Merck's Q1 revenue of $14.5B, although down 9% YoY, was an 11% increase if one excludes a drop in sales of its molnupiravir COVID-19 treatment. After the business reported net profits of $2.82B or $1.11 per share, Merck's stock rose by 2% on Thursday, reflecting a market value of around $288B. More: - Merck's adjusted earnings per share for Q1 were $1.40, beating Wall Street's expectations of $1.32.
- The international pharmaceutical corporation raised its estimates for 2023 sales to $57.7B-$58.9B and for full-year adjusted earnings per share to $6.88-$7.00.
- Molnupiravir sales plummeted to $392 million, down 88% YoY.
- Merck's sales of diabetes treatments decreased by 29% to $880M. In comparison, sales of Gardasil (HPV vaccine) increased by 35% to $2B due to solid demand in China, and Keytruda (Cancer Drug) increased by 20% to $5.8B due to generic competition and lower demand in the U.S.
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Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, experienced its first sales growth in almost a year, with Q1 revenue of $28.6B, up 3% YoY. The increase is attributed to Meta's advertising business improvements, including its short-form video product Reels. More: - After-hours trading saw a more than 12% increase in shares as the company also predicted that second-quarter revenue might top $32B.
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, anticipates that generative AI will impact all of Meta's products and services and plans to use the technology in an open-source manner.
- The technology giant laid off 10,000 workers in three waves, and the restructuring charges affected the operating margin in Q1.
- Zuckerberg has called 2023 the "year of efficiency."
- Quest virtual reality headset manufacturer Reality Labs, a subsidiary of Meta, reported a $4B operating deficit.
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In Q1 2023, Barclays reported a rise in net profit to $2.2B, up 27% YoY and exceeding analysts' predictions. The Multinational Bank also stated that revenue increased 11% to $8.9B, above projections of $8.4B. More: - Profit at Barclays UK, the bank's ringfenced consumer lender, increased 30% to $642M, primarily due to growth in net interest earnings from higher rates.
- The rate environment helped Barclays' international consumer, cards, and payments segment, which saw a 47% increase in revenue to $1.6B.
- According to Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan, risk management and strong liquidity have helped shield the company from market events like the bankruptcies of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse in March.
- Early trading saw a 4% increase in the bank's stock, but it has underperformed this year and is selling at about half its book value.
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Comcast reported better-than-expected earnings in its Q1 report, despite slowing growth in its residential broadband business and mounting losses in the Peacock streaming service. The company posted revenue of $29.69B and earnings per share of $0.92, compared to the estimated $29.3B and $0.82, respectively. More: - Comcast's residential broadband user growth rate dropped, with the business acquiring just 3,000 new customers during Q1 and 21,000 fewer over the previous year.
- During the first quarter, Comcast also lost 614,000 cable TV subscribers, but the number of Xfinity mobile customers increased to 5.67 million.
- Peacock's subscriber base increased by 60% compared to the previous year, generating $685M in revenue, though the service still incurred $704M in losses.
- Today, Comcast's stock rose by 7% after they announced they had returned $3.2B to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases.
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Total Energies has agreed to a deal in which Suncor Energy will purchase its Canadian oil sands operations for more than $4B, with potential additional payments of up to $450M. This cash sale comes despite an announcement in February that it would spin off its operations and return the proceeds from the sale to shareholders while retaining a 30% stake in the company. More: - Total's board of directors saw the sale of the company to Suncor as "more straightforward in its execution than the planned spin-off."
- The French oil major's total adjusted net income of $6.5B was reported for the first quarter of 2023, which was lower than the $9B written for the same period in 2022 but still met analyst expectations.
- In addition to planning to repurchase $2B worth of shares in the second quarter, Total upped its first interim dividend for the year by 7.25%.
- Total intends to distribute roughly 40% of its 2023 operating cash flow to shareholders through a special dividend or share buybacks.
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Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, disputes claims that the corporation has benefited from inflation and asserts that it is conscious of consumers' financial difficulties. In the last quarter, Unilever raised prices by an average of over 11%. More: - In 2022, Unilever's operating margin decreased from 18.4% in 2021 to 16.1%, but it didn't disclose the profitability numbers.
- Sales volumes for the multinational FMCG company were flat year over year and rebounded more quickly than anticipated from a 3.6% decline in the prior quarter.
- The report also stated shoppers, particularly in North America, were willing to tolerate the price increases in Q1.
- In the first quarter of 2023, Unilever reported revenues of $16.3B, an underlying rise of 10.5%; furthermore, it forecasted that commodity costs would increase by $1.6B.
Zoom Out: - From July 2023, Hein Schumacher will take over as the new CEO, replacing Alan Jope.
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 |  | Shriram is a freelance writer at Inside.com. He is pursuing Master’s in Business with Marketing at Warwick Business School. He worked as a Senior Consultant in Tech and Political Consultancies before his Masters. He is passionate about Tech, Marketing, Strategy, Anthropology and Politics. He is also the Postgraduate Ambassador for Warwick Business School. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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