Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) have announced that they will not sell directly to Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in an attempt to sell directly to consumers as the company confirmed to CNBC.

The decision by Nike to make this change ends an experimental pilot which was launched in 2017.

The initial terms of the deal allowed Nike to sell a limited range of products to Amazon in exchange for tighter regulations on selling counterfeits on Amazon. This deal also included Nike’s athletic footwear, apparel and other merchandise.

Analysts have said “I think Nike is putting more emphasis on its own online business, as evidenced by the news that its new CEO of a former CEO at eBay,” said Morningstar analyst David Swartz. “Also, Nike was probably unhappy that Amazon hasn’t gotten rid of the third-party sellers and fakes.

Nike products will be available to purchase items on the company website, or through independent stores which Nike sell directly too.

Company officials said that the pilot partnership between Amazon and Nike was no longer part of Nike’s wider sales strategy.

“We will continue to invest in strong, distinctive partnerships for Nike with other retailers and platforms to seamlessly serve our consumers globally,” Nike confirmed.

Ending this partnership will allow Nike to take stronger control of their brand, and bring sovereignty back.

Nike said: “As part of Nike’s focus on elevating consumer experiences through more direct, personal relationships, we have made the decision to complete our current pilot with Amazon Retail.

“We will continue to invest in strong, distinctive partnerships for Nike with other retailers and platforms to seamlessly serve our consumers globally.

“We will continue to partner with Amazon Web Services to power a suite of services on Nike.com and within Nike’s ecosystem of apps.”

Amazon have declined to comment on the story, but it is clear that Nike are looking to take the reign back to promote organic growth.

Viacom, Inc. Class B (NASDAQ: VIAB) have exceeded market expectations returning strong trading figures in their most recent update.

MTV Owner Viacom, is currently inn the process of formalizing a deal to merge with former partner CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS). The planned merger between CBS Corp and Viacom, is set to be formalized and completed by early December.

Shares of Viacom slipped 2.24% during Thursday trading to $22.05. 14/11/19 13:33BST.

The company also reported a 6% rise in domestic advertising revenue on a constant currency basis. However, revenue from its filmed entertainment division, which includes Paramount Pictures, fell 14%.

Viacom had experienced external success as well, which has contributed to increasing revenues.

Viacom have told shareholders that they have produced content for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Hulu who are owned by Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and HBO Max who AT&T (NYSE: T) own.

Shareholders will be further pleased, as it was reported earlier this week that Viacom reported a multi-year deal with Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to produce animated TV shows.

Net earnings from continuing operations for Viacom fell to $303 million (£236.8 million), or 75 cents per share. In the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 from $386 million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue fell to $3.43 billion from $3.49 billion, but was above the average estimate of $3.41 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Excluding items, the company earned 79 cents per share, above the average analyst estimate of 75 cents per share.

Asda have seen a slump in sales, highlighted in their quarterly trading update, which has been caused by political uncertainties and tough market conditions.

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) own Asda currently, and Asda join a list of British supermarkets who have seen a decline in recent trading performance.

Shares of Walmart are trading at $120, spiking 1.56%. 14/11/19 13:14BST.

The British Supermarket industry has been hit by a few shocks over the years, and recovery for the Big Four looks tough in a cut throat market.

Firms such as Marks and Spencer (LON: MKS) and Sainsbury’s (LON: SBRY) have seen falling sales and profits in their respective quarterly update.

Tesco (LON: TSCO) have also been hit hard, but have responded with non price competition in releasing their new ClubCard Plus only a few weeks back.

The Big Four have been hit by increasing competition from overseas rivals such as Lidl and Aldi, who offer similar quality products at substantially cheaper prices.

Asda reiterated political uncertainties as a hinderance to strong business performance, saying that Britain’s speculative relationship with the European Union has negatively affected spending patterns.

Sainsbury’s attempted to takeover Asda earlier this year in April, in a £7.3 billion deal. However, this deal was blocked as it did not win the approval of regulators and competition authorities.

Asda said its gross profit rate fell, reflecting price markdowns in clothing following a slow summer season versus last year.

The fall in gross profit rate, plus increased operating expenses, meant operating income was also lower.

“This quarter has afforded consumers little respite from political or economic uncertainty and this has shown in their spending,” said Chief Executive Roger Burnley.

HSBC Holdings (LON: HSBA) and Emirates NBD have cut their workforce in UAE operations in an attempt to streamline costs.

Both these firms have hit recently news headlines after reporting slumps in profits and poor trading periods highlighted in company updates.

HSBC have said that they will lay off 40 bankers in the UAE, whilst Emirates will cut 100 jobs as the two firms attempt to reduce costs.

The job cuts come at no surprise considering the state of the UAE economy, which is suffering from slow growth. Dubai has been hit particularly hard, and slow growth has been fueled by a property slump.

HSBC announced a decline in quarterly profits and an operational change in their operations globally, and it seems that overseas operations have been the first target.

HSBC currently employ 3,000 staff in the UAE and host 10,000 employees in the Middle East.

HSBC, like other competitors such as Lloyd’s (LON: LLOY) and Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK) have seen a recent business crisis amid cut throat market conditions.

The FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) listed bank may look to increase redundancies in overseas operations as further management changes are put in place.

The cuts at Dubai’s largest lender Emirates NBD (came in areas such as consumer sales and liabilities, one of the sources said, while a second source played down the significance, citing the bank’s 12,000 workforce.

“The cuts are part of cost cutting and rationalising to drive efficiencies in a challenging market,” the second source familiar with the matter said about Emirates NBD.

TBC Bank Group PLC (LON: TBCG) have seen strong profit gains in their most recent quarterly update, however shares have crashed.

Shares of TBC Bank have crashed 4.6% on Thursday to 1,328p. 14/11/19 11:43BST.

The Georgian focused lender said that increases in fee and commission income had compensated for a decline in net interest income.

The FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed bank said its net profit for the three months to September 30 increased 18% to GEL126.8 million from GEL107.4 million in the same period a year ago. Additionally, pretax profit rose 13% to GEL142.3 million.

The figures posted by TBC are impressive considering the global state of the banking industry.

Big time competitors such as HSBC (LON: HSBA) and Lloyd’s (LON: LLOY) have seen quarterly slumps in profit which have alerted shareholders.

Additionally, the current crisis at Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK) will keep TBC shareholders optimistic in cut throat market conditions.

Third quarter net interest income fell 6.7% to GEL186.2 million, while fee & commission income rallied 20% to GEL47.1 million.

Other operating non-interest income increased 19% to GEL46.4 million.

Net interest margin for the third quarter fell to 5.0% from 6.9%. Year-to-date margin fell 1.5 percentage point to 5.5%.

TBC has backed their medium-term target of return on equity of above 20%, cost to income ratio below 35%, dividend payout ratio of 25% to 35% and loan book growth of 10% to 15%.

In the third quarter, the company’s return on equity fell to 20.4% from 21.2% and cost to income ratio increased to 39.9% from 37.4%.

Shareholders will be further pleased as an app offshoot of TBC Bank, Space have agreed a partnernship with Visa (NYSE: V)

Nikoloz Kurdiani, deputy CEO of TBC Bank says: “When we launched Space, we wanted to move beyond the traditional banking approach and outdated technology to create a new type of bank in Georgia that would be better at responding to modern customers’ needs. Now, we are ready to go global.”

Visa says it will share knowledge, best practices and its network of technological partners with Space to help it achieve its aims.

Yevgen Lisnyak, senior director and head of strategic partnerships, fintech & ventures (Visa, CISSEE), says: “We are witnessing a rapid transformation of the financial banking sector, where new players are playing a significant role. Neobanks are agile, consumer-centric, flexible and innovative, offering modern consumers completely new financial solutions and digital banking experience. We are excited to be able to support fintechs to navigate the payments landscape in the Caucasus region to achieve their business growth and international expansion ambitions”

Premier Oil PLC (LON: PMO) have seen their shares climb on Thursday after they updates shareholders on production expectations for the year.

Premier Oil reported a rise in year-to-date production and forecasted production to be at the upper end of prior guidance.

Shares in the FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed firm climbed 2.68% to 89p on Thursday. 14/11/19 11:27BST.

Average production was 79,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the 10 months to October end, up from 77,700 barrels in the comparative year ago period, underpinned by continued high operating efficiency of 94%.

Premier also added that October production averaged 78,400, an impressive statistic which would have caught shareholder’s eyes.

Premier expects 2019 production to be at the upper end of its 75,000 barrel to 80,000 barrel of oil equivalent guidance range.

Firms in the industry have struggled recently, with global titans such as Shell (LON: RDSB) and Total SA (LON: TTA) reporting lower profits due to slumping oil prices.

However, Premier do not seem to be phased by the market volatility and have reported strong revenue gains to back up a relatively successful period of trading.

Whilst competitors such as Tullow Oil (LON: TLW) cut their annual guidance yesterday, the update provided by Premier was a direct contrast.

Chief executive Tony Durrant commented on the results, “We continue to deliver on our strategic priorities. We are generating significant free cash flow, which is materially deleveraging our balance sheet.

“At the same time, we are actively managing our portfolio and selectively progressing growth projects at the right exposure. We also continue to create value through the drill bit and to build material new positions in emerging exploration plays at low cost.”

QinetiQ Group plc (LON: QQ) have seen their shares jump on Thursday morning after they reported impressive interim results to shareholders.

QinetiQ maintained their annual forecasts unchanged after they update shareholders with double digit earnings growth in the first six months of its financial year.

Shares of QinetiQ jumped 4.6% on Thursday to 336p. 14/11/19 11:11BST.

The FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed firm reported a pretax profit of £71.3 million for the interim period ending in September.

This saw an impressive increase of 35% compared to the £52.7 million figure one year ago. Additionally, revenue grew by 16% from £486.5 million from £420.3 million.

QinetiQ declared an interim dividend of 2.2p a share, slightly higher than 2.1p it paid a year before.

With the update, QinetiQ maintained their expectations for full year operating profit, and forecasted high single digit revenue growth.

“Our focus for the remainder of the year is to win further campaigns globally, successfully deliver key programmes, and complete the acquisition of MTEQ to transform the scale of our US operations as we build an integrated, global defence and security company,” added Wadey.

QinetiQ announced the acquisition of sensing solutions firm Manufacturing Techniques Inc – or MTEQ – in the beginning of October for up to $125 million.