Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Gothenburg

  • Stora Enso to pay another dividend instalment of EUR 0.15 per share

    Stora Enso to pay another dividend instalment of EUR 0.15 per share

    Stora Enso Oyj’s Board of Directors has decided that a second dividend instalment of EUR 0.15 per share will be distributed based on the balance sheet adopted for the year 2019.

    The second dividend instalment will be paid on or about 17 December 2020 to a shareholder who is recorded in the shareholders’ register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy or in the separate register of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on the record date of the dividend payment, 10 December 2020.

    The dividend payable for Euroclear Sweden registered shares will be forwarded by Euroclear Sweden AB and paid in Swedish krona.

    Dividends payable to ADR holders will be forwarded by Citibank N.A. and paid in US dollars. The ex-dividend date is 9 December 2020.

    Stora Enso’s Annual General Meeting of 4 June 2020 decided on an immediate dividend payment of EUR 0.15.

    It also authorised the Board of Directors to decide at a later date, at its discretion, to distribute a total dividend of up to EUR 0.35 per share in one or more instalments.

    Following the dividend payment on 17 December 2020, the total dividend for the financial year 2019 is EUR 0.30 per share.

  • Norwegian based Kolonial orders carts worth 2 million SEK

    Norwegian based Kolonial orders carts worth 2 million SEK

    Kolonial, the largest company in Norway for online food deliveries, has placed another order for carts to their distribution sites from FlexQube.

    During the fourth quarter, the order value totals 2 million SEK ($235,000).

    In addition to this order, Kolonial has also indicated that the need for carts during 2021 will be at least 3 million SEK ($350,000).

    FlexQube offers a unique and patented concept that is used to design and deliver robust, modular and flexible material handling carts that can also run autonomous.

    The company has manufacturing in Sweden and USA and distribution in North America and in Europe.

    On December 14, 2017, the company was listed on the Nasdaq First North in Sweden.

  • Stora Enso invests in production line for granulated lignin in Finland

    Stora Enso invests in production line for granulated lignin in Finland

    Stora Enso is investing EUR 14 million to build a granulation and packing plant for lignin at its own Sunila Mill in Finland.

    Lignin is one of the key innovation areas for delivering growth on new applications, such as energy storage, binders and carbon fiber.

    Lignin is one of the main building blocks of a tree. Today, the lignin produced at Sunila Mill, Lineo by Stora Enso, is delivered as a dusty powder or as wet lignin.

    It is used, for example, as a phenol replacement in adhesives, as a bio-based natural binder replacing bitumen in asphalt, and in bioplastics.

    The construction of the granulation plant is estimated to begin by the end of the second quarter of 2021 and to be complete in the second quarter of 2022.

    Stora Enso has been producing lignin industrially at its Sunila Mill in Finland since 2015. The annual production capacity is 50,000 tonnes, making Stora Enso the largest kraft lignin producer in the world.

  • Voi announces another $160 million Series C funding round

    Voi announces another $160 million Series C funding round

    The Series C funds take total funding of Voi over the last four months to US$190 million, including the $30 million announced this past July and completed in September.

    The Raine Group, a global integrated merchant bank advising and investing in high-growth sectors of technology led the capital raise.

    The round also attracted investment from existing investors, including VNV Global, Balderton, Creandum, Project A, Inbox, Nordic Ninja, and Stena Sessan.

    Top entrepreneurs and executives from Amazon, Delivery Hero, iZettle, Klarna, Kry/Livi, Nordic Ninja, and Zillow also participated in this latest funding round.

    Through this new funding, Voi has also secured an industry first: scaled asset-backed debt facility, which will be directed towards scooter and e-bike investment in 2021.

    Thus, Voi are the first in this industry to be able to borrow money with scooters as collateral.

  • Skanska acquired a land plot in Boston, USA, for USD 177M

    Skanska acquired a land plot in Boston, USA, for USD 177M

    Skanska has acquired about 2,787 square meters of land in Boston, Massachusetts for USD 177M, about SEK 1.5 billion.

    Located at 380 Stuart Street in the Back Bay neighborhood, Skanska plans to develop a 27-story, about 58,000 square meter, Class-A office building with ground-floor retail and below-ground parking.

    The project will target LEED Platinum, Fitwell, and WiredScore certifications.

    This acquisition marks Skanska’s seventh commercial venture in Greater Boston, and one of the few remaining opportunities for a new, ground-up development in Back Bay.

  • Bambuser opens the first studio for Live Video Shopping in Europe

    Bambuser opens the first studio for Live Video Shopping in Europe

    The Lobby Live in MOOD Stockholm is a studio for Live Video Shopping and pop-up spaces for physical retail and is the first of its kind in Europe.

    The Lobby Live is an initiative from AMF Fastigheter and the interactive live video provider Bambuser with the common goal of integrating digital and physical retail through innovative technology.

    AMF Fastigheter is the first real estate company in Sweden to enter into a partnership with Bambuser.

    This is the first time Live Video Shopping is embedded into the offering of a shopping mall.

    In addition to space for in-person shopping, The Lobby Live offers a studio in which they can host Live Video Shopping experiences using Bambuser’s platform.

    The Lobby Live enables more brands and retailers to test the format that increases both digital reach and sales and at the same time drives traffic to the physical store.

    Interest in live shopping has grown sharply during the year and is now one of the major global retail trends in 2020.

  • Elkem opened a new production workshop in Shanghai

    Elkem opened a new production workshop in Shanghai

    Elkem opened a new production workshop in Shanghai, China, dedicated to the development and manufacturing of specialised silicones for hybrid and electric vehicles.

    Sweden based Elkem is the largest silicones producer in China.

    China is the world’s largest single market for the production and sales of electric vehicles (EV).

    The global demand for EV’s is growing fast, and some analysts now expect EV’s to account for around a third of new car sales by 2030.

    Increased sales of hybrids and EV’s represent a substantial growth opportunity for Elkem, particularly within silicones.

    An EV contains on average four times more silicones than a traditional car. Silicones contribute to safer, more reliable and more comfortable cars, as a key component in airbags, cables, hoses and tires, and Elkem is already a supplier to several of the world’s top EV producers.

  • LeoVegas, first in the gaming industry to offer open banking

    LeoVegas, first in the gaming industry to offer open banking

    LeoVegas will be first out in the gaming industry to allow open banking transactions under PSD2 via the company’s proprietary technical platform.

    This will result in more secure and faster payments for customers directly from their own bank accounts as well as lower transaction costs and a reduced dependence on other payment service providers for LeoVegas.

    The UK is the first market in which LeoVegas has already launched payments via open banking.

    Customer data from the initial weeks show that 10% of all new customers already are choosing to initiate their payments via open banking.

    The solution will be successively rolled out across several of the company’s core markets in Europe.

    What is PSD2

    PSD2 stands for the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive, which aims to develop the market for electronic payments and thereby create better conditions for secure and effective payments.

    Open banking is one aspect of PSD2 and entails that actors open up and share information with each other.

  • 50% plant-based meals in Ikea restaurant by 2025

    50% plant-based meals in Ikea restaurant by 2025

    Ikea announced today new food commitments, in connection to a pre-event for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021.

    Thus, by 2025, Ikea wants that 50% of main meals offered in the restaurants to be plant-based, 80% to be non-red meat and 80% of all packaged food offered to be plant-based.

    In 2019, over 680 million people experienced the Ikea food offer in the restaurants, bistros and the Swedish Food Markets.

    A recent study of 27,000 people across 27 countries confirmed that three out of four people want to reduce their impact on the environment by a large amount, and a significant number of meat eaters would be willing to switch to plant-based alternatives if they taste equally good, and have the same price and nutritional value.

  • Embracer Group acquires Serbian Mad Head Games

    Embracer Group acquires Serbian Mad Head Games

    Embracer Group, through subsidiary Saber Interactive, entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Mad Head Games.

    The company, based in Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia, is an independent game developer led by three founders with a team of 130 people across four offices.

    Mad Head Games was founded in 2011 by Nenad Tomić, Uroš Banješević, and Aleksa Todorović, all three having more than 15 years game development experience.

    The acquisition will strengthen Embracer’s presence in Eastern Europe with the first studio operating in Serbia.

    Mad Head Games will continue to operate as an independent game developer under Saber, with continued leadership by the three founders.

  • Amplifier Game Invest acquires Silent Games studio in Newcastle upon Tyne

    Amplifier Game Invest acquires Silent Games studio in Newcastle upon Tyne

    Through its wholly owned subsidiary Amplifier Game Invest, Embracer has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Silent Games Ltd.

    Silent Games is a UK based studio founded by Sally Blake and Joseph Rogers in 2018 and seated in Newcastle upon Tyne.

    Silent Game founders intend to be growing the studio from the current team of four persons into a 30 person strong studio over the coming years.

    As a result, the team plans to build a series of games in a Universe of their own making, with the first game planned for a 2023 release.

    The parties have agreed not to disclose the full transaction terms due to commercial reasons. 

    This acquisition is the first investment made by Amplifier in the British Isles, one of the strongest hubs for Game Development in the world.

  • Scania to invest over 1 billion SEK in a battery assembly plant

    Scania to invest over 1 billion SEK in a battery assembly plant

    Scania plans to invest well over 1 billion SEK in a battery assembly plant in Södertälje, Sweden.

    The initial step is a 18,000-square metre facility and the construction will start early 2021 with the aim to be fully operational by 2023.

    As a result, the plant will assemble battery modules and packs from cells which will be delivered from Northvolt’s battery factory in Skellefteå, Sweden.

    Employing a staff of 200, most recruited from within the company, the battery assembly plant will be highly automated.

    In 2015, Scania started series production of hybrid buses and in 2019 of its first fully electric bus range.

    This was followed by the introduction of Scania’s plug-in hybrid truck and the fully electric truck. Series production of the electric truck starts in 2021.