNIPER, FORTUM, TOTALENERGIES, SHELL – European energy ministers, meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, failed to seal a final deal on an EU-wide cap on gas prices, after months of divisions between Twenty-seven on the interests of this measure in the fight against the energy crisis.
* DANSKE BANK has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and agreed to the seizure of two billion dollars as part of a settlement reached with US courts following a major money laundering investigation, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
* HSBC announced Wednesday it will no longer provide new loans or financing for projects involving new oil and gas fields.
* ROCHE announced Wednesday that it has partnered with Pfizer on an awareness campaign about COVID-19 testing and treatment in the United States.
* AB SCIENCE announced Tuesday that it has received a clearance notice from Health Canada for masitinib in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, forcing the lab to provide the Canadian health agency with additional information within 90 days.
THE 7-DAY AGENDA FRANCE AND INTERNATIONAL:
(Written by Laetitia Volga and Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
