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Unilever (UL) to separate ice-cream business, slash 7,500 jobs globally. (00:30) Exxon (XOM) CEO says giant Texas hydrogen project at risk without IRA tax credits. (01:38) Third time's the charm? Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY) Tennessee auto workers vote to unionize. (02:57)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.
Unilever (NYSE:UL) plans to spin off its ice cream unit into a standalone business. Unilever makes Ben & Jerry's and Magnum.
The company says this is part of a new cost-savings program that also includes cutting 7,500 jobs.
The separation will begin immediately, and is expected by the end of 2025.
Unilever (UL) expects the restructuring programme to deliver total cost savings of around €800 million over the next three years which more than offsets the estimated operational dis-synergies from the separation of the ice cream unit.
The proposed changes are expected to impact around 7,500 predominantly office-based roles globally, with total restructuring costs now anticipated to be around 1.2% of Group turnover for the next three years, up from the around 1% previously communicated.
The London-based company in October outlined a plan to streamline business and drive growth, after admitting that "performance in recent years has not matched potential."
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) will not move forward with one of the world's largest low-carbon hydrogen projects if the Biden administration withholds tax incentives for natural gas-fed facilities.
Exxon’s CEO Darren Woods told Bloomberg at the CERAWeek conference on Monday that giving preference to green hydrogen over blue hydrogen would amount to a government attempt to favor certain technologies rather than simply focusing on cutting overall emissions.
Under current guidelines, incentives are earmarked for projects that produce "green" hydrogen by using water and renewable energy, but Exxon (XOM) believes it can produce "blue" hydrogen from gas by trapping carbon emissions.
As a result, Woods said the company's proposed facility in Baytown, Texas (outside of Houston) should qualify for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Exxon (XOM) has said its planned Baytown, Texas, project could produce 1B cf/day of hydrogen and capture 98% of associated carbon, helping reduce emissions at its adjacent oil refinery by as much as one third.
"We're investing billions of dollars to reduce the carbon intensity of our natural gas," Woods told Bloomberg, adding that failure of the Inflation Reduction Act to give companies credit would "basically instantly stop investments to reduce carbon intensity by the industry as a whole."
Autoworkers at a Volkswagen (VWAGY, VWAGY) factory in Chattanooga, Tenn. have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board that will allow a vote to join the United Autoworkers Union.
The union reached a supermajority within 100 days. This is an important milestone in the UAW’s third attempt to unionize the Chattanooga facility and as part of a broader attempt to unionize foreign-owned automakers in the southern U.S.
Foreign-owned automakers like Volkswagen (VWAGY, VWAGY), Mercedes (MBGAF, MBGYY), Toyota (TM), and Nissan (NSANY, NSANF) have established manufacturing hubs in the South given the lower cost of living versus cities like Detroit and Dearborn.
However, despite an aggressive campaign in the wake of its victory against Detroit’s Big 3, less than 5% of autoworkers in six southern states are union members with only 7% in Alabama and Mississippi.
The Chattanooga facility is Volkswagen's only U.S. plant and employs over 4K autoworkers.
Other articles to look out for on Seeking Alpha:
Nvidia GTC 2024: Tech giant shows off new GB200 GPU, accelerated computing, more
AstraZeneca will buy Fusion Pharmaceuticals for ~$2B
Dril-Quip, Innovex to merge in all-stock deal
On our catalyst watch for the day,
Box Inc. (BOX) analyst day.
Piper Sandler 24th Annual Energy Conference.
36th Annual ROTH Conference.
The major market averages marched higher to a positive close on Monday.
The Nasdaq (COMP:IND) was the strongest performer on the day as it finished higher by 0.8%. At the same time, the S&P 500 (SP500) closed out on top by 0.6%, and the Dow (DJI) ended higher by 0.3%.
Nine of the 11 S&P sectors concluded trading on Monday in positive territory with Communication Services and Consumer Staples leading the way higher. The two sectors that ended lower were Real Estate and Health Care.
Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are mixed. Crude oil is down 0.2% at more than $82 per barrel. Bitcoin is down 6% at more than $63,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.04% and the DAX is up 0.2%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) is up 23% after the company reported Q4 earnings that surpassed expectations and announced approval for a buyback of up to $100M.
On today’s economic calendar:
FOMC meeting begins
8:30 Housing Starts and Permits
Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
