LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Aviva (AV.L) is finally firing on all cylinders. The near 13 billion pound UK general and life insurer boosted operating profit by 14% in the six months ending June 30 versus the same period last year, thanks in part to a pivot to higher value commercial insurance and a pull back from motor. Chief Executive Amanda Blanc, who has sold off assets and returned capital to shareholders, is now pledging a buyback. The company’s shares rose 9%.

Aviva’s valuation, however, is not factoring in these gains. After Wednesday’s share bounce, the insurer is valued on nine times its forward earnings. Its peers are valued on 13 times, according to data from Refinitiv. The fact Aviva operates in mature markets like Canada, the UK and Ireland doesn’t help. And rising inflation may scupper Blanc’s chances of slashing 750 million pounds worth of costs by 2024. The bigger issue, probably, is Aviva’s clunky model of combining general and life insurance,...

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.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Whoever picks up Ferrovial’s (FER.MC) Heathrow baggage will need a thick skin. The Spanish infrastructure operator is considering a sale of its 25% stake in the UK’s biggest airport, according to Reuters. Potential buyers include private equity group Ardian and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. With relations with airlines and the regulator at a low ebb, and irate passengers and mountains of suitcases clogging up its arrivals halls, it’s easy to see why the 20 billion euro Madrid-listed firm wants out. That may be reflected in the price.

At 13.4 times this year’s forecast EBITDA, the average trading multiple of listed airport operators Aena (AENA.MC) and Aeroports de Paris (ADP.PA), Heathrow as a business is worth just under 23 billion euros. But after deducting its net debt pile, the equity comes to just 5 billion euros, suggesting Ferrovial might expect 1.2 billion euros from any buyer. Given Heathrow’s never-ending...

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Crown Estate Scotland opened on Wednesday the registration window for an offshore wind leasing process that aims to lower emissions from Britain's North Sea oil and gas production.

The public corporation's Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) seabed leasing round will allow developers to apply for seabed rights for innovative projects of 100 megawatts (MW) or less, as well as to provide low-carbon electricity to power oil and gas installations in the North Sea.

The maximum capacity of all the projects that can be awarded exclusivity to supply oil and gas installations is 5.7 gigawatts (GW) and 500 MW for innovative projects, Crown Estate Scotland said.

HAMBURG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Water levels on the river Rhine in Germany have fallen again in hot and dry weather and shipping costs are rising as vessels cut loads to continue sailing, commodity traders said on Wednesday.

Shallow water after the summer heat-wave has hampered shipping on the entire river in Germany since July, along with other European waterways. read more

The reference waterline level at the chokepoint of Kaub south of Koblenz was at 48 centimetres on Wednesday, said Refinitiv Eikon data, down about 4 centimetres on the day. Vessels need about 1.5 metres of reference waterline to sail fully loaded.

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is lobbying the Ontario government as part of an effort to set up an "advanced manufacturing facility" in Canada, a filing by the electric-vehicle maker to the province's Office of the Integrity Commissioner showed.

The company's Canadian unit is working with the government to "identify opportunities for industrial facility permitting reforms", the amended filing from July 18 said.

Tesla as well as the office of Ontario's minister for economic development, job creation and trade did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

FRANKFURT, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Germany's Commerzbank (CBKG.DE)has resolved a brief network problem that resulted in a temporary shutdown of its online and mobile banking services, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Germany's No. 2 bank has had such problems in the past, with one in 2019 causing disruptions for eight hours.

Earlier on Wednesday, Commerzbank announced the outage on its Twitter feed, saying it was "working at full speed" for a solution.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses a legal battle with the social media platform.

"In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don't come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock," he said in a tweet late on Tuesday.

Shares of the microblogging site rose 3.5% to $44.35 in premarket trading, but were still trading significantly below Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share. Tesla shares were up 1.6% at $863.1.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Aviva (AV.L) is finally firing on all cylinders. The near 13 billion pound UK general and life insurer boosted operating profit by 14% in the six months ending June 30 versus the same period last year, thanks in part to a pivot to higher value commercial insurance and a pull back from motor. Chief Executive Amanda Blanc, who has sold off assets and returned capital to shareholders, is now pledging a buyback. The company’s shares rose 9%.

Aviva’s valuation, however, is not factoring in these gains. After Wednesday’s share bounce, the insurer is valued on nine times its forward earnings. Its peers are valued on 13 times, according to data from Refinitiv. The fact Aviva operates in mature markets like Canada, the UK and Ireland doesn’t help. And rising inflation may scupper Blanc’s chances of slashing 750 million pounds worth of costs by 2024. The bigger issue, probably, is Aviva’s clunky model of combining general and life insurance,...

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Whoever picks up Ferrovial’s (FER.MC) Heathrow baggage will need a thick skin. The Spanish infrastructure operator is considering a sale of its 25% stake in the UK’s biggest airport, according to Reuters. Potential buyers include private equity group Ardian and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. With relations with airlines and the regulator at a low ebb, and irate passengers and mountains of suitcases clogging up its arrivals halls, it’s easy to see why the 20 billion euro Madrid-listed firm wants out. That may be reflected in the price.

At 13.4 times this year’s forecast EBITDA, the average trading multiple of listed airport operators Aena (AENA.MC) and Aeroports de Paris (ADP.PA), Heathrow as a business is worth just under 23 billion euros. But after deducting its net debt pile, the equity comes to just 5 billion euros, suggesting Ferrovial might expect 1.2 billion euros from any buyer. Given Heathrow’s never-ending...

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.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sugar is a quick fix to balancing salt and sour. Food delivery companies are similarly looking for ways to square their need for more customers with their investors’ need for profits. The secret ingredient could be selling their delivery technology as a service to retailers.

DoorDash (DASH.N), Uber Technologies (UBER.N) and Grubhub owner Just Eat Takeaway (TKWY.AS) are rapidly adjusting to the post-pandemic reality: fewer new customers are ordering takeaways, just as investors get hungrier for profits. Matching the rapid expansion of the last two years was always going to be a tall order. In the three months to June, revenue growth at $28 billion DoorDash, led by Tony Xu, was 30% year-on-year against 83% for the same period last year. Its gross profit margin shrank to 43% from 53% a year ago.

Reining in spending on marketing or hiring is a step towards profitability. Finding new sources of revenue, for instance by letting...

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.

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - For the first time, investors seeking to pour cash into U.S. clean energy projects can count on at least a decade of generous federal subsidies, offering them long-sought confidence in the staying power of the world’s third biggest renewables market.

Tax credits for wind and solar projects have underpinned explosive growth in U.S. installations over the last decade. But they have often had short time horizons, leaving project developers scrambling to meet looming deadlines and spooking risk-averse investors.

The long-term tax credit commitments for wind and solar, wrapped up in a $430 billion bill passed by the U.S. Senate on Sunday, were joined by new credits for energy storage, biogas and hydrogen. Developers of wind and solar projects will also be able to get more support if they use U.S.-made equipment or build their projects in poorer areas. read more

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Market volatility triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and soaring global interest rates has forced investors to pull back from backing initial public offerings, resulting in a dramatic decline in stock market listings in the United States.

According to data from Refinitiv, 2022 is on track to be the worst year for U.S. listings since 2009, with IPOs having raised roughly $5 billion in the first seven months this year - a 96% decline from the same period in 2021, according to Refinitiv.

Nevertheless, some companies have braved a frigid IPO market and gone public on U.S. stock exchanges this year.

Following is a list of the 10 largest IPOs since March:

HANOI, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Vietnam will need investment of between $8 billion and $14 billion a year through to 2030 to develop new power plants and expand its grid, its deputy industry minister said on Wednesday.

Of the amount, 75% would be spent on new power plants, with priority given to renewable sources, and 25% on grid expansion, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An said in a statement.

He said the country will seek to raise funds from private investors for the new power projects, without elaborating.

KYIV, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine's grain, oilseed, vegetable oil exports rose 22.7% in July versus June to 2.66 million tonnes thanks to higher wheat and barley shipments, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

Ukraine's grain exports have slumped since the start of the war because its Black Sea ports - a key route for shipments - were closed off, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.

An agreement was concluded last month to unblock Ukrainian seaports and allow the departure of ships carrying grain. read more

SHEBOYGAN, Wisc., Aug 10 (Reuters) - Travel brochures in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, tout the town’s beaches on Lake Michigan as the Malibu of the Midwest. But pages of glossy photos leave out a feature of the landscape: a coal-fired power plant on the shore that will remain open until mid 2025 instead of closing this year as planned.

Alliant Energy Corp's Edgewater coal-fired plant in Sheboygan is one of at least six across the country that this summer have announced delays or potential delays to their planned closures, citing concerns about energy shortages.

A key culprit: renewable energy deployment, which was meant to replace these coal plants, has taken a hit in recent months because of COVID-19-related supply chain hiccups. Utilities say import tariffs on solar panels imposed by U.S. Commerce Department make it hard to keep up with robust power demand.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sugar is a quick fix to balancing salt and sour. Food delivery companies are similarly looking for ways to square their need for more customers with their investors’ need for profits. The secret ingredient could be selling their delivery technology as a service to retailers.

DoorDash (DASH.N), Uber Technologies (UBER.N) and Grubhub owner Just Eat Takeaway (TKWY.AS) are rapidly adjusting to the post-pandemic reality: fewer new customers are ordering takeaways, just as investors get hungrier for profits. Matching the rapid expansion of the last two years was always going to be a tall order. In the three months to June, revenue growth at $28 billion DoorDash, led by Tony Xu, was 30% year-on-year against 83% for the same period last year. Its gross profit margin shrank to 43% from 53% a year ago.

Reining in spending on marketing or hiring is a step towards profitability. Finding new sources of revenue, for instance by letting...

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Global fund managers holding U.S.-listed Chinese stocks are steadily shifting towards their Hong Kong-traded peers, even as they remain hopeful Beijing and Washington will eventually resolve an audit dispute to keep Chinese firms on American exchanges.

The pace of migration will likely accelerate, as more Chinese firms listed in New York are expected to follow technology giant Alibaba's (9988.HK), intent to launch so-called primary listings in Hong Kong, potentially boosting liquidity there to smooth the transition. read more

KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), a New York-listed fund focused on Chinese tech plays, started swapping American Deposit Receipts (ADRs) into Hong Kong shares in December, when U.S. securities regulators finalised rules to prohibit trading of Chinese companies not compliant with U.S. audit rules.

Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. worker productivity in the second quarter fell at its steepest pace on an annual basis since 1948 when the Labor Department began tracking it, while growth in unit labor costs accelerated, suggesting strong wage pressures will continue to help keep inflation elevated.

Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, fell at a 2.5% pace from a year ago, the department said on Tuesday. It also declined sharply in the second quarter at a 4.6% annualized rate, after having declined by an upwardly revised 7.4% in the first three months of the year.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected productivity would decline at a 4.7% rate in the April-June period.

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is lobbying the Ontario government as part of an effort to set up an "advanced manufacturing facility" in Canada, a filing by the electric-vehicle maker to the province's Office of the Integrity Commissioner showed.

The company's Canadian unit is working with the government to "identify opportunities for industrial facility permitting reforms", the amended filing from July 18 said.

Tesla as well as the office of Ontario's minister for economic development, job creation and trade did not immediately respond to requests for comment.