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(Reuters) -Roper Technologies cut its annual profit forecast on Thursday, as it expects higher costs related to acquisitions in the third quarter, sending the software company's shares down 7%. The company has grown largely through acquisitions, establishing itself as a provider of software and automated solutions to a variety of sectors, including healthcare, transportation and education. Roper has more than $5 billion in capital available for merger and acquisitions over the next 12 months, it said. It now expects adjusted earnings per share between $19.90 and $19.95 for the year, compared with its earlier expectation of $19.90 to $20.05. The forecast assumed about 10 cents of adjusted EPS dilution from quarterly acquisitions. The company said it deployed $1.3 billion for acquisitions in the third quarter. "Our underlying earnings are trending toward the higher end of our previous guidance range despite the government shutdown and some timing delays at Neptune," CEO Neil Hunn said in a statement. Roper's water-metering unit, Neptune, is facing delays in some water utility deployments. The new copper tariff that took effect on August 1 also caused some short-term disruption at Neptune. The company's Deltek government contracting business saw a slowdown in September as agencies halted activity before the shutdown. It forecast fourth-quarter adjusted profit to be between $5.11 and $5.16 per share, below analysts' average estimate of $5.25, according to data compiled by LSEG. This forecast assumes a 5-cent impact from small acquisitions. Revenue for the third quarter ended September 30 rose 14% to $2.02 billion, which was in-line with analysts estimates. It reported adjusted EPS of $5.14, beating estimates of $5.11. Roper also unveiled a new $3 billion share repurchase program on Thursday. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Leroy Leo)

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By Mike Scarcella (Reuters) -U.S. Google users who won a $425 million jury verdict in a consumer privacy class action last month have asked a federal judge to force the Alphabet unit to forfeit an additional $2.36 billion in profits. The consumers in a Wednesday court filing called the amount a "conservative approximation" of Google’s allegedly ill-gotten gains after the jury found the company secretly collected app activity data from millions of users who had disabled an account tracking feature. “The jury found that Google’s conduct was highly offensive, harmful, and without consent,” the consumers told Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco, who must decide if disgorgement of profits is allowed and necessary in the case.  GOOGLE HAS DENIED WRONGDOING, SAID IT WILL APPEAL The plaintiffs called the $425 million damages verdict "clearly insufficient to remedy the ongoing and irreparable harm that Google’s conduct continues to inflict." Google and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google has denied wrongdoing and said it will appeal. It argued the data it collected was anonymized and that its privacy tools give users control over their data. The 2020 lawsuit alleged Google over an eight-year period accessed users' mobile devices to collect, save and use their data, violating privacy assurances under an account setting called Web & App Activity. The jury found Google liable on two of three privacy claims brought by the plaintiffs, who had sought more than $31 billion in damages at trial. Despite the verdict, Google has not changed its privacy disclosures or data collection practices, the plaintiffs said. Google on Wednesday asked Seeborg to decertify the class of 98 million users and 174 million devices, arguing that the claims depend on individualized factors such as app usage and user expectations. It also urged the judge to vacate the verdict, citing a lack of common issues. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella. Editing by David Bario and Mark Potter)

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By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) -Google has entered into the first corporate agreement to buy electricity from a U.S. power plant using carbon capture and storage in a deal to help fuel its data centers in the country's Midwest region, the technology company said on Thursday. Big Tech's plans to expand technologies like generative artificial intelligence, which will require vast amounts of electricity, have butted up against the realities of a U.S. power grid running short on supplies. That has led to a flurry of announcements in recent months by companies like Google to help fund the development of new and expanded power plants across the country.  Google's recent deals have included purchasing electricity from advanced nuclear reactors, geothermal and hydropower. It is also working with the biggest U.S. power grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers the world's largest concentration of data centers, to speed up the connection of new power supplies. Google's latest power offtake agreement involves a 400-megawatt power plant in Decatur, Illinois, which will be developed by privately held Low Carbon Infrastructure. It is expected to produce power using carbon capture, which involves trapping about 90% of CO2 emissions and injecting them underground, in the early 2030s.  Google did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, while Low Carbon Infrastructure said project financing was expected to reach final investment decision in the first half of 2026. Natural gas-fired power that is produced while capturing and storing carbon dioxide had been missing from the equation, said Michael Terrell, head of Advanced Energy at Google. "We've been really focused on advancing all these new technologies for around-the-clock clean technologies and this is an important piece of the puzzle," Terrell said. "It's a very important technology that the world needs." The Broadwing project will be built at an existing industrial site operated by agribusiness company Archer Daniels Midland, which has a history of injecting carbon dioxide underground from ethanol production.  “Broadwing demonstrates that carbon capture can be commercially viable today,” said Jonathan Wiens, CEO of Low Carbon Infrastructure. Construction is expected to last four years and create 650 union labor jobs and 100 construction management and support staff in that time, the companies said. Carbon sequestered at the site will be stored permanently in special wells that are 5,000–7,000 feet (1,524-2,133 m) underground. ADM will also have the ability to purchase power from the operation, which will initially deliver electricity to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which covers 15 Midwest states and multiple Google data centers. Google and Low Carbon Infrastructure said they plan to pursue additional CCS facilities in the U.S., though they did not disclose specific locations or timelines. Carbon capture and storage has been promoted by the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a tool to reduce emissions from fossil fuel-based power and heavy industry. However, critics have questioned its cost, scalability and long-term effectiveness. (Reporting by Laila KearneyEditing by Marguerita Choy)

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By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -British ad group WPP said on Thursday it was letting brands access its AI-powered marketing platform to plan, create and publish their own campaigns. WPP Open Pro, a new edition of its AI platform WPP Open, has been designed for smaller brands that do not use full-service agencies, it said, as well as to provide new capabilities to existing clients. Advertising groups are facing the challenge of brands starting to use AI to do more of their own creative and planning work, reducing the fees they pay to agencies. WPP has appointed Cindy Rose to turn it around after it lost its crown as the world's biggest ad group to French rival Publicis last year and its shares more than halved this year. The company, which owns Ogilvy, AKQA and WPP Media, said it was the first of its peers to provide a range of integrated, AI-powered delivery models, including directly to clients. Rose, who took over from Mark Read last month, said WPP's creative and strategic talent would always be at the heart of what it did for the world's biggest brands, such as Coca-Cola. But technology was fundamentally reshaping the industry, she said, and the new platform would put its AI capabilities into the hands of a much wider array of brands and businesses. "This is about transforming how marketing is delivered, expanding our total addressable market, and giving more brands the tools they need to lead in the AI era," she said. The platform will enable brands to create channel-specific ads in seconds, it said. For example, a coffee shop chain could combine brand-approved imagery with content generated by AI to create a campaign for a new store opening. The ad could then be dropped into WPP's Open Media Studio to be published or it could be published directly to major platforms, WPP said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by William James)

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By Giulia Segreti, Tim Hepher and Elvira Pollina ROME/PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) -A deal to forge Europe's answer to Elon Musk's Starlink was reached on Thursday as the continent's top space firms agreed to combine their satellite manufacturing and services businesses. Marking the most ambitious tie-up of European aerospace assets since the creation of missiles maker MBDA in 2001, Airbus and Thales of France and Italy's Leonardo will create a Toulouse-based venture to begin operations in 2027. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the preliminary deal would "strengthen European sovereignty in a context of intense global competition". Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said it supported the growth of European champions to compete globally. VENTURE FACES GLOBAL COMPETITION Code-named "Project Bromo", talks between the three groups started last year. Europe's top satellite makers have long competed to build complex spacecraft in geostationary orbit but have been hit by the arrival of cheap, tiny satellites in low Earth orbit, notably the Starlink network built by Musk's SpaceX. Thales CFO Pascal Bouchiat, announcing quarterly sales that included an initial contract for IRIS², Europe's planned secure satellite network, hailed the new venture but warned on the competition ahead. "This first development contract for IRIS² doesn't take away the challenges that the European industry, in particular, is facing," he told reporters. The new combination will employ 25,000 people with revenue of 6.5 billion euros ($7.58 billion), based on 2024 figures. It is expected to generate "mid-triple digit" millions of euros of synergies starting after five years, the companies said. Shares in Leonardo rose almost 2% while Airbus and Thales were up less than 1% in afternoon trading. "The initiative is certainly positive, as it creates a European leader capable of competing globally and improves the profitability of a business … that has struggled in recent years," analysts at Italian investment bank Equita said in a note. Shareholders now face up to two years of talks with governments, unions and the European Commission over the deal, which has implications for activities in Britain and Germany as well as Italy and France. Italian unions requested more information and said the deal should help the country's sector compete internationally. Airbus and Thales have cut a combined 3,000 jobs following space losses. The three new partners made no mention of further cuts, but executives said the focus would now turn towards potential growth. BALANCING PAYMENTS The deal will combine activities of Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio – two joint ventures between Leonardo and Thales – as well as various Airbus space and digital businesses, the remaining space activities owned by Leonardo and Thales SESO. Airbus will hold 35%, and Thales and Leonardo 32.5% each, the companies said. Sources familiar with the deal said there would be balancing payments to reflect the value of the assets being contributed, with Airbus receiving some compensation, depending on how well the various activities are doing when the deal closes in 2027. Previous attempts to combine have hit anti-trust hurdles. "We expect, and will be vigilant, that the synergies created from efficiencies benefit us as a key customer of the new company," said French satellite operator Eutelsat. The deal could face objections from smaller German satellite maker OHB, which a French parliamentary committee has said could end up acquiring some of the newly combined assets. OHB did not reply to a request for comment. Agreement between the three companies – each of which has had periods of prickly relations in the past – was salvaged after sources familiar with the matter said the talks had hit obstacles over governance and valuation during the summer. The companies gave few details regarding governance but executives pledged to avoid a system of rotating leadership or making appointments based on nationalities, approaches which have roiled the European aerospace industry, especially Airbus, in the past. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain, Gianluca Lo Nostro, Dominique Vidalon, Angelo Amante, Enrico Sciacovelli and Amy-Jo Crowley; editing by Kim Coghill and Jason Neely)

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