Sysco to buy U.K.-based Brakes Group for $3.1 billion, including debt

Sysco Corp. announced Monday an agreement to buy London-based foodservice distributor Brakes Group in a deal valued at the U.S. dollar equivalent of $3.1 billion (2.2 billion British pounds). The deal includes the repayment of about $2.3 billion worth of Brakes’ debt. Sysco said it expects the deal to close before the end of its fiscal year in July 2016, and is expected to immediately add to earnings. Brakes had revenue in fiscal 2015 of nearly $5 billion. “This transaction will unite Sysco with a leading foodservice distributor in Europe with demonstrated capability to sustainably grow its business over time,” said Sysco Chief Executive Bill DeLaney. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has climbed 9.7% year to date, while the S&P 500 has lost 6.2%.

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Allergan beats profit expectations, but gives downbeat sales outlook

Allergan PLC reported a fourth-quarter loss that narrowed to $700.5 million, or $1.78 a share, from $732.9 million, or $3.34 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as acquisition costs, adjusted earnings per share came to $3.41, beating the FactSet consensus of $3.34. Revenue rose to $4.2 billion from $2.42 billion, matching the FactSet consensus. Botox sales came to $655.7 million, beating expectations of $606.3 million. For 2016, the drug company expects revenue of approximately $17 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $17.69 billion. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has lost 12% year to date, while the S&P 500 has slipped 6.2%.

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Lumber Liquidators stock tanks after CDC says wood flooring carries higher cancer risk

Shares of hardwood floor retailer Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. slumped 22% in premarket trade Monday, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had made an incorrect assessment of the cancer risk associated with the company’s flooring, and said it is much higher than other products. The CDC said recent testing of the company’s wood had used an incorrect value for ceiling height. “As a result, the health risks were calculated using airborne concentration estimates about 3 times lower than they should have been,” it said in a statement. After correcting the model, the CDC said the flooring, which is imported from China, can create respiratory issues for people with asthma or related illnesses, and can cause irritation for the eye, nose and throat for anyone else. “The estimated risk of cancer is 6-30 cases per 100,000 people,” said the statement, and not 2-9 cases per 100,000 people as previously reported. The CDC recommends taking steps to reduce exposure, and will move ahead with a final report on the issue. Problems with Lumber Liquidators wood was highlighted in a “60 Minutes” report broadcast March of 2015, which alleged that Chinese laminates contained much higher-than-acceptable levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The stock fell to as low as $11.69 in January, from its peak of $68.78 in Feb. of 2015, just before the news broke.

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Goldman cuts its estimate for legal losses by more than half

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slashed on Monday its estimate for the upper end of the range of “reasonably possible aggregate loss” for legal proceedings to $2 billion, according to the investment bank’s 10-K annual regulatory filing. In the 10-Q filing following the third quarter, Goldman had estimated the loss to be $5.3 billion. “The firm is involved in a number of judicial, regulatory and arbitration proceedings…concerning matters arising in connection with the conduct of the firm’s businesses,” Goldman stated in its filing. “Many of these proceedings are in early stages, and many of these cases seek an indeterminate amount of damages.” The stock. which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 18% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 5.9%.

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Swiss private bank EFG to buy rival BSI in $1.34 billion deal

Swiss private bank EFG International AG plans to pay 1.33 billion Swiss francs, or $1.34 billion, to acquire another Swiss private bank, BSI SA, said EFG in a news release Monday. The combined company will be one of the largest private banks in Switzerland with 170 billion Swiss francs in assets under management, the release said. EFG is buying BSI from BTG Pactual SA , a Brazilian bank whose CEO has been arrested in a corruption scandal.

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Six dead in Kalamazoo, Mich., shooting spree; single suspect arrested

A Saturday shooting spree left six dead at various locations in Kalamazoo, Mich., with local authorities, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette, saying 45-year-old Jason B. Dalton was taken into custody after midnight and had acted alone. The police chief in the city of 76,000 people, home to Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College, characterized the alleged gunman as “totally unprovoked” and his alleged actions as “random acts of violence,” according to the Gazette. Shooting locations included a Ford dealership, a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a town-house complex, the Gazette reported. At a Sunday-morning news conference, the county prosecutor reportedly said there was “just no question more people would have died if [police] hadn’t found him when they did.” The suspect was reportedly taken into custody in the parking lot of a downtown bar.

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Fourth Quarter HARP Refinances Total 3.38 Million

The number of loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) through the fourth quarter totaled 3,380,558 since the inception of the program in 2009. Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) fourth quarter Refinance Report shows that 21,079 HARP refinances were completed between September and December. FHFA estimates that as of third quarter 2015, more […] …read more

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