Accenture to Buy China Focused Digital Agency, Container Store Surges

Mukesh Buch
08 Jul, 2015
New York City

Accenture agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based PacificLink. BB&T received Federal Reserve approval to acquire Susquehanna Bancshares. Container Store net loss widened. Chase Corp net soared 13%. VMware affirmed revenues and earnings forecast.

[R]11:35 PM New York – Accenture agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based PacificLink. BB&T received Federal Reserve approval to acquire Susquehanna Bancshares. Container Store net loss widened. Chase Corp net soared 13%. VMware affirmed revenues and earnings forecast.[/R]

Tollbooth Index slipped 0.9% or 100.87 to 10,602.10.

Earnings Review

Accenture Plc ((ACN)) decreased 1.2% or $1.20 to $97.48 after the Ireland-based outsourcing and consultancy services provider agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based independent full service digital agencies PacificLink Group to expand in Greater China market.

However, the transaction amount was not disclosed.

BB&T Corporation ((BBT)) fell 26 cents to $40.08 and the financial services provider received Federal Reserve approval to acquire Susquehanna Bancshares Inc for about $2.5 billion.

Under the terms, Susquehanna shareholders will receive 0.253 shares of BB&T and $4.05 in cash per share.

Container Store Group Inc ((TCS)) soared 6.9% or $1.22 to $18.73 after the specialty retailer reported revenues in the first-quarter ending in May fell 2.1% to $169.8 million from a year ago period.

Comparable store sales in the quarter decreased 0.9%.

Net loss in the quarter widened to $5.2 million or 11 cents per diluted share compared to $3.6 million or 7 cents from the same quarter last year.

For the year, the retailer forecasted net sales in the range of $800 million to $815 million and comparable store sales to decline 2% to break even and diluted earnings per share between 30 cents and 38 cents.

Chase Corporation ((CCF)) gained 3.2% or $1.28 to $41.50 after the specialty products maker said revenues in the third-quarter ending in May climbed 12.7% to $64.9 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter soared 13.3% to $7.2 million or 77 cents per diluted share compared to $6.3 million or 68 cents from the same quarter last year.

VMware, Inc ((VMW)) slid 8 cents to $82.87 after the cloud computing services provider forecasted non-GAAP revenue for the second-quarter in-line with the earlier estimated range of $1.58 billion to $1.60 billion and earnings per share between 90 cents and 92 cents.