Headlines

Nissan said on Wednesday that it expected its annual profit to be much lower than expected, a fresh blow to a company reeling from the arrest of its former top executive Carlos Ghosn, the International New York Times reported. The automaker told investors that its operating profit for the 2018 fiscal year, which ended in March, was expected to be 45 percent lower than the previous year, at 318 billion yen ($2.8 billion). It was Nissan’s second downward revision in two months, highlighting the difficulties it faces as it moves past the fall of Mr.

Four of the UK’s largest real estate investment trusts are heavily exposed to struggling retailers and CVAs, the rising insolvency trend which has become synonymous with the decline of the high street, UBS has warned, the Financial Times reported. The analysis looked at the portfolios of four real estate investment trusts: British Land, Landsec, Hammerson, and Intu. Its findings hinge on using floorspace to weigh exposure to struggling retailers, rather than the more typical industry metric of rental income.

Lawyers investigating the London Capital & Finance scandal are aiming to bring claims against the UK’s financial compensation scheme on behalf of the 11,600 investors hit by the company’s collapse, the Financial Times reported. LCF’s administrators and insolvency experts from the law firm Mishcon de Reya are combing through recordings of phone calls between customers and representatives of the company in search of proof that investors were advised to buy the mini-bonds.

Recently listed small business lender Funding Circle has cut expected returns for its UK retail investors after raising its estimate of defaults, the Financial Times reported. A higher risk of default on UK and US loans made in 2017 and 2018 has prompted the lender, which matches individual and institutional investors with small business borrowers, to revise down its predicted returns and tighten its lending criteria. Peer-to-peer lenders have attracted investors who are looking for better returns than high street banks can offer.

Few things illustrate the malaise in India’s property market as starkly as would-be homeowners having to dedicate untold hours to completing the flats they spent years saving up for. While no estimates exist for the number of people in Vazirani’s position, India’s property market is struggling to digest some $65 billion worth of projects in various stages of completion -- or, in many cases, non-completion, Bloomberg News reported.

Ukraine is investigating whether a charitable foundation set up primarily to coordinate London-listed Ferrexpo Plc’s philanthropic activities was used to launder money and evade taxes, Bloomberg News reported. Officials of Blooming Land Charitable Foundation abused their powers to seek “illicit benefits,” damaging state interests, a Ukraine prosecutor said in a court filing in Kiev in February. Blooming Land may have received payments from businesses, “legalizing the proceeds via converting them into cash under the guise of donations for charity,” other court documents allege.

The economic team of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is pushing to ensure a $71 million interest payment is made on the nation’s last remaining bond not in default, Bloomberg News reported. On Wednesday, the opposition-controlled National Assembly’s finance commission approved a measure to vote next Tuesday on the disbursement to holders of state oil producer PDVSA’s notes due in 2020. The group of lawmakers recommended Congress support the payment. That’s because the bond is backed by a majority stake in Citgo, the Venezuelan-owned U.S.

Investors pummeled Argentina’s debt market on Wednesday as a looming presidential election stoked concern the country is heading for its third default in less than two decades, Bloomberg News reported. Five-year credit default swaps were quoted at 1,157 basis points, a 17 percent increase in a day, according to prices compiled by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. That puts the probability of a default over that period at more than 58 percent, up from 22.7 percent just one year ago, Bloomberg data indicated.

China’s dollar bond market faces a fresh test after a landmark default by a private sector champion is set to trigger the first drawdown of a letter of credit for a public Asian bond, Bloomberg News reported. China Minsheng Investment Group Corp. said last week debt problems at its affiliate triggered cross-default clauses on its notes including a $300 million bond, which carries a standby letter of credit (SBLC) from China Construction Bank Corp. According to CMIG’s bond document, the SBLC may be drawn down under an event of default, which includes cross-default.

A court in Croatia on Wednesday postponed a bankruptcy ruling for the country’s biggest shipbuilding group Uljanik until May 13, as the government tried to delay activation of state guarantees to a customer for late delivery of a vessel, Reuters reported. The commercial court in the northwestern town of Pazin had already delayed its ruling from March and the decision in May should be final. Bankruptcy would threaten the jobs of around 3,000 workers.