ROUNDUP: Volkswagen imposes hiring freeze

WOLFSBURG - Volkswagen is imposing a temporary hiring freeze at its most important locations in the struggle to save billions. "Due to the ongoing efficiency programs at Volkswagen AG, external hiring will be temporarily limited and no external positions will be advertised," a spokesman said on Friday in response to an inquiry in Wolfsburg. All six locations in Lower Saxony and Hesse are affected: Wolfsburg, Hanover, Brunswick, Salzgitter, Emden and Kassel. Business Insider" had previously reported.

ROUNDUP: BMW performs better than expected

MUNICH - The car manufacturer BMW is holding its course despite the emerging difficult situation in the industry. While rivals such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz had to cut back on their profit plans after the third quarter, BMW has so far coped better with the environment than experts had expected. The management around CEO Oliver Zipse confirmed the annual targets on Friday, even though currency effects and higher input costs slowed things down. The share, which has already performed comparatively well this year, rose after the start of trading.

ROUNDUP 2: Vonovia sells apartments and stake in portfolio - billions in proceeds

BOCHUM - Germany's largest residential real estate group Vonovia is making progress with the planned sale of apartments. In total, Vonovia has generated proceeds of around 3.7 billion euros this year from the sale of apartments and minority interests in real estate portfolios, including 1.7 billion euros since August, the DAX-listed company announced in Bochum on Friday. This is more than previously targeted. The share price rose by more than three percent in early trading. This brings the weekly gains of the share, which has been badly shaken in the longer term, to a good 13 percent.

ROUNDUP: Bafin: Commerzbank must send out tax certificates 'swiftly'

FRANKFURT/BONN - The financial supervisory authority Bafin is increasing the pressure on the bank due to the partially delayed dispatch of tax certificates to Commerzbank customers. The authority has ordered the DAX-listed group to "swiftly send out" the tax certificates for 2022, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) announced on Friday: "Commerzbank must send them out within 20 banking days." In addition, the bank must "take appropriate organizational measures and precautions to issue annual tax certificates on time in the future".

ROUNDUP: Construction of the Elbe Tower halted - Tschentscher: No state aid

HAMBURG - Political pressure on project developer Signa is growing following the interruption of construction work on Hamburg's billion-euro Elbtower skyscraper. "Unlike the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, the Elbtower is a project at the risk of private investors, who would suffer great economic damage if the project were to be abandoned at this stage," Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) told the news magazine "Der Spiegel".

ROUNDUP 2: Apple with cautious forecast for Christmas quarter

CUPERTINO - Apple is not expecting any great leaps in the upcoming Christmas business. The iPhone company predicted sales at the previous year's level for the current financial quarter - disappointing the growth expectations of some investors. At the same time, the Group expects further growth for the iPhone - its most important product. The share, which had recently recovered somewhat, came under pressure on Friday.

Fewer Postbank branches - No way around job cuts

FRANKFURT - The cuts in the Postbank branch network will lead to job cuts, according to Claudio de Sanctis, Deutsche Bank's board member for private customers. How many jobs will be affected by the reduction of the current 550 Postbank branches to around 300 by mid-2026 is the subject of discussions with employee representatives. "The fact is, however, that there is no way around it, even if our goal is to deploy employees in other functions wherever possible," de Sanctis, who is also responsible for Postbank, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (F.A.S.).

ROUNDUP: Krones successfully combats ongoing component shortage

NEUTRAUBLING - Business at bottling and packaging equipment manufacturer Krones continued to run smoothly in the third quarter. Conditions remained challenging due to a shortage of electronic components, the company said in a statement on Friday. However, despite the gloomy overall economic outlook, international customers from the food and beverage industry remained highly willing to invest. At the same time, Krones was able to increase its profitability thanks to price increases. The management has now confirmed its targets for the year.

More new car registrations - expert expects 2024 to be a difficult year

BERLIN - In the first ten months of the current year, 13.5 percent more cars were newly registered in Germany than in the same period last year. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on Friday, 2.36 million new cars have been registered since the beginning of the year. However, the pre-corona level is still a long way off, and the tense overall economic situation threatens to make the car business more difficult in the coming months. In the pre-pandemic year 2019, just over three million new cars were registered in Germany from January to October inclusive.

ROUNDUP: Axa grows slightly thanks to good business

PARIS - The insurer Axa grew slightly in the first nine months thanks to brisk demand for property and casualty insurance. This was announced by the French Allianz competitor on Thursday in Paris after the close of business. Although the Group management expects headwinds on several fronts in the fourth quarter, it believes it is well on the way to achieving its annual targets. Nevertheless, the share fell by just under 3 percent on Friday morning, bringing up the rear in the EuroStoxx 50, the leading eurozone index.

Borussia Dortmund earns more in the first quarter - higher transfer income

DORTMUND - Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Dortmund has started the new year with a profit increase thanks to higher earnings from transfer deals. In the three months to the end of September, consolidated net income rose from 38.5 million euros in the previous year to 52.4 million euros, as the SDax-listed soccer club surprisingly announced in Dortmund on Friday. The result from transfer deals increased by around a third to 82.3 million euros.

Survey: Many mechanical engineering companies rethink China strategy

FRANKFURT - According to a survey, many German mechanical engineering companies are currently rethinking their China strategy. In a survey conducted by the industry association VDMA, almost half (45 percent) of the 304 participating member companies stated this. The main reasons for this were a more difficult business situation on the ground, the intensification of geopolitical tensions and the pressure on Chinese companies to give preference to local suppliers and products, the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) announced in Frankfurt on Friday.

ROUNDUP: Shipping company Moller-Maersk cuts thousands of jobs

KOPENHAGEN - The Danish shipping company Moller-Maersk is streamlining its costs due to the difficult industry environment and is cutting one in eleven jobs. The aim is to reduce the number of employees from 110,000 in January 2023 to less than 100,000, the company announced on Friday in Copenhagen as part of its quarterly results presentation. Some of the job cuts have already been implemented. The share buyback program planned for 2024 is also being reviewed. The share recently traded at a discount of around 11 percent.

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Further news

-Consumer advice center warns energy supplier EWE

-Major Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo raises profit target again

-Volkswagen imposes hiring freeze

-Signa founder Benko ready to withdraw from holding company according to co-owner

-Bafin: Commerzbank must send out tax certificates 'swiftly'

-Elbtower partner Commerz Invest expects construction to continue soon

-Hamburg Airport: Highest number of passengers since the start of the pandemic

-Shipping company Moller-Maersk cuts nine percent of its jobs

-Amazon founder Bezos moves to Miami

-BMW performs better than expected - interest rate hedges are a burden°

Customer note:

ROUNDUP: You can read a summary in the company overview. There are several reports on this topic on the dpa-AFX news service.

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