Aug 11 (Reuters) - Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd (AMP.AX) said on Thursday its half-year underlying profit slumped by nearly a quarter, as margin pressure weighed on the banking division, sending its shares down nearly 3%.

Net interest margin at AMP Bank fell to 1.32% in the first half of the fiscal year, from 1.71% a year earlier, dragged down by growth in fixed-rate loans - which are less profitable.

Shares of the company, which rose as much as 4.3% in early trading, reversed gains to fall nearly 4%, their biggest single-day drop since mid-June.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) edged past Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) with a total of 221 million streaming customers and announced it will increase prices for customers who want to watch Disney+ or Hulu without commercials.

The media giant will raise the monthly cost of Disney+ without advertising by 38% to $10.99 in December, when it begins to offer a new option that includes ads for the current price.

Shares of Disney rose 6.9% in after-hours trading to $120.15 on Wednesday.

SEOUL, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) unveiled its latest high-end foldable smartphones on Wednesday, keeping prices at the same level as last year's in a bid to cement its leadership in an expanding niche market.

The smartphone maker priced its clamshell Galaxy Z Flip4 at $999.99, and the 5G-enabled top-line Galaxy Z Fold4 with a 7.6-inch main screen to start at $1,799.99 in the United States, the same as the launch prices of last year's models.

"We've successfully transformed this category from a radical project to a mainstream device lineup enjoyed by millions worldwide," said TM Roh, president and head of mobile experience at Samsung Electronics.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Internal Revenue Service commissioner on Wednesday that if the Inflation Reduction Act becomes law additional IRS resources should not be used to increase audit rates on taxpayers making under $400,000 a year.

"This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited," Yellen said in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.

HONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group (0992.HK) recorded its smallest revenue growth in nine quarters as the world's biggest PC maker saw sales of the devices ease after a pandemic-fuelled boom, and it was also hit by COVID-19 lockdowns at home.

The results vindicate Lenovo's strategy of emphasising development of its non-personal computer (PC) businesses such as smartphones, servers and information technology services, which together now make up more than a third of its sales.

Lenovo's total revenue during the April-June quarter was $16.96 billion, up 0.2% from the same quarter a year ago though it was in line with an average Refinitiv estimate of $16.87 billion drawn from seven analysts. That was the smallest increase since the March 2020 quarter.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse's (CSGN.S) top shareholder Harris Associates on Wednesday disclosed a stake of more than 10% in the Swiss bank.

The investment firm said in a filing that it owned 266 million shares, or a 10.1% stake, in the company as of end-July.

Harris Associates previously held a stake of around 5.2%, according to Credit Suisse's website. The bank's second-largest shareholder is Qatar Holding - a unit of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund - with a stake of about 5% as of Nov. 17. (https://bit.ly/3PfMWmA)

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Gautam Adani, the world’s fourth-richest man, is using his $220 bln empire to amass critical energy and infrastructure assets. Financial profligacy broke many of his Indian rivals. Opacity is a bigger concern for the billionaire becoming too big to fail, says Una Galani.

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Walt Disney (DIS.N) has pulled a rabbit out of its hat when it comes to streaming. The Mouse House on Wednesday reported that it now has as many subscribers to its video services – Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ – as Netflix (NFLX.O), totaling 221 million customers. Additionally, Disney rolled out its pricing strategy for its forthcoming ad model for Disney+. Starting Dec. 8, the $205 billion company run by Bob Chapek will offer a service with ads at $7.99 per month. It is hiking the ad-free price by $3 monthly.

Chapek also lowered the company’s forecast for the service, emphasizing a renewed focus on margins. Though Disney will charge less than Netflix, which costs about $15 a month in North America, it has more to lose with a price war. That may be one reason why it’s jumping the gun, releasing a strategy ahead of Netflix revealing its own ad-supported tier. Still, Netflix can probably lower its prices, too. And with widening...

KAMPALA, August 10 (Reuters) - Ugandan IT student Andrew Njuki spent years hunched over English-language textbooks, often grappling with material that would have been easier to grasp in his mother tongue Luganda.

As of May, the 27-year-old has been able to copy-paste his online teaching materials into Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google translation service and read them directly in Uganda's official language Luganda, spoken by millions across the east African country but not taught in schools.

"To understand something better you need to first understand it in your mother tongue," said Njuki, who also finds the service handy for surfing the internet and social media.

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) is set to post a gain of $34.1 billion by reducing its stake in Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK) from 23.7% to 14.6%. read more

But the Japanese conglomerate will not sell its shares directly in the market. It is using a complex security called "prepaid forward contracts," which is a derivative largely used by investors.

Here's how these contracts work:

TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) said on Wednesday it would book a gain of $34.1 billion by cutting its stake in Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK), as the investment behemoth looks to shore up its cash reserve to weather the market downturn.

The Japanese company will reduce its stake in Alibaba to 14.6% from 23.7% by settling prepaid forward contracts. Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares were down 1.3% in early trade.

SoftBank booked a $50 billion loss at its Vision Fund investment arm in the first half of the year as its tech bets soured, with Chief Executive Masayoshi Son on Monday pledging to further reduce investment activity and cut costs.

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) said on Tuesday it had raised $10 billion in its first-ever bond offering, as it looks to fund share buybacks and investments to revamp its business.

The offering would help Meta, the only one among big technology companies without debt on its books, to build a more traditional balance sheet and fund some expensive initiatives, such as its metaverse virtual reality. read more

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Walt Disney (DIS.N) has pulled a rabbit out of its hat when it comes to streaming. The Mouse House on Wednesday reported that it now has as many subscribers to its video services – Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ – as Netflix (NFLX.O), totaling 221 million customers. Additionally, Disney rolled out its pricing strategy for its forthcoming ad model for Disney+. Starting Dec. 8, the $205 billion company run by Bob Chapek will offer a service with ads at $7.99 per month. It is hiking the ad-free price by $3 monthly.

Chapek also lowered the company’s forecast for the service, emphasizing a renewed focus on margins. Though Disney will charge less than Netflix, which costs about $15 a month in North America, it has more to lose with a price war. That may be one reason why it’s jumping the gun, releasing a strategy ahead of Netflix revealing its own ad-supported tier. Still, Netflix can probably lower its prices, too. And with widening...

Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July due to a sharp drop in the cost of gasoline, delivering the first notable sign of relief for weary Americans who have watched inflation climb over the past two years.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was flat last month after advancing 1.3% in June, the Labor Department said on Wednesday in a closely watched report that nevertheless showed underlying inflation pressures remain elevated as the Federal Reserve mulls whether to embrace another super-sized interest rate hike in September. read more

The reading was the largest month-on-month deceleration of price increases since 1973 and followed on the heels of a roughly 20% drop in the cost of gasoline since mid-June. Prices at the pump spiked in the first half of this year due to the war in Ukraine, hitting a record-high average of more than $5 per gallon on June 14, according to motorist advocacy group AAA. read more

Aug 10 (Reuters) - TUI (TUIGn.DE), one of the world's largest tour operators, took a 75 million euros ($77 million) hit in the third quarter from flight disruption across Europe, pushing it to a loss on Wednesday.

Incoming Chief Executive Sebastian Ebel said there would be significant but lower costs related to air disruption in the fourth quarter, with air traffic normalising in recent days.

"The whole system is still very fragile, and we have days with hardly any disruptions, and we have weeks and days with a lot of disruptions," Ebel, who is replacing long-time chief Friedrich Joussen in October, told journalists.

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd (AMP.AX) posted a 24.5% drop in half-yearly profit on Thursday, hurt by lower earnings from its Banking division and as heightened market volatility drove outflows from its flagship fund management arm.

For the six months ended June 30, the 173-year-old firm reported an underlying net profit after tax of A$117 million ($82.82 million), compared with A$155 million a year ago.

($1 = 1.4126 Australian dollars)

HONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group (0992.HK) recorded its smallest revenue growth in nine quarters as the world's biggest PC maker saw sales of the devices ease after a pandemic-fuelled boom, and it was also hit by COVID-19 lockdowns at home.

The results vindicate Lenovo's strategy of emphasising development of its non-personal computer (PC) businesses such as smartphones, servers and information technology services, which together now make up more than a third of its sales.

Lenovo's total revenue during the April-June quarter was $16.96 billion, up 0.2% from the same quarter a year ago though it was in line with an average Refinitiv estimate of $16.87 billion drawn from seven analysts. That was the smallest increase since the March 2020 quarter.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings downgraded on Wednesday Mexican leasing firm Unifin's (UNIFINA.MX) long- and short-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) to 'C' and 'C' from 'BB-' and 'B' respectively, according to a statement.

Shares in Unifin plummeted 40% during the day's session.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse's (CSGN.S) top shareholder Harris Associates on Wednesday disclosed a stake of more than 10% in the Swiss bank.

The investment firm said in a filing that it owned 266 million shares, or a 10.1% stake, in the company as of end-July.

Harris Associates previously held a stake of around 5.2%, according to Credit Suisse's website. The bank's second-largest shareholder is Qatar Holding - a unit of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund - with a stake of about 5% as of Nov. 17. (https://bit.ly/3PfMWmA)

KAMPALA, August 10 (Reuters) - Ugandan IT student Andrew Njuki spent years hunched over English-language textbooks, often grappling with material that would have been easier to grasp in his mother tongue Luganda.

As of May, the 27-year-old has been able to copy-paste his online teaching materials into Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google translation service and read them directly in Uganda's official language Luganda, spoken by millions across the east African country but not taught in schools.

"To understand something better you need to first understand it in your mother tongue," said Njuki, who also finds the service handy for surfing the internet and social media.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - CAE Inc (CAE.TO) shares listed in Toronto and in the United States tumbled more than 16% on Wednesday after the world's largest civil aviation training company's quarterly profit missed market expectations due to charges in its defense business.

Labor shortage and supply-chain pressures also forced Montreal-based CAE to cut its annual outlook for adjusted operating income growth to mid-20% from mid-30%.

U.S. aerospace companies including Boeing Co (BA.N) have struggled with their defense businesses, partly due to fixed-price contracts, even as their commercial aviation units benefit from a rebound in travel demand following a pandemic-induced slump.

TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) said on Wednesday it would book a gain of $34.1 billion by cutting its stake in Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK), as the investment behemoth looks to shore up its cash reserve to weather the market downturn.

The Japanese company will reduce its stake in Alibaba to 14.6% from 23.7% by settling prepaid forward contracts. Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares were down 1.3% in early trade.

SoftBank booked a $50 billion loss at its Vision Fund investment arm in the first half of the year as its tech bets soured, with Chief Executive Masayoshi Son on Monday pledging to further reduce investment activity and cut costs.

TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Honda Motor Co (7267.T) raised the outlook for its full-year operating profit on Wednesday thanks to weaker yen, but warned against over-optimism as it saw the chips shortage continuing and was concerned about an economic slowdown.

The mixed view from Honda reflected sentiment held widely among Japanese carmakers that although demand is strong and recovery from COVID-19 is underway, they have yet to completely shrug off negative factors hindering operations.

Honda raised its operating profit forecast to 830 billion yen ($6.15 billion) from 810 billion for the year ending March 31.