Avast revenues rise in third quarter, BHP lifts offer for Noront

Stocks to watch

Cybersecurity firm Avast reported a rise in third quarter revenues and said it expected second-half billings growth of high-to-mid single digits. Revenue of $232.7m was up by 5.6% on an organic basis and 3.0% at actual exchange rates for the three months to September 30. Adjusted core earnings increased 0.8% to $127.0m. Avast reaffirmed its full-year outlook for revenue to be at the upper end of 6 – 8% growth, and a broadly flat adjusted EBITDA margin percentage. For the year to date, revenue of $704m was up by 8.8% on an organic basis, and 6.8% at actual rates.

BHP increased its all-cash offer for Noront to 75 Canadian cents per share on Wednesday, representing a 36% premium to its previous offer, a 7% premium to the Wyloo offer and a 213% premium to Noront's unaffected price. The FTSE 100 miner noted that Noront supported BHP's improved offer and recommended shareholders tender now to receive the cash consideration offered. It said the BHP offer would be open until the end of 8 November, meaning shareholders had 22 days to decide to accept the full and immediate value offered by BHP.

Newspaper round-up

The rescue of embattled Chinese property company Evergrande appears to have stalled, leaving the developer on the brink of default and threatening to unleash contagion through the country’s giant real estate sector, home prices and the economy. The problems enveloping Evergrande, which has eye watering total debts of $305bn, have hung over global financial markets in recent weeks and helped curb China’s post-pandemic recovery. - Guardian

Credit Suisse has been fined nearly £350m by global regulators, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and agreed to forgive hundreds of millions of dollars worth of debt owed by Mozambique in an attempt to draw a line under the long-running “tuna bonds” loan scandal. The Swiss banking company had been accused of “serious” failings in its financial crime controls by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice that will put the bank under heavy monitoring for three years after having “defrauded US and international investors”. – Guardian

Halifax has relaxed mortgage borrowing rules for millions of wealthy homebuyers in a bet that the property market will remain resilient despite the threat of rising interest rates. Britain’s biggest housing lender will now hand borrowers who earn more than £75,000 a loan of up to five-and-a-half times their annual income, up from a previous limit of five times. - Telegraph

More than 140m have watched the South Korean drama Squid Game since its release last month, making it the most-watched show in Netflix's history. Netflix said the success of the show in recent weeks helped buoy its results for the third quarter. It reported its strongest subscriber growth of the year in the three months to September 30, adding 4.4m more customers in the period and beating Wall Street estimates. – Telegraph

The two most senior Vectura executives offloaded shares worth more than £6 million as part of the contentious sale of the respiratory drugs firm to one of the world’s largest tobacco groups. Will Downie, Vectura’s chief executive since 2019 and a former executive at Catalent, the US drugs company, sold shares in Vectura worth £2.3 million, and Paul Fry, its chief financial officer, sold shares worth £3.8 million, stock market disclosures show. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Tuesday as more big-name US companies published their latest set of quarterly results.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.56% at 35,457.31, while the S&P 500 was 0.74% firmer at 4,519.63 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.71% stronger at 15,129.09.

The Dow closed 198.70 points higher on Tuesday, reversing losses registered in the previous session as elevated bond yields and a weaker-than-expected Chinese GDP print soured sentiment.

Earnings were again in focus throughout the session, with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson posting adjusted earnings per share of $2.60 in pre-market and also upped its full-year forecast on the back of strong adoption of its Covid-19 vaccine, while Procter & Gamble topped estimates on the back of price hikes that offset certain costs but cautioned of more inflation to come.

BNY Mellon beat on third-quarter estimates thanks to improved fee income throughout the period and Halliburton reported a profit as structural global commodity tightness drove increased demand for its services, both internationally and domestically.