Shares of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com fell 10% in Hong Kong on Wednesday and traded lower in premarket trading in the U.S. after retailer Walmart (WMT) confirmed it would sell its stake in the company.
Walmart is seeking to raise around $3.74 billion (£2.87 billion) by selling its stake in JD.com, Bloomberg first reported. The retailer is offering 144.5 million shares at a price of $24.85 to $25.85 per share.
The deal is also a sign that Walmart is confident its operations in China are large enough to compete in the highly competitive retail market.
The US retailer said it would maintain its cooperation with JD.com and that the sale would enable it to “better focus on its strong development in China, including the operations of Walmart Supercenter and Sam’s Club, and allocate assets to other priorities”.
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JD.com said in a statement that it was “fully confident about the future cooperation between both sides.”
Walmart first acquired a stake in the group in 2016 in exchange for the sale of Chinese e-commerce site Yihaodian to JD.com. Walmart nearly doubled its stake later that year by continuing to invest in the Chinese group.
Netflix (NFLX)
Shares of the streaming company hit a new record on Tuesday, rising in premarket trading after the company announced a 150% increase in its sales commitments in 2023.
In a blog post, Amy Reinhard, president of the advertising division, said the company has signed pre-agreements with all major holding companies as well as independent agencies.
The advertising commitments included spots for consumer goods, technology, entertainment, automobiles, retail and fast-food restaurants.
This drove the share price to an all-time high on Tuesday morning, temporarily rising above the $700 mark.
According to the company, upcoming films and series such as Happy Gilmore 2 and Squid Game 2 as well as the recent acquisition of live sports content such as the NFL Christmas Day Games and WWE Raw, which launches in January 2024, also contributed to the success.
Eli Lilly (LLY)
Eli Lilly shares rose ahead of trading in the U.S. after the pharmaceutical company announced that its weight-loss drug significantly reduces the risk of diabetes within three years.
The company’s weight-loss drug Zepbound reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 94% in obese or overweight adults with prediabetes compared with a placebo, according to early results from a long-term study. The drug is sold in the U.S. under the name Mounjaro for diabetics.
Jeff Emmick, senior vice president of product development at Lilly, said: “These data support the potential clinical benefit of long-term therapy for people with obesity and prediabetes.”
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The company said people who received the drug also experienced an average weight loss of nearly 23 percent, compared to just 2.1 percent for those who received a placebo.
“We just don’t see numbers like that in the metabolic space,” said Evan Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
The share price of Mobico, the owner of National Express, rose by over 12% after its European coach segment reported record first-half results.
The FTSE 250 (^FTMC)-listed transport operator also confirmed that the sale process of its struggling North American school bus division is now “underway” and is progressing “in line with expectations”.
Mobico, which reported a 28.1 percent jump in profits in the first half of the year, is selling the division as part of a debt reduction program to be implemented in the second half of this year.
The bus division generated revenue of £1.12 billion in 2023, while the group’s net debt stood at £1.24 billion at the end of June.
CEO Ignacio Garat said: “Mobico performed well in the first half of 2024, with continued positive passenger demand and revenue growth.
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“Reducing our debt remains a priority. In addition to initiating the formal sale process for North American School Bus, we have identified new organic debt reduction initiatives that will bear fruit in the second half of the year. We remain confident of delivering adjusted operating profit of between £185m and £205m in FY24.”
Investors do not receive a half-yearly dividend. Last year, Mobico suspended its dividend and decided not to pay an interim dividend.
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