Big brands race to secure luxury supplies from reptiles to roses
PARIS (Reuters) – From crocodile farms to rose fields, suppliers of luxury material have become top acquisition targets for names like LVMH and Gucci owner Kering as they race to lock in rare skills and ingredients vital to their brands’ survival.
Solid domestic demand fuels bumper growth in Germany
BERLIN (Reuters) – Broad-based domestic demand drove the strongest German quarterly expansion in more than a year between April and June, fuelling optimism Europe’s largest economy will outperform in 2013 and support the nascent euro zone recovery.
CEO Sechin buys $5.5 million Rosneft stake
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft , has bought his first shares in the company, accumulating a stake worth $5.5 million, the state-controlled oil major said on Friday.
Apache’s Egypt quandary symbolizes tough business call
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apache Corp faces a difficult choice in Egypt: whether to sell its substantial oil and natural gas operations in the country or wait out the recent bloodshed.
German finance minister sees signs ECB will raise rates
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a newspaper interview on Friday the European Central Bank (ECB) has made clear it will raise interest rates again once the economy improves and that he welcomed that prospect.
Fonterra suspends Sri Lanka operations after milk powder protests
WELLINGTON/COLOMBO (Reuters) – New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative said on Friday it had suspended operations in Sri Lanka after the world’s largest dairy exporter faced product bans, court cases and angry demonstrators over its milk products…
ABN AMRO warns of higher loan impairments to come as profit dips
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch state-owned bank ABN AMRO , which is being readied for an eventual sale, warned that the weak domestic economy would lead to higher bad debts this year as second-quarter net profit dipped.
Alibaba seeking partner-led board ahead of HK IPO: paper
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Alibaba Group is planning a management structure that would allow its partners to nominate the board and retain control over decision-making after it goes public, the Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET) daily reported on Friday.
Insight: Brazil’s Tombini – An inflation hawk, believe it or not
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Given his checkered record so far, investors could be forgiven for thinking that Brazil’s quiet, bespectacled central bank chief Alexandre Tombini is a pushover on inflation.
Analysis: Low inflation mystery could be a hitch in Fed’s plans
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – There are many signs the United States is emerging from a quagmire of sluggish economic growth. The pace of inflation is not one of them.
