In Europe today, Dutch technology company Philips's second-quarter net profit beat analyst expectations, while bank Julius Baer's net profit for the first six months fell. Read about the above topics on Dow Jones Newswires or WSJ.com.

 

In Other Media...

 

Volkswagen's home state, Lower Saxony, plans to invest large amounts of the car maker's EUR1 billion diesel-emissions fine into fast internet, hospitals and universities, as well as debt reduction, and the renovation of sports facilities and climate-friendly transport. -Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

 

Booking.com is rushing to get listers of tourist flats on their platform to provide their data in order to meet Spanish laws and avoid a fine of up to EUR600,000. Since January 31, Spanish law requires platforms such as Booking and Airbnb to disclose the information of the person listing their property on their website, in a bid to fight tax fraud in tourist apartment rentals. -Cinco Dias

 

Ubi Banca has sold around EUR900 million of factoring and leasing bad loans. The sale will have an impact of about EUR104 million in the second-quarter results, which the bank will report under impairment losses on loans, the Italian bank said Monday. -La Repubblica

 

German banks are considering merging their digital-payment services to better compete against rival offers from tech companies such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. -Handelsblatt

 

Cork-based financial firm BlackBee Group announced details of a EUR250 million health-care investment fund aimed at creating 1,000 nursing home beds and acquiring a further 750 existing beds. The investment will see the construction of 1,000 new state-of-the-art single ensuite beds at ten sites around Munster that have already been identified by the group, with construction to start in early 2020

 

Whirlpool will recall today about 500,000 tumble dryers at risk of bursting into flames in the U.K., four years after concerns first emerged. -Guardian

 

The Netherlands' BrandLoyalty is being put up for sale, according to financial sources. Its owner, Alliance Data, is under pressure to slim down its portfolio from activist shareholder ValueAct. BrandLoyalty creates loyalty programs for food retailers and has over 700 employees in 25 countries. -Financieele Dagblad

 

Write to Barcelona editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2019 07:42 ET (11:42 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.