UBS Swings to a Profit as Restructuring Shows Results ~ Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN) signaled that a sweeping restructuring is showing results, as it posted a net profit for the second straight quarter on a recovery of its investment bank and a slowdown in withdrawals from its beleaguered wealth-management division. UBS posted a net profit of 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2.03 billion) in the first quarter, compared to a year-earlier net loss of 1.98 billion francs. In the fourth quarter of 2009, UBS posted a net profit of 1.2 billion francs. (WSJ)
UBS Plans ‘Hundreds’ of Hires at Securities Unit, Cryan Says ~ UBS (UBSN), Switzerland’s biggest bank, plans to hire “a handful of hundreds” of people in coming quarters to expand the investment bank after the unit boosted earnings to the highest level in almost three years. “We still want to increase our sales and distribution force, both in fixed income and to a lesser degree in equities,” Chief Financial Officer John Cryan said in a Bloomberg TV interview today. In corporate finance, the bank plans to “selectively hire into certain key sectors.” UBS hired a net 150 people at the investment bank in the first quarter and may add similar numbers for “another couple of quarters,” Cryan said. Credit Suisse Group (CSGN), its largest Swiss competitor, said in March it plans to hire about 130 sales people for the securities business this year. (Bloomberg)
Merck Profit Falls After Schering-Plough Acquisition ~ Merck & Co (MRK), the second-largest U.S. drugmaker, reported a 79 percent drop in first-quarter profit on acquisition costs and projected 2010 earnings below what some analysts were expecting. Net income fell to $298.8 million, or 9 cents a share, on charges from its $41 billion purchase of Schering-Plough last year, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck said today in a statement. Earnings excluding one-time items were 83 cents a share, exceeding by 8 cents the average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Merck forecast 2010 earnings of $3.27 to $3.41 a share, compared with the $3.40 average estimate of analysts. Sales for 2010 will be cut by $170 million from the health-care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, Merck said. Eli Lilly & Co., Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson have said sales will be reduced by the new health law. Merck’s 2010 earnings will be reduced by generic competition to its blood pressure drugs Cozaar and Hyzaar, which had 2009 sales of $3.6 billion and lost patent protection in April. (Bloomberg)
Pfizer Profit Beats, Forecast Unhurt by Reform ~ Drugmaker Pfizer (PFE) on Tuesday reported a huge jump in its first-quarter revenue, thanks to its giant acquisition of Wyeth last October, but charges from the deal weighed down net income. The maker of cholesterol fighter Lipitor and impotence pill Viagra earned $2.03 billion, or 25 cents per share, in the latest quarter, down 26 percent from $2.73 billion, or 40 cents per share. Adjusted income for the first three months totaled $4.88 billion, or 60 cents per share, rising 33 percent from $3.67 billion, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier. With the addition of Wyeth blockbusters such as antidepressant Effexor and children's vaccine Prevnar, Pfizer's revenue reached $16.75 million. That's up 54 percent from $10.87 billion a year earlier. (CNBC)
Voting begins in Senate on Wall Street reform ~ The U.S. Senate will cast its first votes on Tuesday on a sweeping Wall Street reform bill, with passage of a handful of uncontroversial amendments expected and a key procedural question still unsettled. Democratic leaders had not yet determined as of late Monday whether amendments will need 50 or 60 votes to pass. The difference is important because Democrats control 59 votes in the 100-member chamber, versus the Republicans' 41 votes. A 60-vote rule would make winning passage for any amendment -- and there are more than 100 circulating -- more difficult, while a 50-vote rule would open the way to all sorts of proposals from both Democrats and Republicans. A spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said that no decision had been reached and that votes would be handled on a case-by-case basis for the time being. "This is an issue for leadership to decide. ... A higher threshold will bring more order to the chaos of the amendment process," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Concept Capital. When the process is over, likely in two to four weeks, final passage of the bill looks likely, given a surge in political momentum for it from the Goldman Sachs fraud case and the approach of November's elections, analysts said. Wall Street reform is a top domestic policy objective of President Barack Obama, who laid the foundations for the Senate bill in mid-2009 with a raft of proposed reforms meant to prevent a recurrence of the severe 2008-2009 financial crisis. While the economy was still deep in recession in December, the House of Representatives approved a bill that embraced many of the Obama administration's ideas for tougher oversight and stricter limits on banks and capital markets. The European Union is pursuing its own agenda for reform as well. (Reuters)
Disclosure: No Positions
UBS Plans ‘Hundreds’ of Hires at Securities Unit, Cryan Says ~ UBS (UBSN), Switzerland’s biggest bank, plans to hire “a handful of hundreds” of people in coming quarters to expand the investment bank after the unit boosted earnings to the highest level in almost three years. “We still want to increase our sales and distribution force, both in fixed income and to a lesser degree in equities,” Chief Financial Officer John Cryan said in a Bloomberg TV interview today. In corporate finance, the bank plans to “selectively hire into certain key sectors.” UBS hired a net 150 people at the investment bank in the first quarter and may add similar numbers for “another couple of quarters,” Cryan said. Credit Suisse Group (CSGN), its largest Swiss competitor, said in March it plans to hire about 130 sales people for the securities business this year. (Bloomberg)
Merck Profit Falls After Schering-Plough Acquisition ~ Merck & Co (MRK), the second-largest U.S. drugmaker, reported a 79 percent drop in first-quarter profit on acquisition costs and projected 2010 earnings below what some analysts were expecting. Net income fell to $298.8 million, or 9 cents a share, on charges from its $41 billion purchase of Schering-Plough last year, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck said today in a statement. Earnings excluding one-time items were 83 cents a share, exceeding by 8 cents the average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Merck forecast 2010 earnings of $3.27 to $3.41 a share, compared with the $3.40 average estimate of analysts. Sales for 2010 will be cut by $170 million from the health-care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, Merck said. Eli Lilly & Co., Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson have said sales will be reduced by the new health law. Merck’s 2010 earnings will be reduced by generic competition to its blood pressure drugs Cozaar and Hyzaar, which had 2009 sales of $3.6 billion and lost patent protection in April. (Bloomberg)
Pfizer Profit Beats, Forecast Unhurt by Reform ~ Drugmaker Pfizer (PFE) on Tuesday reported a huge jump in its first-quarter revenue, thanks to its giant acquisition of Wyeth last October, but charges from the deal weighed down net income. The maker of cholesterol fighter Lipitor and impotence pill Viagra earned $2.03 billion, or 25 cents per share, in the latest quarter, down 26 percent from $2.73 billion, or 40 cents per share. Adjusted income for the first three months totaled $4.88 billion, or 60 cents per share, rising 33 percent from $3.67 billion, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier. With the addition of Wyeth blockbusters such as antidepressant Effexor and children's vaccine Prevnar, Pfizer's revenue reached $16.75 million. That's up 54 percent from $10.87 billion a year earlier. (CNBC)
Voting begins in Senate on Wall Street reform ~ The U.S. Senate will cast its first votes on Tuesday on a sweeping Wall Street reform bill, with passage of a handful of uncontroversial amendments expected and a key procedural question still unsettled. Democratic leaders had not yet determined as of late Monday whether amendments will need 50 or 60 votes to pass. The difference is important because Democrats control 59 votes in the 100-member chamber, versus the Republicans' 41 votes. A 60-vote rule would make winning passage for any amendment -- and there are more than 100 circulating -- more difficult, while a 50-vote rule would open the way to all sorts of proposals from both Democrats and Republicans. A spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said that no decision had been reached and that votes would be handled on a case-by-case basis for the time being. "This is an issue for leadership to decide. ... A higher threshold will bring more order to the chaos of the amendment process," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Concept Capital. When the process is over, likely in two to four weeks, final passage of the bill looks likely, given a surge in political momentum for it from the Goldman Sachs fraud case and the approach of November's elections, analysts said. Wall Street reform is a top domestic policy objective of President Barack Obama, who laid the foundations for the Senate bill in mid-2009 with a raft of proposed reforms meant to prevent a recurrence of the severe 2008-2009 financial crisis. While the economy was still deep in recession in December, the House of Representatives approved a bill that embraced many of the Obama administration's ideas for tougher oversight and stricter limits on banks and capital markets. The European Union is pursuing its own agenda for reform as well. (Reuters)
Disclosure: No Positions