The U.K. grocer said like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose 5.9% in the 16 weeks ended Jan. 7 compared with the same period a year ago. Like-for-like sales including fuel rose 6.8%, it said.
LVMH Shuffles Leadership at Louis Vuitton, Dior
PARIS-LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE Wednesday announced a major reshuffle of its top executives, elevating Pietro Beccari to lead Louis Vuitton and tapping Delphine Arnault, daughter of Chief Executive Bernard Arnault, to run Christian Dior.
The changes, effective Feb. 1, involve the luxury giant's two largest brands and some of its best-known managers. Both Louis Vuitton and Dior have been on a tear, most recently riding a postpandemic boom in luxury spending that so far has shown little sign of easing.
JD Sports Sees FY 2023 Profit at Top End of Views After Strong Christmas Performance
JD Sports Fashion PLC said Wednesday that it expects to report fiscal 2023 adjusted pretax profit toward the top end of market expectations after it booked a strong performance during the Christmas period.
The sports-and-fashion retailer said that for the fiscal year ending Jan. 28 it expects to report adjusted pretax profit in a range from 933 million to 985 million pounds ($1.13 billion-$1.20 billion).
Standard Chartered Mulling Alternative Ownership for Aviation Business
Standard Chartered PLC said Wednesday that it was exploring alternatives for the future ownership of its global aircraft leasing and financing operation.
The London-based lender said that the aviation fleet represents around 2% of total group income and around 1% of group risk weighted assets. In 2021, Standard had reported a total operating income of $14.71 billion.
Bang & Olufsen Sees Full-Year Guidance at Lower End of Range
Bang & Olufsen AS on Wednesday backed its full-year guidance but said that due to macroeconomic developments it now expects results to be at the lower end of the guided range.
The Danish consumer-electronics company posted a net profit of 3 million Danish kroner ($432,950) for the three months to Nov. 30. Analysts had expected a net loss of DKK30 million, according to a FactSet poll.
Sika Delivered Record Sales in 2022
Sika AG said Wednesday that 2022 sales rose 13% to a record high, driven by strong growth around the world and particularly fast business expansion in the Americas.
The Swiss specialty-chemical maker's full-year revenue rose to 10.49 billion Swiss francs ($9.68 billion), slightly missing consensus expectations of CHF10.6 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
GLOBAL NEWS
The holiday PC market stunk for everyone except Apple, report says
A sharp drop in global shipments of personal computers in the holiday quarter wrapped up a year of such declines, but Apple Inc. reportedly suffered the least.
Global PC shipments fell 28.1% to 67.2 million units in the fourth quarter from a year ago, research firm International Data Group reported Tuesday. All manufacturers except for Apple AAPL recorded similar double-digit percentage declines from the 2021 holiday season, the report said.
Russia Claims Success in Ukraine's Soledar, Its First Advance in Months
Russia claimed Wednesday its first significant success in Ukraine since July, seizing most of the eastern town of Soledar after weeks of heavy fighting led by the Wagner private military company.
Wagner's owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, posted a photo of himself in what appeared to be Soledar, saying that, while the entire territory of the town is under his fighters' control, street battles with the encircled remainder of Ukrainian forces are continuing in the downtown area.
Uganda Declares End of Deadly Ebola Outbreak
KAMPALA, Uganda-Uganda's Ebola outbreak is over, the country's health ministry said Wednesday, capping a nearly four-month struggle to contain a rare strain of the highly contagious virus for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments.
Uganda's Health Ministry said 42 days had passed since the last known patient diagnosed with the Sudan strain of Ebola was discharged from a hospital, taking the country beyond twice the virus's maximum incubation period. Fifty-five people are confirmed to have died from the virus since September in the second-deadliest known Ebola outbreak in Uganda's history, while at least 142 were infected. The ministry said another 22 people are believed to have died from the virus as far back as early August, but were never tested.
Brazil's Military Stopped Mob at Capital, Ignoring Calls to Stage a Coup
BRASÍLIA-As rioters calling for the ousting of Brazil's newly elected leftist president ransacked the capital Sunday, many Brazilians wondered whether the country's right-leaning military would step in and stop the violence.
By Sunday evening, they had their answer: Following the orders of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the army and military police had restored order in the city, despite having many vocal supporters of the right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro, in their ranks.
Classified Documents Found at Joe Biden's Office Draw Growing Bipartisan Scrutiny
WASHINGTON-The new Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee said the panel is launching an investigation into how a set of classified documents ended up at a Washington office used by President Biden after he left the vice presidency, one of several congressional leaders from both parties to demand a fuller accounting of the matter.
"The Committee is concerned that President Biden has compromised sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents," Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the panel's chairman, wrote Tuesday in a letter to the White House requesting it provide by Jan. 24 copies of all papers taken from Mr. Biden's former office, a list of those who had access to the office and communications between various departments and the White House about the documents.
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-11-23 0551ET
