— Breaking News

Construction firm bankruptcies down 24.8% yr/yr (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan , 18 Aug - On a sectoral basis, the steepest fall in bankruptcies was seen in construction, where the number of companies going bust declined 24.8% in the April to June period compared to the year earlier. Transport and logistics saw a 21.1% decline while manufacturing bankruptcies were down 16.9% and those in wholesaling and retailing businesses slipped 12.9%. A24-Hob (RADIOCOR) 18-08-17 17:09:03 (0261) 5 NNNN

3,008 firms declared bankruptcy (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan, 18 Aug - A total of 3,008 Italian companies declared bankruptcy from April to June 2017, according to official figures from chamber of commerce organization Unioncamere-Infocamere, down 15% on the year earlier. In April to June 2016, Italian corporate bankruptcies had already fallen 3% on the like, year-earlier period, Unioncamere-Infocamere noted. Second quarter Italian corporate bankruptcies fell 16.8% year on year in northeast Italy and 16.5% in southern Italian while they declined 14.7% in the northwest and 12.2% in central Italy. A24-Hob (RADIOCOR) 18-08-17 16:49:04 (0242) 5 NNNN

June public debt hits new record at 2.281 trln eur (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan, 18 Aug - Bank of Italy added that public debt reached a new record in June, when it stood at 2.281 trillion euros, up 2.2 billion from the previous month. It noted that central government debt rose 4.0 billion euros, debt of local governments fell 1.9 billion and tdebt of public pension funds was virtually unchanged. A24-Web (RADIOCOR) 18-08-17 12:02:12 (0112) 5 NNNN

H1 tax receipts 186 bln eur, down 5.8% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan, 18 Aug - Italian tax receipts totalled 31.6 billion euros in June, down 13.5 billion from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Italy. In the first six months, tax receipts dropped 5.8% to 186 billion euros. The central bank said that the decline is due mainly to the deferral of payment deadlines for certain taxes. A24-Web (RADIOCOR) 18-08-17 11:51:26 (0106) 5 NNNN

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - London, 17 Aug - Euro zone benchmark 10-year sovereign bond yields Germany - yield 0.43%; down 0.02 percentage points from previous close. France - yield 0.73%; down 0.02 percentage points from previous close. Belgium - yield 0.74%; down 0.02 percentage points from previous close. Italy - yield 2.02%; down 0.02 percentage points from previous close. Spain - yield 1.44%; down 0.02 percentage points from previous close. A24-Cia (RADIOCOR) 17-08-17 18:18:38 (0394) 5 NNNN

Vestas, Hikma dip; Saipem up in Milan (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Miulan, 17 Aug - Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas sank 7.62% in Copenhagen after it said revenue in the second quarter of 2017 fell 14% from the year earlier to 2.206 billion euros, driven by lower revenue in its power solutions segment. Second quarter EBIT fell to 279 million euros from 399 million the year earlier as the EBIT margin narrowed to 12.6% from 15.6% in the second quarter of 2016. Vestas' net profit slipped to 186 million euros from 278 million. Vestas registered negative free cash flow of 158 million euros in the quarter compared to a positive 330 million the year earlier. Shares in London-based pharmaceutical group Hikma dipped 11.66% after the company lowered its revenue guidance as it expects its generics division to face tougher competition. Shares of Italian oil services firm Saipem were up 0.92% in Milan dealings, after the company announced a contract worth some 850 million dollars in Kuwait. After the close of the market yesterday, Saipem announced the contract worth about 850 million dollars with Kuwait Oil Company, which has entrusted Saipem with the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of 450 kilometers of feed pipelines to connect a new refinery with storage points. The latest deal brings the value of Saipem contracts sealed in the last month to about 3 billion dollars. Another 900 million dollars came from the extension of a contract for the development of the Zohr field in Egypt, 800 million from a contract in Oman, plus Saipem's half of a roughly 1.3 billion contract for the Brescia Verona high-speed rail line. A24-Ver (RADIOCOR) 17-08-17 13:35:56 (0256) 5 NNNN

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan , 17 Aug - Newspaper headline round-up FINANCIAL TIMES Trump business councils disbanded after resignations. Deutsche Boerse probes widens to all of top management. Uber crafts share sale plan to prop up valuation. Exports fuel rapid growth in central Europe. China debt bear warns of 6.8 trillion dollars in hidden losses. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Trump's business council disband after CEOs defect. Trump's remarks rattle his staff, threaten agenda. The new right-wing extremist: unified, tech-savvy and emboldened. Fed officials split over timing of next rate increase. Elliott moves to block Berkshire bid for Oncor; Buffett stands pat. LES ECHOS Taxation: Large firms being eyed by French finance ministry. Brexit: companies haven't altered strategy. KPMG and PwC slapped with hefty fines by US, UK authorities. Macron risks repeating Obama's error with political movement. IL SOLE 24 ORE Italian Q2 GDP unexpectedly rises annual 1.5%. FCA-BMW alliance for the auto of the future. ECB, Schaeuble backs Draghi after challenge to legitimacy of QE. NPLs, Italy awaits EU okay to extension of state guarantees. CINCO DIAS China puts a brake on foreign expansion plans of its large firms. Telefonica strengthens its 4G presence compared to Slim and Telecom Italia. Banco Popular litigation leaves 162 million euros in non-payment insurance up in the air. HANDELSBLATT Air Berlin in takeover talks with three airlines. Steel industry pushes digitalization. Consumer protectionminister Maas wants to protect passengers from airline bankruptcies. A24-Hob (RADIOCOR) 17-08-17 10:41:32 (0176) 5 NNNN

Yield at 2.04% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan, 17 Aug - The differential between yields on 10-year Italian government bonds and their German counterparts inched up to 1.60 percentage points in early trade from 1.59 points at the close Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark Italian bonds rose to 2.04% from 2.03%. A24-Hob (RADIOCOR) 17-08-17 10:41:15 (0173) 5 NNNN

US calls on Egypt to ensure transparent investigation (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - New York, 16 Aug - The US government called on Egyptian authorities to ensure a "comprehensive, impartial" investigation into the causes of the murder of Giulio Regeni, the Italian student found dead in Cairo on January 25. "Questions about Regeni's death can only be answered through an impartial and comprehensive inquiry," a State Department spokesperson told America24 in response to a request for comment about an article in the New York Times over the case. In the report published yesterday, the NYT quoted a former US administration official as saying that the Obama administration had "incontrovertible evidence of official Egyptian responsibility" into the death of the Italian. The NYT said the US passed the conclusion to the Italian government but did not share the raw intelligence. Now led by Rex Tillerson, the State Department spokesperson said "the US continues to call on the Government of Egypt to ensure the investigation is conducted in a full and transparent way." The administration also reiterated its call on the government of Egypt to fully collaborate with the Italian officials who are part of the investigation." A24-Cia (RADIOCOR) 16-08-17 22:01:49 (0687) 5 NNNN

Related to development of Al Zour refinery (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor Plus) - Milan, 16 Aug - Italian oil and gas services group Saipem said it won a new contract in the onshore E&C sector for a value of around 850 million dollars. Activities involve engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning for the "Feed Pipelines for New Refinery Project (NRP)" in relation to the development of the new Al Zour refinery located in the south of Kuwait. The contract has been awarded by the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), a subsidiary of the Gulf country's national oil company, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). A24-Cia (RADIOCOR) 16-08-17 18:47:15 (0395) 5 NNNN