LIFE SCIENCES
All Thermo Fisher properties to get electricity from renewable sources by 2026
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced on Thursday that all of its US properties will get all of their electricity from renewable sources by 2026. The Waltham-based life sciences giant’s milestone will be made possible in part through a new 20-year power purchase agreement with EDF Renewables that includes EDF’s Millers Branch solar project in Texas, which is scheduled to become operational at the end of 2025. This project complements Thermo Fisher’s previously announced agreement with Enel North America to buy power from the Seven Cowboy wind farm in Oklahoma. Together, these two projects provide enough renewable electricity to match Thermo Fisher’s US power needs. — JON CHESTO
Advertisement
COFFEE
Gloucester startup lays off staff
Cometeer, a heavily funded coffee startup based in Gloucester, has gone through a round of layoffs as it adjusts to market conditions. The company, which was founded in 2015, sells flash-frozen pods of high-end coffee and has raised about $100 million of venture capital. But over the past year, with the slowing economy, Cometeer has seen its order growth slow, according to reports in Forbes and Nosh. About half of the company’s 160 employees have departed since June through layoffs and attrition, the reports said Cometeer wouldn’t comment on the details of the layoffs but said it is now on a sustainable footing. “Like many other companies, we had to adjust post-COVID staffing levels to match market conditions, and now, in true start-up fashion, we are committed to doing more with less,” cofounder and chief executive Matthew Roberts said in a statement to the Globe. Roberts added that the company is “comfortably profitable on nearly every box of coffee we ship.” Roberts grew up in Beverly and attended Bentley University, where he first hatched the idea to freeze coffee to speed up his morning routine. Roberts later connected with MIT-trained engineer Doug Hoon to perfect the high-tech freezing method and found Cometeer. The company’s headquarters are located in a renovated seafood factory in Gloucester. — AARON PRESSMAN
JOBS
Advertisement
January job cuts most since 2020
US employers in January announced the most job cuts since 2020, according to data compiled by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Businesses reported 102,943 cuts in the month, more than twice those announced in December and up 440 percent from January 2022. The technology sector made up 41 percent of the planned reductions, Thursday’s report showed. Announced layoffs at retailers and financial companies also climbed from a year ago. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
Britannia no longer rules Australian currency
Australia is removing the British monarchy from its bank notes. The nation’s central bank said Thursday its new $5 bill would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The $5 bill was Australia’s only remaining bank note to still feature an image of the monarch. Like many former British colonies, Australia is debating to what extent it should retain its constitutional ties to Britain. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MORTGAGES
Rates fall again
The average long-term US mortgage rate declined for the fourth week in a row, a sign of relative stability that could potentially open the door for some prospective homebuyers to get back in the market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate fell to 6.09 percent from 6.13 percent last week. That’s the lowest level since September. The average rate a year ago was 3.55 percent. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Advertisement
MEDICINE
Shortage of antibiotics, kids’ medicines lingers at community pharmacies
Hundreds of community pharmacies are having trouble stocking antibiotics, common over-the-counter therapies for children, and a widely used drug for ADHD as shortages persist. About 4 out of 5 pharmacies reported problems filling prescriptions for the antibiotic amoxicillin in a National Community Pharmacists Association survey completed by 332 stores at the end of January. Some 93 percent were short of children’s pain and fever medicines, according to the survey, and 97 percent lacked access to adequate supplies of branded or generic Adderall, the treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
Haitian textile factory to close due to unrest, 3,500 lose their jobs
One of Haiti’s biggest textile factories announced Thursday that it is closing an assembly plant and laying off 3,500 workers in yet another blow to the country’s crumbling economy. S&H Global, whose parent company is South Korean garment manufacturer Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd., said in a statement that strikes and social unrest have led to numerous delays in shipments, order cancellations, and other problems. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENERGY
Shell’s profit more than doubled last year
Shell, Europe’s largest energy company, reported a bumper annual profit for 2022 on Thursday: $42.3 billion, more than double its 2021 total and probably a record for any Britain-based company. The company, like other global energy giants, has been raking in cash because of high oil and natural gas prices, caused in part by the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Exxon Mobil reported $56 billion in annual profit, a record for the company. The numbers, which beat expectations, showed that Shell is cashing in on its world-leading position in liquefied natural gas. — NEW YORK TIMES
Advertisement
SOFTWARE
Okta to lay off about 300
Okta Inc., a software maker known for identity verification and login services, is cutting about 300 employees, the latest technology company to cut costs by shedding employees. The cuts — about 5 percent of the workforce — are due to overhiring and “execution challenges,” wrote chief executive Todd McKinnon in a letter to employees Thursday. San Francisco-based Okta’s headcount has roughly tripled since July 2020, to about 6,000 workers. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
Struggling Bed Bath & Beyond misses interest payment
Bed Bath & Beyond, the financially strapped home-goods retailer, missed interest payments on its bonds, a week after receiving a default notice from lenders. The retailer failed to make Feb. 1 payments on notes that total more than $1 billion, a spokeswoman said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement. The default means Bed Bath & Beyond has entered a 30-day grace period, during which time it can still make the interest payments. The skipped payments are the latest sign of the retailer’s worsening financial situation. Bed Bath & Beyond is weighing various financial options, including the possibility of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
Debt collectors broke into British homes to switch gas meters
The UK government said Thursday it was responding to “deeply shocking” revelations that debt collectors working for British Gas broke into customers’ homes to install prepay gas meters that left vulnerable people at risk of having their heating cut off. The Times of London reported that debt collectors obtained court warrants to enter the homes of people who had fallen behind on their energy bills. They installed meters that make customers pay upfront for their gas supply — if they don’t, they are cut off. The practice allows firms to get around rules that limit the circumstances in which they can cut off supplies to customers who are in debt. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Advertisement