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Bombardier exited commercial aviation on Thursday, selling a loss-making plane programme that ended its high-stakes gamble on a new jet that once drove it to the brink of bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Canadian plane and train maker sold its minority stake in the A220 jet, formerly known as the CSeries, to Airbus SE (AIR.PA) for $600 million (£460 million), and said it would take a $1.6 billion charge on the programme.
Profits at British utility Centrica slumped 35% last year, hit by a government price cap on some energy bills and the impact of lower natural gas prices on its production business, sending its shares down as much as 17% on Thursday, Reuters reported. The company, whose British Gas unit is Britain’s largest energy supplier, said adjusted operating profit fell to 901 million pounds from 1.39 billion pounds in 2018.
An investigation into how the son of a Co Donegal bankrupt came to own property that had formerly been owned by his father, is being conducted by the official assignee, Chris Lehane. In December last, Ms Justice Teresa Pilkington extended the bankruptcy of PJ Sweeney, of High Cairn, Ramelton, Co Donegal, to July 2025, The Irish Times reported. Mr Lehane told the judge that Mr Sweeney, who was adjudicated a bankrupt in July 2017 because of his debts to the Bank of Ireland, was not engaging with his office and had failed to produce a statement of affairs.
Argentine bonds took a beating on Thursday after the economy minister warned that a “deep debt restructuring” was on the way, and promised to take a tough stance with creditors while refusing to impose fiscal austerity on the shrinking economy, Reuters reported. Over the counter bond prices RPLATC fell an average 2% while Argentina’s risk spread 11EMJ shot out 118 basis points to 2,068 over safe-haven U.S. Treasury paper.
A top Chinese technology company that’s struggled for months to assure creditors of its financial stability has seen its efforts to secure a fresh loan disrupted by the coronavirus crisis, Bloomberg News reported. With payments on a dollar loan coming due next month, Tsinghua Unigroup Co. has been engaged with lenders on a $900 million financing deal. That loan has been delayed partly due to the coronavirus outbreak and the Lunar New Year holiday, a company spokesman said Tuesday. Even so, the financing market has been open for others.
Greek lawmakers approved a restructuring plan for Larco late on Wednesday which Greece called a last attempt to save Europe’s biggest nickel producer, Reuters reported. The European Commission said in November it was taking Greece to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its failure to recover 135.8 million euros ($147.63 million) of illegal state aid to Larco which is struggling under heavy debt.
Ryanair’s chief commercial officer on Thursday denied any interest in buying Air Italy after press reports linking his group to the loss-making airline, which was put into liquidation by its owners earlier this week, Reuters reported. Air Italy’s owners Qatar Airways and regional carrier Alisarda blamed “persistent and structural market problems” for the decision to pull the plug on Tuesday. Asked about Italian press reports that Ryanair was preparing an offer, chief commercial officer David O’Brien said his group was not interested and had not been approached. “Let’s clear the room ...
South African state airline SA Express is under a form of bankruptcy protection known as business rescue, a spokeswoman for the airline said on Thursday. Her comments come after SA Express lost a court battle with a contractor, logistics firm Ziegler, earlier this month, Reuters reported. SA Express, which flies to domestic and regional destinations, is a separate business from much larger state carrier South African Airways (SAA), which entered business rescue in December.
Babcock International nudged down its guidance for annual underlying operating profit and wrote down the value of its oil and gas transportation business in the latest blow to the British engineer, Reuters reported. One week after the company announced the retirement of Chief Executive Archie Bethel, Babcock said it would also embark on an improvement and restructuring programme to ensure it remains on track for medium term targets.