Sainsbury's

British supermarket group Sainsbury's said yesterday it could cut 3,500 jobs in a restructuring that will see in-store meat, fish and deli counters as well as 420 standalone Argos general merchandise stores close.

The group reported a loss before tax of £137 million (S$241.9 million) for the 28 weeks to Sept 19, reflecting £438 million of one-off costs associated with the Argos store closures and other strategic and market changes introduced by new chief executive Simon Roberts.

Underlying pretax profit was £301 million - ahead of analysts' average forecast of £275 million made in the same period last year.

REUTERS

ING Groep

ING Groep will cut 1,000 jobs and close offices in South America and some in Asia as it looks to cut costs and boost its digital transformation.

The Dutch lender said yesterday it would streamline its wholesale offering to focus on key clients and markets. Chief executive Steven van Rijswijk said: "This includes closing our offices in South America and some in Asia, while continuing to serve the international needs of clients from our regional hubs."

Profit was a lower-than-expected €788 million (S$1.26 billion) in the third quarter. Costs came in at €2.6 billion, higher than a year before.

BLOOMBERG

Singapore Press Holdings

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) yesterday said the hearing date of applications to extend the interim judicial management order made against two of its subsidiaries has been fixed on Feb 1.

The subsidiaries are info-tech firms StreetSine Technology Group and StreetSine Singapore.

SPH's wholly owned subsidiary SPH Interactive holds 60 per cent of the shares of StreetSine Technology, while StreetSine Singapore is wholly owned by StreetSine Technology. The Singapore High Court had on Oct 29 adjourned the hearing of the applications.

THE BUSINESS TIMES