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LATAM Airlines reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $2.538 billion, the company said on Thursday, and said that the results reflected all financial renegotiations stemming from its bankruptcy proceedings, Reuters reported. The quarterly profit of South America's leading airline compares to a loss of $2.755 billion during the same three-month period a year earlier.
However the company will propose not to pay out dividends and instead use its 2022 profits to offset accumulated losses, it said in a securities filing later on Thursday.
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Startups are facing a moment of reckoning in the current economic climate, and today one of the more promising in the world of fintech has cracked under the pressure. Railsr, the London, U.K. embedded finance startup formerly known as Railsbank and once worth nearly $1 billion, announced today that it has been acquired by a shareholder consortium; and as part of the deal, it’s going into administration so that it can continue as a going concern as it restructures, TechCrunch.com reported.
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Liquidators for defunct crypto exchange FTX asked a judge to approve the sale of its interest in a fund of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital to an Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm, in a deal valued at $45 million, Bloomberg News reported. FTX agreed to sell the interest in the Sequoia Capital Fund, which previously belonged to its sister trading outfit Alameda Research’s venture arm, to Al Nawwar Investments RSC Limited on Wednesday, its estate said in a filing to Delaware’s bankruptcy court late that same day.
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Loyalty Ventures Inc. filed for bankruptcy Friday, blaming its financial problems largely on its 2021 spinoff from its parent company, a move that it said left the new business with substantial debt and limited cash flow, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Dallas-based loyalty-programs operator filed for chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston and said it plans to sell its customer-rewards programs including its Air Miles Reward Program, a loyalty program popular in Canada, and its Europe-based BrandLoyalty program for grocers and other retailers.
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Adani Group said it had completed full prepayment of margin-linked share-backed financing worth $2.15 billion as part of its debt prepayment plan, before its deadline of March 31, Reuters reported. The Gautam Adani-owned conglomerate also prepaid a $500 million facility it had taken for Ambuja acquisition financing, it said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the payment comes in continuation of promoters' commitment to repay the leverage.
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Virgin Australia is in talks with banks for a loan of up to A$450 million ($296.4 million) to pay its private equity owner Bain Capital before the airline's re-listing planned for later this year, Reuters reported. Australia's second largest airline is in discussions with banks including Goldman Sachs and UBS about the loan, said the sources, although no decision has been made yet and the size of the debt has not been finalised.
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Billionaire Gautam Adani and his family have prepaid all borrowings backed by Adani Group company shares, senior executives at the conglomerate told investors at a meeting in London on Wednesday, according to people who attended, Bloomberg reported. The London meeting was part of a worldwide roadshow aimed at reassuring international investors that the ports-to-power empire’s finances are under control, after as much as $153 billion in combined market value was erased from company stocks following a January short seller’s report.
The French economy is set to grow around 0.1% in the first quarter of 2023 after expanding 0.1% in the fourth quarter 2022, the central bank said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Bank of France said companies polled in its monthly business sentiment survey reported activity in February was stronger than in January in the industrial sector and in services and was broadly stable in construction. For March, companies expected a further improvement in services and the industrial sector but a slight decline in construction, the central bank said.
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is planning to reform pension tax rules in his budget next week in a bid to cut the number of doctors quitting the National Health Service, Bloomberg reported. Hunt is preparing to alter the design of a system that means that doctors face higher tax bills when their pension pots grow beyond certain limits. The chancellor is concerned that the rules are fueling drop-outs from the NHS, with senior doctors retiring earlier or reducing their workloads to avoid the charges.
German department store chain Galeria is not holding back in its insolvency plan: either creditors settle for a pittance, or the chain goes bankrupt and they get nothing at all, Retail Detail reported. Belgian subsidiary Inno may face a surprising twist. On 27 March, Galeria will face its creditors in some cut-throat negotiations: the department store chain is working on a restructuring plan under the protection of the court in Essen, but creditors will have to agree to a hefty debt rescheduling.