New public-land drilling fees proposed
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's administration is taking the first step toward an increase in the fees charged for oil and gas companies to drill on federal lands.
The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments on proposed regulations to give the government more flexibility to set fees.
Government auditors have consistently questioned whether the public is getting a fair return from the 12.5 percent royalty now being charged.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the current regulations have failed to keep pace with technological advances and market conditions.
A low royalty rate encourages oil and gas exploration, and an increase would likely raise protests from industry and others that it will lessen production and increase prices at the pump.
-- The Associated Press
Price increases boost Nestle's quarter
ZURICH -- Nestle SA, the world's biggest food maker, followed European peers in reporting first-quarter revenue growth that exceeded estimates as price increases offset weak sales of convenience meals in North America.
Organic sales rose 4.4 percent, with pricing contributing 2.5 percentage points of the growth, the Vevey, Switzerland-based maker of KitKat bars and Perrier water said in a statement Friday. Analysts expected a 4.2 percent increase.
Unilever NV and Danone SA have also topped first-quarter predictions as business in Europe starts to improve after an economic slump. The rebound in Nestle's home region comes as it faces a sluggish Chinese market and seeks to revive the ailing Lean Cuisine frozen-food brand in North America. The company said Friday that it expects measures it has taken to improve business in that market to "gain traction" throughout 2015.
"The beat to expectations was slightly less compelling than that of Unilever given it was driven more by price," Andrew Wood, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a note.
The first-quarter sales growth included gains of 3.7 percent at Nestle's Americas unit and 5.3 percent at the Europe- Middle East-North Africa business. Revenue in Asia-Oceania-Africa declined 0.2 percent, mainly due to China.
In a quest to revamp its portfolio to revive sales, Nestle has jettisoned the Jenny Craig diet foods and PowerBar snacks brands.
-- Bloomberg News
Coca-Cola to buy China firm for $400M
Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest beverage company, will buy China's Xiamen Culiangwang Beverage Technology Co. for about $400 million in cash, gaining a line of plant-based protein drinks in a renewed push into the Asian market.
Coca-Cola is acquiring the business from China Culiangwang Beverages Holdings Ltd., according to a statement from the Atlanta-based company. Xiamen Culiangwang sells a range of protein drinks, including green bean, red bean and walnut varieties under the China Green brand.
"China is an important growth market for us and this investment complements our beverage offerings there," said Petro Kacur, a spokesman for Coca-Cola.
The move marks a return to Chinese deals for Coca-Cola after a failed attempt to buy the country's biggest domestic juice maker in 2009. Chinese regulators blocked the $2.3 billion purchase, saying it would have hurt competition. The decision raised concerns at the time that China was using anti-monopoly rules to block foreign investment.
With Xiamen Culiangwang, Coca-Cola is trying to capitalize on the growth of plant-based protein drinks in China. The business is based in Xiamen, Fujian province.
-- Bloomberg News
Bloomberg: 'Internal issue' led to failure
LONDON -- Bloomberg LP's trading terminals, which are used by most of the world's biggest financial firms, went down for 2 1/2 hours Friday, prompting the British government to postpone a planned $4.4 billion debt issue.
Users said the failure started as trading was getting in full swing about 8 a.m. in London, which along with New York is one of the world's largest financial centers, particularly in foreign exchange and bond markets.
"Significant but not all parts of our system experienced a disruption today," said a Bloomberg spokesman. "There is no indication at this point that this is anything other than an internal network issue. We have restored service to most customers and are making progress in bringing all parts of the system back online. We apologize to our customers."
The failure is an extremely rare phenomenon for the firm started by former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in the early 1980s.
Bloomberg has become the world's biggest financial information provider, overtaking rival Reuters.
-- The Associated Press
Verizon selling TV channel packs by genre
NEW YORK -- Verizon is giving its customers more control over the channels they pay for as the number of customers dropping cable subscriptions reshapes the industry.
Large cable bundles laden with dozens of channels and big price tags have pushed more people into cheaper streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Other late entries include HBO Now and Sling TV, not to mention sports oriented streaming services such as MLB.com.
FiOS Custom TV, available Sunday, gives customers the option to buy a base package for about $55. That package has more than 35 channels -- such as AMC, CNN and Food Network -- plus two additional themed channel packs.
The offer does not include Internet service.
There are currently seven channel packs to choose from, including genres such as sports, children and lifestyle. Customers can add more channel packs -- which include about 10-17 channels on average -- for $10 each. They may also swap out channel packs after 30 days.
Last month, Sony announced the PlayStation Vue service, an online package of more than 50 channels starting at $50 per month. The service doesn't include some popular channels and is currently only available in certain cities.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 04/18/2015